We chose this ship because it is the newest, most up to date ship in Norweigen’s fleet. We stayed in the Haven suite, which was an absolutely amazing experience. But thank God we did, because the normal pool and common areas are a zoo. There are too many people on this boat to accommodate everyone at the pools and sun decks. We saw people fighting over beach chairs. The huge go cart track takes up a large part of the aft real estate, so the pool area is small. The go cart track costs $15 per person to use so I guess they’re trying to make money instead of accommodating guests.

But our main complaint was the harmonic and rhythmic, horizontal ROCKING of this ship when it was underway. The Atlantic was like a lake for most of our cruise, with little to no wind. Yet while underway, we experienced a consistent horizontal rock at between 60 and 100 times per minute. I actually got up in the middle of the night and videoed the coat hangers in our closet rhythmically rocking that fast. There had to be something mechanically wrong - maybe a bent or out of balance prop or engine vibration. Believe me, I’ve been a boater my entire live and this was not a natural motion. It was so bad I even called to complain at 2:00am, but of course no one knew what was wrong. My wife, also a boater had to take Dramamine. And we weren’t the only ones complaining. I spoke to lots of folks who had the same issue. If you plan on cruising on the Encore you’d better be ready for some rocking/skating, and not the slow, pleasant kind.

The food in all of the restaurants was wonderful. The Haven facilities are phenomenal, as was the spa and hot tub decks. Read more