Norwegian Encore Balcony Cabin Review

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Every cruise line offers various stateroom categories available for booking. Along with the different types of staterooms, cabin location, size, price, and amenities all factor into the decision on which cabin to choose. For our recent Norwegian Encore cruise, we stayed in a pretty typical balcony stateroom. If you want to know what it is like to stay in this type of accommodation, we share our thoughts and plenty of photos in this Norwegian Encore Balcony Stateroom Review.

Norwegian Encore Balcony Stateroom Review

Our balcony cabin was room number 9134 (Category BF). This room was rather forward, on the port-side of the ship. We didn’t mind the location as it was an easy walk to the elevators. Plus, no matter where we were coming from, we always had the fish (on the carpet) to guide us home.

Being on Deck 9, it also meant that we were not too far from the inside venues. It was an easy walk down to popular places like the Waterfront, the theater, and most dining venues. 

On the other hand, getting up to the outdoor decks (starting on Deck 16) was a bit of a hike. While I tend to use the stairs, we never had an issue getting an elevator. 

Related Post: Norwegian Encore Cruise Review

Standard Features of a Balcony Cabin 

The Norwegian Cruise Line website claims the square footage of this room category starts at 213 square feet. While we didn’t measure the space, it felt similar to our experiences on other NCL ships. 

This was our seventh cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, so we have become accustomed to the line’s cabin design and layout. Still, compared to other cruise lines, balcony staterooms on NCL tend to be a bit slimmer overall. 

The layout of this room had the bed located closer to the balcony door. This is actually our preferred layout. Of course, there is no way of knowing the exact orientation of your room when booking.

Upon entering the room, we passed the bathroom on the right, heading towards the seating area. To the left was the standard desk. It had a large mirror, along with some shelves underneath for storage. There was ample space to pack away our gear and accessories in this area. The Princess uses the desk to get ready each day, and it also doubles as our charging station. A nice compact feature is that the seat accompanying the desk can also turn into a table. There is also a wall-mounted television with a small shelf here.

Behind the desk was a love seat. It was comfortable and provided extra seating, though it tends to become our dumping ground during the trip. We used the space to store our bags and other purchases. Above the sofa was wall space to hang items like hats and beach bags with our magnetic hooks. 

Next to the sofa was the closet. Yes, we are over packers, but we had plenty of room. The closet consisted of one bar to hang clothes and several shelves for additional items off to the right. This is also where the safe was located. Of course, we always pack a shoe organizer to hang on the bathroom door which comes in handy for storing smaller items.

Just Enough Space for Our Cruise

Continuing further into the room, there was just enough space to squeeze between the queen bed and the wall. The television is strategically placed so you can watch it from either the bed or the sofa.

I never have issues falling asleep on a ship and that held true for our 3 nights on Norwegian Encore. The bed was on the firm side, with plenty of pillows and blankets to make sure we were comfortable. The in-room thermostat functioned well, so we were able to keep the room at our ideal temperature while sleeping.

Next to each side of the bed were small night stands. There was also a reading light and USB outlet located above each night stand. This is perfect for charging your phone, which often doubles as an alarm clock for most cruisers. It would have been nice to have an outlet next to the bed as well. Still, we were able to function with our cruise ship safe mobile power outlets. 

The balcony was located beyond the bed. The balcony felt to be about the same size as the one on NCL Bliss. There was certainly not enough room for a lounger. The two chairs and table did offer a reasonable space for relaxing with a cup of coffee or watching the views during the sail into or out of port. 

Like most cruise ship cabins, the bathroom was located immediately upon entering the room. Storage was on par with other cruise ship bathrooms, including two upper and two lower shelves by the sink. The shower design did make it seem a bit roomier than other cruise ship showers; however, nothing in comparison to the bathroom in the Norwegian Bliss mini-suite that we stayed in during that ship’s inaugural cruise. 

Recap Norwegian Encore Stateroom Review

Overall, the room layout was manageable; although, on a 7-day cruise, we would have to get creative with storage space. If you have cruised with other lines, you might feel the width of the room is narrower on Norwegian Cruise Line. A nice perk is the USB outlets located on each side of the bed but having more outlets would have been even better. 

The room also features an energy-saving design requiring a room key to be inserted before you can manage the lights and/or temperature control. These rooms have a trendy yet subtle decor with clean lines and a muted color palette. While many of the ship’s features are innovative, the staterooms on Norwegian Encore do not have the additional technology or enhanced features like some other cruise lines, including Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, or Princess Cruises. 

Comments

Have you sailed on this new ship yet? Do you have a Norwegian Encore Cabin Review to share? Drop us an anchor below with your feedback on the staterooms on Norwegian Cruise Line.