Hello and welcome to Byte Size Cruises! If this is your first time here, we are so glad you are joining us. If you are a long time subscriber, welcome back! We are a small travel agency in Philadelphia, PA and we specialize in all things cruises. If you enjoy cruise vacations or are interested in learning more about cruising, you're in the right place! To check out our YouTube channel, click here. The Byte Size Team was recently on the NCL Encore and we had a great time! This blog post is the second of two posts reviewing the specialty dining options on the NCL Encore. In Part 1 we covered Teppanyaki, Onda, and Le Bistro. If you haven't gone through that yet, definitely go back a post and check it out.
Specialty dining on cruises is defined as food options that are not included in your cruise fare. Each restaurant we talk about here will involve some kind of extra charge on top of what you've already paid for your vacation. Norwegian Cruise Line has a program called "Free at Sea" and if you opt into this program you'll get some dining credits as well as other benefits. These benefits vary depending on the cabin you are staying in, but the all include at least one lunch or dinner at a specialty dining restaurant. Of course, you can purchase specialty dining a la carte as well. To see our review of all the food options included in your cruise fare, check out the post we did last week!
1. First up, Ocean Blue. Ocean Blue is located on deck 8 mid ship and there is outdoor and indoor seating at this restaurant. In our opinion, this restaurant is excellent and we have enjoyed our food every time we go here. We try to order different things off the menu each time (the Bang Bang Shrimp was amazing!) At it's heart this is a seafood restaurant so there is a wide variety of fish and seafood items on the menu. Our experience with the service at this restaurant has varied depending on the ship we were on; on Escape it was more laid back whereas on Encore it was a bit stricter and tighter with menu options, probably because they were busier at that time. Either way, the food was delicious and we definitely recommend you check out Ocean Blue.
2. Los Lobos. When we first sat down in this restaurant, the materdie came over and was just incredible. She got us extra chips, made sure we were comfortable, and welcomed us to the restaurant. We did table-side guacamole, which was delicious, and the carne asada was amazing. The menu was overall great and the food was definitely worth the extra cost. The service here was also wonderful and each waiter was personable and friendly. This was our first time going to Los Lobos and we 100% will be back!
3. Food Republic. This is one of our new favorites on NCL. When you have the dining package as a part of your cruise you can order any 4 items you'd like off the menu. When we were there we ordered the Korean Fried Chicken, Bang Bang Shrimp, and more, and everything we tried was delicious. At this restaurant you order on the little iPad and then the waiter will bring out your food as soon as it's ready; simple and easy! This restaurant is located on deck 8 at the front of the ship, right across from The District Brewhouse, and has great views off the side of the ship.
4. Q Texas Smokehouse. Last up, the BBQ! Like Food Republic, with your dining package you can order any 4 items off the menu when you go to Q Texas Smokehouse. When we were here, we got corn bread, pulled pork, and more. The food here is delicious. We will say this, if you're a BBQ fiend and adore your local dive for delicious brisket, this is not going to top that. However, that being said, the food here overall is well done and has lots of great flavor. During the evening they have live music here and the atmosphere is fun and festive. Q Texas Smokehouse is located at the very front of the ship on deck 6.
This completes our rundown of Specialty Dining on the NCL Encore! Have you been on Encore? What was your favorite restaurant? We would love to hear from you! Comment below and come back next week for another cruise post.