With sea foam washing against its vibrant hull art, the 17th ship in the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet left the German port of Bremerhaven in late October on its inaugural voyage to Southampton, England, from where the vessel proceeded to Miami for a season of sailings in the eastern Caribbean. Christened the Norwegian Encore, this is the fourth and final addition to NCL’s Breakaway Plus class, a billion-dollar colossus with room for almost 4,000 passengers, more than 1,800 crew members, and myriad entertainment, leisure, dining, and cabin choices. Together with a host of fellow journalists and industry guests, I was aboard the Encore for its two-night run across the North Sea—not long enough to preview every offering, but enough to know that even on a week-long cruise, no one’s likely…
