One of the first things I do when booking a cruise cabin is search for reviews of that specific cabin. If you’re more accustomed to staying in hotels than cruise ships, that might seem an odd practice, as you rarely have say in which room you are assigned in a hotel. Even when I do, I don’t bother searching for reviews of the specific room. However, booking a cruise cabin is more like renting property in a small city than booking a hotel room; size, layout, function, and location, location, location can sometimes make or break your cruise experience. Hence this review, which I hope can assist anyone considering a Norwegian Encore balcony cabin—and stateroom 14268 in particular.

Background: Why We Chose Balcony Cabin 14268

In general, we prefer balcony cabins, but we’ve opted for oceanview rooms on cruises with busy itineraries or when the price/logistics made more sense. Typically, we don’t spend a lot of time in our cabin when cruising, but there is a lot of “sea time” on this particular itinerary. Plus, online reviews had us convinced that a balcony cabin is necessary for Alaskan cruises, especially when sailing Glacier Bay. (More on that in my Glacier Bay post!)

When we booked our balcony cabin, I envisioned sitting on the balcony, watching the snow-capped mountains and glaciers glide by, while Fin took her afternoon nap. (In actuality, most days she napped on our bed, just feet from the balcony door, and I couldn’t open it without waking her.)

We selected our cabin partially at the recommendation of our NCL booking consultant, who suggested we choose a high deck. We also like to be near elevators/stairs and away from restaurants, pools, kitchens, the casino, or other high-traffic areas that produce a lot of noise. Deck 14 Aft cabins are sandwiched between Deck 13 and 15 cabins, so we knew we wouldn’t have to deal with kitchen carts rattling over our heads or loud music keeping our kids awake.

We were also assured by our NCL booking consultant that, unlike on our Hawaiian cruise, it didn’t matter which side of the ship we were on. (And after sailing I would agree. We were perfectly happy with our port-side cabin, and our family on starboard was equally happy with theirs.)

Of the Deck 14 Aft cabins available, my family selected 14268 in part because it has a larger, angled balcony at no additional charge. These cabins are sometimes called “hump” balconies because they occur wherever the ship widens/narrows. In the deck plan below, I’ve circled our cabin so you’ll know what to look for if you want to book a hump/angled balcony. Note that the deck plans make it appear as if the room itself is larger than its neighbors, but really that extra space is part of the balcony.

Although I couldn’t find a specific review of this cabin online, in the end we booked it for the balcony and location.

Our Experience with Norwegian Encore Balcony Cabin 14268

On embarkation day, we boarded extremely late, so we went straight to our cabin. Our room was easy to find, in part because our bags were already waiting in the hall, but also because it is near the aft elevators and at a hallway corner, thanks to its “hump” position. Here is the entrance to 14268, bags not included.

The outside of 14268

The corner location was nice because we (and the kids) could easily identify our room from a distance even when approaching from the front of the ship, which we did pretty often as the buffet and a lot of amenities are Forward on the Encore. (This was the first ship I’ve ever been on with a Forward buffet. I could never get my aft/forward/starboard/port bearings on that deck as a result!) We also really enjoyed having the extra hallway space in front of our entry because Encore hallways are narrow. You can’t tell as well in the photo above because I had to use wide-angle to capture everything, but generally it is hard for two people to walk side by side or pass one another comfortably in these halls.

Like Dory, “Just keep swimming!” The fish on the Encore carpet swim Forward, which is super helpful if you find yourself getting turned around.

NCL clearly decided space was at a premium on this ship, and any extra square footage should go to common areas and higher-tier cabins than ours. I’m sure it was partially because this was our first time cruising with two small children, but not only did the hallways seem narrow, but also the stateroom itself seemed like the smallest balcony cabin we’ve had.

The view from the doorway

I took this photo with a wide-angle, too, so if the space seems tight, it was even tighter. We were happy to see that a travel crib had been delivered for Fin, though, and the entire space was immaculately maintained. Our cabin steward, Henra, was the best we’ve ever had, and we’ve had some great ones. I’ve truly never seen a room so clean, and pretty much every time we left the cabin we returned to find it spotless again.

After seeing the room and moving our bags inside, we met Henra in the hallway and asked him to lower the upper bunk for X. We then went to dinner at the buffet and returned less than an hour later to find it done.

The Upper Bunk

I was curious how the upper bunks on Encore worked, as we’ve never had use for them before and most cabin tours on blogs and YouTube show the rooms in their initial state without the bunk open. (Or are made by child-free vloggers/bloggers who don’t need them.) The upper bunks on Encore and similar ships swing down from the ceiling, so they are completely hidden away (as you can see in the image above) unless you need them.

Henra offered to put away the upper bunk everyday, but it became X’s hangout, so we kept it down. While we did have to remove the ladder when it wasn’t needed (as Fin apparently learned to climb ladders on this trip!), keeping the top bunk down gave us some much needed extra space when all four of us were in the cabin. Since Fin was sleeping in the travel crib, we also could have used the sofa (which would normally be another bed when four stay in this cabin), but it became the dumping ground for our backpacks and souvenirs.

I took the pictures below on day 6, and while Henra was in no way responsible for the messes you see, he was responsible for the pristine condition of the upper bunk. You can also see the upper bunk’s reading light and the little ledge on which X liked to keep small toys.

The Travel Crib

While we kept the upper bunk down all week and found it a welcome addition to the space, the travel crib was another story. NCL provided a clean, sturdy, standard-size “Pack ‘n Play”-type travel crib, but there was literally only one place in the room with enough floor space to open it. Even with it pushed against the sofa, we had less than eight inches to scoot around it. This became an issue in the middle of the night when T.J. and I tried to sidestep past it to the bathroom and inevitably jostled Fin awake.

NCL supplied the pillow but no sheet. We always travel with our own travel-crib sheets.

Because of the confined quarters, we couldn’t leave the travel crib out all the time. We started the week with T.J. opening the crib just before bed, collapsing it in the morning, opening it again for Fin’s afternoon nap, then closing it again after nap time, but within a couple of days this grew tedious enough that we had her nap on our bed instead. (See commentary above about not being able to go on the balcony as a result, although honestly the crib was so close to the bed I doubt it would have made any difference where she slept, noise-wise.)

If we’d had the other room layout—with the sofa by the balcony—the crib probably would not have been as much of an issue, but since it was literally in the middle of our room and we had to navigate around it every time it was open, it was a huge nuisance in this particular cabin.

The Bathroom

Encore’s designers clearly did not value space for moving about the cabin. (The gaps between the bed and balcony door, the foot of the bed and the wall, and the closet and couch were among the smallest I’ve seen on a cruise ship.) However, they made good use of space in the bathroom.

Don’t get me wrong; the bathroom is tiny. But then, with the exception of Escape’s Family Oceanview stateroom, I’ve never had a cruise-cabin bathroom that wasn’t. Here I didn’t mind the size as much because the bathroom has a clean, minimalist design and is organized with practicality and efficiency in mind. As long as you have the room to yourself—and it isn’t, say, invaded by a two-year-old who refuses to leave—the bathroom feels downright spacious compared to the rest of the cabin.

Bathroom of Norwegian Encore Cabin 14268

The mirrored wall over the sink/counter makes the room feel larger, as does the room-length lighting. The sink is narrow but elongated so it doesn’t feel small. There is ample space on the shelves and in the under-sink cabinet to store your toiletries, and plenty of bars and hooks on which to hang your towels. (A small convenience that modern hotel room designers seem to have forgotten!) The curved design of the shower even makes that notoriously tight space reasonably comfortable.

Wire shelves in the shower provide plenty of room for your essentials, but there are also “conditioning shampoo” and body wash dispensers provided. Your mileage may vary, but I found both to be sufficient for my personal use, and even though I brought a travel-size bottle of shampoo, I ended up switching to NCL’s shampoo mid-week. I continued to use my own leave-in conditioner, so I don’t know how moisturizing/conditioning/de-tangling with their shampoo alone would be, but it is there in a pinch.

The water pressure was also good, and the water stayed hot. As in most cruise cabins, the shower also has a small clothesline, which is sufficient for hanging wet swimsuits but not much else.

Along with the provided shampoo/body wash, there is a dispenser of hand soap by the sink, which I really appreciated. I hate using bar soap to wash my hands and I always pack a pump bottle of hand wash when we travel, so this saved me from having to bring one. There are also water glasses attached to the wall, which we found useful for storing the kids’ toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other small items that would otherwise clutter the counter.

Storage and Other Amenities

Although the room itself felt very tight, there’s actually a lot of storage available in BA cabins. I didn’t use this space very well (hence our dumping-ground sofa), but perhaps if you know your options ahead of time, you’ll do a better job than I did.

Closet in Norwegian Encore Cabin 14268

First up, the closet. This is a pretty standard Norwegian closet, with shelves/the safe on one side, a clothes rack and hangers on the other, and a top shelf that stretches the width above. We mostly stacked our clothes on the shelves, hung our coats on the rack, and lined the bottom with our shoes. Be sure to hang something on at least every other hanger as they tend to bang around when the ship is rocking (i.e. at night when you’re trying to sleep). We didn’t have robes in the closet like we’ve had on some ships, but I learned later that they are available upon request. We also didn’t have a coffee maker like we’ve had in the past, but again, we found out later you can request one.

The space between the closet and sofa is really narrow, which makes getting to the right side of the closet a bit of a pain (especially with the upper bunk down), so you might consider storing some of your clothes (or other items you need to access frequently) under the sofa. There are two large, deep drawers hidden there that contain bedding for the sofa bed and upper bunk, but if you don’t need that bedding, you can ask your steward to remove it so you can use the drawers. (Or keep one of the blankets for cold days on the balcony.) The same goes for the mini fridge, which comes stocked (with items you have to pay for). Your steward can empty it, though, so you can store your own water, milk, yogurt-swiped-from-the-buffet, etc.

To the left of the mini fridge are empty cabinets. We didn’t use these as well as we should, but we stored some of the food items we brought (protein bars and snacks for the kids), as well as our Yetis, water bottles, and sippy cups, here.

Storage in Norwegian Encore Cabin 14268

To the right of the mini fridge is the desk space, which doesn’t include any drawers but does have a small stool that can double as a table, the waste paper basket, and a hair dryer. I brought my own dryer brush, but I did try the ship hair dryer once (in the name of research!). It was perfectly adequate, and the tethered cord had a lot more give than I thought it would. In hindsight, I would have been fine not bringing my own hair dryer. If you’re extremely tall, though, you might need to sit in order to dry your hair.

Hairdryer in Norwegian Encore Cabin 14268

On each side of the bed, there is a narrow nightstand with shelves, which we mainly used to house reading materials and our Freestyle Dailies. We also fit all three of our large suitcases under the bed, as well as our laundry bag.

Above each nightstand is a built-in lamp and adjustable reading light, as well as a USB port.

These are the only two USB ports. There are a few regular outlets available over the desk, so I would strongly suggest bringing a ship-friendly power strip with USB ports if you have a lot of devices to charge.

I also strongly recommend getting an over-the-door cabin organizer that you can use to organize small items. We hung this over the bathroom door and stored hairbrushes, sprays, sunscreen, and a host of other things that didn’t have a clearly designated place.

The Balcony

And now, the raison d’être for choosing this particular BA cabin over other similar options: the angled balcony.

Regular BA balconies are small rectangles, while hump balconies have an irregular shape, with one side wall extending out nearly twice as far as the other. Due to this extra space, you’ll sometimes get a hump balcony with a lounge chair. We experienced this on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and I’ve even seen them in some reviews of Encore hump balconies. Unfortunately, this particular balcony has the standard two deck chairs and table, no lounger, but the chairs recline at least, so you can sort of make your own lounger if you pull the two chairs together. (I later read in another forum that someone asked their cabin steward for a lounger on their angled balcony and he brought one. So that may be an option if a lounger is really important to you.)

Hump balcony of Norwegian Encore Cabin 14268

The extra room on the balcony is definitely nice, especially if you are sharing it with multiple people.

The real benefit of this balcony, though, is that it gives you more expansive views, including allowing you to peer down the side of the ship.

View toward aft as we were leaving Glacier Bay

My sister-in-law was even able to capture pictures of us from her own balcony two doors down, and on Glacier Bay day we all stood out there watching otters and chatting with her with ease, something that would be difficult on regular balconies (and impossible if they aren’t side by side).

The Bottom Line

Norwegian Encore Balcony Cabin 14268 is a great stateroom for anyone wanting a little extra balcony space, a quiet location, and proximity to elevators/stairs and activities in the aft portion of the ship. It is easy to pop down to the Manhattan Room, Savor, and Taste from here, as well as to walk up a couple of flights to the gym, spa, splash pad/waterslides, Galaxy Pavilion, and Speedway. Forward locations/activities (the buffet, theater, Observation Lounge, Vibe Beach Club, the gangway) are more of a walk, though, so keep that in mind if you have mobility issues or plan to spend most of your time in one or more of those locations.

This particular cabin holds four people but would probably be best for 2-3. It is not ideal for anyone needing a travel crib. Overall, though, we enjoyed our accommodations, especially as the service and cleanliness were second to none. Next time we will probably look at a Club Balcony Suite for our particular family situation or try to locate a balcony room with the sofa by the balcony, but 14268 served us well on our Alaskan cruise, and we would recommend it overall.

Thoughts? Questions?

What additional questions do you have about our stay on the Encore, and in particular about Balcony Cabin 14268? Have you cruised on the Encore? What accommodations were you in, and what was your experience? What makes or breaks a cruise/hotel room experience for you? Sound off in the comments below. We love to hear from you! And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter so you’ll never miss a review!

by | 152 Comments

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