Norwegian Encore - Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles

Encore's week from San Pedro follows the standard Riviera shape: one sea day down to Cabo San Lucas, the three ports on consecutive days running south along the coast, then two sea days for the longer return leg from Puerto Vallarta, the farthest point of the loop. Cabo is the only tender stop, so the Mazatlán and Vallarta days start on schedule. What is unusual is the field. Five other ships in the catalog sail this exact loop from Los Angeles and two more call at the same three ports, and Encore sits near the top of the price band, above Discovery Princess, Royal Princess, Carnival Panorama, Navigator of the Seas and Brilliant Lady and below only Koningsdam; its sister Norwegian Bliss runs the identical itinerary for essentially the same fare. Encore's own Eastern Caribbean week from Miami is cheaper still. The case for paying the premium is the ship's hardware, which the ship page covers, and the absence of a flight for anyone in the West; the case against is that a 2025 thread asking which of Princess, Holland America or Norwegian gives the more relaxing Riviera week was steered by most replies to the other two lines, with Norwegian recommended mainly for its solo-traveler program.

The route threads are mostly about winter, which is when this loop runs. Posters in 2020 and 2022 agreed that the sea days out of Los Angeles are cold, around 50°F, and that the Mexican ports are in the low 80s with water on the cool side for swimming; nobody reported rough seas. Whales are the recurring reward: a 2022 poster on a Christmas sailing saw humpbacks repeatedly, another said Cabo boat trips were spotting humpbacks and dolphins in early December, a 2020 poster called winter whale watching from Cabo the one thing not to skip, and a 2025 poster who had sailed Norwegian Bliss on this loop twice in November mentioned whales at Cabo and good weather in Mazatlán. On the ports themselves the 2020 view was that Cabo and Puerto Vallarta are the nicer two and Mazatlán the plainest, though one poster found its centre walkable. The sailing suits West Coast families who want Encore's go-karts and slides on a winter break without an airport, and first-time cruisers within driving range of San Pedro; it is a poor value pick, since several rivals do the same three ports for less, Discovery Princess by a few hundred dollars per person, and a 2019 solo poster deciding between the Riviera and the Caribbean on Norwegian was steered to the Caribbean by every reply for its warmer weather and more cruise-oriented ports.