Run14

Like Bird said, don't get your hopes up too high.  That said, last year they shifted it just as a cruise we were looking at dropped in price slightly. The two benefits added up and convinced us to bump up our cabin.  Now that I think of it, they probably made more money off of us...

This has turned into a really interesting discussion, and I think that I have a few things that I can add.

In general, all staff do genuinely want to help you have a great vacation and there seem to be a lot of processes in place to incentivize that within NCL.  With that said, they want to make sure a few people are exceptionally well taken care of.  Everyone is valued, but they absolutely still maintain a VIP list.  Some examples that I've seen personally are

• Large shareholders (think 250,000+ shares)
• Travel Agents with exceptionally high numbers
• "Friend of X" where X is a C-level executive at NCL or NCLH
• Top-ish tiers of the Latitudes program

I've seen nightly visits during dinner from the GM (like nearly every night he happened to check-in), dinner with the GM at a reserved table at a show, drinks sent to the table from senior officers with hilarious notes, gifts to the room, and more.  In one amazing example, the GM found out a guest that he was taking care of had a champagne saber in the naughty/security room (very clearly labelled "KNIFE" despite being flat/dull, but understandable).  He had the saber liberated, brought it to dinner with a bottle of Veuve, and sabered the bottle to celebrate with the guest.  Picture taken, memories made, and a lifeline cruiser cemented.

Last thing - snapping picture of nametags has become something of a game for my wife and I.  We always try to fill out a bunch of hero cards because, like others have said, we've learned that they're really important.  Most staff members know what you're doing if they catch you, and they're generally quite happy about it IME.

A few quick notes to add in case anyone is interested (I was before I experienced them) - 

 - If you have a butler, sometimes they'll go to the naughty room for you (but as others have said, sometimes you meet wonderful people there, so keep that in mind)

 - Champagne sabers will get you an introduction to the less fun officer in the security room, even if you disclose it (MANY TIMES) before/as you board.  It was all fine, but a bit of hassle, and they hold onto it and you get it back as you exit the ship (literally as you walk off, not the last night or something)

 - I've noticed that staff and especially beverage managers are always happy to prepare and serve wine you bring onboard.  They don't get a lot of training on wines they don't keep aboard, so it's usually fun for them.  If you're into wine, it's lead to many great experiences for us.  

If you're buying the stock for the first time, instead of waiting for a monthly statement just send them the trade confirmation.  They'll happily take that and it's got everything they'll need on it (just black out the account number).  I've never had to wait more than a day or two, and if I submit it during biz hours I usually have it back within a few hours.

All the predictions of NCLH headed imminently for BK are out of touch.  To start, Seeking Alpha has a decent write-up of some of the basics.  The big question left from that article is: Do they have access to several hundred million dollars to stay viable for a few quarters?  Here is the answer.  Hint: yeah, they do.

We probably won't see cruises for a couple of months.  I still have no doubt that my October transatlantic is going to be an awesome time.  

Congrats on the 50 years!! That's seriously amazing, and quite inspiring.  

As long as you get the luggage tags on before you hand the bags to the porters, you'll be fine.  They will likely remind you if you forget, but best not to rely on that. 

When you pull up nothing is immediately different.  Once you've gone through security things start to change - instead of the normal check-in line in the giant hall, you'll head on over to the Haven line/area to get checked in, then you will be escorted to the Haven waiting area lounge.  Enjoy some coffee or tea and a small snack, you'll be in there anywhere from a couple minutes to maybe 10.  From there you'll be escorted onto the ship, zipped up to the Haven, and be given an intro to the Haven experience.  That's when things get fun.  Oh, and make sure to board with room in your stomach - after passing around sliders, fries, and drinks, often you'll be given access to dine at Margaritaville.  I recommend the nachos.  To share.  (They're huge)

Enjoy and happy anniversary! 

Home Departure City - LAX

Arrival/Destination City - MSY

Airline(s) used - Delta 

Number of Connections - 0

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 09:30 PST / 15:14 CST

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 13:48 CST / 16:09 PST

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Y 2 days before

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 65

Home Departure City - LAX

Arrival/Destination City - MSY

Airline(s) used - Delta

Number of Connections - 0 out, 1 return (via SLC)

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 09:01 PST / 14:35 CST

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 18:55 CST / 23:41 PST 

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Y - 2 Days Before

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 64

If you're wondering, 2 separate cruises from the same port, about 9 months apart (and the exact same itinerary).  I won the poker tournament on the first cruise and, lucky me, the big tournament is on a duplicate cruise.  Also, in case you're curious, yeah, I'm still pretty pumped.  

Just jumping on to echo the idea that the sauces are a great idea.  I'm a foodie, so maybe biased, but local flavor sounds like an awesome gift to me.  Also agreed that a jacket is a good idea.  I've sailed the Caribbean in the summer and enjoyed having a light jacket on the balcony late a night (to be fair, I live in LA and 60 here is sweater weather).  DW and I are also planners and like to have everything ironed out prior to arrival - it takes a lot of stress out of it.  

The only thing I'd recommend is to enjoy your cruise, you seem to be focusing on the right things in comfort and being yourself.  Enjoy the cruise planning and don't hesitate to ask questions, everyone on this board was a new cruiser at one point!

6 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

Did they not give you a little buzzer that you could take to a bar and enjoy a drink???  I have been on the Epic and the Star, (not Haven) on both ships we knew there might be a 20 - 30 minute wait for the MDR.  We requested a table and got a buzzer and when it sounds you go to the front of the queue and get your table.  More fun than the casino actually.  At least you know you are guaranteed to win.  

That's awesome!  No buzzer for us, but I love that they are doing it now.  Much more efficient.  

14 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

 

where did you eat on thanksgiving?

 

do the MDRs have a separate haven line?

We ate in an MDR, and we were part of a large group (16 people I believe).  The entirety of the group wasn't in the Haven and, although we had a reservation, we waited for half an hour in a hallway so crowded I thought I was going to develop enochlophobia.  

23 hours ago, April42749 said:

So, a question:

If "you" are willing to spend "that much money" why not go on a luxury line?

For my DW and I this is something we've put a lot of thought into.  The biggest reasons that we stick with NCL/Haven are:

1) We love the entertainment of the big ships, which we haven't found on luxury lines

2) We love the respite of the Haven for a lot of time, but we do enjoy getting out and socializing/blending into a crowd 

3) We are in our mid 30's, and we don't want to be the only sub-65 cruisers.  We enjoy socializing with older cruisers, don't get me wrong, but from what we've heard from friends the mood is pretty different

4) We have platinum status on NCL, which doesn't provide a ton of benefits, but they do matter and it helps.  

5) We've honestly been really happy with the Haven and haven't (yet) been motivated to start looking.  That said, you never know...

8 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

is haven worth it at christmas? (bliss if that matters)

We've not done a Christmas cruise, but we have done a Thanksgiving cruise and I'd imagine there's a lot of similarity between the two.  I will say, without exception, we won't do a holiday cruise outside of the Haven again.  It's night and day.  The longest we've ever had to wait for a table at the Haven restaurant is about 10 minutes, and even then it was pretty easy because we just grabbed a drink at the Haven bar.  The main dining area outside of the Haven was always packed, and on the holiday itself it was a dumpster fire.  You couldn't pay me to take a holiday cruise in a standard cabin again.  

37 minutes ago, vicpylon said:

The Haven's utility is inversely proportional to your tolerance for people. 

I found myself instinctively nodding my head when I read this.  Completely agree.  My wife and I have done both Haven and gen-pop multiple times, and we only sail the Haven now.  Having a quiet and calm, yet indulgent and comfortable, place to retreat to at any time that is larger than a basic cabin is invaluable to us.  That said, just because we find value in it doesn't mean others will.  

The "little things" (as generally viewed by others) are more important/valuable to us than others seem to find them, especially the lack of waiting and under utilizing time. 

1 minute ago, esm54687 said:

Begging won't help.......   just don't open the thread

 Fair point and good suggestion.  

Let's please not let this devolve into the usual tipping conversation.  Please.  I beg you all.  

Seriously great trip report.  Objective in the info, highlighted what was your opinion, etc.  My wife and I would cruise with you three any day.  High five for handling everything that was thrown at you and brushing it off.  The smoker on the plane made me LOL, because of COURSE you needed another wildcard on your trip.  

Thanks again for a great review!

"Genpop" HAHAHA  and here I thought only a few of us used that... - following

Oh this one was funny.  Packed a couple of bottles of wine (perfectly happy to pay the corkage fee) because we were cruising with a pair of our wine loving friends.  The 4 of us were in a 2 bedroom Haven.  Each of us was missing a suitcase and the bartender asked if we had any booze in them.  After we said yep, he let us know they're in the locker.  Fair enough, we walk down there to liberate the vino.  

We get down there and all hell hilariously breaks loose.  We are trying to explain (admit) that we had some wine in our suitcases to an employee who thought we were trying to get around the corkage.  He was not happy, like unnecessarily irritated, and we had a couple of drinks in us so we, of course, thought it was funny.  When we started laughing, our butler busts in, out of breath and half scolding us and half apologizing.  At this point, any sense decorum we once had was completely gone and we were doubled over laughing. 

To answer your question, we were down there for maybe 5 minutes.  Technically we didn't take our bags (our butler did), and it cost us nothing to get the total of 4 bottles of wine to our room. 

28 minutes ago, wezie said:

HI.  Is the view from the balcony of the front of the ship or the side like a regular balcony cabin?

The balcony is on the side (and partially obstructed in some [all?] cases), with a forward view from the bedroom section of the stateroom.  You can find a few videos on Youtube if you'd like to see a walk-through.  

14 minutes ago, casofilia said:

Has NCL put out a definitive statement about it?   If so please supply source.

Thank you

Check out this thread - 

It's a hot thread and the numerous NCL statements in dailies are about as official as it gets.  

33 minutes ago, Shoppie124 said:

Can the Haven concierge make you reservations for escape the big top, the ice bar and the painting class?

Yep.  There needs to be availability, but I've been told "no" by the ice bar and then, miraculously, the Haven concierge had us booked at 8pm.  They can be awesome (it's hit and miss at times but generally great).  

On 7/26/2019 at 10:23 AM, KKB said:

Curious--did the free airfare cover the entire cost of the flights?

It did for us - we're LAX based so the flight to MSY was fully covered

As a Haven cruiser this idea floats like a lead balloon to me.  Not happy, not impressed, but willing to tolerate the program and see how it goes.  They get a single shot - if they mess it up I'm happy to start exploring any of the other cruise lines that send me seemingly endless flyers.  I was pretty irritated when they started the upgrade program because it meant the Haven was ALWAYS full, but hey, they need to attract people who will book the Haven next time since they got a "taste" of the Haven.  If I don't notice increased crowding or any other pains, fine/whatever.  It feels to me like another money grab.  Given what happened to the equity after the Cuba update I'm surprised we aren't seeing even more desperate ideas thrown out there.

Last cruise we used the free airfare. Worked out wonderfully, although it's worth noting that we used the Premium Air department to fly out a couple of days early.  Also, have a pending cruise (sail Dec. 1st) and just did the same thing.  It only cost us $25/person to change the date we fly out as well - twice as nice.  I'd happily use it again (and already am).  

4 hours ago, Cancer1037 said:

Wow that is a very nice savings. About the high prices for the flights that sort of makes this a very high priced avoids after if you were to sell this package, since you have the option to save so much on the flights. Well over the listed amounts that it is listed at.

Possibly, but there are two factors you're competing with.  First, a lot of people will just drive to NoLa, which partially negates that.  The second is supply.  There seem to have been a lot of people who want/need to sell them which may/may not exceed demand (certainly enough to depress the price somewhat).  

On 4/16/2019 at 6:04 AM, Cancer1037 said:

So with the discount how much did your total come to (approximately)?

Roughly 4k with all the taxes/fees/grats/etc for a forward facing Haven (H7) with all free at sea options.  I think it saved me over a grand after taking the "free inside stateroom" into account based on what the prices were at the time I booked.  The nice thing is the free airfare is saving me a decent amount of money because it's Thanksgiving weekend so prices are atypically high.  

Sadly they're now sold out so I can't try and see if the price drops!