Old & Retired

The name of the Cagney's waitress you are looking for is Katerine Dela Cruz.  The name of the concierge is Sumedh Sawant.  Cagney's has one 'banquet' table next to a window.  All the way in the back and to the left.  LaCucina can also be accessed from the Four Seasons restaurant on deck 5.

21 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Was just on the Star and we ordered whatever we wanted. Nothing we chose had a supplement charge though, but we had no issues.

 

I don't care for the starters, so I always get one of the sides as my starter instead and it's never been an issue. Got the petite filet, hubby got the full size filet, we each had sauces and sides and dessert. Total bill was over $130 and all completely wiped out to nothing.

$130 for a $25 Outback Steakhouse dinner........

8 pm every night.  The shows and selection have been abysmal.  Some nights the 'show' is NCL playing an old movie in the theater.  Other nights it is bingo.  They have sliced the entertainment budget to the bone.

Keep in mind it is in NCL's best interest to keep the covid talk extremely quiet.  You will not get much if any response while on the ship when asking those types of questions.

On 5/18/2022 at 11:56 PM, don't-use-real-name said:

Even if the ship ties the lines up to the dock briefly and then releases them the PVSA must be

satisfied.

Can't just do a cruise by - waving at the port.

 

That Pacific storm must be something to reckon with causing this delay unless it is

something slow boat mechanical.

 

Marine traffic shows the SUN:

 

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

 

ETA Victoria 0600 hours

Twas the huge storm forcing the Sun to slow down considerably.

4 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

The club balconies on the Sun are the best/largest in the fleet, so getting one of those I assume would make you very happy! 😊 Just google it, and you will find several videos.

This is the correct answer.  If you have a chance to get one, take it.

The Sun is late to Victoria today and won't make it for the required stop.  Therefore the Sun has to stop in Victoria at 8am on Thursday.  The Sun is then scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 4pm.  Some 8 hours late.  If you are embarking the Sun tomorrow plan accordingly.  Told by my well placed source on the ship.

10 hours ago, rockfsh said:

Do they enforce the check in times at the terminal? Our group has different times due to online check in at different times.

There actually is no such thing.  It is just a suggestion for the newbies so they can be spaced out a bit.

This is another cost cutting measure by NCL.  Entertainment costs have been cut to the bone.  Often the nightly 'entertainment' is showing an old movie in the stardust theater or having a bingo session.  NCL used to have some pretty good entertainers.  Not anymore.

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Reality check. That is a fact of life in this post COVID world. Maybe look outside and see what is happening outside in the real world. Every service provider around you from restaurants to stores to your lawn care company to the trash company. 
 

A company offers a service based on a firm contract they hold with a vendor to preform a service. If a company has a contract with a vendor to preform a service, then they expect the vendor to compete the contract. Why would there be any other expectation?????
 

People from in every profession feel entitled to show up when they feel like it and because of the labor shortage, there are no repercussions for doing so. Because of that, the old-norm expectations of services are unrealistic. That’s what I see in the real post-COVID world. 

I agree.  All the companies are screwing their customers.  Let's just blame it on covid.  Why shouldn't NCL do better and actually deliver the product the customer paid for and was promised.......

If the other companies behave badly, NCL should as well......

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Well,,, if people call in sick, they call in sick. No different that any business. Sorry that you didn't get your tour, but NCL has little to no control over local tour operators and their guides/drivers no-showing for work. 

I agree.  We should blame the 'valued customer' for not having enough sense to believe they would get what NCL promised.  Let's not blame NCL for selling a product they knew, or should have known they could not deliver.  Rah Rah!

You WILL be notified if you win or lose.

I believe the phrase you are looking for is 'revenue generation by any means necessary.'

Very reliable sources have confirmed that the VIP breakfast and lunch is now served in Cagney's.  Deck 12 aft.

Used to be called Il Adagio.  Now it is called La Cucina.  That is where suite and VIP guests have breakfast and lunch.

52 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

If you are going to the Med in the summer it is broiling hot. The uncrowded sundeck with bar and lunch service and hot tubs and the pool is great on days at sea. The help of the concierge to get you off the ship first for days in port is key. Just saying....

Yeah, but almost certainly the concierge will allow non-Haven family to join the Haven mom and dad for priority port disembarkation. 

16 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

The one thing about NCL and the Haven is that it's very inconsistent. We had asked for M&Ms and gummy bears in February... whenever the gummy bear bowl got halfway empty it was topped off. The M&Ms weren't getting eaten as quickly (they gave us the mini ones), so they brought a 2nd bowl of the peanut ones. Those were gone in one day, and refilled the next with the minis left as is to slowly get eaten as time went on without any refills.

 

For more savory snacks, they noticed that all the meats and cheese got eaten up but some of the small sandwich thingies didn't - so next time they doubled up on the stuff they saw we preferred eating. Some butlers are great like that - others even when you tell them they still don't get it.

 

Put it in writing, be clear with your expectations and wishes, and don't be embarrassed to keep asking them. Our first experience we didn't want to 'bother' them or felt awkward after asking and not getting it. Our experiences after that and growing out of our shyness and just not really caring any more - we paid a lot, we should get the 'good' experience... and we haven't had a bad time since then.

Sometimes the concierge does not approve the M&M purchase in enough quantity.  Even though the butlers tell the concierge the demand is high, the concierge, maybe with guidance from the GM will not buy enough M&M's or other desirable snacks.  In that case, many butlers actually purchase the M&M's themselves from the ship store to please their guests.

Since you paid a lot of money for the Haven, you will want to spend a lot of time there.  The lounge, the restaurant, the pool etc.  If you don't want to spend much time with the boys while you are on the cruise you should be fine.  However, if spending time with the boys is important to you, it WILL be a problem they don't have Haven benefits.  Upgrade them to the Haven if you value spending time with them.

1 hour ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I do feel like she was probably just "Ok" and I communicated "OK"

 

I don't like having to ask twice for something, just feels weird and nothing was end of the world, but having paid 3-4x of the cost of a balcony, I definitely expected a little more intuition and higher level of service. 

 

Just wanted to put in my 2c about my experience, it does seem like everyone has somewhat of a different experience  with butlers which is a negative NCL needs to fix imho. 

That's the issue though.  You paid a LOT of money to be in the Haven and have a butler.  There should not be any 'ok' butlers in NCL.  If they do not excel, every single week, they need to be retrained or sacked.

NOLA cruise port is a disaster.  So unorganized, small and the staff are rude and dismissive.  Worst embarkation port ever in our experience.

5 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

You you will get escorted first onto the ship if you are in the Haven, room category in the Haven doesn't matter, everyone in the Haven is grouped together and you get on before everyone else. On the Joy, they did a "intro" tour where they took us by the pool and gave a speech, although no one could hear the speech over the waterfall noise so I could not tell you what is said. No reservations are needed to eat lunch or dinner in the Haven but it is a first come, first served situation. The first night is the busiest so arrive early for dinner.

 

As for the butler, I think this is a "Varies from sailing to sailing" experience for people, based on room category, which butler they get, etc. I felt like my butler didn't do very much for me and while she was very nice, didn't seem to pick up on the things that we wanted. I will give two examples.

 

1) I asked for some spicy corn nuts to be a snack delivered daily to my room instead of the strawberries and other stuff. These spicy corn nuts are found at the Mojito bar and a few other bars around the ship. I knew they had them because I got them at the Mojito bar earlier in the day. On Day 2, my butler brought me a bowl of them, covered with saran wrap. So I'd eat a few, then cover it up, etc. On Day 3, she removed my bowl of half eaten corn nuts and never replaced them. I didn't ask for them again because I just felt weird about it, esp. since the items I asked to NOT get (The stawberries), started coming 2-3x a day after that. But imho, a good butler would have had a fresh bowl of those corn nuts delivered to my room everyday. And I know there will be people who say that there were probably circumstances as to why she didn't, but guests pay a premium to be in the Haven. I shouldn't have had to go to the Mojito bar to ask for the little containers of corn nuts to bring back to my room. I also asked for extra coffee pods daily and it wasn't until Day 3 that she started to realize I was not joking about the coffee, I drink a lot of it, and she started leaving extra pods in the room. 

 

2) On Day 2, I accidentally broke the clothes line in the shower. By "broke", I mean that I pulled the clothes line out and the silver knob on the end popped off. I set the knob on the corner of the shower and went about my day. In the evening, when my butler came around to say hello, I told her about the shower clothes line, apologized for breaking it, and asked her if she could have someone  fix it for me. She was like "Oh, the carpenter noticed earlier today that the clothes line broke, I'll have him come back tomorrow and fix it." First of all, the carpenter was in my room, noticed something was broke, and didn't fix it?!?! Why not? Seems weird. I would have expected if the noticed something was broken, the butler would have said to me "Hey, we noticed your clothesline was broke, we are going to have the carpenter come fix it" instead of noticing it was broken and waiting for me to ask about it? Idk, seemed weird. 

 

Hope this helped in some way

 

I guess I am just not a butler sort of person, whole thing was very strange to me. I felt weird about asking for 

Sounds like either you had a 'bad' butler or did not communicate effectively with her, or both.  Butlers like to have specific directions on your wants and needs.

Your point on the carpenter is correct.  Why were they in your room and why didn't they fix an issue they themselves noticed.  Strange indeed.

7 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

I think the easiest way to explain what the butler does is to look at him/her as part of your service "team" in the Haven. The Concierge handles anything "outside" of your cabin (dinner & show reservations, embarkation & debarkation, shore excursion questions/reservations, onboard account issues, etc.)  Your room steward handles anything "inside" your cabin related to cabin cleanliness & general comfort (cabin/bathroom cleaning, fresh towels, fresh linen, lounge chair cushions, turn-down service, etc.) Your butler handles anything "inside" your cabin related to food (snacks, room service, replenishing coffee & supplies, arranging parties or get-togethers, etc.)  The butler also handles anything else the Concierge or room steward do not (e.g. your butler can run errands as needed. Accidentally left your sweater in LeBistro? Your butler can retrieve, etc.)  There's so much a butler can do, it's hard to make a list.

 

If you don't utilize them, nothing happens. (They are scheduled to drop of daily snacks & treats to your cabin, but you can ask them not to do that if you prefer.)  You have to use the butler if you order room service.  Other than that, you can just let them know you won't need them.

 

Yes to a Haven tour upon embarkation (not required, but available) and no to Haven restaurant reservations (not necessary.)

This is an excellent explanation of concierge, butler and room steward services.  Well said!

7 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

I think they are new. I had to ask at the cruise next desk for my platinum pin when we were on the Getaway last month. I was there anyways to sign up for two cruise next certificates. l will get a sapphire pin after my next trip. I can't tell you right now where I put my platinum pin, but it will make me smile when I come across it. Just like the few ship pins do when I get around to dusting the dresser that they are sitting on. I only have pins from Dawn, Breakaway, and Escape. They are a reminder of fun times that I have had with my husband. What I wish they would bring back is the little box of Godiva chocolates that they used to leave you. It was only four pieces, but it was yummy.

If you go back a little further it was 8 pieces.

Hope you like your martinis shaken and not stirred.....

13 hours ago, pamps2801 said:

If you had a Haven Suite, and another couple did not, could you not order, 4 appetizers, 4 entrees, and 4 deserts, from the Haven restaurant, and have dinner out on your balcony, the 4 of you ?

Absolutely.  Your butler will bring you just about anything you want, within reason.  Double up and get 4 surf and turfs.