MickeyDs

Ship to set sail at 4 and after a 2 1/2+ hour wait in lines that wrapped around the building and parking lot we made it on AFTER 4pm. Yikes! But we made it and it is beyond CROWDED! This should make for an interesting cruise and review 😳

Yup, were haven and were told repeatedly to stay in line. As we got near the door, lady walks out "who's in a suite"??

We asked her where she was 2 hours ago.

We upgraded to the Haven to avoid lines. NCL told us to arrive after 1 pm. We arrived at 1:30. We are now stuck in a line outside of the terminal along with roughly 3,000 other folks. Had we had any forewarning we would've been here much earlier. However the email explicitly stated to please arrive after 1 pm (I'm assuming because of the crew change over).

I have no problem waiting in lines. I spent 7 years in the Army waiting in lines - but the perk to skip everything was the main reason we booked the Haven. I'm not trying to seem too high maintenance, but with a little forewarning and better communication we could've planned this better. The Breakaway line in NYC was much better.

Call them and ask them to send you the upgrade email and then bid on what you want....

 

 

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The Epic does not participate in the bidding for upgrades process - it still utilizes the Upsell Dpt.

OP, I suggest calling 3 weeks out to gauge price and availability. If you're comfortable then book, or wait another week and hope the price has lowered.

Have cruised with my niece who has been a vegan for 4 plus years. No stress whatsover.

 

Guess it just depends on the vegan(s).

 

 

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It really does. I've never had meat, joined the army and did Basic Training plus a tour in Iraq no problem. I understood I was the one who needed to eat differently and I took care of it (drill sergeants didn't really understand and thought I was lying).

Got to University, large vegan/vegetarian population - so it was "cool" to be one. Would go out in groups and have some vegans/vegetarians gasp and make a scene if the restaurant didn't have "ample" choices. Even worse, they would get upset if a friend would choose one without "suitable" choices. I stopped hanging with them thereafter.

Most vegans or vegetarians understand the restaurant marketplace and are great at handling it. There are some that treat it like they have a disability that the restaurant did not accommodate.

Thanks, That is what I thought however when I saw this "The Haven also includes free open bar, specialty dining package, pre-paid service charges, and free WiFi for all 3+ day cruises." on the Haven info page my mind went in the wrong direction unfortunately. I think maybe the term upgrade was wrong I was considering before final payment changing it to the Haven. Then I assume I would be entitled to everything? Thanks again for the help.

You have it right. There's a difference between upgrade and Upsell.

UPGRADE: You pay the full difference in fares between your current room and the new stateroom. Ex. Currently booked balcony $699 pp; you see a Haven Spa room for $1799 pp and call NCL. You upgrade for $1100 pp. you receive all of the perks.

UPSELL: You pay whatever the Upsell department accepts. You only keep your current promotions. Ex. Currently booked balcony at $699 pp. You call Upsell Dpt and they offer you the same Haven Spa room as above for an extra $400 pp; total: $1099 pp. You do not get all of the promotions.

how do you track what rooms are reserved??

I'd look at the cruise I'm interested, select the cabin category I desired (H4 in this case) and then it would give me a list of cabins available. I kept count and the number never dropped, I knew a price drop was likely so I kept waiting. Upsell department should start calling people beginning of next week for my cruise, so I knew this would be the time.

I didn't want to risk people taking the upsells and leaving us without the room we wanted on the only cruise we could sail on. Worked fairly well.

There have been some questions about the H4 (two bedroom Haven) and CAS reservations on here, so I just wanted to share the booking I just did an hour ago.

I've been running fake reservations for about 6 weeks for this particular cruise. CAS sent us our first ever complimentary cruise for an insid room. Unfortunately it was for days we couldn't sail. I had read on here that sometimes people simply call CAS and say they want a particular date. I've done that about once a weekend with a response of "you can only receive the 10% off". That would make the cruise for 4 at $5010.

Knowing that with the upsell department beginning to release rooms at 6 weeks prior, I knew I had to book today to ensure an H4. Again, I had been tracking the # of H4s left (15 out of 42 or something). None had been sold in those weeks, so I delayed booking in hopes of a price drop before the up sells begin.

Today I logged on NCL, the prices currently state $2499 pp. I went through the booking and the price dropped at the final pages by $800. NCL wants to sell these before it hits the upsell department. I immediately called CAS saying I wanted to book. Instead of only giving me 10% off, they took the price of an inside cabin out of the fare (again I had been told for 6 weeks that I was not eligible for an upgrade, only a 10% discount). I received an extra $1000 off the cruise.

My wife and I, mom and aunt will be sailing in the Haven for $975 pp all taxes/fees included. My wife and I will be paying significantly more for the main bedroom, don't worry.

If you're flexible enough to wait, try booking right before these types of rooms hit the upsell department. If you're booking through CAS for a cruise not included in a "free" flyer offer - keep track of the room availability. CAS will eventually give you an upgrade and not a discount the closer it gets to sailing.

I'd always call the main CAS line during the week (9-5:30). I had mostly dealt with the weekend department who's employees were not as knowledgeable.

For those wondering, I bet around $1k on our first cruise - walking away +$400.

Hope this helps some people, and if you're on the Epic Nov 12th the last 14 H4's just dropped by $800.

If this was some sort of sporty put-down, as in VCU Rams, it missed the target. I'm totally oblivious.

 

But if I weren't, I'd say go Spiders. ;)

Haha, no totally genuine. I went to VCU and moved out of the area just last year.

How "Titanic" this all sounds. Let's face it, with the Haven, NCL and other mass-market lines with similar programs resurrected the class system. Cunard never let it go.

 

I wonder... if the ship goes down, would certain lifeboats be behind red velvet ropes, reserved for Haven passengers only? Titanic passengers who paid a premium got saved first.

 

If I could afford Haven accommodations, I'd be booking on Crystal or Seabourn or Oceania with their entirely upscale ships and service, rather than be sequestered in one relatively small area prohibited from the common folk.

 

NCL is basically middle-class. Creating the Haven to make people feel otherwise seems forced IMHO, but I recognize their profit motive, and if they can sell it, more power to them.

Sequestered? You can still go throughout the ship, but when it gets extremely busy on sea days you can always retreat to the private areas. I just saw you're from south side, go Rams.

While there is no special line for customs there is priority disembarkation.

 

Debarking from the BA last October we were escorted right past the huge line of people waiting to a point at the from of the line where we merged with the rest of the line but pretty much at the front of the line.

We had priority disembarkation from the BA in March, we got off the ship quickly but once you hit the escalators everyone got in one big line. I don't want people thinking USCBP cares whether someone paid more for their cruise or not than the next.

We just sailed for the first time on The Breakaway 9/18-9/25. I heard a lot of people making sarcastic comments about the Haven and just assumed it was jealousy at first...however, I quickly realized where the hostility was coming from.

 

For Embarkation they block an entire elevator (with Red Velvet ropes and a NCL employee) Just for THE HAVEN people.

 

At ALL shows (Free and Paid) they have the Red velvet ropes and NCL Employee blocking off 4-5 Rows in the theater. Once the show starts they remove the Ropes on the rows that No Haven people chose to sit in, but leave the ropes on the rows where they did, even if only 2 people sat in the entire row.

 

 

We paid for the Jungle Fantasy show and arrived an hour early, along with 4 other couples. 20 Mins prior to the doors opening an NCL employee came out and asked us all to move to a hallway out of site of the entrance to allow The Haven people to enter first without us being seen. Several people made comments about that, it was pretty insulting.

 

The Haven people also have a special line for Customs that allows them to skip the entire line.

 

It gets to the point of being insulting to the rest of the people that paid only slightly less than The Haven members...

 

Anyone else feel that way?

1. There's no "special line" for customs. US CBP doesn't care which citizens are haven or not.

2. The cost of the Haven is generally 2x, 3x pp of a Balcony. Some get up sells and some do not. I know most of the Haven is booked for my upcoming cruise and the up sells haven't begun. You may consider is "slightly less" but that's your POV.

3. You paid for the Jungle Fantasy show just like the Haven guests. The Haven guests paid for the luxury of arriving whenever they please and getting priority over other cruisers. If you value your time as much as it would cost to upgrade to the Haven then you should do it. But you seem to be fine with waiting in line.

4. Yes, they rope off a section for shows. I don't even bother booking a show because I can have the concierge escort me down. My wife and I paid for that privilege, as we value our time to that extent.

The Haven isn't simply about a slightly larger room, it's the overall experience of not worrying about lines, priority or anything else. We're about to go on our second cruise ever. We would rather sail once every few years in the Haven rather than sail every year in an inside. Others have the opposite view. It's everyone's personal choice on what they value.

Just a thought. While obviously no one (besides maybe the room Stewart) knows who is sleeping where. Might they know who the first and second passenger are (assume they get the free ubp and sdp) and who the third and fourth passenger are? I would think that would be listed on the reservation somewhere that the Stewart and restaurant had access to. If so, it might be possible that with all the 'friends and family sail free' bookings, they might be under the impression that you sailed free with your friends and therefore might not be as worried about impressing you with the service as the 'paying' customers.

I worked in the service industry for a number of years, managing executive transportation for films, weddings, fortune 500s etc....

The only thing that would annoy high paying clients more than delivering subpar service to them - would be delivering subpar service to their associates/friends. Generally the "add ons" are guests or acquaintances who used the service as part of a reference from the paying customer. The paying customer has spoken highly of the service and doesn't want to feel letdown if the acquaintances had a negative experience.

Now it's not usually like that on NCL, but this will be my mother and aunts first trip on the cruise line. We've raved about the Haven from a prior experience and if they don't treat my family the same or better than me (paying 65% fare for the larger bedroom) it would annoy me greatly.

Of course the pre paid gratuities are included in the 1st and 2nd passengers, so only the 3rd and 4th can "adjust" their gratuities based on service. You'd think that would be an even larger incentive to treat the 3rd and 4th passengers better if that would ever happen.

I think the staff generally treats everyone in the Haven the same. My wife is much more outgoing than I am, and the staff interacted with Her much more willingly due to that. They didn't mistreat me and took care of me, however it was a different interaction. Just how people are, the staff deal with a million passengers needing something and sometimes dealing with someone who's interacting with you as a person and not asking for something always, goes a long long way.

I am sitting here wondering what the reaction of the other couple was to the room sizes - because if I had gone with any of my family and friends and put such a clearly different standard room, I would not be asking for extra choccies from the steward - I would be insisting that there is a room change mid cruise and if the other couple refused I would be buying them a box of chocs to put beside their bed every night.

When you have two pairs of adults in the H4s, they typically switch rooms halfway through or pay different amounts.

My wife and I are paying 65% of the Haven room, whereas my mom and aunt are paying 35%. We know who is staying in each room

And their differences. The expectation is already set. If we had paid 1/2 each, well then that would be ridiculous and my mom and aunt would feel cheated.

I never said that our being in the second bedroom made the wait staff pay less attention to us. They were two separate points that I was making.

 

I have to say, I debated over posting this here for about a week, given the track record of backlash of a negative post, and decided today to post it. Maybe, I didn't word my posts exactly correct or made it seem confusing, but I seriously regret posting it. There seems to be a lot of people telling me that how I got treated couldn't have possibly happened and it must all be me and my misconstrued perception, well, we did get treated that way. Plain and simple. I started this post because I was curious to see if anyone had bad experience in the Haven. Well, just like the old saying goes, curiosity killed this cat. I give up. Consider this thread killed. Pretend it never happened and have a nice day. Enjoy your stay in the NCL bubble, I am going to hop over to the Disney bubble for a while.

I think it's the fact that you stated you weren't treated as well as the other couple but didn't dive into many details. Your experience in the Haven would be very atypical.

There are some people who don't care to be treated like a VIP, and the Haven wouldn't do much for them. I will say though, that I've never seen haven staff treat customers differently to an extreme (obviously if you're tipping regularly some will notice).

My wife and I stayed in the Haven Spa Suite. Due to the fact that we weren't "in the Haven" it seemed like many of the staff seemed to know the others whose cabins were there better than us. We made an effort to go to the bar and restaurant and after another day or so, they all started to use our names etc....

I think they give you as much attention as you seem to require. My mother and Aunt will be staying in the 2nd bedroom of an H4; we will be paying a considerable amount more for the main bedroom. My mom is very muted for what she wants and doesn't want to "bother" anyone. I've already let her know to make sure to tell any of the staff anything that she might want. She is paying for the Haven experience, including the attention to detail of her needs by the staff; that's why theyre there.

If you didn't use the concierge, butler or some staff they more than likely would barely remember you. Out of sight out of mind.

We've had to wait a couple of nights as a party of two. Only 5-10 minutes each time. No reservations are taken to my knowledge.

How to you get emails, or sign up to receive them, from the upsell dept? I've been on like a dozen NCL cruises and never got one previously. Then again, up until last week, I never even called the upsell dept so obviously I have been missing out.

I never signed up for any emails. Having read on here that people spontaneously receive them, I kept checking - didn't want to lose the chance.

They did ask me if it was a special event, and I told them it was our belated anniversary. I'm not sure if that put me on a "special list". I also booked over the phone originally, even though my contact was unavailable. I asked her if there was a perk to booking over the phone - she said "well it gives the Cruise Consultant credit for the booking".

I'm wondering if the cruise consultants try to take care of those who call in reservations instead of booking online. Who knows - it could all be random and I'm just lucky.

We're in a mid-ship minisuite...hoping to move to a Suite (or Haven but doubt they would offer that) for $500pp. We'll see.

 

All dependent on when you sail and how many people have booked. I initially booked a Guarantee Balcony on the Breakaway hoping to upsell to a Mini-Suite.

Roughly 3 weeks out I had an email waiting (I was checking my email several times a day for the upsell message starting 4 weeks out).

They offered:

Haven Family Suite (two bedrooms): $750pp

Haven Spa Balcony: $500pp

Haven Penthouse: $400pp

So in total, we ended up booking the Haven Spa for $1300 per person, couldn't pass it up.

Are you on the GA? And what dates? If you don't mind divulging what you paid for the upsell, I would be interested. Thanks.

I'm on the Breakaway. I booked a Guaranteed Balcony for $849pp and was up sold to the Haven Spa for $500pp, hope that helps!

Thanks for the responses guys!

I figured it may have been over reactions, just better to ask. Looking forward to it!

Wife and I decided since it is our Honeymoon, to accept an up sell to the Haven Spa Suite. We took this one instead of the Haven penthouse balcony since there is a small jacuzzi and Spa access.

I've read a couple of reviews that state, since the Spa Suited are on deck 14 it seems like they get secondary service compared to other Haven guests. Is this just an overreaction? I was an executive driver several years ago, and am looking forward to receiving great service (and tipping accordingly). I still have the option to switch to the H5, so I'm wondering if it's really the case?

Either way, looking forward to my first cruise!

Booked a BX, a couple of weeks was offered an Upsell into a Haven Spa Suite. Took it for $500pp. I can't complain and thought the only Upsell opportunities from a BX would be to a mini or regular suite. Looking forward to the Haven.