fourofakind

Spoke to CAS yesterday they are extending tier status until March 31st 2022.

I have cruised Princess, Royal Caribbean and NCL and NCL without question is my preferred line for casino cruising. Atmosphere is great, comps are excellent and the table/machine selection are excellent as well.  I have been all the different tier levels in their players club and they treated me well from the bottom tier to the top tier. If you have the chance to give them a try I would highly recommend it!

I was on the December 28th Bliss cruise. I took my 9 year old daughter and 13 year old son to see Six and Jersey Boys (I never saw either before so did not know what to expect). Six the kids loved. They loved the dancing, costumes etc. Very high energy and my daughter especially loved it and wanted to see it again. Jersey Boys was a disaster. I had NO idea about all the F bombs and just sat there for a bit hoping it wasn't going to happen again but sadly it seemed to be a huge part of the show. Plus the kids were bored to tears and couldn't follow it. No fancy costumes and snazzy dancing like Six. I would definitely give Six a shot with the kids but skip Jersey Boys. 

Do you travel with any children? They have the arcade package for $180.00 for the week, perhaps you can kill some money on that and make the kids very happy at the same time. I also love buying expensive scotch and travel exclusives in the duty free.

Got a killer pair of Maui Jim sunglasses that were selling for $225.00 on the ship with some of my OBC. I normally wouldn't spend that much on sunglasses but had the credit so what the heck. Just as an FYI- those sunglasses are really worth it! Crystal clear. Way better than my Ray Bans. Also, some really nice perfumes and occasionally some jewelry catches my eye.

The photo gallery has this cool laser etched lighted crystal block thing that they sell for $99.00 They will use any pic you have on your cell phone to make it and it comes out really nice.

Massages etc in the spa. Also, the spa sells some really nice shampoos, conditioners and hair treatments you can purchase to take home with you. I love the Kerastase  products (high end Loreal salon product) they are cheaper on the ship and no tax so you can kill some money on that if you like that kind of stuff. 

Shore excursions, pocket books, shoes, clothes, watches, art (not a fan of on board art but some people are), Starbucks, Bingo, deal or no deal, laser tag/ go karts on the newer ships, etc. You'll have fun trying to figure out what else you need lol. I recently bumped up to Elite so I have $1,000 to try and spend.. Fun fun.

Anyone know what the birthday offer is for Elite? For Ruby it is $100.00

1 hour ago, Beardface said:

I'm going to go on a limb and say if you gamble enough for Norwegian to comp your room, there is a very small chance you are actually cruising free.  They're getting their money from you one way or another.

This is true but we are having a lot more fun giving our money to NCL then the average cruise passenger who books their room and pays full price out right. My money is spent over the course of a week as entertainment. My upcoming July cruise on the Escape is a comped Haven room, mock booking shows it would have cost me $8,000.00 to pay for it out right. That's $8,000.00 worth of entertainment I get to enjoy in addition to my Haven room and amenities 

I just wanted to come back on here and give a quick review of my rental... it was AWESOME!!!!

We took a cab from the pier to H2O watersports it was about 10 ish minutes and around $15.00 dollars. Cabs are metered and the ride is pretty easy. Our rental time was for 11am but wound up getting there at 10:15 which was fine they let us move it up to 10:30 so we didn't have to wait. Quick little safety briefing and went over the equipment (anchor, switching fuel tanks if we run out etc,) and they went over the map drawing it out for us where we should go for the different things we wanted to do. They were very thorough and took plenty of time to give us great directions. They gave us a cooler full of ice and they lent us a knife with the half box of bait we purchased so we could do a little reef fishing.

Off we went and headed over to the shipwreck to check that out first. There we fed the fish which was a lot of fun as they come right up to the boat and even jump right out of the water if you feed them, we had tons of fish around our boat and they followed us as we drove away it was so much fun! We hit this spot a second time at the end of the day because it was just too cool. We then went and drifted over some reefs and did a little fishing, we caught a blue striped grunt which wowed us as it's such a beautiful fish. Took a few pics and sent him back home to the reefs. Then we drove around admiring all the beautiful sites and little coves everywhere, so many things you can only see from the water. Next we went into the bay and drifted for a bit so we could turtle watch, we saw tons of turtles in there it was amazing! If you shut the motor down and just drift they will come right up to the boat it's pretty cool. From there we headed to the worlds smallest drawbridge this bridge was TINY and a lot of fun to go through. First we had to wait for the traffic light to turn green and then we could safely go under the bridge. We intended to go around and do a loop but the waters were getting really rough on the other side of the island so we turned around back under the tiny bridge and headed home the way we came. Lots of sightseeing from the water and then headed back to H20.

As soon as they saw us nearing the dock they were great came running over to grab a line and help us in. Easy peasy. In total we only used 3 gallons of gas which I was surprised about I thought for sure it would have been a little more. They give you 2 tanks and we only used half of 1 tank and didn't need to touch the second tank and we were out on the water for the full 5 hours we rented the boat for. We did drift a fair amount of time while fishing and turtle watching but we drove around quite a bit as well.

All in all a GREAT day on the water and we will definitely do this again and use H20 as they were fantastic. We were 3 women with boating experience but really they make it so easy most people can do this. Just pay attention to the safety stuff and you'll do fine.

I would highly recommend this to anyone considering it!!!!

I was on this cruise with you and agree it was EXCELLENT! Food was fantastic, specialty restaurants and main dining rooms alike not a bad meal to be had anywhere. And the casino action was great! I saw two $12,000 jackpots and several smaller ones while I was in there. I wasn't that lucky but had a blast trying!

Congrats on your winnings and great review thanks!

I feel ya I couldn't  function without my coffee either. I bring a small thermos on cruises with me this way I have the option to prepare my early morning coffee the night before or make a nice iced coffee in the afternoon.

Enjoy your cruise!!!

3 hours ago, hladygirl said:

Just off the Gem. Only saw or heard of one person winning on the slots. He won $1,287 the last day. Others all reported the slots were not ever paying anything out. 

That's exactly what I thought of the Gem both times I was on it...slots are REALLY tight! Breakaway and Escape slots are great Gem was horrible (for me). Had fun playing the lock it links last time but took a beating on every single machine I played. Not just me either everyone was commenting the same and I never saw any winners over the week. OP hope you have better luck!!! 

4 minutes ago, dexddd said:

For the NY embarkations, the lounge is too small to start with.  Not making excuses, it just is.

I thought that as well! I think the Platinum waiting area is bigger then the Haven lounge, lol crazy. In NY non Haven in the lounge should not be allowed because of this. Maybe other locations with bigger lounges would be different.

Here is what happened to me a few weeks ago while checking in to the Haven on the Escape- No room left in the Haven lounge :(

I was sailing with my 3 children and looking forward to our very first Haven experience... Easy check in, comfy lounge, snacks for the kids while we waited etc etc. Nope not so much. We showed up around 10 am and were greeted with a packed Haven lounge and not a seat to be had, only crumbs left of what once was snacks. We waited to be checked in and then was kindly escorted to the Haven "overflow" area which was just some roped off area outside the lounge. Nothing special, no snacks etc. Made me wonder if all those people in the lounge were actually Haven guests or just checking in with Haven guests...

Thanks guys for this post and all the great info in it! Lazlo and TammyD extra thanks!!!! I just reserved a boat for 5 hours on May 8th after reading your posts. Fingers crossed for a fun day!

Coachyo it looks awesome and a great deal go for it!

Wondering if they will be starting a new sale this Saturday, possibly a Mothers day sale? I was just on the website doing some cabin research to book for July and a new screen popped up with a completely different sale, of course when I went to the next page it changed back.

It was interesting it showed all little pink boxes that said friends and family along with mint boxes that said free at sea. It was not the same purple box saying free extra guest offer. Made me think they were testing the website to get ready for something new and mistakenly made it go live for a few seconds. Or maybe it was just a glitch...

I was planning on booking a cruise today but now I'm thinking I'll wait a few more days and see if this new sale comes up

Free to explore sale. Well at least they changed it, a little.

PLUS, BALCONY & ABOVE STATEROOMS ON ALL CRUISES GET A $50 SHORE EXCURSION BONUS CREDIT PER PORT

BOOKING TIP: We'll apply the bonus credit to your booking automatically – no need to opt-in – but if you want to double your credits, choose Free Shore Excursions as one of your two Free Offers and you'll get $100 per port! Note: Offers do not apply to Sail Away staterooms.

Not a fan of Moderno that place has really gone down hill. The first time I went several years back I enjoyed it, every single time after that it has been no good. Meats overcooked, bland and really salty. Nothing special at all. I don't even bother going there anymore it's a waste.

Now Le Bistro...that place is the bomb! Every cruise I book a dinner there and most cruises multiple nights. The beef tenderloin and Crème Brule is outrageous. Teppanyaki is usually pretty good and a second night there is not bad if you get a different chef for a new experience, or if you're like me have too much Sake and the first time is fuzzy

La Cucina is better then it used to be they changed the menu so maybe give that one a try again it's decent. Plenty of low carb selections at the restaurants no worries. I usually do keto when I'm not cruising and would have no problem sticking to it at those venues, except for that darn Sake and Crème Brule.

You get everything Haven just like everyone else in the Haven. The only thing that remains the same is whatever perks you got at the time of booking stays the same (beverage pkg, OBC etc)

Nobody in the Haven will know you got yours from an upgrade unless you choose to tell anyone. You will have a Haven room, Haven key card, butler, Haven restaurant etc. etc.

Congrats and enjoy your cruise!!!!

Yeah this is one of those promotions that we don't get to use very often and most of the time it goes to waste. The thing that urks me the most is when you only have 1 port (Bermuda) They give you three $50.00 credits total but you can't combine them you must use them on 3 different days. Bummer.

There is a way to get a little OBC from them if you book cheap excursions (almost impossible I know lol). No matter the cost of the excursion once it's complete they will give you the $50.00 credit so let says you book a transfer for $30.00 you would get an extra $20.00 credited to your account. I was surprised they did this but it must be automated or something. I booked a clam shell for $40.00 at GSC and they gave me the full $50.00 credit so I made $10.00 on the deal. Hardly anything to get excited about but to answer your question yes technically you could get yourself a couple dollars if you book the right excursions.

Nespresso and they stock you up with the black ristretto pods (regular) and the blue lungo pods in regular and decaf. I normally use the ristretto so I had the butler leave me extra of those and do away with the blue pods. I'm a latte fan so I brought a portable cheapie frother with me and had milk stocked in my fridge. Yum. So convenient to make my own early in the morning instead of heading down to the atrium.

Enjoy your cruise!

4 minutes ago, Shidah said:

I’ve read reports of soot before, but I was recently on the Escape in an aft balcony on deck 12, not Haven though, and had zero soot.  Is it more prevalent towards the outer sides of the ship?

Not sure but that would make sense to me. Also I was thinking maybe certain decks have more soot then others. I spoke with our cabin stewart about it and she told me it was normal for our cabin and she would clean it and set it up every time we get to port which she did. I think she was a little mad with me because day 3 when I bumped into the hotel director I mentioned the soot problem and he sent a team to clean it but I think maybe that got her in a little trouble. I didn't expect a cleaning team I was just mentioning the disappoinment with the soot.  Felt bad about it after that and never mentioned it again but pretty much the balcony went unused all week. 

I just returned today from the Escape Haven aft balcony room 10914. Really nice room. 2 full baths. The guest bath was a really tiny shower but it was super nice to have the second toilet. We weren't crazy about the main bathroom having only a curtain and no door but the bathroom itself is huge and quite nice.

Balcony was really large and nice but not usable alot of the time because of all the soot (?) we were getting on it while underway, couldn't even sit down on the chairs without getting black stuff all over our clothes. We got much more use out of our prior standard balcony's then this aft Haven one. They sent a team to clean it but it was a constant problem. When in port the room stewart would clean it and set up the cushions and it was excellent until we got moving again. Kind of a bummer to have such a great balcony but not be able to use it much.  I would only do this room again for a port heavy itinerary or Bermuda where you're docked for 3 days and can get lots of use out of it.

The room is fantastic though. Lots of space and so many closets. We loved the room and the aft balcony view was awesome. 

5 hours ago, gizfish said:

We were in a haven spa suite.  The bed was amazing.  It was the perfect support to soft ratio.  The topper was devine.  When you add the fine quality bedding and the perfectly not too heavy not to light duvet....ahhhhhh the bed.  I know mattresses are so subjective, but we have had a water bed since the eighties and I NEVER am truly comfortable on any other type of mattress....that is until last week in that bed.  If I weren't so leery of change I would seriously consider it for home.  I have a very good feeling that you probably don't need to bring your own topper.  Sweet dreams!

Thank you so much! That sounds amazing 🙂 Maybe after this trip I'll be buying one of those mattresses lol. 

I hope you don't mind me asking this question on your thread but how is the mattress in the Haven? I am in an aft penthouse on the Escape this Sunday and I'm wondering if the mattresses are soft?  These child bearing hips of mine have betrayed me and I need a soft mattress to get any sleep these days. Anybody feel those beds are soft?

Don't laugh but I usually bring my own memory foam on NCL because I find their regular beds to hard for me. This is my first time in the Haven and I'm hoping to not have to lug around an extra suitcase if I can help it. 

Please and thank you 🙂

8 hours ago, Wendy&Grumpy said:

 

Pre--concierge responded to my inquiry this morning saying call Shorex asap to have it switched as they sell out fast - Shorex says not available to book until the 15th. He was able to tell me that Ocean View  Villa will be $499 for my sailing (May 1, Dawn).

Thank you so much very helpful! I will call for my sailing in the morning. 

Thanks!

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 2:14 PM, amygutman said:

That is ridiculously awesome!

Off to call our pre-concierge....many, many thanks!!!!

Amy

So just wondering if you were able to book it and the cost? I'm sailing Haven this Sunday on the Escape and would love to book one as well.

Anyone have any more info on these?

Thanks!

Trish