xramx

I've been startled by some of the suggestions in cruise critic posts re: Haven tipping ... $20 pppd for the concierge, $100 per week for the butler. Our concierge team is both helpful & very pleasant to deal with ... but my longest request took at most 10 mins., most much less. $4-5 dollars per day per room would seem generous. The special tables & seats they arrange for are very nice, but obviously pre-planned.

From what I've read, the Butler activities vary considerably. Ours basically delivers snacks late in the afternoon & keeps the refrig and coffee stocked. A couple dollars a day would seem more than appropriate.

Our room stewart has been excellent, earning an additional tip.

The one group I would like to tip and don't know how is the wait staff in the Haven. They have been consistently outstanding. I'll try to discreetly inquire about this & post what I find.

If I've missed something, your input would be appreciated. We are a few days away from completing a Haven cruise, so I will be acting upon the above unless enlighten in the next few days.

We approached the terminal for our Celebrity Cruise to Bermuda on 5/3 with more than a little anxiety, having read many negative comments. Guess that must have been the old facility because the new one is run like clockwork. Never had a better managed luggage drop off. A port employee was managing the flow; stopping cars until one of the slots were available, then directing them to it. We were 3rd or 4th in line and the whole process took maybe 5 minutes.

Finding the parking was a no brainer, but when we boarded the bus back to the terminal. they announced we were suppose to bring our luggage onto the bus when we returned. Right ... there was only a small area for luggage and given one of our suitcase weighted more than a small elephant, lifting it would be a really challenge.

Wrong ... when we returned and approached the area for getting the bus to parking, I saw this big fellow jump off the arriving vehicle, take the suitcase of those in line & put them on the bus. When the small luggage area was filled, off the bus went ... a 30+ person bus with only 8 people. My fear of a delay was quickly dispelled when another bus pulll right up. I never had to touch my luggage .. and this smaller 20ish person bus depart with only 6 people on board. As we pull away from the curb, I could see another bus pull in behind us. Wow!

At the parking area, the bus had barely stopped when the driver began unloading the luggage to the area immediately outside the bus. I was so impressed I was considering how much I should tip ... but, didn't have a chance. He jumped back in the vehicle and drove off ... back to the terminal.

Although our class of service on the cruise allowed us to bypass any waiting in the terminal, things seemed to be cool calm and collected ... something more than one of our previous cruises lack.

So, our embarkation and disembarkation were so good ... I had to write this reivew!!!