Sailing12Away

Tried that, but I don't fully trust what they're saying for some of the ports as it doesn't make sense to me (the SJ one being the most prominent). I get that the plan may have to change based on which ship gets there first and such, but wanted a general idea of what the plan was. Figure we'll ask the crew when we get on board where they've been stopping at the last few rounds as they'll know better than corporate.

If you are in an owners suite or garden villa, then your mini fridge items are free. If you're in a regular Haven room, then nothing in your fridge is free. Has nothing to do with which drink package you have, it all depends on the specific Haven room you booked. Celebrity is the same - only their top tier suites get free mini fridge items (learned the hard way in November...). But you can ask your butler to stock the fridge with pitchers of stuff for free. So a pitcher of iced water, lemonade, juice, iced tea, fountain soda.... things like that are free. But if you wanted a can of soda, or a bottle of water - nope, there would be a charge if they brought it to you.

Even better, go to any bar and get a mudslide, then pour your coffee into that....

There are some Haven cabin layouts that are better than others, and the same with the showers. We love sailing on the Joy on decks 14 & 15 as the cabins tend to be much larger than those in the courtyard and a cheaper price too, so better value. But the shower stinks, it's a high tub to climb over to get into the shower. Other cabins have no tub and a gorgeous walk in shower with ocean views. So it's all a learning curve, and thanks to both this site and others out there you can see the specifics of your cabin type before you book so that you can find the best one for you. For us, I'll deal with a high tub as a con since the rest of that cabin & balcony make up for it (our cabin on Celebrity Summit was even worse, that tub was nearly above my knees and a hike to climb up into), but if I was booking a room for my folks or my MIL, no, I wouldn't give them that room at all.

No need to worry about it until you're on the ship. But here's a sneak peak at what the card will look like. If you're in a Haven room it will be similar to these with the starfish, if you're in a regular room your card will either be orange, teal, or purple with a different image. Bottom right corner has the station location code - any crew member will help you find where to go, they all have a list with them on day one to help direct people. They're usually at restaurants, bars, things like that which are easy to find. Up top it will show what type of dining plan and drink plan you have (if any) - that's the 3D/PBP up top for 3 dinners and the premium beverage plan. Ironically, looking at those cards it looks like for one of our trips on 9/16/22 my husband and I had different muster stations even though we were in the same cabin. Beyond bizarre... unless I've stumbled upon a secret bonus keycard he had that I didn't know about. 🕵️‍♀️ Ooooooh.... that was our Canada trip where I got Covid. So yes, he did get moved to a new room by himself at the end of the trip when I was quarantined. So that must have been his new station for the last 3 days of the trip if there had been an emergency. Funny, never even thought about something like that to be aware of. Learn something new every day!

Realize this is several months late to the party - but any hints or tips on how to find that specific details about where the ship will physically be docking? Obviously if an itinerary says Bordeaux (Le Verdon) you know you're not actually in Bordeaux proper - but for our upcoming trip in the Caribbean there's a few spots where there are multiple cruise ports in the cities, and the one we'll be at will change our plans for the day. For example - San Juan. There's the port at the Pan Am location, and then there's the much more desirable (to us) location directly on the side over in Old San Juan. Itinerary just says "San Juan" and no port address to figure it out. From what we've been able to read it seems that ships embarking from San Juan will use the Pan Am port, but for a port of call short visit they tend to use the ones on the Old San Juan side. But it would be nice to know for certain.

You just need to research your ships a bit more for NCL if having an adult only area is important to you. If you can swing the price of Haven, their upper sun deck areas are adults only and have hot tubs. The Haven pools are not large, but decent for a soak and to cool off. Children are allowed in them, but I've personally never seen any in them except once on Epic. So they're allowed, but it tends to be a much quieter environment, no splashing or jumping or running around so they don't bother me at all like on the main pool decks. Ships that have a Vibe beach club are also adult only areas with hot tubs, but they have an extra cost. And then there are ships with Spice H2O - that is an adult only pool on several ships (Epic, Escape, Joy.... help me out guys, which other ships?). Free - and adult only pool. So they do exist, you just need to look around at the deck plans to find the right ship for your needs/wants/wishes. This thread may help you:

Found one of the photos someone had posted on FB with another view.

This is 100% it - realistic expectations. Sure, some people can get cans of soda for free, but that is not what everyone experiences. Some people can get the butler to bring them cocktails every hour on the hour, but that is not what most people experience. Some people are allowed to have friends and family outside of Haven join them for some meals (at a cost) in the restaurant, but that is not all the time. My biggest gripe here on CC (and FB is even worse) are the so called experts who proclaim that as a Haven guest you can get xyz as if it's stated in the T&C and an advertised legitimate perk of that cabin class, when it is in fact not. As you said, go in expecting what you are truly owed and promised for your experience, and if you're able to get anything beyond that it will be a bonus. Rather than expecting the same things passenger xyz got on a completely different sailing with a completely different crew - and then being disappointed over something that was never yours to begin with.

Saw photos posted in a FB group that did confirm the infinity pool is up and running at the Silver Cove section of GSC. They put it near where the gazeebo thing was all the way to the left. Almost directly across from the spa if you keep going west - but up in that area. Will have lots of photos to share in about 30 days when I'm there myself in one of the 2br villas. Big group of ~15 people sharing, so the price worked out to around $150 per couple.

I have zero desire to sail on Carnival, and hubby has zero desire to try out Princess. He claims that any cruise line that had a documentary made about them for not good reasons is a cruise line he wants to avoid. We've tried Celebrity - it was fine. They're typically outside of a price range we're comfy with so unless the itinerary is amazing we don't book with them. Having said that - we have 2 trips coming up with them because of the itineraries. RCC was just meh on the ship we tried. Again, for a fancy suite with them it's out of the price point we're comfortable with. I also have zero desire to be on a ship with that many passengers, was literally getting anxiety looking at just the deck plans for Icon. So for us, that leaves Virgin which we're interested in, and MSC which we would try. But we're honestly moving away from the big guys and looking at smaller lines that go to more unique itineraries and off the beaten path.

Owner's suites and garden villas are a bit different. You get free liquor in your cabin, and the mini bar in your room is free as well. So the butler will restock your fridge and bring you sodas and things like that for free. As for calling them asking them to bring you a pina colada and a Mr. Worldwide.... if they did and didn't charge you, I hope you tipped well as that is outside the scope of what they're *supposed* to do.

It was ok, no great deals that we could find for the places we were interested in. Surprised to see such a heavy presence there from Pakistan and Croatia - each country had a half dozen booths promoting travel to those areas. Spoke to a few of the smaller cruise lines and at a quick glance their pricing is more reasonable than we had thought it would be compared to what we typically pay for Haven on NCL. Was able to get our tickets to the show for free this year (next year if you google around you can find some insurance agencies that give them away for free), so not bad for free to get some new tote bags and updated info on things that interested us. Plus was able to flag down the TA we booked our Galapagos trip with at last years show and give her a few choice words since she's been ignoring emails. Can't run from me when I'm standing in front of you... but yeah, that's another long story of why I don't like TAs.

We were intrigued by their wine trips... so will definitely look at them again.

Not a huge deal breaker, but if you see a familiar name or face that you've had good experiences with in the past, it's a sigh of relief to know your trip will have a better chance of being extra good. I don't put too much clout into the officers so much as some of the bartenders. We each have our own priorities. But if I see a name I remember it gets me more excited knowing we'll have a blast rather than having a 'break in' period for a newer name that doesn't know how we like to party yet.

If you're able to find out any info on the Haven staff (concierge & bartenders) that would be amazing. We'll be onboard in <30 days. Hoping to see some familiar names.

Yup, it feels odd to not have an NCL trip booked for 2025 yet, but there are lots of options out there to pick from. We're headed to a travel show here in NY tomorrow, so I plan on skipping all the big guys and looking for those smaller cruise lines that have funky itineraries that catch my eye more and giving them a few minutes of my time to tell me why I should consider them. Hubby found an itinerary on Swan that went all around Sicily and even stopped at his grandfather's hometown - so hoping they'll do a similar trip in 2025 or beyond that we could hop on and take a photo outside grandpa's old home.

Yes, they do. Even if it's simply the daily 'good morning, here's your MDR choices for today' that would help tons. If they can print out thousands of daily newsletters, they can have someone on the IT team upload the day's menu to a clickable link in their app. Or heck - put it on the tv if internet is sucky. Even for their shows - how hard would it be to have that streamed into the cabin rooms on a dedicated 'ship entertainment' channel? I know they sometimes show clips from the game shows, so why not some of the other things like the comedians, magicians, etc?

This trip is more about the people than the destination. Leaving from Orlando and headed to St. Thomas, San Juan, Amber Cove & GSC. On our Panama Canal trip we had made friends at the Haven bar (shocker, right?) with a group of folks. They all decided to cruise again this February, and their schedules and desires lined up and both couples booked the same trip. They told us about it, and we said we would tag along as well. Between all of their friends and our friends I think the final head count is going to be ~18 people in the Haven. So again... apologies now for anyone sailing on the Epic in the Haven about 30 days from now.... we will be a big group, but we're friendly and fun and will gladly invite you to do some shots with us. If you're more interested in quiet stuff - please come and tell us to STFU when we are being too loud. We will not be offended. Or if you want a more subtle approach, feel free to post in here about the loud large group of guests hogging the chairs at the bar and I'll take the hint.

~35 days away from sailing and the luggage tags have arrived. Things are starting to get real. (for anyone wondering about the 'how soon before sailing can we expect our luggage tags when staying in the Haven').

I think this game isn't fun anymore. I'm going to just go back to sitting in my boring non lazy river pool.

Yeah, I had mentioned that there are 2 different ports. Your hotel is not near the embarkation pier. Which is why I had also suggested the option of staying at a hotel near Old San Juan (which you are) and leaving your bags there to walk and wander. Then taking a single trip (as suggested by others) to get over to the embarkation port.

Again, you'll get 15 different opinions. We had an aft Haven cabin on Encore and didn't like it. Balcony was huge and views were great, room itself was nice. But it was far too far away from the rest of the Haven amenities for our liking. Also lots of vibrations that woke us up at 2am the first few nights.

The point though is for the dreamers to come up with the ideas, and the realists to find a way to take that idea and find a practical way to make it happen. Obviously you can't have an entire deck of water... so the engineers take the idea and find a way that can work while maintaining the spirit of the original idea. When pure engineers do design it's boring and cookie cutter. When crazy people on the internet do design the ship will sink. Hence the need for both to collaborate for the happy medium.