Sailing12Away

First Celebrity Retreat trip coming up in November, so I'm trying to read up a bit and get familiar with how things work with them compared the what I'm used to with NCL. I see a few times you mentioned that you got food from multiple places at the same time during dinner. Is that the norm in the Retreat where you can get nearly anything you want from anywhere on the ship?

❤️❤️❤️ If I ever stumbled upon this gem I don't know if I would leave. Looks like your own private oasis. Are those stairs carved into the mountain across the way?

I've been in 15140 and 15736. Both were lovely. The one on the port side had some minor noise issues from the pool deck above early in the morning, but not so much that it woke me up or bothered me. And we honestly only heard it on debarkation day. No noise at all on the starboard side. Both rooms were amazing and by far IMO the best bargains to be found on the ship.

I've been saying this for a while, but I think the next marketing ploy NCL should do is to add 'free' gratuities to their free at sea offerings. Sure, they'll just raise the price of the cruise by $200 to offset it - but in the eyes of the consumer now it's another thing 'free' that puts them on par with Celebrity's 'free' package. Plus it helps solidify that their staff are taken care of. Folks can't ask for gratuities to be removed when they didn't pay for them in the first place. Happy staff easily translates back to better experiences for the guests. My other gripe with NCL is also tied to their marketing. They like to poke and twist things and hide things with microfont sized asterisks, bait and switch, inconsistent enforcing of 'rules', etc. Make it black and white and so simple that a 4yr old can understand. "For a cost of $250 you can add on our ultimate beverage package, 150 min internet package, 2 specialty dining credits, and $50 per cabin to use towards NCL sponsored cruise excursions." Stop calling it free with limitations, just call it what it is. People would appreciate the transparency and honesty, then there's no more accusations of nickel & diming. You get what you pay for, and have options to add on more based on what is important to you.

Generally the 'average' price I expect to pay for a full Haven ship (Encore, Bliss, Joy, etc) is around $500/pp/day. If I can find it cheaper than that it's a bargain, and for a great itinerary or premium room I'm willing to pay more. For the jewel class ship, I personally wouldn't pay more than $350/pp/day - I would rather take a non-Haven suite for much less and forgo the pool (the only difference on those ships). There are deals to be found, typically longer cruises, transatlantic trips, repositioning trips.... but yes, right now there are plenty of deals out there. Prices listed are for 2 people, so divide that cost/day by 2 for your $500/pp/day barometer.

Just booked a Thanksgiving trip on the Summit for later this year, so I'll be reading along to learn any hints and tidbits about the ship as we are new to Celebrity. What is the Orange Crush drink you keep talking about? Any photos of it to share?

If you have time, can you snap a picture of the spa offerings? I want to use some of my OBC to treat my sister one day, just not sure if it's better to get a day pass and sit in the thermal areas or if she would want a massage/facial/something or other.

When mixed with some juice, it all tastes fine to me.

Glad to see the photos from Onda, I was planning on probably getting exactly what you got. Hopefully today will be drier for you guys, between the last 2 days in NY you're still sopping wet.

We'll be trying that for the first time this coming September. Food Republic is absolutely one of our favorites. We tend to go there for lunch on sea days and share 1 credit between the 2 of us. If we get a hankering for more later on in the trip we don't mind paying out of pocket.

The garden villa is an entire separate entity unto itself. You will want for nothing in that room. There will be no need to venture into 'gen pop' as you'll have your booze, soda, snacks, and even meals if you want them right there where you are. You'll get a personal escort to any dinner reservations and shows you want to go to. Just communicate often and early with your butler so they know what you want/need - they will all bend over backwards for you.

Depends on where you plan on eating and how fast/slow you tend to eat. Generally speaking, a time of 6-6:30 would be fine to take your time and still casually make your way to the show. When you sit down, it's always best to let the wait staff know you're trying to catch a show and they will push things through a bit faster to keep you in/out in time.

I gave up reading this thread by post ~20 when so many others put it better than I myself could on how many things are wrong with the post above. The cheerleaders for anti-NCL love to use the 'nickel & dime' bingo buzzword, and that's fine, since if you took that away from them they would really not have much to say at all. Every time I see N&D it translates in my head as "I don't know how to read the terms & conditions of my offer" as well as "I don't understand the concept of apples-to-apples comparisons". The majority of our cruises have been with NCL because every single time I price out a similar itinerary on RCC or Celebrity, for a TRUE comparison in what is important to us and what we want included on our trips - NCL comes in ahead every single time. Our 1 trip with RCC we were charged $60/pp/day for our drink package - so even with being charged gratuities on NCL's "free" drink package, that ~$200 was still substantially cheaper than the $800+ we paid with RCC. Unless you want to cruise on their mega ships (we don't), the suite experience doesn't come close to compare NCL to a non-Oasis class RCC ship (NCL Haven wins hands down). Been running all different scenarios and options for 3 people to sail with Celebrity this coming November, and the biggest difference is that NCL discounts having a 3rd person in the room with you. Celebrity - not nearly as much. To the point where it's nearly the same price for our 3rd person to have their own room, rather than share with us. On NCL, it would maybe be just an extra $500 or so for taxes and port fees to add that 3rd person to our room, not an extra 3K. So for all 3 people, Celebrity is costing almost double what it would cost us to sail on NCL. It's not nickel & diming - it's just different marketing strategies. Celebrity gives you prix fixe meal and has the price adjusted accordingly. NCL lets you pay a la carte and just pick and choose what you want. In the end, the prices are more similar than different - outside of the 3rd/4th person in the room issue.

It's not just the Spirit. We just hit the 130 day mark for our upcoming Prima trip and there are zero specialty restaurants showing up at all this morning. I sent an email out to the Haven concierge with our requested places, dates, and times. If I don't hear back in a day or two I'll give them a call since we're trying to book for large groups of 6-10 people those nights.

I love how inconsistent NCL is. Our cruise in February on the Joy they had Veuve plenty, but were refusing our friends with the PP plan Moet, it was an ongoing drama for him to be able to get it up in the Haven. Hoping the weather clears up for you tomorrow, it's been icky all day today. Even though I live here the only time I see lady liberty is on sail away. Also always exciting to pass under the Verrazano. Looking forward to your first photo onboard with some bubbly on your balcony.

It always makes me chuckle when people create an account here on CC just to complain about NCL. Claiming they've done research, yet go on to complain that the menu in the Haven doesn't change. Anyone who's at least read through a handful of these pages will know the menu doesn't change, so that shouldn't be a surprise. They should also have learned that you can make special requests and with enough advanced notice, the staff there will do just about anything within their power to make things happen. Haven on the jewel class ships is definitely different from on the newer ones - but expecting luxury cruise ship service on still a main stream cruise line is just silly. It doesn't matter what someone pays for their cruise, you're still on a main stream cruise line. If I choose to pay $50K for a Toyota Civic, just because I paid more than someone else (or overpaid....) doesn't mean my Toyota transforms into a Tesla or my car will last longer or drive faster than someone else's Civic. Faulting someone's level of English is also amusing to me when the poster themselves may have been the one with a hard to understand accent - not the NCL staff member. Complaints about your butler can always be raised to the concierge or guest services to be escalated all the way up to general manager on your behalf. Jewel class ships don't have a separate Haven bar. Expecting there to be pool staff standing around waiting to take your order and run and get you something is just insanity and setting unrealistic expectations. For comparison, last 2 trips were on the Joy which does have it's own bar and my hands were never empty once when I was in the hot tub or relaxing in the sun. Different ships, different Haven amenities - again, don't expect the 0-60mph in <5 seconds when you're driving your Civic and not your Tesla.

I was trying to find a photo from dinner, but it appears I've become quite disorganized with the uploading of my recent trip photos. Hubby is more a ribs fan, so I usually let him eat those and I stick with the other stuff. Everything was solid. The best BBQ ever - not even close, but a good solid meal. We were on the Joy this past September. If you go right when the kids are back in school, much less crowded, weather is still warm enough for shorts and t-shirts. The HH, HI, HJ cabins on the Joy are by far our favorite. They're midship on deck 14-15, so outside of the Haven courtyard area - but the rooms are much bigger and the price is much cheaper. It's very quick and easy to get up to that Haven area so you never feel like you're missing out on anything.

Best advice for Q is to get the sampler platter and split it. You can use just a single dining credit, then use the other one at Food Republic. Lots of food, especially when you add in the sides and apps that are included.

If the wait is very long at prime dining times (6:30-7pm), they will sometimes offer to walk you down to one of the specialty restaurants to dine there for free. It was always Q on our last trip on Joy, which some folks are not in favor of, but hey, don't look free in the mouth. Or - you could just choose to sit and wait 5-10 minutes. Unless you have a large group of friends trying to dine together, no reservations needed.

We keep it under wraps to keep the mystery there, but a Blue Moon honor is involved at a minimum. Sometimes a cheese platter if we're trying to be a fancy rat.

I find that hard to believe.... Definitely looking forward to tagging along. Not sure how packed your pre-cruise plans are, but if you think you'd have time for a pre-boarding drink you know how to get in touch with me 😉 Very curious how hot the private hot tub will be. For your trip to Bermuda you'll be fine, but I'm thinking we'll be more frigid up in Iceland in September. Your butler letter is similar to mine, but reading it over reminds me that I need to update mine to switch the cookies over to those brownies. They are to die for, so thanks for that tip last trip. I also want to add in the almond croissants too for when I forget to write them in on my breakfast card.

I fight with my hubby all the time about those seats. He always wants them for the extra space, but I hate them because I have nowhere to put my backpack. We compromise with comfort plus and a non bulkhead. They parsed down the menu quite significantly. Many of my favorites have gone away, so what once used to be a favorite place of ours has now been replaced with Food Republic as our new favorite for munchies. As others have said, it's nearly every port. When you're on land, there's a good chance you'll have an extra $1-2 charge, regardless of whether you have the drink package or not.

Only get dressed fancy if you want to. There are some specialty restaurants that require long pants, but that can be jeans or khakis - no need for a formalish suit unless you enjoy being a bit fancy.

I think what you meant to say is "I will never use the NCL free air promotion again, as I like to have more control over which flights I am given." Out of curiosity - what is NCL charging you for all of those flights to Rome, and what was the cost if you had booked it yourself today on the specific 'better' flights that you want? Winner winner chicken dinner! Another contestant for overly dramatic for no real reason winner of the year.

I had 2 overnight stops on the Pride of America around Hawaii. You could come/go whenever you wanted. So for folks who wanted to do an early morning sunrise tour, they simply walked off the ship at 4am. Folks who wanted a late night luau dinner came back onto the ship at midnight. There should be paperwork in your cabin when you get on board explaining the process. Just pay attention to any additional documentation you may need based on the security at the port. We had to have a photo ID with us in addition to our room card for the car to be allowed into the port area to drop us back off. Every single passenger in the car was checked to make sure they were on the cruise before the car was allowed in.