dandelpino

A card comes with 15 punches. You can use any or all of them at once. There’s no daily limit. On Anthem recently you could get any coffee product offered. Small was 1 punch, medium and large were 2 punches. But this seems to vary by ship.

I remember going on Oasis shortly after it launched and being shocked that the upcharge at 150 Central Park was $35 a head. So much so that I still remember. That was shocking because most specialty restaurant surcharges were under $20. And that was back when 150 Central Park offered a an elevated experience with a famous-chef created multi course tasting menu. Better than Chef's Table IMO. Today it's $65 a head for 150 Central Park and the experience has been severely downgraded to just another a la carte restaurant - no more tasting menu. I sound like an old man talking about "back in my day" but I'm only in my mid 30s. It's startling how quickly things have changed for the worse.

From the research I did to book my first RCI cruise in a long while, it would be the 2-bedroom Grand Suite, followed closely by the 1-bedroom Owner's suite.

I’m pretty sure this is outdated. Non-Haven suites on Joy don’t have concierge service as of 2022 and Haven suites no longer use Bvlgari bath products; they switched to L’Occitane.

Yes. Haven pax have priority reservations and a priority line at the go kart track. To pre-book you would have to call the pre-cruise concierge (1-855-625-4283)

That's awful. I hope the people taken away in the ambulances are not seriously hurt. Being hospitalized in a foreign place is a miserable experience.

Well I don't have access to NCL's customer data so I can't know with certainty. But what I do know is how NCL built out their Haven offering. They designed a fairly large room called the "Haven 2-Bedroom Family Villa" and then installed between 20 and 45 of said cabins on their ships. It's the most numerous type of Haven cabin on most ships. NCL clearly intended to have a lot of families in the Haven. Because let me tell you, that second bedroom is for kids. Anyone who has sailed in that cabin will tell you the same. No fare-paying adult wants that second bedroom. If a different customer segment were more profitable then NCL really missed it and they built their ships all wrong. Either they spent hundred of millions of dollars building Haven areas to cater to their most profitable customers, or they messed up. We'll never know.

Good to know. I have not been paying much attention to RCCL this year. Glad they're catching up honestly because their suite experience is pretty disjointed compared to ship-within-a-ship offerings elsewhere in the industry.

I understand that's your opinion but I doubt NCL executives would agree. Do you really think they would send their most profitable guests - families in the Haven - to their competitors over this?

It still is. Sorry I should have said open to all 16+ pax. Meaning not exclusive to suite guests.

Well I'd argue they're not comparable. RCCL doesn't have a suite-only sundeck on current ships (Icon OTS will). The Solarium on RCCL is open at all pax so it's more like Spice H2O on NCL. The best comparison to the Haven Sundeck is Celebrity's Retreat Sundeck, which does allow children.

I don't know. I never said that. I said I agree with the quoted statement: If they aren't going to enforce that rule, they should just eliminate it"

I would think you'd be happier on a cruise line that doesn't cater to families with kids. There are plenty of option that either directly exclude children or offer no activities so as to discourage children.

I agree they should. As someone else posted, they should enforce noise and disruptiveness, not age. If the mere presence of a child is bothersome to someone, then NCL is simply not the right cruise line for that person. NCL is a family cruise line so children are to be expected. I have indeed been there. If you re-read my comment you will see that it was not an original though, it was in reply at this person, whom I quoted in my comment:

Haha we’re in the same sailing. Doubt we will get a refund now.

They’re just renovating. On our breakaway sailing last month the shops were closed at the start of the trip and had a grand reopening halfway through our cruise.

On Breakaway last month they had 3 pod types: 1 was a ristretto, 1 was decaf, and 1 was a lungo. They offer Tea Forte teas in cabin as well. You can either run the nespresso machine (without a pod) to make hot-ish water or you can ask the butler for a pot of boiling water.

I don't have personal experience with Spirit, but on the Breakaway and B+ class ships they have a Nespresso Citiz machine and use the "original" (Nespresso's nomenclature) pods. Basically, not the Vertuo pods. In this video at 2:25, you can see the machine on Spirit and it's a Citiz just like Breakaway.

We asked our cabin steward for a bunch of sea sickness bags. The ship has thousands of them readily available and often they are put out by the stairs in rougher seas. They seal up pretty good and are waterproof. It's one less thing to pack.

This thread has come full circle. This right here is exactly why your TA tells people to bring their birth certificates. It avoids dissapointemnt at the port. An enhanced driver's license is sufficient on its own, yes. But if you show up with a Real ID thinking it's an enhanced driver's license you will be denied boarding, and you will be pissed. Michigan does issue enhanced driver's licenses but not as standard. Your friend needs to have specifically requested an enhanced driver's license at some point and gone through a separate process to get it. In any case, bring a passport book if you can. People get stranded at foreign ports all the time without the ability to fly home because they were traveling with other documents (birth certificate, passport card, EDL, etc).

The online check-in process requires you to pick an arrival time but has a Haven guest you can disregard it. You can show up at any time. In NYC, Haven goes into a small room past security on the left hand side where you checked-in. If it's busy they have you take a seat and then come to you with a tablet computer to gather your details.

He will need to be at least 12 months old to sail on a 7 day sailing. Shorter sailings only require him to be at least 6 months old. There are no babysitting services offered by NCL at this time. Even before covid they only offered group babysitting on a single ship. No private/in-cabin babysitting at all. I am not holding my breath on that coming back. They offer pack-n-play portable cribs that are set up by your room steward. We first cruised with our daughter this year and she was 17-months old at the time. We brought our own babysitting service in the form of grandparents. This was crucial so my wife and I could go out in the evenings. I would also highly recommend bringing a friend or family member along as a babysitter if you can swing it. In general, there's really not much for a baby or small toddler to do onboard. Most (of the bigger) ships have a Guppies area that is a play area for small kids but with parental supervision but it's not a drop off service. That's about it because kids in diapers can't go in the pools, even the kids pools. We were in a Haven 2-bedroom and I can't tell you how great that was for the reasons listed by @rjm11. We have another cruise next month without the grandparents. I'll let you know how well it goes... Let me know if there are any other questions I can answer for you.

Oh wow. It used to be $25. I guess NCL has a lot of loans to pay back...

This could have some value if you want to fly together. The $100 ($25/person) is to ensure you all get on the same flights. The way you have it booked now you, each cabin could have totally different flight itineraries each way.

Breakaway and Getaway wouldn’t work for you because they’re pretty smelly since Ocean Blue is flanked by the Raw Bar (raw seafood) and Wasabi (sushi, raw fish). Bliss is not like that since those open air raw seafood restaurants are not next to ocean blue. You will be fine on Bliss.