rbxlady

Today I got an offer for Princess Cruises after getting Carnival and Oceania but not Norwegian. This is just cruel.

I got a confirmation from our TA on 11/8 when we paid for it for our cruise that sails next March. We bought soda packages for the kids at the same time. If I go on the NCL site or app, the soda packages appear in what we've purchased, but the FAS+ does not, just the regular FAS stuff, except for the extra $50 off excursions. Very odd. I have proof I paid NCL for it and have a TA who has my back, so I know it will be fine, especially considering we are 130+ days out, but it's annoying when these glitches happen.

That's so good to hear!

Same, we have two travel MagSafe iPhone/Apple Watch/AirPods chargers, so that's useful to know that the bedside table can handle that for both me and my husband. Thank you for this info and the pic!

Those daybeds (or whatever you want to call those circular loungers) look awesome! I was lucky enough to find an extensive video of our exact suite on YouTube from about a year ago, but it's always good to see more pics, especially of the "public" Haven spaces. How was the outlet situation in your suite?

I am really encouraged, reading all of this. We cruised in the Haven in a 2BR on the Getaway last year, and after that, I promised myself we would not cruise any older ships-- although I am admittedly disappointed that there is no option for two beds in the second bedroom on the Prima and Viva. Anyway, our lives are super hectic, so for the time being, we can't just book whenever, wherever, and the Epic on 3/31 (Easter Sunday) worked out best for us, as it coincided with our kids' spring break. I was really hoping to book a Breakaway+ class ship, but the offerings out of Port Canaveral, which is our preferred port because it's driving distance for us, have been relatively slim in 2023 and 2024 compared to 2022. Thus it was the Epic or nothing for spring break. We are booked in a 2BR Haven suite, and I am hoping the Haven experience will outweigh the fact that it's a somewhat older ship. I read it was the first Haven, which initially worried me because that meant maybe they hadn't worked out the kinks yet, in spite of its 2020 refurbishment, but it was hard to beat the price compared to what we paid on the Getaway last year and what they were asking 2BR Haven suites on Breakaway+ class ships. I figured even the worst Haven was better than no Haven. So if you'll be on the 3/31 Epic cruise, we'll be there, too, in a 2BR Haven suite. I am very, very happy to hear how much people seem to love the Epic's Haven.

Oceania finally showed up for me today. Yesterday Carnival was the only cruise offer. Maybe tomorrow Norwegian will show up. Any time these offers have popped up on this forum, they've never appeared in my Amex account.

Sorry, I'm not sure about the OBC, but maybe buy thermal spa passes? Upgrade to Free at Sea Plus?

I still have my e-mails from my last Haven cruise a year ago, and I had upgraded our booking to the Haven sort of at the last minute, so I contacted pre-cruise concierge because I did not heard from them within a reasonable time after booking. They responded with a pre-cruise concierge letter and asked me what special requests we might have and what pillows we wanted. According to my e-mail to them, I had been informed that I normally would have been contacted 130 days out but had obviously upgraded well after that deadline. The address I e-mailed was norwegianconciergedesk@ncl.com As far as laundry, we were on the Getaway, not the Encore, but we got one free bag of laundry. (We are bronze moving up to silver, so we do not yet have loyalty status that gets us additional free laundry.) We paid for an additional bag of laundry, which cost us $29. They did a great job. It was me, my husband, and our two kids, so $29 was worth the laundry refresher and my having less laundry to do when we returned home. I feel like I saw a video that said that Celebrity's suites have a beverage area where you can get cans of soda and bottles of water at no charge. Unfortunately, NCL does not do that, not even in the Haven. When I wanted a soda, I had to go to the bar or pay for a can of soda (I believe they cost $3.50, not sure about a bottle of water). You can purchase a 1L boxed water package to be put in your suite beforehand. (https://www.ncl.com/in/en/onboard-packages/bottled-water-packages) Going to the bar every time you want a soda is a pain, but it is what it is. Rather than pay for water, I asked for a pitcher of ice water and a pitcher of unsweet tea in our fridge, which our butler frequently refreshed. I packed collapsible water bottles to fill up with said ice water on the ship and bring on excursions, but we ended up not using them (Eastern Caribbean itinerary). We were just fine without carrying water at all, both on and off the ship. There are enough places to get something to drink on the ship that it felt unnecessary to carry a water bottle on the ship. I did see others carrying them, though, so obviously you may feel more inclined to do something like that.

That's what I suspected. I have booked without a TA before and have never seen the options to pay buried. I'm just going to have to push my TA to ask someone else because apparently YMMV depending on who you talk to. Thanks!

When I log on to the NCL site, I can see the cruise there, but I don't see any way to make a payment on it or otherwise apply a CN. I have clicked all over the site and in the app, and everything I've paid for is there, but zero option to pay NCL directly.

My TA* just got back to me and said that NCL told him that because the booking was made before 11/8, I can't apply a third CN certificate. At least I was able to apply two when we booked, so there's that. *He's super knowledgeable and has a good relationship with NCL, so I trust him.

OK, thank you, I was looking for it, but their site isn't always the easiest to navigate!

I just upgraded to FASUP and bought soda packages for the kids on Wednesday using Amex, no offer for me. It's like they know I'm going to use it, so they don't want to give me free money...

I've never gotten any of the past ones, either. I wonder if for some reason I'm just not their preferred demographic for it even though I pay for NCL cruises using my Amex card... I did a little googling and saw that if you accept offers, then refresh and/or log out/in, your offers fully refresh to bring you back up to 100, but that only works for so long before they stop showing you new offers. I did this but unfortunately did not trigger the NCL one to show up. Maybe later.

On my last cruise, we cruised in the Haven and purchased $2,000 in CruiseNext certificates for $1,000, and each certificate was worth $250. I was at guest services, not the Haven concierge, and the guy there did not say anything about CruiseNext Haven certificates. I didn't know they existed. Had I know, I would have absolutely purchased certificates in $500 increments instead. Are CruiseNext Haven certificates values doubled like they are for regular CruiseNext certificates? If so, is there a limit to that? And if I had purchased those instead of regular CN certificates, I could've put $1500 towards our upcoming Haven cruise rather than $750?

Great idea, and to piggyback on that, I might suggest telling pre-cruise concierge this in case they can make sure it's there on the first morning.

I'll keep looking, but it's not on my Gold card or my Cash Magnet card. I've been with Amex for over 20 years, and all I see right now is the Carnival offer 😞 I've just put a down payment plus upgraded Free at Sea and bought soda packages for my kids on an upcoming NCL cruise, all on my Gold card, and final payment is later this month, meaning I would qualify if I got this offer.

My brother sails exclusively with NCL, usually 2 cruises/year. He's had some bad luck but sticks with them because they've always made it right, partially due to an amazing travel agent advocating for him. Last year, Mykonos was cancelled because it was too windy. Obviously that's not NCL's fault, and he said that there were other ships waiting to see if they could get in there before each ship finally called it, so they weren't the lone cruise line not willing to risk it. On another cruise, they were docked in Barcelona heading to Rome, and the ship had propulsion problems and could not continue the cruise. I don't remember what he ended up doing, but NCL was being very stingy on their concessions until the travel agent got involved. (This is what convinced me to use his travel agent.) Another time, they were heading back into Tampa, and there was fog in the bay, so they got an extra day onboard because the numerous ships waiting outside the bay couldn't all arrive at once after the fog cleared. Again, this was not NCL's fault, but I really felt bad for the people waiting to board because their cruise got cut short, probably not without some refunds while the people on board got an extra day for free on the cruise line. Of course, those people had to rearrange their travel home, so it was not fun for them, either. Thankfully I was the one taking care of his dog so didn't mind watching her for an extra day. So I wouldn't say they necessarily cancel willy-nilly, but they do tend to be kind of stingy on concessions when something goes wrong. Like you, I wouldn't be happy with a discount that I wouldn't be able to use quickly enough. I would definitely be demanding additional time to be able to use that. Some of us don't have that much freedom as far as time off is concerned. That said, I was looking forward to the Prima and the Viva until I discovered that some of the changes as compared to Breakaway and Breakaway+ ships aren't for the better. One appears to me to be a relatively easy fix, too, so hopefully they will adopt it.

Thank you for sharing that! That's so unfortunate and sounds like it was so far below what we all expect in the Haven, especially considering how much more we all pay for the experience. I hope you reported it to NCL because if my first Haven experience were like this, I'd be pretty turned off and probably wouldn't want to spend that kind of money again with NCL.

We will be on the Epic in the spring. I know personnel may certainly change between now and then, and not to hijack the thread, but what was wrong with the butlers?

Yes, you get designated floats for your villa.

We booked a lagoon villa last October. I hemmed and hawed about spending the money, but we are introverts and like the quiet. It was perfect for us, and I was glad I spent the money. Only two other lagoon villas were in use. The water on the lagoon is super calm and great for swimming peacefully, which is why we booked on the lagoon side. It’s farther, but it’s all relative— the lagoon villas are not out on the boonies or anything. It’s totally walkable, and they shuttle you on golf carts anyway. Having a safe and a place to put stuff, as well as our own bathroom, which was generously sized, was nice, and the buffet was nearly empty in Silver Cove. The food there was WAY better than the food on the buffet on the ship. Anyway, I don’t recall seeing a blow dryer. As stated already, there are toiletries and towels for you to use, though. It was “regular” shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, though, not the Haven stuff. We didn’t use the shower, but the water pressure in the sink seemed fine.

Some people have reported being upgraded after embarkation, after cabins were ready. They got a knock on their cabin door and were escorted up to the Haven. So yes, it could be up to 0 hours before actual departure. Hopefully you got an upgrade, but if not, I'm sure you're having a great cruise! I would love to sail the Prima.

Agreed, this happened to us this past August for our October cruise. We were able to upgrade directly for roughly our "fair" bid, and the cabin category we wanted sold out shortly thereafter, followed by the entire Haven shortly after that. I would be surprised if anyone bid into the Haven on our sailing. (Nobody on the cruise critic sailing page or the page on the other site reported it.)