rbxlady

Latitude Rewards points showed up within the first week, but I can't say that I looked before then. I'm sorry I don't have anything more specific than that.

For us (Getaway 10/22-10/29), we did not find out until we checked in at Port Canaveral. They handed us a letter that showed the itinerary change but that any NCL excursions would not be affected.

Yeah, that's what I told my husband to do, as I know my parents did that years ago on NCL, but he forgot before we disembarked. He had hoped that, like the slippers, they were included in the fare. For what the Haven costs, they should be, but I digress.

My late mom used to cruise on NCL with my dad, and she always had "Beary" traveling with them. My mom had a thing for bears, but Beary was the special one. One of my kids has Beary's brother-from-another-mother, who looks the same but has dark brown fur. Anyway, she always took cute pictures of Beary doing silly stuff and would e-mail them out to us kids (then adults) every couple of days in her trip reports. She once made it look like he was lounging in the in-cabin jacuzzi (obviously there was no water in it). She caught him trying to break into the cabin safe, hanging from the rod in the closet, trying on a robe, etc. The cabin steward would pose him with the towel animals, too. Those are probably some of my fondest memories of my mom, and I wish I still had those e-mails, but thank you for reminding me of this and making me smile 🙂

We just got off the Getaway on 10/29. We had a thermal spa pass and were in a Haven 2BR suite (16120, right off the Haven lounge, super convenient, and I would book this cabin again in a heartbeat). It is 100% worth the experience of cruising in the Haven, assuming you can afford it, and now I feel like I can't cruise any other way. The restaurant has some of the (if not the) best food on the ship, the concierge was surprisingly useful, the butler anticipated most of our needs before we could ask (I never thought we would use the butler at all), and the priority embarkation/disembarkation both at the beginning/end and at all ports was an awesome perk. I also appreciated being escorted to shows so we didn't have to wait a year for an elevator, plus you get a seat down toward the front of the theater. I was unfortunately unhappy with the atrium and surrounding areas because of the smoke emanating from the casino (I'm very sensitive to it, so YMMV), so we spent almost all our time time in the Haven outside of shows and taking the kids to Splash Academy, the ropes course, the water slides, or the arcade. As such, we were very grateful to have had the Haven as a literal retreat.

We were on the Getaway from 10/22-10/29, and the bids from club balcony w/large balcony into the Haven started at around $1500pp to get into the Haven. We ended up upgrading ourselves to a 2BR Haven suite when the price came down to what our bid was for that cabin category, and afterwards, my upgrade page updated to show minimum bids of $750pp to upgrade from the 2BR to the DOS and $800pp to upgrade to the DOS w/large balcony. Since we preferred to have the 2BR over the DOS (it was me, my husband, and our two kids), we withdrew our bids, and the Haven sold out in August anyway, so nobody's bids into the Haven were accepted unless there were any last minute cancellations. A number of people on "the other site" reported getting relatively inexpensive upgrades from balcony to club balcony or from inside/OV/studio to balcony.

Thanks for linking, @cruiseny4life! I'm not sure if OP is looking for the Haven bathrobe or the waffle one, since they said they are in Club Balcony. I assume the latter, but perhaps some ships put Haven robes in those cabins (OP's description as "super plush" leads to believe that maybe they do), since they're technically "suites". That link is here, but they are also showing as sold out. I'm still holding out hope to be able to buy a Haven robe by Christmas! ETA that in retrospect, we should've just taken one and let them charge us for it.

Much appreciated!

In an effort to keep this post on-topic, since it's already super long, I'll point you to the posts below. The differences aren't huge, and depending on the cost difference may be totally worth it. I think the bigger bathroom/better shower alone is worth some amount of extra money.

Thank you! I've been so swamped with work after returning that I haven't had a chance to return to this post. I think I'll be calling NCL shortly and will update. Edited to add that I just called, and they must be super busy because it asked me to go to the site and fill out a form. That's fine, as I didn't really want to spend time on a phone call explaining the situation. I'll update when I get a response. No hurry, since I have the confirmation e-mail and am not booking anything new just yet.

This happened to me, upgrading ourselves to a 2BR Haven suite on the Getaway. I booked it, the next day the price dropped $600, so I got FCC ($300 each for me and my husband), and the next day those suites sold out, so I wouldn't have had any price to compare it to if I had waited another day to call. Unfortunately we returned on 10/29, but the FCC has yet to show up in my account, so I have to call even though I have an e-mail confirming the FCC would be credited after we disembarked.

We just disembarked this past Saturday, and our 2BR suite had two robes and two pairs of slippers in the master and two robes in the secondary but no slippers. Our kids are 9 and 11, so the robes would've been big on them, but our older son could've used the slippers (his feet are almost as big as mine). I never bothered to ask, but the night before we left, I was checking drawers and found an unopened pair in a drawer that we didn't use, so he could have had a pair. Oh, well.

Still were in October. They are cheap slippers, though, so we did not take them home. I did, however, find an unopened pair in a drawer and took that home. People sell them on eBay for around $10, so that's why I snagged it, but I might just give them to my older son, since his feet are almost as big as mine. I really appreciated the slippers, though, because I don't go barefoot around my own house, which is mostly hardwood floors that are cleaned regularly, never mind in a hotel or a cruise ship cabin with carpets that probably don't get more than a quick vacuum every couple of days at the most. I didn't want to pack "house shoes", as they are pretty cumbersome (I wear cloud sandals, which are so, so comfy). Edited to add that I really only joked about selling them on eBay.

I didn't get any special pricing by calling when I decided to upgrade us to the Haven (price came down to about our bid, and suites were disappearing fast), but prior to final payment, I did call to ask about something, and the rep I spoke to took it upon herself to review our reservation and saw that we were eligible for a promotion where if I paid another $250 down, they'd match it. That was a no-brainer, but I would never have known about it if I hadn't called and gotten this particular representative.

OK, thanks. I was hoping I had just missed it in my account somewhere or didn't know where to look. I will definitely call if I don't see it by this weekend.

Based on my experiences using these machines on land, they can become a sticky (and eventually, smelly) mess if the machines and area surrounding them are not cleaned regularly. There's also the issue of proving that you have a beverage package, which usually means having a cup with a QR code, unless everyone has a minimum of a soda package by default. As much as I love Coke Zero, I didn't mind just walking up to a bar to ask for a Diet Coke, and I survived without Coke Zero for a week (on the Getaway last week). It also doesn't require me to tote around a special cup if I don't want to. Those cups are extra annoying if you have kids like mine who are constantly asking you to hold things for them. On that note, next time I will bring a Yeti-type cup next time because the glasses and plastic cups don't hold very much, especially after they put ice in it. However, I appreciate that it'll be my choice to carry with me or not if I want a soda.

We just disembarked the Getaway on 10/29 and docked at Amber Cove on 10/27. It did not affect any excursions booked through NCL.

We booked our October cruise in March, made final payment in June, and directly upgraded to the Haven in mid-August because the price dropped to about our bid (x2) while cabins dwindled. The day after we upgraded, when there were only two cabins of our type left, the price dropped $600. I called NCL, and they gave me and my husband each a $300 FCC, which I was told would show up in my Latitudes account after we completed our cruise, and our cabin type sold out the following day (so no further price drops). Two weeks later, I received an e-mail confirming the FCCs. We disembarked our cruise on 10/29. All of our CruiseNext certificates are showing in my NCL account, along with a $100 "welcome back" coupon, but there is no FCC in sight. I have checked just about everywhere in my account on the NCL site and don't see it. Is there someplace special I need to look, or do I need to call NCL? Also, the e-mail confirming the FCCs said, "These credits will be available for one year to book and sail, upon completion of your current sailing on Debarkation Day." If we have one year from 10/29/22 to sail, does that mean that we must choose a cruise with an embarkation date or a disembarkation date of 10/29/23 (or maybe 10/28/23) or earlier? I can't find anything specific on this, and the confirmation e-mail for the FCCs is short on details. Thank you!

We have a Breville Creatista Plus (it was my mom’s, and I inherited it— I normally wouldn’t spend that kind of money!), which we started using daily after our last Keurig gave up the ghost. I found the French press coffee in the Haven restaurant to be adequately strong and sufficient for our purposes, but it was still not as good as the Nespresso. However, I wasn’t pining for my Breville or anything, as there are plenty of other options if you do want something stronger than the French press. We did use the Nespresso machine in our cabin a fair bit, and the Starbucks coffee (I had lattes while my husband had cappuccinos) in the Haven restaurant was excellent. They made animal designs with the milk, which was very cute. Believe me when I say that if you request for the coffee to be extra strong or for a double shot in your Starbucks coffee, the Haven will make it happen. They really do go above and beyond for you so long as what you are asking is reasonable. The only request I had that went unfulfilled (and honestly, I didn’t press it) was to have heavy cream in our fridge. We used half and half for a week and lived to tell the tale.

I think I will wait but will keep an eye on the other site, just in case. It would be more fun to have the embroidery as a souvenir of our first Haven stay 🙂

We just got off the Getaway (if the ship matters), and I didn’t use the robe in the Haven, but my husband did and loved it. He wanted to take one and let them charge us for it, but I told him to just buy one so he gets a brand new one rather than one that has been worn by a bunch of strangers and washed a bunch of times. Anyway, he forgot to ask about it before getting off the ship. This is the robe, but it’s out of stock: https://nclhome.com/products/haven-robe I found an old thread on this, which led me to a different site (bocaterry.com) that sells the robes, minus the embroidery, of course. I’d like to buy one for my husband for Christmas, but I can’t remember if the Haven robes have a plush lining or a terry lining. The outside is microfiber based on the nclhome link above, so I’ve narrowed it down to two, both linked below. Does anyone know which robe is the same as the Haven one? Plush lined: https://store-bbb24epce6.mybigcommerce.com/bathrobes/microfiber-plush-lined-bathrobe?_ga=2.130341391.1810851290.1667164640-1663235094.1667164640 Terry lined: https://store-bbb24epce6.mybigcommerce.com/bathrobes/microfiber-french-terry-lined-bathrobe?_ga=2.104707712.1810851290.1667164640-1663235094.1667164640 Thank you!

I definitely have my eye on this ship, as it does sail out of Port Canaveral sometimes, which is the easiest port for us to get to. We did stock up on CruiseNext certificates 🙂 Please share your experience, and enjoy your cruise!

Agreed, we spent zero time/money in the casino. We intended to do some gambling but smelled the casino long before we got there and did a 180.

Well, maybe I am but indirectly. If you want to smoke, have at it, and I (hopefully obviously) don’t care that the ship has a designated place for that. If they want to allow smoking in the casino, that’s totally fine with me, I just won’t go in there, but it’s frustrating that even walking to the shops or enjoying a trivia game means I have to smell it. So while I’m not complaining about passengers’ being allowed to smoke in the casino, I’m complaining about the fact that there’s no containment whatsoever so the rest of us who don’t want to be around smoke are subjected to it.

Oh, awesome! I would love to go out on the Joy. I appreciate the info— have a great time!