McGarrett5oh

How did you find your Aft Suite experience (aside from the night butler)? We’ll be doing the same in September. TIA. 😀

We were on the Prima last fall and had to skip Isafjordur since the harbor was still under construction and, as the captain explained, the Prima’s lifeboats are only that - lifeboats. They cannot be used as tenders so the Prima must dock or use the port’s tenders if they have them. I would assume the same is true for Viva. Another design shortfall on this new class of NCL ship IMO.

All the tours leave steps from the end of the "SeaWalk", which is the floating dock that comes out to meet the ship. You should be fine if you can be on time to disembark. The tour company will be waiting for all their Bus Tour passengers so you won't be alone. The only wild card is if there are two ships in port that day as one has to tender since the floating dock can only accomodate one ship. Prima likely will get priority. You can check the Geiranger port schedule here: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/geiranger-port-547

Agreed! Based on this thread's advice our "realistic expectations" have yet to be met by the butlers, so our realistic expecations are now a notch lower. That way, we won't be disappointed and perhaps surprised and delighted by service beyond these expectations. Case in point, in the Retreat, the cabin steward set up a birthday surprise for my wife upon returning to our cabin from dinner. This thrilled her and delighted me as we were not expecting any type of recognition despite the key date being on our reservation. The Butler may have had some part in this but since we didn't see him nor did he acknowledge a role, we profusely thanked the cabin steward (and called him out in the post cruise survey) who DID ask how my wife liked the surprise. Sorry if this sounds negative as we really enjoyed so much of our "ship within a ship" experiences (dining room, bar, pool area etc).

@Battlement We also did the type of research you did on this thread and after long consideration decided to tip our butler on the Prima one half of what we had budgeted. For a 14-day cruise with 4 people in a 2 bedroom suite, I decided that about $10/day per person was the appropriate amount. And to @Sthrngary (and other's points), that it's hit or miss on the butler, we will NEVER tip in advance again. Despite the butler letter and the gratitude he showed us, we didn't really get the minimal service we were expecting. The cabin steward, who has a much harder job (not knowing if she would be tipped), was much more pleasant and attentive than the butler and only received her deserving tip at the end of 2 long weeks. Despite the wait, her quality of service never waivered. Recently we spent 10 days in the Retreat on Celebrity, whose Butlers are even more stretched (i.e. # of cabins they service), we opted not to tip in advance. We saw our Butler 2 more times the entire voyage (in the hallway and he never asked if we needed anything), yet saw our cabin steward several times a day. We tipped him, but not the Butler at the end of the cruise. So as we plan for a cruise in the Haven on the Breakaway, we have lowered our expectations and see the value in the restaurant and the ability to get away from the crowds, not the Butler service. As a test I mentioned in a previous post, we have always singled out exceptional service on post cruise surveys so on this next Haven cruise we're going to ask our attendants early on if we can take their picture with their name tag "for the survey". I have a feeling that may motivate them more so to provide quality service than the hope for a tip, as the comments on the survey have a signifcant impact on their long term compensation & promotions. They won't know whether they will get positive or negative reviews from us, but certainly can hedge their bet.

I have also found that if we’ve had good service from a crew member, we take a headshot photo of them with their name badge and tell them we will mention them by name in the post cruise survey. Of course you have to be sincere and follow through. The accolades by name in the survey are as good as gold for crew members in terms of future promotions and the increased pay that comes with them. I haven’t done this yet, but on our upcoming Haven cruise on the Breakaway this Fall, when we are delighted by a crew member, I’m going to take the picture right then to thank them. Instant gratification can go a long way in addition to @graphicguy’s excellent advice.

This fall we will be in an Aft Haven cabin as on the Breakaway as well & also just looking to relax on board, so very interested in your impressions of the ship, the aft and the Haven. Enjoy your cruise!!

Yes this is so. There are many design flaws in the bathrooms in the Prima 2 bedroom suite. Hooks and shelf space are issues. We bought these suction hooks and attached to mirrors (unlike most ships, the walls are not magnetic). Antimbee (10 Pack) Suction Cup Hooks for Shower, Bathroom, Glass, Door, Windows, Kitchen etc, Max Hanging up to 11 lbs - Waterproof Suction Cup Hanger Holder Removable (Transparent Dual Hooks Design) https://a.co/d/4sb8w5K You will also need to get creative on maximizing space throughout the suite. Have the butler remove all the accent pieces and books. Use the space on the window ledge. Your butler will stow any suitcases that don’t fit under the beds although we kept one in the corner of the master bedroom and used as a shelf. We enjoyed our Prima cruise but wish they had made some better design choices. Cheers!

Some may recall our thoughts & somewhat mixed review on the Prima's Haven last September on a 14 day itinerary to Norway and Iceland out of Southampton. Tomorrow we depart for 10 days on Celebrity Beyond in their Retreat. While the weather in the Caribbean will be different than Northern Europe, I hope to be able to share some "compare and contrast" about the non-weather experiences on these two ships, that both debuted in 2022, to this community, if it's of interest. I would say at this point the lead up to the departure has been quite similar between the two, with the takeaway being that it really is up to the passenger to control their destiny. I did not/have not heard from either prior to departure but have found both to be very professional and accomodating when calling their on-shore concierge phone.

7 days will fly by and getting off the ship in port, even if just to walk about a bit will change the dynamics. Plus the Beyond is a gorgeous ship with much to offer besides the casino and pool. IMO

Thank you for completing your story. It was so well done and helpful for our planning. Cheers!

What a terrific report! Very helpful for our cruise this summer on the exact same ship and itinerary. I do hope you add a concluding post from the Inside Pasage to arrival in Vancouver. If not, know that your timely insightful and detailed information was very much appreciated. Cheers!

It appears that the only fixed wing options at Denali are these 2 companies. Fly Denali lands on the Glacier. Denali Air stays airborne. The price difference and time in the air is proportional. We are trying to decide between the two for June 2024. We like the idea of the snow landing however some of our party are more comfortable that Air Denali has twin engine planes and are a bit larger vs. Fly Denali's single engine aircraft. Any experiences to share? PS. We can't get to Talkeetna and don't want to fly a helicopter. Thank you!

@Sthrngary Thanks. We have an FCC we must use up and are considering the Haven on Escape or Encore with the same/similar itineraries. Just starting the research into the two ships. BTW, this FCC came in part from your coaching on what to do if the price of your Haven suite drops after final payment. I don’t think I ever reported back on that nor did I THANK YOU for the advice! Cheers!

How about the Escape and its Haven?

Thank you for your concern @CDR Benson, @RocketMan275 & @Sthrngary We were fortunate to retire 10 years ago (we’re mid 60s now) and travelled the country in a motorhome for 7 years and 70,000 miles before turning back to cruising. A lesson learned, don't forget, things can change in a moment. One day this past August, after riding my bicycle 14 miles, I sneezed at lunch which has brought about 2 hospital stays and a cancer diagnosis. I’m grateful for the sneeze as we found the C early and prospects are positive. In the meantime, we have to slip our cruises in between scheduling doctors appointments. We are blessed to have amazing medical professionals collaborating on our case! To paraphrase @Sthrngary, "enjoy every moment" You don't know how many you may have left!

Somewhere along the line recently, I came across this motto. Perhaps from you@RocketMan275 We agree and have enhanced the motto by flying first class with our children (no grandkids). That motto coupled with myriad of variations on “You can’t take it with you” have taught us to figure out how to appropriately spend down the capital we’ve been fortunate to acquire through our working lives and a favorable compounding Wall Street over many decades. I recently received an unfavorable medical diagnosis completely out of the blue which reinforces all of this and leads us to splurges such as the Haven! Cheers!

There is an intangible value that each guest has to account for individually. In reflecting on our experience aboard the Prima, beyond the hard cost calculator “cipherin” (IYKYK) (ie room cost, food cost, drink package, internet etc), we found considerable value in the restaurant staff and bartenders remembering our names and our food and drink preferences, early disembarkation, front row seats at the shows, the escape from the on board crowds & generally being treated like ‘rock stars’. Is that enough to swing the value proposition our way? To each their own. For us, coupled with other Haven and non-Haven attributes, for us, YES. If I were the cruise line and I had to balance the hard costs and value equation so that the prospective guest feels they win, I’d focus on the intangibles & the “experience” that may not have any or very much additional hard costs associated to providing.

So the ship is going out on November 22nd for the first time. Is that correct? Does anyone know the dates and or destinations for both this sailing and the second one before the December 3rd sailing?

We were on the Prima in the Haven for 14 days returning October 1st, 2023. I've posted some thoughts previously, but if you have any specific questions about the Haven or the ship, I'll try to answer them.

temp_video_1697410963446.mp4 Prima Haven Lounge (16th Deck) from Forward to Aft. September 2023

Surprising very good. Now some context: I had the premium unlimited streaming internet package using an iPhone 14 Pro Max. My son & daughter in law had just the premium unlimited package (which I believe is essentially NCL's normal internet package with no limits). My son had an iPhone 14 Pro on that package and we noticed a difference in the two NCL internet package in terms of speed and connectivity. My daughter in law had an older iPhone (maybe a 10) and her experience was awful on their package. I bore you with these details because we came to believe that the capabilities of your equipment coupled with the Internet package you buy, make a noticeable difference in your experience. I did try my laptop - a relatively powerful but several year old Dell - a couple of times and it was able to connect and accomplish whatever it was I was trying to do, although I didn't try to upload or download any large files, but noticed that when I tried to upload the day's photos from my iphone to iCloud overnight, they did not transfer on the NCL wifi. I did not try to do much streaming but in normal activities on the internet, video content played fairly normal with few exceptions. Wifi calling also worked exceptionally well. Even took a call in the middle of the North Sea. Definitely a few dead spots in the Arctic Ocean and North Sea but much fewer than I had expected from other comments. Also, the AT&T international day pass ($10 per day) was exceptional. Hope this helps!

Last week......

Now onto the Haven Concierge on the Prima: We had no need for the Concierge desk other than to correct mistakes NCL made, so we did not tip our Concierges. We observed many people using the Concierge to make dinner reservations and take care of other needs, but we had pre-planned everything and didn’t need any assistance or changes. I have a few comments about our Head Concierge, but first this might be a good place to describe the embarkation process, which lead us to first meet him. Our cruise departed from the Horizon terminal at Southampton. Horizon is the newest Southampton terminal, shared between MSC and NCL. We arrived at 10am, were in an outside queue by 10:05am and security started moving passengers through at 10:20. There is no separate Haven “Security” line which upset the elderly couple ahead of us. It took all of 10 minutes to get to the screening belts. While we had our boarding pass on our phones, I would suggest printing them out as the guard at security simply wanted to check that you had a pass and it was easier to show paper.. No need to show a passport at that point. We were through security and checked in the separate Haven waiting lounge by 10:40. The usual continental breakfast type items were waiting for us and we were on board and in the Haven by 11:15am. We thought that was quite swift considering the previous Haven passengers had until 9:30am to vacate the Haven. Since we had arrived early at the terminal, we were among the first group to be escorted on board and up the Haven elevators to the Haven Lounge on 16 where we were told to drop our carry ons. Fortunately we found 4 seats at the bar and posted up there to listen to the Head Concierge give his welcome speech. While it contained the usual overview of the Haven & its amenities, he spent a noticeable amount of time focused on NOT bringing any guests from the ship into the Haven ( a topic that has been discussed here and elsewhere). He indicated there were over 300 guests in the Haven for this sailing. He then offered up a tour of the Haven. Since we had done our homework, we opted to stay at the bar where we met Rommel & Pedro, the primary bartenders (more on them and the bar in a future post). That proved to be a good decision as we were among the first the bartenders met (for name recognition) and we had comfortable seats to wait and a welcome mimosa in our hands. The restaurant opened promptly at 11:30 and we chose to have lunch there (no other options given to Haven guests other than the non-Haven restaurants) which timed out well as the Haven suites became available at 1pm. Now, a couple of comments about the Concierges: Of course embarkation day is the busiest and they had 3-4 staff at the desk, however 1 was just for dinner reservations and 1 was for excursions, so there were really just 2 staff to handle various other issues and the line backed up somewhat. Much better the rest of the cruise. Across from the Concierge desk on the Prima is an odd office space with opaque glass and NO door that sat empty most of the time. However, one day, we were sitting on the couches near that office when we overheard the Head Concierge dressing down our Butler (nothing to do with us as we had not complained, but some other guest must have). On another day, this same Head concierge took a Facetime call while sitting at the concierge desk obviously talking with his wife and children. The volume was so loud, we could make out the majority of the conversation. Beyond the lack of discretion by the Head Concierge, I observed him helping guests throughout the cruise in a friendly manner (although, if you ask him the time, he WILL tell you how the watch is built). I believe the rest of his staff was efficient and professional and ready to help you. Watch this space.....

@Sthrngary Thank you for the kind words. I feel that if you can't be constructive, why take the time. I appreciate your point on the Premium-Plus differences and we should not expect the same from a mainstream cruise line, even in the Haven. That said, since NCL owns Oceania and Regent, you'd think that perhaps SOME of the training elements they give to the Premium Plus Butlers could trickle down to the Haven Butlers. I see the shortcomings in our Butler as a training issue. Your reply got me thinking about something I didn't mention in my review of our suite. Since I had done so much research, I really didn't press our Butler on the cursorary overview he gave us. One thing that frustrates Prima Haven reviewers in how the lighting switches work in the suite. Our Butler could have been well served to explain that to us. Anyway, thank you and I look forward to reading about your Oceania experience!