McGarrett5oh

Thanks @SaltyPawz. It sounds like you maximized your experience despite your relative newness to cruising. We've only been in the Haven once betore (Prima last Fall) and I've reported on that experience which pretty much mirrored your experience. We drew a short stick on the quality of the Butler despite a detailed Butler Letter and some of his tip up front (which turned out to be the only tip he received as his performance and visibility left us disappointed). We didn't have much use for the Concierge so we focused our renumeration on dining room and bar staff. This time around I'm not going to bother with the Butler Letter, but I've found bringing colored note cards with us to leave each morning (if necessary) was a more effective way to communicate with the Butler and cabin steward both in the Haven and a recent cruise in the Retreat on Celebrity (where the Butler was even more disappointing). Thanks again! Cheers!

Thank you for the review. Very helpful. We board the Breakaway in the Haven out of NYC in 2 weeks. Can you elaborate on: What are “chef snacks” and what did you “wonder if” on the last day? What did you mean by “given two cans on the first day”? Cans of what? Lastly, did I understand that your butler did not refill the requested gummy bears and M&Ms daily? TIA!

Turns out, at least for this Cruise, Scarlet night is the third night, which is the after we are in Cozumel all day. 🤨

Thanks for your posts @SaltyPawz. We are on the 9/29 Breakaway itinerary following a similar route as yours. How have you found the New England itinerary to be, the overall condition of the Haven and more specifically how was the tender process in Bar Harbor? Thank you.

We are on the Breakaway 9/29 sailing in a Haven Aft Suite. Can you tell us about the Haven tender process you experienced in Bar Harbor? Thanks for your posts!

Anyone been on the Valient Lady recently on the Riviera Maya cruise and can tell us which night they held Scarlet Night?

We had excellent WIFI on the Prima in Northern Europe last fall. Wondering now, if experience shows that on the "NCL Unlimited Premium" internet package, if I could expect to stream Amazon Prime on the Breakaway along the New England Coast and Canada (Halifax, St. John)??

Permanently closed

@BirdTravelsQuestion: So when we receive a complimentary "specialty" dining OBC, I believe there is a gratuity added to perk (depending on cruise line) either inclusive or a separate charge within the final fare. Is that right and should one then believe that the wait staff at the "specialty" restaurant are covered? Of course, for exceptional service, then one can add an additional tip. Also drink packages typically show that there is a gratuity added (or paid separately), so should we believe our bartenders are tipped when on a drink package? Another question from your earlier post regarding tipping housekeepers in hotels. I'm curious to know how you go about that? Not so much the amount but the vehicle. When the hotel doesn't leave a tip envelope, do you leave cash on the desk or bed, do you put it in an envelope you supply? I've always wondered if the tip really gets to the housekeeper and not picked up by a maintenance person. TIA

If you are asking about a butler, you are likely booked in the Haven. As you probably read by now, the butlers and the concierge in the Haven are not part of the NCL gratuity pool and tipping them brings about a lot of different opinions on how, how much and even whether. If you’d like to really dive in, this thread will offer for you more than enough information about the Haven and you’ll also find quite a bit of tipping experience from other Haven guests. Cheers!

We spent 14 nights in the Haven on Prima last Fall and also had 3 Specialty Dining reservations. We spaced out the Specialty Dining every 2-3 days or so, but found the Haven restaurant's static menu to still provide enough variety that we could enjoy our favorite meals several times in rotation. But then, I'm one who if I find something I really like, I tend to order it again.

We just returned from Alaska and in Juneau we used “Alaska Tales” for our whale watching excursion. They are a relatively new company and does not have contracts with the cruise lines. We saw eight or nine whales, salmon, jumping, and eagles flying. There were three crew members, one was a naturalist, and the captain kept in touch with other whale, watching boats, as they all do, to find where the whales were that day. Check their reviews on Google or TripAdvisor to see what you think.

I was able to get on from the terminal last week albeit spotty (non Rockstar)

@CDR Benson The screen name's roots fall back to a professional radio name I used in the late 1970s at which time the original Hawaii 5-0 was peaking in popularity. I "borrowed" Jack Lord's character's surname for it's familiarity. The original series was terrific but I also enjoyed the remake which ended after 10 seasons. You might be interested to know that in the original series, the "O" was a letter. In the remake, it was a number. But, I digress....🙃 Thank you for the link to your detailed and impressively penned review of the RSSC Mariner. I found your review to contain much more positives than negatives and would seem that your experience was more adversely impacted by the dining and the daytime activities and perhaps the aging of the ship. I found the rest of your review inspiring in the elevated attention from the staff coupled with the publicly announced 3-week dry dock refurbishing scheduled for late 2025, approximately 1 year ahead of our planned sailing. Our first and only Haven experience thus far was somewhat underwhelimg. 14 days on the Prima to Iceland and Norway in September 2023 left us nonplussed. Much of that feeling was the ship itself, but our Butler was a total disappointment. On a side note, we sailed in the Retreat on Celebrity in January 2024 and found the same experience with that Butler. What we did find of value on both ships was the food and the attention of the host/hostess, bartenders and wait staffs in the private restaurants and lounges. Along with the "rockstar" treatment coupled with the exclusivity of the spaces, we found the overall value to be satisfactory, but perhaps not necessary on every cruise. We also determined, we are not the types that need "butler" service. On other recent cruises on Holland America and Virgin Voyages, without Butler service, we found the cabin steward(s) to be more than able to accomodate our needs. The Haven concierge staff on the Prima Haven was unimpressive, but then we didn't have much need for their help as we tightly plan our cruises before departure. We have one more Haven experience coming in September (utilizing an FCC from the original Haven cruise after a price drop). Kudos to @Sthrngary for his 2023 coaching on how to approach NCL to increase our odds of receiving the reduced fare after final payment. Frankly, we are looking forward to experiencing the Haven again, now being more experienced with Haven expectations coupled with the itinerary and having secured our first AFT (Haven) Suite. In conclusion, thank you again for the RSSC review and your thoughts over the past 18 months or so that I have been reading and following @Sthrngary's Haven threads here on CC. I highly value your posts and opinions on these topics. Cheers! PS Just a random thought. Our Celebrity Retreat experience was on the new "Beyond" cruise ship. The captain 6 months out of the year is Captain Kate McCue, the industry's first and only female captain. She does a daily "Captain's Log" on Instagram and while perhaps not everyone's cup of tea as she is a bit of an "Internet Personality" and does go "overboard" (pun intended) sometimes on certain subjects, you may find some of her "behind the scenes" videos to be of interest, as I have. Her backstory on how she reached her current position is interesting as well and should be inspiring to any young girl with a nautical desire. Here's a link should you care to sample: https://www.instagram.com/captainkatemccue/reel/C98mekpOxHz/

@CDR Benson Despite reading the mixed reviews, we have booked RSSC for late 2026 after a mixed Haven experience on the Prima last year and an upcoming Haven cruise on Breakaway this Fall. I would be grateful if you could direct me to your RSSC review that @Sthrngary mentioned in his comment #53. I’d like to see your perspective on RSSC in more detail. Thank you.

Thank you!!

We are first time cruisers on Regent (have sailed in Haven & Retreat on Prima & Beyond). Our departure is after the 2025 Horizon refurbishment and we'll be in a deck 8 Horizon Suite (8104 - shower only, which is fine). We think we will enjoy the aft view and the larger suite/deck as well as the overall Regent experience. Any experienced Mariner Horizon Suite guests in this forum that can offer experience and advice related to this category for us newbies? TIA

Just disembarked from Valiant Lady today. We had steak at Pink Agave, Extra Virgin and for brunch at the Wake and found the temperature to be at or even slightly lower than ordered (Medium). We did have the overcooked experience at the Wake in 2022 on Scarlet so my wife opted for The Hanger Steak this time and it was perfect.

This will be our 2nd of 3 Virgin Cruises. Sailing again in October. Both short 4-5 day “long weekend” getaways using FCCs loaded with OBO we bought on our first Virgin cruise in November 2022 & soon to expire if not used. Living in Florida it’s easy to get to drive to Miami same day. We just returned from an extraordinary Alaska “cruise tour” on Holland America (I saw you are looking for feedback on that destination & can provide). We have another Haven cruise in September which likely will be our last Haven experience for reasons I’ll go into in another post. Beyond that, we are currently considering a Regent cruise in 2026 with no 2025 plans. More on Virgin when we get back. Cheers!

@Sthrngary I just found this new thread and plan to participate. Wondering why it's been quiet here since July 2nd? We've had Haven, Retreat, and a "non-ship within a ship" experiences recently plus depart tomorrow on our second Virgin cruise. From all these, I have a perspective to share, but I wanted to make sure this thread was still active. Also, you probably thought of this and perhaps I missed it, but there is no direction on the 2022 thread that you started this new one. Perhaps that is on purpose? 🤔

From our experience at Gumbae, even without hearing issues, we suggest you try to get a seat on one of the ends of the round booth you’ll be seated in. We were in the middle and could barely make out what the waiter/cook was saying. Also those closer to the waiter got “seconds” on everything, as did we, but less of a selection. If you order the signature drink in the disco ball cup with the “pop rocks”, drink up as the fizz subsides if you nurse the drink. We thought Gumbae was interesting and worth trying, but not our favorite. We depart tomorrow on Valiant and will be dining in Extra Virgin, Pink Agave and the Wake. The latter 2 were our favorites last time. Cheers!

Thanks. It looks like the difference in the balconies is the depth of the balcony. The width on Getaway 13 vs 9 & 12 as well as on the Breakaway, appear to be the same. Correct? Thanks for the offer on the Getaway but yes I'm mostly interested in the Breakaway. We considered the Getaway but this itinerary served us better. This will be our first AFT experience. Good to know they are awesome!

Aha, Somehow I missed that since our last Haven cruise was in 2023. Thank you!

This thread has been unusally quiet for over a month now, so I thought I'd try to wake it up a bit. In late September we will be in an AFT Haven Suite on the Breakaway. I've searched through this thread and the last posting, with detail, that I could find was in 2022. I've done pretty extensive research into this cabin, its layout, distrance from the Haven restaurant, lounge, bar & sundeck, etc., but I'm wondering if anyone has sailed in the Haven onboard the Breakaway in 2024 that could update me on their experience. Bonus thank yous if you also stayed in an Aft Haven Suite. 😃 TIA

Slightly off-topic, but our experience in the restaurants was to ask the waiter their opinion on the menu choices. When we took their suggestions, we were delighted, and when we didn’t, we were disappointed. In almost every case it was more steering away from certain items and less about the waiter’s subjective palate. It might’ve been just our one off experience, but when we board this time we’re going to try the same thing.