European_CruiseGirl

What age are the kids? I could imagine older kids (teens/young adults) would anyway prefer to get their own freedom and go to the buffet for breakfast and grab a lunch at pool rather than sit with their parents at a sit down restaurant for breakfast/lunch. Breakfasts at Cagneys (or Moderno) are nice for sure from an adult point of view but I could see older teens/young adults getting bored and rather wanting their own freedom. Lunch at Cagneys gets old pretty fast. The menu doesn’t change at all and is a bit limited IMHO. When we have travelled in a suite which gives access to Cagneys lunch we have perhaps gone there twice on a 7 day cruise. Embarkation is something which I see as a main problem for you as the Haven check in has all the suite level key cards there. Once when we travelled in a two bedroom suite and my parents were in a connecting mini we tried to go to the non-Haven check in to do check in for all of us. We figured that priority embarkation is not such a big deal and we rather want to check in with my parents at the regular check in. But we couldn’t do that. Once we reached the normal check in counter and the check in agent realized we are suite guests she promptly informed us that she unfortunately could not check us in as the Haven check in people had our key cards pre made there and she couldn’t make us key cards or process our check in. And the Haven check in cannot make cards for non suite passengers. So if this still is so (this was pre-covid) you’ll have a problem with the check in as you are expected to do the check in separately from some of your kids. The solution could be that you queue to check in first with your kids who are in the minis and then only after that go to do your own check in at the Haven area. I could imagine you could board with your non suite kids in the same boarding number group as they are by just showing your suite key cards and saying you want to embark together with the kids and do not want to be escorted to the ship together with other suite guests. For embarkation lunch, if you want a more peaceful lunch than the zoo at Garden cafe buffet head to the aft main dining room which is open for lunch on embarkation day. All staff inside the ship will try to usher you to the Garden cafe (or Cagneys if they notice you are a suite passenger) but just walk to the aft main dining room. It is open and a pleasant experience for a quiet embarkation lunch. I wouldn’t worry too much about tendering priority unless you have several ports with tendering and early private excursions. If not just wait around 30mins and the lines become easier. Then just go to the tender all together. I wouldn’t also worry about the disembarkation. I have never seen the value of the concierge escorting us out of the ship as s/he escorts the the passengers only up until the gangway. So there is really no ”skipping the lines” at immigration or customs. Of course you might bypass some passengers inside the ship but not really worth the hassle to going to the dedicated meeting place, wait for the concierge to arrive, then waiting for him/her waiting for more suite passengers to arrive to escort out and then going. Rather just make your own way out together with the kids and you’ll be just fine. Make sure to get luggage tags of suitable colour (=disembarkation time) for your non suite kids when they are starting to hand those out at the atrium level (I guess it is around the second last full day of the cruise). You can choose almost whichever colour (time) that you want. Only those colour that are tied to NCL debarkation tours cannot obviously be chosen unless you are taking one of NCL’s tours. Is it optimal that you all do not have suite perks - of course no. Is it still doable without too much pain - yes it is particularly if those kids at the minis are teens/young adults already. I am sure you’ll enjoy your cruise anyway 😊

Le Bistro is my favourite for sure. Great ambiance (more fancy and romantic than the rest) and better meat than at Cagneys.

I just made several reservations for 4 persons even though we are only 3 in our cabin. If what your friend told would be a new policy I would have ended up paying always for the one extra person. I did not. I wonder if your friend had already booked the a la carte restaurants and then tried to book a fixed price restaurant after all his/her dining credits were used already? You have to book the fixed price restaurants always first, otherwise if you book more restaurant visits than you have credits you end up paying for the fixed price restaurant immediately up front when you book it.

Yes these things happen. And it also happens that when you get familiar to the waiters in a speciality restaurant that they don’t ask for your card anymore particularly if you go there daily. They just greet you like an old friend and assume that you remember your suite number. Or even that they remember already your suite number. And this is where things can go wrong and mistakes can multiply if the suite number was given wrong in the beginning. Obviously it might also be a computer glitch but it’s safe to assume that either way someone elses charges ended up on op’s folio and someone else signed those slips.

Yea exactly we neither 😁

We have done this multiple times. It truly is nice to get the speciality dinner delivered directly to the suite 🥰 Make sure to order well in advance so the butler has time to plan, arrange and prepare 😊 The butler will be more than glad to do this. Once we felt like just grabbing some food from the Garden Café buffet and eat it in our suite. We ventured out to Garden Café, took what we wanted and carried it to our (non-Haven) suite. Our butler caught us when we were close to our suite and almost had a heart attack and started to tell we wouldn’t need to get food from Garden Café alone. We could have just rang him and let him know what we wanted from the buffet and he’d arrange it to us to our suite 😅 We never used this service though snd continued to sneak still alone to the buffet to get stuff to our suite and felt like we were breaking the law somehow 🤣 Ah what a good memory ❤️

Quite many beers seem to be $7 + tax at NCL making it $8.40 which was a reoccurring amount in op’s folio which she shared here. Does NCL still allow 18-20 year olds to have beer/wine if the parents allow and sign a waiver? If so I am starting to suspect a family with mom and dad in a Haven access suite and two kids aged 18-20 in a non Haven cabin. But as the kids are ”immediate family” for the Haven mom and dad the Concierge has agreed that the kids can eat at Haven restaurant with their parents. The young adults would only get a soda package as part of their free at sea as they are under 21 even though they are pax 1-2 in their cabin. Hence the need to pay for beer at the Haven restaurant. And for some reason (computer glitch, wrong suite number marked manually by mistake to the slip by the pax or to computer by the NCL waitstaff) the costs have gone to op’s suite folio, not the mom and dad’s suite. Mom and dad would have been in a Haven access suite which is situated outside of Haven proper making it possible for their under 21 year old kids to have an adjoining non Haven cabin. https://profcruise.com/norwegian-bar-menus-2022/

Sky is one of the smallest ships NCL has.

I wonder if someone else in Haven on that cruise had non Haven guests with them dining at the Haven restaurant? Perhaps the Concierge allowed someone to have repeatedly (the same) non Haven guests eating with the Haven guests daily. Perhaps an extended family or so. And perhaps either because of a computer glitch or some other reason NCL got the suite number wrong for those Haven guests who had non Haven guests repeatedly with them? So lets say suite 17102 had non Haven guests daily eating with them at the Haven restaurant. They signed after each meal at Haven restaurant because they had guests. But for whatever reason that cost wasn’t marked for suite 17102, it was marked for suite 17112. I also know they are supposed to always ask your card but I have experienced on several occasions them just simply asking for a suite number. Not at bigger restaurants but in Haven once they get to know your face. I am not saying the person would have said a wrong cabin number intentionally but things happen. I have said multiple times my cabin number wrong on a cruise ship because I have just mixed things up 😅 So there might now be someone who was on that cruise and who is now an extremely happy person because NCL let their non Haven guests dine with them ”for free” as those costs never ended on their folio even though they signed every day.

Not sure if you tried to ask this from me 🙂 In any case yes we knew the suite perks woudn't trickle down. But we didn't think it was such a big deal. But it obviously was 😁 And we had our DD in that 2nd bedroom already. So we though the 2 bedroom and a mini is a good solution. After that cruise we just switched to booking two full suites for us all. Having though experienced that second bedroom in a 2 bedroom suite many many times the thought of putting an elderly couple (my father is already in his 80's) in that room seems (for me) impossible. In my opinion that second bedroom is suitable only for children/teens who are happy to have a bit of privacy but thats it. Perhaps it is also suitable for one young single adult. The bed is not comfortable etc. and the room is very cramped. Granted those staying in the second bedroom can use the suite's other areas but still. I couldn't imagine sleeping in the master bedroom with DH, having the lovely bathroom with seaview while knowing that my parents are in that second tiny tiny uncomfortable bedroom. And yes, I don't want to put myself and DH in that tiny bedroom either 🤣

I do not believe there is an easy way to get to Nassau. GCS is NCL’s own private island so there aren’t normal passenger ferries operating to/from the island.

We tried it once so that my parents were on a (then) mini suite category and we were on a 2 bedroom non Haven suite. It was on the Gem. Even that was cumbersome. Starting from check in: hey bye bye, we’ll check in here at the suite check in, see you at the ship. Continuing with embarkation lunch: well would be nice to go to Cagneys for suite lunch but well it’s the situation of my parents again, well…lets go together to the main dining room. Breakfast together? Only if we skipped the suite breakfast at Moderno and went with my parents to Garden Café/main dining room. Ah and now comes the tender port…ummmmm…well, we’d have priority tender tickets but my parents don’t so do we just split up again or will we forget our priority tender tickets and queue with them? And we weren’t even on a Haven suite which would have made it even more awkward. We made the decision there and then that as long as we travel together we will always have cabins with the same type of perks. On the other hand when we travel with my brothers family we both aknowledge that it is enough for us to meet for an occasional dinner or pool time at the main pool etc. So with them it is ok. Quite often they choose the inside cabin (and buy the jewellery instead I am sure 😁). So it really depends with whom you travel with and how much you want to experience and do stuff together with that person/persons. And when thinking about parents/grand parents: do you feel comfortable getting all those suite/Haven perks while knowing your elders don’t. The decision is always based on your individual feelings of these factors 😊 Currently we are planning an RSSC cruise and it will be me, my DH and my mother. There is no way the three of us will be in the same cabin 😂 And as we are getting a Penthouse suite with my husband so is my mother too although she has to pay the full double occupancy rate even though she will be alone in that Penthouse. Now I can tell you that a Penthouse suite for a solo passenger is expensive with RSSC prices 🤣 But we still prefer to do it like this and will skip a couple of cruises before it 😊

I guess the problem with Amber Cove is that it is a Carnival Corp built port and only accommodates two ships max. So if there are already two ships scheduled at Amber Cove by Carnival, HAL, Princess, Seabourn, Cunard, Aida, Costa or P&O cruises on any given day NCL won’t go there. Those Carnival Corp ships always take the spots at the port before other cruiselines ships. So the best that you can do is to check the Amber Cove port schedule and if you see on your day 2 other Carnival Corp ships there you can assume you might not get to Puerto Plata at all. There seems to be some kind of trouble at the other Puerto Plata port for NCL and they are not using it currently. However if Amber Cove has only one or zero other ships scheduled for your day you could imagine that you’d likely go there. From what I have read when NCL has skipped Puerto Plata it has gone to either Nassau or Great Stirrup Cay.

Just to ad to my post (I took too long time to edit my post anymore): having worked for years in an incoming travel agency also serving cruiseline guests and doing shore excursions it is business as usual to follow into which port ships arrive. Changes are frequent and not a problem at all. If a change occurs we adjust ourselves so that wherever our booked guests arrive we are there 😊 And we make sure that the change means minimal to zero change for our guests tours. Port changes (and even airport changes) are indeed very usual and taken care of efficiently by tour operators 😊

As far as I can tell both Amber Cove and Taino Bay are considered to be ”Puerto Plata” ports so I wouldn’t really expect NCL to tell me this in beforehand or apologize in some way for choosing one or another port facility. Although yes of course Taino Bay would seem to be nicer. Has NCL ever really advertized any cruise as going to Amber Cove instead of just talking about Puerto Plata town in general? They don’t specify Havensight or Crown Bay either at St Thomas, just calling the stop as Charlotte Amalie. I can see how the change of expected port facility within a port stop could potentially cause problems when booking own excursions. However I would assume (and have always assumed) that when I book with a local tour operator and tell them with which ship I come with on date xx they’ll know where to come and pick me up as they are locals and work in the tourist industry.

Getting ready for our first post covid cruise and feeling excited. At the same time it’s been 4 years since we cruised NCL and well things change. We purchased a bottle of Moet to be in our suite at embarkation day through NCL’s gifts & more some months ago. The cruise is in April. As we now decided to upgrade to the Free at Sea Plus it doesn’t really make any sense to have the purchased Moet as we can get a bottle of it free at dinner any evening or even every evening if we feel like it 😁 If it was another brand which they currently allow a whole bottle at dinner thats fine too. Just to make sure before we cancel the order that we already made (and paid): can we expect to get a full refund for it or is there something that we should take into consideration? And how long can we expect for the refund to take nowadays before it is processed and shows on the credit card with which it was paid for originally? I could of course ask the NCL rep when I call them to cancel the Moet but well…Cruise Critic members usually are much more knowleable than the NCL shoreside staff 😅 Lovely cruising to you all 🌅

I would actually read the above so that the staff is paid by salary and an incentive program. And that the incentive program is only supported (not dependent on) the DSC. So the incentive program is what it is anyway and NCL uses some of the guests DSC to fund it. This quote by NCL leaves it also open that NCL might use the DSC to anything else they wish to also. Lets say leadership bonuses etc. They don’t say that the DSC is used to give it back to the crew. Only that it ”supports” the crew incentive program which is a very vague description. Who knows what else it might support.

Unfortunately NCL’s drink package does not include soda cans, it includes only fountain soda. So your drink package is quite useless if you’d want to stock up your cabin with soda cans. You can though purchase the soda cans separately while onboard of course. Yes I feel your pain, I am a soda addict and need my soda first thing in the morning. I have been known to order a pepsi at Haven breakfast more than once…now I guess it will be a coke then as NCL switched brands.

Everything else is available except the Haven. There are butlers and a concierge, breakfast is at one of the speciality restaurants and there is also a suite lunch at a speciality restaurant (same menus as Haven ships suite breakfast and lunch). There is escort on and off the ship. There is priority boarding and tendering. There isn’t the Haven area in itself or a Haven Bar. There isn’t a Haven dinner restaurant. But really other than that you get all the perks that you’d get on a Haven ship suite.

We are usually Haven cruisers (and our DD just loves ”the special attention” like your kids at global entry) so I can understand your feelings. With the situation though that you mention above (and the prices 😶) I’d definitely go with the two club balconies without any suite perks. Heck I’d even go with the standard balconies. The only thing I am wondering is that it seems you are travelling as the only adult with the kids who are under 18. This would mean that one cabin would not have an adult in it. Not sure if NCL is ok with this as they cannot book two cabins under the same reservation so although they can link the reservations they are in fact still two separate reservations. Not sure if NCL can do this and have a reservation with only an underage kid in it. However if NCL is ok with this I’d go with two cabins for sure. Sorry if I misread and there will be 2 adults too 😊 Putting basically three adult sized people (or almost 😁) in a standard Haven suite is not a good idea IMHO and the two bedroom Haven suite seems to be $14.000 whereas the two club balconies would be $10.000. Thats one heck of a price difference. Add to that the port extensive cruise where you’d be out of the ship every day, the fact that your daughter wouldn’t use the Haven area even while on ship as she’d be with her friends outside of Haven and I’d definitely lean on the two club balconies. Particularly as then all of you would get the free at sea perks (so drinks packages, dinner packages, Wi-Fi, excursion credit) which only pax 1-2 would get in a Haven suite. If you want to enhance your cruising experience (if you feel like it) I’d suggest you look up cruisecritic member strngary’s ”Haven light” post where he explains how he creates a Haven light experience when cruising in a non Haven cabin. As I mentioned in the beginning we usually cruise Haven or if we cruise on an older ship which does not have a Haven we book a suite anyway. A couple of times though Haven just wasnt available or doable for us so we booked a standard balcony cabin. We were very hesitant about it the first time we did it. Would we feel something extremely important was missing. Well guess what: we had a blast! A fantastic time! We booked a cabin in the aft (not aft facing, just in the aft section of the ship) two decks below Garden Café (and Great Outdoors, I believe it was Gem) and every morning ventured two decks up to have breakfast sitting at the Great Outdoors. Omg that was nice! Although I loooooove when the butler brings us breakfast to the suite those Great Outdoors breakfasts are the thing I remember most fondly while thinking of NCL breakfasts 😄 And looking at the pics and remembering our feelings while on the cruise we just simply had a fantastic time. Even without the suite…or could it be because we didn’t have a suite and needed/wanted to be more out and about on the ship 😲 So IMHO choose the two club balconies (or even balconies) and have a fantastic time if NCL just allows it.

Sad and frustrating but kind of makes me laugh still 😂

I wholeheartedly agree. However on this particular matter I do believe that many will consider this as an enhancement. Previously hot breakfast to the cabin was just below $10 - now it is below $5. There will be a lot of people who will be extremely happy about this as $10 sounds too much to pay for a hot breakfast to be delivered to the cabin. However $5 is very much doable for many. There will be a lot of happy and satisfied customers because of this change enjoying their omelet and french toast with all the other breakfast items in their cabin.

The NCL beverage package’s rules explicitly say that it excludes room service drinks. It doesn’t matter if that room service is being delivered by the butler of not. Those drinks are still not included in the package. The butlers and other room service people would do nothing else than run around getting people drinks to the suites/cabins if those were included in the packages😁 There isn’t an extra charge for the butler’s delivery though so they deliver anything for your suite for free (= no delivery charge) - it is just the non free item you order that you need to pay for 😊

Should be easy enough to change once you get onboard if you do it first thing. Perhaps you won’t get the prime preferred time but a more suitable than you now have.

Yes indeed you can use the Haven check in. All suites (except Club balcony suites which are not real suites) can use the Haven check in. The only thing the non Haven suites cannot use is the Haven area itself while on the ship. We have cruised multiple times on a non Haven suite and have always used the Haven check in.