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42 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

BTW….the prime rib was excellent!

 

For some unknown reason, Dusan stops to check on me whenever I’m in the Haven!  He must think I look lost and needy (which some days, is true). 🙂

By far, my wife's favorite meal on our last cruise.  I think she ate it like 3 nights.  Had them add a lobster tail to it as well two of the nights when she got jealous I got the surf and turf.

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

It is!

 

From memory…

 

-Buffalo Trace Bourbon

-Cherries Marinated in brandy, muddled on the glass

-cinnamon stick 

-orange peel 

-smoked with apple wood chips

Don't quote me on it, but I think one of the smoked bourbon drinks they make is called a 007.  I had it in the Haven bar on the Escape almost every night.  Top notch and different where they add maple syrup to it instead of simple syrup.

@Sthrngary  Glad to see you are having a blast solo.  I finally got to have some 1942 in February when catching up with some friends from college for our annual golf weekend.  One of them brought a few bottles for the house we were staying in.  Needless to say, I need to sip it next time to probably get a better experience.  I'm more of a bourbon guy, but from what taste I did get, it was pretty good.

Enjoy your day in Roatan.

Just a comment that I've been thinking about here.  NCL is making sure they are sailing the Haven full.  There are numerous reasons for this from a business aspect.  But do they have adequate staffing to do so?  My assumption is that while ships are sailing full with passengers, there are probably limited staff as well, including the butlers that service Haven guests maybe?  That could lead to issues with service (butler to guest ratio is higher).  I'm not giving NCL a pass on this either, because it is something well within their control and management abilities if sailing with a full Haven.

Additionally, if not mistaken, when Joy was re-fitted after being over in Asia, it had more Haven cabins added and has the most I think of any ship aside from the Prima/Viva which haven't sailed yet.  From pictures I've seen, it doesn't look like they've enlarged any of the areas on Joy after adding more Haven cabins.

We did Sandals for our honeymoon in 2011 in St. Lucia (La Toc Resort with golf course).  We did have a butler there as well.  I can say that butler was one of the best we had overall and made our 10 days there an incredible experience.  The rest of the resort was interesting and did not really blow us away (we take a lot of all-inclusive vacations) but it was the butler who made our honeymoon one of our best vacations.

On 3/16/2022 at 10:44 AM, aubreyc1988 said:

You are going to have an amazing time! I had an amazing time, I'm just being critical and like I said before, if the price is right, I'd sail in the Haven again for sure!  

Oh I know we are going to love it.  We can't sail any other way now, which is going to be rough on my wallet going forward.

@aubreyc1988 Thanks for the thoughtful and well put together review.  I'm disappointed to hear that the bar experience was sub-par, especially the cognac experience.  I know when my wife and I last sailed in the Haven in 2017, the bar staff on the Escape were amazing and true mixologists, who would see what you were ordering the first night or two and then swap out something different but along the same lines.  It was an amazing experience to watch them work and some of the drinks were outstanding (Smoking Al Capone was my favorite as a bourbon guy).  I had to cancel my April cruise due to vacation time constraints and settle for 5 days at Disney instead, but looking forward to my August Encore cruise in the Haven with my entire family.

6 minutes ago, phissy said:

Category sold out .
Final payment due sometime in June. Just hoping that after final, if cabins become available in our category, we can change.

Yes, if there is a cabin in the same category that you booked in that you want to switch to, you can change it at anytime, even after final payment.  I had done this on my Escape cruise in 2017 as we wanted a certain balcony cabin on a certain deck.  Then I won a bid on a Haven room and well, now I'm screwed... 🙂

Good luck!

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

While this is true for the majority of the cruise, the mask mandate is a requirement for the ship to enter US waters.  It has to have been in place at least since the last foreign port.  Without a declaration from the Captain that the mandate has been enforced that long, then the USCG will not grant clearance to enter US waters.  Should the Captain falsify this declaration, he would, personally, be liable for criminal charges.  Not sure any Captain values his job over incarceration and fine.

I definitely appreciate reading your posts and your experience and knowledge that you share here.  But let me ask this?  Let's just say the last port is Nassau on a cruise.  When leaving Nassau, the captain announces that there is a mask mandate in effect until they dock in Miami tomorrow.  Passengers for the most part comply with the mandate and wear masks.  You have your few that will go against the mandate as we have seen here and there both on the ship and also on land.  Wouldn't that be enforcing the mandate from the last port?  That is what the policy states.  Passenger compliance with the mandate is something that cannot be controlled.  This is such a grey area at this point and neither side would be right or wrong.

Depending on the room you were upgrade to will determine the layout as said above.  We stayed in 9706 the last time we were on the Escape and we were really happy with the room.  One thing to note on the BA and BA+ ships is that the crew lounge area (one of them) is down on the bow of the ship.  Looking out the window, you will see some chairs and an umbrella.  Sometimes around 11 or so when we would be getting back to the room, we could hear them down there.  I think if we were higher up, it would have been fine, but alas, you are assigned the room you get if you upgrade.

Otherwise, the room is great with the separate living area and bedroom and that awesome bathroom with a separate tub and shower with multiple jets.  It was nice that I could let my wife sleep in while I enjoyed coffee and caught up on some reading in the AM.

One thing that we had done every morning after the 1st morning when we had it was have pressed coffee brought down to the room each morning with some fruit and yogurt.  We had him come down around 7:30 on port days or around 9AM on sea days.  It was a great start to our day to sit on the balcony and enjoy coffee and pulling into port.

The other option would be to book a balcony for you and the wife and the kids in an inside (you have to book with a parent/kid per room).  That way, you all have the space you need, a balcony and privacy. 

It was many years ago before the Haven existed that I cruised with my 96 year old grandmother, but she was a hoot.  She spent most of her time running the craps table for the casino guys and sitting on a small sundeck reading her books.  This was back in the 90s before any of these megaships were around and I miss those days cruising with her and dinners with her.

I agree with what many said and I would go for the Haven 2BR.  While the second bedroom is a bit tight, it will be plenty of room for her and you get all the great stuff that comes with the Haven.  Everything will be close for her and if she wants to venture out and explore, then she can.  Or she can choose to just stay there. 

Good luck with your choice and enjoy your cruise.  Bless her for still wanting to cruise at her age. 

14 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Genting Hong Kong halted payments on debts of almost $3.4 billion in 2020.

 

Ships will go to the highest bidder.

 

I will start! $1.00

Sadly, I will outbid you at $1.10.

I doubt any cruise lines will buy any other cruise lines at this point, regardless of the synergies.  Many of them are already stretched thin on their cash reserves and balance sheets and have asked for loan payment deferment as well.

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I would just suggest flying out the day of and booking a transfer through NCL. Not quite understanding the terror around traveling through NYC, but I think this would be the simplest solution for you.

I'll second and third everyone who said this.  Let NCL handle it for you with the transfers.  If you want something a bit more upscale, you can get car service to either airport easily for a bit more money and less "people" around you for a bit. JFK/EWR would be your best bet for direct flights back to Phoenix (assuming this is where you are flying out of) as LGA won't have a ton of direct flights daily.  I did a mock booking using a travel search site and found a lot of good options going back day off and flying into Tampa the day before.

Growing up and cruising out of NYC most of my childhood was nice because we lived 30 minutes from the port.  I've done one cruise since I was an adult and booked my flights and transfers myself with ease (used car serivces to/from airport and flew in day before and day after).

NYC seems intimidating at times, but it's a really cool city to visit if you never have and want to see some really neat stuff.

Trieste is gorgeous and a wonderful city to spend a day or two in pre/post cruise.  Spent many a land vacations in that area growing up and the city of one of my family's favorite.  If I remember correctly, the area where the cruise port is has some really nice hotels and restaurants. 

There was some talk that they were going to build a new channel that would not go through the city center of Venice so that the larger ships could use the port in the future.  Just don't know the timeline on that or if/when it will happen.

1 hour ago, vacruizer said:

It was included in the beverage package on my last cruise. I guess by pricing it that high they either get you to pay $8 or upsell you to the premium package. For me premium doesn’t make sense since my significant other doesn’t drink. 
 

Bookers in 2018 was $17.95 so you only paid $3 for it then for a much better bourbon. 

Yeah, in 2017 on Escape, I ordered Bookers every night after dinner and it was just the extra $3 and I had no issue with it.  But Bourbon is in shortage right now across the country so I'm not surprised to see the prices on cruise rise either.  Just didn't expect that much of an upcharge.

21 minutes ago, vacruizer said:

$23.00 for Woodford?!?! Holy cow!!!  That’s a $10 bourbon in most bars. 

I could get a small bottle of Woodford in NC for way less than that.  I get the upcharge on the cruise but that is really highway robbery.

I think I went from Bronze to Silver.  😂

Loyalty programs are cutting back everywhere in every industry.  This isn't new and it will continue to the point where they just don't matter anymore.  

I'm just happy to be on a ship, somewhere warm, with a drink in my hand.

My understanding of the protocols is that they will quarantine you until you can be tested (PCR) and it comes back negative.  I've heard that they provide room service (no service charge) as well as some extra movies to watch.  I think there were a few posts early on during the return about this, but I cannot find them, but that was what I remember from them.

I'll second the keeping your extra specialty dining meals.  We are big fans of the Haven restaurant and ate there 3 nights while we were on the ship.  We enjoyed every meal there, but we also like trying other food.  Cagney's was just as good as the Haven, however, the Haven prime rib I had was much better than my wife's she had at Cagney's.  We love breakfast in the Haven though because of the coffee, the self serve options (pasties are really good) and we ate some lunch there.  We liked the tapas bar and Food Republic as well on Escape. 

2 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

All they said was they needed to wait in Barbados to embark additional crew.  Never heard that it was deck officers, but that makes sense.

They are now on their way to Southampton.  Did not make it to New York and had to arrange for many pax to get there.

Thanks for clarifying the port for me.  Too many B ports around the Caribbean.  Needless to say, it could have been for any department that might be shorthanded or close to it.  We'll never know the details but either way, this is not good for the industry as a whole and I suspect it will get worse from here.

12 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

Yes, I know that, but do you continue on with or start a new a multi-day cruise with thousands of passengers on board without your leaders?  I bet your insurance company would take a dim view of that if something goes wrong.

 

 

Since I don't know what happened, I can only give examples.  There are basically four divisions on a cruise ship: Deck Department, Engineering Department, Hotel Department and Medical Department.  All report to the captain.  In the event that the Captain falls ill for whatever reason, the Staff Captain is usually next in command and would take over.  If the Chief Engineer falls ill, there is usually the Second engineer who would take over his duties and report to the captain.  This goes all the way down the command chain for each department.   If multiple departments were to have COVID infect them and take out a certain number of officers, it is more than likely going to lead to the ship either staying in the port it is in, or turning around to the last port it was in until it can be remedied as a certain number of crew in each department is needed to safely operate the ship.  My guess is with the Pearl and the Getaway, they've either had massive outbreaks in the crew that is effecting and/or testing limits of the crew numbers to safely operate the ship, or they had a massive passenger outbreak, or both.  I want to say I read somewhere that the QM2 (Cunard) had to stay in Bermuda recently due a lack of able bodied deck officers to safely operate the ship.

18 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

This could have nothing to do with numbers either.  What if the captain is positive?  The chief engineer?  Would they really sail with them in isolation?

There are plans in place for these types of situations, even before COVID, that there are people who can fill in and do their jobs in the event they become ill or even worse, die.

This is sad.  But it was only a matter of time before it came to this.  Will be interesting to see how the entire industry reacts to Omicron now.

If you are asking this question now, I would just cancel before payment and save yourself the hassles, especially if you don't have cancel for any reason insurance.

43 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

But what has changed? In November it changed to fully vaccinated kids under 12 can sail and go to the kids clubs. A month later they are saying fully vaccinated kids can sail but there won’t be any kids clubs. Who would’ve seen this coming? Why close the clubs? Other lines not only have clubs open, but kids are not even required to be vaccinated.

Can you provide the statement where they said they could go to kids clubs?  I'm feeling like it is an assumed thing that if they are allowed onboard that those areas would be open and I'm sure they are not.  I've looked over their site and can't find anything that says this.  This is the problem that everyone in this thread is talking about.  Lack of communication.

NCL policy of 100% vaccinated passengers probably drove them to keep the smaller kids facilities closed until they could sail.  Now that they could sail, they are determining the need based on the capacity of those age ranges for each cruise.  I have no doubt they will open in time as more kids 5-12 are vaccinated and cruise with their families and NCL sees the numbers grow.  My guess is that most ships will have theirs open come Spring Break time.