Grimix

I believe it was queen size at minimum. It's at least as wide as that couch.

On your reservation go to explore and plan. Select dining, and you can select meal plans. There will be checkmarks for each member of your party, and you just click those you want to buy the plan for. (This is on the desktop version, your mobile version may be different.) As for cost benefit the minimum you can buy is 2. The more days you buy the cheaper the per meal price. Whether it's worth it is up to you and how much your kids eat

Yeah, my wife was one of the half-serious racers. To be honest I feel the same about the land based tracks. Their saving grace is there are usually much more than 50% serious racers. Of course it can take just one bad one to clog up the track...

Challenge accepted! (Ok, as I'm still working and they only grudgingly like to let me off I'll have to postpone my attempt to when/if I retire...)

On the Bliss there were 2 main bartenders, and two pool servers. Perhaps one was a barback as cruiseny4life mentioned because we mostly saw the one server outside, and the other was usually in the bar. I believe the bartenders do pool, but the servers told me (not verified though, and telling me this increases the chance I'd tip, and I did...) that they do not pool with the bartenders. I tended to drop a $20 or $10 once a day with them. The first day I told them I was pre-tipping. (I didn't want to have to pull out a $1 or 2 every time I wanted a drink, especially if I was in a bathing suit some times.) They got the idea, and we had excellent service all week. (Others did too, not sure if they tipped or not. They were just really great.) I did give all 4 separate tips ($50) on the last night to thank them for the good times. The one pool server was off the last night so I gave the tip to her partner and said it was for her. She made a point during disembarkation of finding me to thank us. So I know it must have gotten to her.

That's not how the offer works. The 70% off assumes there is a second guest. A solo guest would pay full fare (double) for the cabin with this offer. The discounts are just Marketing Math to get people to buy. I'm pretty sure almost no one pays the "brochure" rate. There rates do fluctuate, but that's really just some base fare that rises and falls with demand.

Did Haven Bliss last october (Mexican Riviera), and doing Encore's this October (Alaska). I'll let you know! (Of course being a late season Alaska cruise the pax count probably won't be comparable...

That's for me! I'm on vacation and I don't want to have to think do I really want to pay another $15 for a drink? They may 'make out' on me (doubtful...) but I have the peace of mind knowing it's included and I'm not adding to some bill somewhere, and am able to just enjoy myself and do what I want. To be honest, if they didn't have the FAS I would be buying the drink package even though I'd be unlikely to get my money's worth on that. I wouldn't be able to relax as much worrying about my bar bill. I know people complain that NCL nickels-and-dimes you, but if you do everything up front, and get the price you're willing to pay you at don't have to worry that much once on board. We had about $150 on board credit from TA and we actually had to actively try and spend it all before we left on our last cruise (family of 5. So go-karts and laser tag were included in that)

It was done for me on my October cruise. Originally was for the 8th, but was moved to the 1st. Everything transferred over even my triple cruise next which wasn't being offered at the time I did the transfer. Your results may vary!

Did you look for the TV cameras? They're usually behind a mirrored surface... I'm pretty sure someone has brought back an AI Allen Funt...

The fountains are amazing... You may find a $1 during the day at some run-down worn out casino somewhere, but don't hold your breath. You'll struggle to find an open spot at a $5 table these days... Vegas used to be cheap to make up for all the money you could lose there. Suddenly they all realized everyone would still go if they raised prices to normal, and started charging $50 resort fees at all the hotels. I think many of the casinos now also charge for parking. I used to go a lot in my youth. We had a group that would decide on a whim to make the 5-6 hours drive after work, gamble all night, and then get a $10 room around noon the next day to sleep until we drove home. We'd be sure to hit up the $1 buffets, and/or $1 steak-and-egg breakfast. Most of the more gambling friendly places on the strip are gone now (Barabary coast, slots of fun, stardust...) I much prefer downtown Fremont street for gambling now. When we went this last trip the only place we found a $5 table with space for both of us was at Excalibur, and that place is what I mentioned above as run-down worn-out casino...

To tamper expectations, the food is great, but it doesn't match up to an equivalent meal shoreside. By that I mean the service will match or exceed a high end dining establishment, but the actual meal won't. It will be great, but don't want you to go in thinking it will be the best food you've ever had and then be disappointed!

And don't forget that the rules you're playing in the app probably don't even apply to the $5/hand games. I think they don't pay 3/2 on blackjacks until you start talking quarter tables. I'll stick to the PaiGow table. They may screw the dealers over by making them pay commissions on bets made for them, but at least I lose slower (or in the case of my last cruise broke even on an hour of play...) Went to Vegas with the kids earlier this year. My wife isn't a gambler (and I'm only a small time one. I know how to play and enjoy it, just prefer to not lose a lot so only play small (and $5 is now small) stake games.) We decided to try our luck one night and got a hot dealer. We both ended up $200 each after about an hour. The dealer tried to get us to stay (maybe because I was playing for her, but almost every time I played for her I lost...), but you don't win unless you leave!

Just dropping this in here, but some of the specialty restaurants may be open for lunch some/all days. If you prefer the Haven dining room for dinner you could always use some of your SDPs for a lunch.

That's the best evidence yet that they don't get it! Guess I'll keep tipping in cash. Wish I could trust the line as then at least I could get points on my tips!

Everyone like to say food is subjective and music probably even more so. Just had to comment because Fleetwood Mac is one of my wife's all time favorite bands so I'm sure she would be dragging me to this every time it was offered. I've considered booking a cruise on a ship that has them, but we're still mostly itinerary driven. We've got the Beatles again on our upcoming cruise. Don't get me wrong. I love some of the Beatle's songs, and consider them to be the most influential band of 'modern' times, but a lot of their pop stuff is not my cup of tea. I think why they play more of the old stuff is because of the average age of cruisers. Being north of 50 now I feel I can look curmudgeonly on my kids music. (Not a big fan of most of the new stuff, and if you need auto-tune to sing you should get another job...) My wife likes to say music is the thread that goes through the tapestry of your life. She goes back to certain times in her life when a song comes on. (Oh, I was in college studying for a final when I first heard this song... etc) Off the main topic, and now back on? but I've always like sea days, but they've only been one-offs between ports. I've never had 2-4 strung together in a row. I'm not a pool kind of guy, but I do enjoy reading. My wife is a pool kind of girl, and doesn't really enjoy reading. We'd probably end up in a fight. 🙂

Wait, but its only about a 5 hour drive from Rome to the city... Oh... you mean Rome Italy, not NY. New York, probably the only place on Earth where you can drive from Rome into Mexico in about an hour...

Last October (so before your story, and things may have changed) nothing was told to us about this on the Bliss and we took the wine every night. If you just grab the bottle and walk out you're saying they will accost you and demand the bottle back? If this is their new standard I'd probably make them hold the wine, and just order a new bottle every night and make them hold on to bottles I don't plan on drinking to emphasize I'm not happy with the new system. I may be spiteful that way though. 🙂

I was going to post this, but thought of a couple reasons. #1 could be taxes. Not sure how those are handled on an international cruise ship, but that is a possible reason. #2 could be because they can just pocket it and keep it for themselves without sharing. Probably other reasons, but I'm leaning to believing it's true as well. Not that I don't trust the big cruising conglomerate, but you know... I kinda don't.

I will second the look at the FAS+. When you book they will offer you upgrades. Like 2 extra specialty dining meals for guests 1 & 2, an offer to upgrade to unlimited wifi, or to upgrade your beverage package to the premium version (where only the experience alcohol (like Louis) are upcharge, sparkling/flat bottle water included, specialty coffee include, fresh juice included). If you are interested in just 2 of the upgrades you basically get the third one for 'free' (in quotes because it comes as a bundle, but you'll find that the cost comes out to you getting the other upgrade for little or no money) and an extra $50 off for each excursion for guest #2

Hey, don't be dissing on instant mashed potatoes! (I can do without the gravy though...) I might be weird, but I like them as much (in a different way, like hard ice-cream, and soft-serve) as real mashed potatoes! (Also, I agree, I'm not over the top about turkey, but my daughter loves it.)

Like me! Cheaper to take the 3 with us, and less hectic because most other kids are in school. We always sign them up for Independent Study through the school for the week (Always, as in the second time in two years..) I may sound hypocritical about liking to sail when kids are at school with my kids, however I find I am able to control my kids, but other peoples? Not so much.

I came here to say this. Not a big fan of pools, but hot-tubs are best when it's cold out!

No room service charges for Haven guests outside of alcohol/drinks.

Just be sure to bring your sunglasses or the reflected light might blind you... (Wait, that's stereotyping...)