cxxviii

Why would you need to pack winter clothes? Wouldn't you be able to wear a winter outfit to the port? Then wear the same outfit home. Winter clothes....debunked.

 

Then, wouldn't you rather spend 19 minutes at home collecting your swim suit, flip flops, long pants, collard shirt, shorts a hair brush and deodorant than spend probably 3 hours running around from shop to shop trying to cobble together clothing for a week?

 

Even if you were the laziest person alive, it would still be less effort and time to pack your things from home. Even if money were no object, you're going to spend more $$ on just one swim suit from a ship gift shop than you'd spend to check luggage on your flight. Don't be stupid.

 

Don't waste valuable vacation time tracking down underwear.

For the record, you need winter clothes if you're spending several days in NYC before the cruise. (And apparently, a snow shovel.) But I didn't bother asking if I could survive in NYC without luggage... even I can figure that out.

Layering is the key :-)

 

 

See now this is the kind of response I was looking for :). LOL. And BTW my daughter would pay good money for that Dr Who hoodie. Nice touch.

I think that the answer to your question will be found in how much you need to be "entertained". We have done 6 Havens in the last two years and two Oceania Cruises in the last four.

 

My partner and I both have post-graduate degrees, spend our days at sea blowing through books and generally hate noisy atmospheres.

 

Love the Haven, bored senseless on Oceania.

 

In fact, I screwed up the cancellation date for a third O cruise two years ago and realized that we were in penalty for $500. Cheapskates that we are, we walked away from the deposit and didn't look back.

 

While those on the O boards (which I left for reasons to follow) will disagree, O is boring as ...... (insert appropriate swear word here).

 

We found much of the crowd to be entitled, stuffy and overly demanding. In fact, on our cruise on Riviera, I held my hand up to a particularly obnoxious passenger who was really *bothering* me and said: "here's the deal. The fact that I'm here talking to you means that I can afford this just as much as you can".

 

The much vaunted dining is no better than the Haven/specialties on NCL and O's main dining room was frankly terrible.

 

The entertainment on O is minimal at best and the ship really does roll up its decks after 10.

 

Yes - the crowds on NCL are and can be irritating but I still love the great entertainment and high energy atmosphere in the evenings.

 

But .... you won't know until you try it yourself!

This is a very helpful and informative post. Thx.

OK, now I'm thinking this would be fun to try. Or maybe to just see if my wife notices I don't have a bag to add to hers and the two teenage girls ). Or maybe one critical item, slipped surreptitiously into each of their bags...

You could also play a round of golf with just a 7 iron but why would you.

I think the difference is that my golf game would suffer with only a 7-iron. I'm not sure my cruise enjoyment would suffer due to lack of a particular shirt... (though again, perhaps my wife would disagree)

Has anyone ever done a 7-day cruise with nothing but what you're wearing and the necessary paperwork? We're a few weeks out from our Breakaway cruise and the thought of dragging winter and summer stuff from home, through multiple airports, NYC and then onto the cruise does not excite me. Can I buy a couple pairs of shorts, shirts, and bathroom supplies on the ship??

Any chance I can talk my wife into this strategy?? :) Advice welcome.

Joann, thanks again for the review and we continue to pray for your dad. I hope these posts are able to put an occasional smile on your face! :)

A couple quick questions? Do you know if Stefano will be on the Mar 26 sailing in the Haven? I'm dying to try those drinks. Also, have you ever used Vibe and the cabanas there? Normally at a resort we would rent a cabana, but maybe it's not needed if you're in the Haven? Wondering it we might want to use it on a 7-day from NYC, or if we'd likely never go up there. Thx!

JoAnn so sorry to hear about your father, he will be in our prayers. And thanks so much for pressing on with the review. Great stuff.

Loved the food pictures story. So nice to hear an 'ugly German' story instead of the usual 'ugly American' tourist... :)

Something I really like about sailing in The Haven on NCL is the ability to be totally casual at almost all times. I am most at home in a pair of shorts, a tropical shirt, and a pair of flip flops. I absolutey HATE having to dress up on vacation. As a courtesy to my fellow passengers, I do throw on a pair of Dockers and some dress shoes if I go to one of the specialty restaurants. But that's as dressed up as I want to get on vacation.

 

I haven't ever cruised on a luxury line... Viking Ocean Cruises was the closest I've gotten to that... but the impression I get about those luxury lines is that it would be impossible to dress casually at dinner time. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

We actually ate a couple of meals in the Norwegian Pearl's buffet... that's how much I like to be casual. The thought of sitting through a two hour meal in a formal setting on a luxury line is a major turn-off for me.

 

I like the casual atmosphere in The Haven very much.

I couldn't have said this better myself. I 100% agree, I never thought I'd fall for cruising (family dragged me a few years ago) but I really enjoyed the Haven on the Jewel and we're booked for the Breakaway in March. The casual "ship within a ship" with tons for the kids to do is a winner. And I know this sounds horrible but I cannot do lines/crowds.

Thx so much for this review, it's spectacular. We're on Breakaway Mar 26 out of NYC, with 2 teenage girls. Your posts are a huge help in convincing them they won't be bored... :)

We're in the same suite but on 16, I was curious if you picked a suite on 15 for a reason? Some of those are still available. Also, can you use the Haven pool/courtyard out of NYC? Is it closed and heated like an indoor pool? Or is it likely not warm enough if it's freezing outside?

Thx so much, can't wait for the rest of the review. Seems we have very similar interests/tastes. Can't wait to do the Raw Bar thing. Amazing.

OP here. I am pleased to report that NCL has offered a resolution to this issue that is good for all parties. (I'm assuming it's good for them since they offered it...). Even happier to say that we look forward to a future cruise on NCL. It would have been easy to say, "screw this guy he made a mistake, we have the legal right to keep his money." Nice to see customer service at work.

And yes, as a final few comments:

1. I do hereby promise to read all NCL fine print in the future.

2. If you see NCL change the "final payment" policy for Haven suites to be 120 days to match the cancellation policy, you'll know why... :)

3. Never been so happy to know that my phone calls were all recorded!

4. May or may not be relevant, but I did note that our cabin for that specific cruise is sold. Can't know for sure the price but it seems they are now running at the same or higher price.

That's all. Happy cruising.

Also, just a quick reply to all of the holier-than-thou finger waggers. If there is a post where I said "none of this is my fault," please point it out to me. In fact I thought I was clear in my original post that I made a mistake by relying on multiple phone calls rather than the written receipt. I apologize for not writing this in more blunt English, maybe "THE OP HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE IS A COMPLETE IDIOT." Hope that helps.

Update from the OP. I had promised to post a resolution; wish I had one. On Jan 6 a case # was opened with Guest Relations. The rep promised some kind of response within a week. No response after 10 days, so I called back on Jan 17. This rep was extremely apologetic that nothing had been done with the file, absolutely promised a call back the next day, which I thought was strange since the next day was a Saturday. No call on Saturday. Waited again until this morning (Jan 21), this time the rep said they work these based on calendar days since receipt and mine would be done by Jan 31. New news to me, but OK.

Stay tuned.

I can absolutely guarantee you that accepting returns outside the window of our policy will NEVER put us out of business. It does the exact opposite. That kind of thinking is how we end up with the kind of customer service we are stuck with today in America.

If my sales clerk tells a customer we take returns on shoes, then I am going to support the sales clerk's word and take the return. Period. Even though I know she probably didn't say it. When the same customer comes back a third time, then it's a different story.

As I said in the OP, the title was simply to get attention - though I was hoping for more facts and less finger-wagging (thanks to all those posting facts). Obviously the title served it's purpose :)

It appears what we have here is a difference in philosophy about how business should be run. I own several retail stores. EVERYWHERE in the store are signs that say "Returns accepted within 7 days and with receipt." It is even printed on the receipt itself. EVERY DAY, a customer comes in and claims "I didn't know" or "oh I didn't see that." And almost without exception, do you know what we do? We accept the return. Do you know why? Because we value our customers, and we prefer to do what is right and good for our business in the long term, as opposed to what we may be legally entitled to get away with. Do we occasionally get taken advantage of? Of course. But that is a small price to pay for great customer service and reputation.

Everyone, of course, is entitled to their own opinion. Even when it's wrong. :)

For all the finger-waggers, if I had called once I might agree with you. But FIVE different reps all told me it was 90 days.

Think about the call I made on Dec 16 to cancel. I give my reservation number. She has my reservation in front of her face on the computer screen. I tell her to cancel and ask about the refund. She says "It will be processed in 5 to 10 business days. Which credit card would you like it posted to?" (I had paid with 2 cards). How does the computer screen not say that we're past the window? She is so clear about the refund that I immediately hung up and canceled the flights and hotel as well (flights were FF trips on STD Award, 25K each, no way I get THOSE back...).

Also, it never occurred to me but when I cancelled, did I have an option to move that money to another cruise if I knew I was losing the deposit? If I did, and they didn't offer that to me - and now I'm screwed... then I DEFINITELY have a case. Of course I would have done that if they just would have told me.

A couple of quick clarifications - each and every time I called NCL, the call started with my reservation number and in each case the rep was staring at my reservation. I realize people make mistakes, but 5 different people?? And this is not a small one - "oh sorry, yes you do get 2 bottles of water in your room." They should know their own cancellation policy.

Without getting into a legal debate, the law is not so cut and dried to say that if it's in writing, no matter what you are told, tough for you. I can't speak for Florida law and case precedent but was hoping someone here would say 'In the past NCL has fixed something like this when a glaring error was made by their staff,' so I don't have to find out about Florida law.

I guess we'll see. I'll give guest relations until next week, which seems more than fair, before taking any additional steps.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome, either way. We really do hope we get to sail NCL again someday!

OK, I'll admit the title is a bit of an attention-grabber... I'm really hoping I don't have to sue them :)

This is a cancellation/refund issue. The short version is that we booked a cruise in September 2013, cruise date March 30 2014. We knew there might be a family conflict, so we asked very specifically for the cancellation policy. Told it was 90 days. Called back on Sept 4, made a small change to reservation, asked again and told it was a 90 day cancellation policy. Because I'm paranoid, I called again in October and asked for the specific date of the deadline. Told by phone it was Dec 30, ninety days out. Unfortunately our conflict came true and we called to cancel on Dec 16, 104 days out. The rep on that call processed the refund and said it would take 5 to 10 business days. On Dec 30, there was no refund so I called and was told AGAIN it would hit my credit card in the next few days.

FINALLY, on Jan 6 I called again - this time the rep said, "Oh, I see you were in a Haven Suite, those have a 120 day cancellation policy. So we are keeping your $2,000 deposit. Sorry."

Should I have looked for this info at the bottom of the paper reservation receipt when I booked, which they are now of course quick to point out? Probably. But really, FIVE different NCL reps all told me the same information, and I asked each one of them to be "absolutely sure." No amount of speaking to supervisors has helped; I've been given a Guest Relations case number and a promise of a return call - it's now days later and no call.

Damn shame, we really enjoyed our first NCL cruise. Now instead of telling others about our great cruise experience, I tell them about being misled and swindled by NCL. Lesson learned, never believe what a phone rep tells you, NCL will not stand behind it, even with proof of the error.

Has anyone been through this? Should I keep trying to reach Guest Relations or am I wasting my time?

OK, sorry for taking so long but I saw that this chain was still 'active' (amazing) so I thought I'd post an update.

We did take our first cruise on the Jewel, first week of April, and it was fantastic. I took all the data from these posts and TRIED to reduce to the bare necessities. In spite of that we packed WAY to much stuff, as many said we would. Mostly too many clothes.

Best recommendation was definitely the power strip (HUGE help).

Thanks!

OK, so I didn't expect so many posts! After much review, as promised, here is my own personal "Top 10" list. Thanks so much for all the ideas, like I said this is my own Top 10 - please don't be offended if I don't list your great idea... this just happens to be the Top 10 things I would have forgotten. Others can feel free to make their own.

TOP 10 THINGS CXXVIII WOULD NOT HAVE THOUGHT TO TAKE ON A CRUISE:

10. Bag 'O Meds (esp. Motion Sickness)

9. Lots of $1 Bills & Rolls of Quarters

8. Walkie Talkies

7. Binoculars

6. Bubbles for the Balcony (Kids will love this...)

5. Night Light

4. Post-It Notes

3. Shoe Bag to Hang on Door

2. Power Strip/Extension Cord

And the #1 thing I would have never thought of:

1. Birth Control.

Too funny. (Runner up goes to the "Post of the Apocolypse" which included most of my household belongings, with my personal favorite, "Walkman and Cassette Tapes", gonna be tough to find that one...)

OK, we're down to a few weeks before our first-ever cruise (2 adults, 2 kids 10 and 7), and we're starting to think about packing. So my question - what are the things that first-time cruisers would never think to bring, and that I'll be kicking myself about all week? Not the obvious - wine opener, passport, etc. - looking for stuff I'd NEVER think of.

Thanks in advance - and I will compile a Top 10 list and post it (based on my own assessment, of course...) if I get enough responses (and then we can argue about my rankings).

Thanks to others for the previous reply/advice - I resent my email request for booking to VB and not only did he reply but he had a friend in Texas also send me the same email to be sure it got through.

We're all set I think, looking forward to it!

Any lunch recommendations for the day would be great!

We are cruising on the Norwegian Jewel in late March, and I'm having trouble getting a tour booked with VB. I filled out their form and got a "we'll get back to you" form letter response (email) the next day, but nothing since. That was several days ago. I sent a follow-up but no response. Is this typical for VB? I can relax and wait, just curious... especially since we're less than 2 months out.