pcakes122

I also bought a Tranquility mattress from the Global Resource Registry and I love it. It's about 4 years old now and still perfect. 🥰 (I had a great delivery experience with them as well.)

Ahhh! I've always skipped them too because they were usually food & the same stuff we get in the Haven. l never noticed the wine on the list (I'm not a big drinker), but my October cruise is with my two sisters who are definitely winos lol. So I will take advantage of it then. Thanks!

I've been Ruby for years and I wasn't aware of this perk. Where do you get the free wine?? Is it any wine on the ship or a limited selection?

Take a little handheld frother ($10 on Amazon) for great lattes!

You forgot to add that they have to press the elevator button (or are they actually running up and down 9 or 10 flights of stairs in your scenario?) I reiterate my point made earlier that I hope people who feel the way you do understand that the same thing happens when you order room service.🤦‍♀️

I would definitely stay away from Jewel-class ships if you have a choice. Accessible cabins on those ships do not have automatic doors, so unless you are extremely agile with your chair (or are traveling with someone that can help) they can be difficult to manage (the doors are very heavy - at least for me.) The rest of the ship is pretty accessible. Any of the Breakaway or Breakaway-plus class ships all have automatic doors on the accessible cabins. That said, if you plan to cruise in the Haven on the Breakaway or Getaway, note that there is no Haven passenger elevator to the Haven sundeck on either ship. The best, most accessible ships on NCL are the Breakaway-plus class ships!

NCL's "restaurants" (in actuality they are just different dining venues as part of the same "property") are NOT competition for each other. There is no comparison to competing land restaurants. 🙄 I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but NCL ship venues have shared kitchens in many cases. You know maybe you are right. People should probably stop having their laundry done or any other services onboard too. Did you ever stop to think that the laundry room is 12 floors away??!!! I can't believe that the poor room stewards have to go to allllll that way so that selfish people can have their shirts pressed for dinner!! And then go 12 floors!!!! to bring it back!!! And please don't order room service. I can't even imagine asking the kitchen to make a hamburger just for little old me and then have a poor, downtrodden employee have to go 12 floors!!!!! to deliver it to my room!!! Those people ordering room service are so cruel and selfish!! Honestly, it's just a silly argument that (IMO) makes no sense.

Again, this seems like an NCL staffing issue. I have posted my thoughts on this many times before. NCL has conditioned their customers to expect and ask for less (people concerned about the "poor crew members") which ONLY serves to increase NCL profits. If NCL felt the heat of customers expecting and insisting upon their marketed product (especially Haven), they would HAVE to hire more people (which TRULY helps the crew!)

I see no issue with fully utilizing amenities and "extra" attention when I'm paying for a luxury level of service. My take is that a lot of folks here underestimate NCL's restaurant management as well as the employees that work in the Haven. To @david_sobe's point, If I were a restaurant manager in a luxury restaurant I would EXPECT "special requests" to be a regular thing and would be sure sure to staff adequately. (NCL doesn't do this you say?? Is that an NCL problem or a customer problem? They certainly charge enough for the Haven to provide adequate staff to serve Haven guests.) As far as the employees that work in the Haven, I have been told multiple times by crew members that working in the Haven is a "status" job on the ship and those positions are highly-desired (perhaps because they see it as an opportunity for better tips?) So nobody is really forced to work in the Haven against their will, and special requests are, again, to be expected in the Haven. As far as the Below Deck crews, they also walk into those jobs clearly knowing they are going to have to deal with demanding and frequently difficult clients. Again, those jobs are a choice they made. If serving guests and and going out of your way for people is not your thing that's perfectly fine, but then the hospitality industry is not the career path for you. I don't think anyone should treat anybody with disrespect. But asking for something special you enjoy on vacation is not cruel, disrespectful or disruptive. And NCL crew members are not poor, indentured servants who need protection and pity. They are intelligent men and women who chose the jobs they are in because it benefits them. So I have no guilt in ordering mushroom soup from a different restaurant and tipping accordingly. I see it as a win-win. 👍🏻

Just wanted to add that I've seen several people note incorrect information about suites boarding in NYC. Suites (as in Jewel-class suites that include butler service) go through security and then to the Haven lounge where you will receive your keyboard and be escorted onboard.) I don't know about any other kind of suites, but Jewel-class suites 10000% board with Haven in NYC.

I never even thought about mixing and matching restaurant food when in the Haven until my butler suggested it to me. I was ordering dinner to my cabin and couldn't decide where to order from because I wanted mushroom soup from Le Bistro but I also really wanted the apple crumble dessert from Cagney's. My butler is the one that said no problem you can have both those things! (And I did.) Also, regarding getting the Margaritaville nachos in the Haven, I have done that several times and they always brought the cheese sauce separately in a paper cup wrapped in aluminum foil still piping hot. (Same with fish & chips from Ocean Blue. Just had them on my Joy cruise in May and they arrived tightly wrapped in foil still so hot that I literally burnt my tongue.) The more I read the more I think I have truly lucked out with the butlers I have been assigned. I don't even have to ask for these "extra" services that folks are saying they would never consider requesting. 🤷‍♀️ I just always assumed this was normal Haven service (which is fantastic IMO.)

If you received your comp from a local casino, I’m not sure what level drink card you would get with that. There are various levels of casino drink cards on NCL. They range from “House” (“well/house” brand alcohol so you can’t call a brand, e.g., “Tito’s & tonic”) to the Ultra drink card which includes any priced drink you want & all premium brands. I have the Ultra card so I’m not 100% familiar with what’s available on the lesser level cards, but I would check out which card you have before deciding whether or not to order the drink package. Edited to add: Found the list as of January 2022 thanks to @fstuff1! The casino drink cards are House (green), Premium (yellow) and Ultra (black.)

Several of us did bring that up, but just like you’ve now seen, people just pick random facts and figures from your post to fit their own (inaccurate) narrative. I gave up days ago because I finally realized that people do not want to understand how it actually works. People truly want to believe that anybody getting comp cruises MUST be losing tons of money and are being taken for a ride by the casinos and NCL. And they want to believe that so that they don’t feel bad that they aren’t getting free cruise offers. As you (and several of us) have pointed out, you don’t even need a super huge bankroll to get cruise offers. And you definitely don’t need to lose. We tried to help them, but let them believe what they want to believe. In the meantime, I redeemed a 10-day offer in a aft suite on the Gem last week, and yesterday I booked another Haven comp out of NYC in December. See you in the high seas casinos and as the CAS reps say “have a lucky day!” 😊🍀

I've been posting there for years. Whether or not we see you there will be an indicator of how interested you truly are in the topic. See you there!

OK, I wasn't going to do this because I didn't want to throw you to the wolves, but I think you need to take this to the actual casino forum on Cruise Critic. There you will find a whole group of serious players who will find you and your assumptions entertaining. Head over there with your questions if you really want to understand how it works: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/455-cruise-casinos/ Good luck & God speed.

YW! And a note on the comp calculator...say it says that your daily theo is $XXX so your expected daily comp is $100. For cruises, multiply that times the # of days in the cruise you want (let's say 7.) That would translate into an expected comp cruise worth $700 or less (per person cruise fare without taxes or extras.) So let's say you are looking at a 7-day Alaska cruise where the lowest Inside cabin starts at $899 per person. If you called CAS they'd probably tell you sorry, no offer for you. BUT, say you picked a 7-day Bahama cruise which starts at $699 per person. In that case, you could expect a comp Inside for the week. THIS IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE and NCL doesn't use that comp calculator! BUT it is a good gauge of what to expect and can help you choose potential comp cruises. It also is critical that people are being honest with themselves about their play. If someone always plays $1 a spin on slots and OCCASIONALLY goes up to $2, don't enter that you play $2 a spin to estimate your potential comps. Lol (NCL has records showing your ACTUAL play and is basing your theo on that.)

You didn't fully read what you google'd. The comp rate is 20 to 40% of the theoretical (or projected) loss - NOT the play or bankroll. I'm going to suggest you stop trying to figure this out. Many of us have tried to explain this to you a 100 ways from Sunday and you're not getting it. Since you don't gamble, just don't worry about it!

Does anyone know where CD "Dan Dan" (Cuasito) is these days? Thanks!

Wow, sounds like CCL has a terrible casino program! 😲 They'd get ALOT more from NCL CAS with a $20K bankroll!

I wasn't referring to this thread, so yes you missed it. (Consider yourself lucky.)

And here we go. 😂 I'm in the Haven or nothing camp & love and use all the added amenities. That said, if someone is happy an inside cabin, a balcony, a stowaway closet, whatever - that's great! I'm not going to tell them they're making the wrong choice or that there is anything wrong with them or their preferences. So hopefully we can avoid the "people who prefer the Haven are snobs who think they are better than everyone, wasting their money, are ridiculous to need a butler, etc." debate round #1876533. There are even people in this world who don't like cruising (gasp!) Let's just let people live their lives however makes them happy.

I do trust you, but I will say that I had a butler on the Bliss who brought me a huge bowl of popcorn every night. On other cruises you generally had to wait for popcorn until the kitchen was making it for "movie night" in the Atrium or whatever. When I asked the butler how he managed to get so much popcorn any time of the day, he told me that so many of his guests request it that he buys packs of microwave popcorn on shore (with his own money.) He said it pays for itself in tips from happy guests. 😊 So I just assumed the crew had access to a microwave somewhere.

It's clear you are triggered by gambling for whatever reason, so it's probably healthy for you to ignore the gambling discussion. Your projections about people that play and get comps really just sound like sour grapes at this point. (Btw, booked a 10-day to Turks & Caicos out of NYC today on that offer I received in email yesterday- yay me!👍🏻)

This ^^^^ is a concept that people who are fighting over "the math" and casino conspiracy theories just can't seem to comprehend. It's not that we have figured out some secret winning streak prediction theory to beat the odds and defy "the math." We just walk away when we've hit the break-even point. I've been on 10-day cruises where I only played the first three nights because the slots were terrible and I played out my budget. And as for the question about how casinos make money when they give away comps to people who arent losing? Sadly, from the people who can't walk away. Which is why if you are one of those people you just shouldn't play at all.

If only people would "live and let live" and not try to criticize or denigrate other people's preferences. I don't care what anybody else does for entertainment, as long as it doesn't impact me. People shouldn't have to be put in a position to defend what they like to do if it's not hurting anyone else. 🤷‍♀️