THE SECRETS OF THE NCL HAVEN LUXURY EXPERIENCE

[Sthrngary]

3 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Gary,  Do you think the butler would be pressed to serve dinner in the Deluxe Owners Suite on the evening of the embarkation?  Our anniversary is on embarkation day.

The butler should have no issue with this.  Because on Embarkation day, the butlers are doing double duty during the day, you might not see them.  If that is the case, make your request to the Haven Concierge as early as you can.

 

This is the best reason I have ever heard to have a lovely supper in your Haven Suite.  If the weather is good, do it outside on your balcony.  That would be lovely.  Have a great time.

 

Cruise well.

[aubreyc1988]

9 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

The butler should have no issue with this.  Because on Embarkation day, the butlers are doing double duty during the day, you might not see them.  If that is the case, make your request to the Haven Concierge as early as you can.

 

This is the best reason I have ever heard to have a lovely supper in your Haven Suite.  If the weather is good, do it outside on your balcony.  That would be lovely.  Have a great time.

 

Cruise well.

Not sure if I missed this, but do you have some sort of list of the "Snacks" you can request? As a platinum cruiser/casino guest, I typically get loads of "Snacks" in my room that I dislike and would love to be able to request to get snacks I do like but I don't want to ask for anything that is out of the normal offerings.

 

(Example: one cruise I got choc. covered strawberries every day, I asked them not to be sent but they came anyway so I had to like...pretend eat them so preserve room stewards feelings)

[RocketMan275]

34 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

The butler should have no issue with this.  Because on Embarkation day, the butlers are doing double duty during the day, you might not see them.  If that is the case, make your request to the Haven Concierge as early as you can.

 

This is the best reason I have ever heard to have a lovely supper in your Haven Suite.  If the weather is good, do it outside on your balcony.  That would be lovely.  Have a great time.

 

Cruise well.

I'm sure we'd order from the Haven Menu and we would also have our son and his wife.  If the weather is warm enough we could do it outside.  

 

BTW, I had reason to call the Concierge (shore based) yesterday.  Very helpful.  I probably could call them again and discuss this with them.  They offered to rely any requests I had to the ship so that would give them a big heads up.  We could have drinks on the balcony watching the Mississippi shore line and then adjourn inside for dinner.

[Sthrngary]

22 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

Not sure if I missed this, but do you have some sort of list of the "Snacks" you can request? As a platinum cruiser/casino guest, I typically get loads of "Snacks" in my room that I dislike and would love to be able to request to get snacks I do like but I don't want to ask for anything that is out of the normal offerings.

 

(Example: one cruise I got choc. covered strawberries every day, I asked them not to be sent but they came anyway so I had to like...pretend eat them so preserve room stewards feelings)

I hate the strawberries. Assuming you are in the Haven and have a butler.  Tell the your preference. The may still bring the afternoon snack because it goes to all Haven rooms. Tell your butler to bring you let’s say a small cheese plate and take away the standard offering. I did this all the time.

 

when I was on a luxury cruise, this type of request was done instantly. NCL is much more standardized. Hope that helps. 
 

Cruise well.

[aubreyc1988]

15 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I hate the strawberries. Assuming you are in the Haven and have a butler.  Tell the your preference. The may still bring the afternoon snack because it goes to all Haven rooms. Tell your butler to bring you let’s say a small cheese plate and take away the standard offering. I did this all the time.

 

when I was on a luxury cruise, this type of request was done instantly. NCL is much more standardized. Hope that helps. 
 

Cruise well.

is there a list of items we can ask butler for snacks? Not sure if you know all the standard offerings they send to people in the Haven. And yes, I rebooked for March 5th, fingers crossed. Couldn't get into the courtyard but the walk will do us good haha 

 

The strawberries are the worst and I hate wasting food.

[UKstages]

not the first time strawberries have caused a controversy onboard ship!

 

 

[Karaboudjan]

44 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

is there a list of items we can ask butler for snacks? Not sure if you know all the standard offerings they send to people in the Haven. And yes, I rebooked for March 5th, fingers crossed. Couldn't get into the courtyard but the walk will do us good haha 

 

The strawberries are the worst and I hate wasting food.

This is what we got on our recent cruise:

 

- Cookies

- Strawberries

- Assorted canapes

- Grapes/cheese/crackers

- Pound cake and banana bread

 

Some of these (mostly the canapes as I recall) had a 'Compliments of ___' card so I don't know if these would be available as an option any time.  I would think the rest would be staples.

[SplashOfWater]

9 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

This is what we got on our recent cruise:

 

- Cookies

- Strawberries

- Assorted canapes

- Grapes/cheese/crackers

- Pound cake and banana bread

 

Some of these (mostly the canapes as I recall) had a 'Compliments of ___' card so I don't know if these would be available as an option any time.  I would think the rest would be staples.

@aubreyc1988

 

We received about the same on our recent Encore cruise. No pound cake and banana bread though. Sometimes we received various sweets instead of canapes. Every afternoon (except embarkation day) we also received 8 sandwich triangles (which equated to 2 sandwiches) with crusts removed. The sandwich fillings varied. Some we liked and some we didn't eat. We too felt bad about wasting food. On day one, you will have a fruit bowl. It will be replenished during your cruise, whether you eat the fruit or not.

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Gary,  Do you think the butler would be pressed to serve dinner in the Deluxe Owners Suite on the evening of the embarkation?  Our anniversary is on embarkation day.

 

(Hint:  I'm not Gary. 😉 )

 

That first day is really busy for them.  So if that is really what you want to do, rather than, say, a nice bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries or some other treat (maybe fancy dessert?), then I'd suggest notifying NCL (via Concierge email, I guess) in advance.  That way, assuming they will take care of it, the Butlers know in advance, and they can arrange scheduling, or to cover for that one Butler for a while, or such.  It might be nice not to request service by course that particular night.

 

We love dining in, and we include the specialties.  (We haven't sailed on the large ships with a Haven restaurant.)   On smaller ships (such as Oceania, which we love), we do request dinner service by course, but they are better equipped to deal with this.  And we ask our Butler to tell us if our preferred time conflicts with  his other needs, in which case we can almost always change the time.  And we try very hard not to make requests like this on the spur of the moment.  We try not to make *any* requests on the spur of the moment unless it's something time sensitive.

 

GC

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

 

Your question was would the butler serve you for let say, Cagney's in the suite.  Yes.  Just let him know you have a package. 

 

 

Just to be clear, you don't need to have a package to have dinner from a specialty restaurant. However, if you don't have a package, they'll just charge you the regular cost.  Ditto if you've already used up the number of meals included in a package.

GC

[GeezerCouple]

10 minutes ago, SplashOfWater said:

@aubreyc1988

 

We received about the same on our recent Encore cruise. No pound cake and banana bread though. Sometimes we received various sweets instead of canapes. Every afternoon (except embarkation day) we also received 8 sandwich triangles (which equated to 2 sandwiches) with crusts removed. The sandwich fillings varied. Some we liked and some we didn't eat. We too felt bad about wasting food. On day one, you will have a fruit bowl. It will be replenished during your cruise, whether you eat the fruit or not.

 

Just tell your Butler what you like AND what you do not like or want.
They may be bringing PB&J sandwiches to all suites, but if they know you don't like them, or you always want BLT or Ham & Cheese sandwiches, they'll arrange that instead.  And then there's less fretting about wasted food.

 

If you don't like strawberries (choc covered or otherwise), say so.  And help them by suggesting what you would prefer instead.  Grapes?  Apples and cheese?  Etc.

 

Again, help them to help you to have an amazing trip! 😀

 

GC

[luckyinpa]

13 hours ago, teachinginhawaii said:

First, thank you so much for all you've shared and continue to share.  This thread is filled with valuable information.

 

We received 2 specialty dining selections as part of the booking promotion.  I was going to purchase 2 more before we leave but am wondering if it would be better to wait and purchase them on board.  I didn't know you could do that and I didn't know that there was possibly a discount.  Can anyone tell about how to do this?

 

 

 

one time while eating in the buffet the 1st day, an employee was walking around trying to sell specialty packages. i did not look at pricing

[luckyinpa]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

The butler should have no issue with this.  Because on Embarkation day, the butlers are doing double duty during the day, you might not see them.  If that is the case, make your request to the Haven Concierge as early as you can.

 

This is the best reason I have ever heard to have a lovely supper in your Haven Suite.  If the weather is good, do it outside on your balcony.  That would be lovely.  Have a great time.

 

Cruise well.

 

i put in a bid for a DOS but now i wonder, while sailing is the balcony really suitable for meal service with that forward wind?

[Sthrngary]

2 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

is there a list of items we can ask butler for snacks? Not sure if you know all the standard offerings they send to people in the Haven. And yes, I rebooked for March 5th, fingers crossed. Couldn't get into the courtyard but the walk will do us good haha 

 

The strawberries are the worst and I hate wasting food.

I do not know if there is an official list.  Just ask for what you want.  The worst thing they can say is no.

 

Cruise well.

[Sthrngary]

26 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

 

i put in a bid for a DOS but now i wonder, while sailing is the balcony really suitable for meal service with that forward wind?

As I said, I was in the DOS on the Joy.  We went out to the balcony every night.  Some nights it was a bit windy however it was lovely.  As I think I shared, the Haven often has out door seating with a glass wind shield.  Best of both worlds. 

 

Not sure that helps however if you do get the DOS, it will be spectactular.

 

Cruise well.

[luckyinpa]

8 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I do not know if there is an official list.  Just ask for what you want.  The worst thing they can say is no.

 

Cruise well.

 

addendum: make sure it's on the ship what you are asking for . my 1st trip to haven i was asking on the forum of things like crab and ketchup chips . you can guess the answer . 😆

[JGmf]

3 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

The strawberries are the worst and I hate wasting food.

 

 

Amen to that.  Most overrated thing is those strawberries.  It's definitely a First World problem.

 

[Starflyr3]

14 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

 

Amen to that.  Most overrated thing is those strawberries.  It's definitely a First World problem.

 

once we got moldy strawberries, and left a note on the plate about it (nice, just letting them know their batch of strawberries may have been spoiled).  That got us 2 bottles of champagne and  a couple sodas each for the kids.

[aubreyc1988]

40 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

 

Amen to that.  Most overrated thing is those strawberries.  It's definitely a First World problem.

 

I just feel bad seeing them stack up and I try to tactfully say "Oh you don't need to bring me those, I have been so full" and they like come back with them the next day with an extra tray LOL. Like certainly a first world problem but I am glad others on here can relate haha 

[Karaboudjan]

14 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I just feel bad seeing them stack up and I try to tactfully say "Oh you don't need to bring me those, I have been so full" and they like come back with them the next day with an extra tray LOL. Like certainly a first world problem but I am glad others on here can relate haha 

We never said anything about the berries (but did eat them) and I think they only brought them once.

[cruising sister]

We asked for chocolate chip cookies, peanut and plain M&M ‘s and yes the chocolate covered strawberries. She kept the bowls full of candy and cookies fresh. I seriously think you can ask for what you want and it will appear. We did say no sandwiches or canapés. There was also lots of goodies in the Haven observation lounge. 

[aubreyc1988]

5 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

We never said anything about the berries (but did eat them) and I think they only brought them once.

it's not uncommon for me to get them at least 3-4x on a 7 night cruise, at least for the past few years or so of me sailing with NCL. A different dept head sends them each time

[Yinster]

I always asked for melon for my afternoon snack and always got it. Especially nice when you return from an excursion

[BlueSeaz]

Tipping on Haven: What is the typical custom? Yes, I realize many will say you don't have to tip but do you tip at the end or beginning of the cruise and what is the typical amount for a 1 week trip.

 

Thanks.

[Karaboudjan]

24 minutes ago, BlueSeaz said:

Tipping on Haven: What is the typical custom? Yes, I realize many will say you don't have to tip but do you tip at the end or beginning of the cruise and what is the typical amount for a 1 week trip.

 

Thanks.

I think there was some discussion about tipping a couple of weeks back in this thread, and I'm sure you will find other topics about tipping, but here's who I tipped, in order from most to least.  

 

Cabin steward
Butler
Concierge
Assistant concierge
Haven restaurant Maitre D'
Haven hostess 

 

We also gave a tip to one of the Haven restaurant waitstaff who served us several times.

 

We gave all of the above tips at the end of the cruise.

 

I tipped bartenders and lounge servers at the time of service.

 

I know the cabin stewards are covered by the pre-paid gratuities, but he clearly did the most work for us, did a fantastic job and probably has the lowest base pay of any of those people.

 

Our butler was great, but we just did not ask for a lot from them.

 

The rest were helpful or thoughtful in various ways but we did not ask for anything unusual from them.