Traveling with family some in Haven some not

[Triciapcp33]

My husband and I are planning a cruise and he wants to book in the Haven.  We are looking at the Getaway ship. My sister and her husband don't want to spend the money to be in Haven. Who else has traveled in Haven and had family not? My  thoughts are that I wouldn't take advantage of all the perks since we are traveling with other people. IF you are in Haven can family pay a fee (I thought I read that somewhere) and go to the dinning area with you? I understand that they wouldn't be allowed on the pool or sun decks. We were looking at a spa mini suite, if we go for the Haven I would lose the thermal access correct? On the diagram I saw it shows spa on the haven pool deck. Can anyone tell me what that consists of? 

[MJSailors]

    This is tricky. Would your DH be okay to book a regular cabin or suite so you could get together easily with your DS and DBiL? 

Or,would your DS feel slighted if she and her hubby couldn't join for dinner etc.Would they be okay with paying an extra fee to have dinner at the Haven restaurant ?

These are some things that need to be considered.

    We joined close friends on a Celebrity cruise. While we would have preferred a suite class cabin, we felt that we should book a balcony cabin so that we could have dinner with them in the MDR instead of the restaurant,Luminae, that is reserved for suite passengers.

    Our friend’s feelings and the time we wanted to spend with them on the cruise superseded our desire for a roomier cabin choice that came with some perks for us.

 

[MJSailors]

PS 

  You can check out a recent posting by Sthrngary concerning the Haven experience.

It is an in-depth review of what the Haven is about.  People’s responses to his postings are interesting as well.

The title is Secrets of the NCL Haven Luxury Experience or something similar.

It could be helpful for you.

[brookie848]

I did this on our first cruise -- us in the Haven and my parents in a regular cabin. I wouldn't do it again.

 

If you want spa access with your Haven cabin, you can consider a Have Spa Suite. The spa in the Haven is just a treatment room/s.

 

You may be able to have the others join you at dinner for a fee, but I believe that is at the discretion on the concierge. Also, the Haven restaurant is smaller on the Getaway than a lot of the other ships, so that may limit availability to non-Haven diners, but that likely varies sailing by sailing.

 

When we cruised with my parents, they were able to join us to take advantage of priority disembarkation at ports (including final disembarkation). They were also able to sit with us at shows. Those were the only things we asked for and would have been fine not using if the concierge had said no.

 

We enjoy the Haven breakfasts and other advantages too much to give them up and not use them, so we wouldn't cruise with other people if they weren't in the Haven. With the price of Haven cabins, it would be a shame to lose benefits that you would use by giving them up to be with non-Haven passengers.

 

Like others have said, decide what is most important to you and why you are booking the Haven. If it is just for a bigger cabin and you don't care about the perks, then keeping the Haven cabin might be right for you when traveling with others.

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, Triciapcp33 said:

Who else has traveled in Haven and had family not?

 

We have. It wasn't a problem. It is known what the non-Haven guests can and can't do. 

Your non-Haven family can join you in your suite (even sleep over) and you can entertain them there. Your butler will even help with food items for them. Some food is complimentary and others have a fee. 

 

1 hour ago, Triciapcp33 said:

My  thoughts are that I wouldn't take advantage of all the perks since we are traveling with other people.

 

That wasn't true in our case. The ship is large enough for non-Haven guests to enjoy without Haven access. There are more than enough hours in the day for everyone to be together and for the Haven guests to enjoy the Haven. 

 

1 hour ago, Triciapcp33 said:

IF you are in Haven can family pay a fee (I thought I read that somewhere) and go to the dinning area with you?

 

It is an option but it is up to the Haven concierge to allow it. NCL tried to make an "official" allowance for anyone to dine in the Haven restaurant for a fee but NCL quickly responded to the backlash and killed the program. 

 

1 hour ago, Triciapcp33 said:

I understand that they wouldn't be allowed on the pool or sun decks.

 

Correct.

 

1 hour ago, Triciapcp33 said:

We were looking at a spa mini suite, if we go for the Haven I would lose the thermal access correct?

 

Correct, unless you book a Haven Spa suite. 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[hensed]

We did it, would not do it again either. Since I am the “travel agent” in the family, I book the trips. I have to make sure that everyone is having a good time, find their rooms solve issues, etc. and I LOVE doing it. So my wife and I didn’t really get to take advantage of the perks. We wanted to be with the family. We checked in with the group, eat with the group, embarked and debarked with the group and hung out in the ships main spaces, pool, etc....with the group.  The haven was really nice...we wish we saw it!  LOL

 

We learned the hard (read: expensive) way to just be with the extended family, on an extended family trip, and do the Haven when it’s just your nuclear family or couples vacay. 

[xcell]

unless your husband doesnt want to be with your family.

 

with that bad joke aside, just save the extra money and enjoy better excursions...

[erdoran]

Waste of $$ to pay for haven if you have non-Haven people along, save the $ and book a regular cabin.  There are cabins with “free” spa access at haven and non-haven levels but you can always just buy a spa pass, so problem solved there.

 

We were going to travel with brother in law & wife who wouldn’t pay for Haven, so hubby and I talked it through - and realized to be with family we’d be giving up use of the Haven quiet space, uncrowded pool & sundeck, in-Haven uncrowded and outstanding bar service, Haven restaurant, potentially saved seats at theatre, priority embarkation/disembarkation - so why pay for that and not use it?  It’s a crapshoot whether or not the non-haven family members could use any of the above; most likely the priority disembarkation but not definitely; the rest less likely.

 

Yes, you absolutely CAN escort your family members into your haven suite and spend the cruise there and have butler deliver food for all (but not booze unless you want to pay per drink).  To me not worth it, but to each their own.

[mertziek]

If you’re Haven and others aren’t, you will have to decide how much time you want to spend outside the Haven.  On a recent Transatlantic cruise on the Getaway, the Haven was very busy with just Haven guests so extra people for meals will not work.  They are not going to inconvenience other Haven passengers just so your non-Haven family can eat there with you.  It’s just too busy on the Getaway.  You will need to go outside the Haven and deal with big crowds and queues to be with family for meals.  It was not pleasant and too congested for us on a mega ship so we spent few times outside the Haven.  If that doesn’t bother you then go for it but then why stay in the Haven?  Yes, you will not get full enjoyment of your Haven perks by always having to be outside the Haven area to be with family.  And it depends how much you as a family need to do together.  Personally, if you want the Haven and other family doesn’t, consider another type vacation with them because your experience away from the Haven will not be what you expect it to be.  The Getaway venues outside of the Haven are very crowded with a lot of queues especially when the weather is not great.  And when the weather is good, the outside venues are very crowded, too.  Or consider a cruise on a mid size ship without the dedicated Haven restaurant where you can do dinners with family.  But please don’t believe your non-Haven family will be readily welcome to join you in the Haven.  For the most part, it won’t happen and really is an imposition on other Haven passengers paying big bucks.  

[justhappy]

Personally I wouldn’t cruise in the Haven if I was traveling with friends or family who were not. You’re paying a lot extra for perks and venues you wouldn’t be able to use fully.

 The only time I would even consider it is if I were in a Haven aft suite, (H6). While I wouldn’t feel right about dining in the Haven without my friends, I’d be able to host them in my stateroom with room service by the butler, plus we’d have that huge balcony that’s large enough for a party.

[salty dingo]

On the Pearl a few years back my parents were in a penthouse suite and we were in a connecting mini suite. They had a butler and access to a private dining room. We were able to dine with them but needed to call a supervisor to bend the rules since the staff would not seat us with them. It really was not worth the hassle.

 

Since it was not the haven we had full access to their suite amenities and kept the connecting door open all day. That Lavazza machine was nice, we used it a lot.