Question about The Haven on the Joy

[Suite Heart]

My next Haven cruise will be on the Joy.

I see that deck 17 has "The Haven Courtyard," The Haven Lounge," and "The Haven Bar." (And the Horizon Lounge, too.)

Deck 18 has "The Haven Lounge," and "The Haven Restaurant."

My question: if you are on deck 18 in the Haven Lounge (NOT the restaurant), is there staff that takes your drink order and delivers it to you in the lounge on deck 18?

(No biggie; I do stairs 😜)

 

[elwood_98034]

Theoretically, but the service is very patchy. As a general rule if you weren't in the bar or restaurant and you wanted a drink you went and got it yourself. They collected glasses, but there was very, very, little taking of orders. I don't think we were ever asked, and we spent a lot of time in the Deck 17 lounge.

It isn't a long walk though, and the pool area is pretty fun to walk through. Pretty. Especially at night. The trick is to get a cabin close to the bar on the starboard side. Then you can just walk straight out of your cabin, and you are in the bar. You can also ask for 'doubles' to take back to your cabin. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by elwood_98034

[gmbhardy]

For what you pay, there should be service everywhere.

[LouCap]

On 2/7/2020 at 2:51 PM, elwood_98034 said:

Theoretically, but the service is very patchy. As a general rule if you weren't in the bar or restaurant and you wanted a drink you went and got it yourself. They collected glasses, but there was very, very, little taking of orders. I don't think we were ever asked, and we spent a lot of time in the Deck 17 lounge.

It isn't a long walk though, and the pool area is pretty fun to walk through. Pretty. Especially at night. The trick is to get a cabin close to the bar on the starboard side. Then you can just walk straight out of your cabin, and you are in the bar. You can also ask for 'doubles' to take back to your cabin. 

 

Well, well, well...we just booked a cabin in The Haven on Deck 17 on the Starboard side.  "Doubles" in the cabin here we come!

[JandC_Cruising]

We are on the Joy next month in an H6 (aft).  We plan on spending most of our sea days up on the sun deck (weather permitting).

When we were on the Escape Haven this summer,  Gil and Curley were the main servers on the sun deck.  They were incredible throughout the cruise.  I certainly hope the staff is as amazing next month on the Joy!

Edited February 10, 2020 by JandC_Cruising

[elwood_98034]

6 hours ago, LouCap said:

 

Well, well, well...we just booked a cabin in The Haven on Deck 17 on the Starboard side.  "Doubles" in the cabin here we come!

We paid extra for the Premium Plus package, or whatever they call it. We broke even about mid evening on Day 2, and after that we set about getting our monies worth for the rest of the cruise expense. Verve Cliquot (?sp) sent my wife a Christmas card, so I think she did OK. Joke.

[BirdTravels]

On 2/7/2020 at 7:50 PM, gmbhardy said:

For what you pay, there should be service everywhere.

Nope. There is not. 

[Suite Heart]

On 2/7/2020 at 12:51 PM, elwood_98034 said:

Theoretically, but the service is very patchy. As a general rule if you weren't in the bar or restaurant and you wanted a drink you went and got it yourself. They collected glasses, but there was very, very, little taking of orders. I don't think we were ever asked, and we spent a lot of time in the Deck 17 lounge.

It isn't a long walk though, and the pool area is pretty fun to walk through. Pretty. Especially at night. The trick is to get a cabin close to the bar on the starboard side. Then you can just walk straight out of your cabin, and you are in the bar. You can also ask for 'doubles' to take back to your cabin. 

 

On my last 3 Haven cruises (Breakaway & Getaway) my cabin was on the same deck where the bar AND restaurant were located. I wonder why NCL split the two. Is the Haven restaurant larger on the Joy than on the -aways ships?

 

BTW, on which deck is the concierge's desk on the Joy?

[elwood_98034]

3 hours ago, Suite Heart said:

 

On my last 3 Haven cruises (Breakaway & Getaway) my cabin was on the same deck where the bar AND restaurant were located. I wonder why NCL split the two. Is the Haven restaurant larger on the Joy than on the -aways ships?

 

BTW, on which deck is the concierge's desk on the Joy?

From pointy end back on Deck 17: Lounge, pool, small lounge, bar Centre Starboard, Concierge Center Port.

Deck 18: open space, small lounge overlooking big lounge, stairs, open space above pool, another small lounge, restaurant. The restaurant is a pretty good size, but rarely very full. I think because of the food and the menu.

Concierge is right next to the bar on 17.

You can enter the Haven on Deck 17 or 18, and even on Deck 19 where there is a door on the Port side that seems to get left open, so you can usually just wander in and use the Haven hot tubs if you feel like it, and haven't paid the extra $10,000 to actually stay there. Smoking is forward on 19 by the hot tubs. In the right conditions you can passive smoke by the hot tubs, on the sun deck, or even on your Deck 18 balcony, but fortunately the smoke doesn't enter the cabin if the door is shut properly. You can sit inside on the toilet out of the smoke, and still see out through the bathroom window, so you don't really need a balcony.

The fun part is, even though you did pay the extra $10,000 to stay in the Haven, the hot tubs are usually full of non-Haven passengers drinking and smoking up a storm. Which is good in a way, because you won't get skin cancer from being out in the sun. So, even though there is a tendency to get really angry about access not being enforced by the crew, they are actually doing you a favor, and you should be grateful. The other thing is, once we realised that people were up there all day drinking and smoking, but there were never any wet footprints heading to the bathroom, we pretty much avoided the place entirely. 

 

 

[Suite Heart]

2 hours ago, elwood_98034 said:

From pointy end back on Deck 17: Lounge, pool, small lounge, bar Centre Starboard, Concierge Center Port.

Deck 18: open space, small lounge overlooking big lounge, stairs, open space above pool, another small lounge, restaurant. The restaurant is a pretty good size, but rarely very full. I think because of the food and the menu.

Concierge is right next to the bar on 17.

You can enter the Haven on Deck 17 or 18, and even on Deck 19 where there is a door on the Port side that seems to get left open, so you can usually just wander in and use the Haven hot tubs if you feel like it, and haven't paid the extra $10,000 to actually stay there. Smoking is forward on 19 by the hot tubs. In the right conditions you can passive smoke by the hot tubs, on the sun deck, or even on your Deck 18 balcony, but fortunately the smoke doesn't enter the cabin if the door is shut properly. You can sit inside on the toilet out of the smoke, and still see out through the bathroom window, so you don't really need a balcony.

The fun part is, even though you did pay the extra $10,000 to stay in the Haven, the hot tubs are usually full of non-Haven passengers drinking and smoking up a storm. Which is good in a way, because you won't get skin cancer from being out in the sun. So, even though there is a tendency to get really angry about access not being enforced by the crew, they are actually doing you a favor, and you should be grateful. The other thing is, once we realised that people were up there all day drinking and smoking, but there were never any wet footprints heading to the bathroom, we pretty much avoided the place entirely. 

 

 

 

Even though there's only one of me (I sail solo), I pay the piper and sail in the Haven.

Luckily, I'm not a smoking or sunning or hot tub kinda gal, so I get to avoid all that fun. 😜 But I DON'T get to avoid the cruise fare double occupancy $$.

 

I did get one heckuva deal on my 2021 cruise, which I booked in July 2019. a 12-day Panama Canal cruise, in the Haven, on the Joy, including air ($99), insurance, fees, transfers, the 5 Free-at-sea and the bev and dining pkg service charges for ...$8520. Yes, just me. Solo.  Right now, RACK RATE for the same cruise, fare only (again, solo) is $10,000.

 

 

[MaryZ]

3 hours ago, elwood_98034 said:

From pointy end back on Deck 17: Lounge, pool, small lounge, bar Centre Starboard, Concierge Center Port.

Deck 18: open space, small lounge overlooking big lounge, stairs, open space above pool, another small lounge, restaurant. The restaurant is a pretty good size, but rarely very full. I think because of the food and the menu.

Concierge is right next to the bar on 17.

You can enter the Haven on Deck 17 or 18, and even on Deck 19 where there is a door on the Port side that seems to get left open, so you can usually just wander in and use the Haven hot tubs if you feel like it, and haven't paid the extra $10,000 to actually stay there. Smoking is forward on 19 by the hot tubs. In the right conditions you can passive smoke by the hot tubs, on the sun deck, or even on your Deck 18 balcony, but fortunately the smoke doesn't enter the cabin if the door is shut properly. You can sit inside on the toilet out of the smoke, and still see out through the bathroom window, so you don't really need a balcony.

The fun part is, even though you did pay the extra $10,000 to stay in the Haven, the hot tubs are usually full of non-Haven passengers drinking and smoking up a storm. Which is good in a way, because you won't get skin cancer from being out in the sun. So, even though there is a tendency to get really angry about access not being enforced by the crew, they are actually doing you a favor, and you should be grateful. The other thing is, once we realised that people were up there all day drinking and smoking, but there were never any wet footprints heading to the bathroom, we pretty much avoided the place entirely. 

 

 

Interesting.  I've been on different ships in Haven and never encountered this. 
Since you can't get a drink in Haven without a Haven card, I suppose they have to leave every time to go get drinks. 

[elwood_98034]

3 hours ago, Suite Heart said:

 

Even though there's only one of me (I sail solo), I pay the piper and sail in the Haven.

Luckily, I'm not a smoking or sunning or hot tub kinda gal, so I get to avoid all that fun. 😜 But I DON'T get to avoid the cruise fare double occupancy $$.

 

I did get one heckuva deal on my 2021 cruise, which I booked in July 2019. a 12-day Panama Canal cruise, in the Haven, on the Joy, including air ($99), insurance, fees, transfers, the 5 Free-at-sea and the bev and dining pkg service charges for ...$8520. Yes, just me. Solo.  Right now, RACK RATE for the same cruise, fare only (again, solo) is $10,000.

 

 

Ow. That hurts. That really hurts.

[elwood_98034]

2 hours ago, MaryZ said:

Interesting.  I've been on different ships in Haven and never encountered this. 
Since you can't get a drink in Haven without a Haven card, I suppose they have to leave every time to go get drinks. 

You know I wondered about that. The Haven wasn't very full, so I don't know if the crew just didn't enforce it to get the sales volume/tips, or they went back to the Vibe bar, or somewhere else. No idea. There were a lot of gold chains and tattoos going on, and they didn't strike me as the sort of people who would appreciate questions being asked. We had kids with us, and it wasn't a scene I wanted them seeing, so we never stuck around. If you are really curious I can post a picture of the open door and the ashtrays. I didn't take any pictures of the playas or their stripper girlfriends for obvious reasons.

[MaryZ]

It sounds like they were DOS guests.  After all the tattoos and gold chains plus stripper girlfriends and the vibe of don't talk to me  🙄
I do find it humorous that you decided that none of the people could not be haven guests because of those things.

[elwood_98034]

30 minutes ago, MaryZ said:

It sounds like they were DOS guests.  After all the tattoos and gold chains plus stripper girlfriends and the vibe of don't talk to me  🙄
I do find it humorous that you decided that none of the people could not be haven guests because of those things.

I don't know what DOS means. Oh! I get it. No. The reason I didn't think they were Haven guests is that we never saw them in the Haven during the entire week, except while in the hot tubs. Never at the bar, never in the pool, never in the restaurant, never in the lounge. Only in the hot tub right next to the open door to the Vibe. If I had seen them anywhere else in the Haven I wouldn't have made the remark that I didn't think they were Haven guests. After a week in the Haven you pretty much knew everyone by sight, and the same group of people who looked like ex-cons and chicks who looked liked they made their cash a dollar at a time spinning around on a pole would have stuck out of the crowd.

 

Or I might just be judging people unfairly by their looks, ie: gold chains, face tattoos, caps on backwards, silicone, stuff like that. Generally the exact same people you book the Haven for to keep your kids away from. Ya feel me, my homie?

[Suite Heart]

But I have tattoos on my face! Oh, wait. They're just freckles. My mother left me out in the rain and I rusted...😜

 

I've been in the Haven four times in the last 4 years, but haven't had THAT particular experience you describe. (Phew!) On the other hand, I have been eye- and ear-witness to some outrageous (sometimes drunken, sometimes not) behavior. E.g., those "get a room" moments, those super-loud "I know everything about everything, and I'm gonna tell you about it" people, the touchy-feely types that have to hold your hand or arm to keep/get your attention, and the unwanted pats on one's bottom.