Prima Haven - Some Almost-Curmudgeonly Musings!

[HBCcruiser]

Interesting, I just spoke to a NCL rep and specifically asked her if kids were allowed in the Haven Infinity Pool. She said no - that will be an adults (16+) only area. We discussed why this is the case and she explained that they had so many complaints about unsupervised children from past Haven guests, and they wanted to create a more "upscale" experience for guests.  She did not know what the plans were for the upper decks yet. I know, I know, take it with a grain of salt, but thought you might find that interesting as well. 

 

I guess we will have to wait to find out more in the coming months. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oteixeira]

@HBCcruiser  I don't doubt they said it, I just am not sure how much they would know, since sadly they are the last to know most things.  If this is the case, they will need have to have a second Haven pool, or there will be a ton of upset cruisers.  Honestly we don't take my son cruising but I can only imagine what this would do to families that book haven suites.

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, oteixeira said:

@HBCcruiser  I don't doubt they said it, I just am not sure how much they would know, since sadly they are the last to know most things.  If this is the case, they will need have to have a second Haven pool, or there will be a ton of upset cruisers.  Honestly we don't take my son cruising but I can only imagine what this would do to families that book haven suites.

Agreed. 

[Two Wheels Only]

Just now, oteixeira said:

If this is the case, they will need have to have a second Haven pool, or there will be a ton of upset cruisers. 

 

That would make Haven guests happy....but I'm sure that non-Haven guests would complain that "...they have 2 pools?!?!?!"

[oteixeira]

Just now, Two Wheels Only said:

 

That would make Haven guests happy....but I'm sure that non-Haven guests would complain that "...they have 2 pools?!?!?!"

I think we are already going to see ...

 

"They have seven private decks"
"They have their own set of elevators we can't use"

 

and on and on.  This ship takes it to the next level in terms of amount of space on the ship for the Haven, it is much less spread out (rooms outside the complex) and very much locked away.

[pcakes122]

On 5/15/2021 at 8:18 PM, HBCcruiser said:

I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden I looked and a Bermuda cruise on the Prima in an aft owners suite was booked! How’d that happen? 😬😬😬

This just happened to me too lol - but I booked the Accessible Aft Penthouse next to the Owner's Suites. I haven't had time to scour the deck plans, but it looks like these suites are all outside of the Haven-proper - is that right?  If so, I hate that!  I had no choice, though, because there is only ONE accessible suite on the Prima! (down from 2 on the Breakaway/Breakaway+ classes.)

[Yesimapirate]

1 hour ago, oteixeira said:

I think we are already going to see ...

 

"They have seven private decks"
"They have their own set of elevators we can't use"

 

and on and on.  This ship takes it to the next level in terms of amount of space on the ship for the Haven, it is much less spread out (rooms outside the complex) and very much locked away.

But they CAN use it.  All of it (assuming they're over 16).  They just have to pay for it like everyone else.

 

People are free to choose how to spend their money however they wish!  I don't want to hear any bitching about it nit being fair if they made the choice not to pay for it.  

[oteixeira]

34 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

But they CAN use it.  All of it (assuming they're over 16).  They just have to pay for it like everyone else.

 

People are free to choose how to spend their money however they wish!  I don't want to hear any bitching about it nit being fair if they made the choice not to pay for it.  

I mean you wont get an argument from me, but most of my cruises going forward I will be in the Haven right there with you.  🙂  

[SliderNc]

The one time I was in the Haven, there were kids.  There were parents who were scolding them when they were breaking the rules (this was on Escape) and for the most part, after the first day, when the kids were in the Haven areas, they were really well behaved and had good manners.  One of them even helped my wife carry a bag back when we were coming back from shopping in a port. 

 

Honestly, I think there is a lot of speculation going on based on something that was released last week that I'm sure none of their agents know the exact details on. 

 

Ironically, I've seen more adults acting like children in the Haven on the cruise I went on...

[rwf1]

How will the private Haven elevators actually work? Since they also lead to public decks, will there be issues with non-Haven guests getting on the elevators with Haven guests? And could they then get off on deck 16? Not that I care, but I just wonder if this new layout will lead to minor confrontations or make it more difficult for staff to discover non-Haven guests in the Haven.

 

MSC has private elevators to the Yacht Club, I think. How does it work on those ships?

[FLcruisergrl]

3 hours ago, oteixeira said:

@HBCcruiser  I don't doubt they said it, I just am not sure how much they would know, since sadly they are the last to know most things.  If this is the case, they will need have to have a second Haven pool, or there will be a ton of upset cruisers.  Honestly we don't take my son cruising but I can only imagine what this would do to families that book haven suites.

Agreed. My daughter will be 18 by the time we sail on Prima, but I can imagine there will be a lot of upset people if they don’t have a Haven “family area”.

[WarfRatWA]

19 minutes ago, SliderNc said:

The one time I was in the Haven, there were kids.  There were parents who were scolding them when they were breaking the rules (this was on Escape) and for the most part, after the first day, when the kids were in the Haven areas, they were really well behaved and had good manners.  One of them even helped my wife carry a bag back when we were coming back from shopping in a port. 

 

Honestly, I think there is a lot of speculation going on based on something that was released last week that I'm sure none of their agents know the exact details on. 

 

Ironically, I've seen more adults acting like children in the Haven on the cruise I went on...

I'm with you.  I've done 3 Haven sailings and have never had any problems with kids.  Not saying it doesn't happen, I'm sure it does, just not in my experience.  I've had to leave the lounge/pool area on more than one occasion due to raucous adults.

[FLcruisergrl]

17 minutes ago, rwf1 said:

How will the private Haven elevators actually work? Since they also lead to public decks, will there be issues with non-Haven guests getting on the elevators with Haven guests? And could they then get off on deck 16? Not that I care, but I just wonder if this new layout will lead to minor confrontations or make it more difficult for staff to discover non-Haven guests in the Haven.

 

MSC has private elevators to the Yacht Club, I think. How does it work on those ships?

Probably activated with a Haven keycard.

[WarfRatWA]

9 minutes ago, FLcruisergrl said:

Agreed. My daughter will be 18 by the time we sail on Prima, but I can imagine there will be a lot of upset people if they don’t have a Haven “family area”.

Considering the Haven restaurant with its outdoor venue is on deck 16, I find it impractical to make that deck restricted to 16+.  Deck 17 with its hot tubs would be a more logical choice and would mirror the BA/BA+ layout.  It would also be much easier to control for 16+.  Just my 2cents.  Either way, we won't know til more detailed renderings are released or the 1st sailing.

[WanderingBrit]

I like a lot about the layout and the design of both cabins and public spaces, but the prices are awfully close to Viking territory - and for me that experience is probably a better fit if the money is this close.

[Mikial]

13 hours ago, FLcruisergrl said:

What do you mean “the kids weren’t allowed on the outside decks at all”? The only restricted areas are the Haven sundeck and Vibe. Please explain.

 

I was referring to all of the Haven's outdoor sundecks being made off-limits as time has gone on...

 

When we were on the Getaway in 2015 we spent a lot of time out on the sundeck and the outdoor hot tub with the kids (the areas were empty a lot of the time) and there were no age restrictions.  When we sailed the Escape in 2017, we were told that kids were a-ok as long as they were being supervised by an adult.  

 

When we booked the Bliss in 2018 we were really happy to see that they expanded the Haven to both sides of the boat (the port side hot tub was public on the Escape)!  Suffice it to say that we were really disappointed when we found out that they changed there policies and would not allow kids outside (even for sail-away), and that both of the front hot tubs were now off limits to families.

 

I guess it is good that they are warning people in advance now, but excluding families from the Haven pool area would definitely ruin the experience for our family.  Adult-only hours would be fine, and strict rules would be fine.  Excluding kids altogether seems a bit much, and I don't know why anyone cruising with their kids would go Haven if they couldn't enjoy the  best part of it with their family?

 

 

 

[Jenjer]

As a shade person I love the covered and climate controlled haven pools. Not sure about this one, so I haven't book it yet. Its prices also seem super high for the weeks I have checked. 

 

No idea about it being 16 and over only but I think it will just be the sun deck and not the pool deck.  Carnival has the 15 (or was it 14 )and over Havana area and they are very very clear when you book that you must be 15 and over to use the pool. The fact the NCL has not put that everywhere makes me think under 16 YO can use the pool.  

[oteixeira]

41 minutes ago, Mikial said:

 

I was referring to all of the Haven's outdoor sundecks being made off-limits as time has gone on...

 

When we were on the Getaway in 2015 we spent a lot of time out on the sundeck and the outdoor hot tub with the kids (the areas were empty a lot of the time) and there were no age restrictions.  When we sailed the Escape in 2017, we were told that kids were a-ok as long as they were being supervised by an adult.  

 

When we booked the Bliss in 2018 we were really happy to see that they expanded the Haven to both sides of the boat (the port side hot tub was public on the Escape)!  Suffice it to say that we were really disappointed when we found out that they changed there policies and would not allow kids outside (even for sail-away), and that both of the front hot tubs were now off limits to families.

 

I guess it is good that they are warning people in advance now, but excluding families from the Haven pool area would definitely ruin the experience for our family.  Adult-only hours would be fine, and strict rules would be fine.  Excluding kids altogether seems a bit much, and I don't know why anyone cruising with their kids would go Haven if they couldn't enjoy the  best part of it with their family?

 

 

 

I think they allowed you to do that because there was no one else up there.  These were always advertised (at least since the Escape was the newest ship) as adult only as far as I can remember.  The pool deck was fine, everything above was adult area only.  I am not saying I have never seen kids up there, I am saying that if anyone said anything to the workers the kids would have to leave.

[HBCcruiser]

6 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

This just happened to me too lol - but I booked the Accessible Aft Penthouse next to the Owner's Suites. I haven't had time to scour the deck plans, but it looks like these suites are all outside of the Haven-proper - is that right?  If so, I hate that!  I had no choice, though, because there is only ONE accessible suite on the Prima! (down from 2 on the Breakaway/Breakaway+ classes.)

All Haven suite passengers will have to use the private elevator to get to the Haven Restaurant, pool, bars, etc. Everything aft from deck 10 up to at least 17 is the Haven. No suites are adjacent to the Haven “Proper”. 

[oteixeira]

6 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

This just happened to me too lol - but I booked the Accessible Aft Penthouse next to the Owner's Suites. I haven't had time to scour the deck plans, but it looks like these suites are all outside of the Haven-proper - is that right?  If so, I hate that!  I had no choice, though, because there is only ONE accessible suite on the Prima! (down from 2 on the Breakaway/Breakaway+ classes.)

I am a little confused.  If you are truly aft on this ship, that you are in the Haven from deck 10-15 (which are the room decks), as @HBCcruiser said.  I thought the Accessible rooms were the odd ones on the bump out with the triangle balconies (just forward of the Haven area).  Am I confused?

[HBCcruiser]

10 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

I am a little confused.  If you are truly aft on this ship, that you are in the Haven from deck 10-15 (which are the room decks), as @HBCcruiser said.  I thought the Accessible rooms were the odd ones on the bump out with the triangle balconies (just forward of the Haven area).  Am I confused?

If you look at the deck plans, the far aft suites starting on deck 10 are Haven. From deck 12 the entire aft “hump” are Haven suites. All will have to use the aft Haven elevator to get to Haven “Proper.” Hope I am making sense. My guess is the Haven elevator is only for Haven key holders. Just a guess, though. 
https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/member/Norwegian-Prima

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by HBCcruiser

[HBCcruiser]

The “brown” shaded  aft penthouse suites appear to have one accessible cabin.They are Haven suites too. HB suite.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by HBCcruiser

[Two Wheels Only]

3 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

The “brown” shaded  aft penthouse suites appear to be accessible. They are Haven suites too. HB suite.

 

I think only deck 10 is accessible.

[oteixeira]

1 minute ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I think only deck 10 is accessible.

I think the point is that it is in the Haven, which @pcakes122 was saying it was not.  That is why we were confused, it is aft, so it is in fact a Haven room, in the Haven complex.

[HBCcruiser]

I just checked on that Haven elevator. It is labeled as Haven Private Elevators all the way from Deck 6 up. There are other elevators fore of the Haven ones.