The NCL Haven Luxury VIP Experience "Secrets" REVISED for 2022

[FLcruisergrl]

35 minutes ago, estvil30 said:

Hello All !

 

How often do people use the Butler for Lunch "in room" VS Room Service ?

Does anyone feel that your asking too much ?

Or is this a regular request ?

 

ALSO, Can we order room service from the Haven Restaurant ?

Who do I call ?

 

Thank you so much for any insights....

You should use your butler for any food you want served in the room. Do not call room service. It’s definitely not too much to ask. Last week, we had lunch in the room once and my daughter had dinner once.

Edited December 30, 2022 by FLcruisergrl

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, estvil30 said:

Hello All !

 

How often do people use the Butler for Lunch "in room" VS Room Service ?

Does anyone feel that your asking too much ?

Or is this a regular request ?

 

ALSO, Can we order room service from the Haven Restaurant ?

Who do I call ?

 

Thank you so much for any insights....

By all means, use the butler. That's one of his jobs.  However, you should be aware that the butler isn't included in the Daily Service Charge (DSC), ie, gratuities.  Therefore, if you use the butler, you should plan on tipping the butler.

[Greenpea2]

22 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

By all means, use the butler. That's one of his jobs.  However, you should be aware that the butler isn't included in the Daily Service Charge (DSC), ie, gratuities.  Therefore, if you use the butler, you should plan on tipping the butler.

Also, if you call your butler late at night for room service, it usually (in our experience) will be picked up by "regular" room service and they will deliver. The butler does get some time to sleep, apparently. 😉 

[RocketMan275]

12 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Also, if you call your butler late at night for room service, it usually (in our experience) will be picked up by "regular" room service and they will deliver. The butler does get some time to sleep, apparently. 😉 

Interesting.  It has been reported on CC that there is one butler detailed to handle late night requests.  That position rotates.

[Greenpea2]

14 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Interesting.  It has been reported on CC that there is one butler detailed to handle late night requests.  That position rotates.

Oh, you are probably right. I assumed it was "regular" room, service. All I knew was that late at night it often was not my butler that brought it. Sorry for the misinformation!

[RocketMan275]

17 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

Oh, you are probably right. I assumed it was "regular" room, service. All I knew was that late at night it often was not my butler that brought it. Sorry for the misinformation!

I don't know which is correct so I would call either misinformatio.  And, it might be different on different ships.

[Sthrngary]

17 hours ago, estvil30 said:

How often do people use the Butler for Lunch "in room" VS Room Service ?

Does anyone feel that your asking too much ?

Or is this a regular request ?

@estvil30 Welcome to this stream.  If you have a Haven Suite, your butler will provide you with food anytime you want it, just ask.  It is what they do regardless of the meal or time.  

 

17 hours ago, estvil30 said:

ALSO, Can we order room service from the Haven Restaurant ?

Who do I call ?

The key here is if the Haven is open for a meal service.  If they are not, an alternative source will be used. Always call your butler.  Let me clarify something about after hours butlers.  If might be late at night and you want some food delivered.  You call your butler and if they are off, another butler will bring it.  Very rarely will the normal room service person bring it but it can happen.

 

Your room is a lovely place to have a Breakfast or Dinner meal.  Lunch lunch is more rare however here is what some folks have done.  Please remember, ONLY HAVEN GUEST.  The guest is in lets say the Haven Sundeck, they want some food, they call from the wireless phone provided in the suite their butler to bring lets say the famous Haven Burger and Fries.  It is delivered to the sundeck. 

 

A reference to tipping was given on another response.  Tip your Butler at the beginning of the week, throughout the week OR at the end of the cruises.  They are not on the normal gratuities program. How much your tip or when you tip is up to you.  Just know, they depend on that tip.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[teachinginhawaii]

I would love information and advice about hosting a small gather in our Haven room. I have no issues if I have to pay extra (but if someone has information on approximate costs, that would be helpful). Here's our situation:

 

My husband and I booked a Haven room (aft with a large balcony). My mother and her husband have a regular room next to us, my sister and her husband have a room next to my mom, and another relative and her husband are next to them. This cruise is to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday and my sister's 50th birthday (though neither of the birthday dates are on the cruise). My mother "gifted" all of us part of the cruise cost and my husband and I chose to pay extra to have a Haven room for many reasons - but one of them was to have the larger room/balcony that we could all hang out in. We can afford the upgrade and picked a room outside of the Haven to make it easier for other family to enjoy the space our room will offer for being together. We completely understand the Haven service and amenities are for the two of us and will not be asking much of our butler this trip.

 

The one thing we would really like is to have some sort of gathering in our room to celebrate the birthdays and having the family together. I would love to arrange for snacks or dessert or something that would be a bit special but I'm not sure what's possible. 

 

One other question I have is about dining reservations. There are 8 of us (with the 2 of us in the Haven). We hope to be able to dine as a group in a specialty restaurant once or twice during the cruise (my mom paid to upgrade everyone to the Free at Sea Plus package). We've never cruised with others and aren't sure how to make the dining reservations for 8 - and since they aren't in the Haven with us, I don't think I can ask the concierge to help with the one or two meals this would apply to.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Greenpea2]

19 minutes ago, teachinginhawaii said:

I would love information and advice about hosting a small gather in our Haven room. I have no issues if I have to pay extra (but if someone has information on approximate costs, that would be helpful). Here's our situation:

 

My husband and I booked a Haven room (aft with a large balcony). My mother and her husband have a regular room next to us, my sister and her husband have a room next to my mom, and another relative and her husband are next to them. This cruise is to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday and my sister's 50th birthday (though neither of the birthday dates are on the cruise). My mother "gifted" all of us part of the cruise cost and my husband and I chose to pay extra to have a Haven room for many reasons - but one of them was to have the larger room/balcony that we could all hang out in. We can afford the upgrade and picked a room outside of the Haven to make it easier for other family to enjoy the space our room will offer for being together. We completely understand the Haven service and amenities are for the two of us and will not be asking much of our butler this trip.

 

The one thing we would really like is to have some sort of gathering in our room to celebrate the birthdays and having the family together. I would love to arrange for snacks or dessert or something that would be a bit special but I'm not sure what's possible. 

 

One other question I have is about dining reservations. There are 8 of us (with the 2 of us in the Haven). We hope to be able to dine as a group in a specialty restaurant once or twice during the cruise (my mom paid to upgrade everyone to the Free at Sea Plus package). We've never cruised with others and aren't sure how to make the dining reservations for 8 - and since they aren't in the Haven with us, I don't think I can ask the concierge to help with the one or two meals this would apply to.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks everyone!

Well, I can't answer Q#2, but you can for sure have a festive little gathering in your cabin and without spending anything. We had a few friends to our room in the Haven once and I asked the butler if he could bring us a few things. Like cheese and crackers, bar mix, cookies, small sandwiches, etc. I can't remember what else but he was happy to help and offered a number of different things. You can also go the route where you pay extra for a shrimp plate and whatever else they offer for a fee, but we did not go that route and ours was very nice.

[bundtkate]

13 minutes ago, teachinginhawaii said:

I would love to arrange for snacks or dessert or something that would be a bit special but I'm not sure what's possible. 

We did a small gathering in our cabin after our wedding on the Joy earlier this month. I can't speak to how to arrange for said snacks because we got our cake and prosecco as a gift from the Haven crew so it was just there when we got back onboard, but getting glasses/utensils for everyone was as easy as asking our butler for some extras which arrived before all of our guests even did. This was all impromptu as well so if you ask ahead of time and let your butler know what you're looking to do I can only imagine it's that much easier. As for prices, there  are some snacks/wines and the like that can be booked ahead online so that would give you an idea of the ballpark, but I'd wager you can get more than what's offered ahead of time in the Haven.
 

21 minutes ago, teachinginhawaii said:

We've never cruised with others and aren't sure how to make the dining reservations for 8 - and since they aren't in the Haven with us, I don't think I can ask the concierge to help with the one or two meals this would apply to.

You absolutely can ask the concierge and shouldn't feel bad doing so. It's no more work for them whether it's just the two of you or your whole party. They just call down to the restaurant and book for you. We had a few specialty dinners we did with our whole group of 10 and the concierge made the reservations for us no problem. In fact, I believe I severely underestimated what the concierge was willing to do for our outside-the-Haven companions. Before our last port stop, I popped by to ask about an excursion to replace the one NCL canceled and in the course of that conversation he asked whether the others in our party had a tour booked and if they'd want to be escorted off with us. He had escorted everyone off the day of our wedding, but I had assumed that was a special thing and never would have asked even then (they offered without me saying a thing). YMMV as I presume it depends entirely on the concierge, but it appears some are willing to extend certain benefits to the rest of your party.

[Treasure Hunter]

When the shoreside concierge contacts you they will definitely make your specialty restaurant reservations for your group. And you can have anyone you want in your room. You aren’t in the Haven proper so why not. Your butler will be very happy to plan a party and will give you a list of what’s possible. Please give him a nice tip.

[Figg1437]

We had a group we met on this website many years ago- we toured Europe/Egypt together at many stops.  We were in an aft suite and our butler saw us meeting with them often to head off to an excursion or dinner.  He asked if we would like to have them over one sea day for a little get together.  He put together some snack trays and pitchers of water/ tea for us.  He also sent them invitations.  It was really nice.  Our butler was “T” as he told us to call him.  It was our first time in a suite and he was the best butler we have ever had.  Really alway offering to do more for us and yet never intrusive. He didn’t charge us anything extra to do the little party and of course we tipped him at the end of the trip. 

[Erekosse]

My understanding is that those booked in the Haven can make specialty dining reservations at 130 days. I'm looking on the web and on the app, and it's showing the 120 day date as the day to start making reservations. Should it say the 130 day date? Or, is that simply a generic message?

 

Tomorrow is our 130 day window, so I'd really like to get those booked without technical glitches.

[CDR Benson]

47 minutes ago, Erekosse said:

My understanding is that those booked in the Haven can make specialty dining reservations at 130 days. I'm looking on the web and on the app, and it's showing the 120 day date as the day to start making reservations. Should it say the 130 day date? Or, is that simply a generic message?

 

Tomorrow is our 130 day window, so I'd really like to get those booked without technical glitches.

 

We experienced a problem with NCL's web site app for our Haven cruise last September.  At the 130-day mark, we couldn't make specialty dining reservations on line.  So, the next day, I went direct with the Norwegian Concierge Desk via e-mail (norwegianconciergedesk@ncl.com) and explained the issue.  I also provided the dates and times and venues of the reservations I wanted.  Within a business day or two, the desk responded, confirming my reservations.

 

The reservations also then appeared in my account on the NCL app.

 

I might suggest this tac if the same thing occurs with you.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by CDR Benson

[Sthrngary]

Hello everyone.  I would like to thank every single contributor this topic.  It was a great honor to have assisted many of you with your decision to book the NCL Haven.  My experiences have been great and when I like something, I both recommend it and write about it.  

 

My last two NCL cruise have been just OK.  My last cruise was good yet would not have been so if not for the NCL Vibe Beach Club which made the cruise for us.  I have felt and feel as if NCL is cutting back on everything from crew, drinks, entertainment and food quality which is some of the main reason why I have recommended them in the past.  

 

I dearly love the NCL Haven however the price increases makes it a DEAL BREAKER for me in the future.  Because of that, I will be venturing into other brands and categories from this point forward with my cruise vacations.  We all have a choice with our hard earned money.  Everyone has different wants and needs.  

 

Thank you to everyone for your comments, kind words and support.  I will no longer be able to answer your questions because other are now much better sources.  It has been a joy and as always.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Beamco]

@Sthrngary Thank you for all your insight! From reading your very thoughtful posts I'm sure you did not take this decision lightly!

 

I am finally returning to cruising post COVID and as always I am in the Haven this time with the upgraded drink package. I am nervous that this cruise won't measure up to my pre COVID experiences but what has?

 

This will be my 5th vacation since March of 22. I did a trip to Costa Rica that was a disaster even when staying at a fairly high end resort (the Westin in Guanacaste) I also went to Oahu for the first time stayed in a more than decent resort (The Kahala) Oahu was awesome despite people telling me it's not like Maui or the Big Island implying I wouldn't like it etc. I went and loved every minute of the trip, food was great, nightlife great, hotel a bit worn/dated but great. Took 5 days to explore Charleston SC and had many memorable meals, experiences and drinks throughout that trip. I then did a 12 day road trip through Oregon, I never did an extended road trip like this before bottom line I loved every minute of that vacation, while staying primarily in Best Westerns and eating all over.

 

I always thought a cruise in the Haven was my preferred way to vacation but I quickly learned as I have about my entertainment choices day to day there are many ways to spend your hard earned money and enjoy it. Point is I don't need to cruise to enjoy my vacation times! That being said I will have a great time on my upcoming 15 day cruise but I will know right away if NCL is worth my time and money for future vacations - post cruise we will see if I am joining you in finding alternative vacations and eliminating cruising for the foreseeable future. I am worried NCL is trying to be all things to all cruisers or to use an old phrase a Jack of all Trades Master of None. Today's world economies are tough to navigate, NCL needs to decide is they are a mass market cruise line or a higher level "near luxury" cruise line. Make a choice they can't survive and thrive trying to satisfy all cruisers especially in today's economy. Watering down the product won't win in the long run! 

 

By the way I will be on the Joy with the Upgraded FAS package - 5 nights speciality dining going from Miami to LA through the Panama Canal - I will answer any questions you may have - post cruise. 

 

Good Luck to you and I hope you have many days "Happy Vacationing" in your future! 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Beamco

[Wedgie Wedgie]

**** we finally make it to platinum and now it sucks?

[lgdesign]

 

2 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Thank you to everyone for your comments, kind words and support.  I will no longer be able to answer your questions because other are now much better sources.  It has been a joy and as always.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

And, sadly, Sthrngary drops the mic...

 

Thank YOU so very much for all your insights and advice on Haven (and Haven-Lite) cruising always offered with gentlemanly courtesy, intelligence and humbleness. 

 

Will you be over on the Oceania forums giving the same level of detailed information and tips?  Would love to follow you over there as we consider our future cruising choices.

 

Cruise well, sir and adieux... or dare we hope au revoir?  😉

[bundtkate]

1 hour ago, Beamco said:

By the way I will be on the Joy with the Upgraded FAS package - 5 nights speciality dining going from Miami to LA through the Panama Canal

I just got off the Joy on 12/18 going through the canal in the other direction (Port Canaveral to LA) in the Haven so if you have any questions before you head out, I'm happy to help in Gary's stead. He has set a high bar, but I'll endeavor to live up to it. 😅

[Sailing12Away]

On 12/31/2022 at 2:30 PM, teachinginhawaii said:

I would love information and advice about hosting a small gather in our Haven room. I have no issues if I have to pay extra (but if someone has information on approximate costs, that would be helpful). Here's our situation:

 

My husband and I booked a Haven room (aft with a large balcony). My mother and her husband have a regular room next to us, my sister and her husband have a room next to my mom, and another relative and her husband are next to them. This cruise is to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday and my sister's 50th birthday (though neither of the birthday dates are on the cruise). My mother "gifted" all of us part of the cruise cost and my husband and I chose to pay extra to have a Haven room for many reasons - but one of them was to have the larger room/balcony that we could all hang out in. We can afford the upgrade and picked a room outside of the Haven to make it easier for other family to enjoy the space our room will offer for being together. We completely understand the Haven service and amenities are for the two of us and will not be asking much of our butler this trip.

 

The one thing we would really like is to have some sort of gathering in our room to celebrate the birthdays and having the family together. I would love to arrange for snacks or dessert or something that would be a bit special but I'm not sure what's possible. 

 

One other question I have is about dining reservations. There are 8 of us (with the 2 of us in the Haven). We hope to be able to dine as a group in a specialty restaurant once or twice during the cruise (my mom paid to upgrade everyone to the Free at Sea Plus package). We've never cruised with others and aren't sure how to make the dining reservations for 8 - and since they aren't in the Haven with us, I don't think I can ask the concierge to help with the one or two meals this would apply to.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks everyone!

Parties in your room are a normal occurrence the butler is used to. Just give them a heads up on the preferred date, how many total guests you think you'll have, and what you want them to eat/munch on. They will gladly bring several pitchers of juice, lemonade, soda, etc for the group. For food, it all depends on what you want. Are you looking for little sandwiches? Cookies and candy? Fruit platter? Charchuterie and cheese/crackers? Whatever you want - just ask. They also have good ideas for things they can do, or things they've seen been popular in the past.

For dinner - absolutely ask the concierge for help. Again, just tell them the date/time, how many in the group, and where you want to dine. They work magic when you give them notice and speak your mind about what you want.

[HBCcruiser]

8 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Because of that, I will be venturing into other brands and categories from this point forward with my cruise vacations

I have really appreciated your input and posts. Thank you. 🙏 We also sail Royal Caribbean and Princess. The Royal Star Suite experience is amazing and better than the Haven IMO. You can still find great deals if you look. Princess is coming out with a new ship the Sun which will have a Haven-like experience with the Signature Suites. We plan on trying that too. Prices are great compared to the Haven which are outrageous right now IMO! I have not tried MSC or Celebrity but have heard good things about both. Best of luck with you cruise planning. Thank you again. 

[HBCcruiser]

On 1/3/2023 at 5:52 AM, Erekosse said:

My understanding is that those booked in the Haven can make specialty dining reservations at 130 days. I'm looking on the web and on the app, and it's showing the 120 day date as the day to start making reservations. Should it say the 130 day date? Or, is that simply a generic message?

 

Tomorrow is our 130 day window, so I'd really like to get those booked without technical glitches.

BOOK!  Even though it says you can’t just click on the link and you will be able to book. I hope you got all of the restaurants/times you wanted. If not just book with the concierge when you board. Enjoy your cruise!

[J0Y0US]

2 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

You can still find great deals if you look.

 

Teach me hahahaha

 

Haven I gotten 2 people to Alaska for $6k and 6 people to the southern Caribbean for $6.5k I have not come across that for Royal for a Star Suite.

[HBCcruiser]

Just now, J0Y0US said:

 

Teach me hahahaha

 

Haven I gotten 2 people to Alaska for $6k and 6 people to the southern Caribbean for $6.5k I have not come across that for Royal for a Star Suite.

With RCI if you book early right when the cruises are listed you get better deals. We booked the solar eclipse cruise April ‘ 24 on Harmony in the 2Bd Aqua suite (Star Class with Genie) for 4  at $8000 total. Can’t beat that!  For NCL peeps Star class suites include the Unlimited Beverage Package, WiFI (Starlink) and Unlimited Specialty dining package the entire cruise. I love NCL but they need to lower their prices IMO. 

[J0Y0US]

8 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

With RCI if you book early right when the cruises are listed you get better deals. We booked the solar eclipse cruise April ‘ 24 on Harmony in the 2Bd Aqua suite (Star Class with Genie) for 4  at $8000 total. Can’t beat that!  For NCL peeps Star class suites include the Unlimited Beverage Package, WiFI (Starlink) and Unlimited Specialty dining package the entire cruise. I love NCL but they need to lower their prices IMO. 

 

Than you I might look farther out then. I have only booked 1 cruise further than 3 months out in my life and it was 5 months out.

 

I will take a look at what is out there that far ahead.