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

[js]

22 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

The Nespresso I've used has always been well maintained and clean. The butler ensures the water is refilled and capsules are provided. I like the quick shot of espresso, but also enjoy the French Press. If you really want, you can ask the butler to provide French Press to your room in the morning, along with pastries. We tried this and found it to be overkill. But, many people love a quick bite and French Press on their balcony. I absolutely enjoy the Nespresso on my balcony! 

 

Here's the setup, after additional capsules were provided since I was going through a lot of espresso!

 

I only drink black iced coffee. I actually ask for the French Press at night, put in fridge and have the

iced French press in the morning. LOVE IT! I usually then swap it out at dinner or the bar each day after the first night.

[Sthrngary]

35 minutes ago, knscruiser322 said:

Hi, was wondering if anyone has more recent samples of their butler letters that they can share?

@knscruiser322 Hello, I am the Author of this tread and I wrote the Butler letter originally posted for the Haven Butler.  The key to a great butler letter is to develop it around your specific wants, need and motives.  The challenge everyone who has never had a butler before has, is what will a butler on NCL do and not do for you.  We all don't want to ask for something and be embarrassed.  Let's start there.  Google What Butlers do and don't do for you on Google.  You will get a list for both.  

 

Once you have the list, think about your self and your family needs.  Look up an old butler letter on this stream, there are more than one.  Then craft your letter with those as a template.  

 

I want you to have background on why this letter was created in the first place.  I was VERY disappointed with several of my past Butlers.  The seems to not be present until the last day for their tip. That was not how truly trained butlers do their jobs.  Something was wrong.  So on one cruise, I had a serious conversation with my Butler on what was happening and why were my past butlers hit/miss.  He explained, most folks don't know we Butlers are NOT on the pre-paid gratuities program.  They assume the gratuities are prepaid for us.  When they leave, the huge part of our income is never gained.  When this started to happen over and over, human nature was do as little as possible.  To add to that, the majority of our responsibility's are behind the scenes.  The guest have no clue even when we do things to make their cruises better.  

 

This got me to think, let us try something a little unconventional.  Let's write a letter with some simple and minor requests, give the butler a little bio of all guest in the suites and end with likes and dislikes.  The Unconventional part was based on the conversation with the Butler.  I hesitate to state it again because folk either like it or HATE it.  All I am going to say is once I did this with the letter, my butlers were Good to Great every time.  So you do you.  I Tipped the butler on day one in the envelope with the letter.  That one item changed for what ever reason the quality service I got from my Butlers.  My concern was having an elevated cruise experience and it seemed to be achieved. 

 

Again, your letter and the reason for your letter needs to be upfront and personal to you needs.  My approach and reasoning is what I do, it creates all kinds of debate online.  I just want to have a great time and if this approach has accomplished it for me, it is a strategy that is worth considering.  Just my two cents.  Let the criticisms begin. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[knscruiser322]

16 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

@knscruiser322 Hello, I am the Author of this tread and I wrote the Butler letter originally posted for the Haven Butler.  The key to a great butler letter is to develop it around your specific wants, need and motives.  The challenge everyone who has never had a butler before has, is what will a butler on NCL do and not do for you.  We all don't want to ask for something and be embarrassed.  Let's start there.  Google What Butlers do and don't do for you on Google.  You will get a list for both.  

 

Once you have the list, think about your self and your family needs.  Look up an old butler letter on this stream, there are more than one.  Then craft your letter with those as a template.  

 

I want you to have background on why this letter was created in the first place.  I was VERY disappointed with several of my past Butlers.  The seems to not be present until the last day for their tip. That was not how truly trained butlers do their jobs.  Something was wrong.  So on one cruise, I had a serious conversation with my Butler on what was happening and why were my past butlers hit/miss.  He explained, most folks don't know we Butlers are NOT on the pre-paid gratuities program.  They assume the gratuities are prepaid for us.  When they leave, the huge part of our income is never gained.  When this started to happen over and over, human nature was do as little as possible.  To add to that, the majority of our responsibility's are behind the scenes.  The guest have no clue even when we do things to make their cruises better.  

 

This got me to think, let us try something a little unconventional.  Let's write a letter with some simple and minor requests, give the butler a little bio of all guest in the suites and end with likes and dislikes.  The Unconventional part was based on the conversation with the Butler.  I hesitate to state it again because folk either like it or HATE it.  All I am going to say is once I did this with the letter, my butlers were Good to Great every time.  So you do you.  I Tipped the butler on day one in the envelope with the letter.  That one item changed for what ever reason the quality service I got from my Butlers.  My concern was having an elevated cruise experience and it seemed to be achieved. 

 

Again, your letter and the reason for your letter needs to be upfront and personal to you needs.  My approach and reasoning is what I do, it creates all kinds of debate online.  I just want to have a great time and if this approach has accomplished it for me, it is a strategy that is worth considering.  Just my two cents.  Let the criticisms begin. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Hi Gary! Thanks for the response. Yes I've read your butler letter template that you originally posted on I believe the first or second page of this thread.

 

I did have to adjust parts of the wording and snippets of it as the language was as someone mentioned a bit "flowery", lol. I only found snippets of letters here and there on this thread. I can go through and see if I missed any again.

[cruiseny4life]

59 minutes ago, js said:

I only drink black iced coffee. I actually ask for the French Press at night, put in fridge and have the

iced French press in the morning. LOVE IT! I usually then swap it out at dinner or the bar each day after the first night.

This might be a game changer!!! Except on weekends I drink cold brew coffee that I make at home. I would probably prefer iced coffee, especially getting some ice from the bucket or the Haven Restaurant. Oooooo I'm going to try this. Thank you! What a wonderful idea!

 

I still say yes!

 

Source: self explanatory

[knscruiser322]

Talking about coffee again, I found one of the pages on this thread where Gary mentioned that the coffee that the butler brings if we request from the Haven Restaurant uses most likely the same Starbucks beans at the counter one?

 

And not to confuse myself or anyone else, is the coffee from the Haven Restaurant the same as the French Pressed one a couple of members have mentioned?

 

Should I note for my butler that all room service should come from the Haven restaurant?

[Seminole1975]

This may be somewhere in the 87 pages, but what is a ballpark figure on what to tip the butler? I can't remember. 

[CDR Benson]

54 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

Again, your letter and the reason for your letter needs to be upfront and personal to you needs.  My approach and reasoning is what I do, it creates all kinds of debate online.  I just want to have a great time and if this approach has accomplished it for me, it is a strategy that is worth considering.  

 

I can relate only how the butler letter worked for myself and the Good Mrs. Benson on our stay in the Haven.  Our butler not only presented himself to us on the first afternoon, he sought us out in the Horizon Observation Lounge.  That augered well for our association.

 

About an hour after getting underway, he met us again in our suite, and I presented him with our butler letter.  (One of them, actually.  I had prepared two---one that enclosed half the tip I expected to give him for the cruise, noting in the letter, "We respect the impeccable skill and experience you bring to your profession.  As a token of our confidence in your service, we've enclosed part of your well-deserved tip, in advance."  The alternate letter, prepared in case the butler did not present himself on the first day, contained no such comment and no advance tip.  Our butler got the one with the money.)

 

By that late in the day, of our requests that had not already been taken care of by the concierge (remove all chargeable items from the suite, the number and type of bed pillows), we were perfectly fine with waiting until the next day to have them fulfilled.  Instead, our butler returned within the hour with all the provisions and extras we had requested.

 

He ensured daily contact with us, usually two or three times a day, and kept our snack and drink requests topped off.  He also saw to a short-fused requirement to press my service dress uniform and, when the tip of my cane was lost, he MacGyvered a completely functional replacement.

 

Certainly, his professional ethic might have meant that he would've performed so admirably without the butler letter and advance tip.  But the letter informed him of exactly what we wanted and expected.  And I firmly believe that my advance tip to him inspired more attention to us than we might otherwise have received.  (One of the criticisms that I received over tendering half his tip in advance was that it was a bribe; my response to that is, "So what?")

 

I used Sthrngary's butler letter as a template, to ensure that I addressed every element that he so comprehensively covered.  However, I put it my own voice---I am a more formal person than Sthrngary is (something else my butler letter took heat from in some quarters) and it had to sound natural to me.  That is my recommendation to you about the butler letter:  follow the outline of Sthrngary's butler letter, but phrase it to fit what makes you comfortable.  However you do that, one key point to include is the respect you have for your butler's service and professionalism.  If he knows that you know how hard he works, it goes to mutual respect.

 

As Sthrngary stated above, the very mention of butler letters can bring heavy rolls ("It's a bribe!"  "It demeans the butler!"  It's unnecessary!"), but I believe it's a good way to establish a rewarding working relationship.

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by CDR Benson

[knscruiser322]

7 minutes ago, Seminole1975 said:

This may be somewhere in the 87 pages, but what is a ballpark figure on what to tip the butler? I can't remember. 

 

Start here: 

As I asked the same question above that post and it answered pretty much all my questions on tipping once everyone chimed in.

 

 

[js]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

This might be a game changer!!! Except on weekends I drink cold brew coffee that I make at home. I would probably prefer iced coffee, especially getting some ice from the bucket or the Haven Restaurant. Oooooo I'm going to try this. Thank you! What a wonderful idea!

 

I still say yes!

 

Source: self explanatory

SOOO happy I could help, even with coffee! 🙂

 

[js]

11 hours ago, LiMurr said:

I agree.  It’s all in how you present it.  Here’s what I put in our butler letter:

 

Enclosed is our initial gratuity to acknowledge that we understand that the butlers and concierges in the Haven are not part of the ship-wide gratuity program, and to let you know that we will appreciate everything you do to make this a dream vacation for our family.  Thank you for all you do!

Thank you for this little tidbit of information! I appreciate it. I just added it to my letter and changed some of the wording. 

However, I also just did what I read CDR Benson did and will print two letters. One for if I see the butler on our first day (I sure hope so, I have NEVER not seen my butler multiple times the first day but this is the first time we are not staying in the actual courtyard so hoping we get the same level of treatment) and one if we do not.

Sailing on Joy on August 13 and cannot wait! Right now, the Encore Haven is our absolute favorite and hoping now that Joy will be.

 

 

 

 

[CDR Benson]

2 hours ago, knscruiser322 said:

I only found snippets of letters here and there on this thread. I can go through and see if I missed any again.

 

Other than Sthrngary's butler letter, I'd recommend Dr. Gutman's letter (attached at the bottom of her post I've linked).  Her voice is more convivial than my own (then, she's more likeable than I am), but it conveys precise, detailed information.  It tells the butler what her family's attitude and expectations are, as well as individual preferences, in a pleasant manner that bespeaks mutual respect.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2814971-letter-to-butler-in-haven/?do=findComment&comment=65065514

 

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by CDR Benson

[Daniel A]

I thought I read somewhere that open toed footwear is what is discouraged in a dining venue, not just flip flops.  I really don't recall if I read it on the NCL threads or one of the other cruise lines.  I'm not asking about the flip flop issue, but I want to give some guidance to a family member joining us in the Haven.

 

TIA

[omahabob]

I wear sandals everywhere, but we never went to Le Bistro, where they are supposedly not allowed. Even then, several people report that it often is not enforced. The Haven restaurant is less strict, and very casual.

[NikkiPoooo27]

31 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I thought I read somewhere that open toed footwear is what is discouraged in a dining venue, not just flip flops

I've never had any issues wearing open toed shoes or nicer open toed sandals are fine for ladies (think a dressy sandal, not Tevas) in any dining venue. I can't think of any closed toed dressy shoes I would have worn on a cruise, TBH.

[LiMurr]

12 hours ago, knscruiser322 said:

Hi, was wondering if anyone has more recent samples of their butler letters that they can share?

Edited June 24, 2023 by LiMurr

[mconthehighseas]

I have 2 questions related to alcohol.
First, can you buy a bottle of alcohol (like vodka or gin, not isopropyl) to keep in your cabin?
I know most mainstream lines don't allow that,  but Norwegian is so different from other lines in several ways.

And second,  does anyone know where I can find a beer or drink menu?
I know these are aren't strictly Haven questions, but this thread is a sanctuary from the rest of the board!

[omahabob]

1. No.

2. Likely depends on ship and bar. But, you can get a list of what's included in the beverage packages at the link below, and that should give you an idea.

 

 

[Daniel A]

9 hours ago, mconthehighseas said:

I have 2 questions related to alcohol.
First, can you buy a bottle of alcohol (like vodka or gin, not isopropyl) to keep in your cabin?
I know most mainstream lines don't allow that,  but Norwegian is so different from other lines in several ways.

DW likes to enjoy vodka on the rocks on our balcony.  We usually get a beverage package, regardless of the cruise line.  We ask for a vodka martini in a rock glass, and hold the vermouth and rocks.  We take it back to our table or lounger and pour the drink into a metal reusable water bottle.  Since we have a beverage package, we will do this a few times, and voila!  We now have a full water bottle of vodka.  The reason why we don't just ask for vodka on the rocks is because often bartenders will only pour one small jigger onto some ice in a glass whereas when it is a martini, you usually get a more substantial pour.  😉  🍸 

[NikkiPoooo27]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Since we have a beverage package, we will do this a few times, and voila!  We now have a full water bottle of vodka.  The reason why we don't just ask for vodka on the rocks is because often bartenders will only pour one small jigger onto some ice in a glass whereas when it is a martini, you usually get a more substantial pour.  😉  🍸 

This is a good tip for my mom, who likes vodka & orange juice but won't want to drive her scooter out to the lounge all the time. It's a good idea for me for my TA in the fall when I'm not in the Haven for that one (traveling solo), but am alllll the way forward... there will be a couple of the *7 sea days* that I don't feel like going out much, I'm sure. 

[Daniel A]

9 minutes ago, NikkiPoooo27 said:

This is a good tip for my mom, who likes vodka & orange juice but won't want to drive her scooter out to the lounge all the time. It's a good idea for me for my TA in the fall when I'm not in the Haven for that one (traveling solo), but am alllll the way forward... there will be a couple of the *7 sea days* that I don't feel like going out much, I'm sure. 

So, as long as she knows that she will want screwdrivers, if she has the beverage package, she can just ask for screwdrivers without the ice and pour the pre-mixed drinks into the water bottle a few times.  We keep the filled water bottle in the fridge on the cabin, so it's already chilled without watering it down with ice cubes.

[Treasure Hunter]

I am currently on Viking Mississippi. Standing in line for eggs for breakfast. No sit down service anywhere for breakfast. I made a comment and a guest at a neighboring table said I had a bad attitude.If I could wrinkle my nose and be in the Haven restaurant on any NCL ship it would be wonderful. This is a one and done mistake big time ( twice the cost of any NCL cruise). It’s not the age of the passengers ( we are 75 and 78). It’s the vibe. What a downer. And the rooms are small, poor storage, thin walls, the food quality is excellent and public spaces are pretty. It is a brand new ship. I feel like shooting myself and we have 13 more days to go.

[NikkiPoooo27]

13 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

And the rooms are small, poor storage, thin walls, the food quality is excellent and public spaces are pretty. It is a brand new ship. I feel like shooting myself and we have 13 more days to go.

Yikes! I hope things turn around a bit for you. 

[Treasure Hunter]

Just venting. I’ll bounce back. But you don’t know what you’re missing until you go Haven and then leave. 

[NikkiPoooo27]

On 6/23/2023 at 12:35 AM, LiMurr said:

What is a music cruise and where do I find them?  Sounds like fun!

They get a bunch of musical acts (either curated around a theme or genre, or a big name headliner and acts they choose to go with them that may or may not be music) and charter the ship... then you spend 4-7 amazing days with considerably more live entertainment than a typical cruise on a ship full of like-minded people. They are mostly just Caribbean cruises, but on these cruises the destination is not the main point.

 

There are a few different companies that do them, but cruise with the same one who now occupies the Norwegian Pearl (or occasionally another Gem-class ship if Pearl needs some work) for most of October until mid-spring. I don't know if they're considered a TA so I won't say their name, but if you google The Rock Boat (which is their longest running event, and my first of 27 events with them with them starting way back in 2005) and scroll down to the bottom of the page there's an oval-shaped logo you can click on to go to their main page. 

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I am currently on Viking Mississippi. Standing in line for eggs for breakfast. No sit down service anywhere for breakfast. I made a comment and a guest at a neighboring table said I had a bad attitude.If I could wrinkle my nose and be in the Haven restaurant on any NCL ship it would be wonderful. This is a one and done mistake big time ( twice the cost of any NCL cruise). It’s not the age of the passengers ( we are 75 and 78). It’s the vibe. What a downer. And the rooms are small, poor storage, thin walls, the food quality is excellent and public spaces are pretty. It is a brand new ship. I feel like shooting myself and we have 13 more days to go.

I hope this doesn't cause a thread drift, but DW & I will never set foot on another Viking ship.  We took a "7" day river cruise ending in Basel Switzerland where we were awakened at 4 AM to board buses to the airport for our flights home.  That constituted the 7th day of the cruise!  We spent 40% more for this 7-day Viking River cruise than we just spent for a 5-week Holland America cruise in a balcony stateroom going to French Polynesia!