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

[Sthrngary]

12 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

As an aside, I would have invited the yourn lady with the string bikini to sit next to me at the bar - all afternoon! 

You read right though me.

[SaltyPawz]

Thank you all for the advice given regarding cruising in a Haven room on a ship with no Haven restaurant/courtyard/bar. We just booked a Canada/New England trip and decided to go with a ship that has all Haven amenities. 
 

As always, this thread is always so helpful! 
 

Happy Christmas to you and yours! 

[slidemaster5]

16 minutes ago, SaltyPawz said:

We just booked a Canada/New England trip and decided to go with a ship that has all Haven amenities. 

A Canada/New England trip - do you mean an MSC trip to Bahamas? lol.

Edited December 21, 2023 by slidemaster5

[SaltyPawz]

19 hours ago, slidemaster5 said:

A Canada/New England trip - do you mean an MSC trip to Bahamas? lol.

When I first read your response, I had NO idea what it meant. Then, I read a recent news ticker. Truth be told, Canada/New England or the Bahamas would be just fine! Of course, safety is implied. 😜

[slidemaster5]

1 hour ago, SaltyPawz said:

Canada/New England or the Bahamas would be just fine! Of course, safety is implied. 😜

Agree on safety since I heard there are large waves in the Atlantic. I live near Boston and its 29 here now and 71 in Nassau. I think one logistical problem for the folks who took the cruise is having the wrong type of clothing in their suitcases.  

[TheDawg79]

42 minutes ago, slidemaster5 said:

Agree on safety since I heard there are large waves in the Atlantic. I live near Boston and its 29 here now and 71 in Nassau. I think one logistical problem for the folks who took the cruise is having the wrong type of clothing in their suitcases.  

However it would be hilarious to see folks walking around Boston in December in cabana wear! 

[Daniel A]

On 12/18/2023 at 10:27 AM, Daniel A said:

I'm getting into the Holidays spirit, and I thought we could have a little fun.  I'd like to see what one thing people enjoy most about Haven sailings, and the one thing about the Haven they can do without.  It should be interesting getting some viewpoints about what counts most and least with the Haven experience.

 

( @Sthrngary - No. you can't list the almond croissants!  They're already a given 😊 )

Going back to my previous question, the thing I enjoy most about Haven sailings is the personal attention and recognition from all of the Haven staff members.  I've had Haven crew greet me by name even though I'd not yet met them.  They are usually familiar with my preferences for dining and drinks as well as escorts off the ship and to shows.  This personal attention is what makes the Haven worth it for me.

 

The item I could do without is the automatic stocking of the fridge with the mini bar items.  Asking the butler to remove them isn't a big problem, but I'd rather be asked first if I wanted a mini-bar.  My drink of preference is beer and I usually get that with a drink package, so I'd rather have the room in the fridge for my beer.

[RocketMan275]

22 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Going back to my previous question, the thing I enjoy most about Haven sailings is the personal attention and recognition from all of the Haven staff members.  I've had Haven crew greet me by name even though I'd not yet met them.  They are usually familiar with my preferences for dining and drinks as well as escorts off the ship and to shows.  This personal attention is what makes the Haven worth it for me.

 

The item I could do without is the automatic stocking of the fridge with the mini bar items.  Asking the butler to remove them isn't a big problem, but I'd rather be asked first if I wanted a mini-bar.  My drink of preference is beer and I usually get that with a drink package, so I'd rather have the room in the fridge for my beer.

Have  you asked the on-shore concierge desk to have those items removed before you board?

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Have  you asked the on-shore concierge desk to have those items removed before you board?

Yes, and it has worked.  Asking the butler is a backup to making the request beforehand.  But asking for it to be gone before I board, shows that it's the main thing I can do without.

[9tee2Sea]

i am sure this has already been answered, but I am not going to read 140+ pages to find this out.  Folks are talking about the mini fridge being stocked.  If we have the drink package, does that mean we can use the bar items in the mini fridge to have drinks on the balcony no extra charge?  OR do we have to go up to the bar ( we are on Aft Balcony, deck 15, Bliss, outside Haven Proper), and carefully bring our drinks back into our cabin ( Or pay the fee and call for cabin service).

[zqvol]

9 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

i am sure this has already been answered, but I am not going to read 140+ pages to find this out.  Folks are talking about the mini fridge being stocked.  If we have the drink package, does that mean we can use the bar items in the mini fridge to have drinks on the balcony no extra charge?  OR do we have to go up to the bar ( we are on Aft Balcony, deck 15, Bliss, outside Haven Proper), and carefully bring our drinks back into our cabin ( Or pay the fee and call for cabin service).

Items in the mini fridge are not included in your package, you will need to go to the bar for drinks. 

[cruiseny4life]

12 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

i am sure this has already been answered, but I am not going to read 140+ pages to find this out.  Folks are talking about the mini fridge being stocked.  If we have the drink package, does that mean we can use the bar items in the mini fridge to have drinks on the balcony no extra charge?  OR do we have to go up to the bar ( we are on Aft Balcony, deck 15, Bliss, outside Haven Proper), and carefully bring our drinks back into our cabin ( Or pay the fee and call for cabin service).

By stocked, folks mean a bottle of Acqua Panna, San Pelligrino (I think that's the brand), and a carton of water. Each item has a price tag on it which you'll be charged if you use it. Your butler can remove these items or you can. On our last cruise, we took them out and placed them next to the fridge. We then asked our butler to provide us with a pitcher of water and iced tea (free of charge). 

 

If you're in certain categories (owner suites, though I'm not sure if it's all owner suites on V!va and Pr1ma), you will receive a few bottles of liquor (they give you a list to choose from), and mixers. 

 

What I said above is true, whether you have the Free at Sea beverage package or upgrade to Premium Plus. 

[Sthrngary]

35 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

i am sure this has already been answered, but I am not going to read 140+ pages to find this out.

@9tee2Sea I am the author of this thread.  Yes, it is 141 pages long.  Would it surprise your to know this is the second version of this topic updated in 2022.  The first version was even longer.  No stream should be this long but when it is, it says something about the content.  The search feature of CruiseCritic.com is not great but with a few words, your question regardless of what it is on this topic of the Haven will be answered.  That said, never hesitate to ask as you did. 

 

I love the Haven approach to cruising but truly wish the Nickle and Diming would be eliminated at the Haven Prices. I just cruised last month on the NCL sister brand, Oceania and the stocked Mini-Fridge included soda, soft drinks, requested juices and water.  Acholic beverages were brought to the stateroom either by your butler or your room service person based on the drink package you purchased. For me, and from your comment for you, that was a refreshing change.

 

The question is, will these two difference make the difference in my future bookings.  NO,  I just want to know the facts to make a non-pressured decision to proceed. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[RocketMan275]

4 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

...

 

I love the Haven approach to cruising but truly wish the Nickle and Diming would be eliminated at the Haven Prices. I just cruised last month on the NCL sister brand, Oceania and the stocked Mini-Fridge included soda, soft drinks, requested juices and water.  Acholic beverages were brought to the stateroom either by your butler or your room service person based on the drink package you purchased. For me, and from your comment for you, that was a refreshing change.

...

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Of course you will pay an additional increase in prices for those services.  Not everyone would find that acceptable.

[Sthrngary]

5 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Of course you will pay an additional increase in prices for those services.  Not everyone would find that acceptable.

@RocketMan275 Kind of my point. Then book somewhere else.  Know the game before you play the game.  If you don't like the rules, find another game to play.  If you don't do due diligence, than accept accountability for a bad decision. Simple as that.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, 9tee2Sea said:

If we have the drink package, does that mean we can use the bar items in the mini fridge to have drinks on the balcony no extra charge?  OR do we have to go up to the bar ( we are on Aft Balcony, deck 15, Bliss, outside Haven Proper), and carefully bring our drinks back into our cabin ( Or pay the fee and call for cabin service).

The drink package does not include anything that the refrigerator was stocked with on embarkation.  @cruiseny4life had a good suggestion but I was concerned that I'd end up finding out at the end of the cruise that I was being charged for the contents as each day the butler or steward will count what was removed, restock and charge for it.  Of course, even if your butler or steward is told up front that you just put them off to the side, Murphy's law says somebody else will come in some day to restock the fridge.  I thought it much safer to ask the pre-cruise concierge to make sure the fridge is empty and if it's not empty when you get aboard, just ask the butler to remove the items when introduced.  

 

If you have a drink package, you can use it for drinks at any bar, no need to trudge all the way to the Haven Bar.  DW drinks martini's and enjoys sitting on the balcony having a drink.  We bring two insulated reusable water bottles and I go to a bar and ask for her drink - no ice and go to a table and pour it into the water bottle.  I'll go back for another and keep doing it until the water bottle is full and then I put the water bottle in the fridge for her use later on.  When it runs out, I "lather, rinse, & repeat." 😉  I am a beer drinker and when passing a bar on my back to the cabin, I'll stop at any bar and get two unopened bottles to bring back.  In no time we have a fridge full of our beverages which was all covered by the drink package.

[Treasure Hunter]

Sthrngary. How did you like your Oceania cruise? We are on the NCL Encore in February with family in the two bedroom Haven suite. Booked on Oceania Allura 2025 for Europe. There will be itinerary changes for sure ( Egypt, Israel, Tunis).. new ship

[graphicguy]

Interesting points about stocked fridges.  I was on Celebrity in the Retreat.  They stocked the fridge for me.  Never pulled even a soda out of it.  Not sure why.  

 

Never had the desire to have the Concierge/Butler to fetch me a drink, either.  

 

Never felt the need or want, I suppose.  Just me.

 

I would bring my drink with me at the end of the night, say....after being in the casino or after a show.  But, never thought of cracking open the fridge.

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by graphicguy

[Treasure Hunter]

I just doesn’t make sense to be in the Haven and have a stocked refrigerator that you must not touch. It’s the only thing about the Haven that I don’t like. I don’t even mind the unchanging menu, because I found out that they will make you lots of stuff as long as they have the ingredients. 

[graphicguy]

Now that I think about it, can’t you purchase liquors and/or sodas as part of a package to stock in the fridge?

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Sthrngary. How did you like your Oceania cruise? We are on the NCL Encore in February with family in the two bedroom Haven suite. Booked on Oceania Allura 2025 for Europe. There will be itinerary changes for sure ( Egypt, Israel, Tunis).. new ship

@Treasure Hunter I caught your question by accident, please put @Sthrngary in your question so it alerts me you are directly asking me something.  On to your question.  I liked it very much but it is not the brand for everyone. We went on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise with LOTS of ports.  The ship was a smaller ship that held 1200 passengers so no tenders.  That was very nice.  

 

Food was better then NCL even in the Haven but food is relative.  No charge for Specialty Restaurants but you are only guarantied one reservation per specialty restaurant.  My ship had four so I had four guaranteed reservations.  Each day you can ask for a Waitlist Reservation but might have to share a table or be turned down.  

 

The entertainment on NCL is much better across the board.  Bigger ship, more budget, better entertainment.  Some of the shows on Oceania were good, never great.  The piano player in the bar was good and for me my kind of entertainment with a drink. 

 

The personalized service was across the board great on Oceania.  Consider the personalized service in the Haven, but for the entire ship.  

 

The bars and bartenders were excellent on Oceania. Similar to the Haven Bar when not crowded. 

 

I don't do excursions with cruise brand so I am not the guy for that.

 

Getting on the ship and off the ship was seamless and if you let the first wave do their thing, it makes it that much more pleasant. 

 

My butler was much better than any butler I have ever had on a NCL Ship.  However my butler on Crystal Cruise is still the best ever. 

 

My mini-fridge was stocked, replenished daily and I could choose what to have in it as long as it was not alcoholic.  

 

I had an upper end suite and part of the perks were: Six Bottles of Wine or Spirits.  The Spirits were litter bottles.  When I would the NCL Joy Owners Suite, we got three bottles that were 5ths. The gifts that came with the upper end suite were very nice and generous.  A beach bag with lots of stuff and a gift box with lots of Bath items. 

 

My deck was the same kind of deck as you get with a Haven Owners Suite.  The difference was Oceania locked down the furniture every night making the deck worthless or uncomfortable. NCL never did that.

 

So I can go on but I think you get the idea.  If you want nightlife, lost of entertainment the NCL Haven is the ticket.  If you want chill, relaxation and lots of ports; Oceania is the ticket.  Hope that helps.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Cruzin64647]

@Sthrngary Do you think if you were to cruise on NCL and pay for the drinks delivered, drinks in the mini-bar, and the nickel and dime items would that add up to the price of Oceania? I do understand that the nickel and diming can be annoying but if what you spend doesn't equal the cost of a line that has more inclusive pricing it could be consider a la carte. Just a thought!

[Sthrngary]

24 minutes ago, Cruzin64647 said:

@Sthrngary Do you think if you were to cruise on NCL and pay for the drinks delivered, drinks in the mini-bar, and the nickel and dime items would that add up to the price of Oceania? I do understand that the nickel and diming can be annoying but if what you spend doesn't equal the cost of a line that has more inclusive pricing it could be consider a la carte. Just a thought!

@Cruzin64647 I wish you would not have asked me that question, I truly do.  I am a very transparent person and on this topic, I held back.  However, you asked what I consider to be a very valid question.  So Here Goes. For those that are not used to the books I write to make a case, get ready for a long complete response of what some call "Word Salad".  Enjoy.

 

Let's start this with saying, "I love the NCL Haven Concept".  When I booked my cruise prior to September 2022, I did a comparison of lots of cruise brands, ships, staterooms and very hard to truly find out amenities.  The brands were NCL (Suite and Haven Suite), Celebrity (Balcony and Retreat), Regent Seven Seas Cruise (Non-Penthouse so no butler); Viking; Seaborne; Silver Seas; Ritz-Carlton Yacht Club and Oceania (Concierge and Penthouse). Each ship was leaving about the same time, with about the same itinerary.  The NCL ship was 9 days not 10 days. Everyone else was 10 days.

 

The hardest part was showing amenities for one brand that you had to pay for, vs the other brand that it came with the fare.  Example, Regent Seven Seas Cruise provide in their fare Business Class Airfare for the long haul flight and coach to get to the departing Airport. So I showed, coach, coach comfort, premium coach and business class just to show apples to apples. I wanted to come as close to Apples to Apples and I assure you this little project was NOT easy.  But I do love to do that kind of stuff.  It makes me feel better about my decision once I make it. 

 

The Oceania Cruise was not only the best value, the best value proposition, it ended up being one of the lowest prices.  That was in the Penthouse, with a butler I might add. Other than the least expensive balcony on NCL and Celebrity but not by much.  When you add in the extra amenities, every other staterooms was more expensive.  The Haven and the Retreat were insanely more the most expensive was Regent by in some cases triple.

 

This got me to thinking.  On a port intensive cruise, do I care about go-carts, Lasor tag, Virtual reality, water slides, Broadway shows, or do I want personalized service for everyone, smaller ship to get into more ports, cooking class/art classes, elevated dining and access to all the spa amenities without having to buy a very expensive treatments.  Notice very clearly this is always give and take; pros/cons.  My only suggestion is do the due diligence and then make your purchase decision. 

 

The value proposition was so good on Oceania, it was the obvious choice.  Before doing my comparison, I would have never thought the results would be what they were.  Not in a million years. Then out of the blue, Oceania had a sale and reduce the fare even more which I was thrilled to leverage.  

 

That should answer your question.  Now lets add another fact.  my next cruise which I booked on the ship while I was cruising is another 10 day Mediterranean itinerary for October 2025 on their new ship the Vista. The per day, per guest daily rate with coach airfare is $555.00. If you want to reduce your daily cost you can take the airfare out which is many of the other brands I mentioned.  That would have given me a daily cost per guest of $415.00.  Let's do the math.  On a 7 day cruise, no air to the Caribbean or Mexico that would be $2,905.00. Now price out a Haven or Retreat room for 7 days for the cheapest room available. Add add on Oceania the Barista Coffee is included, the bottled water is included, day one in your stateroom is Champagne, you are given three bags of laundry and four items pressed, you have access to the outdoor spa area (Thermal Spa, Sundeck like Vibe Beach Club) in this price range, all the amenities of the spa and the list goes on. 

 

That is the very long answer to your question.  Now we are on a Haven Thread that I wrote twice.  Would I go on a cruise in the Haven again, you bet and I can't wait.  However, I will always look at the Pros/Cons, amenities, personalized service, specialty restaurants, and other things that make a cruise right for me. Sorry for the book folks but when I make a decision to spend my money, I do Lots and Lots of due diligence.  For me it is sport. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

[Candy Apple 12]

On 12/18/2023 at 9:35 AM, cruiseny4life said:

 

 

I've now cruised in the Haven "complex" onboard Pr1ma. I did not enjoy the experience nearly as much as when we booked an aft balcony and when we were in penthouses outside of (but close to) the Haven. I found myself missing the long walk to and from, which meant I often just wandered the ship from stern to bow so I'd have activity. 

 

I can definitely see why some would not want to sail outside the Haven if they have mobility concerns or just want to be ensconced within the "ship-within-a-ship" concept. I'm definitely not one of them. I can thankfully still wander my portly self around. Maybe waddle is a better descriptive word than wander. Anyway! I do enjoy the walks. I also missed the ease with which you can access stairs on the non-Pr1ma class ships. 

Weird things to miss, but miss I did! Hope everyone enjoys their Haven cruise wherever they decide to take advantage of the Haven amenities! 

 

I enjoy taking the stairs. Why is it difficult to access the stairs on the Pr1ma class ships?
 

On 12/18/2023 at 10:27 AM, Daniel A said:

I'm getting into the Holidays spirit, and I thought we could have a little fun.  I'd like to see what one thing people enjoy most about Haven sailings, and the one thing about the Haven they can do without.  It should be interesting getting some viewpoints about what counts most and least with the Haven experience.

 

( @Sthrngary - No. you can't list the almond croissants!  They're already a given 😊 )

Enjoy the most: tie between the butler bringing me my meals to the room so I don’t have to sit in the restaurant and wait for them and priority embarkation/disembarkation so I don’t have to wait in lines. Therefore, what I enjoy most is not having to wait!

 

Can do without: the smell of the smoked drinks permeating from the bar into the lounge area

[Treasure Hunter]

@Sthrngary Just curious how you felt. If I was going to Europe or the Far east and wanted a lot of ports and easy on and off then Yes to Oceania. If the Caribbean or New England ( we've gone on 50 cruises) and sometimes we don't get off the ship, then NCL Haven. I love the big entertainment and the Casino. I do hate the smoke in the casino so the new NCL ships with an enclosed smoking rooms are a great addition. As is the private Sun Deck. We did three Celebrity ships last year ( two in the Retreat and one a concierge cabin with family on either side). I called to book for next winter and the price was INSANE. So instead,  are in a suite January 2025 thru the casino on the Enchanted Princess for $4,000 total. No special suite restaurant ( except for breakfast) no drinks ( we don't) and we don't care about the ports as long as it's warm. So every booking is different. And every cruise is great.