newmomma0507 Posted March 17, 2023 #301 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Do you feel the spa access is worth the added cost? We cruise 4/2-4/9 and i really want to get the spa access, but the price seems high. First time cruiser and don't know how much time we will have to enjoy the spa. Also, were massages included at Maya Chan? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #302 Share Posted March 17, 2023 2 minutes ago, newmomma0507 said: Do you feel the spa access is worth the added cost? We cruise 4/2-4/9 and i really want to get the spa access, but the price seems high. First time cruiser and don't know how much time we will have to enjoy the spa. Also, were massages included at Maya Chan? This is our first time in 16 cruises that we did the Thermal Spa. It will be something we do on every cruise going forward. 😁😁😁 If you check the dailies I've posted, there have been days where a day pass was offered. Prices vary...I remember $59 for one date and $79 for another date. Massages at Maya Chan are not included, but pricing is very reasonable. Enjoy your cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #303 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Internet Speed tests for those interested: This is with the FAS plus package (unlimited WiFi). The 1st image is from last night at 11 pm while we were sailing towards Mexico. The 2nd image is while we are docked in Cozumel at 12:45 pm. Pretty slow...Plan accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #304 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Current status: Oooh these loungers are nice!!! 🫠🫠🫠 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #305 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Haven lunch in the Courtyard: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #306 Share Posted March 17, 2023 We both had the caeser salad, so only 1 picture of it. 😄 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #307 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Tomorrow is the last full day for us on the ship...Any questions? Anything I can find out for you guys? Here is your chance. I will do my best! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocketMan275 Posted March 17, 2023 #308 Share Posted March 17, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, CTCruiser001 said: Tomorrow is the last full day for us on the ship...Any questions? Anything I can find out for you guys? Here is your chance. I will do my best! No questions, just an observation. I loved the Misto, but a friend on the cruise told me that you could tailor it when you order. You don't want a specific item, say mussels, you can request they substitute something else, say onion rings. We didn't take advantage of this. My wife and I both ordered the misto and I gave her my musscles and she gave me her onion rings. Edited March 17, 2023 by RocketMan275 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina231955 Posted March 17, 2023 #309 Share Posted March 17, 2023 7 hours ago, CTCruiser001 said: Tipping is a personal thing. Tip however you wish. 🙂 Thank you. We’re Italian and have absolutely no idea how much we should tip, I think we’ll just ask or follow the others that will be at our table. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #310 Share Posted March 17, 2023 14 minutes ago, Christina231955 said: Thank you. We’re Italian and have absolutely no idea how much we should tip, I think we’ll just ask or follow the others that will be at our table. Okay, your question makes more sense now. 😀 I forget there are other cultures who don't have experience with tipping...Here is what we do. Firstly, don't forget that each bill has 20% gratuity added already. Because of this, most of your fellow sailors won't tip additional at all. We tip $40 at every specialty meal ($20 for each of us). For Teppanyaki (which has a separate bill for each individual) we tipped $20 to the servers and $10 to the chef, so $60 all in. If we ordered a bottle of wine, we usually tip $10 to the sommelier for their assistance and discussion of wines and regions. I will add this...In all of our 16 cruises, we've always tipped at least $1 cash to servers or bartenders when we get a drink. If we are both getting a drink, we tip at least $3 cash. Over the course of our cruises, we've seen less and less people tipping cash at this activity... On this current sailing, this tipping for drinks seems way down - Which is very surprising for me. Perhaps inflation and the rising costs and cut backs have made people stop with small cash tips??? But we know these NCL employees are working hard to give us great service and we will continue to tip additional for drinks on all of our sailings. I will share my thoughts on Haven tipping at the end of our sailing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #311 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Or finding out they are not working... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 17, 2023 Author #312 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Awesome ship horn battle between the Breakaway and Prima as the Prima left dock. Not sure who won...We'll call it a draw! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemcrazy Posted March 17, 2023 #313 Share Posted March 17, 2023 I posted this on their Facebook page but also wanted to share here. I found my new cruise mascot over one of the slot machines at the casino this afternoon. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaabbee Posted March 17, 2023 #314 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Great review so far. I’ll be boarding on Sunday! We did the haven spa suite so it’s nice to get familiar before hand. I’ll leave this here as an ex server on the POA tipping extra is super rare. We did get a portion of the added gratuities but then some were also kept for crew “enhancements”. We would get discounted drinks or crew parties etc. A lot of these people work their butts off and make decent money. They also live in a lot lower cost of living areas. I remember one lady would tell her guests she had 3 kids back home that she would see every 8 months. She would however forget to mention that she bought them all houses and cars from working there. Again some of the hard workers deserve to be compensated above and beyond and those are the ones I focus on. disclaimer POA was the highest compensated ship in the fleet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmmancini Posted March 17, 2023 #315 Share Posted March 17, 2023 2 hours ago, CTCruiser001 said: Okay, your question makes more sense now. 😀 I forget there are other cultures who don't have experience with tipping...Here is what we do. Firstly, don't forget that each bill has 20% gratuity added already. Because of this, most of your fellow sailors won't tip additional at all. We tip $40 at every specialty meal ($20 for each of us). For Teppanyaki (which has a separate bill for each individual) we tipped $20 to the servers and $10 to the chef, so $60 all in. If we ordered a bottle of wine, we usually tip $10 to the sommelier for their assistance and discussion of wines and regions. I will add this...In all of our 16 cruises, we've always tipped at least $1 cash to servers or bartenders when we get a drink. If we are both getting a drink, we tip at least $3 cash. Over the course of our cruises, we've seen less and less people tipping cash at this activity... On this current sailing, this tipping for drinks seems way down - Which is very surprising for me. Perhaps inflation and the rising costs and cut backs have made people stop with small cash tips??? But we know these NCL employees are working hard to give us great service and we will continue to tip additional for drinks on all of our sailings. I will share my thoughts on Haven tipping at the end of our sailing. Even with the “free” drink package you still have to pay 18% of the cost of the package for gratuities. That’s why you have the option of not getting the unlimited drink package even when it’s offered “free”. If you aren’t drinking soda or alcohol, you don’t want to pay the extra for the gratuities. As I recall it’s something like $150/pp. That’s why you don’t see people paying cash gratuities- it was already paid up front. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #316 Share Posted March 18, 2023 16 minutes ago, jmmancini said: Even with the “free” drink package you still have to pay 18% of the cost of the package for gratuities. That’s why you have the option of not getting the unlimited drink package even when it’s offered “free”. If you aren’t drinking soda or alcohol, you don’t want to pay the extra for the gratuities. As I recall it’s something like $150/pp. That’s why you don’t see people paying cash gratuities- it was already paid up front. Yes, I'm aware. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #317 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Anyone have the extention number for the F&B Manager? I have a question and want to ask without Omar or someone else trying to defray. I keep getting an answer about the Premium Plus wine bottle offerings that makes zero sense and would like to ask the person in charge directly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #318 Share Posted March 18, 2023 (edited) Dinner tonight in La Cucina - The Italian restaurant. Edited March 18, 2023 by CTCruiser001 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #319 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Bread to start with oil to dip, Risotto and Caprese salad for apps. We shared a pizza (the rest was sent back to the room with the bulter...We'll see how that goes...). Salmon and Red Snapper for dinner. Everything was just okay...Fleetwide, the Italian restaurant seems to be where Norwegian swings and misses for us - We have never had a memorable meal here. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rjm11 Posted March 18, 2023 #320 Share Posted March 18, 2023 34 minutes ago, CTCruiser001 said: Anyone have the extention number for the F&B Manager? I have a question and want to ask without Omar or someone else trying to defray. I keep getting an answer about the Premium Plus wine bottle offerings that makes zero sense and would like to ask the person in charge directly... I would love to hear more about your experience with the bottles offered with PP beverage package. We plan to bring some of our own but will also want to try some new ones- I've heard a "rumor" that lately the only bottles you can get for free are the same wines as the glasses you can get for free (which was not the case previously). What has your experience been? Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #321 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Our bottle of wine and dessert. Dinner was covered by our dining package. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #322 Share Posted March 18, 2023 3 minutes ago, rjm11 said: I would love to hear more about your experience with the bottles offered with PP beverage package. We plan to bring some of our own but will also want to try some new ones- I've heard a "rumor" that lately the only bottles you can get for free are the same wines as the glasses you can get for free (which was not the case previously). What has your experience been? Thanks! Yes, interesting you mentioned that rumor...Must be a new thing because I wasn't aware nor have I heard this. I will share more a little later. I want to ask around more and get a more solid answer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumming cruisers Posted March 18, 2023 #323 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Great review, and the cutest dog!!! 💗 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witchofthewastes Posted March 18, 2023 #324 Share Posted March 18, 2023 I just finished packing 🤣. Hopefully southwest won’t mess up our flights 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CTCruiser001 Posted March 18, 2023 Author #325 Share Posted March 18, 2023 28 minutes ago, drumming cruisers said: Great review, and the cutest dog!!! 💗 Thank you. We love him to pieces and he is quite the character...Can't wait to pick him up Sunday! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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