Jofishes

will so enjoy reading your report especially the second half, we will be on the ship with you for the first leg of your journey

and like yourselves we will be enjoying the delights of the haven

only a few more sleeps now and I have cases everywhere with very little packed in them :eek:

Yes please :)

I'd like to hear about embarkation for haven guests and also the day they offer laundry special and which day if any they have for drinks with capt/ crew (think I read somewhere about a haven cocktail meet with the captain but I could be wrong)

Thanks in advance

Google NCL Escape menus. You'll find the specialty menus. On those, you'll find each restaurant's signature drinks.

thank you :)

you've got me thinking i may bring a few bottles on board with me the reason being my son can drink a full bottle of the fizzy stuff all to himself so it could be a wise move on my part :D and looking at the duty free prices at heathrow i could grab two on my way out and then just pay corkage ;)

can i ask if i decide to do this would i take them on as hand luggage, declare and pay corkage at check in ???

If you see all of the names of the people in your cabin on the edocs, then one boarding pass (the first page of the edocs) is fine. At the port, the port security folks will check the one-page boarding pass and the check-in agents will give it a glance and get you checked-in.

 

On the edocs, you will also see a link to print your luggage tags. The tags will allow you to leave your luggage with the porters at the port and they will be delivered to your stateroom.

thank you, it's our first time with NCL and just wasn't so sure

i have got the tags link ;)

can anyone point me in the right direction as to where i will find the drinks menu (s) for the speciality restaurants at all :)

You should not have any troubles using the UBP to receive drinks in the specialty restaurants.

 

As they say there are exceptions to every rule: You will not be able to order the Veuve Clicquot in Le Bistro and have it covered by the UBP. Reason given is that they are calling it a 'promotion'. Not sure what kind of 'promotions' are printed right on the menu? Sounds like a permanent thing to me but it is what it is.

 

Even more confusing and not available with the UBP is a long pour glass of wine. The wine lists on NCL show a price by the regular glass and then another for what they call a 'long pour', which is a glass of wine than is 50% larger than a regular glass. I could understand if the price for the long pour was over the new $15 limit but in our situation that was not even close to being the case. We were ordering a wine that was regular glass $7.95 and long pour $10.95, which is even below the 'old' limit. This occurred in a dining room and the reason we were ordering a larger glass from the beginning was to save us from having to order another. When we asked why we were unable to order it, once again we were told it was a 'promotion'.

 

I have a different understanding of the term 'promotion', but it seems this is the standard company line for telling someone with the UBP "no".

 

For the most part you should have no trouble getting served with the UBP in or out of a specialty restaurant. Have a great cruise.

 

 

Rochelle

aww now that sucks i was planning my birthday in here and looking forward to a few glasses of champers :( do you know if we can still order the bottle with a discount covered by the UBP at all ?

can I just check

I have had a email saying to print out my edocs

i have gone to do this and it's just a niggle, do we need one per passenger or is the one sufficient

we are all in one room and our names are all there on that one document :confused:

any update (pictures) in the haven epic club or courtyard areas at all ?

please share if anybody has taken any ~ thanks in advance :)

thank you so much for all of your replies

it is very reassuring and helpful :) I will worry a lot less now !

this is good to hear

my biggest concern came from reading a report where the person writing it mentioned the huge amount of butter that went into the fried rice but if they can cook the rice separately or possibly provide a boiled rice then we will be ok :)

just wanted to ask if anybody has any experience or information when it comes to dining in Teppanyaki with a food allergy ?

we have made a reservation but the more i think about it the more i am starting to think it will be extremely difficult especially with multiple groups dining at the same table ?

can it be done ? we will be looking at no dairy

I'm on the first sailing and I promise to take lots of photos. If anyone wants pictures of anything in particular let me know beforehand. This is my first sailing on the Epic so some of the changes might not be obvious. :D

I'm interested in what is replacing the tree, if anything ? at la Cucina :)

not sure if it is a European itinerary cruise ?

but the ncl.co.uk website says this

For European itineraries:

Legal drinking age is 18 years of age and does not require parental consent. Guests that are between 18 and 20 are not permitted to purchase the Ultimate Beverage Package; however, guests are allowed to purchase the Corks and Caps package

the corks and caps package allows the purchase of wines and beers

we were looking at this as a alternative for my son who is 19 at time of travel

Hi

we're from the north east too :)

we are doing this same 10 night cruise in jan on the Epic and hoping to avoid the hoards of kiddies too ;)

did you not get to select a drinks or dining package with your cruise booking ??? we went for the drinks :D

Mine arranged hard to get dinner reservations (she was a bulldog for us and persistent). Became a middle women to help me resolve an issue I had in my cabin with the pullout bed. Escorted us to head of line to use the ferry to shore. She also escorted us to the head of line when getting off the ship on the last day, bypassing 1,000's of people. Got my butler to do something he said was not doable (bring pretzel rolls to cabin), and chatted with us at breakfasts every morning to ensure we were happy and to keep letting us know to call her for anything.

 

That was between two cruises. Both were great and worth their weight in gold.

thank you for this

I was just wondering myself who do you go to if you happen to have a problem or are unhappy with your butler

We cruised on the Epic from 7/15-7/22 boarding in Civitavecchia and stayed in a Haven Suite. We loved the amenities that were included. Our room steward (Ricardo) was absolutely wonderful and the concierge service went out of their way to accommodate excursions, dining and show reservations.

 

Butler service for us was very hit or miss. He seemed to be put off when we requested a service (i.e. pillow menu or breakfast delivery). After day two, we didn't ask him to do anything and we didn't see him again until it was time to check out. We had the ultimate dining package, but were not able to order dinner from the restaurants and have it delivered by the butler. Not sure if this is something new, or if our butler just didn't want to be bothered with it. He told us we could order from the room service menu, however the selection was very limited. Glassware and coffee cups were not restocked (even though someone took away the dirty ones daily). The mini bar was never restocked the entire week, so once we consumed something, it was not replaced. He delivered advertised "gourmet" treat 6 out of the 7 days, not sure why he skipped a day. Mostly it was a bowl of fruit (banana, apple, pear, orange), which was disappointing. However, one day we did get some chocolates, and another day canapés.

 

As mentioned on numerous threads, the haven pool is full of kids most days and you will need to get there early if you want a good seat. We did find that the pool emptied out around 4:00. We spent most of our time on the Posh deck as it was never crowded. The bartenders up there are wonderful! They even passed out fruit skewers and ice water throughout the day.

 

We loved the Haven restaurant and ate breakfast and lunch there when we were on the ship. We also had dinner there on 2 nights and found the food and service to be very good.

 

The Haven bar was open until 10:00 every night the week that we cruised.

 

Even though we were underwhelmed by the butler service, we loved everything else about the Haven and thoroughly enjoyed the perks that went with it. We would definitely recommend booking it.

so basically some good and some disappointing but overall good ?

It is such a shame about your butlers disinterest and it does sound like the butler can make or break the experience

I was planning on asking for very little but the little we do ask for I wasn't planning on expecting to hear things like "order from room service" when you specifically cannot order that item from room service or to feel that they couldn't be bothered with you as a guest, that is not really acceptable at all :(

I am so glad to hear that the haven bar was open til 10 pm :)

No, they did not tell us. We went there at about 9.20 pm. The bartender was still there with a few guests around. However, he told us no drinks since he was already closed and just doing his inventory. He then informed us that the bar closes every evening at 9 pm.

mmm interesting information and very shabby to hear, i doubt very much they close all the other bars down at 9pm :rolleyes: so why the one that guests have paid a premium to access ?

i wonder how it works for those wishing to dine in the epic club, say at 9pm ? surely you would have drinks with dinner, it does seem a little ridiculous :(

thank you for this review it is very informative

I did read about a tour of the haven in another persons review (it was something along the lines of them being at the back and not being able to hear) and I have already decided that it's something we won't be doing when we sail in January

I just wanted to ask one thing, were you told the bar in the Haven would close at 9pm or was this information included in any literature at all ?

I am sure I read somewhere that it only closes if there is little to no demand

their online information says the following

"From preferred seating at our award-winning shows on board to hot action at the casino to hip DJ house music at our nightclubs, you'll find that when the stars come out, the excitement begins. It's all there for you to enjoy should you wish. But if you simply want to unwind with a cocktail under the stars, you can do so within the privacy and exclusivity of The Haven. "

Personally i was planning on having a quiet drink or two or three in the epic club lounge towards the end of a evening whilst my older kids settle themselves in the suite, the poor butler will be less than impressed running and getting us drinks because the bar staff have all but clocked off !

I am interested in any laundry discount too for suite guests, we will use the stuffed bag for certain but before this i will without any doubt have some items to wash/ press

I did also read that a suite guest can have clothes pressed on arrival for free ??? or is that incorrect :confused:

Tell the butler about your daughter's food allergy so he doesn't bring anything she is allergic to. In regards to the sushi, you will probably have to pay al la carte for that since it is a specialty restaurant item, but also consider that you must eat it within 1 hour of it being prepared or it may go off if it is not refrigerated. Also, no sushi should be consumed after 24 hours even if refrigerated.

I wasn't aware that the sushi is a la carte so will order from room service to the butler when my daughter wants a snack, eating it will never be a problem, it will arrive and my daughter will magically make it disappear LOL

When I traveled on the sun twice in a penthouse with my mother (she is diabetic) and the Butler brought a separate plate of sweets each day - one sugar-free and one plain. In addition to some savory ones.

 

Just recently on the Jewel, The butler brought vegan snacks for my niece and regular snacks for me.

Order what ever you want. Just give your Butler a call and he/she will be happy to accommodate any of your wishes, if possible, or give him/her a note upon embarkation letting him know what you would like during the week. The oatmeal raisin cookies are awesome.

 

A funny story was on here. A passenger gave their Butler a list of the snacks they enjoyed, thinking that they would get something different everyday. What they got was the whole list of snacks each day LOL!

sounds great :D I'm so looking forward to being spoilt a little

it will be our first time in a suite with ncl too, we have cruised at this level with Disney but with them you just pop along to a lounge and help yourself to little canapés of snacks cheese, crackers, desserts etc

my daughter has a food allergy so we are a little concerned about plates of food just being left

I was thinking about requesting a separate plate of fruit and a few pieces of veggie sushi just for my daughter so she can have something

and then for the rest of us

cheese, chutney, grapes and crackers for the grown ups

cookies and M&M's for my not so little chap :p

From memory (I can't find it any of my dailies that I brought home) I think the laundry special was on Thursday (day 5) with your laundry being returned on Saturday. We didn't take advantage as we were only onboard for a week.

thank you we're on the longer canary island cruise for 10 days so if it is day 5 that will be great, my son goes through a lots of clothes and I really would like to keep packing light'ish ;)

this one !! ~ it's long but a great read for information

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2059296

have you found your roll call for the sailing your are on for additional help and information ?

some roll calls may have a person organising some independent excursions that will help with costs

you could also try looking at port guides for each port

there is a huge report on here from Megacruiser for the Epic which is well worth a read (quick search should bring it up)

hope this helps :)