gingersvp

I've done one Star class pre-covid and one post covid, with one coming up in October out of Galveston.

I personally preferred the WhatsApp communication and definitely saw more of our Genie - he was able to easily track us down and deal with changes in our plans. Every morning he'd message us a good morning with the intended itinerary and we could make changes and tweaks. He met us at each of our on ship meals, as well as any other activities like the escape room or shows.

We had a wonderful bridge tour on the first sailing, but bridge tours were not re-opened for my second sailing. This time, my daughter will be old enough to join us and I'm looking forward to requesting as many behind the scenes tours as they will allow.

Some notes, for getting the most - anything you can ask in advance, it's easier for them to say yes. If you say "I want a special cake tonight" it's gonna be hard for them to accommodate. But if you let them know ahead of time that you love cake and have a special celebration on day 3 of your sailing? Probably gonna try to find a way to surprise you. The more you communicate your preferences and the more advance warning you provide - the more they will be able to do for you.

Personally, I do all of the planning and logistics for our family. So what I love about the Star experience is that I can just let the Genie handle everything. I don't particularly care about hibachi - so I won't make an effort to reserve it. But if the Genie has a spot? Sure we'll go with the flow. So far we have 6 in our Aqua Theater suite, but we may add 2 more. We'll be a full room and ready to have a blast - but I won't have to plan for all 8 people. And that's the real treat for me.

 

While there is no lounge, bar or restaurant - I found that the pool valet was our favorite person. He served us breakfast and lunch plus drinks in the Courtyard. I was traveling with my almost 2 year old and it was so much nicer dining in the Courtyard where she could toddle about rather than the confines of a restaurant. It was the same menu as the Cagney's/Moderno's offering. During the day the valet would bring us drinks - it was uncrowded and super relaxing.

On Escape, you don't need to reserve the shows ahead of time. When you board they'll have a quick session to go over scheduling with you. For the shows, there's a reserved Haven area but the concierge will walk you down early for front row seating also. 

I forgot to book my dining and couldn't get the slots I wanted online, so called the pre-concierge line. They told me that the Haven will be able to get the tables. But also, on prior sailings I need to move some around last minute and they easily found good dining times for us. 

The entire point is to not have to worry about it!

I've sailed Escape once and am back on her in January. I've also sailed Royal on the Oasis twice so have a good comparison. We'll be on the Harmony next October. As you can see, I like both lines and ship styles!

I liked the Escape enough that we're going back on her, but I think that the Oasis does a better job of spreading people out. However, I love that Escape has more spaces that let you view the ocean. One of my main complaints on the Oasis is that everything opens inwards, and unless you have an ocean facing balcony, you see very little water. But - because Escape dedicates so much space to the Waterfront, the interior ways feel more crowded. You win some, you lose some here.

I'm extremely sensitive to smoking - more so than most. I did have problems with the smoky smell - mainly because the casino is on the middle floor of a spiral staircase, so everything around the staircase had the smell. Le Bistro is at the bottom and has some atrium seating. I could not sit on that "outdoor" atrium area, but once inside the restaurant I was fine. I really stuck to the Waterfront area as much as possible. On the Oasis it was much easier for me to avoid the smoky Casino since it was contained to one deck and didn't have that central staircase attached to it.

I think the buffet and main dining rooms are better on the Escape. Specialty restaurants between the two were about the same for me. O'Sheehan's being 24/7 was great for sobering up late night. If you like suites, I think the Coastal Kitchen is better than the Haven Restaurant, mainly because the menu rotates. 

If you have children, the layout of the kids area on the Escape was a little weird - there's no seating around the side of the pool. Instead it's bracketed by the slides. So you'd have to sit on the edge of the pool or be in with them if you want to stay within visual area. Luckily for me, my daughter just wanted to go on repeat on the slides instead. I found pools on both ships to be equally crowded. 

I like them both. There are things I dislike on each ship and things I like about them. I guess that's why I've been alternating my sailings! Even the Haven vs Star class discussion has different perks about each. 

6 hours ago, chill6x6 said:

Absolutely!  

 

We had one of those that didn't know we were even there on Getaway. It actually reflected in the concierges whole staff.  Then we had Dillip and the difference was night and day.  And their gratuity was night and day.

Dillip ❤️ I wanted to package him up and take him home and just let him run my life. 

22 hours ago, Cruiseguy14 said:

By and large are haven customers so wealthy that they are use to not doing regular things for themselves and are ok paying a couple of hundred dollars for minor conviences ? That’s not really my families status 

I work a stressful job that is filled with solving problems for people. I do all the logistics at home. The real value of the concierge, for me, is taking a break from all the thinking and planning and doing. I can talk to the concierge, and voila, all the things happen. For one week, someone else takes care of me. If that's not valuable to you, don't use the concierge and don't tip. For me, it's the reason why I book Haven and I will tip well for people who take the burden of thinking off of me for that lovely time I'm on the ship. 

It's not that I am not used to doing regular things myself, it's that I value getting a break from doing everything for everyone.

4 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

Am I the only one who's underwhelmed with the food?  I find a few of the dishes weird and the quality is hit or miss depending both on the ship and the day.  Add the fact that the menu doesn't change and it just bores me by mid-cruise.

 

Or maybe I'm just overly picky?

I was underwhelmed. I prefer the YC on MSC or Coastal Kitchen on Royal when it comes to suite dining. It's well prepared but uninspired and I was bored with the menu not rotating. I go into my next sailing with this in mind and will do more specialty dining and perhaps make more special requests. 

But I will say, it's perhaps generally inline with the level of quality of Royal and MSC - it just feels too "safe" and they're not taking enough risks on flavor variety or trends. 

On 9/1/2023 at 9:57 AM, Sthrngary said:

@david_sobe I am the crazy, over planner for all of my expensive purchases in my life.  Whether a VIP access to a four day Concert event; high end coffee machine or yes cruises.  My experience that lead to this research was simply to know what you receive when you pay a premium for a product. All the cruise companies marketing team make the experience sound over the top but with further examination, you realize there is always "Fine Print".  How things really work is not quite as clear and for the money, I personally want to know. 

 

The more folks know about what you gain or don't from paying a premium like with the Haven, the more they can make a business decision to book or not to book.  It is not about utilizing every amenity or benefit.  It is about simply knowing what is available and leveraging what suits your needs best.  Not to know something was there and realizing it would have enhanced your cruising experience would be a shame. 

 

I however go way to far, WAY TO FAR.  I make the excuse that I am helping the other cruising with me to know the ropes and help them enhance their vacation.  That is a big fat LIE.  I do it because I am bored and like the process.  It benefits me, my need to uncover what others don't know about and share.  It is a personality flaw which is as stated selfish and self serving.  Will I continue to do it, "YES".  Why? "I like to do it."  Should everyone, "NO".  Why, "they don't like to do it.  As my adult sone says daily, "Dad, you do you!!!"

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

I am also the crazy over planner, and I do it because I enjoy it. I like to know all that there is available - not that I plan to take advantage of all of it, but you can't action on something you don't know about. 

Our first Haven sailing was Alaska on the Pearl. I had a spreadsheet of excursions, pre-sailing hotel, everything. I had a job I was miserable at, and spending time researching gave some something fun to think about. I made the reservations and had everything to go. 

And then I got on the ship and we had an invitation to a party that conflicted - and for the first time ever I made use of the concierge. THAT WAS LIFE CHANGING. I mean not really, but perhaps it was vacation planning style changing. Here was this magical person that just VOILA shuffled everything around - and last minute! And all those hours of carefully mapping out dining and show times no longer mattered.

So, I still do a lot of research about ports and shore excursions. I endlessly watch people's cruddy vacation videos on YouTube (my guiltiest of pleasures). I read through all the menus. I look at all the ship amenities. I arrive armed with information of my endless possibilities. But then, then I let the butler and the concierge make it all happen. And I fully expect halfway through the cruise to change my mind about something. 

I guess, it frees me up to only think about the things I want to think about and let go of the detailed logistics that may or may not all change at the drop of a hat once on board.

Ultimately we'll move to the smaller luxe lines, but my daughter is turning 8 next month and she likes the bigger ships. As she gets older and is more willing to try new foods - we'll make the switch. I like that the Haven gives us the nice mix of activities of a larger ship with the service of the Haven. 

My 7 year old is a rather picky eater - one of the ways we really took advantage of the Haven, was to have her dinner delivered around 5pm/6pm by the butler - where we could really be very explicit about how the food needed to be prepared. I found the servers at the Haven restaurant tried very hard, but were challenged by specific requests like (plain grilled chicken breast, no salt, no pepper, etc). She would eat in the cabin and then we took her to the kid's club. From there we could enjoy a more leisurely dinner. My daughter has also never really been a fan of kid's clubs, but the last sailing we made friends with another little girl of the same age, also in the Haven. WOW was that amazing. She had a friend in the Courtyard and also a friend at the kid's club. We were able to spend family time but also she was able to avoid the looooong dinners in the Haven restaurant. 

WE did not have to make reservations but we were encouraged to avoid peak times.

On 5/4/2023 at 11:12 AM, tbmrt said:

I'm thinking eating beforehand is a good idea because of the cutesy drinks served at Grog Walk and then drinking right after the Grog Walk at PJ Party.

 

(I read they'll substitute beer or wine at Grog Walk, but still..better to eat than drink on an empty stomach)

They'll definitely substitute but they have the mixed drinks all prepared and ready when you enter - it had been my intention to substitute but I found myself just reaching for the prepared beverage instead. 

Definitely do the Grog walk. Agree that I wouldn't worry about which bars you're hitting - it's about the social aspect of meeting the Happenings Cast and other sailors. I'd imagine they have the 2 starting in different places to accommodate the increased demand.

Eat before you go. You need a solid food foundation because you wind up mixing liquors. It turned into a very fuzzy night for me.

I didn't love it either, but I didn't hate it. I've been twice - I don't eat beef and another in my party is allergic to mushrooms. The first time they took our orders, cooked my mushrooms and then cleaned the surface before cooking the beef. All was a-okay. The second time we went, she conveyed her allergies and then they didn't ask anyone what they wanted - just decided to bring out a variety. Unfortunately they didn't ask *me* and so no mushrooms came out and all the meats were cooked with the beef, leaving me nothing to eat. I was stuck in the back of the circle so it was hard to chat with the server. I'm sure I could have said something and gotten them to come back, but it was just as easy for me to walk out to the food truck/self serve area and grab something to eat on our way out. I've just learned it's not the place for me.

We frequently travel with a friend who has a TON of allergies and they're complex - like she's allergic to gluten but also allergic to almond. Mushrooms and spinach are also major things that she cannot eat. VV was extremely accommodating and very good with her restrictions.

On 2/3/2023 at 7:59 PM, Sailing12Away said:

I'm intrigued by Star class, but have never once found a sailing even orders of magnitude close to what I've been finding on NCL. I guess it all depends on where you're looking to travel and the time of year, but last 5 Haven trips averaged about $450/pp/day. That's with cabins ranging from an HH (Joy) to an H1 (Star & Pearl). 

 

I haven't been able to find a Star class trip for anywhere close to that price. Just looked up a 9 night great barrier reef trip for 2024. Grand loft suite would cost us over 1K/pp/day. Sure, it comes with wifi - I don't care about wifi, I get free wifi on land and nothing happening back home is that important it can't wait 1-2 days while I'm at sea.

 

I dunno, you're going to have a hard time convincing me there's double the amount of value packed into that little genie guy. 

You just have to look. I just booked the 2 bedroom Aquatheater suite (A2) for 7 nights in October 2024 for $7350 for 3 people, that's $350/pp/day. 

In March 2022, 10 days out (last minute) I booked the Ultimate Panoramic suite (UP) for $11,000 for 4, which came to #392/pp/day.

We just sailed the 2 bedroom villa on escape for about $8500 which is $303/pp/day (7 nights, 4 people).

I use cruise plum to find the dips and then book them.

20 minutes ago, acct1975 said:

Just got this from the Dept of State website. not online renewal while they do a system upgrade. Not sure for how long

It says 6pm until 11pm on February 4th.

I have sailed both within the past 12 months and feel your observations and review is pretty spot on. I will say, I miss the Haven area on RC. We really got to know our Haven bartender and the private pool area is fantastic!

You cannot beat the personalization that Star class presents. The Genie is hands down my favorite. 

I sailed both the Oasis and the NCL Escape at full capacity. The Escape felt far more crowded in the rest of the ship and it really needed the Haven to have quiet space. BUT on the Oasis it was super annoying to try to find time by the pool on a sea day. I've decided that on my next Star class experience (October 2024) I'm going to see if the Genie can assist with that. I've frequently criticized the Oasis class ships for being so inward focused (very few areas give you ocean views) but after the Escape I appreciate the Oasis far more. It's just a better designed ship for the crowds. 

Coast Kitchen was far superior to Haven restaurant. I was very very bored by the Haven restaurant. But the Haven bar was far superior.

Having all the specialty dining, tips and drinks included in Star a major plus.

If pricing is the same, I would take Star over Haven. It's just that I have not often found Star class cabins under my price point - there's only a few per ship. There are a lot more Haven cabins on each ship and it's a bit easier to find for my price point.

I will happily sail either - it comes down to finding a sailing/cabin under a specific price point for me.

I have TSAPrecheck (requires fingerprinting) and a Florida REAL driver's license. Apparently there was a batch of Florida licenses with a bad bar code so it never scans at the airport. I have been instructed to always fly with a passport. I recently took a trip and forgot it. Got out of Florida just fine, as security is accustomed to the issue. Had trouble on my next leg (Nashville), but they finally let me through. Spent the weekend in Houston, anxiously wondering if I would make it home. Houston just visually inspects and doesn't scan. It's a crapshoot. 

Enjoying your live review thus far! We are equal opportunity cruise offenders and spread out among the lines, thereby having no real status on any of them. 

17 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

 A picky eater is just a person, not exposed to foods from multiple cultures.  But the ship does have the windjammer.  

That's quite an attitude to take. As a person who eats almost anything, love spice and variety and has extremely picky children, this just doesn't ring true. Some people are super tasters. Some people have allergies. I am adventurous with food, but it's very important when developing menus that feed thousands of people weekly to have a path for those with limited diets....for whatever reason.

On a separate note, do we know if they're reformulating any of the specialty dining menus? I'll confess I was just a little bored on our last sailing and would love to see changes. Our Chef's table meal had the exact same menu in 2022 as it did in 2017 (had photos of the menu to compare). 

On 12/22/2022 at 8:01 AM, phauenstein said:

So we booked a Haven Spa Suite for the first time, on the Epic.  Other than the Thermal Spa access (please let me know what that is in layman's terms), we don't know what is really included.

 

Does anyone have any good or bad stories about the Haven Restaurant for breakfast/lunch/dinner.  I'm looking to get a good idea about the hours and food options, especially breakfast/brunch.  Is there anything you can ask for in the Haven Restaurant that they don't have, I heard someone say you can ask for anything being made at any of the other restaurants and they will make it and bring it to you (not that I would ask for that).

 

We are really simple folks, so this is a big splurge for us.  When I called to change my flights (arrive early), the concierge asked if we wanted to set up our room.  I had no idea that was such a thing as we're used to inside rooms, maybe a basic balcony.  They asked about how many pillows, what type of pillow, if we wanted fresh juice (fresh juice, didn't know that was an option), then asked if we wanted lemonade or iced tea (didn't know that was an option).  Then they started asking if we liked dried fruit and nuts as well as M&Ms and Gummi Bears.  Heck I like all that stuff.  I'm interested in hearing from people what are some other reasonable requests that will be filled as a Haven Suite cruiser?  I don't want to be that guy asking for everything under the sun and becoming a problem, but if I don't know what I can ask for (without an up charge, we will tip), as a simple guy, I probably won't ask for anything.

Looking for ideas and open to almost anything.

You can have food from other restaurants delivered, but you'll need to ask in advance (preferably 24 hours). The butler can provide you with menus. You can order from the upcharge restaurants and it'll pull from your specialty meals.

I saw that you don't drink much, but you can order all the mocktails and virgin frozen drinks within your drink package as well.

Definitely talk to the Haven restaurant about your wife's picky eating. I have a picky daughter and I plan to have a long convo with them about how to help get her fed. But basically, with a little planning, they can bring you anything that's made on the ship in any location.

34 minutes ago, djkolp said:

Of course it is, but the chances go up exponentially on a 5000 passenger ship. We were Covid free until we boarded a cruise ship. 

I've been on 4 cruises since they re-started, COVID free. Caught COVID on a plane. It's all a crapshoot at this point. 

I don't drink Crown, but travel with a friend who exclusively drinks Crown. I can tell you that Crown has been difficult to find across multiple cruise lines including Virgin and Royal. We *only* found it on the pool deck of the MSC Yacht club (and no where else on the ship). I wonder if Crown is reducing it's availability to the industry overall. And yes, we've been on all of these cruise lines within the past 12 months. He's been very cranky.

It's bananas to me that people keep arguing about kids in a very small space in the Haven. I do wonder if the OP some how mixed up Courtyard for Sun Deck in their original question. As a parent, I can understand and agree with it being a hard no if my kids weren't welcome in the main Courtyard area.

I think that we, as parents who have so much access to the Haven with our children, can abide by the rules and have this one small space be kid free. 

The policy isn't unwelcome to families, it's truly such a small area. We'll be in the Haven in January. My 7 year old will be in the Courtyard, at the restaurant and in the lounge. She will firmly not be on the Sun Deck or anywhere near the spa. And when I sneak away for some rme time, I will be extremely thankful for areas without children. 

Something for everyone.

14 minutes ago, IronRobi said:

 

This is the perfect example of the point I was making.

 

If you have a 14yr old kid who is sitting with their parents reading a book with headphones in not making a single sound..... who are they bothering? Nobody! Except for this person who will place a complaint about it and lessen somebody else's family vacation simply out of principle. This kid is doing nothing to affect your vacation, but you are certainly making a mark on theirs. Well done, you should be proud!

 

To be clear, I'm talking about well behaved older children here. Primarily teens. I'm not talking somebody's toddler or a kid blasting their music on their phone and causing a disturbance.

I think where this becomes problematic is that one family may see this and then bring up another child who is not being quiet. This area is supposed to be for 16 and up, and if I do manage to sneak away from my kids, I would want to have that experience. If they're 14 and listening to their headphones, they can certainly do that in the Haven courtyard area which is nearby and also sunny.