gmbhardy

On 5/18/2024 at 8:10 AM, luckyinpa said:

 

the value for the price is unmatched by any other line ive been on. not saying YC is best ever. but best ever for the money is objectively true. I just got off my 1st YC cruise in a standard balcony.  I paid the same for my first crown loft on oasis 3 years ago, 1400 more for an aquatheater suite on oasis. those cabins were vastly superior than my YC cabin. but with YC i got free drinks, free internet, free IN room refills of the fridge( you dont even get that in Haven), a butler, a separate huge suite deck with outdoor buffet and a bigger than haven pool.

 

I hated the YC tiny closet and awkward bathroom access. but i lived. the cabin was much smaller than i was used to but the friendly and superior service more than made up for it. heck i was on the top suite on liberty of the seas and didnt have as good service as in YC. i had no suite deck, no pool buffet no butler no suite restaurant, no free wifi. the cabin was the best i was ever in but the service/perks just wasnt there.

 

everyone is at different stations in life. but for those contemplating any suite on any line, id say you have to try YC once. otherwise you cant really judge.

 

I'm paying 5x the YC rate to be in an edge villa on ascent in a few months for my retirement. cant wait to see if it was worth 5x the price....rest assured ill be reporting on that difference 🙂 One things for sure no matter what. as much as i see people complaining about standard service on MSC ships, they should go on half the cruises and spend 2x the price, they would never be complaining then in YC!

I was on the Beyond in a Sky Suite just to try it and compare the Retreat to the YC and Haven. What a major disappointment. Never again.

I’ve seen threads go sideways but this one is really something special.

The Haven is grossly overpriced. We do club balcony suites now for a third of the price.

Thanks for informing us. Have a great trip!

18 minutes ago, Texter2 said:

I hope you are correct. My docs say two for FAS in oceanview. 

My bad. I get three for balcony. I guess ocean view gets two. My apologies!

12 minutes ago, Texter2 said:

Good question! I believe two from FAS and two from FAS+. 

You should have five, three from FAS and two from FAS+.

3 hours ago, Texter2 said:

So enjoying your trip report, BirdTravels! Thank you for all the photos, menus, tips, etc. Your posts are especially helpful as we plan our first NCL cruise. We leave Sunday for 21 glorious days aboard the Encore. The toughest part is where to use our four specialty dining meals! 

Just out of curiosity, how did you end up with four specialty dining meals.

How are things going in Vibe😉

Nice topic title. Welcome to Cruise Critic!

We’ve primarily sailed on the Joy and Bliss with the Plus package. I don’t know that much about the whiskey and wine selections,  but I’ve been pretty happy with the inventory of the things I drink - Chopin Vodka, Zacapa Rum, Inniskillin Icewine, Chimay Beer and Pommery Champagne. For some strange reason, almost every cruise I have been on in the last while, runs out of Baileys. On our last cruise in February, (Joy transatlantic after dry dock) we actually had four brands of champagne. After they ran out of Pommery they offered La Cool, followed by Moët Chandon and then Veuve, so it was all good. We were allowed to take half empty bottles with us at the restaurants but I noticed in the terms and conditions, it now states wine by the bottle must be consumed in the restaurant. Just wondering what other cruisers are experiencing with the package and enforcement of the policies.

We were on the Joy for a transatlantic in February out of Southampton. The booze was flowing at all the bars and no extra taxes. Cheers!

On 3/26/2024 at 8:52 PM, IAcruising said:

 

I'll be by your side, if you're on deck 10 starboard. No tags for us. No one knows how this game works.

 

We’re on deck 14, starboard. We like to be close to the OL for breakfast😉

We’ve sailed in the Haven about 12 times on four different ships. The best by far was the Joy. It just proves that mass market cruise lines are consistently inconsistent. 

We enjoyed the MDRs on the Beyond much more than Luminae. We found the Luminae menu extremely pretentious (chicken liver custard) and the service atrocious. Most nights I wasn’t served my wine until well into the meal, in fact on the first night it wasn’t until dessert. The sommelier was the only person authorized to pour wine and unfortunately the poor guy couldn’t keep up. We sail in suites quite often and have dined in some pretty nice restaurants but Luminae just wasn’t our cup of tea.

49 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I've gotten "priority luggage tags" when booked in steerage.  Don't believe anybody who tells you that they are anything special or that they are only sent out to "special" people.  They are not.

I wasn’t inferring that we were special, Since we had never received them before, we were just wondering if this is something new. It does however remind me of a conversation I had with a guest services rep some time ago. We were relatively new to cruising and were intrigued by this place on the ship called the Haven. I naively asked if it would be possible to tour the Haven facilities. The rep looked at me and responded “ oh, that is not possible, the Haven is not for ordinary people”.

22 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Because of #3:

 

 

I prefer corroboration, and a daily would have been nice. While I believe what you experienced, were you there every day? People hear things from officers all the time, it seems. Some are correct, and some most certainly aren't.

 

 

Well I guess it’s time to eat a little crow. The posted dailies clearly show that the OL serves breakfast. I was in the OL every morning to go to Starbucks and every morning the display counters were empty. There were some other things closed on the transatlantic, so that’s why I asked an officer, that I know quite well, if this was a permanent decision, he told me it was, fleet wide. I guess there’s something to be said for corroboration. My apologies.

Just received priority luggage tags in the mail for our Panama Canal cruise on the Encore, April 7. We are staying in a club balcony suite. Never received this before, in fact, we’ve stayed in the Haven many times and I believe only received them pre cruise once or twice. Is this something new. We have Diamond status.

1 hour ago, IAcruising said:

 

I don't either, but it was worth a shot! 😃

 

Just out of curiosity, why don’t you believe me(post #4)?

We were on the Joy during the transatlantic after the refurb last month. There was no breakfast in the Observation Lounge. I spoke with an officer who told me it was being discontinued fleet wide. 

I don’t believe there were any additional taxes.

The enforcement of those rules were inconsistent. 

As a Canadian, I thought your thread was about Old Vienna beer on the Meraviglia. I guess I have a problem.

15 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I love cruising AK in April.  I also love cruising AK in September and October.

 

....and May, June, July and August😎

Isn’t April too early in the season to see a lot of wild life (on board species don’t count)

5 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 Must depend on the ship, we have done 8 b2b's on MSC and never had to close it out. That is why I said ask 

Typical MSC, lol.

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Totally fake news. Most Haven guest couldn’t be bothered. 

Just wondering what you based that assertion on since you never get Vibe passes. We’ve been in Vibe when over half the patrons were from the Haven. If anyone is faking it’s you.