cltcruisers123

Have you noticed whether you can eat at any of the specialty restaurants without reservations if you wanted to? Booked this last minute and hope we’ll still have options next week (1/22). Thanks

Bummer, was on 1/22 Joy sailing. Just booked Celebrity Apex for same dates instead. New ship and all the reviews I’m seeing for it so far are mostly positive.

Our NCL Joy cruise was just canceled earlier tonight for Jan 22nd so I went ahead and booked the Apex for same time period. Will be first time on Celebrity and went with Retreat suite. Looking forward to going back and reading your posts! I’m sure I’ll have some questions shortly. Thanks!

12 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Allow me to kick in here.  Some context.  Some folks like my wife need variety.  Others like myself really don't.  Both types of folks need to be able to enjoy meals together gaining what each other wants.  My wife and I both love the Haven Experience.  Yet to truly answer this question, we have to compare with other experiences.

 

The Celebrity Retreat:  Just like the Haven, the Celebrity Retreat are has it own Suites Only restaurant.  the difference is the menu changes nightly other then a few staples. The food quality and service were very similar as one might expect.  

Crystal Cruises: This is a Luxury Based Cruise line and we were in a Penthouse which compares to a Haven Suite.  This allowed us to utilize any restaurant including specialty dining as much as we wanted plus the main dining room.  Again, just like the examples of the Haven and Retreat; the food quality and service were great.

 

From my standpoint, having so many choices was of no real value to me on a 7 day cruise.  I would find something I really liked, and have it more then once.  Remember, variety is not my main emphasis, it is my wife. In the Haven it was the Prime Rib; Retreat it was the Salmon; and Crystal it was the veal parm.  In each case, I hat them 3-times.  My wife on the other hand tried different things yet still had some entree's more then once.  

 

The conclusion I draw from these experiences as during a 7-day cruise, the Haven Restaurant with two specialty meals was perfect for both my wife and myself.  However, if we did a back to back or a 10-21 day sailing, we would need more variety. 

 

I don't expect anyone to agree or disagree with me because this is such a personal choice.  I just wanted to answer the question with some real thought based on my previous experiences.  I hope it was helpful. 

 

Cruise well everyone. 

I really have learned a lot from all your postings. Happy wife, happy life 😀. Thank you for replying to mine! 

2 minutes ago, Av8torcrj said:

This will be how your snack is presented 

That’s beautiful! Probably be best snack I’d ever have too 😃

My other thought on this would be snacking at the Haven on the steak and lobster then rolling on to the speciality restaurant at latest time for second dinner 🤔.

1 minute ago, david_sobe said:

The food in the Haven restaurant is pretty good. The menu never changes so I could not see eating there every night for dinner.  The 2 specialty dinners will definitely be welcome.  Personally I could definitely make it work.  But even though we eat in the Haven, we like to explore.  Sometimes the MDR has something we really like and eat there.  Just because we stay in the Haven, we still have lunch at The Local once or The Food republic.

You need to see the Haven menu to see if you can make it work.  If you only like 1 or 2 of their dinners, then maybe it wont work for you.   Personally, I would have no problems.  We may splurge and pay for 1 more specialty though 😁

Haha - yeah I’m more about variety than cost these days too. If the menu never changes, I would definitely feel like I’d be missing out. Appreciate the advice!

Hi - previously sailed on NCL Jade for a 11 day cruise and ate at the specialty restaurants multiple times. They were great!  We weren’t in the Haven though, so didn’t have that to compare to. We will be in the Haven on the NCL Joy in a few weeks and our package includes the 2 speciality dining options, but I added 2 more without really knowing if Haven dining room would be enough variety for the other 5 nights. Debating about asking to have the 2 additional nights I paid for credited back. For those that have been in the Haven (even better if you were on the Joy) were you satisfied with Haven restaurant options and didn’t feel like your were missing out on any of the Specialty restaurants? Thank you!

28 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

So sorry to everyone who has had a sailing cancelled. Crossing my fingers for my sailing on Joy 1/22

We’re on same cruise. I’m all in, but won’t lose any sleep if they want to give me a full refund either ha. Already have Mardi Gras booked for April

We are on the Joy the week following and have had the same discussions. Part of me wants to cancel, but other part of me thinks the ship is going to be less full now which may make it more enjoyable. We may still cancel flight and drive though to avoid that mess. 

13 hours ago, bortman23 said:

Also, anyone thinks that ships sailing this month (Jan) will end up with less capacity due to people cancelling, and people not booking? Silver lining?

That’s my thinking too 🤞. 

7 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

No matter who you choose to cruise with in April should not matter since the main stream lines (Carnival, NCL, RCI) should all be similar in their occupancy percentages during that time.  When it comes to comparing drink packages on the MG versus the NCL fleet, NCL does not include water, espresso based coffee drinks or milkshakes, canned sodas and other peripheral items that Cheers contains such as Starbucks bottled coffees and Pure Leaf bottled teas.

If you decide to splurge on the Apex, like Quokpot said, it's a totally different experience and one that BennyBrun can compare for you the week after next and I as well, but my Apex sailings are 1/3 & 1/8 while my MG sailings are next month.

Yeah can’t wait to hear your guys take on Apex. We upgraded to the ultra premium package on NCL that should include all the extra stuff. Wasn’t cheap either now that I look at. Around $500 extra (for 2) I think on top of the one they include. 

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I've done both the Apex and Mardi Gras and I can safely say that there really isn't comparison, they are NOTHING alike. Having said that it all depends on what's important to you.

 

If you're looking for a relaxed, upscale Miami Beach high end resort atmosphere, then Apex. The ship is amazingly beautiful and rivals any 5* land-based resort hotel. The overall food quality on the Apex exceeds Royal, Carnival, NCL Princess. Compared to the Mardi Gras the Apex has way fewer places to have drinks, if that's important to you. There's also fewer complementary food choices(Although the buffet has a wide variety of food stations and types of cuisine).

 

The Thermal suite is beautiful on the Apex and also larger than the Mardi Gras but lacks a water feature; no whirlpool or hot tub (Although the one on the Mardi Gras is small). Neither ship's Thermal suite facilities can compete with NCL's Thermal Suite offerings, hands down they have the best mainstream cruiseline Thermal suites! The pricing for the Apex's Thermal suite is ridiculously expensive.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. As an aside, I have sailed numerous times on the three lines you're familiar with so I can give first hand advice to you. 

 

Lastly here's a photo of the Mardi Gras as it pulls into Nassau on 12/19/21 taken from my balcony on the Apex!

 

 

Appreciate it! Sounds like it’s hard to go wrong with either. 

36 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Have been on both Carnival and NCL.  Our NCL cruises were four in total on the Escape and Bliss and have 4 more currently reserved on the Prima and Encore.  Future Carnival bookings are five on the Mardi Gras and Celebration.   The overall vibe is very similar on NCL as well as Carnival.  The Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships on NCL are very nice and we did love the Local, the 24 hr pub where sit down food could be obtained at 100 am.  On the other hand, the non buffet lunch choices on Carnival blow away any line I have been on (7).

From what you have read and seen on line, what about your current MG booking doesn't sound enjoyable to you?

Oh, guess biggest concern would just be overcrowding (or the perception) with it not being fully staffed. Outside of that, the food choices do look pretty amazing! The drink package/selection seems a little less of wow factor than NCL though too. Thats just going off the price $700 for 2 people and selection I’ve been seeing posted for premium variety. I could be way off on that. Appreciate the insight! Booking Bliss for Sept.

We have the Joy in a few weeks on the 22nd with a couple friends. Staying in Haven. Been looking forward to the cruise all year, so we moving forward with it. We’ve been to 3 of 4 ports before and since 2 are Mexico stops and 1 is their private island I don’t think those will get cancelled. I doubt Roatan would get cancelled either. Wife loves to be on the ship more than anything, so as long as they still have activities going on and not confined to cabin I think it will be fine even with masks. 

Tremendous job on this thread! We have NCL Joy in a couple weeks and did NCL Jade a few years ago. Never on Carnival. I did book Mardi Gras for April (Cloud 9 with extended balcony), but after all pictures of lines I’m having second thoughts as that doesn’t sound enjoyable.  
 

From your previous cruise experiences, how did the overall vibe compare to NCL? We want to relax and not wait long for food and drinks. The Celebrity Apex may be what I change Mardi Gras to, so can’t wait to see your thread for that!

None that I saw, but the Virgin Mudslide tasted just like a chocolate milkshake to me and was great!

Was just on the Dec 7th - 18th Panama Canal cruise. I was originally just going to stay on the ship, but glad I didn't and booked a last minute excursion that morning. Going through the locks to get into the Gatun Lake there really isn't much to see. People will cram into all the forward facing viewing spots, so you better be early or have a balcony if you want to actually see closely what's going on below. While it's exciting at first to see, it does get old quickly. After you get into the lake they anchored the ship and started to let the life boats down to setup the tendering to shore for those that have an excursion. My wife stayed on the ship and the last minute excursion I booked was the Shaping of Panama tour. We had an excellent tourguide "Alex" and the highlights were we drove over the new locks, saw wild sloths, drove to the Pacific side, saw old Panama City, stopped for shopping at a Yacht Club area that had several shops and eateries, had 45 min of free time to walk around Panama City and shop/eat etc before driving back to Colon to meet the ship. Folks I talked to that took the train and ferry didn't get to do any shopping, other than the port at Colon. I also heard the Indian Village excursion was a great one too. My wife on the other hand that stayed on the ship said she wished had gotten off the ship too (ha!). By the way our next port in Costa Rica was canceled due to weather and we were on the ship for another 2 days (3 for those stayed on the ship). So keep that in mind too. Enjoy your trip though, we did!

Was just on the Dec 7th - 18th cruise. Honestly it's a great ship for older adults, but doesn't offer much for active kids. Yes it does have a basketball hoop, gym, arcade, golf driving net but those can quickly get old. While it's advertised as offering a lot of restaurants and bars, the specialty restaurants didn't open until after 530pm. You could only get sushi at night which made no sense because it's a perfect size snack and lunch and the sushi chef was always in there. Bourbon and beer selection was extremely limited and there wasn't one IPA to be found on the ship. Other than that the ship itself is very nice and offers a variety of daily activities (trivia, bingo, casino, etc) that we enjoyed, but I'm going to choose a bigger ship next time.

For those that have been to Cartagena on a cruise, does Colombia check your passport getting back on the ship? Or do you get on and off the ship without it?

Thanks