Daniel A

I have had some staff whom I hadn't yet met address me by first name. I think they keep a book in the back with our photos and names, and it really makes a difference in how it brightens the day in the Haven. It makes you feel at home and welcome.

Unless one has expensive tastes in beverages, the basic package works just fine.

I really hate to do this but I don't remember which Haven staff are not part of the general gratuities payments. Can anyone direct me to the post(s) that clarify? I am especially interested in the Haven Restaurant's wait staff, but any other staff not included in the gratuity pool would help too. To clarify, I'm not asking for tipping guidelines, just who isn't already covered. Thanks.

I had Turf & Turf tonight! Tomorrow will be Surf & Surf...

Our butler on the Breakaway just told us that the cordless phone is just an extension of the cabin's phone, so you cannot call the room from that phone or call the cordless phone from the room phone.

@Sthrngary Not quite the same as M&M's and Budweiser, but a wonderful suggestion just the same!

If you know where you would like to dine and when, you should be able to contact the pre-cruise concierge and lock in your preferences before the rest of the others.

Actually, we are a party of three, DS has joined us. We are in a Family Villa. It is much larger than how they appear on YouTube videos. I plan to have some almond croissants for you.

I just got Into our Haven cabin on Breakaway. I'm enjoying M&M's and a Budweiser on our balcony... @Sthrngary - thank you for the insights gained from this board!

I got my first at 60 days out. Even my TA wants to know why I'm getting so many. I just hope they stop after this cruise!🤦‍♂️

This is amazing! I just now got my 9th NCL Air Confirmation Letter with the exact same information as the others.

@Sthrngary thank you for all of your help. It is always reassuring and realistic. I hope some day to meet up with you on some future sailing. Even if you did replace your original elegant avatar with a cartoon curmudgeon. Mister Wilson was enough of a role model for me!!

I just now discovered where one makes reservations for the shows. I cannot find any early shows still being available on the website. Is there a theater Haven reserved section on Breakaway? Will the concierge be able to book shows even if the times aren't available on the website?

So, it sounds like you will be flying direct from JFK to Rome. It's interesting that our Rome flights originate from JFK but we have a 2 hour layover in Iceland! Go figure. 🤷‍♂️ It's not a problem, just interesting...

Exactly! And to make their mistakes even more ironic is that they probably had to book and pay for separate flights back home after missing their cruise and land tour. They probably needed to pay for a hotel in Seattle as well. They could have done all of this pre-cruise and still had a nice Alaska vacation.

That's exactly why my last cruise on HAL was banned from Bora Bora, but PG was a tailored fit. Corruption knows no borders...

@McGarrett5oh before I retired from my job, there were plenty of times where I was told by my boss to "Book 'em Dano." And He meant it! 👮‍♂️

Just to be clear, they couldn't have altered a confirmed air reservation for the following reason: 1- or 2-day deviations may only be requested up to 75 days before embarkation. The air confirmations come out between 60 to 30 days, so they would only have learned their air reservation details after the deadline for requesting any deviations. By the time they learned their flight schedule, it was too late, so I would assume that they weren't told it wasn't necessary, it was more probable that they were told it wasn't possible to get a 1-day deviation at that point.

Sometimes one can be too thorough!! Each time I get another confirmation, I need to compare the new confirmation line by line with the original confirmation (including checking my purchased seat upgrades with each airline) just to make sure there weren't any changes. 🛫 🛬 🪂 😄

This morning I got the 8th. 😵

I call them politicians.......... 🤣

Three of us will be flying out to a Haven sailing next week. We took the BOGO Air and DS is staying for free in the second bedroom in the family villa suite. These incentives made the Haven much more affordable. We took a two-day pre-cruise deviation to give us some room for delays or cancellations. Actually, we got a discount on the air fares because we won't be able to take a NCL shuttle from the airport to the cruise ship. The flights are ok, just not on airlines I would have chosen, but the cost of the NCL Air BOGO couldn't be beat. We didn't get non-stop or direct, but the layovers are reasonable. The really screwy thing is that NCL keeps sending out the same air confirmation letters by e-mail. Just this morning I got the 8th set! Of course, each time I get another air confirmation I have to check to make sure there aren't any changes to the itinerary - no changes at all... Normally, I would have made my own flight arrangements, but the BOGO air made a very big difference in my case. YMMV

Even if the governments in Australia lift all requirements, I would still make sure what the cruise line's protocols are. Sometimes it takes time for changes to filter down the chain.

After coming back home from my first Haven sailing, when asked how I enjoyed the cruise, my response was always "I don't deserve to be treated so well..." 😏

Travel insurance can cover a whole host of unanticipated expenses. Should you need hospitalization/surgery at a foreign hospital do you have insurance that will cover it? There are plenty of nightmare stories about people who needed to fly home from a foreign port via a chartered air ambulance jet. That can be quite costly as well. Add the cost of surgery, hospital and air ambulance and you could be wishing you took out insurance. Travel insurance covers much more than your cruise fare or flights. As an aside, Dad in this story is a surgeon. He certainly had the option of saying the heck with the booking from NCL air and booked his own flights to Vancouver for the day before. Penny wise, pound foolish...