Daniel A

I bought a $500 NCL Gift Card from NCL and couldn't use it during the shutdown and MetaBank has been charging me $3/monthly so the card is now down to $455. I am considering selling it on eBay, but I don't know how to transfer ownership of the card to the purchaser. How were you able to establish ownership of the NCL cards you bought on eBay? MetaBank does not have live customer service and their FAQ's does not address this. Thanks.

I just found a $500 NCL Gift Card I forgot I had. I have already lost $45.00 in dormancy fees making the card worth $455 as of today and likely $452 next week. I called the 800 number that came with the documentation to enquire what I would need to do to transfer the card to another person. On the recording on the web site, it says I can use the card at any location that accepts Visa cards, but the documentation that came with the card it says I can only use it at NCL. I plan to either apply it to my next cruise if it can be accepted by my TA for a Princess cruise or if not, I'll see if I can apply it to my upcoming Oceania cruise as "O" is owned by NCL Holdings. Barring that, I may try to sell it on eBay. Has anybody else dealt with this issue? As of now, I don't see any NCL sailings in my future.

Since this is your first Haven experience, Hubby will have his first clues in the Haven (VIP) Lounge in the terminal prior to boarding. At my recent boarding in September the concierge met us in the Haven Lounge in the terminal and took our reservations for shows and dining. She also issued our key cards there. So, if you're hoping to get a photo of his expression, have your camera/phone ready when you enter the terminal. 📸 📱

SSSHHHsssh!!! Nobody knows about that....🙈🙉🙊

I am also looking forward to reading the comparisons as we are booked on our first O cruise next September. I hope they will read just like the rest of this thread with hints and secrets. I especially want to learn the secret handshake and password.

I just came off the Breakaway staying in the Haven. One good thing about the Breakaway Haven's hot tubs is that the one on the port side has a sign which says that hot tub is for adults only. The starboard side hot tub is not posted. So, there shouldn't be an issue for any adult to find a hot tub to use. There were some children on our cruise, and they did use the starboard side hot tub and pool at times, but not continuously. One never really noticed the children on that sailing as the parents were always with them and weren't relying on the other passengers and the hot tubs to be their babysitters. You shouldn't have any problem at all. You should have a great time with your children, don't worry about how you'll be perceived - it will be just fine. I also think there are enough fun activities near the main Lido pool, that your children may prefer to spend a lot of their time there.

@Sthrngary - I have to take some issue with your last post. Those people should have access to the Haven and its various upgraded perks. I think it's a crying shame that NCL won't let them book and pay for a cabin in the Haven so they too can enjoy the 'suite life.' I wonder why NCL won't let them pay the fare to enjoy the Haven. Thank goodness they take my money and let me in the Haven. Maybe it's because I know the secret Haven handshake and password...😆 People like the ones you mention are generally losers mostly because they won't work within accepted societal processes. Instead, they want to cry and complain that they're not being treated the same as those of us who worked long and hard to get what we have. When they were younger, they would throw themselves on the floor and kick their legs and hold their breath until they got what they wanted. What a shock it must be to discover that these tactics don't work for them any longer. 😭

No, it wasn't beat up at all, but the box looked like this: A word of caution - I called the pre-cruise concierge desk and asked if they could contact the Breakaway Concierge since i had just disembarked the day before but I was told by the pre-cruise concierge that he had no way to contact the ship. I was put on hold and was then informed that the supervisor could send the Breakaway concierge a message since I knew the cabin # and where exactly the laptop could be found in the cabin. I was advised that I did also need to file the lost property report online which I was already in the process of completing. It was made very clear to me that under normal circumstances, they were not permitted to make direct contact with the ship.

Well, I called the pre-cruise concierge and asked them if they could e-mail the Breakaway Concierge and ask if they could look in the cabinet in my cabin. I also followed @cruiseny4life suggestion regarding reporting the lost laptop at the link. The laptop was delivered to me this afternoon. The box it was shipped in was pretty beat up, but the laptop was well packaged. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

If you want/need help with it, let me know.

@Sthrngary Count us in (conditionally.) Why not start a thread similar to a pre-cruise Roll Call? DW & I are in, as long you and many others on this thread are with us in the Haven. I do have one suggestion though. Please make it out of Florida or an East Coast port as DW is terrified of flying and our flights from NY to Reykjavík to Rome, with the changes wore her down to the point that she needed the cruise to recover from the flights. The flight back to NY was no great experience on Air Canada either, so if you can consider doing a 'drive to cruise,' we are in! It's nice making friends on Cruise Critic!..🙋‍♂️

@Sthrngary My recent cruise in the Haven included my sister. When we winter in Florida, she collects and forwards our important pieces of mail and waters our plants. She is a single mom and can't afford to pay a single supplement on any cruise line and the singles area on NCL won't work as she would get claustrophobia in such a small cabin with no outside windows. We didn't want to embarrass her by obviously subsidizing her cruise. When DW & I were looking for a Med cruise, we saw where NCL had a promo where the 3rd & 4th guests in the same cabin sailed for free, that sealed the deal for us. We offered to treat her to a 10-day Med cruise with her own room in a 2 BR Family Villa. We showed her a YouTube video of the Family Villa in the Haven and she was comfortable with the size of the second bedroom and was comfortable that she would have a living room and balcony if she needed a break from her bedroom. We told her that whether or not she accompanied us, we were going to book a Family Villa because of the size and location onboard and if she didn't go with us, our luggage was going to have their own room and bathroom...😁. Knowing that she was sailing for free due to the promotion, she jumped on the deal, paid her own airfare to Rome and she really had a great time with us, and more importantly for us, she didn't feel like a charity case. I hope our experience will help you field a cruise with your sister. It will create memories that will last your lifetimes... I just looked at the NCL website and there is a search feature for finding sailings where the 3rd and 4th sail for free and others for reduced fares.

Other than reflecting these shortcomings in the post-cruise evaluation, who would one speak to while still onboard? They really should have a card in the Haven Suites giving a telephone number to call to speak with a "Haven Manager." Even if it is just a manager working in the Hotel Services Department. For the prices charged for Haven occupancy, there should be one person who has the sign on his/her desk which reads "The Buck Stops Here."

After ten days in the Breakaway 2BR Family Villa, I don't think we ever got the hang of the light switches. Maybe that could be a request added into the Butler letter, so we don't forget to ask. Sometimes when we wanted to go to bed at night, it would take quite a while to figure out how to get the rooms dark 🙄 We didn't need to ask the butler to deliver snacks. @Sthrngary took care of that for us. We would bring almond croissants back for a snack to have with our afternoon coffee!

I don't use a smartphone. I do save copies of documents on my laptop and take that with me when I cruise. DW also maintains a paper file of all of our documents (including the all-important trip insurance policy) and take that with us. It drives me nuts when I am behind somebody in a line, and they can't locate a bar code or QR code on their phone when going through a check in line at an airport/cruiseport or other venue or trying to use their phone to pay at a store checkout. Usually, they're scanning through cute pictures of their cats or grandkids while I am behind them with hard copies ready to go.

Yes, thank you. With the help from @cheetosrevil I was able to eventually find that option, but we shouldn't need to search for and find a workaround for a feature which was there earlier. I'm pretty confident that I won't be the only person who won't know this workaround. I save up my gift cards and e-mail the PDFs to my TA when final payment is due. I don't use them as I get them as I need to immediately notify my trip insurer whenever I make any payments on a cruise. I then get a new invoice from the insurer for insuring the additional funds paid for that sailing.

Thanks for your help on this. I was able to see the above when I hit the "Print Card" button, but I wasn't aware that "Save To PDF" was an option in the print dialogue box. I now have the cards saved as PDFs. Thank you! Since I wasn't aware of that option, there must have been another easier option when opening the gift cards from the e-mail. but with your help, I have them. now.

Thanks for the help on this. I have the full Adobe Acrobat installed on my computer and there is no option of "Print to PDF" when I click on the "Print Card" button. Again , I'm not sure why they decided to complicate something that worked fine before...

I've been doing that. The "Save" option is no longer there, only "Print."

Where did you find the option to save as a PDF? I don't see it on mine. I bought mine on 10/3. All I see is a "Card Toolbox" with the options of "Print Card"; "Edit Message"; "Send As Gift" and "Add To Google Wallet." There's no option to "Save"

I just bought five $500 cards. When viewing the cards from the AARP Rewards e-mail, I can only view the cards as a web page. I used to be able to save them to my computer as PDFs, but that isn't an option now. I guess I will need to print the web pages then scan the hard copies into my computer as PDFs. I don't know why they're making this more difficult than it needs to be. (Maybe the people who designed the original Medallion Class App are now working on the gift cards software 'fixing' that too...🙄)

I was surprised that there were Haven crew members who knew me by name even before I ever met them. I think they must post a board in the crew work area with our photos and names. (Probably only first names as they would be easier to remember.)

I asked the pre-cruise concierge to arrange for the mini-bar to be removed from the cabin refrigerator. I placed a nice advance tip for the Haven bar staff at the beginning of the cruise. Knowing that my cans of beer were not included in my drink package if delivered by room service, I would stop at the Haven bar and get one or two unopened cans of beer and bring them back to the cabin and I put them in the 'fridge. My drink package covered my in-cabin drinks and I never had to wait for someone to deliver a nice cold beer when I wanted one. TAKE NOTE: If you drink any beverages which were pre-placed in your refrigerator, that is considered your in-suite mini bar and each drink you consume from that incurs a charge as well. If you don't want the mini bar, make sure you ask the concierge/butler to remove the mini bar ASAP.

My 2 cents "Five Oh"... You budgeted in anticipation that your expectations would be met. Apparently, the work you put into your butler letter was for naught. I also believe naught is what you need to give any further as your requests and expectations were not met. ($500 bucks is still a generous gratuity.) - "Dan O"