CruisingSince1982

Hi - did they have lounge chairs on the beach?

13 minutes ago, Kernteam said:

We sailed on the Prima for 11 days this past March. We loved everything about our Haven experience. Admittedly we do not use the butler much, but the restaurant staff and the bar staff were the best we have ever had. We absolutely loved the pool at the back of the ship, and found it to be a much more social environment than other Haven pools. We met so many nice people, and would sail a Prima class ship again in a heartbeat. Of all the folks we met, we really didn't hear any major complaints, and the only complaints were about availability of the butlers, but nobody felt that it negatively impacted their time.

 

We are going on the Breakaway in January and we have been on that class ship before in the Haven and I know the pool area will not be the same, but we will love it as it is.

We aren't big butler people. My main concern was not having sun loungers, or enough restaurant space. Thanks for your review!! 

No one has sailed the Haven recently on Prima or Viva? 

Is the week before Presidents day a big week for school winter breaks, or is it normally the week of President day? 

I admit, I haven't paid much attention to the Prima class ships, mainly because of the complaints with the Haven being too crowded, Haven staff, especially the butlers, being overworked and stretched thin, and service not being as good as the other ships. I am just wondering if those experiences have improved any? I am so hesitant to book this class because of the complaints. 

We have never had a problem bringing distilled water for a CPAP, and if flying in, we just ask NCL for it.

On 2/6/2024 at 7:23 PM, BirdTravels said:

Experiences are different. We found the Haven on the Epic to be the best in the entire fleet. Close second are those on the Prima and Viva.

 

For us, the sundeck on the Breakaway was far too small along with the Haven Restaurant that had limited seating and was always overflowing onto the pool deck. I, personally, don't want to be smelling chlorine while eating dinner or having kids splashing around near me while I dine. 

 I see a lot of complaints about the Haven on the Prima class ships as being too crowded. Did you find this? 

18 hours ago, david_sobe said:

 You are allowed visit your brother's cabin no problem.  Stopping by the Haven bar for drinks first to take to the cabin probably would not be an issue but in theory is not allowed.  But it falls into that grey area.  Non-Haven are not allowed to use the Haven facilities but allowed to visit a Haven cabin.  I bet you could do it without an issue.  It would depend whether Haven bar staff are allowed to serve non-Haven guests.  Have your brother speak with the concierge and grease the skids.  You can visit your brother at the Haven restaurant for dinner but its going to charge you.   If you pay for a dinner at the Haven restaurant I bet you could hang out at the Haven bar but this all comes down to the concierge.

However there is nothing stopping you from getting drinks from an outside bar and walking to your brother's cabin. 

They will not and absolutely should not serve him.

53 minutes ago, NJGeorge said:

If you have been cruising since 1982 I would think you already know the answer. I would not feel comfortable with that flight time. Flying is becoming more and more a crap shoot.

Take the next one and relax .

We have never sailed out of San Juan, hence the question. 

Can we make a 10:20am flight out of san juan? We are in the Haven and will carry off our luggage. 

On 7/22/2024 at 11:23 AM, AP1016 said:

Good morning!

 

Does anyone know the current Haven staff on the Escape? Conceirge, bar staff, etc..?

 

TIA!!!

Dilip is the concierge until August, 10th, then he goes to Encore. Charry is the assistant concierge. I am not sure if she is staying or going with Dilip. 

Hello, is there a door to enter the concierge/lounge area from the starboard side cabins located on Deck 16? It's been so long since we have been on the Epic, I don't remember! If not, is there one on the port side? TIA!

Does MSC have yacht club cabins outside of the yacht club (like NCL does with Haven cabins)? I am asking because we are looking at the duplex, and it's on deck 16 / 18. The deck plans show interior cabins on deck 16, but they aren't labeled as yacht club interior. I realize it could just be incomplete deck plans, but I wanted to see if anyone knew before we booked. 

We love the Haven. I just wish the dining room menu changed. It doesn't stop us from booking though. Glad you enjoyed your trip! 

On 6/12/2024 at 12:24 PM, JamieLogical said:

 

MSC has managed to keep prices low, still do evening turn down service, still do continental room service breakfast for Fantastica and above, still provide late-night snack in their buffets, keep the cost of a shot of Bailey's under the threshold of their included drinks package, and still serve hash brown hockey pucks in the buffet at breakfast. Theoretically inflation is applying to them as well...

This is going to be our next "try". We love NCL, but the cutbacks are real and ... tiring. I refuse to keep paying the prices that we pay, especially for the Haven, to have more and more cutbacks. It's a shame because we really do love the cruise line. 

Thank you!

Does Vibe have towels readily available like the Haven sun deck? Thank you! 

Really getting tired of these cutbacks. They removed items from the Bayamo meu as well. 

We were on this sailing as well. Great trip! Outside of Italy, one of my favorite meals on the ship was the Seafood Linguine at Bayamo. I was just looking over the "sample" menu on the NCL website, and that dish is not listed. I hope this is because it's a sample menu, and not because they got rid of the dish. It was delicious! 

We just returned from our cruise, and we used ItalyTours . EU for Mt Etna and Taormina in Sicily. I would never recommend this company or book with them again! While our driver was very nice, that's all he was. A driver. He offered no history, no recommendations, no commentary at all. We were essentially on our own with someone who barely spoke English. It was a cheap tour. You get what you pay for. 

We just returned from our Med cruise. We left out of Trieste, and we were not charged VAT on any drink package or dinner package items, regardless of the port.

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Have you heard anything too suggest that they are?

 

I've not heard anything myself this year. The only recent data point that I have is that we weren't charged any tax anywhere on our Lisbon to Rome itinerary recently.

 

Also, remember that what happened this week doesn't mean that the same will happen next week, or even on a different ship at the same time.

Yes, someone posted a picture of the signs at the bars stating VAT would be added for ports and waters in France and Spain, but it was a cruise originating from Barcelona. Just wondering if the reverse route, originating from Italy, would incur the same charges. 

More confusion on this issue, since folks sailing from Italy have not received notice of this. Is NCL back to adding the 10% VAT to the free at sea drink and meals while in spanish waters? I knew they were doing it on cruises departing from Barcelona, but are they now also doing it on sailings departing from Italy? While taxes being adding to drinks while in port is not new, a VAT being applied to a meal that is already paid for is, so just curious if this is happening again. Thanks!

On 5/3/2024 at 12:37 AM, time391 said:

I hope someone on here can assist

 

A family member, who we gave money for the Cruise, through the Casino at Sea program with NCL booked a Western Mediterranean cruise several months ago and it's past the deadline for refund.

 

However, unbeknownst to us, the family member has an issue with their US passport and cannot travel to Europe for the Cruise. We are booked to leave Barcelona on May 26th 2024.

 

At the moment, the other 3 members of the cruise's names are already logged into NCL website and our passport documentation is fine, can we still board the ship without the Casino at Sea family member, who had originally received the free cruise certificate?

 

I am wondering if anyone else has ever encountered something like this, since it's an odd situation. We paid for the cruise ourselves, but we took advantage of our family member's Casino benefit to receive the free Balcony room. We know that there will be losses now from Hotel and airline tickets for the one member who cannot travel to Europe, but we do not want to cancel the entire trip on account of one person's documentation issues. We do not mind losing some money from a lack of refund, but we're hoping not to lose the entire $10K with excursions.

 

Thank you for any help in advanced

Yes, you can board. DO NOT cancel that passenger that is having an issue. There is no rule that everyone must board together. Get there when you get there and board. The missing passenger will eventually be a no show. If you cancel that passenger, you will have an issue. EDITED - just realized it was CAS. I did not catch that, sorry. Best you can do is to call CAS and ask, but I don't think they will let you board. 😞

On 5/30/2022 at 10:57 AM, edinburgher said:

We took the bus to Trogir on our second visit.  Very small and probably quite pretty but we had to almost push our way through the crowds of visitors from cruise tours and land tours which had descended in large numbers.  We never really got the chance to see it properly. That was a  morning.  Maybe quieter in the afternoons or early evenings?.

OTOH Split has so much to offer that we were not stuck for choice even on our third visit.  In addition to the usual Palace etc,do explore the back streets which are lovely to walk through, have a drink somewhere on the promenade,and also go further along to the Veli Varos area (used to be the fishermens neighbourhood back in the day)at the end of the promenade,  and justt before it takes a left to the old harbour. Cross the road and enter the narrow streets (I think there was a little church there)and just continue walking uphill. You can happily meander uphil through the narrow streets to reach the viewpoint part way up Marjan Hill.  From there you can continue uphill to the summit.  There are also steps up to the viewpoint, but it is a more gradual and easier walk through the neighbourhood.  There was a lot of gentrification going onin Veli Varos  with some really pretty properties. We found an online description and map of Veli Varos which we followed.  The views from the viewpoint are wonderfiul, but we didn't climb any higher than that.  There is a cafe at the viewpoint..

I know this is an older post, but did you have any issue using a credit card in Split?