Sailing12Away

Never heard of such a thing. What in particular are you looking for that you can't get with simply asking for a virgin cocktail?

Never heard of that issue. Has she tried calling NCL to just book it over the phone? Or doing it on a normal computer instead of on a small cell phone screen? Might be a pop-up or something that she's missing.

Of course not, but I'm going based on recent photos and videos of the Carnival ships - not my memory of them from when I was 8 years old. Specifically the ship we were looking at based on the sail date we needed was the Liberty, and the video of this room sealed it as a firm 'no' for us. Seafoam green Formica and a skeevy shower curtain... not for us.

Outside of the size, do you feel the rooms themselves are better though? Styling, looks, features, etc. Like I said, we've always been intrigued to give them a try until I watch videos of the actual rooms themselves. Looks like they were made with furniture and bathroom counters cheaper than Ikea quality. Not that we need a 14k gold toilet, but I also don't want to feel like I'm in a college dorm room.

If you're using the NCL air promotion, you can only fly in 2 days early. So keep that in mind if you wanted to spend more time than that - you won't be able to with using their basic air promotion.

Haven't sailed on Carnival since my first cruise as a kid in the 80's. We looked into doing a last minute Xmas cruise with them this year. Could get into a suite for about 3K total for a short 4-5 night cruise over Xmas. Price seemed too good to be true, and when I found videos of the cabin - you get what you pay for. I guess I'm a bit spoiled, but the cabins on Carnival looked so cheap, like worse than a college dorm room type of cheap. The room isn't everything, but when you're looking at one of the best rooms on the ship and even that was making my skin itch with ick factor... yeah, it's not for us.

For the snacks, you can request non sweet stuff if savory or salty is more to your liking. Things like a charteturier (sp?) board, simple cheese & crackers, potato chips, BLT sandwiches, PB&J, smoked salmon.... The other option is to tell a white lie and say you're allergic or on a restricted diet if you truly don't want any munchies in the room at all. As for the price, never say never. There's been some decent deals to be found on Haven rooms, typically closer to sailing date. The Panama Canal trip I'm taking in February was as low as $280/pp/day at one point. But glad you enjoyed your long trip and are a Haven fan!

Was on the Joy in September and I had internet in my room without problem. I was able to use my free minutes to check in on FB, CC, random websites, etc with no problem. We'll be on a PC trip on the Joy again this coming February and plan on using those free minutes in the room again.

It might not be a formal rule per se, but I've never once been told 'no' by a Haven bartender. On many occasions I have been restricted to ordering drinks only from a specific set menu at a non-Haven bar. Even though they had the spirits right behind them to make what I was asking for. Epic has 2 bars literally next to each other, but you could only order certain drinks based on where you were sitting in the chairs in front of the bars. Up to chair xxx you could only order from the Maltings menu, once you made it to chair yyy you had to order from the Shakers menu. Sometimes it completely depends on the bartenders though (so again, NCL is consistent in being inconsistent). POA we tried to get the bartender to just create something off menu for us at the atrium, they said no and pointed to the menu (bar wasn't full or busy). Later that trip we found a different bartender who was willing to make all sorts of fun stuff at the same bar.

My liver thinks otherwise. I know the difference between a mixed shot and a cocktail.

Ok, and I have friends on a Thanksgiving cruise on Encore right now. I assure you, they are not having any problem getting drinks and would have immediately informed me if there was any type of ban.

This may help as well, you can easily see what is above/below/around you. https://cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/Norwegian-Prima

I can't, I'm not your son. Not sure what the question asked was, or who it was asked to. Not saying he's a liar, but just pointing out we have conflicting info about what is happening on a particular cruise right now (with reasons for such a ban not being explained), a lot of comments/assumptions/guesses/inferences as to how far and wide this supposed ban extends to with regards to fleet, timing, type of drinks, etc, and then we have a letter from someone high up who is claiming it is not true. Peter, Paul & Mary. Take your pick as to which you want to believe.

Haven bar is only available to guests staying in Haven rooms. One of the perks of membership.

The ban is NOT hoopla. The fact that there is NO BAN at all (so it seems now) is what is the hoopla. Letter direct from F&B manager at corporate has no idea what we're talking about with this 'ban' on shots, so that is the hoopla over nothing. It's not true, fake news.

If you like the itinerary, ship, and price of the NCL cruise then book it. You can always cancel before final payment date with less penalties than Celebrity has for their sailings. Without knowing the particulars of the trips or ships you're trying to compare, or what is important to you and your travel mates in terms of things you like to do, food you like, entertainment you enjoy, etc - it's impossible for us to tell you what to do.

If you'll be in the Haven, just let the bartenders go to town. Tell them what you're in the mood for, and they'll make you some amazing drinks. Either tell them the type of spirit you want (rum, tequilla, vodka, etc), or whether you want something fruity, refreshing, spirit forward, creamy, or even just tell them "I want something blue". They can come up with amazing things if you just nudge them in some type of direction. They can also make lots of good frozen drinks too. I've gotten in the habit of skipping desert and drinking my calories at night with frozen grasshoppers, frozen tiramisu, slushy fuzzy navels.... No need to memorize drink names or what's in them, just tell them what you're looking for and they'll invent it.

Those are cocktails, not shots. Those are fine. And apparently even shots are fine, so a lot of hoopla over *hopefully* nothing at all.

Hence why CC is great for a 'heads up' or something to prepare mentally for, but as with all things on the internet or in CC land, or especially when it comes to NCL - your personal experience may vary significantly from one day to the next.

Prior to our September sailing on the Joy I kept hearing stories about how it was one of the worst Haven ships because there were 'xxx' more Haven cabins on that ship than the sister ships of Encore/Bliss. So we went in expecting it to be crowded, tight, and overstuffed. That wasn't the case at all, even with a sold out Haven. So as nice as it is to hear other's experiences or opinions, I don't get myself worried over them as folks have different perceptions and trigger points. While on vacation, I've found that it takes a lot more to get me upset than most so lots of preconceived assumptions end up unfounded.

How rough was the hike in there? I would probably be put off seeing a 5 mile trek, but if it was slow and leisurely paced I could probably manage it. Was it 2.5 each way for a total of 5? Ballpark of an hour or so walking to get there and an hour to walk back?

Yup, I just didn't go far enough into the mock booking. Balcony takes a straight 10% off the cruise fare ~$160 savings. Club balcony saves about $195 total. Spa club balcony saves about $260 total. Doesn't work for Haven, only takes off $1.00 for me. So depending on the type of room you care about, the savings are decent and will cover the cost of a nice bottle of wine or an excursion or two. Us penny pinchers will take anything we can get. Trying to switch between cabin types and I get this error now: Now it's showing an egregious original price for the club balcony rooms. So I think I broke it...

American Diner was just 'meh'. We tried it because it was free in September on the Joy. Since it's free, no harm in trying it with an open mind knowing you can grab something elsewhere if you don't like it. I actually didn't care for their milkshakes. Too much whipped cream for my liking.

Outside of your iced coffee (have the cabin steward bring you a bucket of ice, sit the hot coffee in the bucket and blam-o... iced coffee), what do you feel you'll be missing? Yup! Looking forward to seeing him again in about 3 months. He was amazing. As for this new 'rule', challenge accepted. I plan to find ways to work around the limits or use it as an opportunity to try different things which are allowed.

No one pays the base price on NCL. With the free at sea deal the cost is roughly $21/day. And I've said this about 100 times, where (on any ship, any cruise line) does over even get fresh squeezed juice? Everyone loves to mention it, yet on all my trips I've never once seen it. On RCC we could not get bottles water, still out sparkling, so no difference there either.