redneckwop

Glad I found this thread.  I haven't been on for a few days & thought something was screwy or that I was loosing my mind, which ran away a long time ago.  I had the same issue when I looked for threads for the Getaway & everything. 😒

Getting that first drink in hand, & shutting off the phone. We hit the buffet for lunch then my wife & daughter will grab 1 every dessert between the 2 of them to see which ones are keepers.

We are a family of 3 (DW & teenage DD) and we looked at Disney for a Christmas cruise, where my DW & DD our gold & DCL does't have a "drink package". The cost was almost double as what we paid for our cruise on 12/23/18, which will be our first on NCL. So we felt we were getting bonus with the UDP as a perk & only having to pay $18pp/pd for drinks, not that we drink like we did when we were in college. We book at least a year in advance so that we can pay it all off, including gratuities before we even board the ship. As my DW told me on our honeymoon "We are on vacation, don't be a cheap skate but don't be stupid either."

Final thoughts:

Overall, the trip met or exceeded our expectations in almost every way. The food was excellent, except for Tropicana and Shanghai's. The entertainment was outstanding, truly a world-class experience. My DW and I felt we definitely received our money's worth out of both the UBP and the SDP. Our excursions were very good, with Harvest Caye being the highlight of this trip. The staff we dealt with were all attentive, friendly and very efficient. The Haven was an outstanding experience. My DW and I have already starting planning our next Haven adventure, preferring to take a trip in the Haven every other year than a regular cruise more often.

As with all vacations, there were a few minor issues. We will learn from these for our future cruises:

Having read so many complaints on CC about lounger hogs around the main pool, I never expected to find this in the Haven. Unfortunately, we did. There are some people that simply do not understand common courtesy and will place their "clips" on the limited number of loungers and then go to breakfast, go to naps, etc. I guess the Haven is not immune to rude, inconsiderate people as well.

The remote controls for the televisions on the Getaway are very frustrating. They can only be used within a few feet of the TV and only when directly in front.

The TP in the restrooms is not good. Quite a challenge. We plan to bring our own in the future.

 

Overall, I give this trip a big thumbs up.

Thanks for review of the TP, it gave me a chuckle. We will be on the Getaway in Dec. & know I will be prepared for that challenge. :D:D

I've bought/tasted rum from Jamaica (Appleton), Barbados (Mount Gay), Bermuda (Black Seal), Puerto Rico (Bacardi) and from several other islands. Hands down the best rum I ever had was from Cayman Islands--Seven Fathoms Rum. I can't find here in the states but we toured the distillery in Grand Cayman and bought a bottle. So smooth...

I have to agree with TXCruiser10 on the Seven Fathoms from Grand Cayman, it's the smoothest I have drank. It's small batch & is not available in the states. :loudcry::loudcry:

After reading everyone rave about this stuff I now must search for this when we get on board for our Christmas cruise, which will be our first time with NCL.