UKstages

just to bring you up to speed... the american diner is now a complimentary restaurant, but they've kept milkshakes on their revised menu... for a fee. they are not, as of now, covered by any drink package.

that's exactly what it was... perhaps a bit more substantial, a light breakfast with pastries and fruit, yogurt, cereal, bread (toast), oatmeal, sometimes nutrition bars. it was a step down from the haven's horizon lounge, but similar.

i think that's a wise move. for what it's worth, LHR has a lot of diversions post-security to amuse yourself... many fine restaurants and lounges and world class duty free shops, if you're so inclined. you could meander for a good two hours without getting bored, if you're not running for a flight.

everything has a knock-on effect. a main reason breakfast items existed in the OL was to provide a place for early risers to get something to eat, particularly for those with early excursions. and, later in the morning, the availability of food in the OL serves to alleviate crowding in the MDRs and the buffet and the local. NCL is not necessarily saving much money; people will just crowd the buffet (where they are actually more likely to consume more costly food, since the food isn't served in micro portions, as it is in the OL. and there will be more folks in the MDRs, as well. a few hundred people are not just going to wait until lunch... they have to go somewhere.

the length of the flight and when it lands are just one (maybe two) factors. more important, but seldom discussed, are how many other flights are there that could get you to your port city, in case your flight is canceled or delayed. a couple of years ago, i flew to miami from new york on the day of embarkation. i wouldn't normally risk doing that, but there were at least six other flights on major airlines scheduled to leave after my flight. so, if you're flying from a hub with frequent point to point service to your port city, you're in better shape than somebody flying from west bumble with two flights a day to a hub with a connecting flight to your port city.

see above for general answers to your questions. check-in for an 11:30 AM international flight usually is 9:30 AM at the latest. do you have any preferred traveler programs or airline status that would expedite your passage through LHR? attempting to catch an 11:30 AM flight on the day of disembarkation would be most ambitious, assuming you pull into port at 6 or 7 AM. how will you be getting to heathrow? NCL transfer? car service? train? and which day of the week might this be? (much less road traffic on a sunday than on a monday or friday.) for NCL coach transfers, they usually say that they are not to be used for flights departing before noon (or sometimes 1 pm).

oh, gosh, as i've said in other threads, maybe even this thread, despite the screen name, i am born and bred in the united states and i live in new york. i am as american as they come. in fact, i would have responded sooner, but my mouth was full of apple pie and my hands were busy sewing an american flag, you know, like my fellow american, betsy ross. as for insults, i think you may have that turned around. i see so much rude behavior in this forum that i simply won't tolerate it. i put those folks on "ignore." and that makes reading a thread like this a pleasure... and a chore... like reading swiss cheese.

sharing drinks? is that not allowed? say what? (asking for a friend.)

you always retain the value of the $250 you paid for the certificate... whether or not you get the extra value of the certificate depends on whether you are repricing the same reservation, canceling the reservation or applying the payment to a newly booked reservation. if the certificate gets returned to your account, it's typically for the amount you paid... just $250. YMMV.

can't tell if you're joking or not, but throughout certain parts of europe, that first photo would appear to be a scone; the second one, particularly in the UK, would be a biscuit. "cookie," when the term is even used in the UK, refers to a thicker and chunkier type of baked good. the photo in the post that i was referring to (post #150) showed a package of "biscuits." my comment was regarding that photo... taken out of context, it might seem like i don't know what a good old fashioned american biscuit is, or a chocolate chip cookie, for that matter. "cookies" (as we understand the term in the USA) are "biscuits" in the UK, unless the company is purposefully marketing to americans or trying to build equity in the idea of an american-style product or offering up a thicker, chewier, softer baked good. french fries are chips, cotton candy is candy floss, an elevator is a lift, an apartment is a flat, a garbage can is a rubbish bin and a cookie is most definitely a biscuit.

of course not, the first rule of the "providing special treatment" club is that there is no "providing special special treatment" club. NCL values all its guests (except, perhaps, the veuve-drinking , hash brown-eating, cookie-eating guests), but they value some guests a little bit more. this is not a revolutionary concept, nor is it a proprietary practice unique to NCL:. almost every company with savvy marketing does their own version of this. indeed, i'm sure they are. providing top notch service to elite customers does not preclude providing excellent service to all guests. but it's clear that NCL personnel are trained on the lifetime value of a customer and to provide recognition and to go out of their way to provide extra special service to elite customers. just as airlines and hotels and subscription media companies do. similar things have happened to me, too. and, yes, it can be embarrassing. and unfair, in its own way. on my most recent cruise a couple of weeks ago, i was waiting for my beeper to go off, while i was talking to a nice couple who were on their second cruise with NCL and commiserating about the long wait. my beeper did go off and they asked how long had i ben waiting... about ten minutes i said. they had been waiting nearly 25. the haven (or sapphire, or diamond) halo! it's real.

officially known as the "pier 86 pedestrian bridge," it was designed in the 90s to provide easy access to both the intrepid and the circle line cruise pier. it wasn't completed and opened until the early 2000s. prior to the introduction of the footbridge, there was just a painted crosswalk and it was kind of a deathtrap, although i'm not sure anyone was actually hit. also, tour busses and cars used to be able to pull up near the intrepid, but once hudson river park and its bike paths were built, that was no longer possible. that's why the footbridge was developed at a cost of something like ten million dollars, if memory serves, mostly due to construction surprises along the way.

first of all, i'm not "quoting" them and i'm not attributing those perks to somebody flaunting a key card or making a case for those perks in some way being associated with the special treatment being discussed in this thread. i mentioned them to establish the concept of special treatment for those in the haven and for those with status... and i built upon that idea by asking why somebody would think that's where the special treatment ends. why wouldn't all employees be trained to recognize haven status and latitudes status and go out of their way to provide special recognition and support for those guests? that is, in fact, what they are trained to do. and that's why i mentioned those perks. i am not claiming that those perks are part of the haven halo. this is not about entitlement, it's not about what i personally believe I can finagle by flaunting a card... i don't flaunt any card or status or wave a card or say, "excuse me, haven guest, coming through, make way, please peel my grapes!" outside the haven, i wait in whatever line there is and then simply place my card on the card reader like any other guest. any special treatment i receive is offered up by the venue and its staff, not requested by me. my point is that NCL employees from the guest services desk to the internet desk to restaurant hosts and hostesses to the people who run the race track to the folks at the excursion desk are all trained to recognize haven and elite status guests and provide high level service whenever they can. i have typically found that means shorter wait times at restaurants and preferred seating locations. that doesn't mean that non-haven guests don't get treated well or can't get window seats or the finest cuts of meat, it just means that the NCL team has been trained to go the extra mile for haven guests throughout the ship. there is very much this thing that i have dubbed the haven halo and it does indeed follow you around the ship. your mileage may vary and, apparently, it has. and, yes, of course, it only applies when you take your card out and place it on the card reader, or if the staff member takes the card from you. there is no literal halo above your head! the staff members are not mind readers. but once having seen your status, the service often improves or special treatment ensues. not because an entitled monster demands it, but because NCL team members are instructed to provide extra special service to haven guests and elite status members.

the MDR serves a whole plain bagel if your order a bagel; toasted upon request. if you order a "smoked salmon bagel" in the MDR (a.k.a. "lox with a schmear"), they now serve only half a bagel. if you want the whole bagel, with lox on each side, you have to specify that you want a "double order" or explicitly state that you want "both sides of the bagel with lox on each side." NCL buffets no longer offer smoked salmon.

doubtful. that's simply not the way it works. people could get fired if they don't follow the manual and if the finished product doesn't resemble the photo(s). yes, really. the reason they have the manual and the product photos is so people don't "improve" the dish. they can't arbitrarily reduce the portion size. nobody on the frontline has the authority to do that, so when you say "NCL" can change course, yes, at the executive chef or corporate level. but they are not monitoring food left on plates making real time corrections. they just aren't. as for the food not tasting good, that is indeed done with real time communication, often with returned product. that's not "food left on plates." that's very different. this is an entire dish returned with only a bite or two taken. they can't rely on dishes being ordered less and less over time, because the dish may not repeat within the same cruise (depending on length) and somebody who cruises six months later or a year later has no recollection of which dishes to avoid. (it's not memorable and doesn't have the impact of the death of a parent... it's just an easily forgettable eggplant parm.)

not on NCL. (or most chain or franchised restaurants.) portion size is determined by a very precise description in a manual and an accompanying photo of what the plated entree is supposed to look like. often, meat or fish entrees come prepackaged and pre-weighed. for appetizers, the exact number of ravioli is specified in the manual, as are the number of spring rolls and pot stickers and so forth. as for food returned to the kitchen... enlightened and progressive kitchens do actually look at this. some use cameras and AI software. but it's not necessarily to adjust portion size or reduce food waste. it can also be used to determine popularity of the dishes and whether chefs are creating food that people crave. it is not believed that NCL is running progressive or enlightened kitchens.

having cruised haven and non-haven, suites and standard balconies, as well as the erroneously named club balcony suites, i can tell you that the "haven halo" is quite real. one does not need to wave anything. the keycard is coded and cabin status and latitude status pops up on the screen at every venue. the staff is trained to take it from there. all things being equal (and they are not), a haven guest, a suite guest, or a sapphire or diamond guest will absolutely get preferential treatment. (at the local and the MDRs there are often raised eyebrows, because the host(ess) often doesn't understand why you would choose not to dine in the haven. so, you're practically treated like a celebrity.) NCL provides an expedited in-port escort when haven guests return to the ship. they provide reserved seating in the theatre. they provide access to expedited onboard immigration clearance (on sailings where this is offered, such as canada or to certain ports in the UK). why would one think NCL hasn't trained its employees at every customer touchpoint to recognize haven guests and attempt to provide them the very best service? you've chosen to take an innocent comment based on my personal experience and twist and turn it into a commentary on "karenism" and "BS," the basis for which which exists only in your imagination. folks are free to provide their personal experiences as to whether or not a haven cabin or elite latitudes status carries any import outside the haven. what they probably shouldn't do is create elaborate fantasies involving other forum contributors. if you as a haven guest or a diamond guest have found that your status doesn't matter as you travel about the ship, then by all means say so and share with us your experiences.

these are all good questions, grandma. unfortunately, it doesn't appear that anybody in this thread is onboard the getaway.

you probably could, but the joy haven courtyard isn't really set up for dining. you'd probably be happier in the horizon lounge or your stateroom. if you decide to do this, just ask your butler well in advance. but, honestly, just go to food republic! their food is best consumed immediately after preparation. it doesn't travel well. so i can't imagine why you might want it delivered to the haven.

this would be a much simpler question to answer if the three adults were romantically entangled.

it could be, conceivably, from a TA's perspective. a TA could form his or her own group by interesting a number of clients in the same cruise. TAs are generally compensated in one of two ways for their orders... volume and gross dollar sales. this would add to both categories, for sure. some super large agencies commit to cabins in bulk. most don't. in any case, that's not really the way TAs work with NCL. the commissions are large enough that they don't have to do that.

let's be real. all these specialty restaurants are great. and they all suck. when people reply to these threads, what they're really saying is "these are my favorite menus," not my favorite restaurants. and that's because there is very little quality control from one cagney's to the next, from one ship to the next, from one outpost of los lobos to another, from le bistro on the prima to le bistro on the getaway. that's even true about the same cagney's on the same ship, from one night to the next or one cruise to the next. it's a crap shoot. there is no guarantee that you will ever have a meal at cagney's as good as the one you had that time when you were on that ship that visited, you know, that place. you can't go home again. the one possible exception is Q, the traditional barbecue specialty restaurant (not the indulge food hall incarnation). and that's because most of the meat is prepared in industrial kitchens on land. so you're guaranteed to get the same mediocre barbecue no matter which location you visit. but the service may vary, as it may in all the other restaurants. so, by all means, discuss what food you like to eat, which menus you prefer and then pray (for the soul of betty) once you get on board that the F & B management team has their act together and that the provisions loaded for your journey are sufficient to deliver the food you're expecting.

most americans have no idea what a "biscuit" is and also many who are incapable of conceptual thinking may not understand how a baked good that is not round could possibly be a cookie. i do like the way they proudly proclaim the almond percentage on the packaging. 89% white flour and spices and ingredients you never heard of!

first, i believe you would be beholden to other people's plans... anonymous people you do not know... they could drop out of the group and leave you "stuck." but the biggest flaw in your flue is that most people who join roll calls, as you've pointed out, have already booked their cabins. it's usually the first thing people do after booking... join the roll call. so, its doubtful you'll find a bunch of people who don't already have cabins. and i believe NCL's group program applies to new bookings only. you have to bring a group to NCL to qualify for the discounts and benefits. so, even if you could find folks to join your "group," NCL probably wouldn't get onboard, so to speak, for that plan.

luxardo cherries are super premium maraschino cherries soaked in marasca cherry syrup and used in craft cocktails. "luxardo" is the brand; the cherries are made in italy and run about $23 for a 14 ounce jar (400 grams). also: no artificial ingredients, gluten-free, non-GMO, kosher and vegan.