McGarrett5oh

So the ship is going out on November 22nd for the first time. Is that correct? Does anyone know the dates and or destinations for both this sailing and the second one before the December 3rd sailing?

We were on the Prima in the Haven for 14 days returning October 1st, 2023. I've posted some thoughts previously, but if you have any specific questions about the Haven or the ship, I'll try to answer them.

temp_video_1697410963446.mp4 Prima Haven Lounge (16th Deck) from Forward to Aft. September 2023

Surprising very good. Now some context: I had the premium unlimited streaming internet package using an iPhone 14 Pro Max. My son & daughter in law had just the premium unlimited package (which I believe is essentially NCL's normal internet package with no limits). My son had an iPhone 14 Pro on that package and we noticed a difference in the two NCL internet package in terms of speed and connectivity. My daughter in law had an older iPhone (maybe a 10) and her experience was awful on their package. I bore you with these details because we came to believe that the capabilities of your equipment coupled with the Internet package you buy, make a noticeable difference in your experience. I did try my laptop - a relatively powerful but several year old Dell - a couple of times and it was able to connect and accomplish whatever it was I was trying to do, although I didn't try to upload or download any large files, but noticed that when I tried to upload the day's photos from my iphone to iCloud overnight, they did not transfer on the NCL wifi. I did not try to do much streaming but in normal activities on the internet, video content played fairly normal with few exceptions. Wifi calling also worked exceptionally well. Even took a call in the middle of the North Sea. Definitely a few dead spots in the Arctic Ocean and North Sea but much fewer than I had expected from other comments. Also, the AT&T international day pass ($10 per day) was exceptional. Hope this helps!

Last week......

Now onto the Haven Concierge on the Prima: We had no need for the Concierge desk other than to correct mistakes NCL made, so we did not tip our Concierges. We observed many people using the Concierge to make dinner reservations and take care of other needs, but we had pre-planned everything and didn’t need any assistance or changes. I have a few comments about our Head Concierge, but first this might be a good place to describe the embarkation process, which lead us to first meet him. Our cruise departed from the Horizon terminal at Southampton. Horizon is the newest Southampton terminal, shared between MSC and NCL. We arrived at 10am, were in an outside queue by 10:05am and security started moving passengers through at 10:20. There is no separate Haven “Security” line which upset the elderly couple ahead of us. It took all of 10 minutes to get to the screening belts. While we had our boarding pass on our phones, I would suggest printing them out as the guard at security simply wanted to check that you had a pass and it was easier to show paper.. No need to show a passport at that point. We were through security and checked in the separate Haven waiting lounge by 10:40. The usual continental breakfast type items were waiting for us and we were on board and in the Haven by 11:15am. We thought that was quite swift considering the previous Haven passengers had until 9:30am to vacate the Haven. Since we had arrived early at the terminal, we were among the first group to be escorted on board and up the Haven elevators to the Haven Lounge on 16 where we were told to drop our carry ons. Fortunately we found 4 seats at the bar and posted up there to listen to the Head Concierge give his welcome speech. While it contained the usual overview of the Haven & its amenities, he spent a noticeable amount of time focused on NOT bringing any guests from the ship into the Haven ( a topic that has been discussed here and elsewhere). He indicated there were over 300 guests in the Haven for this sailing. He then offered up a tour of the Haven. Since we had done our homework, we opted to stay at the bar where we met Rommel & Pedro, the primary bartenders (more on them and the bar in a future post). That proved to be a good decision as we were among the first the bartenders met (for name recognition) and we had comfortable seats to wait and a welcome mimosa in our hands. The restaurant opened promptly at 11:30 and we chose to have lunch there (no other options given to Haven guests other than the non-Haven restaurants) which timed out well as the Haven suites became available at 1pm. Now, a couple of comments about the Concierges: Of course embarkation day is the busiest and they had 3-4 staff at the desk, however 1 was just for dinner reservations and 1 was for excursions, so there were really just 2 staff to handle various other issues and the line backed up somewhat. Much better the rest of the cruise. Across from the Concierge desk on the Prima is an odd office space with opaque glass and NO door that sat empty most of the time. However, one day, we were sitting on the couches near that office when we overheard the Head Concierge dressing down our Butler (nothing to do with us as we had not complained, but some other guest must have). On another day, this same Head concierge took a Facetime call while sitting at the concierge desk obviously talking with his wife and children. The volume was so loud, we could make out the majority of the conversation. Beyond the lack of discretion by the Head Concierge, I observed him helping guests throughout the cruise in a friendly manner (although, if you ask him the time, he WILL tell you how the watch is built). I believe the rest of his staff was efficient and professional and ready to help you. Watch this space.....

@Sthrngary Thank you for the kind words. I feel that if you can't be constructive, why take the time. I appreciate your point on the Premium-Plus differences and we should not expect the same from a mainstream cruise line, even in the Haven. That said, since NCL owns Oceania and Regent, you'd think that perhaps SOME of the training elements they give to the Premium Plus Butlers could trickle down to the Haven Butlers. I see the shortcomings in our Butler as a training issue. Your reply got me thinking about something I didn't mention in my review of our suite. Since I had done so much research, I really didn't press our Butler on the cursorary overview he gave us. One thing that frustrates Prima Haven reviewers in how the lighting switches work in the suite. Our Butler could have been well served to explain that to us. Anyway, thank you and I look forward to reading about your Oceania experience!

So, while this outstanding thread created by @Sthrngary is about Haven “Secrets”, there is quite a bit of content focused on the Butler and the Butler Letter. The letter concept rang true for me and, especially in our case, seemed like an effective way to help our Butler help us. He would theoretically know a little bit about us, what we liked, any requests and what our plans were. Acknowledging that the quality of the Haven butler varies, I am going to just share OUR impressions of OUR butler. Your mileage may vary. When we first met our Butler, introduced ourselves, told him about our plans and likes and acknowledged that embarkation day is very busy for him, we handed him our letter with the explanation that we thought it would be helpful to him and he could review it when things settled down. We also acknowledged that we knew he was not part of the overall NCL gratuity program and that we were giving him (part of his) gratuity in the letter. He almost had tears in his eyes saying that we were the first guests to tell him that we knew that fact. So I thought, “wow”, this guy is going to go above and beyond for us and our relatively simple requests. As I tried to explain earlier, he also told us that this should be an easier cruise for the Butlers because there were few if any children on board and how the children typically add a lot of time consuming activities for the Butler. He said he had a total of 10 suites to service (the steward had 8). In review, the four of us determined that our Butler was nothing more than a nicely dressed food delivery person. Other than storing our suitcases and water (more on that later), he promptly delivered breakfast room service as ordered on time, He consistently delivered afternoon snacks and got us fresh ice. Perhaps when we weren’t in the suite, he may have restocked the Nespresso pods and the carafes of iced tea and cranberry juice inside the refrigerator. As previously shared, since we had 2 overnights and a late night departure (23:00) on our itinerary, we had specific port plans, many with early departures and late returns, that we had simply laid out on a separate sheet of paper with requests for snacks that we might be able to take off the ship with us (for long days). Our hope was that he would be cognizant of our plans and perhaps suggest room service timing or dinner options when we returned. Perhaps he would delay delivery of the afternoon snacks to later in the evening so they wouldn’t sit out and spoil or harden when we wouldn’t return for several hours. I know this is another first world problem. I probably wouldn’t be sharing this or have disappointment except for the fact that several times he asked if we had “excursion plans” that day or the next day. We made specific requests for the snacks, which he didn’t follow and had to be reminded many times what we had asked for. So we reverted to tell him what we were doing and wanted, which he responded to fairly well. I know some will chime in and say that we should have dispensed with the letter and just talked to the Butler. No objections to that. I must say, however, that we didn’t see our Butler very often. We saw our room steward much more frequently in the hallway. We did call him a few times and he was responsive. Perhaps my expectations for the Butler & the letter were set too high, but as I stated earlier, he didn’t show us anything beyond the ability to deliver food. Nonetheless, it didn’t negatively impact our Haven experience and gave us some fodder to discuss among ourselves. Another note on the Butler to conclude. On Embarkation Day, most of the Butlers on the Prima are involved in getting Haven guests onto the ship and up the elevator. It appears they also have luggage delivery responsibilities. So don’t be surprised if you don’t see your Butler until late afternoon. I know I sound like I’m complaining. Trust me, I really am just sharing our experience and some perspective. Maybe it’s our fault. Again, our disappointment in the Butler (and the Concierge – there’s a tease for my next post), didn’t negatively impact our cruise. Perhaps he could have just helped make it even better. Watch this space.....

With just four or five children in the Haven, our butler should’ve had ample time to meet our expectations.

There might have been 4-5. Never saw them but remember the weather was not conducive to the pool area. If they were in the restaurant we didn’t hear them. As a matter of fact, the only time I saw “children” on the ship was when we attempted to go to the speedway and games & they were likely not from the Haven. The Butler did say that children in the Haven tend to be more time consuming for the Butlers. Another reason we were disappointed in OUR Butler’s performance.

A little bit on our 2 bedroom haven family suite. Ours, 13914, was fine albeit a bit worn. From what our butler told us, these H6 suites oftentimes have children in the 2nd bedroom. Ours had some stains on the rug and some damage to the wall, but overall was in more than acceptable condition. I was concerned about how it would accommodate 4 adults, a lot of suitcases (clothes and accessories for 14 days in weather that could swing from below freezing Farenheit to the 70 or 80s in Paris the week we traveled. Surprisingly, it all worked with a pre-concierge request for additional hangers and asking the butler to store 3 of our large suitcases in his pantry. There are 2 underbed drawers on both beds as well as a storage area large enough to accommodate 2 of our largest bags (with the carry ons inserted inside). The master closet design leaves a lot to be desired. Many complain that a long ladies dress won’t hang because of the height of the rail. Which isn’t really a sliding rail. Hangers need to be lifted and moved, not slid. As previously noted elsewhere, the interior walls of the Prima cabins are not magnetic. We brought plastic suction cup hooks that we attached to the long mirror in the master closet and on the mirror in the bathroom for more hanging capability. We also had the butler remove the inordinate amount of coffee table books in the cabin so we had more table space. The living room area is just a sofa, 2 chairs, a table and two small coffee tables. Probably just fine when you can use the outside deck (which we really couldn’t except on port days due to weather), but it was a bit cramped for 4 adults trying to eat breakfast, snack or congregate. I’ll leave this post here as you may not be in this type of cabin, but I will point out that the ship does “creak”. I’ve read that it is a persistent issue when the seas are even just a little rough. The biggest negative I’d say on our cabin was the outdoor furniture cushions, which are tethered to the lounge chairs, are all showing rusty snaps on the tether and the condition of the cushions are pretty worn for a new ship. Watch this space....

Two quick addendums to my last post. 1) At the forward end of the Haven lounge is a secret door that takes you out to the (general public) Aft elevators which is an alternate route to the lower decks or the quickest way up to the Surfside Cafe (buffet), Palomar Restaurant, Food Republic, the Galaxy Pavillion, the main pool deck and the Observation Lounge on Deck 17. Your key card gets you back into the Haven there and from the Aft elevators on Decks 12-15. 2) The only wart in the Haven Lounge is the placement of window washing equipment that creates an obstructed view out the large windows at the forward end of the Lounge and in two of the window panels in the smaller of the two Haven dining rooms.

We loved the Haven. We felt like “rock stars”. Somehow the restaurant maitre 'd and assistant maitre 'd remembered all 4 our names almost from day one and greeted us every time with enthusiasm and sincerity. Same with some of the wait staff and at the bar. Our butler and steward also addressed us by name (as they should). I was referred to as “sir” more in 2 weeks than in the past 10 years 😀 Everything was first class and you could tell that NCL puts mostly their best of the best staff in the Haven. We found NO post-covid staffing issues. There are 2 private elevators which run from deck 4 to 16. Decks 6-8 are access to where most of the ship’s activities, bars, casino, atrium etc reside. 10-15 are Haven staterooms. 16 contains the Haven lounge, bar, restaurant, concierge desk and pool deck. Steps to 17th sundeck. While the inside bar and lounge aren’t huge and despite the outside Haven decks really out of play on this cruise, due to the weather, there was rarely a capacity issue. I was amazed at how the facility handled over 300 Haven guests and you rarely felt crowded or had to wait at all or very long for a table at the restaurant or to order a drink at the bar. Since our weather was poor and the seas were rough, I never saw any Haven guests sitting outside on the lounges. Only the infinity pool and hot tubs were occasionally being used so can’t comment much on that other than to say that all the pools around the ship were reported to be “lukewarm”. Good in the Caribbean but not so much in the North Sea. Despite the really poor weather, 1 or 2 shivering bartenders stood at the ready at the Haven outside bar on port AND sea days, so if the Haven inside bar gets busy, don’t forget about that one. No waiting. Also there are two restrooms out there. There is only 1 relatively small restroom in the Haven lounge that services restaurant, bar AND lounge guests and we found that one oftentimes to be occupied. Unlike the Haven on other ships, there is no service elevator that is used for early debarkation. They use 1 of the 2 Haven elevators as an express to take you down. This puts a burden on the other elevator for those not seeking early debarkation but that didn’t seem to be an issue except on the final day. Note that there is NO food service (e.g. continental breakfast bar), coffee, TV or entertainment in the Haven lounge. The bar can get you a cup of coffee (or a coffee drink) only when the bar and the Haven restaurant are both open. Overall, before getting into specifics in future posts, I’d say the entire Haven area on the Prima is first class, well appointed, and has held up pretty well over the first year of use. Watch this space…

We’ve just returned from 14 days in the Haven onboard the NCL Prima. I’d like to share some thoughts on our 2-week experience, which arguably, gave us a lot of time to be in the Haven. So as to make this digestible, I plan to share our thoughts in multiple posts: The Haven at Large Our 2 Bedroom Family Suite The Butler and our Butler Letter The Haven Concierge The Haven Restaurant The Haven Bar & Lounge The Prima at Large First, let me say that I (and we all should) respect that everyone cruises differently and may value different aspects of the ship, the amenities on board and within the Haven, the itinerary, etc. This was our FIRST Haven experience. I spent hours researching the Prima, the Haven, the ports and had what I thought were appropriate expectations based on feedback from other community members of this thread and other review sites. Some perspective and background for my comments here and in future posts: My wife and I are retired and in our mid-60s, have cruised only about a dozen times across multiple cruise lines and this is only the 2nd time we have cruised elsewhere than the Caribbean. We have cruised the most on NCL (3 times on the Pearl), but have come to prefer Celebrity and Virgin. We were initially attracted to NCL when they first introduced “Freestyle” dining years ago. We shared the 2-bedroom "Family" suite with our son and daughter-in-law who are in their mid-30s. We chose this cruise for the European destinations (Roundtrip from Southampton with scheduled stops in Le Havre, Belfast, Iceland (3 ports) and Norway (3 ports), and to experience the Haven & the new Prima class ship. Let me add that we also primarily value the restaurant/food, how we are treated and the ship’s ambience. The entertainment, the bar, the pools, the shipboard activities are not as important to us and we rarely partake in the latter. Typically, the bar is transactional for us (although the Haven bar became much more of a hangout for us than normal). And, we do not seek to make new friends on board. Sounds boring! 🤔 We spent a lot of the last 10 years traveling North America in our motorhome. And while it was (some would say “luxurious”), it was a traveling hotel room for us. We look at cruises the same way. On a cruise ship, we really value sitting on our balcony, experiencing the ports and reading & relaxing at various spots on board. So, with all that said, for those of you already booked in the Haven on the Prima (or the almost identical sister ship - Viva) or contemplating the Haven on this new class of ship, the headline is that we cannot find any reason to suggest that you should be worried about your decision. WE LOVED THE HAVEN and had a TERRIFIC cruise! And with that, I’ll add that there are some warts & disappointments (besides the Butler) as well as very positive things we observed that I’ll share in future posts over the next week or so, with the intention of helping you make the most of your Prima Haven experience based on ours.....and our opinions. Watch the space…..

There have been ongoing debates on how much to tip Haven Butlers. I don’t recall if it was discussion on this thread or elsewhere, but $20 per day per occupant is the conclusion I came to for what I expected from him to enhance our Haven experience. Our expectations were not met. So $500 for 4 adults for 14 days nets out to just under $9 pp/per day. On a standard 2 person 7-day cruise that would be a total of $125 gratuity for a couple in a Haven suite. Does that sound more reasonable or is that low? Seems low to me for even average service. I know & respect that everyone has their own opinion and tips what they want to. I DO plan to tip the bartenders, our steward and a couple of Haven restaurant staff with the Butler money I had budgeted. Watch this space. 🤔😀☹️

Rest assured it has. Interestingly, with the exception of our Butler AND the Concierge, the Haven staff has been over the top! More on that later….

I promised to provide our honest impressions on the Prima Haven upon our return from our 14 day cruise - where we are still on board. And I will. Before I get into the details, we are having a wonderful cruise and love the Haven, despite very poor weather and the narrative below. In the meantime, I have a question for this community. As @Sthrngary and others know, we prepared a concise, simple and specific butler letter for this cruise. The requests were all within the standard Haven amenities and focused almost entirely on the types of snacks we prefer and what our on shore plans were so that our Butler could simply be aware of when we would be in the suite or on shore. While this is a real “first world problem” 🤨, after 12 days we have come to the opinion that our Butler, a nice fellow who has been very responsive to our simple VERBAL requests, either cannot READ English and/or has chosen not to be or is just not cognizant of the details of the letter. His verbal English is passable. We met our Butler on Day 1, had a very nice chat, handed him the letter which included $500 up front gratuity (essentially 1/2 of what we budgeted to tip him - 2 weeks, 4 people or about $20 per person per day). The breaking points for us were that he would ask “Are you going on an excursion today?”, when the letter answered that question. We also had to consistently remind him the types of snacks we had requested. From what was initially delivered, it was apparent he was not following our requests. Furthermore, from the way that we have used his resource, he has basically just been a food delivery service for us. So here is my question. Based on my disappointment, that I spent hours reading this thread, learning what to expect from our Butler (and not to), went to the trouble to think through and write the letter, which I thought would be as helpful to him as it would be to us, should we provide him with the remaining budgeted gratuity, some portion of it, or no more than he’s already received? We disembark on Sunday (10/1). Thank you.

@Sthrngary You were correct sir!

@SteveGill We are currently on the Prima in the Haven. I plan to post sometime after we return with a full rundown of what we experienced. We’re only 2 days in but so far everything has been excellent. There are several differences however from what I read in this forum and others about how the Prima does things in the Haven vs. others classes of NCL ships. Not bad at all. Just different. We booked our specialty dining 130 days out with no problem before payment. Even booked 4 seats before we had bought the other 2 persons’ dining packages. Also was able to make changes afterwards with the pre-cruise concierge. Don’t hesitate to call them! Enjoy the planning. For me it’s a big fun part of the entire experience. Cheers!

I bring a Contigo brand coffee carafe with me on all trips. Keeps my coffee hot for several hours as I go about my morning activities. It may serve you well for your needs.

Good advice! I think our expectations are reasonable. We used to travel the country in our motorhome for weeks and months at a time. So with that, along with contingency plans, alternative itineraries and good preplanning have served us well. Thank you again!

@Sthrngary@CDR Benson et al: So we leave from Florida tomorrow (9/14) for London and board the Prima in the Haven Sunday in Southampton. I want to thank everyone for their input over the past year that I've been following this thread. Being retired and somewhat OCD, I've been able to spend an inordinant amount of time planning our 14-day experience in the Haven. The knowledge that has been shared here has been instrumental in our planning and now we shall see how it all plays out...... In return, I hope to be an active participant upon returning sharing anything meaningful that we may learn on board that hasn't already been completely covered. While I don't plan to do any live reports, if something of immediate interest comes up that I think this thread's community can benefit from and I have any luck with the Prima WIFI, I'll pop in here. I think our expectations are appropriately set, our handcrafted 2-page Butler letter has been prepared, (which I believe [and hope] will be effective for what we want to get out of our Haven experience, our luggage tags are in their plastic shells, our suitcases are all under 50 pounds a piece, our pre-cruise concierge calls have all been fantastic and our requests for embarkation day are in the NCL database, our eDocs are on our phones (and printed), our specialty dining reservatons are set, our excursions are all in place (only 1 actually through NCL) and we're excited and ready to go. (BTW, only the Price is Right show can be booked in advance (for any guests) - not that Haven guests need to worry.) Thank you again community.... and as @Sthrngary says, we are ready to "cruise well and enjoy every moment". Cheers!

Terrific post Maren. I’ve read tens of Prima reviews over the past year as we prepare for our 14 days in the Haven next week and this was one of the best and most level (with the good and bad in an educational frame). Despite my OCD preparation over the past year, your practical suggestions at the end offered some things I hadn’t read before or contemplated. I’m glad you had such good weather in Geiranger and some of the other ports. Thanks and I hope you’re feeling better by now. One question, you commented on the poor internet. Did you find any times or locations it worked better and do you think the unlimited streaming package is no better than the regular unlimited package?

This may have been covered many pages ago, but I'm going to ask again as I can't seem to find the answers I'm seeking regarding WIFI, specifically on the NCL Prima (and its Haven) and coverage in the North Atlantic (Iceland, Norway or even TA). 1) Does the Prima have the Starlink WIFI yet? 2) Knowing it's still going to be slower than home, what has the recent experience been with anyone who bought the UNLIMITED Premium Wifi on the Prima or anyother NCL ship sailing IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC for reasonable ability to access video from the Internet and upload videos and/or photos to Cruise Critic or other common sites (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc)? 3) I have a a note from a Harr Travel article about the (generic) Haven benefits that stated or implied that the NCL has deployed additional wifi hotspots within the Haven. Can anyone substantiate that or how their overall WIFI experience was within the Haven. Thanks in advance! 😀

I've tried to filter the various threads but have not found clear or RECENT answers to our questions: 1) Does the Prima have Starlink WIFI now? 2) Knowing it's still going to be slower than home, what has the recent experience been with anyone who bought the UNLIMITED Premium Wifi on the Prima for reasonable streaming, uploading small files & photos, etc? 3) Understanding that coverage can be spotty on Iceland and Norway itineraries (fjords, northern hemisphere, etc), what has been your experience with Starlink streaming WIFI on any cruise ship or line on itineraries that are primarily in Norway & Iceland? Thanks in advance! 😀