Battlement

I posted a much longer reply to this most excellent post but I either never hit ‘submit’, or it was somehow deleted. Regardless: We have also had one amazing butler, a subpar one (Oceania, on our honeymoon), and many who simply did the basics. Basics would have been fine here. This latest fellow from NCL was downright antagonistic (which is mainly the reason we didn’t go to concierge - do you really want to threaten the livelihood of someone who is bringing your food? Or has access to where you sleep? On vacation?!? I’ll pass on the confrontation, but I truly appreciate the advice). Also, the Haven concierge and her assistant were less than helpful. We didn’t need them for much, except to help remove the incorrect charges from my wife’s spa bill (took a few tries), but my son and I played some chess at the tables against the wall opposite the concierge desk (no other seats in Haven) and we overheard a lot of ‘playing defense’ from the main concierge. Bottom line: we will definitely cruise again, in fact my wife was shopping for European runs online from this cruise! I very much thank CDR Benson for both this response, and your service to our country.

Oh, you and the others on this board have been tremendously empathetic! I was telling my wife that it’s really awesome to have this board to share perspectives, respectfully, with folks who just want to have the best experiences possible. It would be pretty hilarious to see how Reddit or Facebook would react if I rolled in there posting about how my butler didn’t do enough for us! Believe me, I’m extremely grateful to get to cruise at all, as I think most folks on this board are. But I also think we know how a fantastic cruise can be, and I truly appreciate all the help, advice, and support I’ve found here.

This is very well-said. Just like every NFL team has its annoying drunk fans, every cruise line has its annoying drunk passengers. And again, I love to catch a nice buzz, meet new folks, and enjoy those vacation connections. The challenge with this particular situation, on this particular ship (the NCL Getaway) is that there was no other bar 75 feet away to escape to. The Haven lounge on Getaway is way too small, and when someone is talking about NSFW stuff at the bar at drunk person volume, you either deal with it or go back to your room (‘Retreat’ from the ‘Haven’ - see what I did there?:) @graphicguy I totally believe that stories like the ones you told happen on Celebrity as well. Maybe it’s just the way in which the Retreat areas seem to be more spaced out that has kept the ‘pack in at the bar and do shots woohoo!’ vibe down in our experience. But you’re absolutely right: like the rough seas that cut our 4 days in Bermuda down to 2, there are certain elements of cruising you just can’t control. And we still enjoyed the week, without a doubt! Also, totally agree about the Celebrity price jumps that a few folks have pointed out. The price we got on this trip was so much better, which is why I really wanted it to be great. FYI I also like to order the occasional dish from one of the MDRs at Haven/Luminae. This week, Haven was swamped, and could barely get their own food out to the tables. When I asked our butler about MDR food the one time we dared room service with him, he said ‘I only have the Haven menu. The other one changes every day’. So I probably could have gone to the MDR, asked for a menu (it’s not on the NCL app, other apps include daily menus) and then tried to convince him to bring me some French onion soup? 😂

Thanks for this, and who knows, we may try NCL again - but I very much doubt it. Much like @Sthrngary says at the beginning of this awesome thread, if my wife is happy, I am happy (because I get to go on more cruises 🙂 And I won’t go into every little detail, but our Celebrity experiences have surpassed NCL in every way for us, from the antagonistic butler to the broken room doors in our ‘penthouse suite’ (the magnets are just old and worn out - our cabin steward jammed cardboard in a few to ‘fix’ the problem’) to the Golden Corral food at the buffet (sorry - calling it like it was). Le Bistro and Cagney’s were really good, bordering on great. Still, neither held a candle to Luminae. The Haven restaurant was packed. All the time. Just like the bar. And sure, the itinerary changes affected that. But the food was ‘meh’ at best. Maybe all the lines have had to cut corners since Covid. This was our first ‘post-Covid’ cruise, so I honestly don’t know. As for your mention of it being a spring break cruise: we brought our teenaged son. There were other teenaged guests in the Haven. They were all perfectly well behaved. Also, I’m nowhere near a prude, nor am I a teetotaler. I give the old drink package a workout, trust me. But I can hold my liquor well enough to avoid yelling f-bombs, telling stories about ‘this guy with two d$&@cks I knew in Jersey’, and several more examples of inappropriate behavior that I won’t repeat here. I love to meet new people and have fun on a cruise. My wife does too. And our son has probably heard curse words and off-color jokes that would get most people fired and stuff. But that’s not what we look for in an exclusive area of the ship. The under-21 crowd was great. Some adults…well. Regardless, we cruised well and enjoyed every moment! I hope you all do too.

I really appreciate the supportive replies here. I was a retail pharmacist for a loooong time, and the main reason I left is that insane budget cuts led to understaffing and undertraining of technicians, while at the same time our reliance on said technicians was quadrupled (example: if a tech types your prescription "insert this motrin pill rectally" I, the pharmacist, cannot simply correct the mistake but must send it back to the overworked tech, marked as a mistake, that goes against their accuracy rating, makes everything take longer, and builds resentment between techs and pharmacists. (This is a small example of the many reasons your prescription takes so long these days - added immunization duties without added staff are another). I digress a bit, but I hope you can see the analogy. Having been in the awful position of being unable to serve my patients properly, I can understand the possibility that crew morale is low because of overwork. But, why does our room steward come in smiling and hustling to meet our very low expectations? Why was the swamped O'sheehan's guy so awesome? Why are a few Haven staff members smiling, while one bartender rolled his eyes when my wife asked to sample 2 types of wine before wasting a glass on something she wouldn't like (we paid for premium plus, and this same bartender certainly has no problem spending 15 minutes making a dozen lemon drop type shots in little glasses for a group of very overserved women?) Anyway, thanks @Sthrngary @cruiseny4life @graphicguy @Treasure Hunter for your support. My wife and I absolutely hate to complain, particularly when we know we will have to see the person again. The follow-up survey is another matter entirely. That stuff can actually help corporate fix stuff (or not, but always worth a try!) Gonna enjoy the last 2 days on the ship!

An update, and thanks to everyone who's been following: I'd like to talk a little about butlers. I've cruised as "high end" as Oceania and Windstar, and as "entry-level" as the $299 3-day Senor Frog's run on Carnival (much younger days...ahh). But anyway, someone mentioned that butlers are hit or miss. I very much agree, and on our current cruise, our butler is very much a miss. I tipped him $100 cash on Day 1, telling him that I really wanted my wife and son to be impressed with the NCL experience, and that I would continue to pay for excellent service. We've gotten the complete opposite. You know when you go to the store, and the person at the desk seems to want to do anything but help you? By the very set of their face, you can tell they hate their job, at least at that moment, and they just don't want to do anything but the absolute bare minimum, and even that will be reluctantly? Not one smile, not one thank you (even when I handed him the cash...don't you learn that in kindergarten?) Only an every-other-day visit, where we sometimes get snacks and sometimes don't. On Day 2, the boat rocked like crazy. This caused the delay that cut our shore time in half. Vomit bags were on every floor railing. Our awesome room steward came and lashed down the balcony furniture (he's great). All 3 of us got totally seasick - first time ever for me, in over 25 cruises. We called the butler for room service. He brought it an hour late (they get busy, I know). I tipped him another $20. He grumbled that the pork chop took 30 minutes to be ready. Then, because my wife was uncomfortable calling him for the dishes to be taken away, I put them in the hallway with ALL the other dishes from half the visible rooms at 11pm. He gave us the third degree about it the next day, making it clear that he looks bad if there are dishes in the hall. You can hate your job. I've been there. You can also be overwhelmed, overworked, have personal stuff going on. I get that too. But you cannot expect to last long as a butler on an expensive, exclusive area of a cruise ship if you treat your customers like crap. The bar is also overwhelmed, as the change from 2 port days to 2 sea days has vastly increased customer traffic on those days. I get it. I tipped a random server at OSheehan's 20$ just for bringing my kid a second Shirley Temple without asking (O'Sheehan's was the only food place open at 9:32PM tonight - the buffet was closed. Boat was at sea). That guy was overworked too, but he tried his best. I really wanted to like NCL Haven. I really did. But between Butler McCrankyton and the mostly average food and the insanely overpacked Haven bar area...not sure I would do this line again. Sorry to be negative on this awesome thread. I know there have been extenuating circumstances on this run. We've still had a really good time, enjoying as much of the cruise as possible. Our room steward is fantastic, doing his job with a smile and a ton of great service (he's gonna get heavily tipped, even though I know he's already included in the daily Service Charges). Our cab drivers in Bermuda were amazing. There's a really cool bartender who works in the Casino and remembered my name and drink order immediately (also tipped). I don't regret booking this cruise one bit. It was a great price and the dates were perfect. One final thanks for all the advice given on this thread. If I'm being a downer, feel free to delete this. But I would want to know about this week, if I were planning an NCL Getaway Haven trip anytime soon.

So after an excellent dinner served by a clearly overwhelmed (but still awesome) Haven restaurant staff, I went down to the casino to get my butt kicked at poker 😉 Staff has been great all around, although the weather/itinerary change issues have definitely been tough for them. I tipped a bartender in the bar area by the American Diner $20, and he's basically been our best friend since then. Drinks coming fast and furious! He was down in the casino later, and remember our names, drinks, etc. I also tipped the butler early and mentioned that I wanted to "convert" my wife to an NCL believer. He's been ok so far, but also clearly playing catchup from the changes. We received a broadcast this morning that the ship had to slow down due to rough seas, and the Bermuda arrival will be delayed until Wednesday. This bothers us not one bit, as we didn't book this one for the ports, but rather the ship/Haven amenities. The $100 credit they're giving us is a nice gesture though. The "streaming" internet is not exactly light speed, but has been totally reliable. Speedtest put it at around 3MBPS down and 2 up. Fine for our needs, but haven't tried to stream any shows or anything yet. Any questions, hit me up!

Hi all! Thanks for following along, offering great advice, and just being cool people in general. Also, if my posts aren’t synchronous with the spirit of this thread, feel free to delete! But, if you’re wondering how we chose to handle a midnight text alert moving our boarding time from 10:30am to 3-6pm… I got the wife and son going and we rolled to the NYC port (Manhattan Cruise Terminal, other names are valid) and besides a bit of traffic in the tunnel, it was smooth sailing (pun intended) from there. Traffic in the lot was absolutely minimal, and porters on the rooftop were taking turns to help the next car. I tipped the guy $40 and he took our bags, created a 6th luggage tag since we needed one (long story). He seemed so excited at the tip that when I asked where to park, he actually moved a cone and gave us the closest spot to the exit. Dude was acting like he won the lotto…I hope the bags actually make it to us😂 Haven check in was a breeze. We got there at 2:30, and were in the (packed) Haven lounge by 3, maybe 3:15. But even with all the people waiting for rooms to be ready, and bags everywhere, and the people who hold lounge seats with backpacks (yes, even in Haven) the staff was amazing. My son must have had a dozen pieces of the fried goodness they were passing (mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, etc) and I was able to easily get my cocktail(s) of choice despite folks camping at the bar (don’t blame them!). Long story short: so far, the Haven price tag has been absolutely worth it. We were in our stateroom ASAP, about 3 hours before they called ‘rooms ready’ for the ship. The service has been awesome, and I’m totally psyched for a great week. Wife took full advantage of the embarkation day spa deals, and is getting a treatment done now. Toenails or something? We are about to meet her for dinner at Haven restaurant. It’s go time! Again, thanks to all of you for your help. The internet package seems pretty fast, so feel free to ask anything you’d like and I’ll answer as best I can.

Sorry, I totally left off which port! You can tell I'm a bit nervous/frustrated, just because I want this to be perfect for my wife and son (who are actually being totally chill about the whole thing!) The port is called Manhattan Cruise Terminal, 711 12th Ave Manhattan, NY We drove up yesterday, stayed in Weehawken NJ (Envue hotel - nice place) and are driving to the pier where we plan to leave the car for the week (parking is allegedly not a problem - I hope!) Thanks all

@Sthrngary@cruiseny4life@graphicguy Hello folks, Well, we've received a text barrage from NCL saying they've been delayed by weather, and that instead of our carefully planned 10:30-11am checkin time, we (apparently all 3500 of us) are to show up between 3pm and 6pm. Advice? I understand that weather is a factor that cant be controlled (although there was also a mechanical delay last week, altering their itinerary and delaying their boarding). I really have no desire to start our trip in a 3000 person cattle call panic at the NYC port. The text alert specifically says not to arrive before 3pm, as the port "won't be open". As a Haven passenger, what would you do? Thanks again for any advice on this. We will basically be camping in a Jersey hotel lobby until it's time to head over.

Having worked in retail pharmacy for 20 years, I can absolutely relate! I feel like your tips should be posted on the door of every customer service business in existence. In fact, our problem is that my wife and I are often too timid to speak up and ask for "extra" stuff - but it sounds like the Haven crew can pretty much make anything happen if you ask nicely and show some patience. Thanks again!

Thanks so much for this strategy! We may try to check Shanghai out for lunch on the first port day (we will likely only get off the ship once or twice - we are full-on "relax and charge the batteries" style vacationers), because I know my son would love to see them make the noodle dishes. But the butler move is an excellent piece of advice if this fails! Thank you. I've checked out the videos of 13902, and it does look incredible. The weather in NYC is looking rough for departure day, so I hope the stateroom and Haven areas can counterbalance that. From what you've all said, I have no doubt they will!

This is an amazing thread. Thanks to @Sthrngary @cruiseny4lifeand the other folks from this board who have answered my questions. We have been Retreat devotees for a decade, and this is our first Haven experience. Like Gary, if my wife is happy, I am happy. So, my plan is to tip the Haven staff early (bartenders, Butler, maybe concierge) and maybe even let them know that I would like to open my wife's mind to NCL Haven (sorta spark some friendly competition, give them a financial and pride-based reason to make the trip awesome!). I hope we get a great butler. I'm ready with cash to toss his way (her way? are there female butlers? anyway...) Getaway room 13902, leaving in 3 days. If you're on the ship or have questions about anything I'd be glad to try to pay it forward to all the folks that have answered mine. One last question: my son is super excited for the noodle bar. All I keep reading is that the lines for it are insane. Any tips to help out with that? Can the concierge get us in the back door, or perhaps the butler bring dishes to our cabin? Thanks again, all!

Do you mean this one? The NCL Haven Luxury VIP Experience " Secrets" REVISED for 2022 It's by SthrnGary, I think. Agreed, it's excellent! Thanks

Hi there! We sail Haven Getaway in 6 days. I can't find Secrets of the Haven...is it called something else? Thanks in advance!!