Grimix

We headed back to the room to get ready for our Dinner at Q. It was an early sitting because we wanted to go to the captain's reception in the Haven's Horizon lounge. As was the normal case for this cruise we were seated almost immediately. We had a nice big table near the stage. There was a band playing mostly country songs, but they mixed some pop-country stuff in there as well (I remember them playing Islands in the Stream, one of my wife's favorites.) I remember thinking I'll order the Pitmaster platter so I can try a little of everything. This being my first specialty dinner I figured I should try a couple of the sides (potato salad, and coleslaw), the lonestar potato, and fried green tomatoes and deviled eggs (sans bacon for my wife the vegetarian, although my bacon loving daughter was horrified...) Lets just say, way too much food! I really felt guilty leaving so much on the table, and although we took some back to the cabin it was thrown out the next day because there is just too much food on a cruise... We ordered a couple of deserts to go. When he saw our card he said he would get the butler to take them back to the room. We said we could just take them, and he said no, the butlers don't like it when you do that. So kind of like being forced to be escorted on the ship, they were going to pamper you whether you wanted it or not! (I suspect if we tried harder we could have forced the issue, but I didn't see the need to upset the cart, and it wasn't like we planned on eating it right when we got back to the room!) We waddled back to our room, where the wife wanted to freshen up a bit before heading down to the Captain's reception. One of the nice things about the Port-side DOS is that once you leave the room, in about 5 feet you can turn to the left and you're on the second floor of the Horizon Observation lounge. We took this route and made our 'grand' entrance down the spiral staircase into the reception that was already going on for about 15-20 minutes. My wife dragged the kids with us (she needed her pictures!) but we left Grandpa in the room as he was tired from the dinner. When we get to the bottom of the stairs we see the senior officers lined up near the 17th floor entrance in a greeting line. People are there taking pictures with them and engaging in small talk. About 1 minute after we arrived Joana the pool attendant (who was there helping to serve drinks) calls our names, and heads over to us and asks what she can get us to drink. This is the moment of my greatest embarrassment on the cruise... (and you should see my kids!) My wife and I tell Joana Hi, and agree with the drinks she has already memorized we like. She then looks at me, covers her name tag, and says you don't know my name do you? (Well as you know, I do know it now!) Sheepishly I tell her I can't remember (in truth I'm horrible with names, and will forget someone's name about 2 minutes after they tell me unless I use it a lot...) To be honest she might have said her name when we first met her (she probably did) but I tell her I didn't want to be staring at everyone's name tag (which I would have to do to be able to read it) as I thought that might be kind of rude. I thanked her for calling me out, and didn't forget her name for the rest of the cruise! We hung out long enough to get pictures with the captain and senior officers (and no, I don't remember any of their names either!) Unless I'm mistaken who the captain was, he looked pretty young to me. I was expecting more of a Captain Stubbing. Our table at Q. For some reason iPhone's mirror the image when taking a pictures with the front camera. We were actually on the other side of the stage. You can see the backwards Q in the TV monitor as proof! Unless I'm wrong I believe the captain is on the right. The one in the center (who I think is the chief engineer because of the propeller on his epaulet) looks more of what you think a captain looks like to me! And no, that is not Brett Favre standing behind my wife... I had several people tell me I look like him on this cruise (and elsewhere in my life.) It's slightly annoying to me because I'm a 49er fan and he gave us a lot of trouble, but mostly because he was born about 6 months after me so if anything he looks like me!) Found this in another thread if you guys want decipher everyone's ranks! (Not my photo!)

Yeap I know who you are! Your thread was probably my first stop after learning about what the Haven offers. A lot of the information there made me the know-it-all in the facebook groups! I'm a little verbose, but if someone can get a little nugget of information that they find useful then I've done my job. The other reason I do it is because then I can re-live my cruise whenever I want. I actually went back and re-read my last one, and while my writing hasn't improved (I think faster than I type so things don't always come out on the page as they came out in my head.) I got to enjoy that last cruise again. It was a great time on Carnival, but this cruise blew that one away! Both the stateroom and service where great! The Encore might be my last in a DOS (unless I win tomorrow's lottery!) because they are expensive. This one was a 5-nighter where we had to pay for Grandpa, the Encore is a 7 nighter where my brother will be a contributor. With his contribution we can get the DOS for the price of the 2-bedroom. He gets his own room, we all get a lot more room, and the fabulous balconies for glacier viewing! Thanks for your nice comments and I hope to finish this novel sometime soon. It's turning into an almost virtual live...

On ours the one we say on day 2 was the psychadelic era. (Like Sgt Peppers) I know one of their other shows was Abby Lane. Would have liked to get back, but on a 5 day cruise there was too much to do and too little time.

Just got off the Bliss with 3 kids (Mexican Riviera so was sunny.) I'm sorry to say I never even made it up to the sun deck (I guess I would have liked to seen it now!) but everyone had a great trip. Definitely not a show-stopper for us! (Although I don't like sitting in the sun anyways...) The hot-tub in main haven pool area never had more than 5 people in it so wouldn't feel the need to find one of the ones on the sun-deck. Perhaps on cruises where school is out it's more of a mad-house.

I should add that my oldest who is 15 doesn't want get his learners permit when he's 16 because he thinks there are too many rules to driving. My wife and I are happy with his decision! We regrouped at the room, and I got prepared to go over to the slides with the kids, while my wife went to get grandpa to go to the Haven pool. My kids first wanted to do a quick game of mini-golf before the slides so we headed towards the back by the racetrack where they have a little 5 or 6 hole setup. The balls/clubs are in a holder on the starboard side of the ship. Unfortunately, this is also the last hole. Whoever designed this course did it backwards. We had to walk the whole course (and there is no walkway around) to get to the first hole. Which wasn't a problem for us as no one was there so my kids didn't ruin anyone's game! I let them play, because if I had played they would have lost big time and my son already cried once this morning (I'm a little competitive, and don't let people win. If you beat me you don't have to wonder whether I was trying to beat you or not.) After this diversion we headed to the port slide which has less restrictions than the ocean loops on the other side, and you go down on a raft. They had a scale at the entrance that gave you actual numbers. You have to be below a certain weight to be able to ride it I believe. On the Ocean Loops you have to be ABOVE a certain weight and below another. My daughter weighed and she was 118lbs. She needed to be 120lbs to do the ocean loops so she was sad, but consoled herself with the slide she could go on. She went down with my youngest, and my eldest went down alone. I just watched and took pictures. My daughter said it wasn't that exciting, but they would go down it again. My eldest wanted to do the ocean loops (it hangs out over the side of the boat, and has one of those drops where they release a trap door and you head down at around a 70 degree angle or so. We get over there and weigh us. They tell me I have to take off my hat and sunglasses. Go back to a chair with my other kids and drop those off. Head back and realize I probably need to take off my watch so I go back and take off my watch. Get back again (and my son is almost at the top) and they say I have to take off my wedding ring as well. Back to the chair. Now all I have is my swim shirt, and swim trunks. They say I should take off my swim shirt because it will slow you down. (This slide has a large turn that goes up and around after the drop. If you don't get enough speed you won't make it over the top and will end up back down at the bottom where you will be removed via a hatch, and there endeth your ride.) One more trip back to the chair to deposit my swim shirt, and my son is getting ready to go. My son didn't make it all the way, and had to rescued via the hatch. I talked to the attendant briefly and he said you really need to keep your feet crossed. He said if you don't your legs and crotch area essentially become a big parachute that will slow you down and prevent you from getting over the loop (I found out later that my son had in fact uncrossed his legs and that was probably the reason he didn't make it over the loop.) I listened to the advice and managed to make it to the end, and thought it was a lot of fun, and I didn't think it was that scary. I didn't even know I was over the edge of the boat because all you really see if the tube (although there are clear sections they go so fast and there's water in your face you don't see much.) Waiting their turn at the top of the slide. Eldest finishing his ride. He loved it more than the other 2. Unfortunately no pictures of the ocean loop this time because I was going to ride it and had already put down my phone. We will return later in our cruise to attempt it again, and that time I have pictures!

Now that I remember correctly we went to the go-karts before heading to the pool. On the way out of the haven to the back of the boat I remembered I needed to change out my flip-flops for closed-toe shoes! I quickly changed into my shoes and we headed to the go-kart. The pool deck was lively. They were doing Mr Sexy Legs, and my daughter was intrigued and wanted to watch the show. Unfortunately we told her we had reservations for the go-karts and we had to get over there. We check-in for our reservation and there were only a 4-5 other people there. They go over the safety briefing also tell slow people to keep to the right so others can pass on their left (which apparently nobody listens too), give you your hoods because you're using helmets that probably aren't washed that often. After a 5 minute wait for the prior race to end we were escorted to our cars. I unfortunately got the last car in the line so would have to struggle to get free. We get the green light, and my eldest son who is right in front of me struggles. Hits the wall on the way out. I manage to pass him. After a lap or so I see them waving some people off the track, and they look like my kids. I'm trying to go full-speed but the things slow down every minute or so because of some accident. People in front of me go slow right in the middle of the road so I can't pass. All in all I got about 3/4 of one lap that I was able to go all-out on. We get the checkered flag and hit pit row. When my wife and I get out our kids are no where to be seen. We look around the area but can't find them anywhere. I suspect they might have gone back to room. It's not a big boat so the odds are they weren't lost. My wife to her credit was holding it together, although I could tell she was worried. We make it back to the stateroom and the kids aren't there. Only grandpa with the TV blaring. I head back to racetrack to try and track (pun sorta intended) them down. I find them upstairs at the chairs they make you wait for the next race. The guy there said they were removed because they hit the walls, and they had already refunded their fare. My youngest was in tears because he didn't get to do the whole thing. I think the race track people just didn't want to deal with our kids because one of the adults rammed into my wife full on, and I saw several spin outs, and others not making way for faster carts. My wife said our youngest was trailing her the whole time until they took him off, and it didn't look like he had even done anything (my wife was slow too; the whole nervous thing.) Even more ridiculous was that they bring them to the start and don't tell the parents where they took their kids. Either way, none of us really enjoyed it. I did manage to get the second fastest lap time though on my 3/4 full-speed lap. I probably wouldn't do it again.

Change of itinerary alert! I remember we packed everything into this day. We have go-carts at 1:15pm and laser-tag at 8pm (concierge recommended doing it at night.) Will make sure to slide those important details in because I have somewhat good info on kids riding the go-karts and how to win at laser tag!

I will start off and apologize that my grammar/spelling may not be doing so well. I'm pretty much typing this right into the box for the last several posts and haven't been going back and re-reading/editing them. I decided it would be best if we went to the bottom and worked our way up. So we headed down to deck 5 where the kids clubs and arcade are. We walked and peeked into the venues. We had thought about signing our kids up, but it was a short cruise, and my daughter being 12 (going on 15) was offended that she wouldn't be allowed to use the Teen club and would be stuck the 'little' kids. They all liked what they saw in the Teen club, but only my eldest would have been allowed in, and he would rather hang with his family than be by himself so no kids club this cruise. Making our way to the arcade the kids liked what they saw. We were just surveying and said we could come back later. These arcades are not the arcades that I/we had growing up. They are breeding grounds for future gamblers. Most of the games give tickets where if you have enough you can buy some crap. Let me tell you the return on the games in the arcade are MUCH lower than the returns on the slots on the ship (which are much lower than the returns you would get in Vegas.) Up to deck 6 we explored the atrium area, and the kids looked around Coco's and my wife ended up getting a couple of the bon-bons in the front window. There was some show going on in the Atrium so the wife and kids decided to watch that. I wanted to go to the internet cafe which was opposite the starbucks and see why my internet wasn't working. I see people hanging out looking at their phones, but no line, just a couple talking to the internet manager at the desk, and another behind them. So I stand a little behind them, and look at my phone, once again trying to see if I can figure out the internet (I am in software (unmanned aerial vehicles), not IT, but I can usually figure this stuff out because I think like the people that write this software...) After about 5 minutes a fellow cruiser comes up to me and asks if I'm there to get help with the internet. I said yes thinking they're looking for the line. She says that they and all these other people (who are not in a line) were waiting first. I told her I was in the Haven, and they would just have to stay behind me or I would bring the wrath of the Haven concierge down upon her! No, just kidding, I looked at everyone there, and the fact the line hadn't moved in 5 minutes, and decided the internet wasn't that important to me on this cruise and went off to find my family. I'd stop by later in the cruise when the 'line' would be shorter. I'll skip the details of the other floors as you can just look up the deck plans. When we get deck 8 I told her we need to go look at the waterfront because everyone raves about it. We go out and my kids run for the railings. My wife (who is ER by training, so used to seeing all the bad outcomes, and so biased towards seeing those outcomes in everyday scenarios) get really nervous. We're much closer to the water down here on 8, than on 18 where our stateroom is. My wife eventually pulls the abort switch and I gather all the kids and usher them inside. Our look at the waterfront will have to wait for another time. We skip the intervening levels because those are all staterooms. On the 15th we check out the observation lounge, and my kids grabbed some snacks (read bread/pretzel rolls) from the buffet stations there. At 16 we go to see the buffet because the kids are now anxious to try the thing they wanted most of all on this cruise. The soft-serve. We enter buffet, and off to our left we see the officer who had helped us onto the ship the day before. She recognized us and said she hoped things were going smoother for us now. We said yes, that the ship was beautiful, and that everyone was so warm and helpful. We told her we were just there because the kids wanted to get some soft-serve. She says Oh! It's right this way come, I'll show you. She took us to one (of what I later learned were about 4) soft-serve stations and our kids made their first cone of the cruise, and were in heaven (I may have had one myself...) Our tour was over, because what was mostly left where the pool decks which we planned to explore later that day so we headed back to our stateroom and decided to get ready for the pool! Her nervousness will not prevent the wife from taking pictures. This is from the waterfront. We have about 8 of these exact shots. 7 my youngest eyes are closed. We tell him your eyes are closed. He responds no they're not. He still denies it even after I have literal photographic evidence... Obligatory Chandelier shot. I'm pretty sure you're required to take a picture of it if you fully read your terms and conditions of the cruise which none of us do...

Day 2 is our first sea day as we head down to Cabo. We head over to the Haven restaurant for some breakfast a little after 10 because we slept in a little and relaxed in the cabin for a while. Luckily it was a sea day because as we found out breakfast stops around 9:30, but I believe it's 10:30 on sea days so we just got in. As I didn't take notes, mostly I will tell you what I ordered. First off, I'm not a foody, nor am I that adventurous. My loves are chicken (occasionally a good steak) and potatoes, my hates are seafood and mushrooms. I already told you my wife is a vegetarian, my kids (other than daughter who is a carnivore) will eat the same thing everyday if given the choice, and FIL will eat anything he deems to be expensive like seafood, steaks, etc. I started off with coffee and orange juice. I wanted to cry because I could finally taste the coffee! I wouldn't be going through the whole cruise eating just for sustenance! The orange juice was terrific as well, and tasted fresh-squeezed. I ordered the steak (medium rare) and eggs (scrambled) with hash browns instead of country potatoes. While the food was being prepared we went to go look at the buffet they have on the side. They have selection of meats, cheeses, fruits, and pastries. Down at the end they had the almond crusted croissants I had heard so much about! My daughter loaded up on everything that looked like bread, coming back with a covered in carbs. My wife gave her that 'for real?' look... I will say I did like the croissants, (while many here may disagree) my wife and I felt they could have done without the almond extract (my wife hates it, I'm just not fond of it, although I LOVE almonds!) My failure to love them didn't stop me from having one for every breakfast! The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare, but not really that high quality. Lots of gristle, but I ate what was edible. (I know you can pre-order filets as I learned on the main Gary's Haven thread, but decided I would try and avoid that for my first time here.) Once again the service and attentiveness at the Haven restaurant was absolutely incredible. If you had an empty glass it was because you said you didn't want anymore. My wife was having Veuve Mimosas for breakfast,. grandpa was allowed one, and I was holding off until later (Not really a fan of mornings as it is...) We headed back to the room. Our plans for today was to walk the ship, and go exploring. After that we decided we would hit the pool and slides. We had gotten earlier reservations for Q because we wanted to attend the captain's reception in the Haven's Horizon Lounge. Finally the wife and I wanted to catch the Beatle's show in the Cavern Club. (I thought it would more fund to see them in the smaller venue)

Thanks, bought that for him for a Hawaii trip a year or so ago. He's obsessed with dinosaurs. He can tell you what age a dinosaur came from and many facts about them, even if you've never heard of that dinosaur before. When he tries to tell me he doesn't have a good memory I tell him you only have a bad memory things you don't care about!

One of the reasons we wanted to get out of NY (We were upstate NYers outside Syracuse for 13 years.) Mortgage on the home $1400, taxes on the home... $1000. So even once you paid off your mortgage you still get to pay $1000/month to live where it feels like it snows 6 months of the year, Hot and unbearably humid, mosquito ridden for 5 months, and absolutely beautiful for a month in fall! (I still miss the fireflies in summer though!)

So now that the shower was working we were able to all get ready, and head down the concierge to be escorted to Jersey Boys. (As I (think) I mentioned before the main theater shows were not bookable so being escorted down and not having to wait is a pretty nice perk!) Since grandpa was coming with a walker we needed to use the elevator to get down to the 17th floor. This elevator is located right outside the Maitre-D station of the Haven Restaurant, and takes your down to the Haven Bar lounge, which is right next to the Concierge station as I mentioned before. (One thing I should note for those who are mobility impaired Is that there seem to always be housekeeping carts in the hallway, and sometimes they needed to be moved for Grandpa to be able to get by. Luckily he had us to move it, and if one of the stewards sees him coming they may move it for you, but it does make it tricky because the halls are not very wide to begin with!) The minute got out of the elevator I head my name again (and my wife's.) I guess it would have been rude to pass the bar without getting a drink so we obliged. Waited about 2 minutes for the concierge to say they were ready. They took us down the staff elevator to the Theater level, and escorted us in about 30 minutes before the show. Grandpa got one of the handicap seats right as you enter, they said one other could sit there with him which my eldest son elected to do. The rest of us went a row down to the left where there were plenty of seats. Even after show time there did seem to be plenty of space to sit. Maybe because it was the first night, and people were excited to see what else was available? The show was pretty good, and my kids absolutely loved it (although my daughter was still more excited to see Six, which my wife had never heard of, but my daughter already knew many of the songs...) They really do a good production! We headed back to our room, all pretty tired after the first big day. The wife and I had plans to go down to the bar for a night-cap, but first needed to get the kids into bed. The steward had converted the couch and had their bed made, and set up the roll-away while were at the show, so the only thing we needed to do was get the kids to brush their teeth. While they were doing that I decided to look for the door to the master bedroom which we hadn't used before so that I would know how to close it when we got back. It's a pocket door, and was flush with the wall. I looked for a handle on the door, but couldn't find anything. I tried getting my fingers into the side to pull it out, and was unable to. Scared because I already felt stupid for calling about how to work the shower, I called Lea the butler again... Once again she sent someone up (probably thinking oh the idiots in 18100 are back at it!) At least this person couldn't get it open either, and called someone else (in an officer uniform, and probably someone from engineering.) They tried to get out for several minutes and told me the door isn't supposed to be all the way in. The handle is supposed to be on the side. They told me they would have engineering work on it tomorrow (because by this time my kids were half asleep) They apologized, and I told them I was just glad that I wasn't being stupid this time. My wife and I headed out to the bar for an hour or so (Yes I was greeted again as I entered. I felt like I was some kind of rockstar...) and talked to some of the other Haven people and the bar tenders. One of the nice things about the Haven is that it is so small so you see the same people over and over, and it is fairly conducive to getting know your fellow passengers. We saw the same people all week (well work week since only 5 days :(), and lots of great conversations. It was time to head off to bed so we said our farewells telling them we'd be back, and headed off to bed. Walking through the pitch dark of the cabin I needed to use my phone flashlight so I didn't run into anything and wake up the kids (Although grandpa had the sound on his TV blaring which he did whenever he was away which is at odd hours of the night.) The bed was pretty comfortable, maybe not quite as nice as the one we have at home, but soft and firm at the same time. While I didn't really feel the ship sway in our cabin, it did feel like it was shaking side to side when we were lying down. It put me to sleep in about 5 minutes... Thus ends our first day at sea. Unfortunately I ran out of photo's for today so don't have any at the end of this post like normal!

Couple thoughts on the room I remembered! Only one side of the master bedroom had a normal US plug.The other side had a European style plug (In our suite it was my side, nearest the bathroom (left side of bed when laying down.) Luckily I had remembered to bring my Euro plug converter I'd bought a while ago because I heard there lots of Euro plugs on-board. If I hadn't I would have had no power on my side of the bed. I had purchased 4 multi-plug adapters (non-surge-protected) with USB ports as. These worked out great for the somewhat limited plug situation (and I think we had more plugs than in a normal stateroom!) There are a bunch of drawers and cabinets in this cabin so if you're in it you'll have no problem bringing 10 suitcases and 2 medical devices... I had planned on eating lunch at the American Diner this day (Alternate lunch for Haven guests on embarkation day), but because of baguette-gate and the gift exchange it was closed before we could get there. From what I've read it's not a big loss, but figured it would have been nice to try it once. With the shot exchange over we headed to the Haven bar to get a drink for sail-away. We walk in and the bartenders all call out my name. This is the second time I've been in this place! I wave and say hi, and order our drinks. Have a little small talk with them and the other guests. By the time we're able to get out we have to order another so we'd have something to drink on the balcony. (For those wondering I was drinking Tito's-Soda, the wife was usually ordering a skinny Margaritta or anything not-too-sweet.) We made it back to our balcony before the 3pm sail-away, and the kids were already out there enjoying the last of their internet for the cruise! My wife and I had unlimited internet on our plan, and I had planned on seeing if I could get the internet working going through my travel router which will rebroadcast a wifi signal (with the same SSID as my home network, so that any devices we bring from home can connect to it without having to change settings) but whenever I tried getting my phone to connect to the NCL internet I was getting an error, and never bothered to attempt it. I would need to travel down to the Internet cafe to get it working at some point! Around 3:15 or so the ship started moving sideways and then forward out to the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful day in the 70s. Bright and sunny, but not too hot. We sat and watched as we sailed away for an hour or so and were getting hungry. Because this was a 5-day cruise we needed to pack a bunch of things in, so we had decided to see the Jersey Boys early showing, and figured we should just drop by the Haven Resturant for an early (for us) dinner. My wife is a vegetarian and thought the menu was a little light on choices for her. I told her they would probably make what they could for her if she asked, but there was something on the menu she was happy with. My boys would eat off the kids menu the whole week. Limited palettes. My daughter, to my wife's chagrin, would be happy as a carnivore. She's been looking forward to steak all week (and the soft-serve), and ordered one first thing. Grandpa ordered a little of everything. Usually when we go out with him he will order the most expensive thing on the menu, and several other things as well (and eat half of it.) (He tried ordering the Tomahawk steak at Ruth Chris' once, which serves two, and my wife shut him down on that one!) I ordered the chicken. As I mentioned early I had been hammering the Afrin and I still couldn't taste a thing. I was getting worried I would spend the whole cruise tasteless. Trying all the food is one of the great pleasures of cruising so I feel I was justified in this worry! We also had a couple bottle of wines taking advantage of our premium plus package. We finished dinner, and I don't think we even had any of the deserts. One of the nice things about the Haven restaurant is that they have relatively small portions. That means if you need to eat a lot you can try more things, but also keeps from getting the over-eating feeling. I had meant to take the remainder of the wine back to the room for later as I heard about here, but completely forgot! We head back to the room to get ready. Since the grandpa's bathroom was off-limits for the kids that mean five of us needed to take showers in our bathroom. I go in and try and get the shower working. It's a weird thing with 3 knobs (I think it might be standard in all the haven staterooms.) I managed to get the water on, and out of the top (not before spraying myself with the hand wand which was unfortunately pointed right at the door when it activated...) but couldn't manage to get the water to get hot. (In my defense I had had most of a bottle of wine, and several drinks before so my problem solving skills weren't at their best.) I sheepishly called Lea our butler from the phone one the master bedroom (I think we had 2 phones. One is a handheld which you might need to dial the butler's number from the card she gave us, and the other is a plugged in phone with a dedicated butler button.) She sent someone to show the idiots in 18100 how to operate the shower. He went over the 2 knobs I had figured out, the third (actually the middle) adjusted the temperature. I turned it all the way to the right (because that's how we turn on knobs in the western world at least) but that actually turned it to cold. It's the only knob that needs to stay to the left. Hopefully this will help someone in the future from making this embarrassing mistake! Dinner with a view. Absolutely great service! I tended to tip $20 for dinner because they were so great, and put up with my family with a smile. Grandpa's whispering at dinner are actually more of a shout... My kids act like kids, and love to fight everywhere. From sail-away he had gotten into his pjs as soon as he could. Little did he know he would have to get out of them again for dinner and a show!

Yes they were. I listened to them once while at the local (I think they were playing the atrium?) Also heard them playing at the pool stage. They were really good!

Thanks, it was a perfect size for six. Never felt crowded at all even when the beds were made in the living room! We loved it so much I just booked an Alaskan cruise in it for next year (same suite, but Encore this time...) Hope to get my twin brother to be a paying passenger this time. If that succeeds the 7 day Alaskan might end up cheaper than our 5 day Mexican! (We had to pay for grandpa.) As for the shot glasses this is the amazon item I used. $20 for both of them. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XVLW8KV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (We are allowed to post links to Amazon since they don't sell cruises?)

We went to one of the early comedy shows. Decided last minute (45 minutes to show) and the concierge 'got us in'. There were empty seats at the show... We also went to one of the Cavern Club shows at 9:30 about a half hour before and I was worried because I've heard you might need to get there 45 minutes early if you don't want standing room only. We got in and there were many seats. I saw one the guests we met earlier and he told me we should move to a seat by the bar because once the show starts they don't do drink service. It was a good tip! We were right next to the bar and could easily get up, get a drink, and sit back down. I was told there were about 3000 pax which I think puts it at around 75%?

The entertainment from our 5-day last week. As I mentioned in another thread I don't believe the theater was full on either show we attended.

Sorry don't know. We were spoiled in the Haven the concierge just took us down. I did notice that there seemed to be lots of available seating even after the shows started. (We went to Jersey Boys and Six.)

I guess I may have done it wrong, but the service and attitudes were so great, and I felt the money would do more for them than me... Starting with my biggest regret; forgot to tip the Maitre'D at the Haven restaurant. $200 for butler $100 for steward $80 for concierge (I intended $100, but unfortunately I had run out of tipping money, and needed a $20 to have a porter get our cases off...) $20 after each sit down meal (we skipped lunch most days....) I would drop a $20 at the haven bar when we started drinking saying I was pre-paying drinks for the day, as I too did not want to be pulling out $1s every time I got a drink. I gave the pool server $10 for the same reason. (Mostly because she hadn't seen me tip at the bar. But it wasn't until later when I mentioned it that she said the pool servers don't share tips with the bar staff. She seemed honest when she told me that so I'm going with it.) Some nights they made more than $1-2 a drink, other nights less. (Sometimes they made twice because my wife hadn't known I'd already pre-tipped...) The 4 haven servers (2 bartenders, and 2 pool stewards) where so great, and diligent, remembering drink preferences even of my kids, that I gave each $60 on the last night. They were working extremely long days, for 7-days a week... And the fact that I just survived a surprise RIF on the second day after my return means I live another day to do on another cruise!

That was our experience on the Bliss last week. Only the comedy shows were pre-bookable.

Does the Le Bistro one have a bee on top of the knife edge? If so that seems to be the knives they were using in the Haven on the Bliss as well.

Out of order thought! I remember after we went to the bar for our first drinks we headed to the concierge to update our plans. For those who haven't been, the concierge is literally right around the corner from the bar. So we got our drinks and went over there. They had to people at the desk. The main concierge (Qian, pronounced 'sheen' hope I spelled his name right!) was handling miscellaneous issues, and one of his assistants was at the other end of the desk with a sign saying 'dinner/show reservations.' The only bookable shows where the comedy shows in the social. The main-theater were first-come/first-serve. Of course we were offered to be escorted down earlier. We changed our dinner reservations now that we knew the day/times of the shows (my kids were VERY excited to see both. They love their broadway theater...) Scheduled for us is Day 1: Q, Day 3: Cagney's, Day 4: La Cucina (just the wife & I). We also scheduled the 9pm comedy show on the last night. If you're interested in our show times on our 5-day... They had a little wallet card-holder thing for each of us. I found it was good to put my card in one side, and a few tipping bills in the other. My wife & I used them, but it was lanyards for the rest... Our nicely stocked fridge; all included in the owner-suites. (Pitchers are available for everyone if you ask, but they'll charge you if you drink the soda or water.) Sorry Pepsi-people Coke is the real thing! I promised you a bed-down picture. Soon after we arrived we met Glen our cabin steward. Grandpa wanted his bed made right away. He rarely left it outside eating times, and Ensenada (although he wishes he had stayed in it at that stop!)

Because the ship traveled from Seattle with no passengers our room was ready right away. This stateroom was beautiful (I know many have seen the videos/pictures, but I’ll add a couple more, and actually have a picture of the second bedroom with the bed down that you don’t often see) In addition to the room, the balconies, omg! Never been in an aft, but I hear their balconies are spectacular as well! Right in front of us is the USS Iowa! After exploring the room, we realized because of Baguette-gate we did not get our tour of the Haven. This was our first time on NCL, and thus our first time in the Haven… I called our Butler Lea telling her we had missed out on the tour because of the toy issue, and she promptly sent someone to show us around. Most of you have seen the videos, and I almost felt I knew my way around by heart from all the research, and it is just as beautiful as it looks in the videos (I would say more, but don’t want to slip into hyperbole!) Of course our next stop after sending the kids back to the room was to get a drink at the Haven bar. We met the bartending staff, got our drinks and headed back to our room. (I slipped them a $20 and told them I was pre-tipping because I don’t want to hand out $1 every time I get a drink (mostly because I only brought $20’s and $10’s) Lets say most nights they made out ahead (and a theme you will see throughout the review, they really deserved it!) I was one of the ‘annoying’ people on our cruise-group (the know-it-all with all the answers (thanks to everyone here) but no experience to back it up. I did try to equivocate with my answers that ‘I heard’ etc so they wouldn’t take my word as 100% gospel, but I do believe most of my answers were correct from what I learned here… and now in my own experience.) I convinced my wife we should go to the shot-glass-exchange they were hosting in the observation lounge at 1:30 that day (an hour and a half before sail-away.) We definitely wanted to have our butts planted on our front facing balcony as we pulled out of the harbor so the timing was just about perfect! At the Haven before heading down I recognized my partner in crime (in the group) from a ridiculous captain’s costume he had threatened to wear for departure (but I believe most thought he was joking…) I introduced myself and we headed down to the Observation Lounge together. I had ordered a pair of Rocklin CA shot glasses that I found on Amazon. When they arrived they were horrible! The company didn’t care about the heat transfer at all and they were all wrinkled and horrible looking. I found another site on amazon that let you custom make a shot glass. I stole (probably broke several copyright laws) a picture of the Bliss for the front with the words Bliss Oct 25th 2022, and Mexican Riviera, Rocklin CA on the back. Came out great! We only put one into the exchange (in a sewing kit bag my wife found in her luggage since I forgot to get a bag for the glass) and kept the other for our own souvenir! The exchange was fun putting faces to name, but it was getting close to sail away so we headed back to our room. USS Iowa right in front of us! The vanity bath in the entrance hall. For the kids and my use (wife gets her own toilet...) Grandpa's bedroom before it stayed as a bed the rest of the cruise. You can see the rollaway for the kids in the background. Grandpa's bathroom all to himself Already lounging in the massive living room! The crown jewel of the suite! Something nobody talks about, but we absolutely loved. The walk-in closet which almost seems about the size of my first inside cabin on Carnival. We had our main suitcase opened on that bench the whole cruise to make getting things pretty easy! Safe is behind the door on the right. The front balcony. Might not be as deep as aft, but I think it runs about a 1/4 of the width of the ship. (Might be exaggerating?) The side balcony right off the main forward balcony. I forgot to take pictures of the third balcony right off the master that has 2 chairs for sitting with a little privacy from the rest of your group. The giant master bath... Picture of the one place I wasn't allowed to use in the suite, oh, and the soaking tub.... View out of the shower got better as the cruise went on! (Mind out of the sewer people, I'm talking about the ocean views...) Front of the shot glass I had custom made And the reverse!

We wake up. Cruise day! I want to get to the port early because I figured we might be able to get on early since there were no passengers getting off. We took advantage of the hotel's included breakfast and ordered a couple Ubers, as I once again had to haul all 10 suitcases and 2 medical devices down to the curb, and into 2 different Ubers. We get to the pier! Yay! Life is so good! I find a porter, and give him a $20 (which is probably underpaid for the 10 suitcases, 1 medical device I handed off to him. We kept grandpa in the wheelchair) We get through security and see a lady with a Haven sign. We tell her we’re in the haven. She says great! We’re already boarding! (It’s 10:10 when we arrived) I see you have a wheelchair let me escort you to the elevator! We get in, and she tells us to have a wonderful cruise! Getting to the second floor (you experienced cruisers might have noticed something here was off… but we didn't. We're just following instructions!) we look for another haven sign. Walking to the gangway there is just someone asking for our boarding passes. We say what passes? They escorted us here to the elevator. Yeap, we were supposed to get our passes on the first floor! My wife asks if we really have to drag my dad all the way back down saying this isn’t a great start to the cruise (it wasn’t… From my research part of the "annoying things" I told my wife that embarkation should be a breeze; we'd wait in a lounge where they would check us in quickly and then escort us onto the ship as one of the first passengers) Sure enough we do have to drag him back down. They do escort us right to an agent who checks us in and says we're good to go, and we head back to the elevators. Back at the gangway the guy looks at our cards and says you’re in the Haven you need to be escorted onto the ship. My wife who just wants to get the vacation started starts telling them those whole story. An officer overheard, and she kindly offered to escort us on. (I unfortunately didn’t get her name (I'm horrible with names as you will learn later), but we did see her at the buffet the next day where she remember us, and after hearing our kids desire for soft-serve took them to the machines.) We're finally being escorted up the gangway and to the ship so maybe we can now start to get into vacation mode! Halfway up the gangway my youngest son starts screaming and crying. My wife and I look at him and ask him what the problem is? He screams he left baguette back at the hotel (Baguette is a stuffed ‘animal’ bread that looks like a baguette. His favorite stuffy he drags everywhere with him. But apparently doesn’t care enough to keep track of…) While we’re walking my wife starts calling the hotel to make sure they can find it and how we can get it back. The officer continued to walk us on to where the dedicated Haven elevator was. Our butler Lea was stationed at the elevator and introduced herself, and offered to escort us to our stateroom as she saw we were in one of her rooms. On the way up to the room my wife has tried to get the hotel to put Baguette in a Uber and she would go down to meet it before sailway. The manager said, no he’d drive it over. My wife explains this whole ideal to Lea and she offers to take her back down on the staff elevator after walking us to our room. We make my son go with her so he learns at least a little from his mistake… About an hour later she comes back. Apparently she had told the manager the wrong port (long beach). He had called her to say he was at the Carnival ship and asked where she was. That’s when she realized what happened and told him she was at the port of Los Angeles. The manager got back in his car and headed to our ship to deliver Baguette. My wife tried to give him a big tip to thank him, but he refused to take any money, and my son was reunited with Baguette. Big shout out to the manager, and we plan to send a big thank-you to corporate on his behalf! He might have saved the cruise of our youngest passenger! My food from the hotel breakfast. The food got much better later in the cruise, I just didn't take pictures of it.. (Plenty of food-pron pictures on this site though!) I believe I started with this pic, but this was us just before going up the gangway. Don't have many pictures of embarkation because of excitement and baguette-gate. My youngest son reunited with baguette, and my wife's well deserved first ship-board drink. (Don't tell her I posted this as it did not go through the approval process, but it was the only baguette re-united pictures I had!)