kdzkatz

It's amazing how many food snobs are having an inability to read the question of the OP and answer it accordingly. I guess you are all in such need of validation to prove you have a superior sense of taste to us simpletons.....smh :rolleyes:

The Epic was Karan and Anshuman. Gone, but not forgotten.

Karan was our first concierge back in 2009 on the Pearl. He was so amazing! He is our gold standard we compare other concierges too.

Boarding the Pearl in 4 weeks from today. Does anyone know who is currently the concierge on the Pearl? :)

I second that. Can't see the link. Please fix OP as it would be nice to see it. :D

Ok. Thanks for correction. They are price pointed separately on booking on the ships as a separate category so I guess I viewed it as a separate category.

 

We prefer the mini suites and suites on the jewel class. Balcony to mini usually isn't much more if you are trying to pick location and if you want a not assigned room we've never seen a bad mini. The added space in the bathroom shower is a major plus.

I totally understand how you came to that conclusion though as usually when the letter for the category changes it would be a whole new category. This bidding thing is the only time that I am aware of that S and H are merged together (except for suite perks). :)

2 up from balcony on the Pearl will be Suites but not Haven. Pearl and other Jewel class ships have non Haven Suites (forward facing Penthouse, Aft Penthouse, and 2 bedroom Family Suites). They have all the butler and concierge and dining stuff but no Haven proper.

That is incorrect. If you are in a balcony you will be able to bid on Mini-suites, Suites and the Haven. They consider S and H categories one category at least for the sake of bidding. I know this for a fact as my SIL and her husband are in a balcony and have offers to bid on Haven category rooms on a Jewel class ship.

Does anyone know if only one person does an excursion does the entire $50 discount apply to their excursion?

What perks will we enjoy on the Pearl in a 2-bedroom Haven Suite?

 

We have a lot of perks since we are platinum plus -- will the Haven perks be on top of those? Like with platinum plus we get 2 bottles of water pp and Haven is 1 bottle of water, so does that make 3 pp?

 

Can we order a dessert from one of the speciality restaurants with no charge?

 

any other ideas so we fully enjoy our stay in the Pearl's Haven?

Hey there! Gonna spend some time in the Haven are you? We really enjoy it when we have had the chance to do so.

The Latitudes perks are separate from the suite perks so they should stack thus 3 bottles of water pp. No free desserts from the specialty restaurants but you can pay the a la carte price and have them delivered. You can use one of the SDP trips to dine in a specialty and if you are too full or want more of something back in your room you can order it and have your butler deliver it for you. You can also use one of your SDP's to have your butler bring the whole meal to you in your room. They can bring it all at once or deliver it in courses, whichever you prefer.

Have a suite time and I hope you enjoy the Haven as much as we do! :D:D

Old thread from 2014.

Exclusive dining venue for your dinners can be in your room delivered by your butler or delivered to the courtyard. Just an option. I wish they had a dinner option on the Jewel class ships but not a deal breaker for me.

One of NCL's shortcomings I noticed a couple years ago was a map of the route our cruise was supposed to take. Alaska cruise Seattle to Seattle and was showing would go on the east side of Vancouver Island. They had no intention of cruising that route and let me tell you it is way more scenic on the east side of the island vs typical sea day. Knowing the difference I inquired with them many months prior to our cruise as I was surprised they had this as the intended route. I know they have the discretion and right to change course but it was never their intent to take that route. They never changed the route map on their site for the entire season and as far as I know they never did go on the east side of the island.

Some things they just don't care about including training their reps. We only booked direct one time and transferred our reservation to 3rd party as they are consistently inaccurate with their information and you get a different story from each person you speak to. Not the fault of the workers IMO but the laziness of corporate. They are too busy figuring out new ways to shake us down for another $5 a day.

Lol...I guess I needed to vent as well. I feel better now! :D;p

osheehans is always the worst food and service on every NCL ship. its good at 2am when you are drunk, that's about it. and then you dont even get the full menu posted above at 2am (i think that ends at midnight).

I think the OP wanted to know if anyone had a menu. I don't think they are asking what you think of it. I like the food so by you saying it how you did like it is how everyone feels is completely incorrect. Service can be a bit slow sometimes but great burgers and warm apple pie a'la mode!

If you tell them what is in them, I’m sure they can make one.

 

 

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You would think but on our last cruise in May 2016 it was amazing how many drinks they could not make as they did not have the booze for it. I can't remember off the top of my head what the drinks were but many were not very elaborate. They do have a pretty limited selection of booze in my opinion. I'm not a big drinker so not that big of a deal to me but merely an observation.

Check the Costa Maya port board. You will get a variety of opinions about Maya Chan there. Some people love it, some people think that there are much better beach resorts in the area that cost a lot less.

At $59pp with all food and drinks included I think it will be hard to find one A LOT less. I am curious what other beach resorts cost less where you get a private beach, transportation, food & drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic) as well as free use of snorkeling gear, glass bottom kayaks, paddle boards and float chairs.

We are booked for our first experience at Maya Chan this April and looking forward to it. I'm not looking for a lower price place to exchange for Maya Chan as we had family stay there and LOVE it. After reading the above statement I am curious if anyone has the names of those other resorts so they can be researched.

In 8 Alaska cruises it was blue jeans and a t shirt for me even in Le Bistro. I don't like to dress up at home let alone when I'm on vacation. No ties, suits button up shirts or even collars if I don't want to wear them. As long as your clothes are clean and not full of holes you should be good.

We had folks getting balcony upgrades last week. Around 45 days out.

The upgrades were from the bidding process?

We're on the star and people on our roll call have been getting upgrades accepted in the last few days. :)

That's interesting. Does your sailing have lots of cabins still showing available? I have had 2 NCL reps say they grant bids between 35 and 2 days out but I guess NCL can do it however they see fit.

Congrats on getting an upsell and finding out about it so far out! It gives you more time to be extra happy! :D

April 8

Was your upgrade through the bidding process? My understanding that they collect bids starting at 80 days from embarkation but do not grant any of them until as early as 35 days out. April 8th is more than double that. I know as we are booked for April 8th and it can't get here soon enough! 21 days away from it all.....can't wait! :D:D

BTW - what ship are you sailing on? We are on the Pearl.

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I know there are many more choices for dinner than there are for breakfast and lunch so there is not nearly as much need for a VIP menu. With that said, suite prices are just as ridiculous on the Jewel class ships as on the newer ones. I have only sailed on Jewel class and Dawn class so I have no first hand experience on ships with a dedicated suite restaurant. Is the Haven dinner menu impressively better than the main dining or is it more about the atmosphere in the Haven restaurant?

I'm perfectly happy with how it is on the Jewel class ships it was just something I thought about as I have read many times one of the differences between Jewel class and Away classes is the dedicated restaurant which also serves dinner on the Away class.

garycarla we also eat at the buffet a fair amount of the time and enjoy it (especially the crepe station). We are not picky or high maintenance even though we do very much enjoy the suite life.

One of the things I read regularly on threads comparing the Haven on Jewel class vs Away class ships is the lack of a dedicated restaurant. While NCL, IMO, accommodates suite passengers nicely for breakfast and lunch there is nothing special for dinner.

I would think it would be nice if they offered a special suite menu for dinner in both of the main dining rooms (only location I could think of for this but there could be other places to do this I'm sure). I know it wouldn't have the peace and quiet you get for breakfast and lunch but it would give you an opportunity to have dinner menu choices similar to those on larger ships. You could also have that food delivered to your room if you wanted a more intimate atmosphere.

I don't think roping off any particular area in the main rooms would be necessary as you don't know how many would be dining there each evening and draw unwanted attention to those eating in that area. Just simply offering a second menu with special selections would be a nice touch and I don't think too much of an inconvenience.

Does anyone else think something like this would be a nice touch or is being able to have food brought up to the Haven area good enough for you? (We did that once and it took a long time and with how far the food had to travel it wasn't very warm so we didn't do it again).

Something to be aware of is if their computer system sees that you are double booked (or in your case quad booked) it could automatically cancel all of your reservations including your OV. The easiest way to play the game is to use a different name for each cabin for a hold so the computer doesn't potentially mess things up.

I think the double booking computer thing goes for all/most cruise lines but I am not 100% sure.

Where in the buffet do you normally find them? Do they make them to order or are they premade?

They are made to order and SOOOOO good! :D

It is certainly appreciated you taking time to post photos and videos for us. Thank you!

I find it interesting and probably a good idea on how they replaced the carpet in the main room with a tile floor. I am glad the bedrooms did keep the carpet. Do you like the new flooring or has it been something you have even thought about? Looking in from the outside it is just something I was curious about. I must say I do like the changes they made.

Thank you for posting these pics. I had heard they did some sort of change to deck 15 and I see they did. I'm glad as next year will be our first warm weather cruise in many many years and that looks like it can give some relief from direct sun if desired. It also looks like there is less stuff in the courtyard such as foliage.

I hope you are enjoying your incredible room! Some day we hope to experience a Garden Villa on a Jewel Class ship.

I look forward to more pics and video if possible. If you posted a "post dry dock" video of the Pearl Garden Villa and the courtyard on You Tube I would think it would get plenty of hits as there is nothing out there right now.

I'm not sure if you are talking about the ships or the GVs. In my opinion the overall ship design of the Pearl is better than the Dawn, but the GV on the Dawn is unquestionably better than the Pearl.

I completely disagree with you that the Dawn GV is anywhere near as nice as the Pearl GV. The Jewel Class GV is far and above a nicer layout with much better flow than the Dawn Class ships IMO.