FPJC03

One thing to consider concerning the forward penthouse haven cabins is that they are VERY FAR forward and you will experience a lot more motion than midships. If that is a concern, then you need to move back in the ship. The aft cabins will have the noise of the engines and are very far from the Haven complex.

We had originally bid on upgrades on forward and aft Haven suites, but deleted them in favor of SPA and COURTYARD haven suites for our March 10 getaway cruise. Plus they are less money to bid on upgrades too.

You should compare their rates that you would pay VS doing hotel booking on your own. Trip from MIA to Miami Beach is only about $20 via Uber or Lyft. And then another $10 to Port.

Sailing on Getaway on 3/10 and booked into midship mini-suite - changed bids 

OLD:  Forward suite, Aft suite, spa suite, courtyard

NEW: cancelled forward and aft suite bids.  Increased spa suite bid from $500 to $650 (upper limit of poor), increased courtyard bid from $600 to $700 (same level). Hope to snag one of them by end of February or early March,....

Will second staying at the NATIONAL on Collins and 17 St. It is far enough away from the Spring Break crowd but just a block from the Lincoln Road shopping and restaurant district. Amazing long pool and right on the beach. We are staying in a Cabana room, which overlook that spectacular pool.

Interesting that he prefers CARNIVAL and not NCL. My little brother loves Carnival because it is a party line and always have drink specials. If you prefer a quieter crowd, choose Celebrity or Holland, usually an older and calmer demographics. But every ship will have drunks and morons on them. When you have 4000 people on a ship, even if one percent are bad, that is still 40 drunks making noises. Happens on every ship and even all inclusive resorts too.

I know that you don't get the perks of Haven when you win an upgrade bid. But if we won a SPA HAVEN suite, do we get passes to the Thermal Spa included? We were considering getting 2 since we are in mini-suites and are going during spring break (Mid March).

Agree with Zqvol that if you are seeking a calmer quieter cruise, then Celebrity, HAL and Regent or Crystal is the way to go. Have sailed on 3 of 4 of them and can tell you that the experience is quite enjoyable and luxurious. Celebrity and Holland are about the same price range of NCL and Royal but the demographics are older and calmer. But as many have said, the crowd can vary according to the seasons and itinerary. MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL.

Uncle Mike, 

Maybe it was your emphasis on downgrading your cruise experience simply for the high internet charges. If that is important to you both, then cut back on other perks on the ship. If you tend to be less social, don't visit the specialty restaurants. Since you are a cruise veteran, there are positive and negatives on every line. 

But in the end, if you put your opinion on social media, be prepared to take all the critique. If you don't like it, then stay off the boards. Unfortunately, not everyone will be sensitive to your issues. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all...

Just got our upgrade email from NCL and here are our bids:

H9 Spa - bid $450

H7 Forward - bid $500

H5 Courtyard - bid $500

Hope those are reasonable even though they are ranked in the poor category.

Just got our upgrade email from NCL for our 3/10 Getaway Western Carib cruise. Here are my bids:

$450 for H9 Spa

$500 for H7 Forward

$500 for H5 Courtyard

We are currently in a mini-suite midship cabin on deck 11. If we don't get it, we will be ok with our current location.

Wish us luck....

Mr Mike45 - couldn't have said it better! While I respect everyone's critique and honest reviews, looking at CC is like Olympic scoring - you throw out the highest and lowest scores and make up your own mind as to what is the most important part of a cruise and go with that line and ship that fulfills those priorities the most. Many people believe that the upgrade fairy will grant them a huge upgrade for next to nothing. Some posters will fib a bit to get their point across. My philosophy is that every vacation is special and different and I want to get the best service and cabin location that I can reasonably afford. So if by going from a mini-suite to Haven is available for $500/pp, then I will spring for it. As others have said, flying first class or coach gets you to the destination at the same time, but with different comfort levels. So you make your choices and accept it as it is..l

Birdtravels - appreciate your commentary and advise. But having checked availability of Haven suite on the 3/10 cruise, there are about 3/4 of the four categories available (H5,6,7,9) on the Getaway. So I am thinking that bids would be fairly low, maybe about 20% of so over minimum or some categories might go for the minimum price. We have a mini-suite midship cabin, so would not be heartbroken if we don't get it. Got an upgrade on HAL Konigsdam last January to their Neptune suite, similar to Haven. But it cost us $1,000 pp for that one. Felt it was worthwhile then, since we only take 1 vacation a year in winter. We just wanted to narrow down our choices for bid to cabin that will be worthwhile for us overall.

I sympathize with your complaint about nickel and diming passengers, but unfortunately it is prevalent in most cruises except for the higher end (Regent, Crystal, Cunard) but there you pay a much higher base price and are similar to all-inclusive land resorts. We have sailed on Regent and enjoyed the high level of service. But we have been on RCL, Celebrity, Princess and Holland and have had excellent service and cuisine on all of them. I would say that Holland has the best food and service, followed by Celebrity, Princess and then RCL. If you have traveled on budget airlines and even some of the majors, you have seen charges for items that used to be included. Travel companies are changing to a la carte pricing to attract folks to a cheaper base price. Kind of like car companies advertising a low lease rate. But all in all, cruising is a relaxing vacation and if you are not pleased with a line, try others, so much competition out there. 

After reading reviews and seeing Youtube videos on all the Haven suites, I reduced my preferences to a few categories.

1. Forward facing - if we can bid on a higher deck ((12-14) with a better view, I would bid on this one first. Closer to the Haven area than aft suites and second largest cabin size.

2. Spa suite - being on deck 16 and close to the Thermal spa area and Haven, Also it is the lowest priced Haven category.

The aft cabins are huge  but seem like it is a super long walk to the Haven area.

The courtyard suites would be ok but they are adjacent to the 2 bedroom family suites - it is spring break and school is off, so TOO MANY KIDS....

Any commentary and recommendations are happily appreciated. Only 81 days till our cruise on Getaway....

We are on the GETAWAY on March 10. Did mock reservation on the NCL site and it seems that there are still 7 out of 8 forward penthouse Haven suites still available, about 75% of the courtyard suites open, and over 50% of the aft suites available.

So if we were going to put in a reasonable bid, how much over minimum is enough to have a good chance of success but not too much? Looks like minimums on the previous cruise were between $400-750 depending on category.

We will be able to bid on upgrades on Thursday for Getaway March 10 cruise. Have paid for midship mini-suite so far. Looking at a few categories of Haven suites, not sure which is best for us. The aft penthouse has the largest rooms and balconies but is so far away from the Haven area. The forward facing suites are second largest with small balcony. My question on them is do you actually get a balcony or just a sliding window? Since they face into the wind, is that an issue? Also, only decks 9-11 are available for sale now, so they are also several decks from Haven area. The Spa and courtyard suites seem to be convenient, since they are adjacent or inside the Haven complex. But those cabins are the smallest.I have seen recommendations on all four categories so am unsure as to which is best.

Our last cruise was on HAL and got upgrade to a Neptune suite which was just down the hall from the Neptune club lounge. HELP PLEASE.

PS - we are part of a group block that are all on deck 11 mini-suites. But we are ok with moving if we get a great deal.

Our upgrade date is 12/20. Booked on Getaway for 3/10 cruise in mini-suite midship. Would like to get into basic Haven Suite. What is a reasonable bid going from mini to Haven? I know that full price is at least $2k per person more. What is considered a winning bid? Also, if we don't bid on Haven, what upgrade would we choose? All aft mini suites sold out, some aft balconies are available, but looks like same as our mini.

We are booked on the Kdam 10-day Caribbean cruise leaving Jan 14. From reviewing the available cabins, it looks like the ship will be almost full, which for a longer cruise in mid January is a great sign.

We also chose the Southern Caribbean because it was largely untouched by the two hurricanes. Even HMC and Grand turk were relatively unscathed.

Have been on Carnival, Celebrity, Royal and Regent 7 Seas before. Carnival might have the best entertainment, Celebrity some of the best food and Royal a blend of it all. But I am also a Senior Trip Advisor, having written hundreds of reviews on hotels and resorts before. It has taught me to throw out both the terrible reviews and the overly gushy ones as well. Some people are never satisfied. They pick at minor nuisances (poor internet, smoking in the Casino) and make it into a major issue. Having been a cancer survivor and heart bypass recipient, I enjoy every minute of every vacation. Life is too short to whine about little things.

Koningsdam is a lovely ship and we will definitely enjoy the food, service, entertainment and diverse ports.

You might have more luck in getting a reasonably priced hotel in downtown Brooklyn. There is the ALOFT and MARRIOTT hotels that are within 20 minutes drive of LGA. Then it is close to the pier from there over the Brooklyn Bridge. Very nice area too, with Junior's Restaurant (best cheesecake in US).

It did seem a bit higher than I would have liked, but it is a 10 day cruise with 3 at sea days. So thought having a bigger cabin with the Neptune lounge, priority boarding and other perks will be worth it. First time on HAL cruise, after RCC, Celebrity and Regal 7 Seas. We only take one cruise a year, so splurging on this one was ok for us. Looking forward to seeing the Meet and Greet crowd on the Jan 14 sailing.

Our cruise agent just sent us an offer to upgrade our cabin. For $1500/pp we will go up to a Neptune suite midships on Deck 7. Sounds like a great deal, since retail price difference is about $4k per person. So fellow Neptuners, what do we get that the others do not get? Will be on the Koningsdam Jan 14 sailing.

Some people see the glass half empty, never look at the bright side. Being on a cruise should be a pleasant relaxing experience, whether you paid $500 or $5,000 for the trip. We try different cruise lines so that we appreciate the good points of each ship. Never understood those who vacation in the same place every year or go on the exact same ship multiple times. Life is too short to not expand your horizons.....

I guess that the best way to respond if you have good or bad experiences, is to EXPLAIN why that is so, instead of saying that you had great or terrible customer service. What one person might feel is great or terrible, might not be a big deal to others. Have seen posts that rate a cruise as terrible because internet costs were so high! Really? Aren't you on a cruise to get AWAY from it all?

We have been Celebrity Cruisers too, been on the Millie in her first year and Summit twice. Really appreciate the fine service and excellent cuisine on Celebrity. Hearing from friends about HAL, they seem to be in the same class as Celebrity and roughly the same demographic, maybe a bit older. Since we are just at retirement age, thought we should try out another line for a comparison. Will be on the January 14 Kdam cruise as well.

Want to stay at a classy boutique hotel a block from the ocean on the Intracoastal? Try PILLARS HOTEL. Only 25 rooms on 2 floors. Rated as the number TWO hotel in all of Fort Lauderdale on Tripadvisor. We will be there for 3 nights post-cruise in January. Short Uber drive to the airport or from the port.