david_sobe

A bottle of water left in a fridge is not a sign the room was not cleaned. Dailies left in the rack is not a sign the room was not cleaned. If they were on the bed or in the trash then maybe you could say that. All the sheets and bedding are removed from the bed on embarkation/disembarkation day. There is no proof the same sheets were used to make the bed. I think it was an over-reaction because of a few left behind items in places meant the room was not clean. The dailies would have been taken care of that night when the new one came. I simply would have thrown out the bottle of water in the fridge if it bothered me.

For those that keep insinuating that the sheets are not clean: The OP never said the bed was not made. Has anyone seen the crew in disembarkation day? The bed is ripped apart and all the sheets are removed and they vacuum. It appears this cabin missed throwing away old dailies which will be discarded once the next one comes. If the bed was perfectly made then its not logical for those to say the bed had dirty sheets. A few mishaps with old items in the cabin will always take place. Simply introduce yourself to your steward or call house keeping. These are minor issues and people are expanding what was wrong with it. If the bed was not made and the trash can was full then I would definitely say the room was not cleaned from the last guests. The OP only mentioned a water bottle in the fridge and the sink and old dailies in the rack. Hardly a sign the room was not cleaned since the last guests.

Not really. If the bed was not made, the garbage can full, no clean towels in your cabin then you would be right. Its common to find drinks in the fridge. I once found a mouthwash container full of alcohol in a drawer once. New dailies will replace the old ones. Its embarkation day so a few blips may occur. Introduce yourself to your cabin steward and explain what you want done.

From my experience, waiting 20 minutes for a tender is typical and not unusual. Taking small water craft to and from the ship always takes patience. I always found it more chaotic leaving the ship than getting back.

With a teenager, I would probably pick the new Icon. The forward penthouse is not located inside the Haven so you will be walking. The Joy is sort of the odd bird of the NCL fleet. It has no thermal spa, a tiny race track compared to her sister ships. If it was a suite actually located inside the Haven like a 2 bedroom then I could change my mind. I've stayed in a forward suite on Getaway. Fantastic cabin. Hated the long walks to everything and felt like a visitor to the Haven.

Going back to the original complaint from the OP about all the "extras" in the Haven. Yes NCL will still nickel and dime you in the Haven. You will pay extra for internet, specialty dining, spa services, any activities, excursions, soda, drinks etc. Its definitely not all inclusive. You will actually pay more for daily gratuities for cleaning your cabin, etc. Dont get me wrong, I love the Haven but its more marketing in making people "feel" special than actually treating them special. If you go back many years, the Haven had better fluffy beach towels, got several liters of spring water, drink specials in the Haven bar, etc. All that is gone.

Great to the point review. I am not a ship designer but I know why the Galaxy Pavillion is next to the Observation Lounge. The Galaxy Pavillion does not need windows since its a giant game room that actually is better with less natural light. The Observation Lounge is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows for views. When you have such an observation room with all those windows, there is going to be an area without windows. Thus the Galaxy Pavillion makes perfect sense.

Dont let the lack of Haven facilities down you about your suite experience. My first suite experience was on Sky and the bar was set very high. While other ships have a Haven complex, they are so large that they lose major aspects of personal service. The concierge on a small ship like Sky will constantly check in on you. In the morning at breakfast and in the evening. We got personal visits and even got a bottle of wine comped to us at dinner. You will not get this kind of personal visits on larger ships. The concierge has more time to be "hands on." On the bigger ships, you must go to them. On Sky they come to you. Its something I had to learn once I started experiencing the Haven experience on the bigger and newer ships. I have not sailed Sky for years so I hope things have remained the same.

These older ships dont have a Haven restaurant. Epic was the first ship in 2010 that created the concept of an exclusive restaurant for the Haven guests. You get breakfast and lunch at Cagneys which has a suite menu. These older ships do not have a restaurant devoted for suite guests for dinner. However your butler could fetch you whatever you wanted and bring to your suite. There will most likely be a charge. You will get real champagne. Most other suite guests get sparkling wine. You also will have water and soda included which most other suites under an Owners suite does not include soda and water as included items. You may want to contact NCL about the transfer to the airport. I dont have personal knowledge but read a few reviews here where it was not included or it was hit or miss depending on ship and concierge. I just remember several people venting that it was not included. But there could have been a reason like Covid or something. You will have your own personal Haven inside your cabin. I hope you do a full review and post it here. Even staying in the Haven, NCL will still charge high end suite guests for lots of extras.

The lunch at Moderno was not really from the Moderno menu. It was a salad bar and things you could get at the buffet. Yes it was nicer to sit there than the buffet but it was not food prepared from the specialty restaurant like their steak or something. Not to drift off point but I have always wondered why NCL has not opened the specialty restaurants for lunch. They are always looking for new fee places and I think many would like a good steak for lunch or a specialty pasta dish from Onda.

Exactly Does anyone remember the Golden Corral buffet brawl because someone got a piece of steak before someone else. Or the crab leg riot at the buffet. I tried posting it but because its sort of violent, its age restricted on youtube. There are norms and courtesy most people follow at a buffet. But there are always the few that ruin it for everyone.

People are entitled to do anything they want these days. I love how they told the OP they "pre-ordered" which allowed them to take pizza away from everyone else. I find that story suspect. It could have been a ruse to monopolize the pizza bar. I once saw on a cruise vlog that someone complained about a woman who took the giant container of soup away from the buffet over to the table to feed her family. Rules are for these horrible people who violate any norm and courtesy we all take for granted. This is a reason I dont like the buffets. What about the people who dont like the line so they start their own line in the opposite direction to cut ahead of the long line. People have not shame. BTW, will this work for the line for Vibe? ****cutting the line ***** "Excuse me, we pre-ordered. Please give us the last 6 vibe passes on the ship"

I smell what you are cooking. I just wanted to point out you paid for those items. All this marketing is geared to new cruisers that dont know better and think they are getting free stuff. The prices are hundreds of dollars higher than they used to be before this marketing. I am not picking on you. I just found it funny you were happy about the "free" stuff yet annoyed at all the extras. On vacation on a cruise ship, everything has a price.

Your post is a big oxymoron. You really think you got "free" wifi, drink package, and specialized dining?

Me three

You can always purchase the ultimate ice package. Unlimited cubes in drinks and delivered to your room. I took it as one of my free at sea offers instead of wifi. You may upgrade on the ship for crushed ice instead of cubes.

Funny you say that. I was watching a cruise channel that has cruised every line and every ship and they said Prima was the worst designed ship they have been on. It prevented flow to just walk around since all the space is outside. Very choppy and hard to navigate. However, they had a fantastic time on the ship. They are active people and love go carts but even commented that a 3 deck race track is just way too much space to give a go cart track.

One error in the original comparison. A Joy forward penthouse is not even located inside the Haven. You will be walking everywhere including to the Haven. There is a reason the pricing is so much lower than other Haven cabins. The Joy does not even have a thermal spa which is another downer. When I sailed Encore in an inside Haven cabin, it felt like a luxury cruise line. Our cabin was steps away from the Observation lounge which was sparsely used which really made it nice to walk there, grab some snacks and watch the ocean. It felt like part of our cabin. We were also steps from the Haven pool and restaurant. All the Haven facilities are just steps outside your cabin. Do you want to stay at an oceanfront resort or do you want to stay at the discounted hotel 3 blocks away that lets you walk to and use the resort pool and restaurant? So be careful with comparisons. Compare apples to apples and not to oranges.

I can never understand why so many are offended and melt by the phrase "nickel and dime." The issue is distorted when someone says its a choice to buy items or services vs not buying them. That is a very weak analogy. As others pointed out it comes from things that once were included that now have upcharges and even more charges. Why do people rally around the concept that its wrong to say that? NCL is not the only cruise line that does it and its done all over the vacation world. For example many Hilton resorts charge for parking. Yes, parking at their hotel is charged. No parking attendant, no garage, no cover parking. Just driving on the wide open parking lot gets you a charge. Many of us remember when all ship entertainment was included. NCL broke that mold with the Epic and started charging for entertainment. It got worse with Getaway when they were charging for a magic show. Magic shows are free on the most basic discount cruise lines. This is how they make their money and are very profitable. Nothing wrong with that. There is also nothing wrong to point out if you are bombarded with options to upgrade your embarkation, meals, entertainment, etc. We all got a laugh several years ago when NCL was charging service fees on a restaurant cover charge that supposedly included gratuities in the cover charge let alone your daily auto gratuities. There are always new clever ways to raise revenue. Yes you are free to not take any of the bait and upcharge your experience. Yes you are also free to comment on it. You gotta hand it to Virgin. They took all those complaints from customers and your cruise fare covers everything. No upcharge for anything and no gratuities either. The entire ship is free to be what you want to do and eat and drink without extra fees.

I love the Epic 2 bedrooms but I would take the owners suite. The second bedroom is for small children. The twin bed is small and the other son would have to sleep on a bunk. The Deluxe Owners suite is larger over all. The pull out sofa bed is quite large. It also has a half bath which would help. If sharing the shower is too much then take the 2 bedroom. You get better perks with the owners suite too like free soda, water, and a few bottles of alcohol.

This will be just as effective as NCL's "Blue Dot" from a few years ago. Its hard to enforce because of how hard it is to track everyone down. Some people could be in the pool, others at the pool bar. Are they not still on the pool deck? The really horrible ones are the ones that disappear from the pool deck and go to breakfast and lunch and expect to get those chairs at a later time. Everyone has their own belief on this. IMHO as long as you are on the pool deck, I think its ok to have a towel on the chair. I don't do this but I think its reasonable.

There are no formal nights on NCL ships. You are free to dress up as much as you like any night. People where anything white to the white party. Its not formal dress, it can be a white T shirt or shorts. But then again people show up at the white party not dressed in white too. Those who recently sailed Breakaway can tell you when the white party is. Its usually the night before the last night at sea.

Thanks for sharing. Its sad to keep reading how many of the many big shows on NCL ships have been removed and being replaced with the old cruise line workers entertainment. NCL used to pride itself on having some of the best entertainment at sea. When Epic launched, she was so ahead of its time with having 3 major Vegas style acts perform let alone all the other entertainment venues. I am in the minority which believes Epic is a better ship than Getaway and Breakaway. I think NCL over corrected and made Getaway/Breakaway so safe and boring. But my biggest peeve is how much smaller the venues and restaurants got compared to Epic. The Waterfront was a wonderful addition but IMHO every other aspect of Epic is better. I dont think they can prevent water slides from fading after 13 years. I have always seen NCL take great care of their ships so its sad to read Epic looks a bit tired. There is so much more room to spread out on Epic. The Bliss nightclub is HUGE. Spice is bigger and better with a real pool too. I want to go back on the Epic but she has not been back to Miami in 10 years and nowhere in sight for the next 3 😞

I remember bringing my own snorkel equipment in 2010 and they required a vest. You can sneak by with your own equipment and no vest. However if a lifeguard sees you they will instruct you to get a vest. Make sense. Safety first. I was bad and never wore one but that was wrong for me to do. The next time I rented the equipment and the vest comes with the equipment rental.