kasimir

But the OP was complaining specifically about the Prima, while the low bar seating capacity is an issue for the BA/BA+ haven bar as well.

Wow that is quite a generous tip, not sure how you got to that butler tip calculation of $20 per person per day. But if every Haven guest would tip this generously, I would seriously consider a career change to become a Haven butler. 😂 My 2 cents, keep the remaining cash and tip other hard working crew members extra. Nowhere in my books does this kind of service (that you described) deserve a $1000 tip. Keep enjoying your cruise and I am very much looking forward to your final verdict and overall impressions.

You might want to check the latest video from Ben and David on YouTube. They just uploaded a very good video on the Viva Haven. Not sure if i am allowed to post links on here. Also keep in mind that the Viva and Prima are nearly identical, so if you want you might as well check the Prima Haven reviews to get an idea.

Thanks again for your wise words and remaining diplomatic, and I completely agree with your approach in this thread to help inform us and being honest about the pro’s and con’s, so we can we prepare ourselves and manage our expectations. That is also one of the reasons we like Ben and David because they are fairly honest, which should also help others manage their expectations. When it comes to the guidelines that you listed, I am 1000% with you and those are the things we go by, especially regarding the booking period. We usually book cruises outside of the high season and to be honest so far it always worked for us and never had any issues with fellow cruisers (including kids). Since our first Haven cruise will be soon, we are crossing our fingers that the next cruise will amazing and your insights have helped us so much to prepare. I would like to add another point to your guidelines of manage expectations, that is important to us. It matters to us a lot how much we paid in the end for the cruise and since we recently became quite good at finding/booking cruises at bargain prices, we honestly lower our expectations according to what we paid. In that case we are actually not annoyed if things are not perfect and we make the best of it. On the other hand, if we are positively surprised or expectations are exceeded, we make sure to let the crew know and tip quite generously. I am not sure if we are the only one, but I also felt that Ben and David had higher expectations because they paid a total of $9000 for their 9 night Viva Haven cruise.

I don't entirely agree on this. My wife and myself are fully aware that NCL is a family oriented cruise line, which includes that families are also allowed in the Haven. And we even tolerate kids as we made the choice to cruise with NCL, and if they become loud/rowdy/wild we try to find another place to escape to. Kids will be kids and I can understand them. My biggest issue is with the staff treating the written rules around the "adult-only areas" in the Haven so nonchalant for whatever reason. On top of that, other paying customers are outing their concerns (regarding the rules being broken) to the staff and concierge and nothing is being done, which is a major issue. In the end the rules are being broken. (period) ... If this is being tolerated who stops a smoker then to light up a cigarette in a non-smoking area? This is a slippery slope and the staff is there to ensure that the rules are being adhered to and if the staff fears to do anything about the situation because they fear repercussion regarding their income, then it needs to be escalated. To Ben and David their video, and an important comment they made, when cruising with Disney cruise lines there are adult-only areas as well, and the Disney staff ensures that no kids are allowed in there. If Disney can do it, NCL should also be able to do it. So this is a corporate and staff issue, and if NCL is unable to enforce the rule then just remove the rule and signs, but then we all have clarity and as customers can make the necessary choice for our next cruise.

This statement is actually wrong and for low-, shoulder-season or repositioning cruises the sweet spot when it comes to booking bargains is to look for cruises that depart in 3-5 months. And when you see something in your price range, just book it! Haven cabins are limited and when there is a bargain, they can get sold quickly.

So thats the thing, with the Prima and Viva the Haven sun deck (on deck 17) with two hot tubs is an adult only area for 16+ and there are signs there when walking upstairs to deck 17. But what Ben & David mention (and I read similar things in the reviews) is that kids are not respecting those rules and are roaming around in the adults only area. When they notified the staff and concierge, nobody took action either. I think the Haven on the BA/BA+ ships also have some kind of adult only area.

Thanks for your wise words and fully agree with you that some of the complaints they had was lack of prior research, but lets be honest most folks will not go to such lengths to prepare for their vacation like some of us here. 😉 One thing I was not aware off is that the drinks package can not be used for room service, while the room service is supposed to be "free" for Haven guests. Doesn't make any sense to me and that the nickel dimming doesn't seem to stop even for Haven guests (inside the Haven), while they pay a huge premium. I just wanted to confirm, it seems to me that most of their complaints were related to staffing issues? I mean an understaffed haven bar leading to long wait times, no service on the pool deck, concierge unavailable etc etc... I mean those are the kind of things that I expect to be top notch in the Haven. For us attentive service is so important to a "luxury experience". Imagine flying international first/business class and not once does the flight attendant come by to check on you for a drink. Those are the things that would make us mad as well and could be enough to actually ruin the entire experience. I mean, even in the non-Haven pool area(s) I receive some kind of drinks service without needing to go to the bar. So I am wondering if this staffing issue is related to the ship being so new and NCL wasn't able to hire/train all necessary staff in time for the ship launch, or does the Haven on the Prima-class generally seem to be understaffed? I will save my comments on the kids in the Haven pool/sundeck area as I see that this was discussed at length before, but trust me we would not be happy about that either and a major reason why we don't travel anymore during high season. 😁

Anyone who has seen the latest Youtube video from "Cruise with Ben and David" doing their first Haven cruise on the Viva? Quite an interesting verdict and I am curious how others feel about it that already been in the Haven on Prima/Viva?

Thanks for the tips, we will definitely check those supermarkets out. Oh, good to know, I was under impression the there would be an arrival duty free as well.

What you did is not really a fair comparison. Those off- or shoulder- season cruises usually drop in price the closer you get to final payment date. The sweet spot is to book somewhere around 3-5 months before the cruise sail date. For cruises in high demand, that strategy will not work though. I am pretty sure your cruise would have cost way more if you booked it early last year. NCL is counting on the fact that most people book early and don’t get their fair repriced.

For our upcoming NCL cruise from Barcelona in November, we are planning to stay 3 days in Barcelona prior to the cruise. We want to buy a couple of bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne in Barcelona to take on the cruise. What are the best options to buy Veuve Clicquot in Barcelona? Worst case scenario we just buy them at the duty free at the airport upon arrival, but we wonder if they sell them for better prices in Barcelona supermarkets?

My gosh, you bring back one of the few bad memories of our recent Prima cruise in May where I ordered the NY strip steak on the first night in the Hudson’s and it was absolutely horrible! It was like eating the sole of my shoe. But yes, vacationing especially in the US became crazy expensive! We usually like to go to NYC at least once per year and combine it with a cruise, but it feels like the nightly hotel rate is going up by $50-100 each year. For us it now reached a limit to be honest and our next NYC visit in early December might be the last one for a while. Like others mentioned, I am surprised how so many people are able or willing to pay these crazy prices.

This is the correct answer, if you are looking for a great deal you need to be flexible, but since you have kids I assume that you are bound to school breaks and that’s when most families go on vacation at the same time. My follow up question to the all would be: Can someone expect more because they paid significantly more, compared to another person booking shoulder season for the same ship and route and pay significantly less? I mean we personally are very flexible and are able to go bargain hunting, but when I see that the same cruise we booked is up to 3-4 times more expensive sailing 2 weeks later, it somehow feels wrong. We understand why the cruise line does it, but sometimes we think why pay that much more for the same!? I mean is there any advantage to the cruisers paying the top $$$ cruise? At least with most airlines nowadays your loyalty miles are calculated on the actual dollar amount spend, maybe cruise lines can do something like that.

Very much interested in reading your feedback as in November we will be on the Prima for our first Haven experience, and also get the feeling that lots of the information in this forum is tailored towards the Haven on the BA/BA+ ships. We personally really like the Prima from our previous non-Haven cruise, but like you said, its just different. So in a way, I am not surprised that you mention the Haven on Prima is different as well.

You go and have yourself a wonderful time!! Maybe you can post a summarized review at the end, as I am curious about your opinion 🙂

I agree, there are some great Haven deals to be had on the Epic these days! Including gratuities its actually $8,043.50 for two people or $287 pp/pn ... but still an amazing deal if you ask me.

Originally the trip was booked with the double offer (2 CN certs), but there was a "Triple Offer" promo in June and I was able to apply a third CN cert to the existing booking by giving NCL a call.

Our upcoming Haven cruise in November will be our first Haven experience, but still think we got a fantastic deal at $3560 for the cabin for 11days. See below overview, but keep in mind that we also used the triple offer and last week were able to get the cabin repriced and received $450 in FCC.

Relax and ignore these sensationalist articles, fact is hurricanes need warm/hot water to keep strength or get stronger. The further north this storm system travels the colder the sea surface temperatures get and it will automatically lose intensity. While I am also not a meteorologist, I do live on a Caribbean island and we intensely follow each hurricane season as this directly affects us. So again, you will be fine 😊

Trust me, by the time it gets anywhere near Canada it will have weakened down to a Tropical Depression at worst. Hope the following screenshot will help: Enjoy your cruise vacation and don't worry too much.

Yes! Last year when on the Bliss we were enjoying the premium plus package and pretty often I enjoyed myself the Macallan Enigma. One server was so nice to even have a bottle arranged at another bar on the ship for us.

Ofcourse, I think many on here value your opinion even though its just an opinion 😉 Thats fair enough, and I actually have a similar opinion and would actually book way more cruises if work would not be in in the way. 😂 By the way, would you consider all consider all cabins on the Prima and Viva "Haven Proper"? As they are all located in the same area. I was generally interested in your personal opinion about the Prima class Haven, but that would be question for your other famous forum thread.

@Sthrngary what would you consider a great haven price or a deal? To better compare, let's define it by the price per person per night. (for example: a great deal is anything below $400 per person per night).

I had the same with our November Prima cruise which @cruiseny4life also is booked on, and we booked the Haven cabin in July 2023 and kept checking the Haven prices and cabin availability. Since I noticed that the prices remained low for this cruise, we booked another Haven cabin in the beginning of August 2023 and surprised my wife's parents to join us. At that time there were still roughly 12-15 Haven Penthouse (HE) cabins available, but then things went quickly and within 2 weeks all remaining Haven cabins sold out. At this time there is only 1 H4 and 1 H6 Haven cabin available for the cruise. So while you check prices, keep also an eye on the amount of cabins still available, because there is always a chance that with some cruises the prices stay low till the last Haven cabin is sold. And once its sold out, you are out of luck if you want to reprice your booking.