mearsfansinboise

Your letter was the most helpful thing I ever got out of CC! I was going to share my letter on a thread once when someone asked what to say in the letter and then I thought not to because I didn't want to get bashed for it. If you don't ask, you don't get --- and we asked and we got. Works for us!

We mentioned in our butler letter that we liked certain juices, certain milks, and the sodas we liked. Our refrigerator was stocked with sodas and replenished throughout our trip. We were not charged for them. From what I'm reading, it sounds like that may not be standard practice, but, we got 'em - and lots of 'em - for free. We asked for the can at a bar, and received it with no charges ... and in the American Diner.

No charges ... complimentary in the room .... at the pool ... and the American Diner and even at a bar where we asked for a can because the fountain Coke wasn't tasting right.

Forgot about the specialty dining. We did $30 as a base, and really good food + service (Los Lobos) we did $60 (that's really high for us, I don't know what the hell we were thinking - lol). Question: Haven dining - so, this was just at the table after the meal? There's no bill, so did you just leave cash on the table and are you meaning for your server?

Attached are the Dailies ... Day 7.pdf Day 6.pdf Day 5.pdf Day 4.pdf Day 3.pdf Day 2.pdf Day 1.pdf

Attached are the Dailies from our Bliss sailing to Alaska last week. Day 7.pdf Day 6.pdf Day 5.pdf Day 4.pdf Day 3.pdf Day 2.pdf Day 1.pdf

Yes - attached are the ones from our Bliss sailing to Alaska last week. Day 7.pdf Day 6.pdf Day 5.pdf Day 4.pdf Day 3.pdf Day 2.pdf Day 1.pdf

Sailed last week ... We gave our butler $60 in our letter at the beginning of the cruise and then $240 at the end of the cruise for a total of $300 (there were 2 of us, and our butler was very good). We tipped our steward $100 - and I know he is in the DSC pool, but he gave great service and did the requested towel animals every night. We tipped servers $1 each time they brought drinks - whether it was 1 drink or 2 - $1 per trip. We tipped our concierge $100 - he was wonderful and did a lot for us, I wonder if we should have given him more ... On our March sailing we tipped the Haven restaurant maître d' though I don't remember how much ... $60 or $80, I think. She was visible, she was helpful and she checked on us at every meal. This time, we saw her (different maître d') occasionally and heard her yelling in the kitchen more than once ... like really yelling mad at the staff < that's not why we didn't tip, she just didn't really "do" anything for us, the service was somewhat disjointed, and we didn't eat there all that much. Like others have said - do what you want, don't criticize others for how they tip, it's personal and everyone has different thoughts on how and who and what to tip for.

On the Bliss last week, the ONLY show that was accepting reservations was for one of the comedy shows. The rest was all walk-in/first come, first serve. The ship was not at capacity 2800/4000 - that could be why. Also - make sure you check the dates of shows. I did not realize that SIX was only on the first 2 days and I missed out.

My bidet. And that's all I'll say about that. 😆😆😆

I was on the Bliss last week. I saved all the Dailies and will scan them in and post soon ... You'll love it - I miss it already!

I received a CruiseCritic tote many years ago for posting a review on the main site. I use it every time I cruise and wish someone would say something. I would love to make a CC friend on a ship! Even like the lady who posted on another thread about being on my sailing last week and having a dud butler - I wish I would have known her then and could have told her what we were getting and what she could have asked for.

Ummmm ... I just sailed the Haven and I know not of these almond croissants?! What, where ... oh wait, wait wait wait is it this thing at the top of my plate?

You know what, you are absolutely correct. We don’t know what we don’t know. If I had not been on Cruise Critic over a decade before my first Haven sailing I would never have thought to write a letter to my butler. I would have assumed that they knew how to do everything and that everything that they did was the extent of what I would get. And I probably would not have thought that I could actually ask for things. That said, that would be my number one bit of advice forever and always for anyone sailing the Haven is try to letter. And gosh I hope to heck that I always have a good butler …. now that I have had excellent butler service both times, if my butler ever is a dud, I will most definitely speak up!

Dang, that sucks - especially because when you pay for the Haven, you pay for good butler service. I think as someone else said, you got a dud of a butler (I would have said a sh*t butler, but that's probably not very nice). Being in the Haven, you are not supposed to use room service (I think they may even charge you if you do) + the butler should have told you that when you first met them -- you use the butler (or the butler's phone number at night for the butler on-call), or the cards to order breakfast. You only got the canapes? Gahhhh that irks me - we got a freakin' buffet every afternoon. I use @Sthrngary's letter idea and it worked out great for us on both of our Haven sailings (this one and the one in March). I would encourage you to use that next time. We were very clear on all the foods that we liked. For example I said sandwiches and listed the kind that we liked and sure enough, every afternoon there was a plate of BLTs, chicken salad, tuna salad, or ham and cheese sandwiches. I said we like chocolate-covered strawberries and those were there every day. I saw our butler doing the snack service one afternoon and noticed chocolate-covered pineapple on his cart and I remarked that I didn't know that was a thing. From then on, we had chocolate-covered strawberries AND chocolate-covered pineapple. I said we liked pastries - we got cookies and cupcakes. I said we liked the soft pretzels and warm cheese, we got that too. We got everything we asked for - and more. Our refrigerator was always stocked with the juices we said we liked (our letter referenced pineapple juice and chocolate milk and Coke) and more ... and he checked and re-stocked everything each day. If we were talking about something, he'd get out his little notepad and say "oh yes, I saw you need more Coke" and later when we returned, we had more Coke cans. I think as Gary and others have remarked on Haven threads, it's all about communication. If you don't ask - or tell - you aren't gonna get. I'm bummed that you had that experience. Do the letter - or just talk to them A LOT (I do both). I put $60 in the letter up front, but I don't think that gets better service, the service and the getting of things come from the letter/communication. Better luck next time?

The day of - with the afternoon snacks. That worked for us, but for planning purposes you could probably ask them to get it to you as soon as possible in the morning when they’re available.

Just got off the Bliss this morning. The brand is L'Occitane. Lotion, hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. (We were in the Haven, not sure if that makes a difference or not.)

Same - the kids and I take Bonine around the clock (following the directions, of course). I also get a pre-cruise prescription of Ativan from my doctor (for “situational anxiety”) because when the seas get rough, I get a little scared and that calms me down too.

Prime rib in the Haven restaurant. I asked them to slice it and then pan fry it for me. That + French fries was all I needed. ☺️

Currently on the Bliss … got cans in the Haven pool, stocked in our fridge, and even in the MDR.

Currently on the Bliss to Alaska. The Haven is full. The ship is at 2800 of 4000 - but this is the last Alaska sailing of the season, so, it’s late and probably not ideal for some folks.

Currently on the Bliss to Alaska - the last sailing to Alaska of the season. We saw orcas the afternoon that we left Seattle, we saw a bunch of humpback whales today sailing to Victoria, and a bunch of bald eagles in Alaska. Below are some of the photos we took at Glacier Bay. The ship was not too big, and we were sailing around for four hours. The only issue really was the weather, it was overcast and a little foggy so it wasn’t prime viewing; but like I said - we were the last sailing of the season.

On the Bliss now - they only allowed reservations for the comedy shows. The ship was 2800 of 4000 capacity; nothing was ever too full for a seat.

Here – I just popped out of my room and took a picture for ya’.

We are currently in 17702 - right next to your room and the bathroom. It’s suuuuper convenient. And yes, it’s one stall.