PatJim

We were told in November at Haven check-in pre-boarding, that NCL no longer uses pre-cruise online check-in photos. They’ve gone back to taking your photo at the pier. When I asked why, they said too many passengers were downloading older photos of themselves or even pictures of others, animals, etc. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Now we just ignore downloading our photos ahead of time, as they’ll take them, anyway, at the pier.

I agree with you about Le Bistro’s fillet mignon. Other than at the Haven restaurant, it’s the best on NCL ships. However, don’t count on avoiding the surcharge if you order it without fois gras. On the Getaway last November, my sister ordered it without, as she doesn’t like liver of any kind. She still had to pay the surcharge; the restaurant refused to remove it. Their explanation is that Le Bistro has fillet far superior to anywhere else on the ship, so the surcharge is not related to whether fois gras is included or not, but to the quality of the beef. So ridiculous! Of course it’s to cover the added cost of this delicacy. Many people opt out of having it, either because—like my sister—they don’t like the taste, or for ethical reasons related to how the ducks are treated. So NCL gets the surcharge, often without having to part with the fois gras. Another reason we were told that the surcharge couldn’t be removed—their computer system for orders has no way of deleting it! Fortunately, we were in the Haven, and the Concierge removed it from her bill. It’s not the $—we tip Haven bartenders more than that—it’s the dishonesty.

We regularly sailed out of NYC for years Dec. through March, 1st on the Dawn, then 20+ cruises on the Gem. It’s great to take a break from winter weather here in the Northeast! But since my sister was suddenly widowed, we switched to cruising with her in November, when she flies back here for Thanksgiving with family. Recently we’ve decided to do both. We have our November cruises booked through 2025, but were surprised to find less choices from NCL for longer cruises after New Years, and no 14-day cruises. We take what we can get! Escape 12-day sailing February 23, 2025, and the Breakaway 12 day February 22, 2026. Would ❤️ for you to join us, Bjlaac. BTW, yesterday we saw a former Costa ship at the MCT. Didn’t know they sailed out of Manhattan. It’s now called the Carnival Venezia, the first of Carnival’s new Vista-class “Costa as Carnival” ships. Definitely looks like a Costa, not Carnival, ship.

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. We’ll definitely follow your recommendations.

I hear you. That’s also why we’re bringing our own, at least for cruises where we don’t have to fly to board. BTW, a TA told us that NCL will end the Free at Sea program “soon.” Anyone else know about this?

I learned from a butler that if you return to the ship within 2 hours of departure, to look for a Haven staff member after going through ship security. They stand by a curtained-off area, and will escort you by staff elevator to the Haven. If there are several gangplanks open, just be sure to go up the one closest to the Haven location (i.e. forward gangplanks on -away ships). Last November on the Getaway at one of the ports, we were in a loooooooong line to board, and it started to rain. A butler came down off the ship to locate Haven guests and escorted us directly up the gangplank.

❤️❤️❤️ ice wine! Inniskillin is available at the Haven bar. It’s pretty good.

It was on the Dawn’s Le Bistro, and the discount also included waiving the surcharge for eating at the restaurant. Sometime around 2009-10. Sale was so good, we bought several bottles to bring home.

Jim and I will be on the Prima for the first time in November, in a Haven 2-bedroom cabin, so we love the reviews that you and others have posted here. I’ve read that the master bathroom in this suite doesn’t have hooks or anywhere nearby to put the bath towels after showering. Was this a problem for you? We can bring Command or 3M hooks for a temporary fix, but are they needed?

Also completely agree with you. For our next cruise on the Joy to Bermuda in May, we’re bringing our own wine. A good bottle of champagne and a Rombauer Chardonnay. NCL years ago used to carry very good wines, including Rombauer. Guess for a cruise line known for “value,” not enough passengers were willing to pay for more upscale wines. We had a great time, for a while, tracking down discounted brands they were dropping, like Penfold Grange and Robert Mondavi cabs. Several times, we were helped by the Beverage or Food and Beverage managers, after we met at the Captains’ Haven receptions. it’s puzzling that as NCL tries to rebrand itself as a more upscale cruise experience, they are downscaling their alcohols and wines. On our last cruise, on the Getaway in November, even that dreaded $4 bottle of bubbly, reappeared in our Haven cabin😱.

The surcharge for foie gras on the fillet in Bistro is relatively new. It wasn’t there on our previous NCL cruises (last was November 2022), since it was added to the “new” menu. Good to know that if foie gras isn’t ordered, the surcharge is removed. We’ve never had a bad fillet there. Since food is subjective, why not look at the menus for each, to see which items appeal most to you. I do like that you can choose a smaller size fillet at Cagney’s- less wasted food on my plate. Re Cagney’s vs. Le Bistro, we used to have a “competition” between the two! Sometimes Cagney would win, and sometimes Bistro. In the last several years, though, it has been Bistro, hands down. We think the quality and execution of meat in Cagney’s has deteriorated.

Really enjoying your review and photos. Can’t wait to meet you Sunday at the M & G!

Not being a morning person, I need coffee to wake me up and get me going! In earlier days in an NCL suite, we had coffee machines (Lavazzo, I believe) with milk attachments, and I could brew my own latte every morning. Probably more upkeep than NCL felt they were worth, they were r replaced with the current Nespresso. Now I order a hot skim milk delivery every AM, which the butler delivers along with almond croissants. Can have my café au lait and eat my cake, too! The coffee pods are regular & espresso. You can request both, or one of your choice. I’m the only coffee drinker in the cabin, so the pre-concierge desk notes my preference for espresso only. My sister & DH are tea drinkers. It’s necessary to run water once through the machine to clear the coffee taste before brewing tea. Re the French press in the Haven restaurant, I usually find it too weak, so I ask the server not to press the top down. Letting it sit longer makes for a stronger brew. Again, I order hot skim milk for the coffee, or sometimes a couple of lattes or cappuccino. The best Haven coffee was the coffee machine in the Joy’s Haven lounge. For that, I got up! You could choose a latte, cappuccino, espresso…. I dream about that machine!

Looking forward to your review. To date, Oceania is out of our price range, but then, we haven’t looked that closely at the line as an alternative to NCL Haven. Wishing you safe sailing.

Don’t think NCL will stop scheduling cruises out of NYC winter 2025. It’s a popular port for passengers and crew.. Think they just haven’t finalized their schedules. We’ve been watching November NYC cruises for ‘25, and they are not yet posted. We used to sail regulary in December and February-March out of NY. (For now, it’s only November so my sister can sail with us before she joins family here for Thanksgiving), and agree with Treasure Hunter about not minding 2 days of cold weather to be in the sun somewhere without having to board a plane to get there. 😎

Was told by pre-cruise concierge that Alex is concierge on Getaway Nov. 4 sailing. We sailed w/him when he was assistant concierge and thought highly of him.

Loved all your photos 💕. Made me nostalgic for England again. (My 1st husband is British, from West Sussex.) If you need anything after your TA and don’t have enough time after docking in NYC, I’m more than happy to get it for you ahead of time, and bring it on board Nov. 4th. Just let me know.

Shouldn’t be a problem. We just called the TA who booked our cruise.

You could also, pre cruise, change from first listed passenger to second listed, and put the person using the credit as first passenger. We’ve done this several times. But check, beforehand, that you won’t lose any other benefits only going to passenger #1.

Brilliant idea. Thank you so much for your informed advice. We’ll definitely follow it if we run into this situation again. Thankfully, it’s only happened once to us, so far. Most smokers understand the seriousness of NCL’s smoking rules and obey them.

This is called Value Spending. A wonderful financial advisor once explained it to me, and it started us tracking our spending habits. The premise is 2-fold: #1 If you know you’re saving for the things you truly want, you won’t mind saving by not wasting $ on things you don’t really need. #2 You won’t know how much you’ll have for what you want, until you look at how much you’ve wasted spending on things you didn’t really value. Her example was when she started tracking her spending, she was shocked at how much she spent on clothing she didn’t need or really enjoy wearing, so she put that $ towards things of greater value to her. For us, we put it toward booking suites and being able to share with family and close friends. There are lots of other things we could spend discretionary $ on, but cruising in a suite tops our list for now🥰

We’re not complainers, either. But once our cabin neighbors were smoking on their balcony. This is a big no-no and safety issue on ships. I politely knocked on the balcony divider, then politely reminded them they couldn’t smoke there. After going inside, they came out and started smoking again. That’s when I called security, who came immediately. Between the time I called and security knocked on their cabin door, I heard their toilet flush. Naturally they denied having been smoking. Security visited us to thank us profusely for alerting them. After dinner that night, we returned to our cabin to find there had been no turn-down service, dirty dishes still on table, etc. Then we noticed someone outside our cabin door had changed our sign from Turn Down to Do Not Disturb. Wonder who??? We just had to laugh.

Thanks for the SIX pics🥰 Enjoying your Getaway TA posts. Patricia

Good for you. 21 days would be heaven! Wish we had thought of that. We’ll be joining you from NYC on November 4th. Jim has had some recent medical issues, so 🤞we won’t have to cancel.

In the unlikely event Canada reinstates COVID-related documentation, it’s easy to apply online and get them within minutes. It happened to us last September, when our Bermuda cruise was rerouted to Canada/New England because of weather. We found out about the itinerary change 8 pm night before embarkation. Applied and received Canadian permission that night. Met a woman in line at passenger terminal next morning who didn’t know about Canadian requirements, and she was able to obtain document before boarding.