Deluxe Owner's suite on the Epic questions, and a few other Haven ones as well.

Ok, I have been searching the forums for an answer to this question, and so far haven't really found anything that answers it, so I created this post. If there is an answer somewhere else, please point me to it.

I have recently booked the H2 Deluxe Owners Suite on the Epic for this January, and am trying to figure out a couple things.

The first thing that I am trying to understand, and NCL's site isn't very helpful on this, is do we get the rumored 3 bottles of liquor in our suite? If so, when and how, do we let them know what we would like as our 3 bottles? Following along on that it appears from some posts out there that in these suites we get free soda and water as well in the room. Is that true?

The second thing is how does the priority tendering work? It seems from most posts out there that you need reservations for a particular tender to go ashore?

I guess the third question, is do we need to make reservations ahead of time for any of the specialty restaurants or can we really just wing it since we are in the Haven?

Anything else we should know about the Haven? We have done Disney 3 times before in their one bedroom concierge level which was amazing and great. This trip is without the kids, so anything that is a must do on the Epic that we should know about.

Thanks in advance.

Ok, I have been searching the forums for an answer to this question, and so far haven't really found anything that answers it, so I created this post. If there is an answer somewhere else, please point me to it.

 

I have recently booked the H2 Deluxe Owners Suite on the Epic for this January, and am trying to figure out a couple things.

 

The first thing that I am trying to understand, and NCL's site isn't very helpful on this, is do we get the rumored 3 bottles of liquor in our suite? If so, when and how, do we let them know what we would like as our 3 bottles? Following along on that it appears from some posts out there that in these suites we get free soda and water as well in the room. Is that true?

Yes it is true. Your butler will have you select from the choices and he will bring to you that first day.

 

The second thing is how does the priority tendering work? It seems from most posts out there that you need reservations for a particular tender to go ashore? No reservations needed. The concierge will arrange a meet time and place for you.

 

I guess the third question, is do we need to make reservations ahead of time for any of the specialty restaurants or can we really just wing it since we are in the Haven? In my experience only reservations needed beforehand would be for Teppanyaki as their seating is extremely limited. Other than that your concierge should be able to handle any requests.

 

Anything else we should know about the Haven? We have done Disney 3 times before in their one bedroom concierge level which was amazing and great. This trip is without the kids, so anything that is a must do on the Epic that we should know about.

 

Thanks in advance.

Please see above answers from my experience. You will love it!

Honestly, I would make reservations for all of the specialty restaurants before boarding. We've had mixed luck with the concierge getting/changing reservations for us. Besides Teppanyaki, I think Cagney's and Le Bistro both fill quickly. You might have some luck winging it at the beginning of the week, but towards the end those two restaurants really seem to fill up.

And while the Epic is not my favorite ship (mine is the Escape), it is without a doubt my favorite Haven. Enjoy!

It's best to make reservations yourself then use the concierge to make adjustments if needed.

I would make reservations first for the time you want and if this changes or the time is no open just book a time and the concierge will handle it once you are on board. This last time we changed and received the new times for our reservations twice. Since we are older and prefer a relaxed quiet zone with "adult beverages" we lived in Posh both times on the Epic. Everyone was nice and every request though not many were handled. We enjoyed eating in the Haven restaurant and after canceling our second Cagney's reservation we happily went to the Haven for dinner instead. We never sat in the Haven pool/hot tub area since we preferred the quiet of Posh. I hope you enjoy your stay.

I've had luck with the concierge being able to get us in anywhere, even Teppanyaki with no issues. I do make reservations on my own ahead of time just because it is fun to plan, but not really sure why I do since I wind up usually having the concierge move them all around anyway. It is probably more difficult on them having to cancel all of mine and make new ones.

Ok, I have been searching the forums for an answer to this question, and so far haven't really found anything that answers it, so I created this post. If there is an answer somewhere else, please point me to it.

 

I have recently booked the H2 Deluxe Owners Suite on the Epic for this January, and am trying to figure out a couple things.

 

The first thing that I am trying to understand, and NCL's site isn't very helpful on this, is do we get the rumored 3 bottles of liquor in our suite? If so, when and how, do we let them know what we would like as our 3 bottles? Following along on that it appears from some posts out there that in these suites we get free soda and water as well in the room. Is that true?

 

The second thing is how does the priority tendering work? It seems from most posts out there that you need reservations for a particular tender to go ashore?

 

I guess the third question, is do we need to make reservations ahead of time for any of the specialty restaurants or can we really just wing it since we are in the Haven?

 

Anything else we should know about the Haven? We have done Disney 3 times before in their one bedroom concierge level which was amazing and great. This trip is without the kids, so anything that is a must do on the Epic that we should know about.

 

Thanks in advance.

You do get three bottles of liquor in your room. You can call the pre concierge and order your bottles then. If you do preorder, they should be in your room when you get there. You should be receiving a letter with a list to chose from.

I upgraded the vodka to Ketel One for a $40 upcharge. Also upgraded the rum to Bacardi 8 for no extra charge!

Yes, free soda and water, too. You’ll be asked what different kinds of soda you want when you call. Three choices.

You’ll also get to chose what kind of pillows you want. If you’re undecided, they’ll bring them all to the room so you can try them out!

Also any special requests. I asked for a carton/pitcher of cranberry juice, since I like Cape Cod’s.

As said earlier, the concierge will make tendering arrangements for you. You’ll be shown where their desk is during the Haven tour that they will take you on your first day.

Make your reservations ahead of time if you want to eat in the restaurant. Definitely for Teppanyaki. We had our butler bring us the specialty dining room menus and had our other two dining nights in the room. I liked it better than going to the restaurant! If you choose to do this, write down what you want and give it to your butler with a time to serve it in the room. Our butler asked us to try and have it to him by noon.

If your drinkers, take advantage of Debbie in the Haven lounge and Raymond up on the sun deck. Deb makes a wonderful drink (her Long Island Ice Tea is to die for!), and has some very good original concoctions of her own. (I called them ‘Debbie in a glass!). Regardless what you order, it will be made to perfection. Mojitos, Moscow Mules, Dark & Stormies, Rebellious Fish, etc.

Raymond makes the best pina colada on the ship! So thick he has to shake it out of the container and into your glass, and pours a liberal shot of rum on top of it to finish it off.

We were in 17007 a couple of weeks ago. If you are in one of the forward suites, Roland should be your butler. If he is, your every need, want, and strange request will be promptly taken care of! My wife is dealing with a bone spur and rolling her foot on a bottle of frozen water is a great pain reliever. One mention to Roland, and she had a new bottle every evening she needed one.

And if Budi is your steward, your room will be immaculate!

Take advantage of room service! But order it through your butler to avoid the service charge. There’s a butler button on the phone in your suite. Also, if you want breakfast in your room, just fill out the cards in your room. If you want something from the Haven restaurant that’s not on the card...just write it in. Steak and eggs in your room before heading down for your priority tender is lovely.

The first thing that I am trying to understand, and NCL's site isn't very helpful on this, is do we get the rumored 3 bottles of liquor in our suite? If so, when and how, do we let them know what we would like as our 3 bottles? Following along on that it appears from some posts out there that in these suites we get free soda and water as well in the room. Is that true?

 

You will get a snail-mail letter from the Pre-Concierge with their email address, phone number, and luggage tags about 50 days prior to your cruise. You can pre-order through them, or with your butler once onboard.

 

The second thing is how does the priority tendering work? It seems from most posts out there that you need reservations for a particular tender to go ashore?

 

The concierge staff will walk you to the front of the security line. No reservations required. Just coordinate with the concierge team.

 

I guess the third question, is do we need to make reservations ahead of time for any of the specialty restaurants or can we really just wing it since we are in the Haven?

You can book exactly 100 days prior to your cruise. It is easier if you book your own tables when and where you want. Once onboard, the concierge staff can help you change/rebook. The onboard concierge has the ability to overbook restaurants. But,,, at popular times and popular restaurants, if the restaurant is totally overbooked, even the concierge can't get you a table. If you wing it, you may be eating a lot at the Havens restaurant.

 

Anything else we should know about the Haven? We have done Disney 3 times before in their one bedroom concierge level which was amazing and great. This trip is without the kids, so anything that is a must do on the Epic that we should know about.

You have access to the Posh Club, private sundeck for the Havens and the lucky few non-Havens guests.

The Epic has a private gym, steam room, and sauna above/in the courtyard along with hot tubs and a small pool.

If you book the Cirque show, the concierge staff will escort you down and seat you before the doors open for general seating (you get the best seats in the house).

 

Your butler will bring you "default" snacks every afternoon. If you have something special you want, have your butler bring that in addition to the normal snacks. Us "big kids" still like a PB&J on some afternoons. We ask for a bowl of M&Ms and Gummy Bears to be kept full. And yes, you get free soda and water, just let your butler know your preferences.

On port days, we order breakfast served in the room. There are breakfast cards in the room with check boxes. Ignore the check boxes and write down what you want from the MDR or Havens restaurant. We order eggs over easy, omelets, filet steak, bacon, ham, sausage, breakfast potatoes, hash browns, mushrooms, grilled tomato, fresh fruit, breakfast breads, juices, and a diet pepsi. Your butler will bring it and serve it on a white table cloth at the time you specify.

 

Don't forget, the butler and concierge are NOT covered by the daily service charge. You need to tip them separately at the end of the cruise.

 

Thanks in advance.

Enjoy the Epic!

You have received some good replies. I will add.

We cruised in 17004 in March. It's the deluxe owner suite at the front of the ship and it was great. We did pre-order our three bottles of liquor through the advance concierge. However, we were able to make two switches while on board. There was no extra charge. We had customized snacks each afternoon, as maxie was our butler, his attention to this was impeccable. As we all had different likes and dislikes, there was three of us , in fact one of us is a vegan... not me!

We are also big coffee drinkers and we had the wonderful Nespresso machine however it does not have a frother and we brought our own. We made great lattes.

We purchased the thermal spa passes in advance but looking back we wished we hadn't. During our cruise we had a lot of drunk loud people in there and I think I got a ceramic lounger once or twice the whole week people were camped out in there all day on the loungers and on the beds on the balcony. I loved the little fitness center in the Haven right across from our room and I discovered two spa treatment rooms in there and I booked my second massage there right across from our room.

Oh, we had grandfathered in the ultimate dining package which included specialty dining every day… But we loved the haven restaurant which is called epic club so much we spent more time in there than we thought we would. The breakfast and lunches were great and we loved the dinner too. The only thing I had in there all week I did not like was the duck. It was tough. The lamb chops were to die for.

I was very hesitant to cruise on a megaship and especially the epic as the sun is my favorite ship. But we loved this cruise so much I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ok, I have been searching the forums for an answer to this question, and so far haven't really found anything that answers it, so I created this post. If there is an answer somewhere else, please point me to it.

 

I have recently booked the H2 Deluxe Owners Suite on the Epic for this January, and am trying to figure out a couple things.

 

The first thing that I am trying to understand, and NCL's site isn't very helpful on this, is do we get the rumored 3 bottles of liquor in our suite? If so, when and how, do we let them know what we would like as our 3 bottles? Following along on that it appears from some posts out there that in these suites we get free soda and water as well in the room. Is that true?

 

The second thing is how does the priority tendering work? It seems from most posts out there that you need reservations for a particular tender to go ashore?

 

I guess the third question, is do we need to make reservations ahead of time for any of the specialty restaurants or can we really just wing it since we are in the Haven?

 

Anything else we should know about the Haven? We have done Disney 3 times before in their one bedroom concierge level which was amazing and great. This trip is without the kids, so anything that is a must do on the Epic that we should know about.

 

Thanks in advance.

msy-msp

We sailed in a DOS on the Epic last week ( 12/9-12/16). The Haven area on the Epic is (IMHO) very nicely done.

There are 8 DOS staterooms on the Epic, 4 are forward facing, 4 aft facing. the 4 facing aft will be a bit noisy, as you will hear any live bands or events occurring on the pool deck (deck 15).

You can call the NCL pre-concierge at

The pre-concierge will assist you with your liquor requests/mixer requests, coffee/tea, pillow selections, additional towels, etc.

As you stated you are sailing in January, you should be able to make specialty dining reservations on-line.

The concierge may be able to get you into the specialty restaurants while onboard, but you may not get the time that you would like.

The concierge will be able to assist you with getting into any shows on board, as well as escorting you to the tender. Just let him/her know the night prior what time you want to go ashore and he/she will tell you what time to meet them for your escort.

Our concierge Bruno, went on vacation on 12/16, so I can't comment on who your concierge will be. The assistant concierge, Wade, ( who should be onboard in January) is also very professional and a great resource.

Do not be afraid to ask either your butler or concierge for anything.

As we were told, the butler handles anything within your stateroom and the concierge handles anything on the ship.

The production show, "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" is a drag queen musical. It does have some off-color language and blue content, but it's an excellent production.

They have a Beatles cover band that is also very popular.

The 'burn the floor' production is also entertaining. Imagine the professionals on dancing with the stars doing 50 minutes of various dances with costume changes, all to modern music.

Dueling pianos is also fun.

Stop by Maltings Whiskey bar ( deck 7) and say hello to the bartenders, JP and Joseph. We stopped by every night for an after dinner drink (or three, lol).

Have fun and enjoy your cruise !

Regards,

Vinegarjoe

Thanks all for the great comments and the suggestions. I truly appreciate it.

Unfortunately, we booked the absolute last cabin that was available in the Haven, and got stuck with 17032. It was a last minute decision to book this cruise, but i am glad we did. I know that 17032 has a few issues with the balcony (slight obstruction from the lifts, lots of noise from the pool deck, and the aft facing part that i am not a huge fan of), but I will take these lumps. If anyone has any comments on that particular room I would love it.

Though i guess the best part is that we have a very nice room on the ship and a place to escape as needed. And for this trip that really is what we want.

Thanks all for the great comments and the suggestions. I truly appreciate it.

 

Unfortunately, we booked the absolute last cabin that was available in the Haven, and got stuck with 17032. It was a last minute decision to book this cruise, but i am glad we did. I know that 17032 has a few issues with the balcony (slight obstruction from the lifts, lots of noise from the pool deck, and the aft facing part that i am not a huge fan of), but I will take these lumps. If anyone has any comments on that particular room I would love it.

 

Though i guess the best part is that we have a very nice room on the ship and a place to escape as needed. And for this trip that really is what we want.

We were in 17035. Yes the elevator shafts do compromise the view a bit, but you will still have nice views of the ocean.

The noise is relative to your level of tolerance. We didn't mind, so it didn't bother us. If you are expecting quiet, the aft facing DOS's are not the place.

You will exit your stateroom, down a short hall and the elevator bank will be right there, or a stairway to either go down to the Haven area or upstairs to POSH.

Enjoy breakfast, lunch and or dinner in the Haven restaurant. The menus for lunch and dinner are fixed, however, if you would like a different entry from one of the other complimentary restaurants, let the Haven Restaurant supervisor know and he can make that happen.

The Epic Club is a great place to relax, read, enjoy a drink. Lots of windows overlooking the ocean and it's very quiet in there.

There is also a small lounge area on Deck 17 with the same views.

We were not fans of the Epic, but we were definitely fans of the Epic's Haven area.

again, enjoy your Haven experience.

Regards,

Vinegarjoe

About the dinner reservations.

I always have the concierge book my dinner reservations because you will get a better table. If you book thru the regular online reservation system you won't get any priority seating for a nice table. About a month before you cruise, the conceirge will email you, introduce herself and ask if you have any specific requests.

Also, the Haven Restaurant is really lovely but don't go to dinner there the first night. If is an absolute madhouse of Haven guests all wanting to eat there that first night. My recommendation is to eat somewhere else the first night and then the haven restaurant the second night. By the second night, the wave of haven guests that ate there the day before won't want to eat there again.

The concierge can make dinner plans for you once you are on board but even then, I have been turned down for specific dining options because they are all full. It's sort of a crap shoot. I'd have the concierge make your reservations and then if you need to change them once onboard you can do that.

There will be shows like a hypnotist and musical and howl at the moon type shows that aren't listed ahead of time on the MyNCL website. To see these shows I've always had to re-work our dinner reservations and main show times because I think the hypnotists and howl at the moon are much better shows than the main shows in the theatre. Since the Jean Ann Ryan Company left NCL I think all the main shows suck in comparison.

I know this is kind of an old thread, but am so glad of all the info...so Thank You! We are sailing on NCL for the first time this June, H4 Family Haven Suite on Jade. I have been trying to figure out the amenities and what sort of things to request and do ahead of time, what can wait to book once we board. I’ve hesitated booking dinner reservations since there isn’t a show schedule yet and didn’t want to miss anything. Any other suggestions?

I know this is kind of an old thread, but am so glad of all the info...so Thank You! We are sailing on NCL for the first time this June, H4 Family Haven Suite on Jade. I have been trying to figure out the amenities and what sort of things to request and do ahead of time, what can wait to book once we board. I’ve hesitated booking dinner reservations since there isn’t a show schedule yet and didn’t want to miss anything. Any other suggestions?

You can always make your reservations and the concierge will change them for you once you are onboard. There was never an issue doing that. On the Jade, Le Bistro was our favorite. The only issue was the smoke when we sat in the bar outside of the restaurant. We thought it was perhaps from the vents since the casino was across from the bar. We never had an issue at the other bar around the corner. Enjoy your HAven experience!

You can always make your reservations and the concierge will change them for you once you are onboard. There was never an issue doing that. On the Jade, Le Bistro was our favorite. The only issue was the smoke when we sat in the bar outside of the restaurant. We thought it was perhaps from the vents since the casino was across from the bar. We never had an issue at the other bar around the corner. Enjoy your HAven experience!

Thanks Linda!

Sent from my iPad using Forums