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Haven Access for non-Haven Guests - Thoughts?


pcakes122
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8 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Well, there are a few areas where Haven beats Yacht Club just as there are areas where Yacht Club beats Haven. I enjoy both but since NCL hasn't done anything POSITIVE for Haven guests in at least 5 years (the "16 and up" sundeck isn't a positive for my family), this latest change is just another negative for NCL. 

I agree. We just had our first cruise With MSC and we felt the same. YC exceeded Haven in every category except room variety. On the Seaside the only offer the standard YC suite or the Royal Suite. Nothing in between. With Haven the 2 bedroom suite works better for us. But this change by NCL makes the decision to drop them easy. 

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8 minutes ago, e2011 said:

I am not going ballistic but I am done with NCL. I always book a Haven suite but if non Haven guests are now competing with me for a table I am done. I just cancelled 2 of my upcoming cruises and am rebooking with MSC in Yacht Club. The power of the consumer is supreme! 

 

I may be canceling my upcoming Haven cruise too.  I agree, I am not competing with those who are non-Haven guests.  When we were on the Getaway last year the bar and restaurant were always very busy.  The concierge were also very busy and if they have to worry about this new "idea" and that affects the service we get that is another issue.  We spend thousands of dollars for a Haven cruise to be away from the crowd, exclusivity and to get a certain level of service.  If NCL can't deliver the product they are advertising we will take our money elsewhere for a vacation.  There are plenty of other options.  If NCL wants to money grub and change how things are in the Haven then that's their choice but we also have a choice where to spend our money. 

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2 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Maybe that's FDR's plan. Force Haven regulars to "move up" to Oceania and Regent Seven Seas. NCLH still gets your money.

 

Unfortunately for FDR, many people will move to MSC's Yacht Club (they already offer limited day passes, btw) or Celebrity's Retreat (limited number of ships but is being added to older ships during the refurbs).

 

 

I may move over to MSC... but I've heard mixed reviews. They seem great for the price though!

 

The Regent cruises seem more up our alley.

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18 minutes ago, trician24 said:

 

I may be canceling my upcoming Haven cruise too.  I agree, I am not competing with those who are non-Haven guests.  When we were on the Getaway last year the bar and restaurant were always very busy.  The concierge were also very busy and if they have to worry about this new "idea" and that affects the service we get that is another issue.  We spend thousands of dollars for a Haven cruise to be away from the crowd, exclusivity and to get a certain level of service.  If NCL can't deliver the product they are advertising we will take our money elsewhere for a vacation.  There are plenty of other options.  If NCL wants to money grub and change how things are in the Haven then that's their choice but we also have a choice where to spend our money. 

Well said. 100% agree.

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So, I tried to call my PCC to ask some specific questions about this topic, about how to get my CruiseNext certs back if I cancel, etc.  When I get an NCL voicemail, I always leave my name, reservation #, the fact we are cruising Haven on the Getaway, and that I have a few questions.  I normally get a call back within 15-20 minutes.  So far today, it has been an hour and 45 minutes, and no call back.  Want to bet they are getting an earful today??  It will be interesting to see if there are any changes/clarifications over the next few days to this policy.  As has been stated before, it would take a very large number of these "specialty dinners" sold to make up for each Haven cancellation. i.e., 200 dinner packages for each $10,000 in cancelled Haven cabins.

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1 hour ago, Two Wheels Only said:

TBH, I don't really care about how the non-Haven guests get to the Haven restaurant. I care about how many non-Haven guests are there.  For me, it's about the numbers and if my wait time to get a table (which is usually zero) and my wait time for the meal (which is already high) is negatively impacted.

I'm concerned about this and also concerned about how they're going to monitor whether or not folks are just wandering around the Haven.  Honestly, unless somebody was acting outrageously, I've never seen anyone get thrown out of anywhere on the ship. I just can't see the concierge standing at the Haven elevator checking key cards. So I am thinking once you are in, you are in.  

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4 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

I'm concerned about this and also concerned about how they're going to monitor whether or not folks are just wandering around the Haven.  Honestly, unless somebody was acting outrageously, I've never seen anyone get thrown out of anywhere on the ship. I just can't see the concierge standing at the Haven elevator checking key cards. So I am thinking once you are in, you are in.  

I just had a couple of comments deleted for raising the access issue, and complaining when I got flamed for it. 

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5 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

I'm concerned about this and also concerned about how they're going to monitor whether or not folks are just wandering around the Haven.  Honestly, unless somebody was acting outrageously, I've never seen anyone get thrown out of anywhere on the ship. I just can't see the concierge standing at the Haven elevator checking key cards. So I am thinking once you are in, you are in.  

 

 

Exactly my concern... How in the world are they going to police the hour before or hour after? 

 

The concierge team is taxed enough by people who are actually staying in the Haven. Is NCL going to make them play Timecop for those who aren't staying there? 

 

We booked Bliss Haven ages ago, and I'm annoyed NCL seems to be changing the product, and not for the better. 

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18 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

I just had a couple of comments deleted for raising the access issue, and complaining when I got flamed for it. 

Me, too, and I felt what I said was polite and fact based.

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1 hour ago, newty25 said:

I may move over to MSC... but I've heard mixed reviews. They seem great for the price though!

 

The Regent cruises seem more up our alley.

I've had friends that went on MSC and weren't pleased.  I would suggest Crystal; it is an amazing cruise line.

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4 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

Same here. Maybe someone is lurking and reporting awkward topics.

Kind of feels like when Facebook now is selecting “relevant” comments only in my FB feed.  I can see deleting hostile/derogatory/insulting comments here but what I just posted was none of those.  So try again - I commented on how people can see your passenger card color and when on an elevator, others have commented on the color to us.  So a lot of people do pay attention to that and are not displaying creepy behavior or hyper-focusing on other passengers.  Many have then asked us if the Haven was worth it and I viewed it as them being curious about the “ship within a ship” experience.

 

If there is something wrong with the comments posted, the moderators need to explicitly explain why comments are being deleted.  

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1 minute ago, mertziek said:

Kind of feels like when Facebook now is selecting “relevant” comments only in my FB feed.  I can see deleting hostile/derogatory/insulting comments here but what I just posted was none of those.  So try again - I commented on how people can see your passenger card color and when on an elevator, others have commented on the color to us.  So a lot of people do pay attention to that and are not displaying creepy behavior or hyper-focusing on other passengers.  Many have then asked us if the Haven was worth it and I viewed it as them being curious about the “ship within a ship” experience.

 

If there is something wrong with the comments posted, the moderators need to explicitly explain why comments are being deleted.  

I don't like crowds, and I certainly do my best to not stick out in them. Based on what you have said I will be keeping my card out of view when outside the Haven. Thanks for the information.

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3 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

I don't like crowds, and I certainly do my best to not stick out in them. Based on what you have said I will be keeping my card out of view when outside the Haven. Thanks for the information.

How about going to wrist bands like Disney where all info is pre-loaded on the wrist band and no identifying colors?  I think I read somewhere that some cruiselines have gone to that.

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30 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

So, I tried to call my PCC to ask some specific questions about this topic, about how to get my CruiseNext certs back if I cancel, etc.  When I get an NCL voicemail, I always leave my name, reservation #, the fact we are cruising Haven on the Getaway, and that I have a few questions.  I normally get a call back within 15-20 minutes.  So far today, it has been an hour and 45 minutes, and no call back.  Want to bet they are getting an earful today??  It will be interesting to see if there are any changes/clarifications over the next few days to this policy.  As has been stated before, it would take a very large number of these "specialty dinners" sold to make up for each Haven cancellation. i.e., 200 dinner packages for each $10,000 in cancelled Haven cabins.

I wish it worked this way but unless they reverse this policy it’s more likely that Ncl sells 400 + extra Haven evenings at 20k + additional revenue. Then they sell your canceled room to someone else who, not knowing about the changes, thinks they’re booked in the Haven with dedicated dining venues, servers, tranquility, no lines... so an upfront win for ncl.  It’s referred to as short term or short sighted management issues.  Some corporations practice this despite all the evidence that there’s much greater value of long term thinking, strategy, and decision making.  

 

They obviously have have invested a great deal of resources over the years to develop the Haven concept.  It would be so easy to make up those $ without trashing the Haven brand.  They could make so much more $ just by offering a perk choice of soda or ubp.  They could then sell the soda ultra premium upgrade for X $/ day to coffees, juices, waters.  And the ubp upgrade at the current upgrade cost or whatever costs folks are willing to pay. That would capture just about the entire ship into a profitable beverage pkg.  They’d also gain $ from more than 2 per stateroom.  Basically if you want ultra premium, all in stateroom have to get it.  So kids would also need the upgraded soda pkg. right now the ultra premium isn’t capturing any extra from the extra passenger soda pkgs because they don’t have any soda pkg upgrades.  Extra costs like that don’t chase away their customers, especially their Haven customers. 

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Just now, mertziek said:

How about going to wrist bands like Disney where all info is pre-loaded on the wrist band and no identifying colors?  I think I read somewhere that some cruiselines have gone to that.

I wouldn't wear a wristband as it is too childish and I know I've never noticed anyone's card color, maybe I just not nosy enough,  nor do I think most people do.  

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2 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

I wouldn't wear a wristband as it is too childish and I know I've never noticed anyone's card color, maybe I just not nosy enough,  nor do I think most people do.  

Noticing the card is usually on elevators where you need your card to access Haven floors.  I agree - otherwise most people don’t notice cards.

 

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5 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

I wouldn't wear a wristband as it is too childish and I know I've never noticed anyone's card color, maybe I just not nosy enough,  nor do I think most people do.  

Last week on the bliss someone is our group handed over their card to pay for a drink- and got quite a long “what does your card color mean?” Line if questioning. It wasn’t in the “oh, interesting info” type way, and it made the Haven guest uncomfortable.

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1 minute ago, AtlantaAlly said:

Last week on the bliss someone is our group handed over their card to pay for a drink- and got quite a long “what does your card color mean?” Line if questioning. It wasn’t in the “oh, interesting info” type way, and it made the Haven guest uncomfortable.

We have had several comments about our card color but usually on an elevator.  I guess there are no easy solutions.  If all cards are the same color, it makes things more difficult for the staff.  If color coded, there inevitably will be some who notice.  Sigh......

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14 minutes ago, AtlantaAlly said:

Last week on the bliss someone is our group handed over their card to pay for a drink- and got quite a long “what does your card color mean?” Line if questioning. It wasn’t in the “oh, interesting info” type way, and it made the Haven guest uncomfortable.

I just learned recently, from a tablemate, that on some cruise lines different color cards mean different categories or loyalty status......in over sixty cruise I never knew nor cared.  If someone were to ask me, I would just say "I have no idea, I think the color of the cards were just random".

Edited by NLH Arizona
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On 6/15/2019 at 3:07 PM, vpearlkc said:

As long as Haven guests don't have to wait too long to get a seating or the bar fills up it might be ok. It does dilute the Haven experience though.

Allowing outsiders certainly reduces the exclusivity of the Haven. I don't like it.

 

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8 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

I just learned recently, from a tablemate, that on some cruise lines different color cards mean different categories or loyalty status......in over sixty cruise I never knew nor cared.  If someone were to ask me, I would just say "I have no idea, I think the color of the cards were just random".

Interesting.  So gold, platinum, platinum plus and Haven people have different card colors?  We never felt uncomfortable about the questions we’ve gotten based on our card color but people obviously do notice that.  Guess it’s just human nature and curiosity.

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