Haven Access for non-Haven Guests - Thoughts?

[GA Dave]

I just accessed my cruise reservation for Sept. 2020 and the additional verbiage they had added selling the Haven restaurant and lounge passes has been removed from the "Restaurants" section.    It is back to the usual description of "Private Access for Guests of The Haven Only".

 

 

[Bigbluegal]

6 hours ago, smithop said:

Wait, you pay all those big bucks so your mother can eat grilled cheese and pizza up there in the haven?

I thought the hoi poloi were dining on caviar and lobster up there.

Just another reason I won't be wasting my money on haven suites or passes.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 

Yes I do or anything else she would like in which they are willing to accommodate.  She (nor I) for that matter like caviar or lobster. My boys on the other hand love trying new things.   Why would what we are choosing to eat have an effect on your eating experience?  She did like the desserts and coffee if that makes you feel better.

[All-ready2cruise]

16 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

I just accessed my cruise reservation for Sept. 2020 and the additional verbiage they had added selling the Haven restaurant and lounge passes has been removed from the "Restaurants" section.    It is back to the usual description of "Private Access for Guests of The Haven Only".

 

 

I'll confirm also that the Haven Restaurant $50 offering has been removed from my reservation as well. 🙂

I'm in a balcony BTW. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by All-ready2cruise

[pcakes122]

6 hours ago, smithop said:

Wait, you pay all those big bucks so your mother can eat grilled cheese and pizza up there in the haven?
I thought the hoi poloi were dining on caviar and lobster up there.
Just another reason I won't be wasting my money on haven suites or passes.

The great thing about the Haven is that you can have whatever the heck you want whenever the heck you want it - but the Haven is not for everybody.  Some people are actually uncomfortable with a lot of personal service and would prefer to be more independent and left on their own.  I have many friends who could well afford the Haven but actually prefer not to have a butler or concierge tracking their movements and wants.  Personally, I love it ❤️😁 but I can understand that there are others who wouldn't.

[graphicguy]

I wouldn’t say my Butler or Concierge actually “tracked” my whereabouts.   My concierge knew where I was for meals if she/he made my reservations for me.  And, they would check on me at those restaurants to make sure everything was to my liking (and taking care of issues immediately, if they weren’t).

 

My Butler got the “hang of” when I would be out of my cabin after a day or two.  I’m an early riser and would be out by 9-ish and usually gone most of the day.  That’s when he/she would come to my cabin to drop of “snacks” or replenish my coffee, etc.

 

I never felt like they were “tracking” me, though.

[pcakes122]

28 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I wouldn’t say my Butler or Concierge actually “tracked” my whereabouts.   My concierge knew where I was for meals if she/he made my reservations for me.  And, they would check on me at those restaurants to make sure everything was to my liking (and taking care of issues immediately, if they weren’t).

 

My Butler got the “hang of” when I would be out of my cabin after a day or two.  I’m an early riser and would be out by 9-ish and usually gone most of the day.  That’s when he/she would come to my cabin to drop of “snacks” or replenish my coffee, etc.

 

I never felt like they were “tracking” me, though.

They probably picked up the vibe that you wanted your independence.  I enjoy the personal attention myself so they are a little more "in my business" than yours it seems. 😀

[vpearlkc]

On 6/15/2019 at 1:42 PM, pcakes122 said:

I just learned about this new offering and came here to see what folks were thinking but didn't see a discussion?  Did I miss it?

 

How will NCL monitor non-Haven guests in the bar/lounge?

 

From NCL site:

 

Limited availability: Non-Haven guests can enjoy an exclusive dining experience including a delicious 3-course dinner in an upscale, contemporary atmosphere. Come an hour early or stay an hour late and enjoy drinks at the exclusive Haven Lounge. Reservations can be made on board.

$50 per person for non-Haven guests (limited availability)

 

It is amazing that the original post of this thread was less than three days ago and NCL has reversed itself this quickly.

[mertziek]

Just now, vpearlkc said:

 

It is amazing that the original post of this thread was less than three days ago and NCL has reversed itself this quickly.

I think they quickly got bombarded with calls, emails and postings on social media from their Haven passengers always willing to spend more for something exclusive that suddenly became non-exclusive - another bait and switch.  Given their recent numerous pr disasters - shortened TA cruise within 8 days of departure with two additional changes in that 8 day window, the loss of Cuba (not really their fault but took them a few days to match other cruiseline cancelation offers), the continuing computer glitch with many air reservations disappearing or not available in a timely fashion as well as inability for suite passengers to book dinners at 130 days out, the lack of knowledge from people you eventually got by phone after literally hours on hold (I was one of those on perpetual hold to their Premium Air), failure to receive responses to multiple email requests/questions - I think they finally figured out their brand was being seriously damaged and they did not have a lot of time to fix it.  I’m still not sure they will recover as we are loyal NCL customers, always in the Haven, and we are now shopping around to other cruiselines.  Day late, dollar short.

[littlelulu01]

1 hour ago, mertziek said:

I think they quickly got bombarded with calls, emails and postings on social media from their Haven passengers always willing to spend more for something exclusive that suddenly became non-exclusive - another bait and switch.  Given their recent numerous pr disasters - shortened TA cruise within 8 days of departure with two additional changes in that 8 day window, the loss of Cuba (not really their fault but took them a few days to match other cruiseline cancelation offers), the continuing computer glitch with many air reservations disappearing or not available in a timely fashion as well as inability for suite passengers to book dinners at 130 days out, the lack of knowledge from people you eventually got by phone after literally hours on hold (I was one of those on perpetual hold to their Premium Air), failure to receive responses to multiple email requests/questions - I think they finally figured out their brand was being seriously damaged and they did not have a lot of time to fix it.  I’m still not sure they will recover as we are loyal NCL customers, always in the Haven, and we are now shopping around to other cruiselines.  Day late, dollar short.

I don’t think most of the issues you referenced rise to a “pr disaster” level.  Ncl, like most companies, battles balancing profits with customer satisfaction. Seems one arm is tasked with how to make an extra buck anyway possible and another arm to maintain reputation/customer satisfaction. It’s a fine line sometimes crossed but in this case they quickly realized how important it is to protect their Haven experience.

 

I think they continue to have excellent,  well compensated (for the industry) crew, and they are striving to provide customers a great vacation no matter the stateroom category.  

 

They do seem to listen to complaints and make changes.  For example I see Ocean Blue on the Bliss now serves lobster. I’d like to think they listened to comments that not serving lobster on their premier ship, in their premier seafood venue just didn’t sit well with an image.  Would love to see them add back ability to purchase lobster on their Jewel class too.

 

Imo, They can tinker with beverage packages, perk values, fees... all they want and yes they’ll get gripes, but when they change a product with no ability for customers to get what they want, then their customers will not return and the reputation goes downhill.  In this case they have averted the issue.  Sure a few passengers sailed the Haven with the crowds, lines, decreased service ability... during the short period it was available, and they likely lost a few repeat customers, but they canceled this offer for “Haven passes”  pretty quickly so I doubt they will have any long lasting brand damage.  

 

I know many who would otherwise not cruise mainstream lines or even contemplate a cruise at all, that are willing to try a Haven suite on Ncl just because they have such a great reputation with it. I think ncl knows that too and they are willing to make sure their Haven  experience lives up to or exceeds expectations.  

 

Haven on some sailings is less than a balcony on some of their more expensive itineraries.  On the really popular and expensive sailings where Haven is sold out over a year in advance I think they rightfully up their game a little with a notch better food... but all their Haven suites are sold/upsold with an intention to give a great vacation that passengers will rave about and be willing pay a premium to repeat.

[CruisingSince1982]

Glad they retracted this. I would have cancelled our Haven cabin. 

[elwood_98034]

4 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

Also don't underestimate the power of Cruise Critic.  This thread has had almost 13,000 views since Saturday night and over 300 replies (compare that to other topics on the NCL forum.) It'd been highlighted as a hot topic due to activity until NCL reversed the policy. NCL actually posted in this thread.  

I thought I was just being elitist, and a jerk for whining, but then I saw your series of comments and realised that it wasn't just me, and was encouraged by you. So went for it. 

[TPgal]

10 hours ago, smithop said:

Wait, you pay all those big bucks so your mother can eat grilled cheese and pizza up there in the haven?

Bwahahahaha....sorry to the poor person who was simply trying to share their experience, but you made me laugh.

 

Sadly - my DD (an unemployed 9 year old moocher) will also be turning up her nose a the high brow haven food for pizza and  heaven help the staff if she finds out they can cook a grilled cheese. 

 

[mertziek]

16 minutes ago, littlelulu01 said:

I don’t think most of the issues you referenced rise to a “pr disaster” level.  Ncl, like most companies, battles balancing profits with customer satisfaction. Seems one arm is tasked with how to make an extra buck anyway possible and another arm to maintain reputation/customer satisfaction. It’s a fine line sometimes crossed but in this case they quickly realized how important it is to protect their Haven experience.

 

I think they continue to have excellent,  well compensated (for the industry) crew, and they are striving to provide customers a great vacation no matter the stateroom category.  

 

They do seem to listen to complaints and make changes.  For example I see Ocean Blue on the Bliss now serves lobster. I’d like to think they listened to comments that not serving lobster on their premier ship, in their premier seafood venue just didn’t sit well with an image.  Would love to see them add back ability to purchase lobster on their Jewel class too.

 

Imo, They can tinker with beverage packages, perk values, fees... all they want and yes they’ll get gripes, but when they change a product with no ability for customers to get what they want, then their customers will not return and the reputation goes downhill.  In this case they have averted the issue.  Sure a few passengers sailed the Haven with the crowds, lines, decreased service ability... during the short period it was available, and they likely lost a few repeat customers, but they canceled this offer for “Haven passes”  pretty quickly so I doubt they will have any long lasting brand damage.  

 

I know many who would otherwise not cruise mainstream lines or even contemplate a cruise at all, that are willing to try a Haven suite on Ncl just because they have such a great reputation with it. I think ncl knows that too and they are willing to make sure their Haven  experience lives up to or exceeds expectations.  

 

Haven on some sailings is less than a balcony on some of their more expensive itineraries.  On the really popular and expensive sailings where Haven is sold out over a year in advance I think they rightfully up their game a little with a notch better food... but all their Haven suites are sold/upsold with an intention to give a great vacation that passengers will rave about and be willing pay a premium to repeat.

We can agree to disagree.  I have been a longtime loyal Haven customer but their recent numerous missteps, whether you think of them as pr disasters or not, damaged their brand and our desire to sail again with them.  I don't feel we are the only ones soured by all the negative news lately albeit not exclusive to Haven complaints.  We wonder what will they think of next?  At some point, you just have enough.  And their delay in response for other issues - like the current ongoing computer conversion/migration problems and their lack of adequate and timely responses - is just one of the most recent examples.  I am reading several different social media sites and reversing this latest decision was a good move but I really feel a lot of the damage done is irreversible.  Many openly stated cancelation of existing reservations and moving to other cruiselines.  I’m also not saying other cruiselines don’t do some of the same stupid things but once you get soured by the offered product, it is very easy to move on even from the desired Haven experience.  JMHO

[kopiko]

Wait, they updated the website on this overnight but still can't figure out the ongoing dining reservation issues? lol

I'm at 110 days to go and still can't make dinner reservations. 🤷‍♂️

[elwood_98034]

14 minutes ago, TPgal said:

Bwahahahaha....sorry to the poor person who was simply trying to share their experience, but you made me laugh.

 

Sadly - my DD (an unemployed 9 year old moocher) will also be turning up her nose a the high brow haven food for pizza and  heaven help the staff if she finds out they can cook a grilled cheese. 

 

Same here. We took our kids to the Tillamook Cheese Factory last year, and it was like Man v's Food on their grilled cheese. She was doing backflips when I told her she can order it any time she wants from the room service menu.

[PTC DAWG]

3 hours ago, vpearlkc said:

 

It is amazing that the original post of this thread was less than three days ago and NCL has reversed itself this quickly.

I'm not interested in the Haven, but will agree that this was a dumb move by NCL.  They had to catch a LOT of grief on this one.  

 

Much like when they backtracked a bit on the beverage package changes...adding Grey Goose back etc recently.  

[trician24]

I give props to NCL for reversing their decision as it was the right thing to do but things aren't 100% in my eyes....  It was very telling of some issues NCL has had for a while.   I called NCL on Saturday, Sunday and again yesterday regarding this Haven change.  Each time I got a different response from whoever I was speaking to.  Two of the reps had no idea and I was enlightening them ( both agreed it was ridiculous ).  The third said it was just an increase from the $35 guest fee that has been in place for some time now.  NCL dropped the ball by not educating their reps on a significant change being made.  This seems to be a common complaint that people call and get all kinds of different information depending on who they speak to.  NCL, and all large companies, need to make sure anyone who interacts with the public has the most current information and that they are giving out correct info.  If this went into effect on the 13th as another poster said, then why on the afternoon of the 17th a rep is still giving out the wrong info.  It only takes a few minutes to send out an email memo alert of a new policy.  Ideally the reps should have been alerted a few days before such a change occurred so they could have been prepared for the phone calls and questions.  And in a perfect world everyone with a Haven cruise booked should have been emailed of the change instead of finding out on social media or CC. 

[js]

5 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I just accessed my cruise reservation for Sept. 2020 and the additional verbiage they had added selling the Haven restaurant and lounge passes has been removed from the "Restaurants" section.    It is back to the usual description of "Private Access for Guests of The Haven Only".

 

 

 

Hi.

I saw you posted on the MSC board.  My family are frequent Haven cruisers, balconies on RCCL and YC with my mom on MSC (have the third Seaside YC cruise booked for February 2020).

I can tell you the first time we tried YC was because the Haven prices were beginning to get out of hand when the bidding started.  If my ds-21 and still in school, didn't like the nightlife on NCL (well my dh and I do too), I would simply forget about the Haven.  I have done all the Away ships (including smaller) and can tell you the YC area and attention far surpasses the Haven.  Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Haven, have Encore Haven booked in a two bedroom for July 2020, but I would ditch that in a second if I didn't sail with my family, which includes adult children (21 in college and 25, just graduated law school).  The nightlife on MSC doesn't compare to NCL but when I'm sailing with my mom, in her 70s (I'm in my 50s) I don't really care and we stay in YC the majority of our time LOL

 

I think if you are thinking about it, give it a try.  You will not be disappointed although today I looked at my cruise and did a mock booking and it is over $1,000 more than what I paid when I booked, and I am sure this has to do with MSC has also now gone to bidding for upgrades.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by js

[newty25]

Very happy about this for my next Haven cruise in November. Thanks NCL!

After exploring Regent the last few days though... I kinda want to see what that's like now!

 

 

[js]

7 minutes ago, newty25 said:

Very happy about this for my next Haven cruise in November. Thanks NCL!

After exploring Regent the last few days though... I kinda want to see what that's like now!

 

 

 

I'm sailing with my dh, ds-21, dd-25 and my mom and didn't look at Regent (although I will compare since we-my mom and I, have a third YC MSC cruise booked) but I was pricing out a couple of balcony cabins yesterday on RCCL. We loved our Allure cruise last August and thought about doing that again, although would be a different ship, same class. I don't want to be spending $13K+ for our Haven cabin and being annoyed and will still need to spend more money since we all enjoy the beverage package.

Edited June 18, 2019 by js

[Steff79]

On 6/16/2019 at 9:10 PM, Steff79 said:

seems that NCL knows how to destroy their product: upset Haven Guests, upset Vibe lovers, upset People at included deck space.

ok, the Haven Guests are happy again, now correct the other problems NCL

[Two Wheels Only]

2 minutes ago, js said:

I'm sailing with my dh, ds-21, dd-25 and my mom and didn't look at Regent (although I will compare since we-my mom and I, have a third YC MSC cruise booked) but I was pricing out a couple of balcony cabins yesterday on RCCL. We loved our Allure cruise last August and thought about doing that again, although would be a different ship, same class

 

I wonder how many Regent Seven Seas ships can fit inside of an Oasis Class ship....

[js]

1 minute ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I wonder how many Regent Seven Seas ships can fit inside of an Oasis Class ship....

 

LOL, not sure but going to take a look at compare prices vs my MSC YC cruise I have booked for February 2020 with my mom but also not sure if they sail the Caribbean.  I need to be back in Florida the day we get off our cruise since my ds's college team will be there playing ball and my son is a pitcher.  The last three years, my dh flys down the day we get back, picks us up and then we drive to where they play for the week, usually in South Florida.

 

Off to check!

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by js

[buckeye rob]

19 hours ago, Falckon said:

Our last five cruises were in the Haven. One was obtained through the bidding process; the rest we paid full fare. One of the things that we enjoy the most about the Haven experience is sitting at the bar in the lounge. We have met some very interesting people at the bar, and some not so interesting, and we really enjoy talking with the bartenders. They are some of the best mixologists in the world, and are extremely entertaining.

 

The bars in the Haven are relatively small. For example, the Escape Haven bar only has seven stools. On many occasions, we have stood at the bar, waiting for a couple of stools to open. Now, if the lounge is open to non-haven guests, for an hour before and after they dine, I can foresee a packed bar, and fewer chances for us to enjoy one of our favorite pastimes.

 

Another thought is how much does NCL expect to gain from this ridiculous plan. If they allow ten non-haven guests, they only gain $500. That would hardly be worth diminishing the Haven brand. So, how many additional guests would make it worth their while, 20, 30, 50 or more?

 

I just got my status match from MSC, (Platinum to Gold) and that's where I'll be spending my money. 

Ditto !!  I was thinking the bar on Escape had about 8-9 stools, so I was close.  I agree about settling in at the bar almost every evening.  A favorite here too !  I think the Haven on the Breakaway class is just perfect.  Much cozier and classier I feel than the Coastal Kitchen and lounge on the RCCL ships.  We are going on the Allure in  September and am wondering about that  experience, with the number of Pinnacles I read seem to crowd the CK at times.  Nothing against the Pinnacles,  that has been hashed and rehashed,  but as the Pinnacles numbers grow and the CK and SL stays the same it could be a problem.  Regards, Gerry.

[PTC DAWG]

11 minutes ago, js said:

 

LOL, not sure but going to take a look at compare prices vs my MSC YC cruise I have booked for February 2020 with my mom but also not sure if they sail the Caribbean.  I need to be back in Florida the day we get off our cruise since my ds's college team will be there playing ball and my son is a pitcher.  The last three years, my dh flys down the day we get back, picks us up and then we drive to where they play for the week, usually in South Florida.

 

Off to check!

 

 

Seaside sails out of Miami....I've sailed on her,  and I'm in no hurry to get back on.  Nightlife being one of the main issues. Now granted, I've only sailed Balcony's on NCL and MSC...no Haven or Yacht Club for me. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by PTC DAWG