Pearl Garden Villa recap

[DaisyGoldberg]

I was working up a regular cruise trip report, but we’re pretty laid back people and enumerating our naps and board games and what we ate didn’t seem too fascinating, so I thought I’d share some impressions of the Garden Villa as we experienced it on the Pearl last month. This was the first time we ever sailed in the GV and I pored over every cruise site online looking for trip reports or anything that relayed what exactly would happen up there. Was grateful for Sailing12Away’s recent trip report but other than that there was not much to go on but youtube videos of the suite itself in all its incarnations (depending on the age of the video!)

We had a fantastic trip and given the opportunity (an incredible deal via bid or another couple to share costs) would absolutely do it again. Regular Haven is still treat enough for us otherwise, and for solo trips a balcony is all I need. In rereading this I realize I tended to point out the quirky things we noticed – please don’t take any of those observations as genuine complaints (except maybe Massport Woman and Disagreeable Buffet Guest). I just tried to cover aspects that caught us by surprise and might help future GV guests plan. The kind attention of the Concierge, Butler, Deck Steward and Steward were amazing, especially how they looked after our Mom.

 

The usual dropoff at the Cruiseport was uneventful – new wrinkle was standing in line to show vaccination/Bermuda travel authorization, at which point we got a sticker on our passports and moved on to the next person who checked our docs again and took us to the elevator and up to security. Short Haven security line (Mom in wheelchair taken separately and patted down). After that a very short line to check in at the desk for keys, show passport. Then we headed over to the curtained Haven area (where we’ve been before). A Massport employee waved me away with “this way, this way!” I stopped, puzzled, pointed to the sign that said “Garden Villa/Haven” and said “even if we’re in the Garden Villa?” She asked if I WAS in the Garden Villa and asked to see my card. I called to the rest of my party that was blindly walking in the direction she had pointed to stop and took my card out, realizing as I did so that it wasn’t going to have my room number on it anyway. But evidently the Haven card was enough and she said she was only moving us to the overflow area next door which was “still Haven” just without the snacks.

 

I didn’t care about the snacks, but I definitely felt her backtracking as she allowed us into the curtained area. This was confirmed when she later walked up to my sister, who was sitting in a chair provided for her by the NCL Haven staff INSIDE the Haven curtain entrance, and asked her if she was in the Haven, the implication being that she certainly didn’t look it. Not nice, Massport lady.

 

The Haven area itself in Boston is quite small and just a curtain/drape section of the main terminal. There were probably 50 chairs in there and a small table of refreshments, plus however many people in the overflow room. We always arrive around 10 and I’ve seen it crowded but never like that. All of us apparently wanted to be first on board!  (Padded metal folding chairs, if that detail matters to your comfort level; frankly, it convinced us to just arrive at least an hour later next time. It's not special to wait there if it's packed- might as well be home and whisk right through when you arrive if the bulk of Haven people have already moved through. Doesn't matter how much you're expedited through lines if you end up sitting waiting for the boat to turn over anyway.

 

Eventually when the ship was ready they divided us into two groups based on the letter in our Muster station designation on our key cards. They took the other group first, which I assume consisted of the main Haven courtyard people because there were more of them. Then they called us to form a line. Everyone was taken up together, but the concierge grabbed a butler and assigned him to take the wheelchair and stay with our family the whole way (invoking our cabin number for the first time).

 

We boarded, I taking up the rear, and a crewmember started taking people’s cards. My party was ahead of me with the wheelchair and I knew they were waiting, but didn’t want to leave my card with some random crew member. He didn’t seem to speak or understand English very well, and every time I and another lady asked him why he needed the cards and could we have them back he just kept saying “okay, okay” and holding them in the big stack of cards he was holding. Finally, the concierge came looking for me and retrieved them (he didn’t seem to understand what the guy was doing, either) and we went on our way up to Cagneys. They pointed out the muster station was O’Sheehans but we didn’t go there and sign in or anything.

 

Felt great to be in Cagneys again, though a bit informal given all the luggage (four of us, a wheelchair and walker piled with carry on luggage)

[DaisyGoldberg]

Garden Villa:

We finished up at Cagneys and weren’t sure what to do as we hadn’t been told rooms were ready, so we went up one flight to find our Garden Villa, figuring we could dump our bags even if they then kicked us back out. Nobody was there so we settled in. The butler stopped by just as we were going to dinner so we said we’d talk to him later. We never really got a tour of the suite so we mostly figured that stuff out on our own. You might want to ask the butler for a detailed tour because there are entertainment things like the player piano and DVD player that we didn’t stumble on until it was too late to bother figuring out. Perhaps he would have given us a detailed tour but when we first met we were on our way out of the cabin and the timing wasn’t right and after that we were in vacation mode and occupied with other things. 

 

The 3 bottles of liquor were already present. There was a bottle of real champagne – Moet & Chandon – on ice, as well as the chocolate strawberries and chocolate covered pineapple which I had ordered. There were flowers, though oddly they remained wrapped in plastic the entire week (it was kind of like a bouquet arrangement wrapped in the clear plastic cone stuck into one of those green Styrofoam squares inside a bowl. And the clear plastic stick where the card would go, only no card!) The usual latitude cards, instructions and coupons were on the desk. Nothing different from what you’d get in a normal Haven suite.

 

Exceptionally cold out there in that living room as the week went on, even with heat cranked to max. The weather in Maine got down to 5 degrees overnight, but even in Bermuda it was cool. So many windows! I keep my house at 60-ish in the winter, so if *I* was cold… it was COLD. Hopefully in hot weather the AC keeps up better than the heat does. On the plus side, kept beverages and snacks cold without ice. The temps in the bedrooms were fine and easily controllable with thermostat whether you like it arctic or hothouse, although the master bathroom also stayed fairly chilly, especially the ceramic floor.

 

There are phones in the master toilet cubicle and in the half bath in the vestibule, which is VERY small. If you’re a fluffy person, you might accidentally dial voicemail or reservations by accident in there. Don’t ask how I know that.

 

When notices came during the week they would be left on the vestibule table, which was a good system for not missing anything the concierge/butler needed to convey to us. It was also a good central spot to leave messages for each other (brought some sticky notes for this purpose!)

[DaisyGoldberg]

Cabins

The cabins were basically regular Haven cabins within the larger suite. They had their own thermostats (very responsive), safes, robes, slippers, pool towels, etc. There’s a USB outlet underneath the lamp over the night table – very convenient. Each had a hair dryer, magnifying mirror and vanity area outside the bathroom, which was handy. The nicest hair dryer was in the master. L’Occitaine products in each bath (clamped onto the wall, no sample sizes). The hand soap was citrus and smelled great. The shampoo and body wash were more earthy and masculine (woodsy? It wasn’t unpleasant, but definitely not bright like the citrus hand soap) There were cabinets for glassware, etc as in regular Haven suites, but these items were in the bar area in the livingroom, so that space was available for storage within the bedrooms. Each room got a daily and sometimes a (different) towel animal. A daily was also placed in the living room each evening.

 

The bedrooms were automatically keyed to work for all our keys, but I’m sure you could change this if you like – we found it convenient as we were able to send the youngest of us running for whatever we needed from whichever room, take Mom her coffee in the morning, as well as wake each other up without banging on the door. You could still throw the deadbolt if you wanted your companions to leave you alone, or rekey. Each room had the little “Do Not Disturb/Make Up Room/Welcome” wheel.

Speaking of rekeying, my niece mislaid her key card (knew it was in the suite because she had used it to get in, but couldn’t locate it.) The concierge said it would take 5 minutes, but he needed ALL of our cards to do it. She took them to him and came back with both sets of cards (the first needing to be destroyed once we knew the second set worked). Yes, of course the missing card was found later.

 

We never used our balconies because when the weather was good enough we were outside on the private deck. On a true warm weather cruise I would have liked to sit outside in privacy last thing at night or first thing in the morning and listen to the waves. It’s my favorite part of a cruise, and while the views standing up or from the hot tub are pretty nice from the private deck, they’d be better from one of the balconies.

[DaisyGoldberg]

Private Deck

First impression – it’s smaller than it looks in the videos and still photos shot with expanding lenses. Second impression – that’s a good thing. There’s still plenty of room, but it’s only steps each way from the access points in the Master, living room, and vestibule.

 

The deck steward checked the hot tub temp several times a day, set up lounges and umbrella and took them down in windy/inclement weather (and weather on this trip changed constantly).  We tipped him well as he was working so hard and a positive, sunny presence. You might want to include this person in your tipping plans.  I had not seen this member of the team mentioned before.

We did not go to the upper deck more than once or twice to check out the views. At first we figured we’d use it in Bermuda and then the weather never cooperated during the times we were otherwise free, so that was a missed perk. On a true warm weather sailing it would be amazing to lie up there on a lounger in the evening.

 

There was a steam room but we never tried it. Meant to…

 

Cushions dry remarkably fast, so even right after a downpour you can sit on them and not get soaked.  None of the decking seemed slippery even when wet. It got a good amount of sun, but the table and a seating area were sheltered.

 

Smoking allowed outside (they brought an ashtray for our smoker and emptied it regularly).

 

The hot tub was very comfortable and hot but somewhat challenging to get into. My niece is 5’1 and the stairs were a challenge because of how far apart they were. I am 5’5” and could not reach both handrails at the same time (which kind of defeats the purpose of handrails!)  We went up and down holding on to one side only. We had thought from videos and still photography that we might be able to get my mom up and in – no way. The water was always pristine except for an occasional broken piece of thatch from the roof above. The hot tub in the Haven Courtyard looked like it might be much more accessible.

 

We did not see any overnight engineering people (and I looked!), but the outside guy did come and go several times a day via the cabin itself. He always called out hello. Maybe if you locked the suite door he’d access through the crew area upstairs. Not sure. He’d just pop in and say he was going outside to tie up the chairs because of the wind, or put up the umbrella, or whatever. If you truly want nobody to come in you can lock the suite door, but then they will ring the doorbell 😉 The doorbell is very soft and if you don’t hear it they call the room. We decided we’d rather they come and go than have the doorbell and phones ringing.

[DaisyGoldberg]

The wind

This was an April cruise and things might be very different on other sailings, but the howl and whistle of the wind under certain conditions was truly remarkable. The middle (smallest) bedroom was the quietest. The master was the loudest, with the loudest noise coming from the courtyard side. I am talking truly stunning levels of noise, and not merely during the mild storm. It was quite loud in the living room as well. Seas were mostly mild so it appeared to be more a function of ship speed than weather, with the exception of a few stormy hours. We checked the seals on the doors multiple times, thinking something must not be shut tight, but no drafts at all. It’s just that loud, even above the television volume. Anyone sensitive or averse to noise should make earplug arrangements. When it was just a low hum it was pleasant in combination with the gentle rocking. When howling it was screaming which some might find difficult. I liked the novelty and elemental nature of it for a while, but I think on a transatlantic it would be maddening.

 

Motion, on the other hand, was not appreciably worse than anywhere else I’ve been on ships. In the living room it could be an issue as the furniture is low and there are wide open spaces, so if it were super bad, there wouldn’t be much to grab onto if you staggered in the wrong direction. In truly terrible weather you’d be better off in your bedroom.

 

I will confess we would not have been disappointed if things got rougher, just to experience it in that venue. It was cool to sit or stand and watch the front house of the ship rising and falling against the horizon, and the main deck pool and hot tub water slosh around. The hot tub in the Villa itself did occasionally spill over, but not nearly as much as the pool deck ones, even though it was filled to the brim. The overflow drains at the top must have worked overtime!

 

[DaisyGoldberg]

Handicap access

This is not an officially accessible suite, and we knew that (and were explicitly told that when making wheelchair boarding arrangements). You need to step over raised door frames to the courtyard, showers, etc.  The requested shower chair was in the master. My mom can walk, but we brought the wheelchair for long distances and her walker for short trips like down one flight to Moderno/Cagneys.

 

We also brought her snap on grab bars from home – they came in extremely useful to move from her walker into the toilet stall. There is a very narrow grab bar next to the toilet but relying on that would have made for 2-3 steps with nothing but the wall/glass door to hold onto. We placed one outside the door and one between the door and the ship’s grab bar and this provided much needed stability. They attached easily to the tile walls. I meant to try them on wallpapered walls while we were there to see if they would help in a different cabin set up, but I forgot. Highly recommend these if you or someone you travel with needs something sturdier to hold onto than what might be provided. I could have used one on the Breakaway in that bad tub setup where there’s nothing to hold onto but the sliding glass door.

 

We did end up taking turns spending  nights with her in the master because the ship’s movement and her reliance on the walker made us uneasy that she might fall unattended on the ceramic floor which got quite cold. Originally we thought the smallest bedroom might be the best fit for her but walker maneuverability and the step up into the toilet area worked against it.

 

Limo

On day four concierge asked if we had a ride set up post cruise, as if we needed one, it was one of our amenities. We had already booked with a local company and didn’t want to cancel on them for some unknown outfit, but had we known we would certainly have booked it. I had spoken with the pre cruise concierge about the other amenities and she did not offer it, not was it mentioned in any of our documents. (Basically, all our documents said "Dear Guest" so there was no red carpet rolling pre-cruise!) Definitely reach out and arrange limo service before going if this is something you would like. I think he said the radius was 20 miles but intimated it could be fudged a little. In many places this would encompass the airport.

 

[DaisyGoldberg]

Passengers

Most were great – people were happy to be sailing again, as were the staff. Saw some “happy” drunk people but nobody behaving badly. Hot tubs were always full, even in the very worst rain and high seas. Participation in ship games was good natured with good sportsmanship.

 

There was one lady we encountered several times who was noticeably miserable and intent on sharing that everywhere she went. At the buffet she was waiting for carved chicken and was badgering the poor man slicing it for her. “I want white meat. No, that’s dark meat. I want the breast.” [walking away in a loud huff] “I know what white meat is, you can’t fool me!” (as best I could tell he was slicing a well-seasoned breast) To a different buffet worker minutes later “I don’t know why you make all this awful weird food that nobody is going to eat!” (said in relation to a wild rice salad, apparently.) Days later in Spinnaker “This is NOT a Bahama Mama.” I felt for her traveling companion, but I have to assume she’s no better at home, so if that’s what he’s willing to put up with, it’s on him.

 

TV is a big letdown compared to bigger ships (and even the Gem) No daily videos from cruise director, no map channel, no rebroadcast of things like the Newlywed show that we always enjoyed if we missed it live. A handful of randomly timed movies and tv episodes, news stations (try to avoid on vacation). Kind of like sailing in the 90s again. Maybe they haven’t brought back the media team? Two NCL stations had permanent “No content on this station at this time” screens. I’ve heard rumors they’re switching to the newer smart tvs so maybe they’re just not sinking money into content/live media teams until the switchover takes place. There was a nice new feature of interviews with various crewmembers about themselves and their jobs.

 

Apparently there was a DVD player in the living room but we didn’t find that until near the end (and likely wouldn’t have used it anyway). Just goes to show how quickly you adjust to nicer things like movies on demand and seeing your bill and activities online (I realize in retrospect that stuff was probably all on the app which I downloaded prior to the trip but never opened)

 

These are minor quibbles – we don’t come on cruises to watch tv. Just a change from prior cruises that I thought worth noting.  

[oteixeira]

Did you have Amit as your Haven butler?  I was there with @Sailing12Away for the review you are speaking of.  I can tell you there were almost zero complaints about the room then.  The biggest thing I remember was the hot tub being not super hot the first day, but the Caribbean air fixed that quickly.  LOL

I ate breakfast at the table on the top deck every day, and it was amazing.  

 

[oteixeira]

Just an FYI, we had the Map channel on our cruise, I love to leave that channel on as I get ready each day...

[DaisyGoldberg]

Food

Most curious snack – a cheese plate consisting of 10-12 assorted cheese slices/wedges… and three saltines. Rest was the usual cookies, sandwiches/chips, canapes, chocolates, strawberries, and towards the end some bowls of nuts, M+Ms (off brand, but tasty – both the mini ones and peanut) and gummy bears (surprisingly good – I’ve always found them hard and flavorless but these were juicy and tasty). After a couple of days we asked for coffee and pastry to be delivered each morning, and this is certainly something we will continue in future suites as it removes the pressure of getting to breakfast if you have a slow moving family member. If you don’t, you don’t.

 

Buffet – seemed okay, but didn’t spend much time there. In the Great Outdoors late at night there were some good selections, and some appeared to be leftovers from the restaurants (eg a potato soup that we had had earlier that evening in one of the restaurants, cinnamon pineapple that probably originated in Moderno, etc.)  Who knows – your fave dish may make an appearance! 

 

Cagney’s waiter explaining meal plan: “one appetizer, one soup or salad, one entree and up to 2 sides. Let me repeat that for you so we are clear…” No other specialty waiter ever said anything (but then we only ever order one of anything anyway, so they’d have no reason to)

 

Teppanyaki – have done this on land before and never felt that inclined to try it on a ship, but figured we would give it a try. I don’t understand why there is no door separating that room from the Lotus Garden.  It really negatively impacted the experience as the chefs were working so hard to entertain us and we couldn’t hear them over the loud music coming from the lounge. I have hearing loss anyway, so combined with four chefs performing at once it was a bad situation for me and would be for anyone who has difficulty with background sound. Other presumably better hearing folks at our table had to ask servers to repeat themselves, too.

 

Indigo – Perfectly nice, had a great seat by the window. Food was good. Otherwise don’t remember a thing about it.

 

Summer Palace – I really liked this dining room, bright and cheerful. The “paintings” were nice to look at until you remembered everybody in them was brutally murdered not long after, at which point it became a bit unsettling.  Just me?

 

Cagneys - really downgraded in my opinion. We ate there twice and it was mediocre. The steak was good, but the baked potato and onion rings were buffet quality (not that I'd order either in a buffet). The wedge salad was good. My mom loved her soup. I was more satisfied with our dining room meals (non-steak) overall, so think we may keep to one Cagney and one Moderno dinner next time. 

 

La Cucina - we had pizzas in the suite one night. They were fine, but not great. I wouldn't waste a meal credit on them.

 

Moderno – very good as always, pineapple better than ever.

 

Butler Service

Butler service is a nice Haven perk, but a difference we noted in the GV is that other staff on the ship felt compelled to call the butler to do things for us without checking with us first. For example, we had lunch in Moderno, wanted to take dessert back to our room to enjoy it there. It’s one floor up, we are going directly there – can they wrap it and we will take it to go? Waiter says “sure.”  Manager then comes back and says “I called your butler and he will deliver them.” So now he’s pulled out of whatever he’s doing to go collect the desserts we were perfectly willing to carry ourselves, and we’re sitting there waiting for them to show up instead of already eating them in our private dining room. 

 

In the main dining room, finished meal, decided to go back to the room. Asked them to bring the wheelchair from wherever they had parked it. Waited. Nothing. Manager came over “we called your butler.” No need to bother him and had they asked we would have said no, we prefer to do it ourselves. So if this level of service is NOT what you want, best to be up front about it because they will definitely call in your butler before telling you they are going to do so! It became a running joke with one of the waiters who we asked to please not rat us out to the butler – when he’d see us in another restaurant he’d walk by and threaten “I’m going to call your BUTLER!”

[DaisyGoldberg]

Facial recognition

I wonder if this is used in other parts of the ship than just embarkation/debarkation. For example, I went to the main dining room (Summer Palace) with my mother for lunch. Both were masked. We accessed on deck 6 because of the wheelchair, so we bypassed the check in area at the top of the stairs where they check your card. We waited at the foot of the stairs to be greeted, and the manager came running down the steps and greeted us by name and stage whispered our cabin number to a waiter and asked them to seat us in a specific window seat. We had never been to that dining room before. We had not told the butler or concierge we were planning on going there. So how did she know who we were and scurry over to help?

 

In some locations servers would perk up at the number of the cabin and deliver what appeared to be more attentive service, in others, no reaction whatsoever (and perfectly fine service, just not as obvious catering). Again, not complaining, just pointing out that you may encounter this sort of thing here and there.

 

We were very grateful for the additional GV personal attention because my mom used the wheelchair more than expected during this trip, so a personal escort to dinner and then across to the show came in very handy from time to time and certainly when boarding/disembarking. The concierge or butler personally took the chair to the dining room table when they knew we were going and helped her into her seat. Would I want a personal escort to dinner or the show if I was not with someone who required additional assistance? I think I probably would have declined it except on a huge ship where it might bypass some traffic on a night when I was cutting timing close.

 

Immigration

In Bar Harbor, Haven guests assembled in courtyard and were taken down together. We were given strict instructions to stay in our suite and ignore other Haven instructions and the concierge would personally collect us. This worked out well as the timing of these things starting is never clearcut and ended up being delayed. He arrived and handed us (the GVs and DOS) off to someone else who paraded us down to the front of the line holding up a HAVEN/VILLAS sign up in the air for us to follow which was a bit embarrassing, but probably a bit of advertising on NCL’s part to those waiting in line. My sister was the first one through, and we followed right after. They formed 3 lines so things moved very quickly behind us.

 

The only other time I’ve come back through immigration in Maine was on the Dawn, in an SJ suite, and the line of passengers stretched all through the ship – as if it were the last day trying to get off. Saw many fewer people this time, so a trifle less embarrassing. The Haven front of the line perk is priceless for saving time in that particular process.

 

Disembarkation

Met in suite, taken to Lotus Garden. Mom in wheelchair escorted in elevator, rest of us walked down 2 flights, taken off ship by NCL folks, then met by (nice) Massport woman who walked us to our luggage, got a porter and out to the car.

 

Hope this helps provide some background info for those considering a GV trip. You’ll have an amazing time!

[DaisyGoldberg]

13 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

Did you have Amit as your Haven butler?  I was there with @Sailing12Away for the review you are speaking of.  I can tell you there were almost zero complaints about the room then.  The biggest thing I remember was the hot tub being not super hot the first day, but the Caribbean air fixed that quickly.  LOL

I ate breakfast at the table on the top deck every day, and it was amazing.  
 

No, we had Budhi - he was great. I hope I don't come off as complaining. We loved it. The hot tub was always piping hot. I think the chill of Maine (it was 5 degrees that night) really soaked through the windows. 

[oteixeira]

4 minutes ago, DaisyGoldberg said:

No, we had Budhi - he was great. I hope I don't come off as complaining. We loved it. The hot tub was always piping hot. I think the chill of Maine (it was 5 degrees that night) really soaked through the windows. 

You totally did not, I just wanted to be honest about my experience on that sailing.  I was in the middle room of the 3, and I had a great time!  When we sailed there were less then 600 onboard, it was kind of insane to think about (about 25% capacity I think).

Edited May 3, 2022 by oteixeira

[DaisyGoldberg]

14 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

Just an FYI, we had the Map channel on our cruise, I love to leave that channel on as I get ready each day...

That's good to hear. My sister really missed it.  

[A1SusieQ]

Great job with all the details. So useful as we will be staying in the Pearl GV in July. 😀

[Sailing12Away]

I was in the master room, and the first full sea night we woke up from the howling wind and vibration. It wasn't nearly as bad as what we had in our Aft cabin on Encore, but it was definitely noticeable. I'll have to look through my phone to see if I still have the video.

 

If that one night (it was much better the rest of the trip, so probably only when they're getting all the hamsters on the wheel to go as fast as possible) was the worst thing to complain about, we were counting ourselves very lucky. 

Definitely an amazing experience and I will absolutely keep my eyes out for another steal of a deal like we had found. It was a great mix of having separate private space as well as a communal hang out area to chat and have fun. Just be mindful of hitting the button for the jacuzzi bubbles while moving at sea.... that was good for a few laughs.

 

I'm about 5'2ish (I think I'm shrinking...) and the only complaint I had about getting in/out was that it was slippery. Just hand your cocktail off to a friend, use 2 hands on the one grab bar, and take it slow. The steam room was a nice bonus too... first time trying that out and it was nice to have right there to sit and soak for a few minutes.

[DaisyGoldberg]

12 hours ago, A1SusieQ said:

Great job with all the details. So useful as we will be staying in the Pearl GV in July. 😀

You're going to have a blast. It's a great ship and the crew are wonderful. 

[oteixeira]

12 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Just be mindful of hitting the button for the jacuzzi bubbles while moving at sea.... that was good for a few laughs.

I kind of miss the chaos button.   LOL

[Artcricket]

Thank you so much for such a helpful and descriptive narrative. My family and I are in the GV on the Pearl out of Boston on June 24. Not to excited about the noise level you described but I’ll let the group know. Also had no idea that you weren’t informed about var service after the cruise so I think it’s something I’ll mention to the land concierge before we leave. Great job OP!

[DaisyGoldberg]

Don't be too concerned about the noise. The middle cabin is probably the quietest if you have a light sleeper, and it was not an issue the first couple of nights at all. It was a rough weather week (not terrible, but lots of intermittent driving rain). And it was April!  I think in June you will probably experience something much smoother. 

 

It truly is an amazing experience and a wonderful place for gathering together with family. We were only a group of 4 - with a larger party those big tables would have gotten a lot more use. You will have space to spread out but also gather together, while being able to close a door behind you in your room.

 

If you choose to have coffee/pastry dropped off in the morning, it's great not to have to leave the suite. Only two of us drank coffee, but my niece took the morning leftover coffee and made iced coffee. There's also fruit on the table and the butler will refill what he sees you are eating.

 

The Haven courtyard is steps away on the other side of the elevator bank, and you can just walk in and grab a cup of coffee and a snack to take back to the room, or sit down and order breakfast.

[Artcricket]

I think we will ask for coffee early in the morning - before we go to breakfast. I’m just not sure if I should just tell the butler to just bring it in at around 7 am and leave it on the bar area. I am also a decaf coffee drinker later after dinner and guess that could be another ask. My daughter and I smoke and I read that’s allowed in the GV. 

[Artcricket]

On the big balcony. 

[DaisyGoldberg]

Yes, my sister smokes and I will ask her who got her the ashtray. She didn't go upstairs with it at all. The deck steward emptied it in the course of his rounds. She only used it a couple of times a day. No smoking indoors. It was quite sheltered at the dining table outside when weather was bad.

 

I think we told the butler 8 am but sometimes it arrived earlier. The coffee stayed hot in the carafe. He'd bring cups and saucers and creamer and a dish containing 4-5 pastries and 2-3 muffins, wrapped with saran wrap. He placed everything on the table which had a table cloth after the first couple of days when they saw we were using it. 

 

We also sometimes hit the buffet late at night and would leave the dishes/silverware on the bar. He'd pick them up in the same trip, I think. Ice was usually filled later in the morning. 

 

 

[Shellbelle28]

I've observed some magical skills of NCL staff at recognizing passengers. My husband I wandered into the buffet for breakfast on the Bliss on our last cruise (we were in an Aft Penthouse with large balcony, I highly recommend if you're traveling as a couple, the balcony is incredible). Anyway, we were filling our plates and husband went to sit at a table while I was still browsing. When I was done, I started looking for the table he'd gone to. One of the buffet hostesses asked "can I help you?" and I said I didn't think so, I just needed to find my husband. And she casually said "Oh, Mrs. Shellbelle, he's right over there." Gobsmacked...

[Artcricket]

It’s great to read reviews from people that have realistic expectations and can note minor things that don’t affect their overall cruise. I was just joking to my son that I’d love to read the review from the “Buffett” lady. I’m sure she had a totally different experience! So happy not to be her traveling partner. Some things may not be perfect and one might have a bad experience now and then but I truly believe how you treat others, including hard working staff, is returned to you. I guess there are just some people who can’t be pleased. DaisyGoldberg you are a great writer and my family all agreed.