Just boarded the Bliss …

[mearsfansinboise]

3 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Is that oatmeal or what?

Yes – it’s not on the menu, but they have it if you ask for it. 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, mearsfansinboise said:

We did Cagney’s twice. 
Mostly great food, and really great service. (We had the au gratin potatoes twice and twice they were well under done.)
 

 

 

 

That cake at Cagney's is my all time favorite.  I can't wait.  They used to have this cake in the Haven but it looked different.  Thanks so much for this picture.  Makes my current diet worth doing.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[mearsfansinboise]

Glacier Bay. 

 

 

 

 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

Ketchikan. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

Los Lobos - surprisingly ended up being our most favorite specialty restaurant. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

It was about a half an hour before lunchtime and I really wanted a hotdog. They wouldn’t let us order off the pool menu yet. My butler saw us hanging out and asked what we wanted - and he got us a hotdog and fries and a hamburger and Coke… He was just amazing. He also brought us the MDR menus each day + desserts from the main dining room when requested, and when we couldn’t eat the desserts after Los Lobos, he brought those to our stateroom as well. 
 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

More towel animals from our steward … 

 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

The last supper ….

 

Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the Haven and all its perks … but the stagnant Haven restaurant menu is underwhelming for us now - especially for lunch and dinner.  I’m really glad we took advantage of that special to get (4) specialty dinners instead of just (2). 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by mearsfansinboise

[mearsfansinboise]

We only had 3.5 hours in Victoria this evening, so we hopped off to get some Canadian treats and came back to the room to start packing.  I stopped and picked up the envelopes to do my tips. 
 

Saw Jersey Boys today - WOW!  What an incredible show. If it’s still going next time we sail, I’ll probably watch it each showing. 
 

We saw orcas when we left Seattle on day one, and we saw a ton of humpback whales today, and then a bunch of bald eagles in Alaska. 

[PATRLR]

4 hours ago, mearsfansinboise said:

The last supper ….

 

Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the Haven and all its perks … but the stagnant Haven restaurant menu is underwhelming for us now - especially for lunch and dinner.  I’m really glad we took advantage of that special to get (4) specialty dinners instead of just (2). 

 

 

 

Is that ribeye from Cagneys?  Looks good.

[mearsfansinboise]

2 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Is that ribeye from Cagneys?  Looks good.

Prime rib in the Haven restaurant. I asked them to slice it and then pan fry it for me. That + French fries was all I needed. ☺️

[missnd]

How far in advance was your butler able to get you the MDR menus?  I am in the Haven for the first time in November, but I'm not too excited about the Haven menu and have always had a good experience in the MDRs.

[mearsfansinboise]

6 hours ago, missnd said:

How far in advance was your butler able to get you the MDR menus?  I am in the Haven for the first time in November, but I'm not too excited about the Haven menu and have always had a good experience in the MDRs.

The day of - with the afternoon snacks.  That worked for us, but for planning purposes you could probably ask them to get it to you as soon as possible in the morning when they’re available. 

[cxw]

We just disembarked the ship this morning as well and it was our first time in the Haven. The bartenders, especially Joana and Al, were fantastic as was Gian. We found the food to be very good throughout the ship, but weren’t blown away by any meals. 
 

Our only big disappointment was our butler. We were in an aft facing penthouse outside of the Haven area so we rarely saw her and she didn’t do anything to make our cruise special. One morning I ordered room service breakfast and when she brought it she got the door hanging cards out of the room service menu and told me to use those the night before and not to call her or room service to order breakfast, so after this we were uncomfortable making requests. She did bring canapés in the afternoon, but that was it. She could clearly see that we drink a lot of water based on how many empty flow cartons were in our room, and never once did she offer to get more.  Last night we ate at Teppanyaki, which was excellent, and asked if our butler could bring sushi from Food Republic since they don’t serve it in Teppanyaki. They said no, but said she could get it and leave it in our room. Rather than do that our butler came to Teppanyaki in person and told us we could go eat it in Food Republic if we want it. This was also after we left her $100 in the room that she had already retrieved. I was perturbed by that interaction. In the future, what would you recommend that I do differently to ensure better service from the butler? Can they get alcoholic drinks using our drink package and leave them in our suite?  
 

We will be back and The Haven was a fantastic experience overall. 

[FLcruisergrl]

10 hours ago, cxw said:

We just disembarked the ship this morning as well and it was our first time in the Haven. The bartenders, especially Joana and Al, were fantastic as was Gian. We found the food to be very good throughout the ship, but weren’t blown away by any meals. 
 

Our only big disappointment was our butler. We were in an aft facing penthouse outside of the Haven area so we rarely saw her and she didn’t do anything to make our cruise special. One morning I ordered room service breakfast and when she brought it she got the door hanging cards out of the room service menu and told me to use those the night before and not to call her or room service to order breakfast, so after this we were uncomfortable making requests. She did bring canapés in the afternoon, but that was it. She could clearly see that we drink a lot of water based on how many empty flow cartons were in our room, and never once did she offer to get more.  Last night we ate at Teppanyaki, which was excellent, and asked if our butler could bring sushi from Food Republic since they don’t serve it in Teppanyaki. They said no, but said she could get it and leave it in our room. Rather than do that our butler came to Teppanyaki in person and told us we could go eat it in Food Republic if we want it. This was also after we left her $100 in the room that she had already retrieved. I was perturbed by that interaction. In the future, what would you recommend that I do differently to ensure better service from the butler? Can they get alcoholic drinks using our drink package and leave them in our suite?  
 

We will be back and The Haven was a fantastic experience overall. 

Sounds like you got a bit of a dud in the butler! The sushi experience is definitely disappointing. The room service breakfast issue is really the best way, though. We always use the hang tags and then write in anything that is not already an option. For the future, I would recommend lots of communication and leaving notes. We’ve always done that and have had amazing service. We leave notes each morning with what snacks or anything else we want that day.  Did you communicate with the butler on what you’d like her to do to make the trip special? While some automatically go above and beyond, others will just do the standard job unless asked. If you want drinks delivered to the room, there will be a charge, even with the drink package. 

[mearsfansinboise]

15 hours ago, cxw said:

We just disembarked the ship this morning as well and it was our first time in the Haven. The bartenders, especially Joana and Al, were fantastic as was Gian. We found the food to be very good throughout the ship, but weren’t blown away by any meals. 
 

Our only big disappointment was our butler. We were in an aft facing penthouse outside of the Haven area so we rarely saw her and she didn’t do anything to make our cruise special. One morning I ordered room service breakfast and when she brought it she got the door hanging cards out of the room service menu and told me to use those the night before and not to call her or room service to order breakfast, so after this we were uncomfortable making requests. She did bring canapés in the afternoon, but that was it. She could clearly see that we drink a lot of water based on how many empty flow cartons were in our room, and never once did she offer to get more.  Last night we ate at Teppanyaki, which was excellent, and asked if our butler could bring sushi from Food Republic since they don’t serve it in Teppanyaki. They said no, but said she could get it and leave it in our room. Rather than do that our butler came to Teppanyaki in person and told us we could go eat it in Food Republic if we want it. This was also after we left her $100 in the room that she had already retrieved. I was perturbed by that interaction. In the future, what would you recommend that I do differently to ensure better service from the butler? Can they get alcoholic drinks using our drink package and leave them in our suite?  
 

We will be back and The Haven was a fantastic experience overall. 

 

Dang, that sucks - especially because when you pay for the Haven, you pay for good butler service.  I think as someone else said, you got a dud of a butler (I would have said a sh*t butler, but that's probably not very nice).

 

Being in the Haven, you are not supposed to use room service (I think they may even charge you if you do) + the butler should have told you that when you first met them -- you use the butler (or the butler's phone number at night for the butler on-call), or the cards to order breakfast.

 

You only got the canapes?  Gahhhh that irks me - we got a freakin' buffet every afternoon.

I use @Sthrngary's letter idea and it worked out great for us on both of our Haven sailings (this one and the one in March).  I would encourage you to use that next time.  We were very clear on all the foods that we liked.  For example I said sandwiches and listed the kind that we liked and sure enough, every afternoon there was a plate of BLTs, chicken salad, tuna salad, or ham and cheese sandwiches.  I said we like chocolate-covered strawberries and those were there every day.  I saw our butler doing the snack service one afternoon and noticed chocolate-covered pineapple on his cart and I remarked that I didn't know that was a thing.  From then on, we had chocolate-covered strawberries AND chocolate-covered pineapple.  I said we liked pastries - we got cookies and cupcakes.  I said we liked the soft pretzels and warm cheese, we got that too.  We got everything we asked for - and more.

 

Our refrigerator was always stocked with the juices we said we liked (our letter referenced pineapple juice and chocolate milk and Coke) and more ... and he checked and re-stocked everything each day.  If we were talking about something, he'd get out his little notepad and say "oh yes, I saw you need more Coke" and later when we returned, we had more Coke cans.

 

I think as Gary and others have remarked on Haven threads, it's all about communication.  If you don't ask - or tell - you aren't gonna get.  I'm bummed that you had that experience. Do the letter  -  or just talk to them A LOT (I do both).  I put $60 in the letter up front, but I don't think that gets better service, the service and the getting of things come from the letter/communication.

 

Better luck next time?

 

 

[Sthrngary]

43 minutes ago, mearsfansinboise said:

 

Dang, that sucks - especially because when you pay for the Haven, you pay for good butler service.  I think as someone else said, you got a dud of a butler (I would have said a sh*t butler, but that's probably not very nice).

 

Being in the Haven, you are not supposed to use room service (I think they may even charge you if you do) + the butler should have told you that when you first met them -- you use the butler (or the butler's phone number at night for the butler on-call), or the cards to order breakfast.

 

You only got the canapes?  Gahhhh that irks me - we got a freakin' buffet every afternoon.

I use @Sthrngary's letter idea and it worked out great for us on both of our Haven sailings (this one and the one in March).  I would encourage you to use that next time.  We were very clear on all the foods that we liked.  For example I said sandwiches and listed the kind that we liked and sure enough, every afternoon there was a plate of BLTs, chicken salad, tuna salad, or ham and cheese sandwiches.  I said we like chocolate-covered strawberries and those were there every day.  I saw our butler doing the snack service one afternoon and noticed chocolate-covered pineapple on his cart and I remarked that I didn't know that was a thing.  From then on, we had chocolate-covered strawberries AND chocolate-covered pineapple.  I said we liked pastries - we got cookies and cupcakes.  I said we liked the soft pretzels and warm cheese, we got that too.  We got everything we asked for - and more.

 

Our refrigerator was always stocked with the juices we said we liked (our letter referenced pineapple juice and chocolate milk and Coke) and more ... and he checked and re-stocked everything each day.  If we were talking about something, he'd get out his little notepad and say "oh yes, I saw you need more Coke" and later when we returned, we had more Coke cans.

 

I think as Gary and others have remarked on Haven threads, it's all about communication.  If you don't ask - or tell - you aren't gonna get.  I'm bummed that you had that experience. Do the letter  -  or just talk to them A LOT (I do both).  I put $60 in the letter up front, but I don't think that gets better service, the service and the getting of things come from the letter/communication.

 

Better luck next time?

 

 

Thank you for the shout out.  The letter has always worked for me but it is in no way a lock.  I have always said, Butlers on all Mainstream Cruise Brands are hit or miss.  Sometimes, no matter what you do, you get a bad one.  The key to the Haven Room Service is to request ONLY Haven Food used when the Haven Restaurant is open.  The issue on the Sushi was due to that being a Specialty restaurant and there would be a charge.  The next time, tell the Butler I know there will be a charge for the sushi, just charge my suite.  

 

You were responding to another new Haven Guest.  The key is to know how to work the system and have realistic expectations.  The letter breaks the language challenges sometimes and has something in writing so memory is a mute point. The good news is the butler is just a small part of the over all Haven Experience. 

 

I would be the first to say, none of us should even have to write a letter.  It should be the job of the butler to ask, take notes and exceed our expectations.  On other cruise lines, usually luxury and ultra-luxury that is the way it is for the butlers.  It is Night and Day better in every way.  You pay for that premium.  The concept and strategy with the NCL Haven Butler is simply to reduce disappointment.  again, we should not have to work so hard but it makes our NCL cruise better. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[ggTexasGal]

17 hours ago, cxw said:

She could clearly see that we drink a lot of water based on how many empty flow cartons were in our room, and never once did she offer to get more.

Short of being in the few largest suites ( $$$  such as Owner's Suite), water has not been a part of the drink package without purchasing the Premium Plus Beverage Package. Even if you have the PPBP, it probably would be best to ask the room steward/butler to restock those if it's important to you.

With the PPBP, we have often stopped at a bar in order to get some to carry to our room.

Edited October 23, 2022 by ggTexasGal
added

[mearsfansinboise]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Thank you for the shout out.  The letter has always worked for me but it is in no way a lock.  I have always said, Butlers on all Mainstream Cruise Brands are hit or miss.  Sometimes, no matter what you do, you get a bad one.  The key to the Haven Room Service is to request ONLY Haven Food used when the Haven Restaurant is open.  The issue on the Sushi was due to that being a Specialty restaurant and there would be a charge.  The next time, tell the Butler I know there will be a charge for the sushi, just charge my suite.  

 

You were responding to another new Haven Guest.  The key is to know how to work the system and have realistic expectations.  The letter breaks the language challenges sometimes and has something in writing so memory is a mute point. The good news is the butler is just a small part of the over all Haven Experience. 

 

I would be the first to say, none of us should even have to write a letter.  It should be the job of the butler to ask, take notes and exceed our expectations.  On other cruise lines, usually luxury and ultra-luxury that is the way it is for the butlers.  It is Night and Day better in every way.  You pay for that premium.  The concept and strategy with the NCL Haven Butler is simply to reduce disappointment.  again, we should not have to work so hard but it makes our NCL cruise better. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

You know what, you are absolutely correct. We don’t know what we don’t know. If I had not been on Cruise Critic over a decade before my first Haven sailing I would never have thought to write a letter to my butler. I would have assumed that they knew how to do everything and that everything that they did was the extent of what I would get. And I probably would not have thought that I could actually ask for things.

 

That said, that would be my number one bit of advice forever and always for anyone sailing the Haven is try to letter. And gosh I hope to heck that I always have a good butler …. now that I have had excellent butler service both times, if my butler ever is a dud, I will most definitely speak up!

[RocketMan275]

15 minutes ago, mearsfansinboise said:

That said, that would be my number one bit of advice forever and always for anyone sailing the Haven is try to letter. And gosh I hope to heck that I always have a good butler …. now that I have had excellent butler service both times, if my butler ever is a dud, I will most definitely speak up!

The letter is number one but closely following behind is contact with the shore-based conceirges.  They can take care of many of the things you might ask for.  I found them to be most helpful.  They answer the phone with minimal wait time.  They offer suggestions for services/items you might desire.

 

For example, they asked if I wanted the things that have charges removed from the refrigerator.  They asked if I wanted ice tea in the fridge.  They asked about the types of afternoon snacks I might want.  They send  this information to the butler so most of it is taken care of before you board.

 

They should contact you but if you haven't heard from them around 30 days out, call this number:  

1-855-625-4283.

[cruiseny4life]

On 10/22/2022 at 10:18 PM, cxw said:

We just disembarked the ship this morning as well and it was our first time in the Haven. The bartenders, especially Joana and Al, were fantastic as was Gian. We found the food to be very good throughout the ship, but weren’t blown away by any meals. 
 

Our only big disappointment was our butler. We were in an aft facing penthouse outside of the Haven area so we rarely saw her and she didn’t do anything to make our cruise special. One morning I ordered room service breakfast and when she brought it she got the door hanging cards out of the room service menu and told me to use those the night before and not to call her or room service to order breakfast, so after this we were uncomfortable making requests. She did bring canapés in the afternoon, but that was it. She could clearly see that we drink a lot of water based on how many empty flow cartons were in our room, and never once did she offer to get more.  Last night we ate at Teppanyaki, which was excellent, and asked if our butler could bring sushi from Food Republic since they don’t serve it in Teppanyaki. They said no, but said she could get it and leave it in our room. Rather than do that our butler came to Teppanyaki in person and told us we could go eat it in Food Republic if we want it. This was also after we left her $100 in the room that she had already retrieved. I was perturbed by that interaction. In the future, what would you recommend that I do differently to ensure better service from the butler? Can they get alcoholic drinks using our drink package and leave them in our suite?  
 

We will be back and The Haven was a fantastic experience overall. 

That was a terrible butler experience! I'm glad you will be back and next time I hope you have a great butler! We were in an Aft-Facing Penthouse last month and had spectacular service from our butler. I had dessert in my room, a meal in my room, and a few other things. We never heard "no." 

 

So, in the future, here's what you do when you have a shoddy butler. First, have a conversation with them. Their may be legit things they cannot do that you request. For instance, sushi being delivered from one establishment to another may not be possible. I don't know if it is or isn't, but that seems like a somewhat impolite request. Perhaps F&B told the butler no. It seems she made an effort to let you know, but her communication skills may not have been perfect.

 

If you do feel that you are receiving poor service from your butler, don't wait to complain. Like I said earlier, talk to your butler first and make your requests known (see some posts above). If this doesn't work and you're still not receiving good service, talk to the concierge. They are in charge of the butlers. They'll be able to better explain any policies impacting the butler from doing what you want, or will be able to help support the butler provide better service.

 

Finally, if you don't receive the expected service....don't tip. That's like rewarding a toddler's tantrum with an ice cream. They won't understand the service was bad unless there has been communication, and then no reward. 

 

Be sure to read the entirety of the secrets of the Haven thread, here on Cruise Critic before your next cruise. It'll help set expectations and will help you understand what your service team can/cannot do. 

Happy Monday!

 

 

[mearsfansinboise]

Attached are the Dailies ...

Day 7.pdf Day 6.pdf Day 5.pdf Day 4.pdf Day 3.pdf Day 2.pdf Day 1.pdf

[drumming cruisers]

Sounds like the butler we had when were in the aft Haven on the Bliss. We would have the do not disturb on and she would ring the doorbell and knock on the door. if we didn't answer she would call us!!! We told her no sandwiches, and that all we received. 

[cxw]

On 10/26/2022 at 1:17 AM, drumming cruisers said:

Sounds like the butler we had when were in the aft Haven on the Bliss. We would have the do not disturb on and she would ring the doorbell and knock on the door. if we didn't answer she would call us!!! We told her no sandwiches, and that all we received. 

Very similar interactions as we had with with ours. Did she happen to have very short hair? Just wondering if we had the same one.

[Candy Apple 12]

On 10/16/2022 at 11:56 PM, mearsfansinboise said:

@BSR Gian said he’ll be here until November 20something. 

 

@Sthrngary Rogi said he’ll be here ‘til March; not sure about April. 

Thanks! If Rogi’s not there in April, we’ll have to hope for another good butler.

On 10/18/2022 at 4:55 AM, mearsfansinboise said:

My towel animal by request courtesy of our steward.
 

Our butler keeps our refrigerator stocked with canned sodas Did you have the beverage package?, apple juice, pineapple juice, lemonade, and milk. 

 

 

 

On 10/22/2022 at 12:49 AM, mearsfansinboise said: