NCL Joy September 20 - 25 Bermuda

[cruiseny4life]

On 9/26/2023 at 7:09 PM, jackieodonnell said:

The concierge in the Haven was good for nothing. Total waste of space. They couldn't upgrade internet, make reservations or anything useful that we were used to in the past. So we just stopped asking them and handled everything ourselves. The only perk with the concierge was getting off the ship fast.

That's really surprising! The concierge has done everything you mentioned for us. I'm going to be interested (hopefully not disappointed) if they can do this for us again in November.

 

[jackieodonnell]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

That's really surprising! The concierge has done everything you mentioned for us. I'm going to be interested (hopefully not disappointed) if they can do this for us again in November.

 

Please let me know how they do!  Usually they are awesome but the only thing that was a plus with the concierge this time around was getting off the ship fast. Which to me is well worth it...but I was used to them being able to accommodate reservations and such. 

[JemzRoo]

I'm on Joy tomorrow and it's my first stay in Haven. Reading the constant reviews across the internet about how awful the Haven bar and concierge are on Joy is is a bit unsettling given the price we paid for it. I'm cautiously optimistic but ready to be disappointed. 

[wolft927]

1 hour ago, JemzRoo said:

I'm on Joy tomorrow and it's my first stay in Haven. Reading the constant reviews across the internet about how awful the Haven bar and concierge are on Joy is is a bit unsettling given the price we paid for it. I'm cautiously optimistic but ready to be disappointed. 

We sailed on the Joy in the Haven in April. Yes is the Bar Small sure, but there is also seating in the lounge. We had no issues with the concierge. I promise you will love it. 

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, JemzRoo said:

I'm on Joy tomorrow and it's my first stay in Haven. Reading the constant reviews across the internet about how awful the Haven bar and concierge are on Joy is is a bit unsettling given the price we paid for it. I'm cautiously optimistic but ready to be disappointed. 

I'm one of those who complained about the bar. My complaints (I feel are justified). Having said that, drinking isn't a huge part of my cruise, so it doesn't make a huge difference to me. If you go in expecting slow bar service, then I feel that I've done my job. As @wolft927 said, I also promise you'll love the Haven and Joy. 

 

Seriously, it's going to be an amazing trip. Would you stop on the thruway to grab me in Utica please? 

[JGmf]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Seriously, it's going to be an amazing trip. Would you stop on the thruway to grab me in Utica please? 

 

Might as well stop in Albany and pick me up too....

[cruiseny4life]

3 hours ago, JGmf said:

 

Might as well stop in Albany and pick me up too....

PARTY BUS!!!!

[Yinster]

What's the name of the concierge? Hopefully by the time we are onboard in November there might be a new concierge. Not that we are high maintenance but everything you said the concierge couldn't do is all part of the job.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Yinster

[Number34]

We are sailing on the late November cruise to Panama City. It will be our second Haven cruise on NCL, the first was on Epic. The Haven bar on Epic was always accessible and it was very easy to get a drink - we liked a Tio Pepe before dinner and I often stopped later on to collect a cognac nightcap. I am rather worried by the recent reviews about the slow service as having use of the Haven bar was one of the main factors I took into consideration when booking the Haven. I am rather impatient and do not like slow bar service so am interested to hear more about the experiences of recent cruisers.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Number34
Typo

[cruiservictor]

4 hours ago, Yinster said:

What's the name of the concierge? Hopefully by the time we are onboard in November there might be a new concierge. Not that we are high maintenance but everything you said the concierge couldn't do is all part of the job.

We are onboard, finishing up 16 days onboard and staying on for 5 more. The concierge is Efren Acesor and his assistant is Xinmu He (aka Mr. X). We have found them both to be wonderful. 

[Belgian cruiser1]

I believe my wife and I have just completed the sailing after this one, leaving NY in the pouring rain on the 25th of sept. (which makes sailing past Lady Liberty a whole lot less marvelous).

We stayed in a (not-Haven) Penthouse suite on deck 14 and were very pleased with the cabin. We had made a bid on the Haven equivalent, but didn't win that bid. I am however surprised that the Haven bar is such a disaster. On our sailing we quickly discovered that the Observatory Lounge (which can be packed in the morning or on rainy afternoons) has a lot of free tables and quick service as soon a s people start going to dinner, so that was often our place to go from 18h00 onward - especially as other customers didn't play the sickly game of outbidding each other (in the literal sense - throwing a bunch of dollar bills on the bar counter) to get served first by any of the bar tenders.

[sandi422]

Our experience in that cruise was very different. 2 couples traveling together. We were often at the Haven bar. It was crowded often, but there were only about 8-10 seats at the bar. We would sit in the lounge in the bar area and had great service. It was a little slow a times. We would move to the bar when seats opened.We thought the bartenders were great. We asked them to  create special drinks based upon what we liked. Never disappointed. We did not use the concierge much. We did ask for assistance with getting into the shows and were told to go to the theater and look for the Haven sign. We did not have a problem getting great seats for Footloose or Elements.  We thought Footloose was just OK. We enjoyed Elements more.  We met our butler on the first day, and never saw him again. We did not ask for anything, but enjoyed the snacks that were delivered. We did not see our steward, but our cabin was clean and coffee pods were replaced. We enjoyed the Haven restaurant, as well as Food Republic, Ocean Blue, and Le Bistro.  We did self assist debarkation and asked the concierge to take us down in the elevator. We were off of the ship in about 20 minutes total.   

 

[UKstages]

my last experience with the haven bar on the joy was in september, 2022. yes, the bar itself  has only a few seats… and people camp out at it. you’ll see the same people there for hours on end, night after night. but the “bar” is so much more the bar… there is tons of seating in there… nice comfy chairs… with drink servers roaming about taking your order. 
 

as for the concierge… it’s usually a team of three. choose the one that works best for you: i didn’t use their services much, but they were fine.