MSC Yacht Club Loyalist Tries Haven

[Best Cat Mom]

Yeah, but we don't need the cabin space for just the two of us so we've used the concierge restroom as our second ad needed. It has been the Italian aspect of MSC that has never caused us to look back.

[no1talks]

2 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

"It has been the Italian aspect of MSC that has never caused us to look back.
 

An aspect that I suspect will be even more diminished on World America. 😟

[Best Cat Mom]

11 hours ago, no1talks said:

An aspect that I suspect will be even more diminished on World America. 😟

The names alone -- la Divina and World America -- seem to tell us what to expect. 😞

[MsTabbyKats]

11 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Yeah, but we don't need the cabin space for just the two of us so we've used the concierge restroom as our second ad needed. It has been the Italian aspect of MSC that has never caused us to look back.

And I thought "the secret second bathroom" was my secret!

As far as "the Italian aspect"....on my first MSC cruise I said "it was like traveling to Italy without having to fly".  On my April 2024 YC...it was more like being at the Jersey Shore.

[Best Cat Mom]

1 minute ago, MsTabbyKats said:

on my first MSC cruise I said "it was like traveling to Italy without having to fly"

I once wrote on the boards that 2 hours to Florida beat a 6 or 8 hour flight to Europe. A poster asked me what I meant. All I could think was that if they booked MSC they likely would not be pleased.

[Two Wheels Only]

20 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Since there is just one bathroom on MSC, BCD will sometimes use the bathroom by the concierge desk.

 

 

 

[Nikita4]

And Norwegian is really an other cruise experience, more freestyle and less formal than MSC. We were an a Hawaii Cruise with a Norwegian Ship, but it was to freestyle for us. The Ship was without Haven.

[Fogfog]

Some thoughts on dining and Bev.

The Haven dining here on a Prima is solid.
Great food and service. Whether a double cut pork chop, panchetta wrapped lamb chops  or surf and turf for dinner, or a Caesar salad with shrimp for lunch, chicken Milanese etc, the dining has been solid.

After 10 days… we are still happy.

So much so that while we have specialty dining in our package and will eat again elsewhere one last time…we have not needed to do so.

We can mix and match..meaning if you want different sides, leave off sauce or have dietary requests, we find Haven staff very accomodating.

 

Dining on Meraviglia in YC had been solid for B2B in early 2020 as was for 4b2b in 22.

Dining on Seashore in YC in Feb was outstanding.

Our March Divinia YC we found the dining weak and wanting in YC. Things weren’t executed well, came out without sauces, poorly seasoned etc. Whomever was running Divinia YC kitchen in March..it was not great…and we had 8 previous YC sailings to compare.

 

We like MSC for the Italian flair and typically are happy with dining with the Divinia exception. 
That said, so far Prima Haven has knocked it out of the park.

Only 1 lunch item was a little weak and that could have been a 1 off 

 

Wines and Bar

MSC prior to Cvd had great prem bar and wines in YC. That dropped off a bit in ‘22 and as of Feb and March we saw a bigger drop particularly on the wine side.

Its a puzzle because the Italian tradition of food and wine, one would think would matter in YC.

We found limited choices in wine..if you wanted a dry white, dry rose, or unoaked chard. Was told none existed in several cases.

NCL Haven prides itself on its Haven mixologists and craft cocktails as well as wine options. We have had no complaints in this area either. We came onboard expecting to have a struggle in this area and that’s not the case.

Also there is plenty of Haven lounge seating in small areas to gather… the online pics of the bar with 4 seats are deceiving..yes there are maybe 6 stool seats on either side..yet plenty of other spaces folks gather. So you don’t have to be a bar fly to get a cocktail 

 

[Fogfog]

On 5/3/2024 at 3:44 PM, Best Cat Mom said:

For us, there are only 3 things that we found to be "better" in Haven vs. YC:

    - One full bathroom and one half bath (we only sailed the suites with 1.5 baths)
    - Two sinks in the full bath
    - One entire mattress for the bed

 

Since there is just one bathroom on MSC, BCD will sometimes use the bathroom by the concierge desk.

 

The other two items seem to not matter quite so much when we reflect on the overall holiday experience, especially the Italian aspect of food and service. And we're thankful to return home to our one bed mattress where a huge divot does NOT open up every time we use it. 😁

We have a 2br, 2ba for this TA.

DH is using full second br as dressing room, bath, closet while I use master closet and primary bath.

Second BR goes unused except for pass through though butler does vacuum etc 

For 15 nights it’s been nice to have 2 baths and the extra closets on a cold weather sailing

[Best Cat Mom]

2 hours ago, Fogfog said:

the extra closets

We've never found the storage space lacking in a regular suite. We do usually have to ask for 2 or 3 dozen more hangers, but did not have any issues with fitting in our 4 suitcases of clothes on our last transatlantic. In fact, we had drawers and shelves that went empty. I guess I'm lucky that BCD has no issue with using that extra "foyer" bath. 😉

[Mommapadraig]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

We have a 2br, 2ba for this TA.

DH is using full second br as dressing room, bath, closet while I use master closet and primary bath.

Second BR goes unused except for pass through though butler does vacuum etc 

For 15 nights it’s been nice to have 2 baths and the extra closets on a cold weather sailing

When we were in the haven we also had the 2 bedroom and used it exactly the same way. We are currently on the msc seashore in the yacht club and am very impressed. I love the ship. There is music everywhere! The food in the YC restaurant has been outstanding. Our butler and junior butler cant do enough for us. This is day 3 and unless something drastically changes we will be YC in the future. 

[Fogfog]

Re Haven food

Should clarify…being 15 days TA…the flex is things like changing up sides etc..things in Haven. Not bringing outside things into dining.

Dining is also offering an additional choice lunch and dinner for sea days as we are a long sailing..such as chicken cordon Blu. 
 

So lack of flex could be due to ship, length of sail etc.

 

With YC, we got flex doing 4 b to b, as we were seeing the same menus weekly for 4 sailings over and over. We were fine with menus in general as they rotate, we just had been on awhile.

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

Glad you are enjoying the Haven.  We sail both Haven and YC.  There are differences, but I will say that I enjoy the NCL experience outside of the Haven much more than MSC outside of YC.  I did want to ask you about check-in.  We have always just dropped our luggage with first porter we encounter, then proceed to Haven check-in, which usually has a private lounge to await ship clearance.  Then, you are escorted onto ship by one of the butlers.  Was that not available on your cruise?  (We have only done NCL from the US so not familiar if starting from overseas; MSC we have done both Genoa and Miami.)

[Fogfog]

17 hours ago, Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin said:

Glad you are enjoying the Haven.  We sail both Haven and YC.  There are differences, but I will say that I enjoy the NCL experience outside of the Haven much more than MSC outside of YC.  I did want to ask you about check-in.  We have always just dropped our luggage with first porter we encounter, then proceed to Haven check-in, which usually has a private lounge to await ship clearance.  Then, you are escorted onto ship by one of the butlers.  Was that not available on your cruise?  (We have only done NCL from the US so not familiar if starting from overseas; MSC we have done both Genoa and Miami.)

Check in in NYC was a nightmare.

Plenty of blame to go around. While we were disappointed, many others had it far worse.

 

Prima arrived late..and we knew she would. She berthed at 10am.

Our check in was 12.

We arrived at MCT about 11 as cross town traffic was lighter than expected. taxi was about $18.00

 

When we arrived we gave bags to porter, tipped and went in to cool our heels.

 

When they opened lines around 11:30 ish we were about 24th in Haven line and I am guessing about 400 in other lines. I couldn’t tell when the high status latitudes folks were. Have some first hand accounts from friends re that if you’d like more. It isn’t pretty.

 

At 12:40 they open the facial recognition and carry on bag screening…multi stations. And only 1 for Haven.

 

Then the survival of the fittest race down the terminal to cue again to check in…lots of open agents for status..yet only 2 for Haven. Very slow.

 

Got put into a room with metal chairs like the DMV…and told to complete an immigration form for Canada…which was pure theater as many on ship in gen pop told us they didn’t do it and we are US passport holders.
 

We watched them bringing off pax from previous sailing ..still..at 1:20pm

About 1:40pm they announced to the room of now about 100 Haven pax that we were going up to Haven..again a free for all.
There were Haven pax dragging their own 30” roller bags, people pushing elderly parents in wheel chairs..it was crazy. 
Arrive into Haven lounge onboard after almost 3 hours.

 

Friends in gen pop had it far worse.

 

Our Haven tags were supposedly mailed in March…never came.

we are told Haven doesn’t get any priority for bags for embarkation.

They certainly don’t tag and handle them like YC does at the piers in Fl…we haven’t sailed from Genova.

 

The Haven pier lounge had juice, small bites..MCT, not Brooklyn.

Many of us were feeling full on “BettyWhite” after it all.

 

Interestingly…with YC we are all in with prem bev pack and wifi

Not so with Haven

So every time you order a drink they need your card…all cruise long..both at the bar and dinner table

And..while in port they tax you on every drink for embarkation.

IDK if we paid taxes while in Iceland. We are at sea and arrive in Amsterdam in the am.

 

With YC we don’t get nickeled and dimed like that since it’s all bundled. 
No one was happy with embarkation.

 

 

 

 

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

So sorry to hear your embarkation was such a mess.  We went out of NY once, but honestly, I don't remember it being a hurdle.  Then again, we were on a smaller ship and it wasn't late getting into port.

[brookie848]

On 5/7/2024 at 4:52 AM, Fogfog said:

Some thoughts on dining and Bev.

The Haven dining here on a Prima is solid.
Great food and service. Whether a double cut pork chop, panchetta wrapped lamb chops  or surf and turf for dinner, or a Caesar salad with shrimp for lunch, chicken Milanese etc, the dining has been solid.

After 10 days… we are still happy.

So much so that while we have specialty dining in our package and will eat again elsewhere one last time…we have not needed to do so.

We can mix and match..meaning if you want different sides, leave off sauce or have dietary requests, we find Haven staff very accomodating.

 

Dining on Meraviglia in YC had been solid for B2B in early 2020 as was for 4b2b in 22.

Dining on Seashore in YC in Feb was outstanding.

Our March Divinia YC we found the dining weak and wanting in YC. Things weren’t executed well, came out without sauces, poorly seasoned etc. Whomever was running Divinia YC kitchen in March..it was not great…and we had 8 previous YC sailings to compare.

 

We like MSC for the Italian flair and typically are happy with dining with the Divinia exception. 
That said, so far Prima Haven has knocked it out of the park.

Only 1 lunch item was a little weak and that could have been a 1 off 

 

Wines and Bar

MSC prior to Cvd had great prem bar and wines in YC. That dropped off a bit in ‘22 and as of Feb and March we saw a bigger drop particularly on the wine side.

Its a puzzle because the Italian tradition of food and wine, one would think would matter in YC.

We found limited choices in wine..if you wanted a dry white, dry rose, or unoaked chard. Was told none existed in several cases.

NCL Haven prides itself on its Haven mixologists and craft cocktails as well as wine options. We have had no complaints in this area either. We came onboard expecting to have a struggle in this area and that’s not the case.

Also there is plenty of Haven lounge seating in small areas to gather… the online pics of the bar with 4 seats are deceiving..yes there are maybe 6 stool seats on either side..yet plenty of other spaces folks gather. So you don’t have to be a bar fly to get a cocktail 

 

I've been reading your updates on Henry's Live and am enjoying them!

 

We're not huge fans of the Haven lunch menu, but we're pretty happy with the dinner menu. Like you said, you can mix and match, which is what we do. We've never had issues with any of our requests being met.

 

I also love the Haven bartenders. I'm a Type 1 diabetic and I tell them that, then tell them how much sugar I want in my drink (low, medium, high). For the past two cruises I've never had the same drink twice and they've all been outstanding. It's also a reminder that not all "fun" mixed drinks have to be filled with sugar.

 

I'm always considering MSC, but we've reached the point where we really enjoy our status perks on NCL. I'm sure we'll venture elsewhere eventually.

 

Enjoy your remaining time on the Prima.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 5/5/2024 at 5:50 AM, Nikita4 said:

And Norwegian is really an other cruise experience, more freestyle and less formal than MSC. We were an a Hawaii Cruise with a Norwegian Ship, but it was to freestyle for us. The Ship was without Haven.

 

If you mean you were on the POA, it is not anything like and other NCL ship, it is a world unto itself.

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

8 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

 

If you mean you were on the POA, it is not anything like and other NCL ship, it is a world unto itself.

 

Edited May 10 by Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin
opps, my error!

[Fogfog]

We just flew in last night. and while my better half is able to sleep, my time body is awake thinking its in the UK right now. am certain I will be paying for it this evening. 

Do want to pick up a few loose ends on some thoughts on Haven vs MSC YC at the risk of being repetitive.

 

On Haven: We went in with doubts as we are MSC YC pax most often.

Having sailed the last 8 sailings in MSC YS 

Yet Haven on Prima delivered more than we expected in many ways, had a few shortcomings and certainly cost $$,$$$.

We like the Prima Haven space and staff.

It is decorated in wood tones and is pretty. She is a new ship and her decor is current, tasteful and subdued. 

 

The Lounge area is divided into smaller gathering places with large picture windows facing the ocean so on those TA sea days one could sit there with a cup of coffee and read a book. There has been discussion on the NCL boards about the lounge not having snacks.

The Prima Haven does not have the small plates that the MSC YC ships have all day. So no pastry/panini/cheese/olives etc to pick up and have with a drink in the lounge. That said, the butler does deliver sandwiches, cookies, snack foods of all types to the rooms daily that are before any  room service orders. 

 

The Haven Dining room is flanked by glass windows down its length so whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, you have view. And yes, weather permitting, you can eat outdoors in the extended aft dining space. 

We had lunch on embarkation day (NYC/April '24) and ate dinner at sail away from Amsterdam as the in-ceiling heaters kept the chill off and it was lovely under cover.

 

And during a cold windy sea day we did go use a large round lounger in a protected aft areas to get some sunshine as our balcony was on the windier and shadier side of the ship at the moment after lunch.

 

The stateroom was very nice. Plenty of space. Pretty decor. Thoughtfully laid out plugs/electrical. Storage drawers under the beds and a large space to store the luggage

(we had a 2 br/2ba suite w sitting room)

We were happy with the type of suite we chose for such a long sailing and the extra bathroom

The lighting is nice and the drapery is controlled from switches on the walls. It is intuitive.. arrows in/out etc. And there are master switches for lights on in rooms. The 3 room suite had 3 flat screen TVs and 3 separate thermostats

 

Our Butler was fabulous, professional and friendly, as was our room steward. The room was spotless. Snacks appeared on a regular basis and we were sad that we just couldn't possible eat all they brought, as we were also eating 3 meals a day (when we normally only eat maybe 2)  We did note the carpeting in the sitting room has taken a beating (had a stain) and needs replacing if shampooing won’t fix it … Will note that on post sail survey if NCL has space for noting that. We had a nespresso coffee maker and made coffee/tea in the room. Had a small fridge which had pitchers of juices (pre sail concierge asked re preferences)

Dining turned out to be great once we got the hang of it, knowing what flex we had since it was a long sailing. We believe the flex we had was because this was a 15 day sailing, it was based on decisions made by the exec chef on the ship and by the chef for the Haven kitchen. They also added a daily "special" in the Haven menu for lunch and dinner which was one of the entrees that was similar to what was being offered on the ship elsewhere because of the length of the sailing. 

We had been worried about being bored in 15 days.

However from the regular menu--there are plenty of excellent choices for a one week sailing.

The quality of food and bev was great.

Only a few lunch entrees were just ok.

 

YC. We did miss the Italian flair and cuisine of the YC dining. Yet we made a special request for something to approximate a beloved Italian dish and the chef was able to prepare it for us. Though we did note they put us at an unobtrusive corner table - so perhaps to not draw attention. 

 

Our Haven Staff in dining was excellent. The Maitre D, Hostesses, and Waitstaff were all excellent. You scan your card going into every meal which among other things I suspect helps them track usage, and also prevents interlopers. 

Food is subjective so ymmv.

 

The Haven Bev package is superior as are the Wine offerings. There were also a lot of lovely wines onboard and a somm who would look after you. He was quite busy in Haven.

 

MSC YC had the best Bev package and wines when we sailed in Feb 2020.

Then in '22 things had changed.

This spring, '24  I had a disappointing time with wine. Wine that wasn't chilled. Wines that were low quality. Was told on a Divinia sailing a wine didn't exist yet 2 other pax had it in the dining room.

I realize that from ship to ship things vary. That said, having just done 2 MSC YC sailings (Feb/March ) and then NCL Haven.. the Haven takes this one. 

 

The Prima Haven was well stocked both in bar and wines

. Initially we were finding the bartenders not very engaging. There seemed to be some aggressive pax bar flies that seemed to know the "system".  And certainly some of them monopolized the stools and bartenders. The few "servers' walking around did not offer suggestions to those of us sitting in the lounge areas, they just took orders and if you approached the bar, bartenders didn't engage you to offer a craft cocktail. The Haven bar menu and "schtick" for the Haven bar is very "craft" oriented" so for the first week we were pretty disappointed to not be getting this service.  Finally one night I said something to the lead - asking "how does one find out about the "secret" drinks we have heard about etc"... as we had been on the ship a week already. 

 

Specialty Dining  With status on MSC we use our perk for Butchers Cut and always enjoy a nice meal. With our cruise package with Haven we had 3 specialty dining per person. We used one night in Le Bistro (French) and two nights in Palomar (seafood) All three were good. 

Haven Laundry: We sent laundry out twice and things came back as expected. 

 

Haven and the Donna Show: We saw the Donna Summer show which was excellent. These reservations are hard to come by and the Concierge handles it onboard for the Haven pax. We thought the talent was extraordinary. Haven pax have to be at the Theater 35 min before the show and in seats. Timing of shows can interfere with your dining plans

 

Haven and Syds: We stood in line 3 times for Syd Normans-- the "coffee house" venue for rock shows. …I get the small venue coffeehouse vibe. Yet to my count it holds like 80. That was a lot of time to stand in lines …and then wait….45 line, 45 wait for show to start, and then 90 min show for "Rock the Pour House (1 & 2) and (45 min Rumors). There is no preference for Haven pax to get a seat for this venue. 

On a 15 night sailing it worked out fine for us. Of the 3 shows, my fav was the Rock the Pour House 1 over 2.

And if you grew up with a Rumors LP on your turntable, its a nice show Just be prepared to wait 45 on your feet, 45 in a  chair after the rush to find a seat, for a 45 min show.

Again shows/dining can be tricky

 

Haven pax and Prima Theater: do get priority seating in the prima theater for the other shows IF you go and line up 35 min before the show. You go to the designated area and a Haven concierge meets the group. There is a person with a Haven lollypop. You must have your room key--and they do scan it to be certain you are a current Have pax-- not just bringing someone else's old card to wave at them. They scan the card and see your face. You get seated. 

We Skipped the other shows in the Prima theater.

There were many comedians, magicians, and late night dance parties. And the bars all had many singers, duos, solos. So many choices around the ship.

If you were bored, it was your choice.

 

Gym: Spouse used gym on sea days. Was crowded as this was a cold weather cruise, lots of sea days and 15 day long sailing. So although it could be crowded, was able to use the gym as planned without trouble.  On some MSC sailings when the  gym has been so crowded, spouse has taken to running a large empty stairwell... The Haven pool was heated based on ambient air of the sea day/port and spouse used the pool (yes  in the cold foggy weather-- during the crossing to Iceland) For several mornings he was the only one at the pool or hot tub after his work out. 

Haven position related to public decks: There has been a lot of discussion on NCL boards about the ships design. We liked the Prima boardwalk wrap around concept. The art, the places to sit and gather. The attempt to break up the hoards of pax into smaller groupings and give groups traveling together places to mingle maybe more privately. Walking around the boardwalk on a seaday was quite nice even on a cold day (sunny hours)

 

Suite Position: We do wonder if we’d have a lot of noise on our balcony from that boardwalk  deck 8 pool and such on a Caribbean sailing. With the restaurants and bars that have have boardwalk- al fresco dining space on several public decks--The Haven suites above are aft and the balconies then look out and down over that board walk in part. So we did wonder about that.

 

The slides. It was quite on this cool weather TA and while they did use the Drop slide on the port side of the ship during the sea days - it wasn't a disturbing noise. It ran for maybe an hour or so at a time

 

Whether Haven being Aft, or MSC YC being Fwd, we like to full ship within a ship experience.  So we liked the Prima having Her Haven all together, as we liked Merav, and Seashore's YCs similarly. 

 

Priority Disembarkation:

Haven pax did get priority Disembarkation at some ports. So we were first to the van for a private tour at a port. That was easily accomplished coming down the private Haven elevators and out. Other ports, all disembarkation was out one door. And we had arranged to meet with other CCers at a central place on the ship and left together which worked out fine. 

 

NO Priority Embarkation Coming back in.

We'd get back to the ship and there would be 3000+ of our new friends  at every port stop--(and this sailing we had large groups of non-english speaking travelers acting like they didn't know the drill to put bags through the xray. Scan sail cards etc. (Groups of say 30 women, all carrying shopping bags and pushing through --the security officers repeatedly telling them to come through 1 at a time-- it  was crazy.)

 

And no Haven line to escape to...  And there was no Haven line to get back on the ship. No Haven butler to smooth the way... Not shorter line. No way around the chaos.

At the end of our Golden Circle tour we are standing in the sleeting rain at 11pm outside... just trying to get under cover.  Coming back on the ship after long tour days was tiring and we'd then just slog our way back- from the main entrance-- through the closed casino to the private Haven elevator in the aft.

 

Disembarkation Day: We had breakfast in Haven. They were open early. Which was good as we were able to get grats envelopes to folks that we had not seen the evening before.

We did do self assist and rolled off at 7:30- very easily (*the UK does a present yourself Face to Face enroute on a sea day to Immigration. On that day Haven pax are first thing in the am- so like 7am. The rest of the ship is called by deck all day long)

So at disembarkation in Southampton you literally roll off the ship and head to your ground transportation. We left Haven at 7:30 and were in our van and on the road at 8am. At our London hotel by 9:30am.

 

NCLs Haven product on Prima is nice... yet it comes at a very steep $$,$$$ then you add on the bev package, the wifi package, the grats for your butler and  concierge since they are not included in the $25 a day pp service charge, any spa and thermal, specialty dining, and touring... before you add on your discretionary gratuities. 

 

Haven is far more $$,$$$ 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:23 AM by Fogfog

[Mommapadraig]

We just did the opposite. In the past we only cruised NCL and in the haven if we could afford it. On May 12 we got off the MSC Seashore being in the yacht club for the first time. I doubt we will cruise on NCL again. We found the Yacht club to be superior in every way. Plus it was less than half of what we’ve paid in the past on NCL. Thanks for your fair review. 

[Fogfog]

22 minutes ago, Mommapadraig said:

We just did the opposite. In the past we only cruised NCL and in the haven if we could afford it. On May 12 we got off the MSC Seashore being in the yacht club for the first time. I doubt we will cruise on NCL again. We found the Yacht club to be superior in every way. Plus it was less than half of what we’ve paid in the past on NCL. Thanks for your fair review. 

We had wanted to sail MSC YC for this  TA and couldn't get what we wanted. So tried NCL and Prima

We- like you, we found that price difference is shocking.

The Prima Haven was lovely. 

We hope MSC YC continues to be a fairly priced product. And the YC wine improves to what it had been 😉 

Loved our Seashore sailing and Melanie is amazing. 

[Nikita4]

On 5/10/2024 at 4:04 AM, KeepCalmBearOn said:

 

If you mean you were on the POA, it is not anything like and other NCL ship, it is a world unto itself.

Are you sure, all NCL Ships have freestyle cruising with no formal evenings and more or less no dress codes. We like to dress up, eat in a speciality restaurant in normal clothes and not in shorts and flip-flops and things like that.

There were a lot of people on the first NCL Cruise on the POA and a lot of them said, never ever NCL! The service was really bad, never saw a thing like that, it was more special than expected. And we had a big itinerary change with a really bad communication from NCL to the pax on the ship, that was not good and the compensation for that was really laughable. 
It was your first and last NCL cruise and we hope there will be some other ships in Hawaii with a only Hawaiian cruise like the POA itinerary, I don't understand the law that forbid US cruises with a non US Ship or Crew -> and also the POA was build in Germany not the US... really strange the hole thing there.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

29 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

Are you sure, all NCL Ships have freestyle cruising with no formal evenings and more or less no dress codes. We like to dress up, eat in a speciality restaurant in normal clothes and not in shorts and flip-flops and things like that.

 

Quite sure.

 

It is the only U.S. flagged ship in the NCL fleet. There is no casino, the spa is tiny and wholly inadequate, the service is sub-par, the entertainment is sub-par and the included dining is barely adequate.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

42 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

and also the POA was build in Germany not the US... really strange the hole thing there.

 

The POA was finished in Germany after having been started in Mississippi. It took an act of Congress for POA to be able to sail.

[Fogfog]

1 hour ago, Nikita4 said:

Are you sure, all NCL Ships have freestyle cruising with no formal evenings and more or less no dress codes. We like to dress up, eat in a speciality restaurant in normal clothes and not in shorts and flip-flops and things like that.

There were a lot of people on the first NCL Cruise on the POA and a lot of them said, never ever NCL! The service was really bad, never saw a thing like that, it was more special than expected. And we had a big itinerary change with a really bad communication from NCL to the pax on the ship, that was not good and the compensation for that was really laughable. 
It was your first and last NCL cruise and we hope there will be some other ships in Hawaii with a only Hawaiian cruise like the POA itinerary, I don't understand the law that forbid US cruises with a non US Ship or Crew -> and also the POA was build in Germany not the US... really strange the hole thing there.

What does the POA have to do with MSC YC and NCL Haven?

This thread is in the MSC boards for MSC folks who sail YC and are considering NCL YC

These posts about POA are off topic and have nothing to do with the title/subject and purpose

Edited Sunday at 07:48 PM by Fogfog