Jewel Forward PH Suites 9502 and 9002--whats wrong with these two rooms??

Seriously considering upgrading to one of these two rooms for our Thanksgiving week cruise. BUT, I saw a couple of posts about something to do with the door, and it cant be open while sailing. So what is the advantage to these rooms other than the extra room? We like to use our balcony while sailing to enjoy the view and calm of the seas.

Is the Haven area on Jewel worth the extra $$? I am really thinking about doing this because I am wondering if the ship will be packed that week and that the Haven would be a nice escape for all the people traffic up at the pool.

What other perks would we have if we did the PH Suite?

Anyone have recent pics of these cabins? There is not much online and on this website.

Thanks!

What you get are all the basic suite perks. If the Haven is in your budget go for it.

As far as what's wrong with those particular rooms, we've never been in one , so not much help. Too far forward for us. Too much motion.

We had our door open a lot of the time in one of these suites. It all depends on the weather and route and speed. The one thing we discovered is that if the door is open and you open the door into the hall it creates a wind tunnel!

You could open the doors when I sailed on the Jade one deck up. The steward will close the heavy sea door when he makes up your room for the night, but there's nothing to prevent you from opening it and hooking it back. You have to make sure you lights are off or the curtains closed and the inner door closed so the light does't impact the bridge. It can get pretty windy out there since the ship moves faster at night, but the only time the balcony becomes unusable is during rough weather. It's a good idea to close the sea door when you're done for the night because you may get a whistling sound from the wind coming in around the inner door.

If you have the money I would say go for the Haven. I'd never cruise any other way now. Its great when the weather is too cool for the regular pools because its heated. Granted the pool in the Haven is small but we never found it crowded at all. The hot tub is nice as well. There are about 3 couch beds and maybe 9 or 10 chairs with ottomans. There are also a few tables and chairs at the front where you can enjoy breakfast or lunch from Cagneys there. There was usually coffee, ice water and orange juice as well as snacks like cookies, peanut m&Ms etc. They had the roof opened on the warm days so it felt like you were outside. Definitely worth it in my.book.

Seriously considering upgrading to one of these two rooms for our Thanksgiving week cruise. BUT, I saw a couple of posts about something to do with the door, and it cant be open while sailing. So what is the advantage to these rooms other than the extra room? We like to use our balcony while sailing to enjoy the view and calm of the seas.

 

Is the Haven area on Jewel worth the extra $$? I am really thinking about doing this because I am wondering if the ship will be packed that week and that the Haven would be a nice escape for all the people traffic up at the pool.

 

What other perks would we have if we did the PH Suite?

 

Anyone have recent pics of these cabins? There is not much online and on this website.

 

Thanks!

The door can be open, no issue, but it will be windy. They may need it closed in bad weather. The thing you have to be careful of is dusk to dawn, you either:

a) have the room lights off and the curtain/door open

b) keep curtain closed, lights on. They expect brief flashes from you going on/off your balcony, but you have to close door behind you.

Ok ... my NCL agent told me today that the PH does NOT include access to the Haven area... is that right?? I thought I saw somewhere that it did...

Thanks for your help with the doors!!

You probably read my review of these suites.

Door could not be kept open underway at full speed. Too much wind noise and tiles on ceiling rattled. Balcony is huge but unusable, ours was in full view of other cabins and bridge. Very dark room overall, and had to keep drapes closed at night. Bathroom like standard cabin. Totally disappointed.

Go for 2 bedroom suite, what an incredible cabin, the huge 2 sink, 1 full body shower and separate tub - bathroom is to die for.

Edit. No access to Haven.

I see a little kiddo in your pic-if he is traveling with you you can absolutely not go wrong with a 2 BR villa - either with or without haven access. You would have two separate bedrooms and I would think this would be far superior to a single room cabin. The 2 BR suites are amazing.

Our experience with the Haven has been really good for the most part. If you are traveling during a holiday I would expect that there would be a lot of families with children in the Haven. For the most part they have been a delight and not bothersome at all. If you want absolute peace and quiet and a child free environment you may not get it at that week of the year. I love kids ( have one of my own!) but some people are not the same way.

Anyway, read through some of the threads and you will get a sense of the particular cabins. I have visited the forward suites and my preference is for aft-I just find those suites much more usable under any weather conditions and prefer shade over sun. The aft cabins are usually a few hundred dollars cheaper and if you go that route get one on deck 10 as the balconies are significantly larger than those on deck 8 and 9.

Any way you chose you can't go wrong!

Coffeecat

You probably read my review of these suites.

 

Door could not be kept open underway at full speed. Too much wind noise and tiles on ceiling rattled. Balcony is huge but unusable, ours was in full view of other cabins and bridge. Very dark room overall, and had to keep drapes closed at night. Bathroom like standard cabin. Totally disappointed.

 

Go for 2 bedroom suite, what an incredible cabin, the huge 2 sink, 1 full body shower and separate tub - bathroom is to die for.

 

Edit. No access to Haven.

We had no issue with the outer door open except our final night when we hit some rough weather. We always kept the inner door closed except when going in or out, so maybe that was the difference? We found the balcony to be perfectly usable any time except that last night. With the ship underway, sure, the wind picked up, but even when the ship was at full speed, all we had to do was sit down and the rail/hull provided more than adequate protection. We were on deck 10 instead of 9, but I don't think that would account for much of a difference. We could see down on the deck 9 PH balconies, but only the front half. Likewise the bridge could look down on our balcony, but only the front half. The portion closest to the cabin was completely private unless a neighbor leaned around the partition. We did have to keep the drapes closed at night, but I didn't find the room to be particularly dark in the day time. Bathroom was actually quite nice for what I've had previously, and it was 1000 times better than the bathrooms in an Epic balcony.

Sailing on the Gem in May PH 9000. Not sure when you're planning on cruising, but I plan to post pics and a review when I get back. :)

One thing I forgot to mention in previous posts. If you're on a Jewel class, 10500 and 10000 are actually the best forward penthouses to book. I can't say this with certainty for all of the ships in this class, but on most, including Jade, these 2 cabins are slightly bigger than the others. If you look at a picture of the front of most ships, the bridge juts out in the center. The Jewel class 10000 and 10500 cabins follow the line of that bridge jut, which creates kind of a bay window in the cabin. It does cut down a little on the balcony space, but the balcony is so big that 2 people shouldn't mind this minimal loss of space. Inside the cabin, though, the gain in space makes the room feel much larger.

Ok ... my NCL agent told me today that the PH does NOT include access to the Haven area... is that right?? I thought I saw somewhere that it did...

 

Thanks for your help with the doors!!

I think all suites on the Epic have Haven access. That may be what you saw. On the Jewel class ships though, not all suites come with access.

We've enjoyed the aft penthouses on two cruises and have them booked for the next two. No worries about wind or lights being on. The balcony isn't as big but it worked for us.

On the Pearl, we had PH suite 10000 and OS suites on Deck 9 & 10. We had a bow cabin on the Sun. We prefer the bow to the aft or side. Under full sail, it can get windy, however, it was no big deal. Think of walking on the top pool deck. The PH suites on Deck 9 have roughly a 3' overhang outside the balcony door, which is nice to escape the sun and some of the wind during the day, if it bothers you.

The wide-open views entering and leaving port are our favorite part of the cruise. After leaving port and the wind picked up, we were headed to dinner anyway. At night, when we came back from dinner, the cabin steward would have already locked the bulkhead door. We would open the door at night to "check" things out. The view of the stars was the best from the bow. Be careful because the cabin door SLAMS shut when the balcony door is opened. This would concern me if traveling with children in the room.

We loved the PH suite perks. The butler brought breakfast, drinks, snacks, lots of ice, and set all of our reservations for the specialty restaurants. Priorty on and off. The PH suites do not have access to the Haven.

Be careful because the cabin door SLAMS shut when the balcony door is opened. This would concern me if traveling with children in the room.

Thanks for the heads up, we'll be traveling with a three year old.

On the Pearl, we had PH suite 10000 and OS suites on Deck 9 & 10. We had a bow cabin on the Sun. We prefer the bow to the aft or side. Under full sail, it can get windy, however, it was no big deal. Think of walking on the top pool deck. The PH suites on Deck 9 have roughly a 3' overhang outside the balcony door, which is nice to escape the sun and some of the wind during the day, if it bothers you.

 

The wide-open views entering and leaving port are our favorite part of the cruise. After leaving port and the wind picked up, we were headed to dinner anyway. At night, when we came back from dinner, the cabin steward would have already locked the bulkhead door. We would open the door at night to "check" things out. The view of the stars was the best from the bow. Be careful because the cabin door SLAMS shut when the balcony door is opened. This would concern me if traveling with children in the room.

 

We loved the PH suite perks. The butler brought breakfast, drinks, snacks, lots of ice, and set all of our reservations for the specialty restaurants. Priorty on and off. The PH suites do not have access to the Haven.

This describes it perfectly. If you're an early riser, sailing into port with a cup of coffee on the balcony is incredible! No wind to worry about then since the ship is going slow. One of the best things I remember from our Jade penthouse cruise a couple years ago was sailing into Lisbon with the sun rising behind the suspension bridge, the Belem monument coming slowly into view on the port side and Christ the Redeemer coming into view on his hilltop to starboard. Similar experience over and over again in 10 ports. I do like being aft sometimes, but I think I prefer seeing where I'm going rather than where I've been. We liked the forward suite enough that we've booked one on the Spirit. A bit different than Jewel class due to the size, so you probably have the advantage over us there. I'm curious to see how the wind will be. Luckily we also have a port balcony!

Never cruised Haven, by the way. While I do like getting away from the crowds and spending time in my cabin or on my balcony, I've never felt the need to separate to that extent. We had a cocktail party there on Jade and it just didn't impress us enough to even consider it for the last and the upcoming cruise, although we're happy to spend the money for a suite every few cruises. How many people in the Haven does it take for it to no longer be a haven?

On the Pearl, we had PH suite 10000 and OS suites on Deck 9 & 10. We had a bow cabin on the Sun. We prefer the bow to the aft or side. Under full sail, it can get windy, however, it was no big deal. Think of walking on the top pool deck. The PH suites on Deck 9 have roughly a 3' overhang outside the balcony door, which is nice to escape the sun and some of the wind during the day, if it bothers you.

 

The wide-open views entering and leaving port are our favorite part of the cruise. After leaving port and the wind picked up, we were headed to dinner anyway. At night, when we came back from dinner, the cabin steward would have already locked the bulkhead door. We would open the door at night to "check" things out. The view of the stars was the best from the bow. Be careful because the cabin door SLAMS shut when the balcony door is opened. This would concern me if traveling with children in the room.

 

We loved the PH suite perks. The butler brought breakfast, drinks, snacks, lots of ice, and set all of our reservations for the specialty restaurants. Priorty on and off. The PH suites do not have access to the Haven.

Very eloquently said, we feel exactly the same way about forward over aft or side suites. LOVE to watch the stars at night out there!

Robin

After reading all this information, I think I will save some extra $$ and try to book a haven suite for the Getaway in 2014. We are on that ship mainly for the new features not the itinerary. DS will be 11 and the slides and Nickelodeon stuff is right up his alley... I am hoping it entertains him at his level better than a Disney cruise would LOL... and my thought is the Haven would be a good addition on that ship to really enjoy so quiet since it is so limited as to how many folks can go to the Haven... I'll be looking for pics of the Haven area on the Breakaway to get an idea if the extra money is worth it :) Right now, the suites on the Getaway are SOOO expensive... good grief!! Surely prices will drop???

Our son brought back a HORRIBLE intestinal parasite from our excursion in the waters of St John last summer and he is still sick. Soooo, we are not planning to get off the ship or get in the tropical waters too much. Please be sure that you all caution your kids about NOT swallowing water when snorkeling... thats what the doctors think happened to him so please, please be careful!! Trey has been so sick for so long they thought he had Crohns but it turned out to be a rare parasite found only in tropical waters that comes from the fish and turtles. Needless to say we are now with an infectios disease specialist to get this mess resolved. He is the main reason we cancelled RCCL Freedom of the Seas for June... there is no way I would let him on a beach right now.

So sorry for your son's illness. I had never heard of someone catching this type of disease from water in the ocean or at the beach. I hope he gets better soon and developes immunity (if that can happen) from future exposure.

Very eloquently said, we feel exactly the same way about forward over aft or side suites. LOVE to watch the stars at night out there!

 

Robin

Fishbait, Your posts over the years were very helpful to me in selecting cabins on NCL and what to expect. PS, I secrectly idolized your cruise cabin history :cool:

I don't know if this should be a new topic, but did you like your Epic suite and Haven as compared to the Pearl, Jade etc.? The Epic suites appear smaller, poorly laid out, (one huge bed and limited chair seating (no sofa) and no chaise lounges on the balcony. The Pearl balcony with 2 chaises, one for me and one for my DH, was the primary reason why I booked the PH suite. Why don't the cruise lines understand we want chaise lounges on our balconies, especially when booking a suite :confused:

Fishbait, Your posts over the years were very helpful to me in selecting cabins on NCL and what to expect. PS, I secrectly idolized your cruise cabin history :cool:

 

I don't know if this should be a new topic, but did you like your Epic suite and Haven as compared to the Pearl, Jade etc.? The Epic suites appear smaller, poorly laid out, (one huge bed and limited chair seating (no sofa) and no chaise lounges on the balcony. The Pearl balcony with 2 chaises, one for me and one for my DH, was the primary reason why I booked the PH suite. Why don't the cruise lines understand we want chaise lounges on our balconies, especially when booking a suite :confused:

Glad I could be of help! As for the Epic suite, we sailed in the two bedroom Haven Family Villa for just that reason - the Penthouses are ridiculously small, and we like all the extra space of the two bedroom (I really like a separate living room). The balcony on the two BR is about the same size as the same on Jewel class ships, and we have been able to squeeze one lounge on it. I usually only use my balcony for the occasional smoke and to view port arrivals (and some stargazing :)) so it's fine for that. The single room penthouses have larger balconies, I would guess you could squeeze two lounges on that one, but nothing like the Fwd suites on the Jewel class ships, where we could lay there for hours staring at the sky. As for the Haven itself, I am not really a "Haven" person on the Jewel class - hubby will occasionally read on a lounger (I don't do any sun, too much skin cancer), and we sometimes use the hot tub late at night, but that's about it. We found we used the Haven on the Epic MUCH more, mostly because of Posh. Hubby would lounge and read during the day while I was in the casino, and I would join him for lunch or a drink at the shaded bar several times over the day. We also were in Posh for every port sail away, and at sunset for cocktails, truly lovely to have a nice bar to relax with a cocktail and a smoke with nobody waving their hands, etc. the Epic Haven also has a large private forward deck that we explored several times and there was hardly anyone there. I really liked the private exercise area in the Epic Haven, much larger with views, though it turned out I never used it lol.. The downside was that the Haven pool area and hot tubs were overrun with kids, unlike the Jewel class Haven hot tubs where you could often find them empty (one Jewel sailing had kids in the Haven at all hours though)- the Epic ones always has kids in them at any time of day that we checked. Didn't bother us much for our trip, but for a colder sailing I like the hot tub late at night..

Hope this helps!

Robin

My wife and I stayed in 10500 on the Dawn, it was windy when we were moving so every time we opened the balcony door the ceiling tiles had to be put back where the belonged. Also with the balcony door open, opening the hallway door was very hard to do. In rough seas they will put your deck chairs in the hall. IF THERE IS FOG THE HORN IS LOUD 'nuff said. The room was very nice however.:D

Glad I could be of help! As for the Epic suite, we sailed in the two bedroom Haven Family Villa for just that reason - the Penthouses are ridiculously small, and we like all the extra space of the two bedroom (I really like a separate living room). The balcony on the two BR is about the same size as the same on Jewel class ships, and we have been able to squeeze one lounge on it. I usually only use my balcony for the occasional smoke and to view port arrivals (and some stargazing :)) so it's fine for that. The single room penthouses have larger balconies, I would guess you could squeeze two lounges on that one, but nothing like the Fwd suites on the Jewel class ships, where we could lay there for hours staring at the sky. As for the Haven itself, I am not really a "Haven" person on the Jewel class - hubby will occasionally read on a lounger (I don't do any sun, too much skin cancer), and we sometimes use the hot tub late at night, but that's about it. We found we used the Haven on the Epic MUCH more, mostly because of Posh. Hubby would lounge and read during the day while I was in the casino, and I would join him for lunch or a drink at the shaded bar several times over the day. We also were in Posh for every port sail away, and at sunset for cocktails, truly lovely to have a nice bar to relax with a cocktail and a smoke with nobody waving their hands, etc. the Epic Haven also has a large private forward deck that we explored several times and there was hardly anyone there. I really liked the private exercise area in the Epic Haven, much larger with views, though it turned out I never used it lol.. The downside was that the Haven pool area and hot tubs were overrun with kids, unlike the Jewel class Haven hot tubs where you could often find them empty (one Jewel sailing had kids in the Haven at all hours though)- the Epic ones always has kids in them at any time of day that we checked. Didn't bother us much for our trip, but for a colder sailing I like the hot tub late at night..

 

Hope this helps!

 

Robin

Yes, we really like the extra room space. We have entertained large groups of family and friends on port sail-away days that were so much fun. Also, my DH will never, ever go to the pool. "He has a pool at home that he does not use". So we use the extra space to lounge, connect, sun on the balcony and entertain. So on the Epic, I'm still trying to find the right mix of room size, balcony, loungers, price, etc. I'm glad you like the Epic Haven. I will do more research on Posh and check out a cruise date when the kids are taking finals :rolleyes:

On the Pearl, the Haven was very quite when we sailed, almost empty... just me and the M&M's :D

One thing I forgot to mention in previous posts. If you're on a Jewel class, 10500 and 10000 are actually the best forward penthouses to book. I can't say this with certainty for all of the ships in this class, but on most, including Jade, these 2 cabins are slightly bigger than the others. If you look at a picture of the front of most ships, the bridge juts out in the center. The Jewel class 10000 and 10500 cabins follow the line of that bridge jut, which creates kind of a bay window in the cabin. It does cut down a little on the balcony space, but the balcony is so big that 2 people shouldn't mind this minimal loss of space. Inside the cabin, though, the gain in space makes the room feel much larger.

Yes these are also on the Pearl. Someone once posted they called them the "sunroom" because of the extra (approx 65 SF bump out) and so now we do too. The two "sunrooms" are the best balcony rooms on the ship IMHO. Partially covered, wide open view, eyes on the Captain :cool:. But the cabin door slaming catches you once or twice before you "remember" to close 1 door before opening another. I would take the other PH suites if the sunrooms were not available.

Glad I could be of help! As for the Epic suite, we sailed in the two bedroom Haven Family Villa for just that reason - the Penthouses are ridiculously small, and we like all the extra space of the two bedroom (I really like a separate living room). The balcony on the two BR is about the same size as the same on Jewel class ships, and we have been able to squeeze one lounge on it. I usually only use my balcony for the occasional smoke and to view port arrivals (and some stargazing :)) so it's fine for that. The single room penthouses have larger balconies, I would guess you could squeeze two lounges on that one, but nothing like the Fwd suites on the Jewel class ships, where we could lay there for hours staring at the sky. As for the Haven itself, I am not really a "Haven" person on the Jewel class - hubby will occasionally read on a lounger (I don't do any sun, too much skin cancer), and we sometimes use the hot tub late at night, but that's about it. We found we used the Haven on the Epic MUCH more, mostly because of Posh. Hubby would lounge and read during the day while I was in the casino, and I would join him for lunch or a drink at the shaded bar several times over the day. We also were in Posh for every port sail away, and at sunset for cocktails, truly lovely to have a nice bar to relax with a cocktail and a smoke with nobody waving their hands, etc. the Epic Haven also has a large private forward deck that we explored several times and there was hardly anyone there. I really liked the private exercise area in the Epic Haven, much larger with views, though it turned out I never used it lol.. The downside was that the Haven pool area and hot tubs were overrun with kids, unlike the Jewel class Haven hot tubs where you could often find them empty (one Jewel sailing had kids in the Haven at all hours though)- the Epic ones always has kids in them at any time of day that we checked. Didn't bother us much for our trip, but for a colder sailing I like the hot tub late at night..

 

Hope this helps!

 

Robin

i know i might get some people mad for saying this, but i would be furious if i spent all that money for the Haven, for it to only be overrun with children. isnt that exactly why one books the Haven, to get away from all that? i do think the Haven on the EPIC would be more crowded, as opposed to the Jewel class. that's exactly why i like to stick with the aft penthouses when i can- very peaceful.