BirdTravels

Old days are long long long gone. Pay your daily service charge.

Just throw the tags away after you claim them in the baggage hall. No tag. First bus available. There would be several dozen buses associated with people disembarking with a brown tag. Uber is a nightmare since there is no pickup area. Most people haul their bags down the street or across the street in hopes of finding their driver on their first pass. Once you miss a pick-up, the "meter" is ticking and you get charged for excess pick-up time.

Nothing special. Maybe a cake in the Buffet. Also acknowledging that it is Mother's Day in the US and Canada. But it is not in all countries. For example, in the UK, Mother's Day was March 10th. On our NCL cruise last month, there were guests from 60 different countries.

We're Diamond members on RCCL. Coastal Kitchen is not much of a restaurant. We actually walked out twice during our last cruise because the food and the service was so bad. And went to the Windjammer to get some "real" dinner. On small ships, the breakfast service in Chops is abysmal.

Are alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks included in the Haven Lounge similar to the Retreat? No. No drinks are included with the Haven. You either pay for drinks with a room charge or you can accept the "free" beverage package that comes with your reservation. I was looking at a NCL cruise with "all included" promotion that listed a drink package as an included perk but then there was an additional $350 gratuity added on for that perk. Yes. You pay the gratuity on the retail price of the drinks package. That comes to $350. That is the same for any passenger on the ship from inside room through Haven. The Haven does not get you relief from paying the gratuity. You would have also been charge a smaller gratuity if you accepted the free specialty dining. That was in addition to the $25 pp daily service charge for suites. Then, in the FAQs, it said that none of the service charge goes to the butler (only regular service staff) so an additional gratuity should be considered for that person. I am confused because the Haven service charge is higher than a standard room service charge. There is a standard $25 daily service charge. It is kinda like the $23 daily service charge you pay for a Retreat room (versus the $18 paid for a steerage room on Celebrity). Yes, your butler and concierge are not included in the daily service charge. And NCL encorages you to tip them accordingly. There is a much higher crew to passenger ratio in the Haven, so your daily service charge is increased because of that along with all of the front of the house and behind the scenes crew that help you throughout the ship. Personally, we tip our room steward (who is include in the daily service charge) regardless of what class of room we are sailing in (steerage to Haven). We tip our butler. And we tip our concierge.

Last year, we sailed on the Escape with Syd Norman's shows. The show schedule was a bit off because the casino used Syd's one night for a private party. We always like Rumors and the cast did an excellent job! Day 1 Sail away with Syd's 9:00 pm Day 2 Rock the Pour House 9:00 pm Day 4 Syd Norman's Tribute to Rumors 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm Day 6 Rock the Pour House 9:00 pm Day 7 Syd Norman's Rock the Prom 9:00 pm

Nice deal in the 10's of millions. Don't talk to strangers. "Senior company executives traveled to Juneau to meet and help the passenger."

First come first serve. The first to get in get the best seats.

She will be sailing in the Haven for the rest of her life with all of the money she will make. Senior NCL management flying out to see her... trying to keep her from suing NCL. Several 10's of millions there. Sue the medical center (which is a contract business, not run by NCL). Sue the talent acquisition firm who resourced the crew member to NCL for failing to check him. Sue the individual for whatever insurance money he has.

We're talking about eight bucks,,, maybe.

Reservations a highly recommended. Walking in at prime time would be hard. You can show up at any time to board. Reservations now may be hard. Restaurant reservations opened on January 20 and many of the prime time reservations are likely sold out by now. Book your dinners as soon as you embark.

The staff in the terminal are all port staff. They are hired personnel who work for which ever cruise line is in port that day. Some would have no idea what a "Haven" is.

There is the also the A List bar for Le Bistro and Cagney's which is nice.

The reservation system does not care how you will be paying for dinners. It just takes a reservation. At the time you arrive at the restaurant, you tell the hostess how you are paying: Latitudes Voucher, Specialty Dining Package (that comes with FAS), Specialty Dining package (you buy on your own like the 2 dinner upgrade), other vouchers, cash (cabin charge). 130 days prior to departure, you can get online and book as many restaurants as often as you want. We did this on our last cruise. (full disclosure, there had been a bug in the the system that would not let you book a restaurant more than once for about a year,,,, but that bug has been fixed in their software and we booked one restaurant twice with no issue). Technically, you can not use your Latitudes Vouchers to at same restaurant twice.

Not really. Many carry their own bags off the ship and there is no tag color. it is first come first serve.