Pookie092403

5 hours ago, The Shrike said:

Aside from his daily duties, we usually only make use of our butler one time per cruise, when we have dinner in our cabin.

 

You're going to like the Haven.  

I’m very excited to be in the haven. 

4 hours ago, phissy said:

Perfect post. 
Totally agree with Bird  on these pointers. Yes to the zip lock bags.😉

Room service breakfast  from Haven restaurant is an excellent benefit of Haven.

Such a good tip!

4 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

I will add after seeing these photos that the butlers can tend to "overdo!"  One thing you will learn quickly is to stop the onslaught of snack deliveries.  I can't stand to waste food and I don't know how in the world people could possible eat all the dishes of food that they will bring you.  (Unless of course you consider a cruise a food orgy and many do LOL)

I’m a foodie lol

4 hours ago, brookie848 said:

One piece of Haven advice -- bring a small notebook with you. We use this to leave notes for our butler/steward. This includes notes on snacks/plates on what should be kept or taken away.

 

Like BirdTravels said, order what you want for breakfast. We write everything down for our butler and give it to him/her the day before. They will also deliver early before the standard times if you have an early excursion (I'm looking at you Tortola).

Thank you!

4 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

You you will get escorted first onto the ship if you are in the Haven, room category in the Haven doesn't matter, everyone in the Haven is grouped together and you get on before everyone else. On the Joy, they did a "intro" tour where they took us by the pool and gave a speech, although no one could hear the speech over the waterfall noise so I could not tell you what is said. No reservations are needed to eat lunch or dinner in the Haven but it is a first come, first served situation. The first night is the busiest so arrive early for dinner.

 

As for the butler, I think this is a "Varies from sailing to sailing" experience for people, based on room category, which butler they get, etc. I felt like my butler didn't do very much for me and while she was very nice, didn't seem to pick up on the things that we wanted. I will give two examples.

 

1) I asked for some spicy corn nuts to be a snack delivered daily to my room instead of the strawberries and other stuff. These spicy corn nuts are found at the Mojito bar and a few other bars around the ship. I knew they had them because I got them at the Mojito bar earlier in the day. On Day 2, my butler brought me a bowl of them, covered with saran wrap. So I'd eat a few, then cover it up, etc. On Day 3, she removed my bowl of half eaten corn nuts and never replaced them. I didn't ask for them again because I just felt weird about it, esp. since the items I asked to NOT get (The stawberries), started coming 2-3x a day after that. But imho, a good butler would have had a fresh bowl of those corn nuts delivered to my room everyday. And I know there will be people who say that there were probably circumstances as to why she didn't, but guests pay a premium to be in the Haven. I shouldn't have had to go to the Mojito bar to ask for the little containers of corn nuts to bring back to my room. I also asked for extra coffee pods daily and it wasn't until Day 3 that she started to realize I was not joking about the coffee, I drink a lot of it, and she started leaving extra pods in the room. 

 

2) On Day 2, I accidentally broke the clothes line in the shower. By "broke", I mean that I pulled the clothes line out and the silver knob on the end popped off. I set the knob on the corner of the shower and went about my day. In the evening, when my butler came around to say hello, I told her about the shower clothes line, apologized for breaking it, and asked her if she could have someone  fix it for me. She was like "Oh, the carpenter noticed earlier today that the clothes line broke, I'll have him come back tomorrow and fix it." First of all, the carpenter was in my room, noticed something was broke, and didn't fix it?!?! Why not? Seems weird. I would have expected if the noticed something was broken, the butler would have said to me "Hey, we noticed your clothesline was broke, we are going to have the carpenter come fix it" instead of noticing it was broken and waiting for me to ask about it? Idk, seemed weird. 

 

Hope this helped in some way

 

I guess I am just not a butler sort of person, whole thing was very strange to me. I felt weird about asking for 

Thank you for your insight. 
I don’t think I’m a butler person either, which is why I was wondering what they do for you. I would feel weird asking for things. But I definitely want to experience it, so I need to come up with some ideas lol. 

5 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Your butler will service your room twice a day, morning and evening with your room steward. He/She will provide you with the daily "default" snack but you can ask your butler to provide additional snacks of your choosing. We always ask to have bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), Gummy Bears, and Bar Mix to be left (which go into zip locks for touring the next day - yeah, against the rules). And for us big kids, we ask for a PB&J sandwich now and then. We also ask for our mini-fridge to be cleared of items for purchase and have pitchers of ice water and ice tea left in there. (You can have other "free" drinks like milk and juices refilled also). 

 

On early port days we have breakfast in our stateroom. There are hang-tags with check-boxes for the "normal" breakfast foods. Ignore the check-boxes and request anything you want from the Haven Restaurant menu. Eggs over easy, egg white scrambled or omelets, hash browns, breakfast potatoes,  ham, sausage, bacon, steak, fresh breads, fresh fruits, juices, 

 

 

 

Thank you for your insight!

6 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

I think the easiest way to explain what the butler does is to look at him/her as part of your service "team" in the Haven. The Concierge handles anything "outside" of your cabin (dinner & show reservations, embarkation & debarkation, shore excursion questions/reservations, onboard account issues, etc.)  Your room steward handles anything "inside" your cabin related to cabin cleanliness & general comfort (cabin/bathroom cleaning, fresh towels, fresh linen, lounge chair cushions, turn-down service, etc.) Your butler handles anything "inside" your cabin related to food (snacks, room service, replenishing coffee & supplies, arranging parties or get-togethers, etc.)  The butler also handles anything else the Concierge or room steward do not (e.g. your butler can run errands as needed. Accidentally left your sweater in LeBistro? Your butler can retrieve, etc.)  There's so much a butler can do, it's hard to make a list.

 

If you don't utilize them, nothing happens. (They are scheduled to drop of daily snacks & treats to your cabin, but you can ask them not to do that if you prefer.)  You have to use the butler if you order room service.  Other than that, you can just let them know you won't need them.

 

Yes to a Haven tour upon embarkation (not required, but available) and no to Haven restaurant reservations (not necessary.)

Wow! Thank you. That’s exactly the breakdown/explanation I was looking for. 

thank you so much for clearing that up for me.

I’ve tried finding this and came across “vip haven secrets” very helpful, but was wondering if anyone heard other information related to the haven. I did try searching but keep coming up empty. 

what do you use the butler for? Like what can he do for you? What if you don’t use them?

embarktion…since we aren’t in the haven proper…currently deck 14 but waiting for upgrade to deck 15, do we still get escorted onto then ship first? And do they take us on a tour of the haven?

can we eat lunch in the haven or do we need to make reservations beforehand?

Any tips would be great.

thanks

Okay thank you

Just now, Sailing12Away said:

It might depend on the ship and the room, but generally speaking - no. If it's 2 beds that get smushed together they'll state that. A king is typically a king.

Okay thank you 

We just upgraded to a haven penthouse suite. It says king bed. Do those beds break apart to make two beds? 

Thank you everyone for your responses. It make sense. 

Are you allowed to bring medical marijuana on a cruise if you have a medical card/prescription for it! It’s in a vape pen. Asking for a friend!

Question? I thought only one room can move up and the other room doesn’t get to go? We sail connecting or side by side balconies and we were told if we upgrade, the room that upgrades is the only one allowed to go. So the other room would have to stay in the balcony.

2 hours ago, kardut said:

Going on 7 day to Bermuda, Boston...does anyone have MDR menus and order of menus? Trying to plan our specialty nights. Also, does anyone know if they ever have onboard specials for the specialty restaurants? I know FOS, NOS both had 2-for-1 and other discounts once onboard...just wondering if we should book in advance or wait until we board. Thanks!

If you google anthem of seas dinner menus there is a website out there that has then. I believe the issue is that the menus rotate and there’s no way to know which menu will be used which day. My thought is reserve the specialty restaurants and make changes on the ship as needed. 

I just got off the Escape on May 13th. I did not know anything about the Choir of Man until I met the parents of one of the performers on the ship. After talking to the parents I purchased the tickets and do not regret it.

 

This is a dinner show that has lot of beer. The bratwurst that is served, is from the UK and I thought they were good. This is a Broadway type show from the UK and has been getting five star reviews over in the UK. The performers that are on the Escape are the actual performers from the UK. They will be on the Escape until mid July then they start their North America tour. Before they leave the ship they will be training other performers to take over for them.

 

These men are very talented. The show has lots of audience participation and is very energetic type of a show. It may be slow in the very beginning but it really gets going later in the show.

 

Look up the write ups on them and look at their Facebook page and listen to them sing. If you have a chance to see them do so. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I know you stated there is a lot of beer but is this show child friendly?? 12 and 14 year olds?

Thanks for the review. We will be on the escape next month. Quick question. I have a 12 and 14 year old, do you think they could watch the brat pack show? I haven’t heard much about it and we saw rock of ages on the breakaway and did not bring kids as many people warned against. Any insight you could offer would be amazing. Thank you!

There is an excursion for bamz, Bermuda aquarium museum with a stop at caves. We did the aquarium and my 11 and 13 year old girls loved it. They have an area where lemurs run free and can stand right next you. We didn’t do the excursion through the ship because it is very easy to get around the island on your own. So we only did the aquarium part.

Wednesday they have harbor nights over in Hamilton. Take the ferry over, it’s a nice ride. They had bouncy houses and things for kids to do for cheap. Plus there is vendors along the main road for adults to shop.

As for snorkel beach, I would never go back there. They charged $5 per adult to get in. The beach is not pretty, it had rocks everywhere including in the water so it made walking and swimming crappy.

There is a “pirate” ship called calico jacks that had a plank for people to jump off of into a little Bay Area. They serve great drinks for adults and kids jump off and swim. We normally do that on Friday.

Enjoy Bermuda!! It’s amazing!!

I contacted ncl and made the suggestion they add a frozen non alcoholic beverage like royal has. I was told they would pass the suggestion along. But..like previous posters have stated, I too, have gotten my daughters frozen non alcoholic beverages with my card and I was never charged and it wasn’t an issue. Our next cruise will be the first time the girls have their own soda package, so I am curious if bar tenders will let them order non alcoholic drinks without there being a charge.

Just off the Escape 3 weeks ago. We took our 11 & 14 years olds to After Midnight and Brat Pack. They advertise Brat Pack as PG16 and asked that we not sit in the first 6 rows of the show since our kids were younger. There are some times when the actors are down to their underwear. After Midnight is music and dancing. Appropriate for all ages. There was also a magician one night that was family friendly. They also had a comedian which we did not go to.

The Supper Club had musical entertainers every night. Some of them repeated more then one night. The only thing is that they serve the same meal every night in the Supper Club and you don't get to choose off a menu. My parents went 2 nights in a row to see different musicians and got the same meal.

Thank you! My concern was with brat pack. It reminds of the rock of ages in a way. I will save this show for me and my husband. And take the girls to see after midnight. Thanks again!

Thank you for the replies!

Aftermidnight and beat pack, are these shows children friendly? My daughters will be 12 & 14. We cruised breakaway previously and rock of ages was not appropriate for them. Thanks for any guidance.

Last may my daughter turned 11 on the cruise. I had to order the birthday cake through my travel agent. It was a package and the cost was 30.00, but they also decorated the room with streamers and balloons. We didn’t get a choice of cake either. It was a yellow cake with strawberries. The only sad part was her bday was on Monday. We boarded Sunday and everything was in place when she got to the room.

I've been reading some threads mentioning people blowing a fuse in their cabin when using their hairdryer from home, so I'm considering not bringing mine (pretty sure it's 1875 watts and I've read that NCL's in room dryers max out at 1600 watts, so it sounds like I wouldn't be able to use it). I have had problems on two Celebrity cruise ships where my hair straightener has taken forever to heat up to a useable heat (or not heated up at all) and now after reading these threads about the hairdryers, I'm worried that I'll have a problem on Breakaway next week. I just checked my straightener and it says it's 120 V/40 W. Have any of you ladies had issues? I feel like it's one thing to take a chance on a "new" hair dryer if I know I can rely on my straightener to perfect my blowout, but if the straightener doesn't work too, I'm looking at a week of really bad hair, lol (I have naturally curly hair that I straighten). Thanks!

I have multiple types of hair straighteners....was on breakaway last May and never had an issue straightening my hair with either of the ones I brought. One straighter is a wet to dry and the other is a brush straightener just an FYI.

I know on the Escape they didn't have baby sitter service.

I am curious if the Breakaway still has baby sitting services.

You send them to splash academy and after 10pm you pay for sitter services until 1 am I believe and then they must be picked up.