CatBoiler

We didn't see Donna Summer, I have no love for disco, so I can't speak to that, I believe you're right that you can't book until you're on board though. Deal or No Deal is also offered, as a kind of show. You can buy cards & play along but they do have actual cruisers as contestants with the whole "banker calls in" thing, it was pretty entertaining. There's also a ton of smaller acts/shows/games - lots of live music, battle of the sexes, newlywed game, stand up comics, etc. There was live music everywhere - everything from a single guy with a guitar to a full band just in different bars, venues, the atrium, etc. Not thrilled with NCL doing away with the broadway style shows. We usually love them, just had no interest in Donna Summer this time.

Reservations opened at, I believe, 25 days out for Haven. I believe at 21 days out, at check in, everyone could book. It was not full, so you were also able to book once on board. The only thing that wasn't really advertised well, there was nametag pick up for 3-4 hours during the day before the show.

Screenshot from Harr Travel's "Norwegian Prima | H5 The Haven Owner’s Suite with Master Bedroom & Large Balcony Tour 4K | NCL PR1MA" on Youtube This...window (I can't think of a better way to describe it) into the bathroom is the issue. You can already tell how lit up it is, even with the bedroom lights on. The stupidest design choice I've ever seen. What if you're traveling with another person/people sleeping in the living room and they go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?? Even with the bedroom door closed, turning on the bathroom light illuminates the entire bedroom! The 'window' is to the right of the mirror. It would make so much more sense to just have the mirror go all the way across the wall & add in another light on that side. It would even out the lighting, so there's no shadows. One of the other types of Owner's Suite, I believe they are 12924 & 12320, have the bathroom & closet entrances IN the bedroom. I don't believe they have the 'window'. The closet is significantly smaller though, but there is a second closet in the living room.

I'd probably go with the Aft Facing Owners Suite, though the dining area looks really tight in the tours on Youtube. We prefer cabins with a separate living and bedroom space. We didn't book the Aft Facing this time because our cruise was so port intensive, we thought the fabulous balcony would be wasted.

Notes About Cabin Frosted glass between bathroom/bedroom is stupid - This alone would prevent me from booking this cabin type again Shines into the bedroom at night, illuminating the entire bedroom If someone went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, we wound up just feeling around in the dark & hoping everything wound up where it should, just so we didn't have to turn on the light. The bathroom lights are dimmable but it didn't help, it was still so bright. Mirror should be full wall with 2 lights (or even 3!) It’s obvious no one who designed this bathroom wears makeup Having only one light creates a giant shadow in the bathroom, making it virtually impossible to do your makeup accurately The amount of outlets is amazing There’s a TON of switches and it took half the cruise to learn them all Butler pantry area is odd It should be against a wall Balcony was amazing but there was a salty film on everything Had to sit on towels to avoid getting our clothes gross I realize that’s an ocean problem and not a design problem No shelves IN shower We just used the edge of the tub, didn’t mind Very impressed with the shower and shower door Loved the jets Shower door was very watertight, bathroom floor didn’t flood at all Area around WC door is wasted space due to bedroom closet I think more bathroom storage and get rid of that closet is a better idea Needs a separate WC room light, mainly for nighttime The inside of the WC door…IS A MIRROR. I don’t need to watch myself while on the toilet 2 faucet design is terrible When washing your face, you can either not bump your head/arms on the faucets or keep the water in the sink, you can’t do both Closet needs more drawer storage There are drawers in the bedroom but I don’t want my clothes in separate spaces Second bench in closet is dumb Just took up space The living room is just dark There are definitely not enough lights But on the flip side, I wish the curtains were blackout curtains Sunrise was bright Our balcony overlooked one of the side pools on deck 8 (outside The Local/Indulge) We could hear pool noise (kids playing, loud talking) on our balcony at times but nothing IN the cabin Notes About Ship Already looking old/used, a lot of damage in both cabin & public areas, even Haven common areas Bottoms of bathroom doors peeling (in every bathroom we went in) Tiles in bathrooms stained Carpet coming up around the pantry in our cabin One leg/side of the pantry looks like it’s been bashed with a vacuum daily Desserts, outside of paid ones, were meh Lots of gel-like consistency, “goo” Also, they were all pretty heavy &/or rich I liked the look of The Local but it didn’t really feel “pub” like anymore I preferred the look of O’Sheehan’s All the bathrooms had paper towels by the doors to open them with, but Haven bathrooms didn’t have a trash can for said towels though! There were crew at the entrance to all the complimentary dining venues encouraging washy-washy or actual hand washing. They weren’t pushy if you mentioned you were just passing through or just looking though. I actually really like the hand washing stations. I’m a messy eater and it was super convenient just having a sink in the corner instead of having to track down a bathroom to wash my hands. Haven Lounge is oddly formatted. It’s divided into 5 sections - 2 seating areas (both across from the concierge desk), the actual bar, then 2 more seating areas. The actual bar section had 8-10 bar stools at the bar top (but PLENTY of room for more), then 2-3 small tables on either side of the bar. Some nights, the bar section was PACKED. And it was a great atmosphere but it was just too crowded and LOUD. The type of people that hang out at the bar top don’t want to sit on the super fancy waiting-area-looking couches in the other sections; they want to be AT the bar. So if one of the seating sections was COMBINED with the bar section, it would have made it much more comfortable & helped disperse the noise a lot. Also, more bar stools. A lot of people just stood at the bar because there were so few bar stools but certainly enough space for them. But the seating sections of the Lounge were a great place to play Switch during the day, read a book, etc.

General Vacation Afterthoughts & Stuff We Used - I’d be perfectly fine flying Premium Select eastbound, instead of business. I didn’t really benefit from the lie flat seat and the enclosed seat was a little *too* enclosed for my liking. I enjoyed being able to talk to my husband during the flight, play Switch, etc. I wouldn’t splurge for Business unless we got a great deal again. Packing cubes are amazing. I’m a believer now. Peppermint lotion & fuzzy socks are a great nighttime remedy for tired feet I bought wine bags to take our bottles home in. I can’t say whether they’re effective for absorption but nothing broke! I bought Clorox hand wipes to take with us. I packed like 75 and we used around 50. These were super easy to carry with us. We both just tossed 3-5 in our bag every morning. We’ve been home almost 6 days and neither of us are sick yet! I bought these cute little thank you cards to hand out with our tip money. We also did ship hero cards for a lot of crew. If you like airflow in your cabin, I bought this fan and it was awesome! I kept it plugged in all night and set it on the bedside table. Only downside, the light is a little bright. I wound up putting a receipt over it but I’ll probably cover it with duct tape before I travel with it again. To help avoid pickpockets, I also bought a pack of carabiners. Husband carried this bag and was able to carabiner it shut. I used this bag and did the same. It was a hassle to get into, but that’s the point. We never felt unsafe anywhere but did see a group of probable pickpockets. In Rome, one younger man (probably early 20s) was taking a photo on his phone of a building across the street with one hand and had his fingers crossed behind his back with the other hand. I feel like that was a signal to someone else for something. Used this collapsible water bottle when in Rome & off the ship. It was really convenient to fill up at the free fountains in Rome, then roll up & stow when empty. We both bought this bag as a plane carry-on. It held A LOT and the shoe compartment was really useful. (Hopefully I got all those links right!) Cruise Afterthoughts - We did the go-karts one evening but I can’t for the life of me remember which day. It was REALLY fun. I’d definitely do them again. We also played trivia one evening, early in the cruise, but I don’t remember which day. We got second, all because we didn’t know a rugby match is 80 minutes. I had pre-booked all our specialty dining but once on ship they were gone. So I rebooked. Then halfway through the cruise, the first set showed back up so we were double booked. NCL’s app & website really are a giant mess. There were kids in the Haven, mostly very young (preschool/infant age), but very few, probably as a result of the timing of our trip (during school). Everyone was excellently behaved. One family had 2 young daughters that dressed up as princesses on Halloween. It was super cute. Even in the Haven, you find ****. A guy at breakfast one morning was arguing because they wouldn’t let him into the Haven restaurant in a tshirt with the arms cut off. His (I assume) wife gave him her zip up jacket and he wore that. He continued to argue even after being sat & John, the concierge, got involved. I don’t know the outcome but he did wear the zip up the whole time. Owners Suite is supposed to get 3 complimentary bottles of wine/alcohol in cabin. I had pre-selected which (1 bourbon, 1 port) through the concierge. We never saw them. I wasn’t too worried, we wouldn’t have drank them anyway, but it’s the principle. I know I could have asked but I didn’t care that much. Slightly unimpressed with Davy, the butler. We ordered breakfast to our room 4 times. 1 time our alarm didn’t go off and we woke up to it on our dining room table, so I don’t know what time it arrived (or who delivered it). 2 times, it was early. And not a minute or two before the time we selected but an entire half hour. 1 time it was delivered by John, our steward (who was fantastic). We only had one extra request, which was potato chips one night, we were both craving junk food by the end of the cruise.

Wednesday, November 1 - Barcelona Neither of us slept well again. Breakfast was delivered early and incomplete. Disembarkation was super easy, probably the easiest I’ve ever seen. We used the Haven escort but there was literally no line when we got down there. Found our luggage really quick, that was definitely a perk of the priority tag, the rest of the luggage area was super chaotic. Only waited about 5 minutes in the taxi line before we were on our way to our hotel, Eurostars Grand Marina, which was about a 10 minute drive. Even though we got there around 8:30a, they let us check in early! We immediately went to our room & slept for 4 hours! I had booked a HOHO bus for us today but greatly underestimated just how exhausted we would be by the end of the vacation. I still wanted to do the bus but my husband wasn’t up for it. So instead we walked for a couple hours! *facepalm* I should have insisted on the bus. We found a great, TINY tapas place a couple blocks off La Rambla (Guell Tapas). We had pan con tomate, Iberian ham, sirloin cubes, garlic prawns, fried squid, & seafood paella and sangria. It was all SO GOOD. I thought the paella could have been crispier on the bottom but the flavor was amazing. La Rambla had a ton of construction going on so we mostly stuck to side streets. But it’s such a gorgeous city. I’d been before but my husband hadn’t. There’s a new (?) skyline/cable car line near the water that I would have loved to have done but they had just started their winter hours Nov 1 and it was closed by the time we went to investigate it. We watched Prima sail away on her new itinerary from our hotel rooftop bar/pool deck. It was bittersweet. She’s gorgeous & we had such a fantastic time but were ready to go home. We had one last Manhattan & Old Fashioned at the hotel bar then turned in super early. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Hotel had breakfast included and it was quite the spread! Took a taxi to the airport at 8a the next morning, got coffee, went through passport control (about a 20 minute line), and our plane was at one of the gates that requires a bus. We flew Premium Select home. The food was…bad. Choices were chicken or vegetarian. I did the veg. It was basically chopped red and green peppers in a sauce with rice & bok choy. Sauce was good, peppers were not. Husband did the chicken, it was bad too. Snack before landing was a pizza twist and that was actually really good. Premium Select still had the super comfy Saks Fifth Avenue blanket but no memory foam pillow. Got to EWR with no issue, had a layover, played Switch, got some food, then our final leg took us back home to IND. Our house is about 20 minutes from the airport, so about an hour after landing we were home cuddling puppies. Don't be this guy. He also had his feet up on the wall (both with shoes & without shoes) for almost the entire flight.

Tuesday, October 31 - Halloween - Ibiza - last cruise night Didn’t leave the ship again today! We slept in, got Starbucks, & headed to BINGO. On the third BINGO card, the $5,000 coverall jackpot, no one won the jackpot, but I was the first to be 1 away from a coverall! I got booed. A lot. All I needed was B2. And it was never called. B12 was called! B1 was called! No B2. In the middle of BINGO was the “free cruise” raffle. The second guy from Deal or No Deal won! After BINGO, we had Haven restaurant lunch - french dip sandwich (delicious, and proper au jus) & the brie burger. I had the pavlova for dessert one last time, it's so good, very light and tart. After lunch, we enjoyed some time on our balcony before heading back to the Haven Lounge to organize our tips & thank you/hero cards and play some more Switch. For dinner, we got an early Los Lobos reservation with the intention of just having apps. We did 2 quesos and a side of plantains. We had planned on doing Haven restaurant for our final dinner but neither of us were hungry again, so we skipped having a full meal. After “dinner,” we had to pack and set out our luggage. Then we had a few drinks in the Lounge, handed out our thank you cards, & spent several pretty good hours in the casino. Craps was terrible but I did really well at $25 blackjack. The casino crew went ALL OUT for halloween. There were so many good costumes. I believe there was a children's halloween party during the day & then an adults party in the evening (both in the theater/nightclub) but we didn't check it out. Around 1, we headed back to the room for the final time. Watched the Jade sail away from our outdoor Los Lobos table.

Monday, October 30 - Mallorca We had another lazy day. Mallorca was an afternoon port, so we slept in then had Haven restaurant breakfast. I got eggs benedict (the hollandaise is so good!) and husband had classic eggs...again. Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas backed in next to us at the port, that was fun to watch. When we went ashore, they had a shuttle that would take you to the town center or you could taxi or walk. We decided to just walk. It was pretty overcast but the rain held off. Turns out there’s a brand new mall with a casino about 20 minutes from the pier. We wound up there, of course. Also stopped by a CVS type store and picked up more dry shampoo. Apparently, the travel size is great for 10 days & not a day longer. When we got back to the ship, we made it just in time for Deal or No Deal. It was really fun to watch. As avid gamblers, we’re always pro “NO DEAL!” It worked out for the first guy, not so much for the second guy. We did Haven restaurant dinner again. I started with the mushroom risotto which was excellent. I would recommend asking for a dinner size portion and just having that! Husband had lobster deviled eggs again. I did surf & turf again, with the potato this time, which came with a whole tray of toppings! Husband got the steak (I think it was a NY strip). We ordered a malbec that paired really well with the steaks. Dessert was the OMG cheesecake & chocolate cake. Both meh, the crunchy thing on top of the chocolate cake was really good. We then watched sail away (Odyssey’s & our’s) from our balcony before heading to the Haven Lounge to pass some time before the casino opened. I practiced my tip money origami. I learned to make a shirt & tie for Cristian to mimic the tie he put on The Handsome Gentleman. I also learned boats! And I found out Maria makes a fantastic Penicillin cocktail! When the casino opened, we headed to craps. Table was pretty cold, so we didn’t stay long. Just headed to bed afterwards. They were starting to decorate for Halloween when we left!

Sunday, October 29 - Toulon We didn’t even get off the ship today. We slept in, had Haven restaurant breakfast (waffle with berries & classic eggs), then went to the Lounge to day drink & play Switch. Espresso martinis, mimosas, got creative with the bartenders and tried some new stuff. It was fun & very relaxing. For lunch, we tried the buffet. OMG, was it chaos! I had lamb kofta, a meatball sub thing, & some fries. Husband had a chorizo slider, some pasta, & a meatball sub. The lamb was terrible, the pasta was decent, the meatball subs were pretty good, and the slider was really good. We noticed they had lemonade in their juice dispensers. We hadn’t been able to find lemonade at any bar on the ship! So we took a couple full glasses back to the Haven bar and had vodka lemonade! It was definitely made with fresh lemon juice, it was so tart, but delicious. Cristian made us cocktails he called The Beautiful Lady (it was gin based & pretty good but way too sweet) & The Handsome Gentleman (also gin based, with cucumber). We continued to relax the rest of the day until our 7p reservation at Palomar. Gotta say, I was disappointed in it. I started with the prawns & endive. It was meh, prawns were only lukewarm. Husband had oysters, he said they were good. For mains, I got the seabass and husband had the scallops. They were both good but not great. Our side of grilled asparagus was the best thing we had there. For dessert, I got the dark chocolate mousse cake (meh) and husband got the apple tart (pretty good). Overall, I’d skip it next time. After dinner, we just crashed.

The other stuff we bought on the winery excursion.

Saturday, October 28 - Cannes Neither of us slept well because of the rough seas. We had an excursion booked to go to Monaco so we ordered an early breakfast, which showed up extra early. The sunrise was gorgeous though. We ate, got dressed, and headed to the elevator. As we’re standing, waiting for the elevator, my husband says “Do you really want to go or would you rather go back to bed?” “Bed,” was my reply and he says “oh thank god, me too.” So we just headed back to bed for several hours. We eventually got back up and headed to land. Seas were still really choppy and Cannes is a tender port, so I was pretty queasy when we hit land. We walked along the water, found a spot for lunch, and had a leisurely meal (I had seafood pasta, husband had scallops, strawberry tiramisu for dessert). It was so incredibly windy, the tender back to the ship was incredibly rough still. When we got back on the ship, the laundry bag we had sent out was back. $29 for the bag & it held a lot. I added up what it would have cost individually and it was $126.80! So the $29 was a great deal! Saturday night was The Price Is Right. My husband works from home and watches TPIR EVERY day, he wanted to be picked so badly. And he was. The thing is…had he listened to me, he would have won & gotten to play Plinko. His item up for bids was a 10 can retro themed Coca Cola vending machine. I immediately yelled $220, it really was just a guess, I didn’t know it was correct. And I was in the third row, he heard me, he says he heard me. He bid $300. So he lost. He got a nice TPIR tshirt as a consolation prize. The guy who won the bidding only won $50 on Plinko. After the show, still high from his 30 seconds of fame, we headed to the Haven restaurant for dinner. He got the crab cakes & I got the chicken. The chicken was really good but surprisingly salty. I didn’t try his crab cakes because it was a mustard sauce & I loathe mustard. I legitimately don’t remember what we did after this. It’s most likely we had a few drinks in the Haven Lounge then went to bed but I really don’t remember. And don’t have any photos.

Friday, October 27 - La Spezia We had a very light day today. Since the first half of our vacation was so “planned” and busy, we decided we wanted the second half of the cruise to be more relaxing and spontaneous. We slept in, skipped breakfast, and went to The Local for lunch. It was pretty good. We started with spinach artichoke dip, I got lechon asado, and husband had a cheeseburger. Other than everything needing a hearty dose of salt, it was good. We then went ashore. The walking path along the water is absolutely gorgeous. We spent a few hours walking & exploring. Got gelato one last time - strawberry for me, stracciatella for my husband. Mine was better. After reboarding the ship, we lounged on our balcony a while, then got ready for the evening. This evening was a cocktail party for Haven guests in the Observation Lounge, which was not easy to find. It was rather boring. They had 2 or 3 cocktails to choose from or prosecco and some simple hors d'oeuvres. It seems most people who went stayed 15 minutes then left. We went back to the Haven Lounge after, had a round, then headed to Los Lobos for dinner. I didn’t have high hopes for this either but we were so surprised. It was fantastic! The salsa was great, the chips had tajin on them, which I love. We got queso and guac (made table side) for our starters. The queso was delicious. Our server, Ivan, recommended the fajitas, plantains, and elotes. We got all those & enchiladas de mole. It was phenomenal. Only part that was meh was dessert. We split churros and the chocolate tart. The churros were really dry and I love dark chocolate but the tart was just too dark. It was WAY too much food, and we didn’t even order everything that was included! With FAS you get 1 app, 1 salad, 1 main, 2 sides, and 1 dessert PER PERSON. Neither of us got a salad and we only had 2/4 of the sides. We were stuffed. Beware ordering margaritas there, if you have the drink package, they'll just keep bringing them! They were delicious, choices are regular lime, strawberry, or spicy but they weren't super strong. I tried to order spicy strawberry but it was a no. I assume they're premade. When my husband ordered a second & I wasn't even half done with my first, Ivan went ahead and brought me another! (I guess I didn't take pictures of the queso or guac) Unfortunately, we had REALLY rough seas this evening. After dinner, we went back to the Haven Lounge to try to digest before we went to bed. The crew was putting plastic wrap everywhere so the glasses wouldn’t slide or fall. We ended the evening with a Manhattan, some Johnnie Walker Blue, & a Hugo.

I think a really important part is pre-booking your attraction tickets. Some of the lines to buy tickets to get into places were INSANE (especially Pantheon & Vatican Museum). Different tickets go on sale at different times, I believe Vatican Museum is 30 days out. I had calendar alerts set up for everything so I could buy as soon as they go on sale because the third party sites snatch them up quickly and resell them with large markups. The only thing we bought third party was our colosseum tour through colosseum.tours & our guide was FANTASTIC.

Thursday, October 26 - Livorno overnight We ordered breakfast to our room again. Ham & cheese omelet for husband, tomato & spinach omelet for me. I got OJ and we popped open the prosecco that came with our cabin for mimosas. After food, we relaxed on the balcony awhile, wandered to Starbucks for more coffee, then stopped at the outdoor Haven bar for a drink & a light lunch. I got the sesame crusted fish sandwich, husband got the hotdog. We only got 1 order of fries to split between us. Overall, food was pretty good. I was a little disappointed in the fish sandwich, I thought the slaw and the mayo could have had more flavor. We met our excursion group/bus just off the ship at 1:15p. We booked “Countryside & Wine Tasting” - it was described as a picturesque ride through the Tuscan countryside, a tour of a winery, & wine tasting with a light snack of meats & cheeses. It was…not really that. We did have a ride through the Tuscan countryside but it was raining for most of it, still pretty though. Bus ride was about 45 minutes & our guide gave us some info & history about the region. When we arrived at Vialto, the winery/farm, we were seated for a full pasta lunch! We started with meats & cheeses with truffle honey, it was *delicious*. Then, we had pasta with 2 types of sauces, a tomato/veg & a ragu. They were very good. Biscotti and vin santo to end the meal. But also…all you could drink wine! It was less of a tasting & more of a “get drunk before we herd you into the gift shop”. After food & wine, we got to wander the grounds a little bit and, of course, shop in the gift shop. We wound up shipping more wine home and buying some olive oil, liqueurs, etc. Their shipping cost was very reasonable and we were able to carry the rest onto the ship. We had gone with the intention of buying more wine, the additional purchase of olive oil, truffle honey, a few liqueurs, etc were things we wanted and just hadn’t found a convenient place to buy them on our own. So this worked for us. I would recommend this excursion if you want to buy wine in bulk and ship it home. I would not recommend this excursion if you’re just looking for a wine tasting or trip to Tuscany. We paid $142.20 for 2 (after FAS+ & Latitudes discount) & I’m glad we did it once but wouldn’t book it again. After returning to the ship, we hung out in the Haven Lounge for a bit. We had made friends with several couples in the Haven & we sat and talked to them until we headed to dinner at Indulge. We watched sail away (around 7:30p) from Indulge and still didn’t find it crowded. We found a table almost immediately. It would be useful though if they had more small tables. We had to sit at a table for 4 because that’s the smallest we found open. There are very few tables for 2. We got roasted tomato soup, chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, & brisket. The naan dipped in the tomato soup was fantastic. Even the brisket was good, and we didn’t really have high hopes for it! We tried several desserts, including tiramisu, but they weren’t very good. It seems NCL’s dessert of choice right now is layering mousse & cake and covering it in a gel-like exterior. I’m not a fan. We meant to try out some things from Coco’s during the week but we forgot. After dinner, we headed to Syd Norman’s to watch Battle of the Sexes. Instead of being a trivia type game, which is what we were expecting, it was more physical challenges. It was really fun. I’d go again. The women won, woo. To finish the night, we headed to the casino where we had a hot craps table! Turned $200 into $1500!

http://www.075roma.com/ Right next to Circus Maximus. It was a unique place - part pub, part restaurant. The pizza was delicious (& cheap!) but I was surprised it wasn't fresh mozzarella on the Margherita.

Wednesday, October 25 - Livorno overnight We slept in with the intention of having breakfast in the Haven restaurant and then going ashore but arrived just after closing. Oops! So we went to Starbucks instead. The ship arrived in Livorno on schedule but it took awhile to clear customs. We used the Haven concierge for priority disembarkation but still encountered a line for the shuttle to the town center. It was 7€ round trip each, they did take credit cards. Once off the shuttle, we found a tabacchi and bought bus tickets to get to the train station to get to Florence. If you do this, buy 2 per person (save 1 for the return trip, so you don’t have to worry about buying it if you get back late). Then, to get to the train station, you take the Blue Line (Lam Blau) or LB from outside H&M, remember to validate your bus ticket once on the bus. It’s about a 15 minute ride. Since the ship was cleared late, we missed the 11:12a train we wanted to take and had to take the 12:12. We had a few minutes to wait around the station, so we shared some pizza. It was pretty good for train station pizza. The train to Florence is only 1:20 and cost 10,80€ each. The scenery was beautiful, even with occasional rain. When we arrived, we grabbed a taxi to La Galleria dell'Accademia, where David is. I had pre-booked tickets and we had missed our time by a few minutes so I wanted to get there quickly. They separate the line by ticket times, since our’s was already passed, we just got in the current one. We were in and through security in about 10 minutes. If you buy online, you have to show your confirmation email at the ticket counter in exchange for tickets (just like the Vatican museum). I had been to Florence before but the Galleria was closed the only day I was there, so I had never seen David before. I was absolutely speechless over how amazing it was. We used Rick Steves again for David, it’s a very nice, thorough explanation of it, the Prisoners, and a few pieces in the Galleria. We took our time wandering the rest of the Galleria then walked to the Duomo. Once again, pre-booked tickets for the Cathedral, Baptistry, Bell Tower, etc. We booked a time to climb the Dome but once we got there, knew immediately we weren’t doing it. Between the amount of walking we had done in Rome for 3 days, Pompeii, and the ship, our feet were pretty tired, and still a little sore from Pompeii. After the Duomo, we walked to Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, & Ponte Vecchio. We found a place for an early dinner and had a giant chianina steak, grilled vegetables and a beautiful bottle of chianti. It was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Adding the olive oil to it, enhanced the flavor so much. And everything paired SO WELL. Tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert capped off the meal nicely. While walking back to the train station in the rain, we found a wine shop with free shipping! So we spent WAY too much on wine and shipped home 12 bottles! Unfortunately, we spent too much time (& money) in the shop and didn’t make it back for the train I wanted. So we puttered around the train station for an extra half hour before taking a train with a change in Pisa. Well, our train ran late and we almost missed our Pisa change. When we got back to Livorno, we had just missed the bus back to the city center so we had to wait about 10 minutes for the next bus. Luckily, when we got on the port shuttle, it left immediately. Once on board, we wanted a snack, so we headed to The Local. I got the smoked peach margarita on tap & it was delicious! I ordered a mezcal margarita next & it was terrible! Husband got a sidecar that was good, then an old fashioned that was terrible. Ordered nachos & pretzel bites for food. Nachos were really good, especially the chili. Pretzel bites were *terrible*. Probably the worst thing I ate the whole trip. After food, we had another round in the Haven Lounge then called it a night.

Just the plain Owner's Suite, H5

Tuesday, October 24 - Naples We ordered an early breakfast to our room before our Pompeii excursion. We shared a ham & cheese omelet, pastry basket, fresh fruit, & coffee. Everything was really good, except the coffee was meh. We booked the “Pompeii on your own” excursion. We had upgraded to Free At Sea Plus, so we each got $50 off shore excursions, & we basically got a free ride to Pompeii! I had pre-booked tickets online again, so getting in was quick. We had agreed if we wanted more time in Pompeii than the excursion allowed, we’d skip the NCL bus back and just taxi. It was actually a good amount of time though. We used Rick Steves’s audio guide again. It starts at a totally different entrance than we went in, so it took us a hot minute to orientate ourselves to where we were. It was really humid this day and we were both bothered by it. Luckily, there’s a little cafe in Pompeii so we got PowerAde and additional water. I managed to trip over a stone and hurt my right foot. So by the time we needed to meet the guide back to the bus, I was ready to go. We grabbed a bag of chips at one of the carts outside our entrance to tide us over on the bus. We had planned on walking around a little, getting pizza in Naples but my foot hurt and we were a little cranky, so we just went straight back to the ship. Port of Naples routes you through a little shopping area before you’re allowed to re-embark your ship. It’s pretty annoying & stuff is really expensive so don’t even think of buying it. We had lunch at Indulge Food Hall. It was delicious! I love the concept. We didn’t find it crowded, but we were in port, so I assume most people were ashore. We had Manchego from Tapas, Totopos & Crab Tostada from The Latin Quarter, Pulled Pork Sandwich from Q, & Chicken Tikka from Tamara. I like that most things are tapa size. The pulled pork sandwich is more main size and it turned out to be slightly too much food. I got a carrot halwa at the end and husband got a lemon type cake thing. Carrot halwa was phenomenal, lemon thing was just okay. (apparently I didn't take any photos of lunch) After lunch, we wandered a still mostly empty ship. The Prima is absolutely gorgeous. The color scheme is beautiful, the atrium is gorgeous, even the main dining rooms are amazing. When we first passed The Commodore Room, I thought it was Cagney’s, it was so pretty. I also really like all the hygienic things they’ve added, because let’s be honest, even before COVID, ships were a breeding ground for viruses, especially norovirus. There’s handwashing stations near all the food venues, extra washy-washy everywhere, a lot of the public area bathrooms have an automatic open option, and paper towels to use to open the door on the way out. We stopped at the Whiskey Bar during our walk and grabbed a round. It was disappointing. My Manhattan was incredibly sweet and came with a maraschino cherry, pretty terrible for a whiskey bar. My husband’s old fashioned still had a Luxardo cherry, so I don’t know why I got a maraschino. Headed back to the room to relax, watch sail away, shower & change before dinner in the Haven restaurant. Davy, our butler, had delivered our first afternoon snacks by the time we got back to our cabin. We both commented they were significantly smaller than the last time we got snacks delivered in the Haven. For dinner, I started with the beets and husband got the lobster deviled eggs. Turns out, I don’t like beets! Got the surf & turf, no potato, for my main and husband had the prime rib - both delicious. The au jus that came with the prime rib was more of a gravy though and slightly odd. Dessert - coconut mousse cake for me, was pretty bad & strawberry ice cream for my husband. After dinner, we spent several hours playing craps in the casino. Table was ice cold and we went to bed disappointed.

Monday, October 23 - Civitavecchia We used Uber to book a car to Termini to catch a train to Civitavecchia. Trenitalia’s app is phenomenal. It’s super easy to book tickets, change tickets (for free), validate/check in, etc. Don’t trust the app for the platform number though, still check the board. Train to Civitavecchia cost us 9,20€ for two and was just slightly over an hour. Once there, we banded together with some other cruisers headed to Prima to negotiate a good taxi rate. The busses are cheaper but this was *significantly* easier. We negotiated 15€ per couple & there were 6 of us, which was much cheaper than the 20€ per person they initially wanted. The taxis are vans so they fit plenty of people & luggage. Bus is 2-3€ per person but much more difficult and you have to deal with your own luggage. Moral of the story, take a taxi and haggle a good rate. The drive to the pier is really beautiful. If we sailed out of Civitavecchia again, we’d go a day early, explore the town, & visit the beach. When we arrived at the ship, the luggage line was insane. Luckily, we were Haven so we found an NCL employee, passed off our luggage, and got in the security line, which still lasted around 20 minutes. If you have priority luggage tags, which I believe is also some levels of Latitudes, find an NCL employee, do not wait in that giant line. We had to ask 2 different crew members, the first told us ‘no, you have to wait.’ Having done this process before, I know we do not. After security, ship check in was super easy and they led us to the Haven snack/waiting area. Only there 4-5 minutes before another couple showed up and they led us on the ship. They gave us a quick Haven tour/explanation then set us loose. We started with lunch in the Haven restaurant & shared the seafood fritto misto. I had the chicken milanese and husband had the salmon. Both got a couple glasses of riesling and ended with pavlova & banoffee cream. It was delicious. Then we had a couple drinks at the Haven lounge & met the bartenders, Cristian & Maria. Both were fantastic at remembering our “standard” drinks and *really* creative when we wanted to experiment with something new. Husband’s favorite is an old fashioned, sometimes smoked. I love a Manhattan with rye, stirred. For sail away, we took a drink to the pool deck to enjoy the views. We had a 7:30p reservation at Le Bistro, so we showered, changed, & headed there. We had never had Le Bistro before & it was delicious. We started with champagne, escargot, & an endive salad. Escargot was pretty standard with very good sauce. Endive salad was meh. We then switched to a Cabernet from Napa. Husband ordered the duck & I got the lamb. OMG they were both SO. GOOD. The lamb had roasted lamb chops and braised shank. The shank was AMAZING. The spices/flavor was so good. The duck was also delicious but I preferred mine. I finished with the ile flottante & husband had the wine poached pear. Mine was a good choice, it wasn’t super sweet or heavy after such a large meal. We had a nightcap at the Haven bar then turned in.

TL;DR - 9 fabulous nights on the Prima but wouldn’t book a Prima/Viva Owner’s Suite again My husband (42M) & I (38F), have been planning an Italy trip for around 14 months. Our first version involved flying to Rome late September, staying 4 nights, taking an overnight train to Munich, staying 4 nights (going to Oktoberfest & a day trip to Dachau), flying to London, staying 3 nights, then flying home. I planned the entire thing out (I’m a *planner*). When we finally went to pull the plug and actually book stuff this past March, there were NO hotels in Rome. None. Googled “events in Rome September 2023”...it was the Ryder Cup. Damn. I tried planning the trip backwards, but it put us in Munich on a weekend and Oktoberfest would have been too crowded for our liking. We had to abandon our plan. I came up with other versions of ‘just Italy’, ‘Italy and Bavaria’, ‘Italy & London’, etc. But mid-April, I got an email from my NCL cruise consultant offering 20% off any Europe sailing. I asked about the fine print - the sailing had to originate in Europe but could be a transatlantic, all cabins were included, & no “gotchas” involved. We were thrilled! I scoured the NCL Europe sailings and we finally decided on Rome to Barcelona, 9 nights, Oct 23 - Nov 1, Prima. We booked an Owners Suite and grand total (including prepaid gratuities) was $9537.94. We did not book NCL air, hotels, transfers, trip protection, etc. I got a great deal on a split fare (Polaris Business there & Premium Select home) with United & we were officially booked. Thursday, October 19 Left IND at 3:30p. Had a 3 hour layover at EWR. Spent it in the Polaris Lounge, which is gorgeous and huge. Had a shower, dinner, & a few drinks. Polaris was very nice. The Saks Fifth Avenue bedding is amazing. The food was between meh and bad. The IFE is great. I have severe insomnia so even with great bedding, a lie flat seat, an eye mask, melatonin, white noise, & a few drinks, I slept literally nothing. Husband slept about 3 hours. Friday, October 20 - Rome Customs at FCO was super quick. Got our luggage, took the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini, then metro to Repubblica. Our hotel, Hotel Quirinale, was just a 1 minute walk from the metro station. We were able to check in early, around 1p. We dropped our luggage then metroed to the Spagna station. Did a self-guided walking tour of the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Largo di Torre Argentina, & Piazza Navona. I had pre-booked Pantheon tickets, so the wait to get in was maybe 3 minutes. We used Rick Steves Audio Guide app for the walking tour & inside Pantheon. We did it backwards but the app makes it super easy to jump between sections/locations. Found a cute little restaurant a couple blocks from the Piazza and had an early dinner. Lack of sleep was really starting to catch up to us so we taxied back to the hotel and passed out around 8p. Saturday, October 21 - Rome Hotel Quirinale offered complimentary breakfast, which was good & bad. It gave us a good base to start with for the day (and coffee!) but the food was meh. We took the metro to Ottaviano and walked a few minutes to the Vatican Museum entrance. We spent 4 hours in the museum and still skipped about ⅓ of it. I highly recommend getting the audio guide. We booked directly through the Vatican Museum website and it was extremely easy to exchange your voucher for tickets and pick up the audio guide. I have done a guided tour of the Vatican Museum before and it’s way too rushed. I enjoyed being able to go at our own pace and look at things more in detail. After the museum, we left the Vatican, walked a few blocks, & found a place for a late lunch. There was a gelato place a few doors down, so after lunch we grabbed gelato. Then, we walked back into the Vatican and considered getting in line for St Peter’s but it was ridiculously long. It was raining lightly and I thought that might help the line be a little shorter. It definitely did not. So we skipped it. Meandered around the Prati neighborhood & hopped on the metro at Lepanto. Got back to our hotel around 8 again & passed out. Sunday, October 22 - our anniversary - Rome Started with hotel breakfast then took a taxi to the Baths of Caracalla. It was AMAZING. I had never been there before & couldn’t believe how well preserved it was! Again, get the audio guide! It rained off and on the whole time we were there, which made the humidity more bearable. It was also SO EMPTY! After, walked to Circus Maximus and just wandered around outside it. Found a place near it to have lunch. Delicious pizza! We then had a 3.5 hour tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, & the Forum. We booked through Colosseum.tours and it was fantastic! Highly recommend. We had 18 people in our group and it was a good size. After our tour, we metroed back to our hotel, cleaned up a little, then found a place for dinner. Had a delicious, leisurely dinner and actually stayed up until midnight!

We just returned from 9 nights on Prima. It was a port intensive trip (no sea days) but still spent a large amount of time in the Haven lounge. We really got to know & like the crew there. 2 bartenders - Cristian & Maria - $200 each 2 lounge servers - Alejandro & Mary Ann - $20 each (we always sit at the bar, so we had very little table service, we mostly just chatted with them while they were waiting for their drinks to be made) 1 restaurant hostess - Juliet - knew our names by the second meal - $20 steward - John - $100, we ordered breakfast in our cabin 4 times, at least 2 were delivered by John rather than Davy butler - Davy - $100, we had only 1 extra request (potato chips on night 7! we were craving salt) We considered tipping the Haven restaurant servers but we had so many different ones over the course of the 9 days, we either couldn't remember names or never saw them again. As others have mentioned, people tip for different reasons. If you never use the concierge (we only used them for priority disembarkation twice, and even then, it was the outdoor Haven bartenders that led us down), I don't see the need to tip. If you are making requests of your butler twice a day, certainly tip based on that. These were just our numbers.

Per my post, I mentioned it was Epic, not a BA/+ class ship. Have you been in the Haven on Epic? I didn't say it was a good idea. I don't know if the menu was special or not, I did not eat there. It might have been the Haven lunch menu for all I know. But O'Sheehan's was reserved for Haven lunching on embarkation day.

I don't know if it was the same menu. We went ahead and ate at the Haven restaurant for embarkation lunch.

At one point, on Bliss, the Haven lunch option was Food Republic (with a limited menu). On the Epic, it was O'Sheehans (aka The Local). I could see it being one of those or maybe Los Lobos? We sail on Prima in 18 days, I'd be glad to get an answer for you then!