slidemaster5

I realized that by not "bothering" the butler with a letter I made it more difficult for him since he had to figure out what we wanted. After I talked to him about this and the fact that he had 10 suites on two decks that the more information he got the quicker and easier he can provide his service. Granted it is no guarantee using a letter, but I will do it going forward if I have butler service.

Yeah, that is why if I do Haven again, I am using the sthrngary letter approach. Once our butler knew what we ate he didn't automatically bring us the same thing as the other cabins. For example, we told him only cheese platters or dessert canapes and that is all we got the rest of the trip. It will look simple like the BirdTravel example: (1) what we want stocked daily and (2) here is what we want with regards to the canapes/other offerings.

Also, this sailing was virtually all adults. I believe the total pax count was something like 2385 with about 50 children.

It was 10AM for all. The Haven/Suites line was just to the left of the main line. There was a sign for it. We were in Moderno's just before 11AM.

Thanks for correcting me. They allowed self-debarkation from 8-8:30 for those who wanted to walk off with their luggage. As far as I know this was on time. We left our luggage outside the night before and they let the Haven folks walk off shortly after 8:30 mixed in with Group 1 of general debarkation.

We were in the Haven, but the non-suites were running parallel: (1) They started allowing folks to go through security (outside) at 10AM. There was a Haven and non-suite line. In the Haven we went through a separate security line and registration line but again, the non-suites folks were just parallel in the process. (2) The first Haven group was let on the ship just before 11AM. There was a large group of non-suite folks waiting to board so processing appeared to be going smoothly. ggTexasGal would have to tell you when general boarding started.

The link to the updated menu for Cagney's is in the first post on Page 1 of this thread. I can confirm it is correct since I was on a cruise last week.

These are good points. Son and DIL in law would probably crash our suite but the friend option is a nice idea.

We were told You can pick 2 appetizers, 1 entree, 2 sides, 1 dessert. Appears ggTexasGal was told something else on the same cruise. So, there is confusion amongst the waiters I assume. Or with NCL.

We were in Cagney's on the Gem on Tuesday June 4th, and Thursday June 6th and were told the same things both times. Also, the tables around us were told the same thing since I heard the same intro being given by the waiter (we were there both times at 5:30 so everyone is getting seated and given menus at the same time)

Remember this card is co-branded by NCL but is issued by Bank of America. Under Bank of America Worldpoints program you can redeem points for: (1) statement credit (2) cash deposited into checking account / savings account at Bank of America (3) have check mailed to you The points expire after five years so just don't sit on them for years. You can redeem them whenever you want online. It could take a day or two processing depending on when you do it.

My wife has decreed Haven only, so we are in the same boat, in a matter of speaking. Using the card as a discount. Now if we only could get AARP gift cards for NCL like other lines.....

You never want to use points to buy anything NCL related - redeem points as cash back. Example: Say you go on a cruise and have an on-board balance of $1000. You also have $1000 worth in points. You don't want to use the points to pay your balance. Instead, you pay the $1000 with the NCL card and then use the points as cash back to pay off the $1000 you just charged. That way you get points on the $1000 you just spent which is worth at least $30-$50.

I was on the Gem last week. The waiter was telling all the tables: You can pick 2 appetizers, 1 entree, 2 sides, 1 dessert.

Sorry for your loss. Not providing any advice here but Distinctive Destinations comment on investing in an S&P low-cost index fund is a sound strategy. A professional with tax expertise, including a CPA who specializes in personal taxes, or an Enrolled Agent, can make sure you have a tax minimization strategy. Back to the subject: when we decided to start cruising for our retirement and that NCL would be a line we expected to frequent than the card made sense to use on NCL cruises. I get 5.25% back on my NCL cruises. Some people also benefit from the upgrade feature. As long as you spend the same as you would as if you didn't have the card then it is worthwhile - unless you have another card that gives you better points.

It is currently shown as 20,000 on both NCL and Bank sites. It was 25,000 earlier this year so it may get boosted again.

Ha!. I am a CPA by trade so tracking minutiae is my business. We will be paying less on Princess since their suites are less than Haven pricing. We were happy with our trip overall. I was just disappointed with the food consistency and want to compare that to Princess.

Well on this trip we were in Haven and being tracked since we were always given window and usually had someone come over to ask how things were. Perhaps we were lucky. We have no status with NCL so it wasn't because of that.

Overall, I was disappointed with Cagney's. It was the only specialty restaurant that we went to. We are the furthest one can be from "foodies", so it doesn't take much to please us. The only item that was noteworthy was the desserts. As newly retired, we decided to return to cruising and have several Princess trips queued up. Since this was our first NCL and that will be our first Princess we will compare afterwards.

Should be. You should have a great time. Bar Harbor was 60 and misty so we did not go ashore (We have a land trip there this summer, so we didn't care).

I was on this cruise and will add the following: (1) The Wi-Fi was very slow (2) The officers were not the mingling type. We were invited to the Officers' VIP party and they lined up to greet us when we entered the venue and then they left. Only a couple stayed more than a few minutes and actually mingled. Perhaps due to his duties we saw Roland Schrock around the restaurants over the course of the trip. (3) We enjoyed the music/comedian act (Tom Franek) and found Whitney and Blazing Boots good. Get down tonight we thought was trash. (4) We went to Horseshoe Beach on Day 2 (Sunday) since a lot of the shops in Hamilton are closed on Sunday. Also, the Vision of the Seas was leaving on Sunday, so we were the only ship in dock. The water was probably about 75 along with the air temp and was very enjoyable. We prefer to walk past the main beach and swim in the coves which are very scenic and quiet. The main beach wasn't busy, but you literally can have your own swimming area in the coves.

I was on this cruise and thought the Whitney show was good. Sitting in the balcony helps as one can hear everything but can't tell how good the CGI is. The backup singers and the band played well against the legacy vocal tracks. I was concerned that it was replacing Get Down Tonight. After seeing Get Down Tonight I wished it did. IMO that show was trash and I trashed it in the survey.

True. Poor woman two cabins away from us was spending part of the cruise this week doing the monthly close. I have no idea how she was getting anything done with the slow Wi-Fi.

Bingo. "We have people who know nothing about stocks being advised by stockbrokers who know even less" - C. Munger

The average age at 6 in the morning was probably 60 anyway. Most of the treadmill users were 50-60. The weight room was also older. Us older folks aren't noisy and are pass the age of dropping things to impress.