landsear

We're looking at Feb 2023. Our last cruise was on the Horizon and I can't cruise without the Havana anymore :)  Thanks!

Thanks for the responses! 

Just now, Laszlo said:

A lot depends on the cruise, where does it go? how long? when? Do you have kids? It could or could not make a difference

Bermuda. 5 days in November 2020. two kids, ages 4 and 6.

27 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

The Gem does not have a Haven restaurant like the Away class ships.

In your opinion, is it worth 1k to upgrade? I'm thinking no?

Hello! I am booked on the NCL Gem Two bedroom suite. We can upgrade to the two bedroom Haven suite for 1k. What would the benefits of this be?

Thanks!

Hello everyone. I booked with a third party, my invoice from them states that I have $900 OBC. 

I am on the cruise planner (not sure the technical name NCL calls it, sorry!) and it shows that I have $600 in 'on board spending money'

When I look at the bottom of my planner, under "vacation add on items 'included items' is a Free $300 USD On-Board Credit Certificate Non -Refundable'

Together this does equal $900, but I want to make sure that this is correct as opposed to saying I have $900 in 'on board spending money'/

Sorry if I didn't word this properly!

I'm not an expert, but if your room is sold out I don't know why they would lower the price for it? 

1 minute ago, ColeThornton said:

Yes, my understanding is only one time and good luck with getting a "10 min phone call" with NCL's customer service.  🙂

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I promise! I would call the third party agency I booked with, and not NCL, correct? 

If it's only once, I definitely agree that it's not worth calling about.

Just now, ColeThornton said:

I wouldn't even bother for twenty bucks.   I would wait since you have many months before final payment to see if there is a bigger reduction.

Are you only allowed to do it once? I don't mind a 10 min phone call to receive $20 in obc.

Thank you! I'm from Buffalo btw :) 

It appears that our cruise fare dropped around $20 total. Our final payment is in August. We booked with a third party agency. Does NCL have any price match policies? I don't want to waste the phone call to the agency if it's a waste of time.

Thank you!

Hello. I'm new to NCL and have been reading some past threads.

Can someone clarify how bidding on a room works? It appears that it's 30 days from sail date? We'd like to bid on the two family suite, we're currently in a balcony room. What's a 'reasonable' bid? Right now if we were to book that room outright, it would be around $2400 more than what we currently are booked at. Is there any chance that this room will even be available then? We may still upgrade this spring, depending on how some financial stuff works out for us.

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

Hello everyone!

I've sailed on Carnival 6x, this will be our first NCL cruise. We're going on a 5 day cruise on the Gem with our 4 and 6 year old. Would you suggest two interior conjoining rooms, or the family 2 bedroom suite?

Anything else stand out that I need to know as a first time NCL cruiser?

Thanks so much!

My roommate isn't going to be charged the solo cruiser rate right?

I was not able to get down to Tampa for my cruise today due to weather. Is it better if I cancel or no show? I don't want to screw my roommate over by canceling, I believe I have heard she would be charged the solo cruiser rate if I cancel? I also purchased the drink package. What is the best way to recoup anything? I know I'm basically sol at this point. 

10 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

I didn't think it was worth the cost at $45.   Very limited menu, the lowest end wine.  Performance is fun once.

Do you remember what the menu was like?  I'm a very picky eater.

I am looking on the RCL website and it shows this is available.  It is not listed in the cruise planner.  How do I book it?  What is the cost?  Is it worth it?

On 11/18/2018 at 8:18 PM, 2xsin12mths said:

Well we did it...we booked a Havana Cabana and now my husband wants every cruise to be in a Havana room. It is AMAZING! Just off the 6 day cruise out of Miami yesterday. We were on a ship with 4,000+ and felt like we were on a ship of 100. Obviously we will not be cruising in Havana every time since currently only Vista and Horizon have that option but what an amazing experience. From the room, to the walkout balcony to the hot tubs/pool to the Havana bar it was awesome! 

We were on this cruise too!  In the Havana!  Trying to figure out who you are based on your location.  Did we hang out in the hot tub the last day and sit across from you on the tender in Grand Cayman?

On 11/18/2018 at 11:29 AM, samiam0403 said:

 

Thanks for the quick answer! I’ll throw some chucks in my suitcase then. 

 

Looking forward to checking out the Havana bar in the evenings! And Alchemy, of course. 

You can actually visit the Havana bar whenever you want.  It's just the pool and hot tub that you won't have access to.  I'd actually recommend checking it out during the day when it's not so loud and crazy like it is at night.

On 11/18/2018 at 10:38 PM, BENHANDEL said:

Yay! I have been waiting for a review that matches my Christmas itinerary!

 

Since you did not visit the MDR, you won't have much to say on those menus, LOL.

 

Did you ever go to jiji's at night?

 

Your review makes me worried about our Christmas reservations as the steakhouse...

 

Any chance you have any insights into how often karoake happened? My teen is looking forward to it...

 

Do you remember the "schedule" of shows I am most looking forward to the celestial strings show. 

 

Thanks for any insights!

We did not go to Jijis, but heard great things about it from other passengers.  The steakhouse may have been having an off night, I'd still go and think it will make a great Christmas reservation.  

I don't remember the schedule of shows or even seeing that one to be honest.  We went to the roaring 20s show that was on day 5?  It was good.  Karaoke was always going on.  The final competition was immediately following the roaring 20s show.  

10 minutes ago, BENHANDEL said:

Thanks for the review! What length and itinerary did you have?

6 days. Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. 

20 minutes ago, samiam0403 said:

Thanks for the review! I’m heading out on Horizon on Saturday and am looking forward to seeing Carnival’s newest ship. One question - for the Sky Ride, do you have to wear close-toed shoes? I usually don’t bring anything other than sandals and flip flops on a cruise, but will throw in a pair of running shoes if needed for Sky Ride. Thanks in advance!

Funny story! Yes, you do. All I had was UGGs and flip flops. I went back to the room and got my UGGs. The staff got a kick out of it and I'm apparently the first person to do the sky ride with UGGs!

Go to the Havana bar even if you don't have the Havana wrist band. Maria and Jens were the two best bartenders we've ever had. 

First and foremost, I posted a few weeks ago if I should pay $800 to upgrade to the Havana area.  I think most people thought I was nuts, but wow.  The Havana area was our entire vacation.  Best $800 I've ever spent!  I truly don't know if we'll be able to cruise in the future on a ship that doesn't have this area.  It was that good.  I attached a picture I took of the sunset from the Havana area.

The good:  Havana!  The bartenders and bar staff made the cruise.  Best bar staff I've ever encountered.  They were amazing and just made our vacation so much better.  The Havana pool is a bit small, but was never full.  The hot tubs were huge!  Almost as big as the pool!  They could have been hotter, but the staff did increase the temperature every time it was asked.  Everyone in this area was just SO NICE!  Best passengers we've ever cruised with.  Pig and Anchor was great.  It was the best pay restaurant IMO.  And half the price of the Steakhouse or Teppanyaki.  We ended up eating at Pig and Anchor for 3 out of the 6 nights.  I really liked the decor and didn't miss the glass elevators at all.  I'm a little bit confused now by everyone saying how much they didn't care for it.   Carnival has finally entered the modern times and doesn't look like a floating Atlantic City casino.  The elevators also were great.  They were a bit slow at times, but so much more efficient.  I'd love it if every hotel or big venue goes to this type of elevator.  We didn't spend too much time up there, but we liked the Dr. Seuss splash pad and water slides.  The water was warm and they were fun.  Also embarkation! We just walked right on.  We didn't have anything special and I would have been pissed if I paid for FTTF.  I didn't hear one person who said they waited in line to board at all.  Still happily shocked at how quickly the process went.  Debarkation also was easy peasy.

The average:  The food.  We only went to the dining room the first night.  It just wasn't that good.  Carnival's schtick of making you pay for better food definitely worked on us.  The breakfast was the best breakfast at sea I've ever had.  Lunch was pretty good too.  I"m not a buffet person, and typically dislike all cruise food.  However, between the Great Wok, Pig and Anchor, and Cucina for lunch, we did well.  The sea day brunch is also still amazing.  We did the Sky Ride.  It was fun, but not worth waiting in a long line for.  We went in port and didn't wait.  I would have been disappointed if we waited more than 10 min for it.  I did enjoy Guys and was surprised I did, I was not expecting to like it.  Blue Iguana was fine too.

The bad:  The Steakhouse.  I am honestly really disappointed.  Before this cruise, I was team 'the steakhouse is the best meal ever and well worth the money!".  Now I'm like 'ehhhh.....'  Every course we had from appetizer to dessert was just...fine?  Nowhere near worth the money we spent on it.  My free filet at the sea day brunch well surpassed my filet mignon from the steakhouse.  We also didn't love Teppanyaki.  It was also just okay.  Not worth the money at all.  Pig and Anchor is literally half the price on average of these other two restaurants and so much better.  Our Havana interior room was also just too small.  There wasn't the standard interior couch or dresser.  We had to basically live out of our suitcases under the bed for the week.  Please note that although I greatly disliked this, my husband thinks I'm overreacting and he had no issue with it at all 🙂

Last note that has left such a sour taste in my mouth is how many people we saw removing tips.  I knew from here that it was thing, but not to the extent it was.  The moved the line to the Havana bar because the grand atrium couldn't handle all of the people.  People were waiting 2 hours in line to remove them.  It was insane and ridiculous to me.  I thought it was like 20 people per cruise, not 1/4 of the ship!  I wish Carnival would just remove them all together and just increase the cruise fare the $150 it cost.  

Any questions?  Just ask!