ptuder

Yes they can split them but they were less than a foot apart. My adult brothers were not happy with being so close.

Was the Ultimate beverage package included when you bought your cruise? If so, then your cruise card will show you have that and basically, you go to any bar to get drinks. If your butler brings beverages to your suite, you will be charged for them, but if you present your card at any bar or at any restaurant you can get your drinks free, although you will be charged a 20% gratuity. e.

I'm puzzled by the 20% gratuity, I thought the service charge was included with the UBP when booking Haven? Has something changed in which they are now charging gratuity at time of order? When we last cruised Haven with UBP we were not charged anything additional at that time but would occasionally tip extra. Just want to understand how things are working now. Thanks!

We have had platinum perks on last couple of cruises and used our 2nd dinner coupons on friends traveling with us. We are going on Getaway in February. We booked this trip back in mid 2015 when you got the old UDP which gives us specialty dining every night. I know they used to give platinum guests $20(???) extra OBC rather than the dining coupons. Does anyone know if this is still an option.

Since we have the UBP we don't need the wine for dinner but we would have the bottle sent back to our cabin. Just curious to if we have any options. Not a big deal either way But like to understand possibilities. Probably not many with the old promos anymore.

Thank you ALL so much!

 

We booked the H9 for February 26, cabin 14128 on the Getaway, since I didn't want a pole.

I was a little worried how we would split our time since we really enjoy being in the Haven during the day but LOVED the poster that said they ate breakfast in the Haven, went to spa in the morning, came back to Haven for lunch and remained there for the afternoon.

That sounds like heaven!

 

Thank you all so much!! So excited. Now I need to find out who the concierge is on the Getaway.

 

Thank you all!

We will be cruising with you in a spa suite. We had a spa suite on the Escape and finally understood how nice it is to have the spa suite. 😄 Haven is amazing and spa is a bonus.

Choosing our 3 free specialty restaurants on Breakaway. We have chosen Cagneys and La Cucina. Would you choose Moderno or Le Bistro as the third?

LeBistro for a more pleasant relaxing meal. Moderno is good but not relaxing to me. Constant servers walking up with their offerings. We really enjoy the atmosphere and food in LeBistro. But if you are a big meat eater you may prefer Moderno. I know you can flip your card in Moderno but they still kept coming!!!😱🍗

Anyone know if you can get a Cosmo made with Grey Goose or Absolute included in the UBP. I know the ciroc cosmo is extra - but an ordinary cosmo?

Its my hubby's tipple - he rarely drinks beers - cosmos or bubbly - think he is in touch with his feminine side :D

Yes, no problem. I drank more than a couple of cosmos 2 weeks ago with no extra charge. Enjoy!!

I was on the Escape last week and my husband and I watched the evacuation. Beerman is correct in that it was over the center of the ship. We went up to the Haven sun deck which is the front of deck 19. We had our backs to the bow as the helicopter was hovering over the middle of the ship. They dropped their cable, their guy came down then they lowered a basket. Someone went up in the basket and then someone went up in a stretcher. Lastly their guy went back up just holding on to the cable. In between each of these lifts they lowered a yellow/gold light via cable which then went back up with the people. It was impressive to watch the helicopter appear to be hovering in place although it was obviously moving the same speed as the ship. The ship was at a crawl at that time but still felt mighty windy up on deck. Amazing training that these people have to be able to do this in the dark at sea. If I recall this was about 10:30 at night. We said a prayer for whoever needed help and for the rescuers for doing what they do.

We are platinum so my husband and I each received a certificate for dinner for 2. We had another couple traveling with us and we used our 2 certificates at Le Bistro for the 4 of us. We gave our certificates to the hostess before being seated. Great dinner with a fairly decent choice of bottled wine.

I've heard the wine list has changed but hopefully you still have a few options.

When we had our "Welcome to the Haven" speech on the Escape the concierge told us very clearly that the area was for our use only. If we were traveling with family or friends staying outside of the Haven that we were welcome to entertain them in our suite but that they were not allowed in any common areas of the Haven, he then stressed that it was our private place and they want us to have the best experience ever. This was within 5 minutes of arriving with a group of Haven guests that all boarded together.

This was our 3rd Haven stay but first on Escape and first time we heard it spelled out that clearly right from the start. Perhaps they had that question asked earlier or they were just laying out expectations early. Our travel companions had the adjoining Haven cabin so no issues for us.

Yes you can do this. Go to guest services with the names of the folks you wish to tip. They will apply it against your onboard account which is then settled to your credit card. The tips are posted to the butlers account. We have done this our last few cruises.

We have done it and all promos transferred. I don't recall but I know it had to be done within a certain time of original booking.

Yes you can purchase just for the folks who want it rather than all in the cabin. On 2 different trips I have purchased for my husband only. I am not a big soda drinker so it would be a waste of money for me. Next trip we have ubp so we won't need to purchase.

Have a great trip!

The Getaway from Copenhagen was posted the other day but with ridiculous pricing that was obviously a technical problem. I sent a print screen to my friend who is looking for a TA. Haven suite any category was $30k per person and AARP discount was $9.5M😱

We just laughed and wasn't surprised when it got pulled down, they need to figure that out!.

Ever since the Star Princess fire where the fire spread down one entire side of the ship due to combustible balcony dividers, SOLAS has required that fire boundaries extend out to the balconies. The reason balcony dividers are considered fire boundaries is that they restrict the wind that would sweep from one balcony to the next due to the ship's forward motion. Having the air flow have to go around the divider, or through the small gaps top and bottom, slows the spread of fire.

Thanks for that explanation. It seemed silly to me but I'm a beancounter and never quite understood that explanation. 😉

We had 2 rooms next to each other and they had no issue with opening for us, they asked if we wanted them closed in the evening or just left open. There is a hook near the top to hold the partition open so it isn't swinging in the wind.

I have heard the fire prevention reason before but find it the strangest reason ever. The partitions do not fully block you from the next cabin. They are curved on the top and probably about 2 foot open on the top between balconies. Their main purpose is privacy (in my opinion). Think about all the open deck space everywhere else but they only worry about fires on balconies??? Just seems like a weak reason but what do I know?😜

We just booked a cruise that also has an aquafest group. It sounds like they have separate cruise directors, entertainment, etc. Were there any other downsides on your Jewel cruise other than no access to the Spinnaker and forward sun deck? Did NCL's cruise director staff still hold trivia and other games? Our cruise is port intensive so I'm hoping the large group won't be overwhelming at night. However, it is Halloween, so I'm starting to wonder what the experience will be for the rest of us on the ship.

We sailed on the Epic when Aquafest was sailing. It was interesting at times. They had Spice closed one night for one of their events and they definitely dressed for the occasion. You could hear some of their announcements over their microphone while walking by and some of it was fairly colorful. I wasn't offended but some parents with children were trying to shuttle them away quickly, the costumes were a little crazy so I would imagine Halloween will be interesting. There was a big group of them in Howl at the Moon one night and they really livened up the place. They also left one of their wigs floating in the Haven hot tub. We definitely knew they were there but they didn't adversely affect our trip.

We booked this excursion 5 months before our Escape cruise and at that time we were told it was over 50% booked. It was wonderful and I'll book it again once excursions are posted for our October cruise. They explained that the catamaran holds 50 people and they have 2 times available so only 100 spots available.

We got to know the excursion desk manager on our cruise and she said that it is one of the most popular and with the limited availability is always sold out with a wait list.

Can you ask to be put on a wait list in case someone cancels? I hope it works out for you, it was a nice but short day trip.

Ok some funny things we have seen and heard over the last few days to lighten the mood.

 

The day after the storm with glass and broken furniture everywhere on the pool deck, there were 2 women putting their towels and books out on sunloungers to reserve their places for later.

 

2 old ladies chatting in the bar asking the barman why the captain didn't lower the lifeboats during the storm as that would have been safer.

 

A woman complaining to the man in the towel station about the pool being closed despite the fact that there was glass everywhere.

 

2 different old ladies agreeing with each other that if we hadn't have turned back we would have sunk for sure.

 

2 older guys complaining to a crew member about something (didn't hear what) and telling him that they were Americans and deserved better. They had the strongest east European accents I've ever heard.

 

So there, despite everything we went through some people went back to normal very quickly.

Thanks for the laughs!!! Some things will never change, glad the chair hoggers didn't disappoint. Glad you are able to see the humor in little things. 😀

Amateur hour. They use NON refundable first. I'm speaking from experience.

Agreed. On our Dec 5 cruise we had $500 non refundable with the remainder refundable. They used NON refundable first which is why we received a refund of our unused refundable credit.

Refund took 6 weeks but we received exactly what we were expecting.

We sailed the Escape on December 5 and our refund took about 6 weeks. Friends sailed the same week and they took 6 weeks also.

A couple of years ago on the Epic our refund took at least a month.

I'm pretty sure sandals are out. Has to be a closed toe athletic type shoe I think. I was wondering about this myself. Anyone know if those Sketcher type slip ons are ok as opposed to something that actually laces up?

I used Sketchers slip ones last month on the Escape. They were very firm on NOTHING in your pockets, no jewelry, no phone, camera, etc.

Personally I found it very scary and wouldn't do it again. My legs were shaking so bad at times, I was thankful my husband was in front of me and I could hang on to him. 😱. He loved it!! Something for everyone.

Yes these threads can be tiring but as has been stated many times, this is a forum for folks to and questions so rather than groan, I will respond.

I was on the Escape for the December 5 sailing. I am a non smoker and do not care for the smell of smoke nor do I want to be in the immediate presence of a smoker. I noticed the smell of cigarette smoke but I did not find it overly bothersome. I am not a gambler so other than walking through I didn't spend a lot of time in the casino. I would not have sat in the outside seating of Le Bistro but we had a table fairly close to the door and never noticed anything inside.

I believe this to be a very subjective question similar to food. Everyone has a different level of tolerance. I read review from others on our sailing who said they were engulfed by the smoke. I noticed it, didn't much care for it but didn't give it another thought. I would say it depends on timing, your tolerance and the amount of smokers on your ship. I would think it varies during days, times and sailings.

It is a fantastic ship and cruise, enjoy!!!

Does anyone know if they are having these on the Escape? I'm sailing on her in two weeks.:D

Yes they are doing them on the Escape. We did the tour on the 12/5 cruise. It stated that you had to sign up by noon on Sunday but it was limited availability. We asked the concierge to sign us up and stopped by the CruiseNext counter on Sunday morning just to confirm and they told us there was no more availability. Luckily the concierge did email them and we were on the list. I would suggest signing up early. We had the 10:30 tour on Monday morning and I know they had at least one additional tour.

They did have a security person on the tour. They brought up the rear of the group to make sure we didn't separate or wonder into unapproved areas. It was our first time on the tour and we found it very interesting. Enjoy the Escape, we loved the ship.

Yes - we did this earlier in Dec on the Escape. We made sure we had the full names of the staff we were wanting to tip. Guest Services initially put them all on 1 charge and then apologized and stated they needed to do them individually. Regardless, easy way to use the TA money to tip the folks who helped us during our cruise.

Could you describe a little more your car rental drop off/pick up and taxi rides? Was it easy to get a taxi when you disembarked? Thanks

No issues with getting a taxi disembarking. There is a parking lot at the port full of taxis. There is a sign directing you to the taxi line. It is very close. We had 4 adults and needed a van, we waited less than 5 minutes. The local Hertz agency we used was on 2nd street and the cab ride for the 4 of us was less than $15. Very simple.

My only caution with using smaller local locations rather than airport locations is that their selection is limited. We had rented a premium to ensure good trunk space for luggage. They attempted to give me an Altima ensuring me it was full size. I refused and they ended up giving is an SUV. They offer a shuttle to the port but we opted for taxi rather than wait for shuttle and then arrive with a group.