New Haven “Standards” ? Joy Nov 27-Dec 4

[Slk1z]

Currently on the Joy staying in the Haven.   This is our first time on the Joy , but not NCL .  We have sailed in the Haven many times and have come to enjoy all the amenities and perks that come with.   So far the experience on the Joy has been wonderful.   All the staff have been engaging and friendly.   The Haven staff have exceptional right from the moment we stopped to get Vibe passes at the concierge desk, to the room steward , the butler and everyone else.

My only complaint……. We went to The Haven restaurant for dinner last night and something I have come accustomed to ordering I was denied….  I throughly enjoy the French Onion soup from Le Bistro.  So we asked at dinner if we could order a couple of these ( sometimes they have charged us, sometimes not.  I’m ok to pay, that’s not an issues). The waitress said she would have to ask,   When she returned she informed us we could not have as they do not transfer food between kitchens.   Is this a new Fleet wide standard ?  Just a Joy standard?       One of the perks of the Haven has been to enjoy things that were served in different places around the ship.

Wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience since the restart, if so please comment below

 

[david_sobe]

On the Encore in 2020, Onda was sold out and the concierge could not get us in. I always read here that you could order food from another restaurant and eat it in the Haven.  The concierge frowned on this idea and made a big deal about it claiming he would have to clear it with the Haven restaurant manager. An opening in Onda opened up and I dropped the issue.

Thinking about it, it sort of makes sense.  If you want to eat certain food, go to that restaurant or have it delivered to your cabin. It also puts a strain on staff to transfer food from one part of the ship to the other.  Also if someone does it, the idea could become popular and it could get crazy with people ordering from all corners of the ship.  I remember when Bliss debuted and there was a poster here that wanted to eat Margaritaville nachos in the Haven restaurant 😆🙄

The days of getting appetizers from Cagneys or wherever in the Haven disappeared from NCL about 10 years ago.  They would not do it even if you paid for them.    I remember on Epic in 2010 they had lobster night on board and the Haven told us even though it was not lobster night in the Haven, they would deliver it from the MDR

Edited November 29, 2021 by david_sobe

[sverigecruiser]

4 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

 If you want to eat certain food, go to that restaurant or have it delivered to your cabin.

 

Isn't it easier for them to serve the food in the Haven restaurant than in the cabin?

[david_sobe]

Just now, sverigecruiser said:

 

Isn't it easier for them to serve the food in the Haven restaurant than in the cabin?

But you are taking valuable real estate sitting in the Haven restaurant eating other food?  Its not a great advertisement let alone others would want to do it.  I can understand why its frowned upon.  Your butler delivers items for you to your CABIN.  It does not say all over the ship.    But I am not NCL, just speculating why they dont want to do it.

[Yesimapirate]

2 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

But you are taking valuable real estate sitting in the Haven restaurant eating other food?  Its not a great advertisement let alone others would want to do it.  I can understand why its frowned upon.  Your butler delivers items for you to your CABIN.  It does not say all over the ship.    But I am not NCL, just speculating why they dont want to do it.

The problem with your argument is that it's been allowed in the past.  So while your argument may be correct, it's a non-sequitor to the question. 

[sverigecruiser]

3 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

But you are taking valuable real estate sitting in the Haven restaurant eating other food?  Its not a great advertisement let alone others would want to do it.  I can understand why its frowned upon.  Your butler delivers items for you to your CABIN.  It does not say all over the ship.    But I am not NCL, just speculating why they dont want to do it.

 

But doesn't NCL earn more money that way if the people eating in the Haven still have to pay for specialty dinner?

 

For me it seems like it should be easier to serve a meal in the restaurant than in someones cabin but I may be wrong.

[david_sobe]

55 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

The problem with your argument is that it's been allowed in the past.  So while your argument may be correct, it's a non-sequitor to the question. 

Seriously.  Its not my argument.  You cleverly cut and paste my statement except the ending "I am not NCL and speculating"    The OP asked for experiences and I gave my experience.  I also gave experiences where it was allowed in the past.    Simple.  The OP is on board, he/she can ask your demanding question directly to NCL.  Leave me out of your trolling.

I am out of this thread because I gave my experience and speculation but then get bombarded with questions and insanity as if I was NCL and made the rules.  Sometimes I forget how crazy this board can be 🙄

Edited November 29, 2021 by david_sobe

[goldmom]

It is also possible that they are trying to limit cross contamination between the different kitchens.  I don't know if there are new protocols on board now due to Covid, but it's possible.

 

I have heard this used to be possible to do.  I asked once for something and the waiter looked so put upon that I didn't bother again.

 

Also, if you have the food delivered to your cabin, then the butler is doing the running around.  If you are requesting it in the Haven restaurant, then one of their waiters will have to run all over the ship which leaves the restaurant short staffed for a bit.

 

 

[roger001]

The size of these mega ships and the distance from one point to the next can be lengthy.  To chase down food from a kitchen far away would take up many minutes of a waiters time.  I would say no just for that reason.  

[skeeter195]

When we were on the breakaway last month we had creme brulee one night in the Haven that I asked the maitre d for during lunch that same day, no problem.  No cost to us either. 

 

If I may add that the idea of spreading the staff thin to run to other restaurants should not be true if the restaurant is managed properly. Things come up all of the time in restaurants and the finer ones like the Haven will just take it in stride and most times the customers will never even know if a problem comes up.  There are "runners" for just such things.  The idea of the haven as we all know is to be pampered within reason.  Special requests are all part of the game in the Haven restaurant.

[Two Wheels Only]

4 hours ago, Slk1z said:

Wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience since the restart, if so please comment below

 

Maybe you could arrange something with your butler. Tell him/her what you would like and have it delivered to you while you are in the Haven restaurant. I know that seafood (usually) won't get delivered due to someone onboard possibly having an allergy but your soup request shouldn't be a problem. 

[sverigecruiser]

4 hours ago, goldmom said:

 If you are requesting it in the Haven restaurant, then one of their waiters will have to run all over the ship which leaves the restaurant short staffed for a bit.

 

 

 

If it's allowed to do they shall have enough staff to handle it.

[Yinster]

From personal experience it all comes down to the haven restaurant manager. Some say yes to getting food from other restaurants. Others will say no. 

 

It's not ship dependant either. Been on the same ship haven with different managers.  I guess it comes down to how the manager want to deal with these requests or not. 

 

Best thing to do is seek the manager out on the first day and ask. Worst they can do is say no. And if they do, leave it at that. They don't have to get food from any other restaurants. They know you can use your butler for personal request for your cabins. 

[Juncti]

10 hours ago, Slk1z said:

The Haven staff have exceptional right from the moment we stopped to get Vibe passes at the concierge desk,

 

Why would you need Vibe passes when you already have the even more exclusive Haven? Just curious, those are so limited as it is seems like a waste.

 

 

[oteixeira]

40 minutes ago, Juncti said:

Why would you need Vibe passes when you already have the even more exclusive Haven? Just curious, those are so limited as it is seems like a waste.

 

 

While I am not the OP I think the obvious answer would be Vibe is adult only and Haven can have kids in it.  And yes, I realize kids are limited on sailings right now but they could still be onboard.

[BirdTravels]

13 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Isn't it easier for them to serve the food in the Haven restaurant than in the cabin?

No. Because you have to divert waiters to run between kitchens. Thereby degrading service in the restaurant. In your room, you have one of the butler staff running the foods. 

Edited November 30, 2021 by BirdTravels

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, oteixeira said:

While I am not the OP I think the obvious answer would be Vibe is adult only and Haven can have kids in it.  And yes, I realize kids are limited on sailings right now but they could still be onboard.

The Haven sundeck is adults only. 

[Juncti]

16 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The Haven sundeck is adults only. 

Not only that, but the sundeck is literally on the other side of the vibe wall. Haven pretty much already includes a premium vibe. 

[Jerzzygirl]

4 hours ago, Juncti said:

Why would you need Vibe passes when you already have the even more exclusive Haven? Just curious, those are so limited as it is seems like a waste.

 

 

It’s a completely different atmosphere then the haven sun deck and unless you have had Vibe passes before it would be difficult to understand what the difference is, but it’s a big difference. The vibe could be a party type atmosphere with the right people and the fantastic bartenders they have. The haven does not have a bar outside and it’s more of a relaxing family type atmosphere on the haven sun deck. I love the vibe and choose to stay in the haven and party in the vibe. 

[sverigecruiser]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

No. Because you have to divert waiters to run between kitchens. Thereby degrading service in the restaurant. In your room, you have one of the butler staff running the foods. 

 

Correct if NCL choose to do it that way. If they want to one of the butlers could still run between kitchen and just leave the food in the Haven kitchen instead of in the cabin. I can't understand why that isn't easier than serving the meal in the cabin.

[oteixeira]

19 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The Haven sundeck is adults only. 

While true I have seen kids on my cruises using the hot tub and NCL workers walk right by.  Unless they are being unruly I don't think this is enforced as strictly as it is in the Vibe area.  I just want to point out, I am fine with kids, but this is the only real difference I can think of to make you want the Vibe on top of the Haven.   🙂

[goldmom]

47 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

While true I have seen kids on my cruises using the hot tub and NCL workers walk right by.  Unless they are being unruly I don't think this is enforced as strictly as it is in the Vibe area.  I just want to point out, I am fine with kids, but this is the only real difference I can think of to make you want the Vibe on top of the Haven.   🙂

Kids are allowed to use the hot tubs and pool in the Haven.  It's just the sun deck area outside with the loungers that is restricted to 18 and older.

[oteixeira]

36 minutes ago, goldmom said:

Kids are allowed to use the hot tubs and pool in the Haven.  It's just the sun deck area outside with the loungers that is restricted to 18 and older.

My experiences are on the Escape, and the hot tubs are inside AND outside, I meant the one on the top sundeck.

[goldmom]

15 hours ago, oteixeira said:

My experiences are on the Escape, and the hot tubs are inside AND outside, I meant the one on the top sundeck.

Got it.  I forgot some have the hot tub on the sun deck too, which I think is a great addition.  And you're right, kids should not be in that hot tub.

[Juncti]

On 11/29/2021 at 8:57 PM, Jerzzygirl said:

It’s a completely different atmosphere then the haven sun deck and unless you have had Vibe passes before it would be difficult to understand what the difference is, but it’s a big difference. The vibe could be a party type atmosphere with the right people and the fantastic bartenders they have. The haven does not have a bar outside and it’s more of a relaxing family type atmosphere on the haven sun deck. I love the vibe and choose to stay in the haven and party in the vibe. 

I get the party thing, we had Vibe on last two cruises and it definitely turned into a party for those who wished to participate. The one 3 years ago the bartender would let us do rounds of shots and would either create new shots or take ideas from us if we had any. I introduced the crowd to the Flaming Dr Pepper (minus the flame obviously). Was a big hit.

 

We got a Haven bid accepted on the cruise leaving in a few days, and can't bring ourselves to drop the additional money to add Vibe. Instead we went all in and upgraded the drink package so we can hopefully fully unlock the drink menu and get some cool new stuff to try.