Port of Boston

[Artcricket]

Would like information from those of you who have sailed out of Boston with NCL. I will be traveling with my family - 8 of us -  in June on the Pearl in the 3 Bed Garden Villa and I wondered if there is a designated Haven area in Boston? Also crossing my fingers that Bermuda does away with their Travel Authorization requirements. It's just a lot for 8 of us who are flying in early from Chicago area. eMed testing seems the best option. Thanks in advance for your help.

[donaldsc]

What is a Haven area?

 

DON

[leaveitallbehind]

9 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

What is a Haven area?

 

DON

As the Haven is NCL's suite area on the ship, I'm guessing the OP is referring to a designated suite passenger waiting area at the Boston terminal.

[ColeThornton]

9 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

What is a Haven area?

 

DON

 

 

Special suite accommodations with butler, concierge, etc.   They usually have special check in areas for Haven guests at the ports.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Generally speaking, those pre boarding lounge areas for Suite guests in the terminal are only used before the ship is open for boarding (even though they may be manned until just before the ship sails).  Once the ship begins boarding, just about all passengers go straight from check-in to the ship, with Suite passengers usually bypassing the terminal suite 'lounge' area.

 

Also, due to limited space/seating, these terminal Suite lounge areas are just for suite passengers, so as long as everyone is in a suite, you will be fine.

[Artcricket]

Thank you. As mentioned we are in the 3 bed Garden Villa

[bonvoyagie]

we were in Boston in 2016 and it was just like Ferry Watcher described. We went through the normal lines for check in and then there was a small area with snacks just before the gangway to the ship. We had just enough time for a quick cookie and we met our butler and was escorted onto the ship.

[DaisyGoldberg]

Unless they've changed it since covid, in Boston it's just a small curtained area in the vast hall. Like 20 chairs in a Dr's waiting room - but you're not there long, especially in that cabin!

[Artcricket]

Thanks for the heads up. I can always count on Cruise Critic users for helpful information. Actually more descriptive than the NCL land concierge! They also couldn’t tell me if NCL would provide more than 1 bottle of sparkling wine or champagne- with 7 adults - for the “Sail Away”. I’m a retired high school art teacher - widowed - and have saved a long time to take my family on this trip. 

[Pitzel]

5 hours ago, Artcricket said:

Thanks for the heads up. I can always count on Cruise Critic users for helpful information. Actually more descriptive than the NCL land concierge! They also couldn’t tell me if NCL would provide more than 1 bottle of sparkling wine or champagne- with 7 adults - for the “Sail Away”. I’m a retired high school art teacher - widowed - and have saved a long time to take my family on this trip. 

If you are staying in the Garden Villa, you should get 6 bottles of liquor in your suite for the week (your choices, from a list), as well as any soft drinks or mixers that you would like. You can substitute wine or sparkling wine for any of these, though the "free" sparkling wine that they provide for suites or for Latitudes past guests is really "meh", so I would keep the liquor if it were my choice.

Assuming that you have the drink package, everyone could also grab their own drinks of choice from the closest bar and bring them back to the suite.

[Artcricket]

Thank you. Yes we already put in our request for the 6 bottles of liquor. My question for the land concierge was about the bottle of champagne that is listed for sail away. 1 bottle for 7 adults seems short. We are happy that just one floor down is Modernos so they can always bring drinks back. Drink package is included for the 7 adults.  My husband and I were on the Haven floor - a last minute up sell - in the Med for 11 days in 2014. We had asked our room steward to tour the 3 bed garden villa before we disembarked which we did. He had taken videos on his phone and I said this would be great for our family. His response was - you better save your money. Unfortunately he passed away in 5 weeks after a diagnosis of esophageal cancer in 2016. We were on the Jade and since Covid I have had to move this cruise 4 times and finally had to go with the Jewel out of Boston. Hopefully they will have the same wonderful experience we had and we will be celebrating a wonderful husband, father and Grandpa. 

[Sailing12Away]

I was just in the garden villa on the Pearl back in February as a last minute trip with some friends made through here on CC. You will be treated like kings and queens.

 

In the main living area there is a bar with a mini fridge, and the butler will stock your preference of water (still/sparkling), soda, mixers, and juice in there. In each of the 3 bedrooms there is also a mini fridge too. So make sure you replenish your personal mini fridge with the stock in the common area, and they'll keep restocking that common area all day long for you.

 

We asked them to bring us a copy of the Haven breakfast menu to keep in the cabin so we could decide on our breakfast for each morning the night before. Also asked for a copy of the main dining room menus each day so we could decide if we wanted to eat there for dinner or use our specialty dining credits.

 

There was an over abundance of food each day in the room. Each morning they brought an entire tray of fruit and pastries, along with whatever we each wrote out on the card the night before. You don't all have to eat at the same time, but try to be a little mindful when picking times so your butler isn't running back and forth every 20 mins. In our group we had one early riser that usually ate around 7, and the rest of us straggled in around 8-8:30. They filled a carafe with french press coffee each morning, along with a pitcher of OJ.

 

Snacks.... oh boy... again, over abundance. There were only 4 of us in the villa, but for lunch time snacks there were always double plates of everything with an endless bowl of gummy bears, chips, and M&Ms on the table.

 

Just be mindful to lock the door on the upper deck - we had some uninvited visitors wandering around because they were 'exploring'. And for whoever is in the main bedroom next to the hot tub - just let them know that maintenance comes around 3am to clean out the hot tub. So if you peek out the curtain and see a bunch of guys in white jumpsuits, don't be alarmed. Also keep the bathroom curtains drawn closed if you don't want to be caught walking around in your skivvies.

 

When we arrived in Miami our other 2 companions had already boarded the ship. By the time we got to the Haven check-in area they were like "oooh, you're the last 2 from the group we were waiting on". Gave us our key cards, one gentleman took my backpack from me and they walked us right onto the ship to our muster station, then right over to Cagney's for lunch. Saw our 2 friends in there already chowing down, and our room was ready by the time we finished eating. 

 

Once in a lifetime experience, none of us wanted to leave the ship or that private deck. So enjoy every minute of it.

[Artcricket]

Thank you so much for that update. It was my understanding that they had changed the Haven breakfast and lunch venue to Modernos. When I sailed with my husband in 2014 on the Jade it was Cagneys. Also a really big thank you about the maintenance people and the hot tub. I’m sometimes up at weird hours and that would have freaked me out. You mention locking door on upper deck. I had no clue there would be access to the villa from somewhere else. Finding strangers would also have been upsetting. I have asked them to remove all chargeable items from the mini fridge. I did not know they would restock the mixers in the living room fridge - again you have been so informative! I know the port in Boston will not be fancy like sailing out of Miami but I’m hoping the family at least gets to feel a little special. Any other tips you have would be welcome. Biggest hurdle with 7 adults and a 7 year old will be arriving early - Tuesday - so we can all test on Wednesday- emed I guess - get results and upload for Bermuda Travel Authorization. 

[bonvoyagie]

Breakfast is in Modernero Lunch is in Cagneys

[bluesea777]

On 4/6/2022 at 1:03 PM, Artcricket said:

Also crossing my fingers that Bermuda does away with their Travel Authorization requirements. 

 

Not a chance. It's in full force for another year, so I have heard. The TA applies to everyone setting their feet on the island, including returning residents - by air or sea.

 

Bermuda is too small an island with population of 65K. 

 

 

[Artcricket]

Interesting about using both restaurants. Thanks. Anything else we should be aware of. The info on people cleaning the hot tub in the middle was greatly appreciated! Never would have thought people could wander into the upper deck. 

[Artcricket]

With all my reading on CC I have never heard anyone staying in the 3 bed garden villa tell about the hot tub cleaning in the middle of the night. Do they come down from an entrance on the upper deck?

[Sailing12Away]

You can see the door on the left on the upper deck. That door leads to a small ante-room that crew use to store extra loungers and cushions. Then through there is another door that goes out to either the upper Haven sun deck if you're on the port side, or to the main pool upper deck if your suite is on the starboard side. There are signs from the public areas on the door saying "Villa guests only" but they're not locked. The one that goes to your personal upper deck though can be locked. So people can go into the ante room (although they're not supposed to), but they shouldn't be able to come to your private area when the door is locked.

 

We just happened to be at the dining room table inside chatting and someone saw them coming down the stairs and looking out near the hot tub. I went out there and was like "Um, can I help you?". "Oh.. we're just exploring..." "Um, not here you're not. This is a private area and you need to leave."

So yeah, you can go and explore yourself, but make sure you lock that door when you're done.

 

There are also lots of other doors both on the upper deck and in the hallway to the bedrooms that are used by the crew to come and go and service the room. They're usually ninjas and you don't see them, but still something to be mindful of.

 

There's no pay items in the fridges in the villa, it's all included. Water, soda, mixers, juice and a few bottles of liquor (# depends on the length of your cruise). Ask for a blender with ice. They brought us a small cooler to keep in the villa filled with ice, and I would make my own slushie drinks with the left over fruit from breakfast, the Bacardi we had as one of our bottles, and a splash of juice for color. 

 

Let your butler know your preferences for snacks. If there's a wide variety among all of you, write it down. I prefer sweets, but one of my friends wanted savory snacks. So they would bring a plate of PB&J for me, and a plate of BLTs for them. Cookies and candy for me, cheese & cold cuts for them. The more you tell them what you want, the better your experience will be. 

 

With such a large group, it's also helpful to give both your room steward and butler a ballpark idea of when you'll all be out of the room for the day so they can sneak in and do some cleaning without disturbing everyone. But again, they'll work around you. 

[Barb Nahoumi]

On 4/6/2022 at 12:54 PM, leaveitallbehind said:

As the Haven is NCL's suite area on the ship, I'm guessing the OP is referring to a designated suite passenger waiting area at the Boston terminal.

They do have a suite waiting area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Artcricket]

Thank you again for all of the heads up for the garden villa. We are portside in 14500. Last hurdle will be getting tests kits for 8 of us from eMed I guess. Logging into their test site, doing the tests and waiting for results. I will tell everyone to fill out the Bermuda TA before we fly to Boston so we will just upload Covid vaccination cards and test results on Wednesday before embarkation on Friday. Hopefully we will then feel like we are finally on vacation!