Haven questions

[Pookie092403]

I’ve tried finding this and came across “vip haven secrets” very helpful, but was wondering if anyone heard other information related to the haven. I did try searching but keep coming up empty. 

 

what do you use the butler for? Like what can he do for you? What if you don’t use them?

 

embarktion…since we aren’t in the haven proper…currently deck 14 but waiting for upgrade to deck 15, do we still get escorted onto then ship first? And do they take us on a tour of the haven?

can we eat lunch in the haven or do we need to make reservations beforehand?

 

Any tips would be great.

 

thanks

[pcakes122]

I think the easiest way to explain what the butler does is to look at him/her as part of your service "team" in the Haven. The Concierge handles anything "outside" of your cabin (dinner & show reservations, embarkation & debarkation, shore excursion questions/reservations, onboard account issues, etc.)  Your room steward handles anything "inside" your cabin related to cabin cleanliness & general comfort (cabin/bathroom cleaning, fresh towels, fresh linen, lounge chair cushions, turn-down service, etc.) Your butler handles anything "inside" your cabin related to food (snacks, room service, replenishing coffee & supplies, arranging parties or get-togethers, etc.)  The butler also handles anything else the Concierge or room steward do not (e.g. your butler can run errands as needed. Accidentally left your sweater in LeBistro? Your butler can retrieve, etc.)  There's so much a butler can do, it's hard to make a list.

 

If you don't utilize them, nothing happens. (They are scheduled to drop of daily snacks & treats to your cabin, but you can ask them not to do that if you prefer.)  You have to use the butler if you order room service.  Other than that, you can just let them know you won't need them.

 

Yes to a Haven tour upon embarkation (not required, but available) and no to Haven restaurant reservations (not necessary.)

[Pookie092403]

6 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

I think the easiest way to explain what the butler does is to look at him/her as part of your service "team" in the Haven. The Concierge handles anything "outside" of your cabin (dinner & show reservations, embarkation & debarkation, shore excursion questions/reservations, onboard account issues, etc.)  Your room steward handles anything "inside" your cabin related to cabin cleanliness & general comfort (cabin/bathroom cleaning, fresh towels, fresh linen, lounge chair cushions, turn-down service, etc.) Your butler handles anything "inside" your cabin related to food (snacks, room service, replenishing coffee & supplies, arranging parties or get-togethers, etc.)  The butler also handles anything else the Concierge or room steward do not (e.g. your butler can run errands as needed. Accidentally left your sweater in LeBistro? Your butler can retrieve, etc.)  There's so much a butler can do, it's hard to make a list.

 

If you don't utilize them, nothing happens. (They are scheduled to drop of daily snacks & treats to your cabin, but you can ask them not to do that if you prefer.)  You have to use the butler if you order room service.  Other than that, you can just let them know you won't need them.

 

Yes to a Haven tour upon embarkation (not required, but available) and no to Haven restaurant reservations (not necessary.)

Wow! Thank you. That’s exactly the breakdown/explanation I was looking for. 

thank you so much for clearing that up for me.

[The Shrike]

Aside from his daily duties, we usually only make use of our butler one time per cruise, when we have dinner in our cabin.

 

You're going to like the Haven.  

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Pookie092403 said:

I’ve tried finding this and came across “vip haven secrets” very helpful, but was wondering if anyone heard other information related to the haven. I did try searching but keep coming up empty. 

 

what do you use the butler for? Like what can he do for you? What if you don’t use them?

 

embarktion…since we aren’t in the haven proper…currently deck 14 but waiting for upgrade to deck 15, do we still get escorted onto then ship first? And do they take us on a tour of the haven?

can we eat lunch in the haven or do we need to make reservations beforehand?

 

Any tips would be great.

 

thanks

Your butler will service your room twice a day, morning and evening with your room steward. He/She will provide you with the daily "default" snack but you can ask your butler to provide additional snacks of your choosing. We always ask to have bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), Gummy Bears, and Bar Mix to be left (which go into zip locks for touring the next day - yeah, against the rules). And for us big kids, we ask for a PB&J sandwich now and then. We also ask for our mini-fridge to be cleared of items for purchase and have pitchers of ice water and ice tea left in there. (You can have other "free" drinks like milk and juices refilled also). 

 

On early port days we have breakfast in our stateroom. There are hang-tags with check-boxes for the "normal" breakfast foods. Ignore the check-boxes and request anything you want from the Haven Restaurant menu. Eggs over easy, egg white scrambled or omelets, hash browns, breakfast potatoes,  ham, sausage, bacon, steak, fresh breads, fresh fruits, juices, 

 

 

 

[phissy]

24 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Your butler will service your room twice a day, morning and evening with your room steward. He/She will provide you with the daily "default" snack but you can ask your butler to provide additional snacks of your choosing. We always ask to have bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), Gummy Bears, and Bar Mix to be left (which go into zip locks for touring the next day - yeah, against the rules). And for us big kids, we ask for a PB&J sandwich now and then. We also ask for our mini-fridge to be cleared of items for purchase and have pitchers of ice water and ice tea left in there. (You can have other "free" drinks like milk and juices refilled also). 

 

On early port days we have breakfast in our stateroom. There are hang-tags with check-boxes for the "normal" breakfast foods. Ignore the check-boxes and request anything you want from the Haven Restaurant menu. Eggs over easy, egg white scrambled or omelets, hash browns, breakfast potatoes,  ham, sausage, bacon, steak, fresh breads, fresh fruits, juices, 

 

 

 

Perfect post. 
Totally agree with Bird  on these pointers. Yes to the zip lock bags.😉

Room service breakfast  from Haven restaurant is an excellent benefit of Haven.

[pcakes122]

I will add after seeing these photos that the butlers can tend to "overdo!"  One thing you will learn quickly is to stop the onslaught of snack deliveries.  I can't stand to waste food and I don't know how in the world people could possible eat all the dishes of food that they will bring you.  (Unless of course you consider a cruise a food orgy and many do LOL)

[aubreyc1988]

2 hours ago, Pookie092403 said:

I’ve tried finding this and came across “vip haven secrets” very helpful, but was wondering if anyone heard other information related to the haven. I did try searching but keep coming up empty. 

 

2 hours ago, Pookie092403 said:

 

what do you use the butler for? Like what can he do for you? What if you don’t use them?

 

embarktion…since we aren’t in the haven proper…currently deck 14 but waiting for upgrade to deck 15, do we still get escorted onto then ship first? And do they take us on a tour of the haven?

can we eat lunch in the haven or do we need to make reservations beforehand? 

You you will get escorted first onto the ship if you are in the Haven, room category in the Haven doesn't matter, everyone in the Haven is grouped together and you get on before everyone else. On the Joy, they did a "intro" tour where they took us by the pool and gave a speech, although no one could hear the speech over the waterfall noise so I could not tell you what is said. No reservations are needed to eat lunch or dinner in the Haven but it is a first come, first served situation. The first night is the busiest so arrive early for dinner.

 

As for the butler, I think this is a "Varies from sailing to sailing" experience for people, based on room category, which butler they get, etc. I felt like my butler didn't do very much for me and while she was very nice, didn't seem to pick up on the things that we wanted. I will give two examples.

 

1) I asked for some spicy corn nuts to be a snack delivered daily to my room instead of the strawberries and other stuff. These spicy corn nuts are found at the Mojito bar and a few other bars around the ship. I knew they had them because I got them at the Mojito bar earlier in the day. On Day 2, my butler brought me a bowl of them, covered with saran wrap. So I'd eat a few, then cover it up, etc. On Day 3, she removed my bowl of half eaten corn nuts and never replaced them. I didn't ask for them again because I just felt weird about it, esp. since the items I asked to NOT get (The stawberries), started coming 2-3x a day after that. But imho, a good butler would have had a fresh bowl of those corn nuts delivered to my room everyday. And I know there will be people who say that there were probably circumstances as to why she didn't, but guests pay a premium to be in the Haven. I shouldn't have had to go to the Mojito bar to ask for the little containers of corn nuts to bring back to my room. I also asked for extra coffee pods daily and it wasn't until Day 3 that she started to realize I was not joking about the coffee, I drink a lot of it, and she started leaving extra pods in the room. 

 

2) On Day 2, I accidentally broke the clothes line in the shower. By "broke", I mean that I pulled the clothes line out and the silver knob on the end popped off. I set the knob on the corner of the shower and went about my day. In the evening, when my butler came around to say hello, I told her about the shower clothes line, apologized for breaking it, and asked her if she could have someone  fix it for me. She was like "Oh, the carpenter noticed earlier today that the clothes line broke, I'll have him come back tomorrow and fix it." First of all, the carpenter was in my room, noticed something was broke, and didn't fix it?!?! Why not? Seems weird. I would have expected if the noticed something was broken, the butler would have said to me "Hey, we noticed your clothesline was broke, we are going to have the carpenter come fix it" instead of noticing it was broken and waiting for me to ask about it? Idk, seemed weird. 

 

Hope this helped in some way

 

I guess I am just not a butler sort of person, whole thing was very strange to me. I felt weird about asking for 

[brookie848]

One piece of Haven advice -- bring a small notebook with you. We use this to leave notes for our butler/steward. This includes notes on snacks/plates on what should be kept or taken away.

 

Like BirdTravels said, order what you want for breakfast. We write everything down for our butler and give it to him/her the day before. They will also deliver early before the standard times if you have an early excursion (I'm looking at you Tortola).

[Pookie092403]

5 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Your butler will service your room twice a day, morning and evening with your room steward. He/She will provide you with the daily "default" snack but you can ask your butler to provide additional snacks of your choosing. We always ask to have bowls of M&Ms (peanut or plain), Gummy Bears, and Bar Mix to be left (which go into zip locks for touring the next day - yeah, against the rules). And for us big kids, we ask for a PB&J sandwich now and then. We also ask for our mini-fridge to be cleared of items for purchase and have pitchers of ice water and ice tea left in there. (You can have other "free" drinks like milk and juices refilled also). 

 

On early port days we have breakfast in our stateroom. There are hang-tags with check-boxes for the "normal" breakfast foods. Ignore the check-boxes and request anything you want from the Haven Restaurant menu. Eggs over easy, egg white scrambled or omelets, hash browns, breakfast potatoes,  ham, sausage, bacon, steak, fresh breads, fresh fruits, juices, 

 

 

 

Thank you for your insight!

[Pookie092403]

4 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

You you will get escorted first onto the ship if you are in the Haven, room category in the Haven doesn't matter, everyone in the Haven is grouped together and you get on before everyone else. On the Joy, they did a "intro" tour where they took us by the pool and gave a speech, although no one could hear the speech over the waterfall noise so I could not tell you what is said. No reservations are needed to eat lunch or dinner in the Haven but it is a first come, first served situation. The first night is the busiest so arrive early for dinner.

 

As for the butler, I think this is a "Varies from sailing to sailing" experience for people, based on room category, which butler they get, etc. I felt like my butler didn't do very much for me and while she was very nice, didn't seem to pick up on the things that we wanted. I will give two examples.

 

1) I asked for some spicy corn nuts to be a snack delivered daily to my room instead of the strawberries and other stuff. These spicy corn nuts are found at the Mojito bar and a few other bars around the ship. I knew they had them because I got them at the Mojito bar earlier in the day. On Day 2, my butler brought me a bowl of them, covered with saran wrap. So I'd eat a few, then cover it up, etc. On Day 3, she removed my bowl of half eaten corn nuts and never replaced them. I didn't ask for them again because I just felt weird about it, esp. since the items I asked to NOT get (The stawberries), started coming 2-3x a day after that. But imho, a good butler would have had a fresh bowl of those corn nuts delivered to my room everyday. And I know there will be people who say that there were probably circumstances as to why she didn't, but guests pay a premium to be in the Haven. I shouldn't have had to go to the Mojito bar to ask for the little containers of corn nuts to bring back to my room. I also asked for extra coffee pods daily and it wasn't until Day 3 that she started to realize I was not joking about the coffee, I drink a lot of it, and she started leaving extra pods in the room. 

 

2) On Day 2, I accidentally broke the clothes line in the shower. By "broke", I mean that I pulled the clothes line out and the silver knob on the end popped off. I set the knob on the corner of the shower and went about my day. In the evening, when my butler came around to say hello, I told her about the shower clothes line, apologized for breaking it, and asked her if she could have someone  fix it for me. She was like "Oh, the carpenter noticed earlier today that the clothes line broke, I'll have him come back tomorrow and fix it." First of all, the carpenter was in my room, noticed something was broke, and didn't fix it?!?! Why not? Seems weird. I would have expected if the noticed something was broken, the butler would have said to me "Hey, we noticed your clothesline was broke, we are going to have the carpenter come fix it" instead of noticing it was broken and waiting for me to ask about it? Idk, seemed weird. 

 

Hope this helped in some way

 

I guess I am just not a butler sort of person, whole thing was very strange to me. I felt weird about asking for 

Thank you for your insight. 
I don’t think I’m a butler person either, which is why I was wondering what they do for you. I would feel weird asking for things. But I definitely want to experience it, so I need to come up with some ideas lol. 

[Pookie092403]

4 hours ago, brookie848 said:

One piece of Haven advice -- bring a small notebook with you. We use this to leave notes for our butler/steward. This includes notes on snacks/plates on what should be kept or taken away.

 

Like BirdTravels said, order what you want for breakfast. We write everything down for our butler and give it to him/her the day before. They will also deliver early before the standard times if you have an early excursion (I'm looking at you Tortola).

Thank you!

[Pookie092403]

4 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

I will add after seeing these photos that the butlers can tend to "overdo!"  One thing you will learn quickly is to stop the onslaught of snack deliveries.  I can't stand to waste food and I don't know how in the world people could possible eat all the dishes of food that they will bring you.  (Unless of course you consider a cruise a food orgy and many do LOL)

I’m a foodie lol

[Pookie092403]

4 hours ago, phissy said:

Perfect post. 
Totally agree with Bird  on these pointers. Yes to the zip lock bags.😉

Room service breakfast  from Haven restaurant is an excellent benefit of Haven.

Such a good tip!

[Pookie092403]

5 hours ago, The Shrike said:

Aside from his daily duties, we usually only make use of our butler one time per cruise, when we have dinner in our cabin.

 

You're going to like the Haven.  

I’m very excited to be in the haven. 

[wil e coyote]

We had our first Haven experience in February, and I agree with all the posts on this thread. It was weird for us to ask our butler for special stuff at first, but it is what they are being paid to do - and if they do it well, an extra tip is a great way to recognize that.

We're in the Haven again in June, and looking forward to making better use of our butler. One point that has been made elsewhere is to write your butler a letter expressing your preferences for snacks, what you want in your mini-fridge, etc. I think this is a great idea and we plan to do that in June.

[Old & Retired]

7 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

I think the easiest way to explain what the butler does is to look at him/her as part of your service "team" in the Haven. The Concierge handles anything "outside" of your cabin (dinner & show reservations, embarkation & debarkation, shore excursion questions/reservations, onboard account issues, etc.)  Your room steward handles anything "inside" your cabin related to cabin cleanliness & general comfort (cabin/bathroom cleaning, fresh towels, fresh linen, lounge chair cushions, turn-down service, etc.) Your butler handles anything "inside" your cabin related to food (snacks, room service, replenishing coffee & supplies, arranging parties or get-togethers, etc.)  The butler also handles anything else the Concierge or room steward do not (e.g. your butler can run errands as needed. Accidentally left your sweater in LeBistro? Your butler can retrieve, etc.)  There's so much a butler can do, it's hard to make a list.

 

If you don't utilize them, nothing happens. (They are scheduled to drop of daily snacks & treats to your cabin, but you can ask them not to do that if you prefer.)  You have to use the butler if you order room service.  Other than that, you can just let them know you won't need them.

 

Yes to a Haven tour upon embarkation (not required, but available) and no to Haven restaurant reservations (not necessary.)

This is an excellent explanation of concierge, butler and room steward services.  Well said!

[Old & Retired]

5 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

You you will get escorted first onto the ship if you are in the Haven, room category in the Haven doesn't matter, everyone in the Haven is grouped together and you get on before everyone else. On the Joy, they did a "intro" tour where they took us by the pool and gave a speech, although no one could hear the speech over the waterfall noise so I could not tell you what is said. No reservations are needed to eat lunch or dinner in the Haven but it is a first come, first served situation. The first night is the busiest so arrive early for dinner.

 

As for the butler, I think this is a "Varies from sailing to sailing" experience for people, based on room category, which butler they get, etc. I felt like my butler didn't do very much for me and while she was very nice, didn't seem to pick up on the things that we wanted. I will give two examples.

 

1) I asked for some spicy corn nuts to be a snack delivered daily to my room instead of the strawberries and other stuff. These spicy corn nuts are found at the Mojito bar and a few other bars around the ship. I knew they had them because I got them at the Mojito bar earlier in the day. On Day 2, my butler brought me a bowl of them, covered with saran wrap. So I'd eat a few, then cover it up, etc. On Day 3, she removed my bowl of half eaten corn nuts and never replaced them. I didn't ask for them again because I just felt weird about it, esp. since the items I asked to NOT get (The stawberries), started coming 2-3x a day after that. But imho, a good butler would have had a fresh bowl of those corn nuts delivered to my room everyday. And I know there will be people who say that there were probably circumstances as to why she didn't, but guests pay a premium to be in the Haven. I shouldn't have had to go to the Mojito bar to ask for the little containers of corn nuts to bring back to my room. I also asked for extra coffee pods daily and it wasn't until Day 3 that she started to realize I was not joking about the coffee, I drink a lot of it, and she started leaving extra pods in the room. 

 

2) On Day 2, I accidentally broke the clothes line in the shower. By "broke", I mean that I pulled the clothes line out and the silver knob on the end popped off. I set the knob on the corner of the shower and went about my day. In the evening, when my butler came around to say hello, I told her about the shower clothes line, apologized for breaking it, and asked her if she could have someone  fix it for me. She was like "Oh, the carpenter noticed earlier today that the clothes line broke, I'll have him come back tomorrow and fix it." First of all, the carpenter was in my room, noticed something was broke, and didn't fix it?!?! Why not? Seems weird. I would have expected if the noticed something was broken, the butler would have said to me "Hey, we noticed your clothesline was broke, we are going to have the carpenter come fix it" instead of noticing it was broken and waiting for me to ask about it? Idk, seemed weird. 

 

Hope this helped in some way

 

I guess I am just not a butler sort of person, whole thing was very strange to me. I felt weird about asking for 

Sounds like either you had a 'bad' butler or did not communicate effectively with her, or both.  Butlers like to have specific directions on your wants and needs.

Your point on the carpenter is correct.  Why were they in your room and why didn't they fix an issue they themselves noticed.  Strange indeed.

[aubreyc1988]

19 hours ago, Old & Retired said:

Sounds like either you had a 'bad' butler or did not communicate effectively with her, or both.  Butlers like to have specific directions on your wants and needs.

Your point on the carpenter is correct.  Why were they in your room and why didn't they fix an issue they themselves noticed.  Strange indeed.

I do feel like she was probably just "Ok" and I communicated "OK"

 

I don't like having to ask twice for something, just feels weird and nothing was end of the world, but having paid 3-4x of the cost of a balcony, I definitely expected a little more intuition and higher level of service. 

 

Just wanted to put in my 2c about my experience, it does seem like everyone has somewhat of a different experience  with butlers which is a negative NCL needs to fix imho. 

[Old & Retired]

1 hour ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I do feel like she was probably just "Ok" and I communicated "OK"

 

I don't like having to ask twice for something, just feels weird and nothing was end of the world, but having paid 3-4x of the cost of a balcony, I definitely expected a little more intuition and higher level of service. 

 

Just wanted to put in my 2c about my experience, it does seem like everyone has somewhat of a different experience  with butlers which is a negative NCL needs to fix imho. 

That's the issue though.  You paid a LOT of money to be in the Haven and have a butler.  There should not be any 'ok' butlers in NCL.  If they do not excel, every single week, they need to be retrained or sacked.

[Sailing12Away]

The one thing about NCL and the Haven is that it's very inconsistent. We had asked for M&Ms and gummy bears in February... whenever the gummy bear bowl got halfway empty it was topped off. The M&Ms weren't getting eaten as quickly (they gave us the mini ones), so they brought a 2nd bowl of the peanut ones. Those were gone in one day, and refilled the next with the minis left as is to slowly get eaten as time went on without any refills.

 

For more savory snacks, they noticed that all the meats and cheese got eaten up but some of the small sandwich thingies didn't - so next time they doubled up on the stuff they saw we preferred eating. Some butlers are great like that - others even when you tell them they still don't get it.

 

Put it in writing, be clear with your expectations and wishes, and don't be embarrassed to keep asking them. Our first experience we didn't want to 'bother' them or felt awkward after asking and not getting it. Our experiences after that and growing out of our shyness and just not really caring any more - we paid a lot, we should get the 'good' experience... and we haven't had a bad time since then.

[Old & Retired]

16 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

The one thing about NCL and the Haven is that it's very inconsistent. We had asked for M&Ms and gummy bears in February... whenever the gummy bear bowl got halfway empty it was topped off. The M&Ms weren't getting eaten as quickly (they gave us the mini ones), so they brought a 2nd bowl of the peanut ones. Those were gone in one day, and refilled the next with the minis left as is to slowly get eaten as time went on without any refills.

 

For more savory snacks, they noticed that all the meats and cheese got eaten up but some of the small sandwich thingies didn't - so next time they doubled up on the stuff they saw we preferred eating. Some butlers are great like that - others even when you tell them they still don't get it.

 

Put it in writing, be clear with your expectations and wishes, and don't be embarrassed to keep asking them. Our first experience we didn't want to 'bother' them or felt awkward after asking and not getting it. Our experiences after that and growing out of our shyness and just not really caring any more - we paid a lot, we should get the 'good' experience... and we haven't had a bad time since then.

Sometimes the concierge does not approve the M&M purchase in enough quantity.  Even though the butlers tell the concierge the demand is high, the concierge, maybe with guidance from the GM will not buy enough M&M's or other desirable snacks.  In that case, many butlers actually purchase the M&M's themselves from the ship store to please their guests.

[Candy Apple 12]

On 4/18/2022 at 2:04 PM, brookie848 said:

bring a small notebook with you. We use this to leave notes for our butler/steward. This includes notes on snacks/plates on what should be kept or taken away

Great piece of advice! That will eliminate the “what we have here is a failure to communicate”.