Rough start to Haven.

[chill6x6]

On 3/18/2024 at 3:06 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

Boarded the Encore yesterday.

Check in was a breeze. New terminal is very nice.

 

Other than that, things have gone sideways.

 

Once checked in before 11am  we went to a Haven waiting area on the second floor. Very nice but no restrooms. As we sat there for almost a half hour we noticed many others already boarding below. We tried to walk out and get in line but we're turned back. 

Apparently we needed to be walked on by a butler and taken directly to our muster station.

So much for priority boarding. 

 

Priority luggage??? We got it 6 hours later, a little after 5pm. Many other regular cabins had theirs.

 

We found our room not fully cleaned. A razor and a loofa in the shower. Ugh.

 

One other issue is we booked a category in the Haven proper thru a TA to discover when we arrived we had access to the Haven but not in it. Clue was when we were finally walked on, our muster was at the back of the ship.

 We are in what used to be a Spa Haven.

 

Be careful with one of the mega online TAs.

 I have paperwork from the concierge that they are wrong and I will address that when I get home.

! Priority boarding- Generally speaking the Haven personnel is really good about this. Usually a group is escorted by butler/concierge to the Haven area and usually before the vast majority of non-Haven passengers. Sometimes I'm in the first group sometimes not. You WILL get priority boarding returning to the ship at each port of call that is very nice!

 

2. Priority luggage- I've been in suites on several cruise lines and the only suite experience I ever really got priority luggage was Royal Caribbean Star class and then your luggage follows you to your cabin. Otherwise usually it's 3-6PM and I really don't worry about it.

 

3.Clean Cabin- This would bother me.  I've had it happen before and they came back and re-cleaned top to bottom. The cabin has either been cleaned properly or it hasn't.  Case closed. But once cleaned, moving on with my vacation.

 

4. Haven suites- They are all over the ship.  I actually prefer the aft-facing penthouse which isn't the the Haven proper as they say.  But the Haven suite "deals" are usually the previous Haven Spa suites.  You still get Haven access just like I do with the aft-facing PH.

 

 

Edited March 22 by chill6x6

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

Why do you keep implying that the cleaner has such a complicated (and seemingly malicious) way of cleaning?

Because OTHER people are saying or implying that the shower was in fact cleaned.  I'm not the one saying that it was cleaned, I'm just pointing out what would have to occur for the shower to be cleaned and the items left behind.  

What I believe happened was the shower was never cleaned at all.  I am not saying the steward has a "complicated (and seemingly malicious) way of cleaning", I say the steward just didn't clean it at all.   

 

Edited to add - You @Distinctive-Destinations are actually helping to make my point.  Either the shower was not cleaned at all, or, if it was cleaned the steward must have a complicated (and seemingly malicious) way of cleaning.  I find the former to be much more believable than the latter.

Edited March 22 by PATRLR

[IAcruising]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Hmmm....  I need to flow chart this and calc some probabilities about what @IAcruisingwas really saying here.  That should be fun!

 

Let me know what you come up with.  😎

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

6 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

 

Let me know what you come up with.  😎

 

Don't hold your breath friend.  I'm pretty much a slacker these days (and no, that does NOT mean that I put on slacks to go to LeBistro).🤣

[kalypso333]

Social media brings out the worst in people. This discussion is silly. If your cabin is dirty, let them know so they can clean it. If your dirty experience ruins your trip, find a therapist. They can help. 

Edited March 22 by kalypso333

[kalypso333]

15 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Don't hold your breath friend.  I'm pretty much a slacker these days (and no, that does NOT mean that I put on slacks to go to LeBistro).🤣

What do you wear? I only want to bring shorts but want to dine in Le Bistro. 

[IAcruising]

4 minutes ago, kalypso333 said:

What do you wear? I only want to bring shorts but want to dine in Le Bistro. 

 

You need long pants in Le Bistro, but don't ask Chief. He wears sweats that look like pants.

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

46 minutes ago, kalypso333 said:

What do you wear? I only want to bring shorts but want to dine in Le Bistro. 

Just stick with the Chief (and his very small number of good friends here on the forum).  We'll get you where you need to be to be comfortable AND avoid the pants police.  I'm pretty sure we have a couple of those right here in this fine forum.

[ChiCruzr]

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

It is possible that the room stewards are told not to remove or dispose of personal items left in a room, but to clean around them, report them to their supervisor and let the appropriate staff take care of them.

It's possible someone left their pet unicorn tethered to the bed, as well.  There's a difference between personal items such as razors or sponges, and valuables like gold watches, diamond rings, or wallets. The latter they might "report them to their supervisor", the rest, no.

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, PATRLR said:

I believe you meant to write the first 90% uses 10% of the budget, the remaining 10% of the project uses the other 90% of the budget.  (Although I believe the more common numbers used are 80/20 and newer project management frameworks have come to flatten those curves quite a bit)

Nope.  I wrote it right.  You missed the point.

[Yesimapirate]

14 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Really? 

I can only assume it is OK with you if they simply didn't clean the bathrooms.  It has to be OK with you because if there is a razor and a loofa left behind, there is no way to know that they did clean the bathroom.  But that's OK, you can enjoy (or at least not be bothered by) someone else's filth.  I'm going to insist my room is cleaned and if that means someone gets fired, so be it.  

Realize there's some in this board who would tell the passengers on the Titanic they should be thankful they got to swim and saves calories by missing dessert for the rest of the trip. 

 

I don't think there's one person on here that would smile and be happy if they found a shower that appeared to be uncleaned upon embarkation.   Further,  I don't think any of the ships housekeeping supervisors would find it ok either. 

 

The kitchen staff is busy and over worked too.  Would it be OK if they missed some areas of the kitchen and some one got sick from cross contamination?  Or if the environmental officer was running late and they dumped raw sewage into the ocean?  Is it just a sliding scale where the employees can choose not to follow the policies and procedures or just blind cheerleading?

 

Ironically,  the cheerleaders are cheering against NCL's own policies and procedures. 

 

Finally,  let's stop this ridiculous attacks claiming people just want compensation whenever they have a complaint.   It's lazy, intellectually dishonest and is just an excuse to avoid a solution.   A dirty is a legitimate complaint.   It doesn't mean you want money, it means you want a clean room!

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

I think that they wrote what they meant. Even if a project is on budget at the 90% stage (used 90% of the budget), the remaining 10% of the project costs the same amount again and you end up way over budget.

 

I don’t work in IT, but I do work in finance and have seen that happen many times,

Correctamundo !  It's a tongue in cheek way of saying that cost overruns are unavoidable.  IT folks tend to keep their tongue planted firmly in their cheek. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

38 minutes ago, ChiCruzr said:

It's possible someone left their pet unicorn tethered to the bed, as well.  There's a difference between personal items such as razors or sponges, and valuables like gold watches, diamond rings, or wallets. The latter they might "report them to their supervisor", the rest, no.

🤣🤣You're funny.  Is that what you were going for?

[gizfish]

18 hours ago, david_sobe said:

I bet you would be running to the front desk asking for OBC if housekeeping cleaned your room and threw away your sponge and shaving razor.  When you clean hundreds of rooms per week these things happen.  You're excited to get hardworking crew in trouble over a freaking sponge.

Good for you!

My issue is not the sponge but the fact that the room I am about to stay in has not been properly cleaned.  Yes, these things happen.  But when they do, the issue needs to be taken care of, not ignored.  The crew is apparently not as hard working as you assume if they are not thoroughly cleaning every cabin on turn over day.  Asking to have the room cleaned has nothing to do with getting "excited" to get someone in trouble.  Also, last time I checked, the passengers had worked hard to be able to take a cruise and for the sake of hygiene, safety and even the ick factor have paid for and are entitled to a thoroughly cleaned room.  Certain things can be ignored and are not deal breakers.  But personal items left in the shower clearly mean the shower, and probably the room have not been cleaned appropriatelyand that issue absolutely needs to be mediated.

[IAcruising]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Men's Jersey Knit Sweatpants | Lands' End (landsend.com)

 

Note the letters "pants" in the description.  😎🐀

 

 

Yep, they're "pants" all right. But I'd get my nads cut by Mrs. IA if I showed up in Le Bistro in those. 🔪

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

22 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

 

 

Yep, they're "pants" all right. But I'd get my nads cut by Mrs. IA if I showed up in Le Bistro in those. 🔪

 

Yikes!!  Sounds best to just avoid Le Bistro!🤣  I can do that!!

[david_sobe]

8 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

no, just no. it's really not.

 

it does happen from time to time, and when it does it has a negative impact on the guest experience. again, we can choose to overlook it and get on with our cruise...  how we respond is up to us.

 

but this is not about us. it's about a cabin that hasn't been cleaned properly.

 

a messy or unclean hotel room or cabin or items left behind in showers or drawers or under the bed should not be any part of the expected hospitality experience and should not be endorsed or minimized.

Sorry but someone leaving a pair of socks in a drawer would have no negative impact on my experience.  Clearly by this thread something like that does really give people a negative experience (as you say).  To each their own.  If something like that bothers you just call house keeping.  The wild accusations from room stewards being lazy and equating it to the room not being cleaned is pure rubbish.  Of all the things that could impact a cruise, someone forgetting socks, a water bottle, or a sponge would never make my list.  People must make mental lists of what to complain about. You are 100% right about one thing when you say some can choose to overlook it. Put me in that camp. 

Edited March 22 by david_sobe

[david_sobe]

IMHO forgotten items while on vacation are more a refection of us as human beings rather than the cruise line.  We all forget things on vacation even though we "double check" the room.  My wife is famous for leaving a phone charger at every hotel and every car rental. No matter how many times I say "don't forget your phone charger", it gets left behind.  People forget their cellphones too.  Showers are infamous for forgotten items.  These forgotten items are usually in the shower, in a remote drawer or night stand.  I had someone tell me once that they actually found $100 in a hotel nightstand.  All of us are human and forget things especially packing while on vacation.  I would never hold it against the hotel or cruise line.  Now if the room was full of abandoned items or things left all over the bed that's a different story.  I bet housekeeping could tell us the wildest stories of the items people left behind.  Its fine to complain about poor service or bad food or over crowding.  That's fair game while on vacation.  

I remember an Oprah Winfrey show in the late 80s of people complaining about fast food workers.  For the first half of the show the guests gave all their complaints about the workers.  The show then put the biggest complainer at work at a busy downtown Chicago Checkers for one day.  They invited her back on the show.  She completely changed her tune and was in awe how hard the people worked.  I am in amazement how much work gets done on embarkation day.  Imagine being assigned 40 rooms.  You must remove all linens, make all the beds, and clean all the rooms in 3 hours.  Ready.  Set.  Go!

[Travelling2Some]

6 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

 

Yep, they're "pants" all right. But I'd get my nads cut by Mrs. IA if I showed up in Le Bistro in those. 🔪

 

Ah, I watched my mom fight that life-long battle with my dad and brothers and I decided not to participate.  I figure people can see that he's a grown man and dressed himself so it's not my fault.

Edited March 22 by Travelling2Some

[PATRLR]

48 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

IMHO forgotten items while on vacation are more a refection of us as human beings rather than the cruise line.  We all forget things on vacation even though we "double check" the room.  My wife is famous for leaving a phone charger at every hotel and every car rental. No matter how many times I say "don't forget your phone charger", it gets left behind.  People forget their cellphones too.  Showers are infamous for forgotten items.  These forgotten items are usually in the shower, in a remote drawer or night stand.  I had someone tell me once that they actually found $100 in a hotel nightstand.  All of us are human and forget things especially packing while on vacation.  I would never hold it against the hotel or cruise line.  Now if the room was full of abandoned items or things left all over the bed that's a different story.  I bet housekeeping could tell us the wildest stories of the items people left behind.  Its fine to complain about poor service or bad food or over crowding.  That's fair game while on vacation.  

I remember an Oprah Winfrey show in the late 80s of people complaining about fast food workers.  For the first half of the show the guests gave all their complaints about the workers.  The show then put the biggest complainer at work at a busy downtown Chicago Checkers for one day.  They invited her back on the show.  She completely changed her tune and was in awe how hard the people worked.  I am in amazement how much work gets done on embarkation day.  Imagine being assigned 40 rooms.  You must remove all linens, make all the beds, and clean all the rooms in 3 hours.  Ready.  Set.  Go!

Agree 100% - forgotten items in hotel/cruise rooms happens all the time and isn't going to affect my cruise.  

But "forgotten items" isn't what most of the people commenting on OP's " A razor and a loofa in the shower" are discussing.

[UKstages]

3 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Sorry but someone leaving a pair of socks in a drawer would have no negative impact on my experience

how about a rotting rodent carcass? a spilled bottle of nail polish? an opened bag of  cheetos? used bandages? where do you draw the line?

 

you do a great job in your posts of minimizing the inconvenience of items left behind… but the problem with that is this: how do you know what’s in the drawer or under the bed unless you look in the drawer or under the bed? it’s the housekeeper’s responsibility to do that before you ever enter the room and remove items that may have been left behind. the effort is in the looking… it takes the same amount of time to remove a razor as a bag of cheetos or a pair of soiled underwear. you’re not bothered by a sock… how about dishes from a room service dinner consumed the night before?  

 

i can’t tell you the number of times I have stayed in a hotel or NCL cabin that had light bulbs that were burned out, or shower or sink drains that were clogged and needed to be snaked, or TVs that didn’t work. day after day, housekeeping staff makes up that room and never notices that the lights or TV don’t work or the drain needs to be snaked? in well run hospitality organizations, those things are reported to maintenance so that they can fix those problems before, or soon after, the guest arrives. and it’s on the checklist of things that are supposed to be done when the room is made up! similarly, in well run hospitality organizations, left behind socks and razors are removed by housekeeping. it’s their job to remove items from the closet and the drawers and under the bed. and to check for them!

 

once again, this is not about shifting the focus to the guest and their behavior after a wayward item is discovered. the focus here is on the cabin attendants who don’t properly clean the room in anticipation of new guests.

[graphicguy]

10 hours ago, kalypso333 said:

What do you wear? I only want to bring shorts but want to dine in Le Bistro. 

If you're on one of the Away, Away+ or Prima class ships, you can dine at their al fresco tableson the Waterfront.  There, you won't need long pants.

[graphicguy]

10 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Sweat pants ARE pants d$#nit.  Don't make me come over there....🤣

 

Men's Jersey Knit Sweatpants | Lands' End (landsend.com)

 

Note the letters "pants" in the description.  😎🐀

 

Frankly, I've seen a picture of an entire family wearing PJs during the day on what I think was a Royal cruise.  If that's acceptable, then knit pants should be a shoo-in!

[PATRLR]

13 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

If you're on one of the Away, Away+ or Prima class ships, you can dine at their al fresco tableson the Waterfront.  There, you won't need long pants.

If it's warm and not too windy.  On Encore in Caribbean, Ocean Blu, there was a young couple sitting outside because he didn't have long pants (or so said our waiter).  They were essentially right next to us, but we were inside and they were outside.  They looked cold.  I felt bad for them.

[graphicguy]

Just now, PATRLR said:

If it's warm and not too windy.  On Encore in Caribbean, Ocean Blu, there was a young couple sitting outside because he didn't have long pants (or so said our waiter).  They were essentially right next to us, but we were inside and they were outside.  They looked cold.  I felt bad for them.

True.  Even some cool evenings, I've dined on the Waterfront in shorts at LeBistro, Ocean Blue and La Cucina.  I always bring a jacket with me, just in case.  Works out well.

 

Colder months?  You're probably going to pack warmer clothes (like long pants) to begin with.