Cabin Review

In the past we had made the decision to only travel Disney (concierge level) when we cruised because it guarantees a wonderful experience but last year when we decided we wanted to do an Alaskan cruise in May, Disney was already fully booked (we only made the decision to go in late January). After doing some research we decided to book a Haven suite with the Norwegian Cruise Line (Pearl). My husband and I wanted to take our daughter, so we decided to bring my mom along as well so she could babysit sometimes; so we opted for the 2 bedroom family villa. Long story short it was a great experience. So when we decided, last minute again (February) to have a little getaway in March we opted for a 1 bedroom suite (courtyard penthouse with balcony – 16124) in the Haven with NCL (Getaway) again for a 7 day Caribbean cruise. The suite along with all gratuities and extras (which we opted to prepay) came up to about $6500.00, which we paid in full. As usual we were given priority boarding and the process was quick and painless. Due to this, our rooms were not quite ready (which we knew would be the case). We had lunch and explored the ship a little before heading to The Haven lounge to check if our room was ready. We were advised it was. Upon entering our room it was clear things were missing (no robes, slippers, beach towels, etc.). The robes and slippers were there when we got back to the room later that evening but the beach towels were not provided in our room until about 2 days later and were never replaced after we used them. Our butler came in and introduced himself and gave a very brief rundown of the room. On the Pearl, the Butler took time to explain how every single thing in the room worked and to point out little extras, from the lighting to the extra thick blankets for “balcony comfort”. This was not the case on the Getaway. The shower was easy enough to figure out but it would have been nice if he at least offered to explain it because it was not typical. Also had he taken the time to do those things, he would have realized the shower plug was not working. Which we didn’t find out until I took a shower that evening and couldn’t get the plug to open. We barely saw the Butler again. From the time we started unpacking I noticed a “musty” smell coming from the bathroom. My husband confirmed it and we stopped the house keeping steward we had met earlier in the hallway (Ryan). He came to the room, confirmed the smell as well and offered to get someone to come and fix it. We told him that was fine because we were leaving the room for a while again. When we got back a little while later Ryan advised that he had poured “chemicals” down the drain and that there was no more smell. Upon entering our room we agreed. We took a nap and when we woke up a few hours later the smell was back. In the morning we called them again and they sent a plumber. The plumber could not find any issues and poured chemicals again. Every day when they cleaned the room they poured chemicals and within a few hours the smell would return. At night during turndown service, they would pour chemicals again and again within a few hours the smell would return. At one point a man by the name of Eric came by to let us know he had checked earlier but did not smell anything. He went right after they had cleaned so it was not surprising he did not witness the smell. Whenever we saw Ryan and told him about the smell, he would check and agree and offer to send someone to pour chemicals. By Tuesday it was clear they were going to do nothing else to try and solve what we had made clear was a big issue to us. So we gave up and stopped mentioning it but did let Ryan know the smell was still there whenever we ran into him. On the last day of the cruise, our concierge informed us that “for our troubles” they were giving us $200 on-board credit. This was more of a slap in the face than anything else. At no point did anyone even offer to move us to a different room or some other sort of proper compensation. There are many things we could have whined and complained about. Including but not limited to the missing items, the fact that the closet doors and the drawers in the closet were almost impossible to open and had to be slammed shut (the drawers were so bad we didn’t even use them. Thankfully there were other drawers we were able to use.), one of the robes had a hole in it, it was clear the room wasn’t cleaned thoroughly in between guests (there was still tape on the wall from what I assume was a celebration sign of some sort and there was a used slipper under the bed), them simply handing over plates (twice even without giving us the tray) when we ordered room service instead of bringing it and placing it down somewhere (this happened more than once). We also had to ask on several occasions that they put ice in the wine bucket. To me that should have been common practice as long as the bottle of champagne/ water was still in there. We did not even get turndown service on the last night, even though we requested it. They only dropped off evening snacks and nothing else. They didn’t even pour chemicals down the drain that night. But those things were not the deal breakers. The smell was the problem. There was also noise above us constantly. I didn’t think this would be an issue since we were on the “top floor” but above us was what I think was the Vibe Beach Club, so there were always sounds of running and chairs being moved around. This was a bit of a design flaw in my opinion, in regards to the “Haven” experience, but there was nothing staff could do about this so complaining would have just been unnecessary. The smell was a huge issue to us and we felt like we were completely dismissed. Smelling what can only be described as sewage water, several times a day; EVERY day ruined the vacation for us. And feeling like our complaints weren’t being taken seriously mad it even worse, especially with us staying in the Haven. We were always very mannerly and nice with our complaint and I feel that’s why we were shrugged off. It seems like if we had been the kind of people to throw a fit and kick up a huge stink, more would have been done. We vacation at least 6 times a year, and at least 1 of them is a cruise. After our great Haven experience on the Pearl to Alaska, we felt we could stick to NCL and the Haven for our cruises but this experience made me not want to book with them again.