The Haven on NCL: is it worth it

First time in The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line, although I am a Platinum Lattitudes member. Being in the Haven made all the difference for the little "glitches" that happened along the way. Cannot say enough about the priority treatment at embarkation and dis-embarkation. We by-passed all the lines and were treated to a private luncheon on board as we waited for our room to be ready, then escorted to our room when we finished our luncheon. We were greeted by our butler and concierge, who made us aware of their roles. The phone they supplied for contacting them was a big plus. Fast forward to our first glitch: my grandson traveling with us was missing $300 from his wallet he left in the Haven Pool courtyard as he got a shower. We called our butler and he was on it immediately., and kept us updated as to where the investigation was. That was the first evening, Friday Aug. 1. On Saturday Aug. 2 early afternoon my grandson found the money in a hidden part of his wallet(at the end of the cruise my grandson personally apologized and gave both our butler and concierge an extra $50 tip for the trouble he caused) We got our excursion tickets Friday evening but did not look them over closely(I will ALWAYS check them from now on). The tour operator had changed the time from noon to 8:30am, didn't notice it until 8 am which was too late to make the excursion which we would never have booked that early. The Shore Excursion Desk was not manned until 5:30pm so we had to wait to bring this to their attention(Big Red Flag for me: the desk should be manned by at least one person every day, 7am to 10pm)although they were reluctant to refund our tickets I was able to transfer the cost of an Airboat ride in Miami to take it's place. I had ordered the international cheese tray and was surprised it didn't show up the first night, but our butler wanted to speak to us first before bringing it so it wouldn't spoil. We attended 2 shows: we knew there was supposed to be reserved seats for Haven members but couldn't "find" them the first night. Our butler showed us where they were for the second show, but I wasn't impressed as they did not have beverage service for us and the seats weren't anything specials. Many times we received preferential treatment because our ship's card said "The Haven" on it: beverage service was exemplary. We went to main dining Saturday night, we were told 15 minute wait until Hostess saw our card and seated us immediately. Sunday was our 40th Wedding Anniversary: the room decoration package I ordered showed up at the perfect time, just after we finished dinner and the show and it was fabulous. I wish I could put pictures on here to show how happy we were. At disembarkation they took us down in a group, locking the elevator for just us which, if you've ever cruised getting the elevator down to the proper floor can take an extra 15 minutes, especially as elevators are too full. We returned home August 4th and I have already booked a Haven Suite for a 7 day cruise Mar.8-15 that hits all my favorite islands with San Juan Puerto Rico as the port. It is on the Epic, which we cruised on in 2024. I would not go on the smaller ship Haven again, Jewel class. The special Haven areas are much smaller on these ships and the jewel class ships are missing some of the amenities on the larger class ships, like the Epic. If all goes well I hope to cruise on the Encore longer cruises, loved going through the Panama Canal area and Central America on past cruises. Our first cruise was our honeymoon to Alaska on Paquet (Cunard line) aboard the Sun Viking: lost count at around 40 cruises since,(Carnival, Big Red Boat(Disney), Royal Carribean, Celebrity and NCL.) The only specialty restaurant we used was Teppanyaki: it was disappointing as it no longer has filet and lobster, I won't go to it again although our chef was fantastic from an entertainment viewpoint. I did order filet and lobster from Le "Bistro while using main dining room that was well worth 20$ extra. All in all, I will have a hard time not choosing the Haven for future cruises..it was well worth it.

Excellent ship and crew , love it

wow , what a great ship , classy we booked last minute , we never book that high , but no noise problems , no rocking right out side the elevator, Wren/ Ren our cabin steward was fantastic . Room , needed a little help Fridge did not work light switch by the bed did not work balcony had old paint on it shower held water , did not drain fast , but a big shower not a round shower , long shower, my husbdan is 6 ft 200 lbs But overall the cabin was fine , we ordered extra blankets and pillow as the air vent is over the bed a giant square , you can of course tunn up the air to make it warmer, but then it gets stuffy. When docked in Nassau , we were on the Ocean Side which was vey nice seeing all the yatchts go by and see Atlantis in the back ground . We ate dinner evey nigh in the Magenta d-room with Heidi she and all were excellent our first time eating in the D-room in a long time as we normally do the have it all package . The food was very good and the mangers stop and ask if eveything is ok. we loved the seating area down past the whisky bar the cocktail server , I think his name is Kaleik , new us by name and had our drinks when we sat down. The great outdoor cafe was nice outside buffet Great bar for Sunsets , it is very busy the day your board Nice lounges The ship did not feel like a sold out ship My husband and I were on rented scooters and we had no problems getting around . We did the outside to get from point a to point b WE even got to go the out island with our scooters , you have to take the tender with an elevator . They had very nice shows on board . Disembarkation was very easy with our scooters , we just got up early had breakfast and got off. Plenty of chairs by the pool adult pool and kids pool all on the same deck . he fit in the shower not problem .

Good ship for older cruisers

My first cruise, so nothing to compare it to. I had a cheap inside stateroom with modest expectations to match, so that is my perspective. This ship seems to cater mostly to adults, limited activities for kids other than the pool and limited thrill-seeking activities that cater to the younger crowd. As a solo cruiser, I wanted to meet people. I found the open back deck aft of the main buffet was a great place to strike up conversations. I met several people that I spent quite a bit of time with on the back deck throughout the cruise and many other people that I could have conversations with. The table seating makes it easy to converse with nearby tables; more conducive to meeting people than lounge chairs. Much of the seating was covered with a tarp so could enjoy even when it was raining. The 180 degree view off the back of the ship was great as the ship left ports. Staff: excellent. friendly. attentive. Could not be better. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing staff cleaning and wiping down pretty much everywhere that someone could touch. Dining: mostly did the buffets, enough variety to keep from eating the same thing every meal. Food at buffet and main dining room was good. I did not do any specialty dining. Entertainment: solo act lounge music was mediocre. Predictable familiar songs. Probably the right thing to cater to many tastes, but not my thing. Band at the pool was decent. I did not go to the big show at the theater, but I heard good things about it. Crowding: a bit crowded in the atrium area in the evening, but not bad in other areas of the ship (theater, buffet, pool, elevators not crowded). There were plenty of places on the ship where you could get some sun or shade away from the crowds. Excursions: were surprisingly good, but short. Often got back to the ship around 1 or so. Good if you want a quick island tour. If you want to hang out at the beach, take a taxi instead of a ship excursion. In conclusion, I think I lucked out on this one, being a smaller ship. My next cruise is on a much larger ship. We'll see if it's too crowded and too noisy for me. There doesn't seem to be any equivalent to the outdoor seating on the back deck of the Gem, but I'll make do. I must add that I see a lot of reviews online that are mediocre-to-poor across all the major cruise lines, not just this ship or NCL. If you read these, you will never cruise. My take on this is that there are a lot of long-time experienced cruisers out there who have seen that the cruise experience is not as good as it may have been in the past, for example things that might have been free or cheap years ago are no longer free or cheap. I also think that people who buy a stateroom that is 3X what I paid are less tolerant of something not working out. My advice is go with the flow, be tolerant, expect a thing or two will not work out, so it doesn't ruin your whole trip, and you don't end up writing a one-star review when most of your cruise experience was good.