A Honeymoon “Getaway” — Jan. 28 - Feb. 4 (Haven)

Hey all ... this is my first big review and I will probably complete it over the course of a few nights.

Couple of “disclaimers”:

1. My opinions will be stated here ... chances are they will be different than yours but since I am writing this it will be about my thoughts :-)

2. This is was my 6th cruise I have taken (not counting various Sea Escape / Discovery Cruises when I was a kid) ... so am I an expert in the truest sense of it ... no ... do I know what I like ... yes!

3. Since it was me and wive’s honeymoon we splurged big time (left our kids at home) and went with a Haven Spa Suite. This was our first time in any type of suite so most of my review will focus on the Haven and their features since that is where we spent 85% of our ship time.

4. I didn’t get as many pictures around the ship as I did on port days. I had gotten a new point and shot camera a few days before the cruise so I was still playing with settings while using it so my pictures are not as nice I usually like (Olympus T5 tough camera in case you are wondering).

5. Have fun reading this and feel free to ask me any questions. I will do my best to remember staff names and such as I talk about them but I wasn’t taking detailed notes since I was on vacation :-)

To start it off here are the designs I made for iron on shirts I made for me and the wife for the embarkation day and cruise critic meet and greet

More to come soon ...

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Going on the Getaway soon, following!

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Looking forward to more.:)

Happy Post-Honeymoon.

Following along and Happy Post Honeymoon.

Keith

Can't wait to read your review. My husband and I are going on our first Norwegian Cruise in September and we booked the Haven Spa Suite so I'm especially interested in your review.

Can't wait! Following....:cool:

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Ok so I have some time tonight and thought I would start my reviews. Where to begin but at the beginnig of course ... Sunday and embarkation day.

My wife and I live in Ft. Lauderdale (about 30 minute without traffic from the Port of Miami) so we didn't need to worry about hotels, port transfers, etc. As a matter of fact Sunday morning before the cruise we where still packing

My wife's dad picked us up around 10am because we would rather spend the embarkation day on the ship rather than sitting around our house. The ride to Miami was traffic free and using the tunnel getting to the port/ship went flawlessly. We got there around 10:45ish and gave the porters our bags and a tip and where off to terminal C.

Security went very quickly and then we went to the Haven check-in area. Unfortunately when we got there it was a bit chaotic. There was a large family (probably about 10 or more people) in front of us and at the time only 1 lady working the Haven check-in desk. Nothing to stress over ... I got my wife a coffee and then just relaxed in the sitting area. Finally a second employee arrived and started checking in people. We checkin ... got our ship card and then waited maybe about 10 minutes for the VIP escort to arrive to take us onto the ship. With the escort we basically got walked directly onto the ship straight from checkin ... no muss ... no fuss. The escort took us onto the ship and into an express elevator to the 16th floor where the Haven is located.

Once in the Haven the main concierge, Virginia, gave a welcome speech going over the Haven and all it entitles. Once that was done there where cocktails and chesseburger sliders with fries being passed around by the staff. We went over to the concierge desk and meet with Lyster (who we used all week) to adjust our speciality restaurant reservations and book the shows we wanted to attend. Again it all went flawlessly and easy.

Instead of eating the slider and fries in the Haven my wife and I went to Margaritaville for lunch since it is free for Haven guest on embarkation day. I had a pretzal rolls for an appeitizer that was "meh" ... not even warm when they came out (a consistent theme on this ship is no bread is ever served hot or even warm) ... and a grilled grouper fish sandwich which was pretty good. We also had a green drink that I forget what it was called but it was rum based :tropical-drink:.

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After that my wife and I went to hang out at the Haven pool deck until our rooms are ready. If your room is in the actually 15 or 16 floor Haven area you can go to your room and drop off any carry on luggage you have while they still prep the rooms ... however we where staying in the 14th floor Haven Spa Suite (rm 14140) which is not a private Haven area so we could not access our rooms till all the rooms on the floor where ready.

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Rooms where ready pretty quick though ... I want to say around 1pm and we went to our room to drop off our carry on bags and relax a bit before muster drill. We also called our butler to room to go over a few requests with him. Besides the usual afternoon snacks they bring each day around 3pm we also asked he always bring up a cheese plate, PB&J sandwichs and some chocolate chip cookies. For the first day the butler delivered a nice plate of various fresh fruits, a bottle of water and a bottle Brut champange :bottle-pop::champagne-toast: .

Then the 7 sirens go off and it is time for muster ... always a blast but if it must be done it must be done. Anything can happen you know (cough, cough Titanic :-) .

After muster we took the time to explore the ship a bit more and then went to our balacony to enjoy watching the sail-away from there. Since the elevators are packed after muster we decided to just hike it up from floor 7 to floor 14 ... there was our cardio for the week.

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After sail-away was out of the port we went on Thermal Spa tour. Now, booking the Haven Spa Suite automatically gives you access to the thermal spa. So we went to go see what it was like and find out what time it opened to being used. After the tour we found out it was open so we went to our room and changed into our bathing suits. The thermal spa is very nice ... they provide robes so you don't have to bring any from your rooms and have cushions loungers as well as heated stone lougners. They also have a hot tub and small pool with water jets all around and a massaging waterfall. As well a steam room, sauna and salt room. All a nice way to relax.

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After relaxing for a bit we decided to go get cleaned up for dinner. BTW did I mention the Haven rooms come with a butler and if you request your butler will unpack and hang up all your clothes. :D We got back to our room and everything was un-packed and all the suitcases put away ... very nice not having to waste any part of our day doing that. We got cleaned up and decided to go the Haven restuarant for dinner that evening.

The maitre d' "darrell" was very nice and took care of us all week. Before going into the restuarant we stopped at the Haven bar located right outside the restuarant and I got a mijoitio to bring to dinner. We had a nice meal that night. I had the shrimp cocktail, ceasar salad and prime rib ... all where excellent. My wife had the lamb and it was delicious as well.

We decided to retire early after dinner as it was truly our first night off (no 5 and 9 year old kids to take care) and we really wanted to relax more than party during our honeymoon week. In the Haven all the pay-per-movies are free so we watched The House with Will Ferral and then crashed (other pay per view movies avaialbe on our sailing where, Spiderman, American Assisan, Assians Bodyguard, Ninjan-go, My Little Pony the Moive, American Made, Girls Trip and about 4 or 5 others I forget the name of)

That ends our embarkation day :cool: ... next up soon is Monday's sea day.

More to come soon ....

Thanks for posting. We're booked in the Spa suite right next to yours. We'll be in 14142 so its nice to read your review. This will be our first trip with Norwegian and we are looking forward to it.

yes...thanks for posting and for your time!!! We are sailing in May and ended up booking the Haven Courtyard Penthouse, but really going back and forth between that cabin or the Haven Spa Suite....hard decision! I like the location of the Courtyard Penthouse, but think the spa pass perk with the Haven Spa Suite would also be awesome, so looking forward to your review and thoughts on that!!! :cool::cool::cool:

Hi all .. as you all know once back on land life gets moving fast so I apologize I haven’t had a chance to get back to my review / travel log.

I will definitely write about the 1st sea day tomorrow. And since our first port in costa maya was a wash somewhat due to the rain I should be able to get that in as well ... so as they say ... stay tuned ... :-)

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yes...thanks for posting and for your time!!! We are sailing in May and ended up booking the Haven Courtyard Penthouse, but really going back and forth between that cabin or the Haven Spa Suite....hard decision! I like the location of the Courtyard Penthouse, but think the spa pass perk with the Haven Spa Suite would also be awesome, so looking forward to your review and thoughts on that!!! :cool::cool::cool:

The spa was nice but in all honestly with the Haven area my wife and I ended up using it only twice on the entire 7 day cruise. If we are not in Haven than the spa is definitely worth it as it is a peaceful place to get away from the crowds ... but the Haven filled that need for us :-) If DW and I ever get a chance to book in the Haven again I think we would pick in a room in the Haven proper rather than the spa suites that are 2 floors down.

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Happy Post-Honeymoon.

Thank you :-)

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Looking forward to hearing more.

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Great start!!

looking forward to the rest, as we'll be in a Haven spa suite in July on the Escape.

Our first experience in the Haven so i can't wait to hear more on your thoughts about the experience.

also curious as to what you used the Butler for that the cabin steward can't do.

Thank You for taking the time for this review

Liz:)

Great start!!

looking forward to the rest, as we'll be in a Haven spa suite in July on the Escape.

Our first experience in the Haven so i can't wait to hear more on your thoughts about the experience.

 

also curious as to what you used the Butler for that the cabin steward can't do.

Thank You for taking the time for this review

 

Liz:)

Hi Liz ... the butler is there to really provide more "luxury" services than the usual service of the steward. With the butler you can find as many or little uses as you want for them. The steward is still responsible for the cleaning the room, making the bed, making the towel animals, etc.

Here is what we used our butler for (he was very efficient if not really friendly ... our steward was very friendly and personable"

• Unpack and stow our bags

• Deliver some extra pillows on our first day

• Deliver room service order (don't order them through room service ... order directly through the butler and you get it faster and have many more options not included in the basic room service order --- i will get into that in further day reviews ... spa suite rooms are not really big enough for an enjoyable in-suite meal but the butler can get you dinner from any restaurant on board the ship and set it up for in-room dining)

• Handles any breakfast room service order you may want (he can even get breakfast from the Haven restaurant and deliver it to your room)

• He brings a set afternoon snack each afternoon (although we added a standard order of cheese and crackers, chocolate chip cookies and PB&J sandwiches to come every afternoon with the different snack they are set to bring)

• Pack and prep our bags for the end of the cruise

Ok ... I know it has been a while ... but you know life and all that stuff.

Day 2: Sea Day

DW and I started off the morning with breakfast in the Haven. I had a nice salmon omelette with OJ and hash browns. All pretty tasting. The Haven restaurant for breakfast also has a small buffet area with milk, cereals, fresh fruit, yogurts, cheese, pastries, lox and bread. I had some fresh fruit and yogurt while I waiting for breakfast to be made ... it was ok ... nothing to write home about but got the job done of a little something to have while waiting on the main breakfast.

After breakfast it was time for us to head to Cagney's for the Cruise Critic meet and greet, roll call event. It was a nice event and we got to meet most of important crew member and some other cruisers. Thank you to the members who put it together. The ship served cookies, coffee, juice and some really really good smoothies. As well, we participated in the gift exchange and got some nice goodies from a couple from Tennessee ... our kids loved the moon pies and other sweets they had as part of their gifts when we brought them home to them ... no bottle of Jack Daniels Whiskey though :halo:. We meet some other couples that we talked with, but soon however DW started to feel a little "off" so she went back to room to lay down for a bit.

After the CC meet up I decided to walk around a bit and decided to check out the ship buffet to see how it is. It was your average cruise ship buffet. Wasn't great ... wasn't bad ... just was. The food was edible and filled me up ... so mission accomplished I suppose (i am pretty easy to please). There was really no lines when I was there (which I would say was around 12-12:30ish) and I had no problem getting a table. After I had lunch by myself I went to check on my wife and of course when I get to the room she was just waking up from a nap and now she was hungry ... so back to buffet we went. She is a bit pickier an eater than I am but found one or 2 things to try and then said she wouldn't be going back to the buffet for the rest of the trip (hint for the future days ... she did go back once ;) ).

The weather was kind of dreary for a sea day ... the captain should had known better and got us better weather ... all his fault ;p so we went back to the room and watched a movie. It got better later in the day so we did get to sit out for a bit and read. Like I stated earlier ... my wife and I really just wanted to relax and enjoy each others company so we didn't really partake in as many cruise games and activities as well usually do.

Around 3:30pm I did decide to go a mojito tasting at the mojito bar (NCL charges $19.95 plus tip to do this ... which i don't understand why since I could had just ordered the mojitos one at a time for free with the drink plan ... oh well). They make 6 different mojitos for the you to try and go over the history and how each drink is made. All of them were very tastier except the jalapeño mojito ... I don't like peppers and the jalapeño taste was very over powering. It was the only one I didn't finish or even have more than a sip of. Halfway through the tasting DW shows up and I get my camera so I got a picture of half the mojitos left :cool:.

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Once the tasting was over and I was quite tipsy, DW decided it was a good time to go to Tradewinds and do some shopping :-) smart lady. At least she didn't take full advantage of me and take me to the jewelry store.

After some shopping we went back to our room to enjoy the afternoon snacks left by our butler. As well, we called him up and ordered some additional cheese and crackers and when he delivered them we made it a standing order to have those delivered every afternoon with the snacks he brings. We then relaxed till it was time for our dinner reservation for go see the Cirque show, Steam.

When it was time to head to the show, we meet the Haven concierge up in the Haven lounge and they escorted all the Haven guest going to the dinner show down to the theater where we were admitted first and given front row seats. Before the show they serve you a 3 course fixed meal. A mozzarella and prosciutto app (bland) ... a steak and potato main dish (average) ... and truffle dessert (ok). Dinner is about 45 minutes long and you need to wait for everyone in the theater to finish before the show begins. Now since they serve dinner with the show they charge an additional fee to see it and you can't see the show without the dinner. I would rather have skipped the dinner and just seen the show but then I guess NCL wouldn't get their money, so no deal. Through out dinner they do have performers walking around in costume that you can get your photos with if you want.

Now the show itself was actually quite entertaining. It was maybe 30 minutes long and I enjoyed all the act quite a bit. It really doesn't have a story like most Cirque shows do but all the performers where immensely talented and did some amazing acrobatics so i won't take anything away from them and the skills they definitely do have. To see some of the balancing acts on a rocking ship is really something. We used our OBC from our travel agent to pay to attend so I didn't mind the additional cost ... if I had to pay out of pocket it would had been a bit of a let down due the food quality and length of the show.

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After the Cirque show DW and I decided to call it night because we had our first port of the call the next day and wanted to get some rest before what we hoped would be an exciting day ...

Stay tuned for our the Costa Maya adventure ....

Hi Fsunoles20

Thank you so much for clarifying what the butler is there for. This will be a fun learning experience.:D

Following along.......Can't wait for more(y)

Liz:)