Epic Haven review

[drjochen]

This is a brief review of our seven day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona on the Norwegian epic. We had done several cruises on other Norwegian ships, and I will try to compare this cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean cruise we did last summer on the Norwegian Jade. Both cruises were done in a Haven family suite.

The cruise on the epic was during the same time than the Jade cruise last year, but it was almost 30% more expensive. We still went for the Haven, because we had really enjoyed the quiet surroundings and the extra attention on the Norwegian Jade. We stayed two days before the cruise in Barcelona and then took a taxi to the cruise port. We arrived there around 1 PM and, after dropping off our bags outside the terminal building, went into the big check in hall. A representative looked at our cruise tickets and then send us to the regular check-in line. We told her that we have Haven cabins and are NCL Gold, but she insisted on us going into the regular line, which had hundreds and hundreds of people. We then went to the representative standing right next to her, he immediately escorted us to the Haven line. Unfortunately, there’s only one check in counter for the Haven, and we had about 30 people ahead of us in line. We waited for over 30 minutes before it was our turn. Then, a group of us was taken to the ship. This was already a first indication that the Haven is nowhere near as exclusive on the Epic as it was on the Jade. Once on the ship, about 15 of us were placed in the Haven lounge and we had to wait for about 10 min to go on a tour off the Haven, which pretty much ended up being a sales pitch for their photography studio and for the spa. I really hate when you’re not even for 30 min on the ship and they’re already trying to sell you all these extra services. After the sales pitch, we were finally allowed to proceed to our cabin. We had a family suite on deck 17 looking out over the front of the ship (17001). The cabin was very spacious and in good condition. There were only two problems. Throughout the entire week, the toilet in the master bath worked on and off. We had maintenance come twice and they basically told us that there is nothing they can do and we have to live with it. If it won’t flush, he told us to wait 10 to 15 minutes and then try again until it finally flshes. The much bigger issue we had with the cabin was the incredible amount of noise we got from the sundeck above. If you would like to sleep longer than 7 AM, do not take this cabin! Every morning at 7 AM sharp, we were woken up by huge bangs and dragging noises from above. It was to the point where the ceiling was shaking and the lamps were shuddering. No way can anyone sleep through this. We also had noises from the sundeck in the early morning hours, supposedly from teenagers that sneak up there and use the sundeck for whatever… This sun area on deck 18 is supposed to be for the Haven guest only, but the ship obviously decided to open up the area to all guests. During the day, it was also not possible to take a nap in the cabin, because of the constant noise of steps and people dragging deck chairs around from above. This was by far the noisiest cabin we ever had on any of our 10+ cruises.

The Haven in general on the Epic is huge. There’s absolutely nothing exclusive about the Haven, since there are over 400 guests in those cabins. There are two bars, one outside and one insight. The outside bar for whatever reason closes at 6 PM, and on the first evening, we wanted to take a drink on the inside bar around 9:30 PM. That’s when we found out that even the inside bar on the Haven closes at 9 PM. So after 9 PM, there’s no way to get a drink in the Haven, unless you order through your butler, which then means that the ultimate drink package, that we had received as a promotion, does not apply and you have to pay for your drinks.

We use the Haven restaurant every morning for breakfast and twice for lunch. The food was all right, but certainly not outstanding or of very high quality. Overall, Norwegian Cruise lines probably has the lowest quality food of all the major cruise lines we have been on. Service in the restaurant was very good.

For dinner, since we had the ultimate dining package, we went to different specialty restaurants. By far our favorite place was the French place, which had good quality food and excellent service. We were very disappointed by the steakhouse, since all our steaks were done wrong and the service was slow. We also went to the Italian place, which is serving average “Italian” fare and certainly would not justify the additional fee for dining there.

The itinerary is very port heavy, with only one day at sea. We enjoyed this, because we like to see as many different places as possible. Of all the ports, our most favorite one was the stop in Rome. We did a NCL tour “off the beaten path”, which was just wonderful. Pisa / Florence was probably the worst stop, with a gazillion tourists everywhere. We had been to both places about 15 years ago, and it looks like the number of tourists, vendors, illegal vendors, etc. has increased by a factor of 10.

Back to the ship. We saw several shows on the ship, highly recommended is the Cirque du Soleil dinner show. We did it on the first night, and the show was half empty. The food is good, but the acrobatics more than makes up for it. Burn the floor was also a wonderful show and we ended up watching it twice. The comedian/magician was boring and successfully filled 50 minutes with three mediocre magic tricks.

In general, the staff was very good and was trying very hard on the ship. However, we felt an underlying unhappiness with many staff members. Throughout the week, we had frank conversations with several staff members and every single one of them indicated how unhappy they were with their employer and in particular with the new CEO that Norwegian Cruise Line has. They all claimed that they’re getting less pay now and in particular, some of the mandatory gratuity that is being charged to your onboard account, does not go to them anymore as it used to. Two of the people we talked to had worked for Norwegian for over 10 years and both said that this was their last time there were doing a rotation on that cruise line and they will switch to other cruise lines, because they’re being treated so poorly by the new management. I’m sure the new management can push their staff to a certain point, but these things usually backfire horribly after a while. I’d be curious to see how this develops in the future. Clearly, both staff and guests are being milked for every $$$ and new approaches to increase profit even more are being tried, such as the room service charge for non-Haven guests.

In summary, we like the Jade much better than the Epic. This was our first and also our last cruise on one of those monster ships. The Haven on the Epic is way too big to be exclusive and we will not return to that ship again.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[Porterhouse248]

par·a·graph

ˈperəˌɡraf/

noun

1.

a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

[cruzmaven]

par·a·graph

ˈperəˌɡraf/

noun

1.

a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

 

Cut and paste

 

a way to organize someone else's writing any way that pleases you without being snarky.

 

;)

[littlelulu01]

Thank you for the candid review. I have only sailed on the jewel class ships and am debating the Haven on the Epic. The mega ships have such mixed reviews and I would certainly be disappointed spending that kind of money for a substandard cruise.

[Jofishes]

thank you for this review it is very informative

 

I did read about a tour of the haven in another persons review (it was something along the lines of them being at the back and not being able to hear) and I have already decided that it's something we won't be doing when we sail in January

 

I just wanted to ask one thing, were you told the bar in the Haven would close at 9pm or was this information included in any literature at all ?

 

I am sure I read somewhere that it only closes if there is little to no demand

 

their online information says the following

 

"From preferred seating at our award-winning shows on board to hot action at the casino to hip DJ house music at our nightclubs, you'll find that when the stars come out, the excitement begins. It's all there for you to enjoy should you wish. But if you simply want to unwind with a cocktail under the stars, you can do so within the privacy and exclusivity of The Haven. "

 

Personally i was planning on having a quiet drink or two or three in the epic club lounge towards the end of a evening whilst my older kids settle themselves in the suite, the poor butler will be less than impressed running and getting us drinks because the bar staff have all but clocked off !

Edited July 15, 2015 by Jofishes

[amy86]

Thanks for your review. We recently booked a Haven suite for May 2016, on this same itinerary. I did not know that drinks from Butler are not included in the beverage package. That's disappointing!

[drjochen]

thank you for this review it is very informative

 

I did read about a tour of the haven in another persons review (it was something along the lines of them being at the back and not being able to hear) and I have already decided that it's something we won't be doing when we sail in January

 

I just wanted to ask one thing, were you told the bar in the Haven would close at 9pm or was this information included in any literature at all ?

 

I am sure I read somewhere that it only closes if there is little to no demand

 

their online information says the following

 

"From preferred seating at our award-winning shows on board to hot action at the casino to hip DJ house music at our nightclubs, you'll find that when the stars come out, the excitement begins. It's all there for you to enjoy should you wish. But if you simply want to unwind with a cocktail under the stars, you can do so within the privacy and exclusivity of The Haven. "

 

Personally i was planning on having a quiet drink or two or three in the epic club lounge towards the end of a evening whilst my older kids settle themselves in the suite, the poor butler will be less than impressed running and getting us drinks because the bar staff have all but clocked off !

 

No, they did not tell us. We went there at about 9.20 pm. The bartender was still there with a few guests around. However, he told us no drinks since he was already closed and just doing his inventory. He then informed us that the bar closes every evening at 9 pm.

[drjochen]

par·a·graph

ˈperəˌɡraf/

noun

1.

a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

 

I do sincerely apologize for not being up to your standards and I thank you profoundly for your very kind act of teaching me the basics of a paragraph.

[drjochen]

Thank you for the candid review. I have only sailed on the jewel class ships and am debating the Haven on the Epic. The mega ships have such mixed reviews and I would certainly be disappointed spending that kind of money for a substandard cruise.

 

We all very much liked the Haven on a Jewel class ship. I felt there we received special treatment and had some exclusivity (which we paid for...).

The Haven on the Epic was simply too big for us.

[drjochen]

Thanks for your review. We recently booked a Haven suite for May 2016, on this same itinerary. I did not know that drinks from Butler are not included in the beverage package. That's disappointing!

 

NCL rules state that "The Ultimate Beverage Package does not include room service". The butler was nice about softdrinks, but wanted to charge us for anything else. Not his fault though.

[NLH Arizona]

Throughout the week, we had frank conversations with several staff members and every single one of them indicated how unhappy they were with their employer and in particular with the new CEO that Norwegian Cruise Line has. They all claimed that they’re getting less pay now and in particular, some of the mandatory gratuity that is being charged to your onboard account, does not go to them anymore as it used to.

Hopefully you gave these individuals extra tips to make up for it. Edited July 15, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[drjochen]

Hopefully you gave these individuals extra tips.

 

We sure did. Got additional cash in the last port for that purpose. We even wrote a thank you note for the butler and the cabin attendant.

[Jofishes]

No, they did not tell us. We went there at about 9.20 pm. The bartender was still there with a few guests around. However, he told us no drinks since he was already closed and just doing his inventory. He then informed us that the bar closes every evening at 9 pm.

 

 

mmm interesting information and very shabby to hear, i doubt very much they close all the other bars down at 9pm :rolleyes: so why the one that guests have paid a premium to access ?

 

i wonder how it works for those wishing to dine in the epic club, say at 9pm ? surely you would have drinks with dinner, it does seem a little ridiculous :(

[drjochen]

mmm interesting information and very shabby to hear, i doubt very much they close all the other bars down at 9pm :rolleyes: so why the one that guests have paid a premium to access ?

 

i wonder how it works for those wishing to dine in the epic club, say at 9pm ? surely you would have drinks with dinner, it does seem a little ridiculous :(

 

The Haven dining room closes around 9 pm. They get the drinks form the bar that also closes then.

[anneep]

I'm really disappointed to hear this haven bar closes at 9pm .. On a day that you are in port until 7 it seems by the time you shower, dress, and so dinner that the bar will be closed 😕

[jonathantravels]

Throughout the week, we had frank conversations with several staff members and every single one of them indicated how unhappy they were with their employer and in particular with the new CEO that Norwegian Cruise Line has. They all claimed that they’re getting less pay now and in particular, some of the mandatory gratuity that is being charged to your onboard account, does not go to them anymore as it used to. Two of the people we talked to had worked for Norwegian for over 10 years and both said that this was their last time there were doing a rotation on that cruise line and they will switch to other cruise lines, because they’re being treated so poorly by the new management. I’m sure the new management can push their staff to a certain point, but these things usually backfire horribly after a while. I’d be curious to see how this develops in the future. Clearly, both staff and guests are being milked for every $$$ and new approaches to increase profit even more are being tried, such as the room service charge for non-Haven guests.

This is the first I've heard of widespread dissatisfaction among the crew related to the CEO's new policies; I'd be interested to hear of reports from other ships if the same thing is happening elsewhere. On a ship as large as the Epic, there are going to be a few dissatisfied crew members no matter what; whether this is something we should be concerned about depends entirely on how widespread it is.

[rusky123]

The Haven on the Epic is too large and noisy for me as well, I prefer the Jewel class ships Havens. At least the Havens have now gone slightly smaller on the Breakaway and Getaway, although the Posh beach club on the Epic is a plus.

Epic was about to be a favourite ship until July last year when we had an uncomfortable 3rd cruise on her. It was so noisy and chavvy, children used to run down the corridor late at night knocking doors, 2 of them were staying in the cabin next door.The same kids used to throw all their rubbish into the sea off the balcony, Mum and Dad were helping, the same Mum and Dad also swore heartily at the cabin staff and butlers if something was wrong in the cabin. I do not understand why security never told them off. I will never sail Epic in the British kids summer holidays again, and I am a Brit.

The Haven restaurant menu is also so repetitive, the same food night after night with occasional specials. The Haven bar on Epic is also a little soulless.

I sailed with MSC YC earlier this year, although the cabins were not a patch on NCL Haven, the dedicated restaurant was amazing, the food was absolutely superb, and all the staff were really fantastic. The entertainment was not a patch on NCL Epic though.