Breakaway Haven Restaurant - Does Menu Change?

[sverigecruiser]

How does your argument make any sense??????? The desserts are pre-made, on hand in the Havens galley. Just about as fast as you can walk through the swinging galley door and back, the dessert will be on the table. A waiter doesn't have spend out of the restaurant to say, run from the 18th deck down to the 6th deck, then half way across the ship to the Le Bistro galley to wait and pick up an order, and run back.

 

Every thing you order is slowing everything down for everyone, can you really say that that isn't correct?

 

Of course it takes MUCH longer to go to another restaurant to get a dessert than to the Haven galley but every made order take some time.

 

The desserts are pre-made but they still have to be plated and sometimes warmed so it's not just to pick them up. Maybe the waiters just pick them up but if I order dessert the service for everyone else is slowed down when my dessert shall be plated and maybe warmed.

[Loonbeam]

It's a total apples and oranges comparison.

 

Ordering a desert from the Haven menu is something for which there is a process, a specific place in the galley and has been factored into the entire service/staffing equation. Ordering, lets say, an entree from Cagney's means that someone has to step OUT of that process to place the order, then take an elevator seven decks or so down, walk to Cagney's, pick up said order, walk back to elevator, go up 7 decks, plate the item on Haven china, and server. Meanwhile that person's normal part in the normal routine is either not happening or being covered by someone else.

 

Dining staffing plans are done with TSTs, typical service time. For example, an entree in the haven might have a TST of 5 minutes, appetizer 3, dessert 3, etc. between a la minute finishing, plating and delivery. So they have a rough idea of how many staff they need. If it takes 15 mins to do what I described above, service for that meal will creep above the average TST that they are staffed for. There's a certain amount of time built in for sendbacks, kitchen delays, etc but once you start exceeding that buffer, service for the entire venue starts to suffer.

 

 

 

 

 

If one person does it a night, probably no big deal, but if many people do it, you get a domino effect.

 

Every thing you order is slowing everything down for everyone, can you really say that that isn't correct?

 

Of course it takes MUCH longer to go to another restaurant to get a dessert than to the Haven galley but every made order take some time.

 

The desserts are pre-made but they still have to be plated and sometimes warmed so it's not just to pick them up. Maybe the waiters just pick them up but if I order dessert the service for everyone else is slowed down when my dessert shall be plated and maybe warmed.

[bluesea777]

There were nightly specials that were not on the menu.

 

Very true!

 

We were in Haven on BA in March 2017. Yes the menus were same for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, BUT they have Chilled soup of the day for lunch and soup and entrees of the day for Dinner.

 

We are foodies, and enjoyed the Haven menus - there were so many choices for us to enjoy so we went 3 times during the 7 day cruise. The last night I had difficulty choosing the 2 entrees that I wanted, so I went ahead and ordered one whole and another half (the chef was able to do so), and really enjoyed my meal.

 

We have come across some people who were unfazed with fine dining and didn't like the Haven food. So taste and fine dining are very subjective.

 

We could have dined in Haven more than 3 evenings, but we had UDP (3) and 2 Plat Plus. In a hindsight, if we were to repeat the cruise, we'd dine in Haven 4, use 2 Plat Plus and 1 UDP for dinner and use the remaining 2 UDP for Sushi lunches.

 

It was our first time in Haven and we tremendously enjoyed our week there - we were made very special up there by all the staff there. We bid small and got the upgrade and got the "worst" H cabin 15100 ;p:D but it was great anyway as it was my DH's 70th. :D

[sverigecruiser]

It's a total apples and oranges comparison.

 

Ordering a desert from the Haven menu is something for which there is a process, a specific place in the galley and has been factored into the entire service/staffing equation. Ordering, lets say, an entree from Cagney's means that someone has to step OUT of that process to place the order, then take an elevator seven decks or so down, walk to Cagney's, pick up said order, walk back to elevator, go up 7 decks, plate the item on Haven china, and server. Meanwhile that person's normal part in the normal routine is either not happening or being covered by someone else.

 

Dining staffing plans are done with TSTs, typical service time. For example, an entree in the haven might have a TST of 5 minutes, appetizer 3, dessert 3, etc. between a la minute finishing, plating and delivery. So they have a rough idea of how many staff they need. If it takes 15 mins to do what I described above, service for that meal will creep above the average TST that they are staffed for. There's a certain amount of time built in for sendbacks, kitchen delays, etc but once you start exceeding that buffer, service for the entire venue starts to suffer.

 

 

 

 

 

If one person does it a night, probably no big deal, but if many people do it, you get a domino effect.

 

The suite experience on NCL is about stepping out of processes around the ship. They do it if they can even if the normal process is something else.

 

Since it's obviously allowed to order dishes from other restaurants they have processes to handle that. It's not the normal process but they leave the normal process and have created another process to make it work.

[Loonbeam]

Allowed because they don't want to say no is different than encouraged.

 

The suite experience on NCL is about stepping out of processes around the ship. They do it if they can even if the normal process is something else.

 

Since it's obviously allowed to order dishes from other restaurants they have processes to handle that. It's not the normal process but they leave the normal process and have created another process to make it work.

[BirdTravels]

Every thing you order is slowing everything down for everyone, can you really say that that isn't correct?

 

Of course it takes MUCH longer to go to another restaurant to get a dessert than to the Haven galley but every made order take some time.

 

The desserts are pre-made but they still have to be plated and sometimes warmed so it's not just to pick them up. Maybe the waiters just pick them up but if I order dessert the service for everyone else is slowed down when my dessert shall be plated and maybe warmed.

 

Never been in a cruise ship galley, I see.

 

WRT the Havens, it is a NCL suite. It is not like being in the Grill Class on a Cunard ship where you have a private table, that is all yours, for the entire cruise, every meal. With truly first class service. With the Maitre'D will come and cook for you tableside if you order something not on the standard menu for the evening.

Edited May 2, 2017 by BirdTravels

[sverigecruiser]

Allowed because they don't want to say no is different than encouraged.

 

I agree that it's different but I have never said that they encourage it, only that it's allowed.

[sverigecruiser]

Never been in a cruise ship galley, I see.

 

WRT the Havens, it is a NCL suite. It is not like being in the Grill Class on a Cunard ship where you have a private table, that is all yours, for the entire cruise, every meal. With truly first class service. With the Maitre'D will come and cook for you tableside if you order something not on the standard menu for the evening.

 

If NCL tries to make their customers think that they are providing truly first class service it's NCLs problem, not the customers.

 

I guess we just have to agree that we disagree.

[meechf13]

Can you order food "to-go" from The Haven Restaurant? What are their dining room hours?

[BirdTravels]

Can you order food "to-go" from The Haven Restaurant? What are their dining room hours?

They prefer if your butler deliver food vs you carrying Food out. That being said, we took a breakfast plate out.

 

7:00-10-00 port days breakfast

7:30-10:30 sea days breakfast

 

12:00-2:00 lunch (except embarkation day)

 

5:30-9:30 dinner

[dongordon]

I haven't seen it published anywhere.

 

The Haven staff will go out of their way to a ridiculous degree to accommodate requests, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't recognize that extra effort is involved and that its the normal Haven staff that handles it, there's no extra behind the scenes food runners for example, someone from the Haven has to go many decks to the main galley or someone has to come up.. There's also a huge difference between making requests at table or in advance in terms of impact.

I agree...the Haven staff were fantastic.

I love the end cut of a prime rib and ordered it a few times the day before and was never disappointed.:cool:

 

Don

[CateW]

Can you order food "to-go" from The Haven Restaurant? What are their dining room hours?

 

We never did, but another Haven guest that we met did. I don't recall the hours but i want to say 6 to 9:30. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong:p

[Loonbeam]

Again, its worth noting that the Haven staff will try to accommodate any request including to-go. That doesn't mean its easy or not disruptive to routine. Since you do have access to a butler work with them to determine the best way to get an order outside the Haven venue as that is part of their standard duties. Packaging to-go orders is not part of the normal dining room duties.

[sverigecruiser]

Again, its worth noting that the Haven staff will try to accommodate any request including to-go. That doesn't mean its easy or not disruptive to routine. Since you do have access to a butler work with them to determine the best way to get an order outside the Haven venue as that is part of their standard duties. Packaging to-go orders is not part of the normal dining room duties.

 

I agree that the best thing to do is to work with the butler but since the staff in the dining room has time to ask the guests every minute if everything is okay they probably have time to package to go orders.

 

As I said, talk to your butler first.

[Apsalar]

Not exactly on topic but - what are the Haven bar hours?

[Susandt]

On 4/19/2017 at 12:56 PM, Paul from Maryland said:

 

We were in the Haven on the Breakaway in early March 2017. The Haven restaurant had the same menu each day. One menu for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner.

 

Don't forget: the Haven will also have menus for the other restaurants. Your Haven waiter will gladly show you the other menus and get whatever you order. I think the only thing they won't get from another restaurant is raw seafood.

so is their a fee if you order from another menu

[Susandt]

On 8/11/2017 at 8:17 AM, CateW said:

 

We never did, but another Haven guest that we met did. I don't recall the hours but i want to say 6 to 9:30. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong:p

 Wonder if you can for lunch, would love to take food up to vibe

[Two Wheels Only]

1 minute ago, Susandt said:

so is their a fee if you order from another menu

 

You "pay" as if you were in the restaurant from which you ordered.

 

Either use a SDP meal, pay a la cart, SDP plus upcharge, etc. Items from complimentary restaurants are no charge. There is no delivery fee.

[kessdarln]

On 4/28/2017 at 7:51 AM, Loonbeam said:

Actually, its not. They do it as a courtesy but the system wasn't designed for it, and it is disruptive to the flow. The butlers have a system in place to get food from other venues. Along with specials, doing this is at the discretion of the staff and although they probably won't, they can say no. They don't say no to things they really should, like being defacto baby sitters.

 

Thanks for the information.  Is your recommendation, if I want something from a different restaurant, ask my butler to arrange it, and not ask the staff in the Haven restaurant? Is that correct?

One more thing, I know in the MDR they don't customize, will they do that in the Haven restaurant or with the butler? I know it's dumb, but for example, I hate cilantro and it seems to be the new parsley since most love it.   (thanks, I know this is an old post - hoping to TA in 2022)