An Outsider’s Assessment of the Haven Experience

[caneable]

Without the intervention of the COVID pandemic we would never have found ourselves in the Haven. We are strictly balcony / ocean view customers and would have seen the Haven as far too expensive. However, 75% FCC made a huge difference and it was suggested by our Personal Cruise Consultant that it could be something we might try. As a consequence we found ourselves in the happy position of facing three cruises back to back on Norwegian Encore sailing from Seattle to Miami via Alaska, the Panama Canal and a few islands in the Caribbean. It was certainly something to look forward too, knowing that it was unlikely that we’d do it again.  Here is our summary of our Haven experience.

 

Prior to our vacation we had looked very carefully at what we could expect. Two particularly useful points of reference were an extensive review of what one might expect of the Haven here on Cruise Critic, penned by Southerngary , and an in depth video on YouTube produced by a Florida travel agency. In our opinion, both are excellent and well worth investigating prior to a first cruise in the Haven.

 

I’m U.K. born and bred, with various attitudes and thoughts that will differ from our North American friends, so please bear with me if i wander into Anglo values and opinions! Hopefully, in some small way, this submission will be of help to others. Experienced Haven guests should find it familiar, but it’s really aimed at those considering the Haven option.  What follows is our assessment of the wide range of services and opportunities offered by the Haven.

 

Embarkation was swift and easy from street to Haven lounge. The entire process took little more than an hour and there was little time stood in line.  Whilst there was minimum signage on the public street in Seattle, there were plenty of NCL assistants around and as a result we quickly found that we were able to bypass the embarkation queue as the Haven entry was separate.  Check in was very efficient in a  a small lounge with a breakfast buffet. After  little more than 20 minutes our Concierge came along to greet us all personally and take us aboard. We were taken to the Horizon Court, the main Haven lounge, and given a brief introduction to the Haven and the assistance available from the Concierge staff and our Butler.

 

Another aspect of getting on and off the ship became apparent. It was made clear to us by the Concierge team that at any port of call we could go to the lounge adjacent to their desk and they would arrange for us to make our way through a separate route to the head of the exit doors. This applied to going ashore for NCL tours, independent excursions or simply looking to look around town. There was no lengthy standing in line and it was a very helpful perk of the Haven if you were venturing out to explore on your own. The one exception seemed to be regarding NCL excursions where there was an on board ship meeting place from which coach stickers were distributed.

 

We had booked a  forward facing suite comprising lounge, bedroom, bathroom and a balcony.  From the video mentioned earlier we felt that we had a good idea of the scale of the cabin. We were wrong. It was quite bigger in each area especially the balcony where we found we could both sit comfortably. The lounge and bathroom were both very spacious and easy to move about without crashing into one another. While bedroom space was a little less generous we found that we could easily empty our luggage and store our clothing. As our cruise consisted of three cruises back to back from Alaska to the islands of the Caribbean, we had packed for a range of climate and certainly had far more luggage than usual.  As a result we did find the wardrobe hanging space limited but there is space for 26 hangers. By contrast there is a lot of drawer space: eleven drawers and four shelving spaces in the bedroom; three drawers and various shelving spaces in the bathroom and eight drawers and cupboard spaces in the lounge. One of the cupboard spaces in the lounge is full length but surprisingly without a hanging rail. Bottom line is that there is plenty of storage space!

 

It’s worth repeating that our cabin on deck 11 was not within the Haven complex. This meant that we needed to use the elevator to get up to deck 17.  I found it to be a walk of some 100 metres to the forward elevators and I’m 6’2”” tall and eat up the ground! More importantly, this cabin might be too far away for passengers with restricted mobility.

 

One final point about our forward facing cabin. As it is located at the front of the ship, in heavy seas we did experience some wave noise and at tender ports the noise of the anchors being released was quite considerable. We’re early risers so it didn’t concern us but other later risers might find it irritating.

 

We were surprised by how quickly the Haven concept consumed us. From the earliest point the whole staff seemed to know our names, requests were addressed quickly and the sense of being a valued resident of the Haven was established. There are numerous staff around to cater for your dining, beverage and booking needs.

 

The Haven restaurant is available to occupants for all three meals plus snacks available in the Horizon Lounge.  The food was amazing and the chef was always on hand during meal time to check that all was well.  The menu is repetitive but during our 21day section our head chef offered a special meal or dessert for lunchtime or evening so it wasn’t as restrictive as we had been led to believe. Add to that that it’s worth bearing in mind that if you have the dining package opportunities then you can probably easily vary your meals over any cruise of 7 to 14 days. The wait staff are fantastic!  As mentioned previously they quickly latch onto passengers’ names and are happy to engage in conversation when approached. Several have a great sense of fun but this is always respectful of the passenger and adds to the charm of the Haven experience.

 

Horizon Court is a large and beautiful space. Whilst the furniture is comfortable and very relaxing it does take up a lot of room so that there isn’t as much seating availability as you might expect.  There is piped music into the area but there isn’t any form of live music option.  Frankly it’s not necessary as there are numerous options around the ship. Furthermore it offers up plenty of options for conversation with fellow passengers which are often difficult on other ships where nearly all public spaces carry some kind of live entertainment.The bar inevitably opens up to lively fun chat as the evening moves on!  Incidentally, the bar staff are great. They’ll happily give suggestions for cocktails if, like us, it’s an area where your knowledge is limited. In addition there’s often a generous selection of canapés in the early evening pre dinner brought to you by one of the waiters.

 

We saw very little use of the indoor pool during our stay. My wife did use it from time to time and found that she could get a decent swim in although nobody else came in at the same time. That might have been a different scenario. The hot tubs next to the pool and on the main sun deck both get a good deal of use.  However it was a minor miracle if someone showered before using them.

 

Throughout our extended cruise there was usually plenty of space on the sun deck and no evidence of chair hogging. It did tend to get busier late morning to mid afternoon. The wait staff are very attentive. As well as dealing with requests for main beverages, from time to time they would bring round cold water and, on occasion, fruit smoothies.

 

The role of the butler was always a tricky one for us. We are not snackers and have no need of daily chocolates, cookies or cakes. Nevertheless the snacks appeared with regularity and, despite our comments that they weren’t needed, they kept on coming. We’d read suggestions that the butler might do all kinds of small tasks for us but we’re used to doing them for ourselves and it isn’t a luxury for us to have someone else do it for us. We’d see that as just plain laziness. We really didn’t need the butler but it seemed that he went out of his way to try to justify his existence. I understand that the butlers are not part of the gratuities fund and are dependent on customers tipping them, but are we wrong to think there is no need for us to tip for a service we don’t require? Our compromise was to tip as we thought appropriate for a rarely used element.

 

By contrast, our Room Steward was excellent. He kept on top of everything in a very respectful manner. Early on we established a pattern where we would switch on the appropriate sign so that he could tell at a glance whether he should come in or not. On the odd occasion when we hadn’t switched on the light he would knock on the door and enquire of our needs. His role was far more important to us and he was much more valued.

 

We found the concierge service to be of use in some instances. Certainly they were a great help leaving the ship on busy port days when we didn’t have booked excursions.  Equally they were able to sort out excursions for us. When we wanted to rearrange our dining sittings we found it more efficient to approach the dining reservations desk staff in the Atrium.  Booking space at shows was non existent unless you wanted to book space for the “comedians”. Otherwise it was open seating for the first 4 weeks of the cruise. Fine in the main theatre but absolutely useless in the Cavern when the Beatles tribute band were playing. Of course there’s nothing the concierge can do about that. By the end of the cruise theatre places needed to be booked and I suspect that this will be normal practice.

 

The only low spot occurred during the final leg of the cruise. In the first four weeks of the cruise the atmosphere in the Haven restaurant was wonderful. Despite being busy conversation was always a low hum. The last leg in the Caribbean Sea was quite different.  To a great extent this seemed largely due to the presence of 800 passengers on a conference. Some were booked into the Haven but then invited other colleagues to pay a supplement and join them. As a result most evenings there were several tables of 6 and more around the restaurant leading to numerous loud conversations which completely changed the nature of the restaurant. There’s probably little that can be done about that but NCL management might do well to consider the negative effect that such groups can have on a cruise experience that is costing the regular passenger a not insignificant amount of money.

 

All in all the Haven was a fantastic experience but it does come at a price both before and after the cruise. Service was consistently excellent and all Haven guests were easily accommodated in each of the general areas.  Our final section of the cruise took us into the Caribbean Sea and the fabulous weather did make space a lot more restricted on the sun deck.  The sun roof above the pool wasn’t opened on that section. For the most part our Haven experience was superb. The crew staff were wonderful. On our final evenings we took the opportunity to get photos with the restaurant staff and these will be treasured forever.

 

Sadly, it’s likely that the Haven will never be in our budget again, but it will always be remembered with joy and happiness. To those thinking about the Haven I can only quote the words of a favourite not so old song, if you see a chance take it!

 

[gmbhardy]

Great review. Thanks for posting.

 

[Sailing12Away]

For the snacks, you can request non sweet stuff if savory or salty is more to your liking. Things like a charteturier (sp?) board, simple cheese & crackers, potato chips, BLT sandwiches, PB&J, smoked salmon.... 

The other option is to tell a white lie and say you're allergic or on a restricted diet if you truly don't want any munchies in the room at all.

 

As for the price, never say never. There's been some decent deals to be found on Haven rooms, typically closer to sailing date. The Panama Canal trip I'm taking in February was as low as $280/pp/day at one point. 

 

But glad you enjoyed your long trip and are a Haven fan!

[AandL2000]

We had cruised three (3) times on NCL prior to our most recent cruise out of NY on the Norwegian Joy 19Nov2022.  The first cruise was in a suite on the Norwegian Crown (no longer a part of the NCL fleet) out of Philadelphia cruising to Bermuda.  It was a disaster (mediocre cabin, bad service and horrible food.) and caused us to take about a ten (10) years break from NCL.  We tried Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess before we were on a Celebrity cruise and met some cruisers who raved about NCL.  We gave NCL another try and to our delight, everything had improved.  The cabins on the newer ships were very good, the food was greatly improved, new venues like The District, and the service had elevated to good.  This inspired us to book another cruise on NCL and we were once again not disappointed.  Fast forward to our most recent cruise.  We decided to book a Haven suite as it has been a long time since our last cruise due to the covid madness and we wanted to ensure we would have a memorable luxury experience.  We made this decision after reading and watching glowing reviews about the Haven.  I'm sorry to say we were sorely disappointed in the Haven experience.  At this point I feel the need to say this is just our opinion based on 40+ cruises.  Clearly others feel differently and that's ok.  We've sailed on multiple categories of ships from Carnival to Crystal (long before their demise) and consider ourselves avid cruisers.  Our last cruise was on a Silversea expedition cruise to Antarctica in December 2019.  The entire time we were on the NCL Joy cruise, we couldn't help feeling that, perhaps, this is a product of the covid shutdowns.  Our butler told us "no" more than any other times we've cruised.  I will give this one detail that I hope illustrates our experience.  On the first day we were walking through the ship and the smell of popcorn filled the air.  We assumed it was a movie night thing and on the next movie night we asked the butler if popcorn was available.  He said, "Popcorn is only available on movie nights."  When we told him it was a movie night, he said "Ok...I'll check into it."  We never heard from his again.  This is getting long.  Suffice it to say, the Haven in our humble opinions was not all it was cracked up to be.  If you have the income and like feeling "exclusive", go for it.  The only thing that was clearly an elevated experience was the escorts on/off the ship and the escorts to venues.  Again, we did not experience the Haven prior to covid and believe the experience may have been significantly better.

[caneable]

You’re welcome gmbhardy! Sailing12away, we’re you thinking of charcuterie? But thanks for your supportive comments. And I’ll certainly never say never, it’s a fabulous experience. Thanks too for the suggestions re butler food requests.

[caneable]

AandL2000, I’m just wondering which ship you were on. Last summer we sailed on Norwegian Star to Iceland. We weren’t travelling as Haven occupiers but we did get to experience their dining options. For reasons we don’t quite know we were invited to use the breakfast facility in Moderno and lunchtime in Cagneys. We also had access to the concierge accompaniment off ship. Once again the food and the help off ship in ports were excellent, however I did think that that left people who had paid for Haven decidedly short changed. As a smaller ship the Star had no specific areas for Haven guests only beyond the restaurant options as far as we were aware. As a much newer and larger ship Norwegian Encore is well placed to wow the Haven cruiser.

[AandL2000]

We were on the Norwegian Joy.  We has some food that was tasty, but nothing that lived up to the Haven hype.  

[caneable]

Fair enough, the Joy is one of the larger ships in the fleet. I’d wondered whether your experience was on a smaller ship. Thanks for clarifying.

[janice2348]

5 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

For the snacks, you can request non sweet stuff if savory or salty is more to your liking. Things like a charteturier (sp?) board, simple cheese & crackers, potato chips, BLT sandwiches, PB&J, smoked salmon.... 

The other option is to tell a white lie and say you're allergic or on a restricted diet if you truly don't want any munchies in the room at all.

 

As for the price, never say never. There's been some decent deals to be found on Haven rooms, typically closer to sailing date. The Panama Canal trip I'm taking in February was as low as $280/pp/day at one point. 

 

But glad you enjoyed your long trip and are a Haven fan!

Please don’t do this. I sailed in the Haven with food allergies and they were all accommodated. Simply tell the butler no snacks are required. If he continues to bring them, speak to the concierge ( his boss). 
 

The kitchen and service staff works hard to accommodate food allergies.  Lying about it makes it difficult for those of us that do have them to be taken seriously.  

[caneable]

Part of our problem was that for each stage the butler was changed. Apparently they take it in turns to be available as the night shift. That said we didn’t speak to anyone about it. Pity we didn’t pick up that advice before the cruise started as that would have avoided waste food. Thanks for posting that Janice 2348 as it puts the info out there for others and that’s what this board should be about if it’s got any legs!