Eating in the Haven 2023

[BostonGal35]

18 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

@BirdTravels, your photos are so helpful!  

 

DH, who loves a good burger, suggests to others that they ask for the Pretzel Roll bun with the lunch Brie Burger.  (See the bun with the fish sandwich.)    Says it holds up much better.  

 

That's what I love about the Haven restaurant and what I have learned here on CC.  If they have the ingredients, they are happy to specialize your order.      For me, I want extra Avocado and some cream cheese in my omelet.  So  good😋

my fiance was able to get lobster in his omelette in the haven.  

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, rattla said:

Is the fresh squeezed orange juice, properly fresh squeezed?  Also, is it included with haven even if just on the Premium Package?  As I know the Premium package mentions Fresh squeezed juices are not included in Premium package?

OJ is fresh squeezed. The juice on the menu is offered by the restaurant and has nothing to do with the drinks package. Just as the Starbucks coffee is offered by the restaurant and has nothing to do with the drinks package. 

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

Am I the only one who's underwhelmed with the food?  I find a few of the dishes weird and the quality is hit or miss depending both on the ship and the day.  Add the fact that the menu doesn't change and it just bores me by mid-cruise.

 

Or maybe I'm just overly picky?

Bottom line is that you’re sailing on a mid market cruise line. The Haven food is far far superior to the Coastal Kitchen on RCCL. If you want true fine dining, book a luxury cruise where they serve Beluga Caviar on request and the Maitre D cooks for you tableside on request (we have done that in the past). 

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, tomk3212 said:

WOW!!!  HOLY SNEEZE!!  I knew the food in the Haven was a cut above what NCL serves in the MDR & specialty restaurants but THIS is spectacular!!!  Couple of quick questions @BirdTravels:

 

1) Do the menus change or is the same menu every day?

2) Am guessing that since you added a lobster tail to several entrees you can mix between the different entrees/offerings?

 

GREAT job with the pix, menus, etc!!!  THANKS A BUNCH!!!

 

Now I gotta check my IRAs to see if I can do a withdrawal to pay for a Haven cruise...lol

 

Also gotta show these pix to my cardiologist & PCP to see what they'll allow me to eat...

The menus do not change. 
 

You can ask for any custom order you want. Rather than surf and turf with the small filet and lobster, we order the NY Strip (not as good a cut, but bigger) and 2-3 lobster tail/ (which are small). Used to be better when they had the rib eye. 

[gingersvp]

4 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

Am I the only one who's underwhelmed with the food?  I find a few of the dishes weird and the quality is hit or miss depending both on the ship and the day.  Add the fact that the menu doesn't change and it just bores me by mid-cruise.

 

Or maybe I'm just overly picky?

 

I was underwhelmed. I prefer the YC on MSC or Coastal Kitchen on Royal when it comes to suite dining. It's well prepared but uninspired and I was bored with the menu not rotating. I go into my next sailing with this in mind and will do more specialty dining and perhaps make more special requests. 

But I will say, it's perhaps generally inline with the level of quality of Royal and MSC - it just feels too "safe" and they're not taking enough risks on flavor variety or trends. 

[BirdTravels]

For us, we had two free at sea dinners and two latitudes dinners, so we had fewer dinners in the Haven. 
 

For breakfast and lunch, the non rotating menus were fine. Fresh fruit off the buffet and Eggs or a waffle and some bacon is all we need… along with OJ and a coffee. 

[UKstages]

4 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

Add the fact that the menu doesn't change and it just bores me by mid-cruise.

 

Or maybe I'm just overly picky?

 

it really depends on the length of the cruise. if i'm doing a seven or ten day... and i have two or four specialty dining meals thrown in there, i have found i really don't get bored by the menu choices. plus, when i find my favorite, i have another opportunity or two to have it again.

 

if you're on a twelve or twenty-one day cruise, or you're on lengthy back-to-back cruises, well, yeah, it might get a little boring. but, remember, you will likely have additional specialty dining credits to consume in that case... plus they will bring you virtually anything you want in the haven restaurant with one day notice, or customize your order (if ingredients are on the menu and available in the kitchen) and they will bring you MDR choices and buffet items (such as indian food)... again, with notice.

 

it's not my place to say whether you're being overly picky... but i have heard things around town.

 

just sayin'.

[BornPisces]

6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

For us, we had two free at sea dinners and two latitudes dinners, so we had fewer dinners in the Haven. 
 

For breakfast and lunch, the non rotating menus were fine. Fresh fruit off the buffet and Eggs or a waffle and some bacon is all we need… along with OJ and a coffee. 

Excellent pics btw! Can you use your free at sea dinners delivered to the haven by your butler?

[Tallulah20]

My family will be in the Haven for Christmas this year. It's only our second cruise. I have read in other threads that the MDR will offer a special meal on Christmas. I know the menu in the Haven doesn't change usually, but does anyone have any experience with the Haven doing anything special on holidays?

Edited September 13, 2023 by Tallulah20
spelling

[PATRLR]

5 hours ago, Yesimapirate said:

Am I the only one who's underwhelmed with the food?  I find a few of the dishes weird and the quality is hit or miss depending both on the ship and the day.  Add the fact that the menu doesn't change and it just bores me by mid-cruise.

45 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Bottom line is that you’re sailing on a mid market cruise line. The Haven food is far far superior to the Coastal Kitchen on RCCL. If you want true fine dining, book a luxury cruise where they serve Beluga Caviar on request and the Maitre D cooks for you tableside on request (we have done that in the past). 

Interesting comments.  I actually expected Haven to have fine dining similar to the way cruising used to have fine dining (I'm talking about back in the 80s and earlier).  Disappointing if that's not the case.

39 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You can ask for any custom order you want. Rather than surf and turf with the small filet and lobster, we order the NY Strip (not as good a cut, but bigger) and 2-3 lobster tail/ (which are small). Used to be better when they had the rib eye. 

I thought you could ask for Specialty Dining meals, i.e. Cagneys rib-eye.  Is that not correct?  

@BirdTravels - Great post, well done. Thank you.

 

[Sand and Seas]

18 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

it really depends on the length of the cruise. if i'm doing a seven or ten day... and i have two or four specialty dining meals thrown in there, i have found i really don't get bored by the menu choices. plus, when i find my favorite, i have another opportunity or two to have it again.

 

if you're on a twelve or twenty-one day cruise, or you're on lengthy back-to-back cruises, well, yeah, it might get a little boring. but, remember, you will likely have additional specialty dining credits to consume in that case... plus they will bring you virtually anything you want in the haven restaurant with one day notice, or customize your order (if ingredients are on the menu and available in the kitchen) and they will bring you MDR choices and buffet items (such as indian food)... again, with notice.

 

it's not my place to say whether you're being overly picky... but i have heard things around town.

 

just sayin'.

Yes, length of cruise makes a difference.  

 

On a 7 day cruise, we actually skipped our last night dinner at Cagney's as we wanted one more Haven Dinner.   For a 5 day cruise, we declined the specialty dining as we already had two Platinum meals.   We will happily have our other three dinners in the Haven.

 

Now, if we can just win our bid to Haven on our upcoming 12 day Club Balcony...…..🤔

[rattla]

We have a 16 night, so interesting how we get on, but get 3 speciality from FAS and bought 2 extra, so with those spaced out will be interesting how it goes, as still potentially 11 meals from that menu.

Have heard from some that on longer cruise they sometimes put on daily specials. So will be interesting to see if that happens 😊

Edited September 13, 2023 by rattla

[Yinster]

59 minutes ago, BornPisces said:

 Can you use your free at sea dinners delivered to the haven by your butler?

That would be the maitre D's job. However they usually need time to arrange to do it and it would mean one of the staff having to go to that particular restaurant to collect. Only food item not allowed to travel is sushi. And teppenaki would be a pain as it is served as it's cooked. 

 

Why not go to that particular restaurant and get the ambience  too or get the butler to deliver it to your cabin?

 

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Yinster

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, BornPisces said:

Excellent pics btw! Can you use your free at sea dinners delivered to the haven by your butler?

You can have your SDP meals served in your room. You can do it course by course or all at once. The butler will fetch all of the food at once and keep it in the butler pantry near your room. You are at their mercy on when they will come back for your next course. So, I would take all food and serve myself. 

[BirdTravels]

45 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

I thought you could ask for Specialty Dining meals, i.e. Cagneys rib-eye.  Is that not correct? 

Yes. So long as you pay $39+20% tip for it. And pre coordinate with your butler to deliver it. 
 

Last year there was a Delmonico steak on the Haven menu and it was lovely. For that matter, there used to be filet and eggs on the suites menu. And the tomahawk pork chop. All have gone by way of cost cutting. 

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Tallulah20 said:

My family will be in the Haven for Christmas this year. It's only our second cruise. I have read in other threads that the MDR will offer a special meal on Christmas. I know the menu in the Haven doesn't change usually, but does anyone have any experience with the Haven doing anything special on holidays?

"special menus" normally means that they will be served roasted turkey at all restaurants. We sail over Thanksgiving from time to time. We greatly prefer to go to the buffet for dinner since it is more like home. You get a bit of turkey, some ham, some sweet potato, etc. etc. You take what you want, as much as you want and you're not stuck with a dinner plated the way the ship thinks it should be. If you want sweet sour chicken with your turkey... go for it. Or some curry over rice instead of mashed potato. Take a piece of pie and pair it with cake topped with chocolate mouse. 

[BirdTravels]

The Horizon Lounge - Breakfast 

 

[BirdTravels]

Horizons Lounge - Afternoon Snacks 

 

[PATRLR]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yes. So long as you pay $39+20% tip for it. And pre coordinate with your butler to deliver it. 

Ah - got it.  And that makes sense. 

Shame they don't have a rib eye available without the extra charge.  

[Sand and Seas]

Oh, we LOVED the afternoon snacks in the Horizon Lounge!  Another reason we loved Bliss Haven over Getaway/Breakaway Haven.   (Although staff was great on those ships.)

 

I must admit, the afternoon I found mini glass jars of Banana Banoffee, a couple of them made their way to our fridge. (Don't forget to grab a demitasse spoon.)  Delicious as a late night snack😋

Edited September 13, 2023 by Sand and Seas

[Yinster]

Going to have to say to our butler NO afternoon snacks in our cabin for our upcoming cruise on Joy. Would much prefer to choose our own and not have wastage.

[BirdTravels]

16 hours ago, Yinster said:

Going to have to say to our butler NO afternoon snacks in our cabin for our upcoming cruise on Joy. Would much prefer to choose our own and not have wastage.

Snack examples

 

The Birds asked for gummy bears, peanut M&Ms, and bar mix. Along with a pitcher of water and ice tea in the fridge. Note: Wines were gifts and not part of the standard daily snacks. 

[Sand and Seas]

On 9/13/2023 at 11:52 AM, Sand and Seas said:

Yes, length of cruise makes a difference.  

 

On a 7 day cruise, we actually skipped our last night dinner at Cagney's as we wanted one more Haven Dinner.   For a 5 day cruise, we declined the specialty dining as we already had two Platinum meals.   We will happily have our other three dinners in the Haven.

 

Now, if we can just win our bid to Haven on our upcoming 12 day Club Balcony...…..🤔

I just love threads like this (thanks @BirdTravels)   

It reminds me of what we have loved on our Haven cruises.    

 

While we had several  pending upgrade bids in for our October Joy 12 day,  the inventory of available Haven cabins has dropped to 3 or 4.   This morning a nice Haven cabin outside of Haven proper appeared at a decent price.     Just had to let my Cruise Critic friends know that I just called CAS and paid  for upgrade to that cabin.😊

 

[Traveling Fools]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

The Birds asked for gummy bears, peanut M&Ms, and bar mix.

Traveling with two grandchildren...the butler has always kept a bowl full of all those goodies!  It has always been appreciated!

[BirdTravels]

11 minutes ago, Traveling Fools said:

Traveling with two grandchildren...the butler has always kept a bowl full of all those goodies!  It has always been appreciated!

The Butler keeps them full for us big kids too 😋