Getaway June 14-21 Haven review - one word FABULOUS!!!

[maja651]

Michelle!!!!!!!!!

So glad that you got the balcony divider opened!,

Love that you had a super time

Can't wait to hear the details

 

Welcome home

 

Nora

 

Thanks! Yes, we had a super time and really loved having the balcony divider open. I promise to post details and pictures soon!

[maja651]

Looking forward to your full report, welcome back.

 

Thanks!

[Keith1010]

Glad you had a fantastic time.

 

Keith

[3shar]

We are staying in 16708 which is on the opposite side. so glad to hear it is quiet. Also glad to hear that the butler/concierge are great. Cant wait only a few more weeks.

[maja651]

ok, ARE YOU READY? !!!!!! strap yourself in and get ready to join me in the Haven of the Getaway! :)

 

Stats:

I was travelling with a large group in 3 suites. My family (mom 65, brother 42, brother 36, husband 40, nephews 16 and 18 and myself were in 2 of the 2 bedroom suites right next to each other (16712 and 16714). Our friends Kim, 48, Tom, 44 Tom's mom, 77 and Tyler, 10 were in an aft penthouse suite (11908).

 

Pre-cruise:

My family spent the week in Myrtle Beach, SC prior to the cruise. One of my nephews graduated from H.S. and the trip was to celebrate it. We flew into Miami one day early and stayed at the Intercontinental by Bayside Market Place. It was a very nice hotel, and I would highly recommend. We got great rates with LMT and I feel we got a great value. Even though we booked via LMT, they upgraded us to rooms with a view of the bay and gave us free wifi. Hint - Join their loyalty program before you go and make sure you put that information into your reservation. That always helps. :)

 

Day 1 - Embarkation and WOW this is amazing!

We got to the port around 10:55 am. There was a small line at security, but not longer than 5 minutes. Note - the security line was different than last year. There is NO VIP line for security, unlike last year. After we cleared security, we were ushered to the wine table to pay our cork fees. It was a simple and efficient process and soon we were headed to the Haven check in area. Note - This area has also changed since last year. Last year, they checked you in while sitting at a nice large desk. This year, although there were seats, people lined up and you checked in standing. Huge deal? Nope, but I noticed. After we checked in (maybe 10 minutes tops for all of us) we were sent to the room across the way to wait until someone came to escort us onto the ship. They had sandwiches, drinks and cookies. We only waited maybe 5 minutes and we were off! Well, not quite that easy. Part of the group to be escorted had family still checking in in the other room. They demanded we wait for those people. The lady complied, and about 5 minutes later, they were STILL checking in and she decided to let us go and board the ship. That family waited for the rest of their family and did not go with us. Just a comment peeps - if your whole family is not checked in, DO NOT MAKE OTHER PEOPLE WAIT ON YOU! Come on! Go when you are ready, but do not penalize other families that are ready to go! That was just rude, and ticked us off.

 

So, the very nice lady walked our group to the ship. She did ask us if anyone wanted to take the embarkation photo, but everyone declined.

 

In no time, we were escorted in the Haven elevator and right up in the Haven! Our first impression was WOW! This place is NICE! :) Anoop gave us a small speech telling us a little about the Haven and the amenities. One thing I noticed that was different than our experience on the Epic with Adrian was that Adrian gave us a tour of the Haven area, Anoop did not. No biggie, but again, I noticed. He did tell us our rooms were not quite ready, but we could go to them and put our bags in there. Well, when we got to them around 11:30, they were about 99% done. THAT was a huge perk. We put away our items for the safe and checked out the rooms. (note, the safe is VERY small, and only one safe for the 2 bedroom suite. It will NOT hold a laptop, and would not hold even 3 ipads. No biggie, our items were safe up there, but I do think the safe should be bigger, and I think they should have 2 in a 2 bedroom suite.) First thing we did was to open the balcony divider between our 2 suites. No issues, and it was kept open all week (except for whatever reason when we returned from St. Maarten it was closed. We re-opened it and it was not closed again). The room is fantastic. The master bedroom was fabulous. The bed was SOOOOOOO comfortable. Great linens, great mattress, nice duvet. The bedroom had large flat screen TV, 2 large closets, nice sitting area/makeup area. It also had several drawers and shelves to place things. There was actually more space than we could even use, and this is from the serious overpacker. lol The fabulous bathroom had 2 sinks, nice shower and tub with window to the water, separate toilet, and again many drawers and shelves for things. One thing that was a tiny bit annoying...the door to the toilet is both see through and NOT soundproof. There is a curtain to separate the bedroom from the bath, but basically if someone is on the bed, and someone has to use the toilet, the person in the bedroom can hear everything. Big deal? Nope, but something that should and can be fixed.

 

Ok, moving on to the living room. It had a couch (not comfortable for sitting, but I imagine it would be good for a bed, although no one in our party slept on a couch). It also had a fairly comfortable brown chair, a small dining table with 4 chairs, a desk (equipped with binoculars for use), and of course the bar area with the infamous Lavazza machine. Our fridge was emptied with no issues, and we had ice delivered a LOT (I almost felt bad for poor Lucky, our butler).

 

The second bedroom had the couch/bed which was comfortable, nice flatscreen TV, closet, drawers and a decent bathroom that included a nice shower. I cannot comment much on this room as I really did not use it, but my brother was ok with it.

 

Balcony - ok, as I mentioned we opened the divider so ours was like a double balcony. Having it that way, it was nice a big, albeit narrow, but definitely workable for the entire family. To be honest, we really did not use it as much as you would think. The Haven sundeck is was so nice we spent a lot more time there than our balcony. More than anything, we used the balcony as a "private entry/hallway" between our 2 suites so that we could go back and fourth without having to go out in the main hallway. Each balcony had 2 comfy chairs and a table. It was adequate for the amount of space.

 

Ok, so finally done checking out the room. Now, headed back to the Haven lounge for lunch! Well, it was only about 11:45 at this point, so the Haven restaurant was not yet open. However, there were many people passing around sliders and French fries. Soon enough, it was time for our first Haven meal! Details to come in the next post!

 

If you have any questions from this first part, ask away!

[david_sobe]

I am strapped in and READY :eek:

Edited June 23, 2014 by david_sobe

[SissasMomE]

So - just making sure I understand this correctly ... you were ready to board, and they held you up waiting for another family?? Why on earth would they do that? It seems like they should have taken your family, and then come back for the others!!

Edited June 23, 2014 by SissasMomE

[maja651]

OK, time for lunch! We headed off to the Haven restaurant and met for the first time the lovely Suzana, Rose, and Michelle! We sure did end loving these people by the end of the cruise. They made our cruise very special, and we already miss them dearly! Suzana is going on her 2/3 month vacation July 5, so I am sorry for those of you cruising soon as you will not get to meet her. :( But, happy for her, as she deserves it!

 

Note on the Haven restaurant - the menu never changes, although they do offer nightly specials and they do allow you to order from other restaurants and you can order from the lunch menu at dinner). They served lobster in the Haven restaurant on lobster night, and you could also get prime rib in the Haven restaurant on the O-Sheehan's prime rib special night. The servers in the Haven restaurant are the best. They learn your name, your likes, dislikes, etc. and they learn quickly! They have a very special way of making you feel very good, and happy to go eat there. (Note, as a result of this, this was my first NCL cruise where I did NOT eat in a specialty restaurant. There was just no need to). I will not go into the boring details as to what we all ate, but I can tell you everything we ate at the Haven was delicious! No complaints whatsoever. It was fun watching my nephews try new things like duck, swordfish, shrimp cakes (OMG those were the best ever!), interesting deserts that would normally not try, etc. They ended up finding a lot of new foods they like that they probably never would have tried! I was a proud auntie! :) Also, they will serve you whatever and as much as you want. Michelle always wanted us to try new stuff too, so she would bring the special for the night out for everyone to try, in addition to what we ordered. (I guess that is why I think I gained 10 POUNDS on this cruise! :eek:)

 

Trust me, if you are able to eat in the Haven restaurant, do it! You will not be disappointed!

 

After lunch, we toured the Haven. Many pictures have been shown on the boards, so I won't get into a lot of details on the main Haven pool area. (I will be posting pictures later as well). The area that I hardly saw any pictures from and did not hear much about was the Haven sundeck area. I will focus on that. Note - our sailing was almost full, according to Suzi from our CC roll call. So, you can imagine the Haven was full as well. Keep that in mind as I describe the Haven area.

 

Haven pool area - always people in that area. Some little kids, but not a huge amount, but always people. They had a few tables for dining in there, a table with lemon water and ice tea, plate with muffins, cooikes, or something, and coffee. This was not an area that we ever used, except one day for a few minutes in the hot tub. Why you may ask? Well, I am from the desert of Arizona, so when I am near water, I want to see it! :) That is why we loved the Haven sundeck so much more than the pool area.

 

Haven sundeck - above the Haven, there are sunbeds, chairs, loungers, umbrellas, all for the exclusive use of the Haven guests. You get to the sundeck via a door at the far front area of the pool area (or you could also get there from the Haven hallways). There is a sauna and bathroom there, and a staircase to the sundeck. Someone asked about an elevator earlier. I am sorry, there may have been one but I did not notice. At the top of the stairs, you are now in the sundeck area. There is a bathroom up on that level as well, along with 2 areas. There is an area that surrounds the pool area, and then on the starboard side, there is a section that faces the sea with many beds, loungers, cabanas, umbrellas, tables, etc. There is an area where the loungers face forward, and an area where the loungers, cabanas and beds face sideways towards the sea. We like to look forward, so we chose that area and wondered why no one did. Well, we figured it out on day 5, a very hot sea day. NO breeze facing forward, but nice breeze facing sideways. So that day, we moved and enjoyed that area a lot more! :) Smoking is allowed, but thank goodness, most of the time we were up there, no one was smoking. 2 servers (Oliver and Umesh) came by about every 10 minutes offering things like water, ice tea, grape kabob, fruit kabob, cookies, ice cream, mini sandwiches, small smoothies, and more I am sure I cannot remember. There was also a lady from the bar who took lunch and drink orders. There was pumped in music, but it was not loud, and it was decent music. I am telling you, it was just a fabulous area. We spent most of our sea days up in the Haven sundeck. It was NEVER crowded. It was NEVER hard to find a chair or umbrella. There was NO KIDS in this upper area. They are allowed, but just never saw them up there. I saw basically the same people every day up there. Like I said, most people seemed to like the pool area, especially those with kids.

 

General notes on this Haven versus the Haven on the Epic - The Epic has a MUCH larger Haven, although no Haven sundeck as the Epic has Posh for Haven guests. The bar and restaurant area on the Epic is much larger, and nicer. However, we never had a problem finding a chair to sit on in the bar area, or getting a table at the Haven restaurant, so maybe they just figured out the right size this time. Having a suite actually IN the Haven this time (we were in an aft suite on the Epic) made a HUGE difference for us. We used the Haven and Haven restaurant much more this time, and in fact, like I mentioned in my first post, we hardly even left the Haven area. I would pay additional to be IN the Haven versus just having access. But, that's me. Some people don't mind the walk, etc. but being IN the Haven means you NEVER have to deal with the crowds, etc. unless you WANT to. As soon as you open the Haven door, it is just calmer, quieter, and feels different. If you are not in the Haven, you will have to deal with crowds to get to the Haven. Again, biggie for most? Probably not, but we found out that it IS for us.

 

OK, more coming later. Next Up - Illusionarium! (WAY worth it btw!)

[SissasMomE]

Lobster night - was it a whole lobster, or just the tail? Thanks!

[maja651]

So - just making sure I understand this correctly ... you were ready to board, and they held you up waiting for another family?? Why on earth would they do that? It seems like they should have taken your family, and then come back for the others!!

 

Yes. The man from this family, DEMANDED that the NCL employee who was escorting our group to wait on his family members who were not checked in! Annoying, huh? I know, 5 or 10 minutes is not going to kill me, but the audacity of this guy thinking he owned the world and that we should all have to wait on his family who was not ready was what got to me. GRRRRRR! Oh, and btw, it is not like there are not several people who are coming and going escorting guests up to the ship.

[SissasMomE]

Yes. The man from this family, DEMANDED that the NCL employee who was escorting our group to wait on his family members who were not checked in! Annoying, huh? I know, 5 or 10 minutes is not going to kill me, but the audacity of this guy thinking he owned the world and that we should all have to wait on his family who was not ready was what got to me. GRRRRRR! Oh, and btw, it is not like there are not several people who are coming and going escorting guests up to the ship.

 

Oh good Lord ....

[maja651]

Yes. The man from this family, DEMANDED that the NCL employee who was escorting our group to wait on his family members who were not checked in! Annoying, huh? I know, 5 or 10 minutes is not going to kill me, but the audacity of this guy thinking he owned the world and that we should all have to wait on his family who was not ready was what got to me. GRRRRRR! Oh, and btw, it is not like there are not several people who are coming and going escorting guests up to the ship.

 

Oh - and while I am at it. While I met MANY very nice, friendly Haven guests, I also had the great displeasure of dealing with multiple rude, obnoxious, over the top rude Haven guests. I mean, RUDE. It killed me dealing with those people, but hey, that's what martinis are for, right? :rolleyes: I am sure you know the type, just like the guy that thought everyone should wait on his family, the ones that think they own the chairs, are too lazy to put their used towels in the used towels bin when they left (so those front row chairs looked like they were being used, when really they were not), too lazy to throw away their trash, etc. I felt bad for the Haven staff, yet that staff no matter what, had a smile on their face and a "yes sir" or yes madam".

[maja651]

Lobster night - was it a whole lobster, or just the tail? Thanks!

 

Tails, but as many as you wanted. :)

[SissasMomE]

Oh - and while I am at it. While I met MANY very nice, friendly Haven guests, I also had the great displeasure of dealing with multiple rude, obnoxious, over the top rude Haven guests. I mean, RUDE. It killed me dealing with those people, but hey, that's what martinis are for, right? :rolleyes: I am sure you know the type, just like the guy that thought everyone should wait on his family, the ones that think they own the chairs, are too lazy to put their used towels in the used towels bin when they left (so those front row chairs looked like they were being used, when really they were not), too lazy to throw away their trash, etc. I felt bad for the Haven staff, yet that staff no matter what, had a smile on their face and a "yes sir" or yes madam".

 

That's such a shame :( You're right though - you just really have to ignore people like that. The staff are saints sometimes!!

[happy cruzin]

Oh - and while I am at it. While I met MANY very nice, friendly Haven guests, I also had the great displeasure of dealing with multiple rude, obnoxious, over the top rude Haven guests. I mean, RUDE. It killed me dealing with those people, but hey, that's what martinis are for, right? :rolleyes: I am sure you know the type, just like the guy that thought everyone should wait on his family, the ones that think they own the chairs, are too lazy to put their used towels in the used towels bin when they left (so those front row chairs looked like they were being used, when really they were not), too lazy to throw away their trash, etc. I felt bad for the Haven staff, yet that staff no matter what, had a smile on their face and a "yes sir" or yes madam".

 

Absolutely!! :D

[DrNora]

That's such a shame :( You're right though - you just really have to ignore people like that. The staff are saints sometimes!!

 

Can we openly mock, berate, and chastise them after a few mojitos ? Because my southern manners seem to go out the window when pompous blowhards are about...add ETOH to the equation....and the caped defender of the the belittled yet smiling staff may just appear!

 

Seriously- I have no patience for "those kind of people" .

Maybe our week will be ******* free?

 

Nora

That was NOT a bad word that got ****** out! It was a boys name followed by a donkey!,

Edited June 24, 2014 by DrNora

[maja651]

Can we openly mock, berate, and chastise them after a few mojitos ? Because my southern manners seem to go out the window when pompous blowhards are about...add ETOH to the equation....and the caped defender of the the belittled yet smiling staff may just appear!

 

Seriously- I have no patience for "those kind of people" .

Maybe our week will be ******* free?

 

Nora

That was NOT a bad word that got ****** out! It was a boys name followed by a donkey!,

 

Cracking me up here... :). Hopefully your week will not have those types, but the Haven, being what it is, and the cost of it does draw out those types unfortunately. For us, my mom paid the vast majority this time, as she finished up chemo about a year ago and is celebrating life, along with my nephew's graduation. She wanted to have all of her kiddos with her to enjoy a very good, pampered time. And that we did! :). Thanks mom!

[maja651]

Ok, next up the muster drill. OMG was that annoying! No one would shut the hell up when the staff asked everyone to be quiet. It was virtually impossible for these people to shut up. I mean seriously, you would have thought we were in a room full of toddlers. I felt terrible for the NCL staff and wanted to go slap all of those people. Can we all agree to shut the hell up when they ask you to? Grrrrr

 

Ok, enough of that rant. :p

 

For sail away, we went to our friend's aft penthouse (11908). The plan was to enjoy the nice huge balcony together. However, the plan did not work out as it was H-O-T HOT out! These desert dwellers could not handle the humidity with no breeze in regular clothes so we all crammed into the living room of their suite. It was hot in there too, but lucky for me Tyler (10) loves his "Auntie Chelle" and was fanning me with a paper. He's such a cute, nice little boy! :)

 

I have to say, their room was nice too, but the second bathroom was T-I-N-Y tiny! They seemed ok with it, but not sure I would be ok using that second bathroom as my primary bath. The second bathroom in our suite was much larger. However, their balcony was fabulous, just like the pictures you have seen here on the boards. That would be a perfect balcony for an Alaskan cruise. :)

 

Illusionarium:

 

Let me preface this by saying, I am not really a magic type person. In fact, I had no plans on going to this show. However, all of the reviews here in CC convinced me, and I am so glad I did! The show was phenomenal. We were fortunate enough to be able to sit in a table right at the stage thanks to the Haven and Anoop(concierge). As a result of where we sat, Tyler, Marc (my 16 to year old nephew) and Tom (friend in aft suite) were all either in he show or asked to be. That was cool! The food was blah. The best part was the salad. The sauce on the steak was way too peppery for me, and I do,not like breaded shrimp. The deserts were flavorless. That said, I would go to that show again!!!! Who cares about the food, the show alone was worth it!!!! I say, go to it!!! Everyone in our party really loved the show, everyone!!!! Oh, and since we booked it for the first night, we did get a credit on our account for the discount applied for going on the first night. I think we saved $6 per person going the first night.

 

As we had went to the late show, I think we ended up going back to our rooms that night after the show. We really did not even walk around the ship hardly at all! That night, we really appreciated how nice our bed was. It was soooo comfortable and sooooo quiet! :). Really loved loved loved that bed! :)

 

Next up: day 2 sea day!!!!!

Edited June 24, 2014 by maja651

[English101]

Love your review! Can't wait for more! I'm really liking your writing style. And you've definitely shared some info I didn't know about. I knew they offered fruit and cold towels but that's all I heard in the past. I like hearing all the little details. I'm on Breakaway in October and I can't wait! Been counting down for 16 months already! 😱

[nclgetaway95]

Would love to hear your secret on how to get dividers open... I go on the july 5 sailing and we have 4 rooms side by side. The balcony look very tight to begin with so opening up the dividers would be wonderful. Thanks!

[maja651]

Would love to hear your secret on how to get dividers open... I go on the july 5 sailing and we have 4 rooms side by side. The balcony look very tight to begin with so opening up the dividers would be wonderful. Thanks!

We just used the wine opener that was in the suite, but I have also eras you can use a pen. There is a lever and if you have something that will fit in the space, it will open.

[maja651]

Love your review! Can't wait for more! I'm really liking your writing style. And you've definitely shared some info I didn't know about. I knew they offered fruit and cold towels but that's all I heard in the past. I like hearing all the little details. I'm on Breakaway in October and I can't wait! Been counting down for 16 months already! ��

Thanks! I do tend to go on and on on with some details so I am glad you like it. I bet some have opted out of my review for that reason. Lol

 

More tomorrow! Including Burn the Floor, the Levity Headliner comedy show and some information on other parts of the beautiful ship.

Edited June 24, 2014 by maja651

[chuck/debbie]

I also used LMT and staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, how did you add your reward card to your reservation?

[mianmike]

Ok, next up the muster drill. OMG was that annoying! No one would shut the hell up when the staff asked everyone to be quiet. It was virtually impossible for these people to shut up. I mean seriously, you would have thought we were in a room full of toddlers. I felt terrible for the NCL staff and wanted to go slap all of those people. Can we all agree to shut the hell up when they ask you to? Grrrrr

 

 

Here here! What happened to civility? I know people are excited to start the cruise, but come on people, the crew (and everyone trying to listen) deserves quiet so we can get the show on the road! I’m always amazed at the crew’s patience with inconsiderate people. I couldn't do their job, cause if I did there would be some people in a time-out.

[maja651]

I also used LMT and staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, how did you add your reward card to your reservation?

I just called the Intercontinental hotel and gave it to them with the reservation number.