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

[maja651]

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.

Or do what I did, actually YELLED shut up! However, even that did not work. :rolleyes:

[SissasMomE]

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.

 

That's how my husband did it as well - the pen.

[English101]

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.

 

I'm sure the rude people are thinking the muster drill is a waste of time but, what if there WERE an emergency!?!? They wouldn't know what to do and would probably say it was NCL's fault for them not being informed! :rolleyes:

[met195]

Cant wait too read it and see pictures ... :D:D

[watchdiva]

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

Thanks for the great tip! I just joined the IHG Rewards Club and then online chatted to have them add the info to our existing reservation that was made through IHT! I love the tips that people share......thanks!

[JasonV1]

I normally don't waste posts commenting on reviews, but yours is rather good.

 

I didn't realize they allowed smoking on the Haven sundeck. Likely won't be an issue, but always a concern as my wife likes her sundecks but has asthma and the smoke can irritate it.

[Susie51]

Thank you for your Haven review.

[maja651]

Thanks for the great tip! I just joined the IHG Rewards Club and then online chatted to have them add the info to our existing reservation that was made through IHT! I love the tips that people share......thanks!

 

Oh yes, and the front desk person who checked us in mentioned that he was upgrading our room to the bay view in part due to us being loyalty members of IHG. :) Nothing better than waking up and seeing the ship right out your window! :)

[maja651]

Day 2, Sunday (Sea Day)

 

OK, this day I was bound and determined to sleep in. I had not slept in the entire week before in Myrtle Beach, and really wanted a rest day. BUT, my body did not agree with this plan and I was awake by 7:30. I guess I was just too excited to sleep! Made some of the awesome Lavazza expresso and sat out on the balcony for a while looking at the sea. We saw some of the flying fish (soo cool!) while sitting out there. There is really nothing more relaxing than sitting out there and seeing nothing but sea...and oh, btw, the sea was like glass for the entire trip! We were VERY lucky with the weather...only rained in Miami before we left, but never really saw rain again until we returned to Miami the next Saturday!

 

So, after I had my coffee fix, I went up to the sundeck. I think I decided to skip breakfast this day, as I knew I wanted the delicious lunch in the Haven! My mom and I went up to the sundeck and found great spots right in the facing front section. We had an umbrella so we had plenty of shade. Soon, Brian (hubby) came up too and we were in 100% relax mode. But wait, what do we see ahead? Are those dolphins? YES!!!! we saw some spinner dolphins jumping out of the water right in front of the ship! SO AWESOME! They played there for about 5 minutes, then they were gone. It was a great way to start off the Haven sundeck experience! :) We sat up there reading and chatting for quite a while, while Umesh and Oliver kept bringing the cold towels, water refills, tea refills, fruit kabobs, grape kabobs, and various other snacks. As I mentioned before, on other days they also brought our shrimp, ice cream, mini sandwiches, cookies, etc. They were the best! Loved those guys a lot! Umesh knew my name by day 1 and I never even showed him a Haven card. He always called me "Miss Michelle" which I loved as it made me feel young. :)

Soon enough, it was time for lunch, and we headed down to the Haven restaurant. We were greeted warmly by Suzana and Michelle and had a great lunch! I can't remember the details of what we ate, but it was yummy.

 

I think we went down to the room and rested a while before the evening (as you know, lying out in the sun, eating and reading is just sooooo tough on the body. :D ).

 

That night at 6:30 was the Captain's cocktail party. We did NOT want to miss that! They held it in the Bliss lounge and drinks and food were flowing! Someone has mentioned it on the boards before, but I can confirm you can get ANY drink you want. One server, and for whatever reason his names escapes me right now, but he really took care of us! We decided on champaigne. and by the time our glass was half full, he was bring another. In fact, we left the party double fisted! He insisted! Let's just say, if there was a drunk night, that was the one. :)

 

After the party, we rushed over to the theater as we had reservations for the Burn the Floor. We were kind of pushing it, and barely found seats. But, we DID find seats. :) The show was ok, not my cup of tea, but great if you are into dancing.

We went to dinner at the Haven restaurant after the show and had lobster (it was lobster night in the buffet). The meal was great, but honestly, we were still a bit tipsy from the cocktail party, so I di not remember a lot from that dinner. lol

 

After dinner, we walked around the ship a bit. As others have mentioned, most of the indoor action is on decks 6-8. This made it very convenient, yet crowded in those areas. Was there a smoke smell near the casino you may ask? Yes, there was, but nothing intolerable. The ship is absolutely beautiful and very enjoyable to walk around. We checked out O-Sheehans (nice place on deck 7 above the Atrium), the casino (didn't gamble though) and then checked out the water front. Nice area out there with the "sea through floors", aft view, all of the restaurants and bars, etc. I only wish it was cooler, as I can really barely tolerate the high humidity, so sitting out on the water front was just not an option for us. I think it would be fabulous in the winter or early spring (probably fall too).

 

We also went to the comedy act tonight. We chose the 11 pm show. It was good, but not GREAT. I would go again though. The chairs are not the best in that room, and it got crowded, so that part was not appealing to me, but the comedians were pretty good. I think the show was about 45 minutes to an hour.

 

Soon it was time to head back up to the Haven to escape the masses. :D It is just SOOOO quiet up there in the evenings. If you are a person who likes a lot of action, you may not like the Haven at all. It is not that kind of place. But, if you like quiet, you will LOVE IT!

 

Next up: Day 3, Monday, another sea day!

Edited June 24, 2014 by maja651

[maja651]

Thank you for your Haven review.

 

You are very welcome! :)

[maja651]

I normally don't waste posts commenting on reviews, but yours is rather good.

 

I didn't realize they allowed smoking on the Haven sundeck. Likely won't be an issue, but always a concern as my wife likes her sundecks but has asthma and the smoke can irritate it.

 

Thanks for the nice words. I am willing to bet that you will not have any issues. Like I said, we really didn't see many people smoking, and the ones we did see (2 people) were very considerate of everyone, going to areas where no one was. Also, like I mentioned, if you DO get an inconsiderate Haven smoker, there are PLENTY of places to enjoy the sundeck. While it may not seem "fair" for you to have to move, it would probably be worth it!

[BlueJai]

Great review, I love your writing style and looking forward to more.

[maja651]

Monday, Day 3, sea day

 

Before I start, I forgot to mention I ordered a pizza on the drunk night. It was HORRIBLE! I am not picky, but my goodness it was bad. Others have mentioned it, and here is another review of that horrible pizza. Do not order it!

 

OK, today I think we decided to have breakfast in the Haven restaurant. Seeing Michelle and Suzana is always a great way to start your day! I cannot remember when we went, or what we ate, but it was good. :) Also, for those wondering, you do NOT have to dress up to eat in the Haven restaurant. You can eat in a swimsuit and cover up for breakfast and lunch, no one will bat an eye. For dinner, I personally like to wear dresses, as I never get the chance at home, but many people wore jeans or more casual clothes, and there are NO ISSUES. DO NOT WORRY about what you "have to wear".

 

After breakfast, up to the Haven sundeck we went. Today, there were a few more people up there, so we had to "share" our front area with another couple. lol Seriously, I forgot to mention that on Sunday there was no one else up in the front facing area, only us. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we soon learned why!

 

We spent a lot of time up on the sundeck on Monday. Again, Umesh and Oliver were AWESOME! We brought our own plastic bubba kegs for ice water, and they would even fill those up for us! Fabulous!

 

At around 3, we headed back down to the room as tonight at 5 I had set up (with Allie) an informal meet and greet at The Mojito bar. I did not go to the formal one, and did tell everyone I would not go, as I really prefer to NOT have a scheduled event the first sea day. So, I created this informal one!

 

I have forgotten to mention that Lucky brought in snacks on Sunday and also again on Monday. We had already told him the kinds of snacks we like and dislike, and he accommodated us very well! He was also just a phone call away for anything. We called a lot for ice, and extra snacks. My brothers really liked the cheese and crackers, the sandwhiches, the crunchy munchies, and I really liked the chocolate covered strawberries! He brought whatever we wanted. I also forgot to mention there was a large bottle of water and a bottle of sparkling wine in the room when we arrived. Those were included in the room. There was also a nice bouquet of flowers. I will post pictures later. I guess the point of this ramble is to talk with your butler to get what you want. They cannot read minds, and are more than happy to please you. They WANT to make you happy, so why not help them?

 

Moving on to the informal Meet and Greet! We went down to the Mojito bar and met some of our CC friends with whom we had been chatting with before the cruise. It was a great way to meet everyone, and unfortunately too short! Time flies when you are on the cruise, so we really didn't get to spend hardly any time with these awesome people, but I hope to some time in the future! :)

 

I did order the Mojito flight to try the different mojito options. I am not going to lie, I did not like one of them! Yuck! I am not sure why, but not one of them tasted good to me. This was also the one place where I found the server to be lacking. We ordered the drinks and it took quite a while. Maybe because the flight takes a while, I don't know, but I was not impressed. Needless to say, we did not return to that bar. (Although I will say, they had great live music at this bar when I walked by a couple of times).

 

Tonight was the Latitudes party, held in Spice H2O, but we did not go. My mom, hubby and I were the only ones who were invited, and we did not want to ditch our group. (oh, and I am gold now after this cruise! woo hoo!)

 

I think we ate in O-Sheehans this night, because the family HAD to try it. I think it was prime rib night. It was pretty good, but I would have preferred to eat in the Haven. Don't get me wrong, our server was good, he was friendly, patient, and brought what we ordered. It is just that in the Haven they know your name, it is quieter, and a very different experience. However, if you do not have access to the Haven restaurant, this place is pretty good for pub grub and the prime rib was good too. :)

 

I cannot remember what we did after, but I think we went up to the room and watched a movie. That is another thing that reminds me to share with you. The TV has an interactive Movies channel with pay AND free movies available to you all of the time. You can even stop the movie and come back and view it later. NICE feature! It also has a channel that was showing the Mighty Ships episodes of the Epic and Breakaway, and the Undercover Boss episode with Keven Sheehan. I definitely ended up watching all of those shows. Even cooler to watch them when you are ON the ship. :)

 

Oh, another thing I have forgotten to mention. Turn down! Every night, Sopi did an amazing turn down for us and provided us with a different towel animal that he incorporated the chocolates into. It was fun to come back to the room to see it. I have pictures of every one, and will post soon I promise!

 

Next up, day 4 St. Maarten and the 80s party and fireworks!

[maja651]

Great review, I love your writing style and looking forward to more.

 

thanks! More to come!

[maja651]

Day 4, St. Maarten

 

Ok, yippee, today we are on St, Maarten!

 

We got up early, the whole fam (not an easy chore) and were off the ship by 8:15! I was very proud we were able to get to the teens up and ready to go!

 

ok, another ramble I forgot to mention. On Sunday, we set up a teen meet and greet for the teens from our roll call. They all met at O-Sheehans at 12:30 on Sunday. My nephews met some other teens and had fun hanging out with them the next few days. It was nice seeing them have so much fun! :)

 

ok, back to St. Maarten. We were off the ship, and quickly grabbed a shared taxi to Orient beach. We had never been there and had heard so many great things about it. Last year, Brian and I went to Maho beach so that was already checked off the must do list. The rest of the fam did not seem to care too much about it, so Orient beach was the family decision. What a great decision it was! We chose the non-nude side and when we arrived, we were one of the first people there! Lucky for us, we got a front row seat. I cannot remember the name of the place we ended up choosing to rent the chairs and umbrellas from, but it was a few down from the Orange Fever. It was a bit more expensive, but the chairs and umbrellas are a lot further apart from each other so you are not squished together like on the pool deck of the ship. When I say a little more, I mean may $5 more? The food was a LOT more though, so we did not eat at this place. The beach was nice hear, and the water was crystal clear and calm It was an absolutely fabulous place to spend the day. There were tons of people walking around selling cover ups, hats, sunglasses, foot massages, etc. They were pretty nice if you said no, but they definitely were competitive with each other. I did end up buying a nice hat, cover up, and got a foot massage. I was happy with all of those purchases. :) My brother bought some sunglasses for my nephew as well. Oh, and my younger nephew got his hair braided! He has long curly hair and decided to give it a try. Wow, it took 4 hours! Cost my brother $182 at $2 per braid, but Marc loved it. Warning though, the hair was pulled so tight he complained of a headache the first couple of days. He got used to it, but he did say it was somewhat painful.

For lunch we ate at Orange fever. The food was good, and not too pricey. It is fun to hear the French accents of the servers there. Our server was from Paris and super nice. Warning - if you order Heineken, the beer bottles are a lot smaller than the other brands. Same price, less beer. You have been warned. lol

Soon enough, it was time to go back to the ship. The day went too fast! We really loved that beach and would recommend it to anyone wanting a nice beach day with lots of food options and plenty of places to rent chairs and umbrellas.

Tonight was the 80s party! We were all excited about this party. But, before the party, we had dinner in the Haven restaurant. Again, it was great but I do not remember what we ate. Soon enough it was time to change and out on our 80s costumes! We brought wigs special clothes and fake sleeve tattos for this party. My brothers and nephew had long hard rock big 80s hair wigs, hubby had a blue hair Mohawk punk wig, and I had a random blue hair wig. It was fun to dress up, and believe me, we got a lot of attention as a result, especially my brother Drew, who is a Major in the Army, 6'2" and let's just say, a "loud, fun" personality. He commands attention and did it that night as well! I felt like he was the life of the party, at least until the staff got going. The party is in the Spice and it was HOT out there! ARGH! The wigs didn't help, but OMG was I hot! The music was fun and great, especially for this girl from the 80s, but I could barely handle the humidity. I only stayed until a few minutes after the fireworks, and then headed back to take a shower. Now, I will say, the fireworks were great! Especially as they were played to the 80s music. I really enjoyed that part a lot! I wish I could have handled the heat better, but I could not and headed back to room soon after the fireworks. My brothers and nephew stayed a lot longer and had a great time!

 

Next up, St, Thomas, Coki beach and the water slides!

[LrgPizza]

I think it would be fabulous in the winter or early spring (probably fall too).

 

You mean if it sailed somewhere other than the Caribbean? It stays pretty much the same year 'round.

 

I did order the Mojito flight to try the different mojito options. I am not going to lie, I did not like one of them! Yuck! I am not sure why, but not one of them tasted good to me. This was also the one place where I found the server to be lacking. We ordered the drinks and it took quite a while. Maybe because the flight takes a while, I don't know, but I was not impressed. Needless to say, we did not return to that bar. (Although I will say, they had great live music at this bar when I walked by a couple of

 

Michelle, mojitos take a long time to make! That's just the way they are. All of the ingredients are juiced and ground fresh for each individual drink. So if you got a flight, he had to individually chop, squeeze, blend, etc. six separate drinks for you. So yes, obviously that is going to take a lot of time which does not equate to poor service.

[maja651]

I forgot to mention that I had ordered a couple of cakes from the Cake Boss before the cruise. One was to arrive on embarkation day, and one was to arrive on Wednesday, after the St. Maarten day. I had called the pre-concierge ahead of time to ensure those delivery dates were accurate. Well, they messed up and delivered both cakes on day 1. I called Anoop to tell him the mistake, and he assured me it would be fixed. He told us to keep both cakes, and we would get a third one the day we had originally asked for it. I appreciated that he helped with this, but I was slightly annoyed that it was not done properly from the start. He later asked me details on who I talked to from the pre-concierge, etc. and quizzed me on the name of the person. Now, I had called 55 days out, and I certainly could not remember the name of the person, but he seemed very concerned that I did not know the name. That bothered me a bit, but not anything that ruined my day. So, lesson for everyone, get everything in writing, and write down the name of who you talk to.

 

Regarding Anoop and the concierge staff - ok, they are not terrible, but they are not great either. Maybe I was really spoiled by Adrian, but I was very underwhelmed by Anoop and especially by Noemi. In fact, I had made specialty dining reservations for Le Bistro and La Cuccina before the cruise. When we boarded, we got a message that indicated that our pre-booked show for Legally Blonde was moved from Wednesday to Friday. That did not work for us, as we did not want to go to a show on Friday night. We changed it no issue, but then it was an issue with our dinner reservations. I talked to Noemi, who changed my dinner reservations with no issue. Fast forward a few days later, the new dinner reservations were never made, and Noemi was not able to get us into Le Bistro for the entire rest of the cruise. Really? I was really ticked off, but tried not to show it. I just asked her to cancel all reservations and give me the credit back to my OBC. She agreed to, but it took me 4 calls, and a couple of days to make this happen. Let's just say, I was not impressed, and really missed Adrian and his staff. I DID save money on the tip to them though.

 

Lesson for those reading - don't expect too much from the concierge staff on the Getaway.

[maja651]

You mean if it sailed somewhere other than the Caribbean? It stays pretty much the same year 'round.

 

 

 

Michelle, mojitos take a long time to make! That's just the way they are. All of the ingredients are juiced and ground fresh for each individual drink. So if you got a flight, he had to individually chop, squeeze, blend, etc. six separate drinks for you. So yes, obviously that is going to take a lot of time which does not equate to poor service.

 

 

I think that the Caribbean is not as hot in the non-summer months. Well, at least it was not as hot in April 2013 compared to June 2014.

 

Yes, I understand that a mojito takes a while, and I took that into account. But it took a LONG time. Plus, we asked for a glass of water with it as well, and had to ask 3 times to get it. That IS a service issue.

Edited June 24, 2014 by maja651

[LrgPizza]

I think that the Caribbean is not as hot in the non-summer months. Well, at least it was not as hot in April 2013 compared to June 2014.

 

Yes, I understand that a mojito takes a while, and I took that into account. But it took a LONG time. Plus, we asked for a glass of water with it as well, and had to ask 3 times to get it. That IS a service issue.

 

Yes, that is!

 

The hottest trip I ever had in the Caribbean was in January one year. The second hottest was July. The third was probably an October stay at St. Thomas. I guess you just never know.

 

I'm enjoying your review! I'd be ticked about the reservation screw ups. I would never let anyone other than my husband or myself book anything and that way we have all the control and only have ourselves to blame if it messes up. I get anxiety at the thought of a concierge booking something for me. No. Way. Ever. (I'm obsessive about it.) I'm sorry you missed Le Bistro!!

[maja651]

St. Thomas! Today was another early day, so we decided to have breakfast delivered to the room before heading out for the day. Lucky arrived a little early with everything we requested. Hint for those in the suites, you can order ANYTHING. Do not only use that in room dining checklist. If you want something else, write it in and it will arrive hot and delicious. Have I said how much we loved Lucky? :D

 

OK, day 2 of getting everyone up early. The teens did not do quite as well today, but we were still off and ready to go by 8:20. Today our destination was Coki beach. Cost for the shared open aired taxi was $9 per person. (almost forgot, the cost for the shared taxi to Orient beach in St. Maarten was $8 pp).

We arrived at Coki in about 20 minutes and the beach was fairly empty at that time. Don't be fooled by that though, it soon filled up and was VERY crowded.

We rented chairs and umbrellas from a local selling them. I think the chairs were $5 each, and umbrellas $10 each. These were not the nicest chairs, so do not expect much.

First impression of Coki beach? Dirty beach (lots of trash on the beach), pretty water and scenery looking toward the ocean, pushy locals trying to get you to buy from them, and a strong smell of gonja. STRONG smell that continued throughout the entire time we were there. We were thinking we may have been given a contact high just sitting there. lol

The snorkeling at this beach was FABULOUS. Absolutely great place to be IN the water. However, the beach area is very small, dirty, and gets crowded. I knew this ahead of time. I had read the reviews so I knew what to expect. However, it was just not our cup of tea. One beach vendor, Pearl, was just over the top obnoxious when any other server even said hello to us. It was outrageous. She turned us off so much we did not order anything from her, and boy did that tick her off. lol

One guy, from Pittsburgh, was really nice and gave us lots of tips. We ended up liking him a lot, much to the dislike of Pearl. He was handing out free smoothies, and they were delicious! We ended up buying smoothies from him before we left, and Pearl actually followed us to his stand to scold us for doing so. I am not kidding, she was that obnoxious.

We saw lots of fish in the water, iguanas at the far end of the beach and enjoyed a couple of hours at this beach. We decided not to order food here, but to go back to the ship for lunch. (Like I said, we were not into this beach, and the fam was ready to go around lunch time).

Pittsburgh gave us a great tip about the local bus. The local bus from the Coki area is only $2 per person, not $9 per person that the taxi costs. Now, you do have to take a walk to where the buses go. You basically walk back to the main road, which is about a 10 minutes walk. Not too bad, but it was a bit further than we expected. Was it worth it, yes sir! Not only did we save money, but it was a lot more fun riding with the locals. The local bus, btw, looks identical to the open aired taxis. Just ask someone when you get to the main road where to catch the bus to town, and they will help you.

 

The bus ride took a bit longer than the taxi, but like I said, it was more fun. We got back to the ship around 1:30 and had lunch in the Haven. Yumnmmmmmm

 

We then decided, hey, let's go check out the water slides while the ship is empty! And that we did! It was a lot of fun! I was terrified to do the green and blue drop slides, but I did it! :) It was great fun and I actually went on those slides several times. (Oh, and got some cardio in too by climbing those stairs! :) )

 

We checked out the ropes course too, but never did go on it. (Well, the teens did and had a great time, but the adults never did). I am terrified of heights and knew it was not the thing for me.

 

I honestly cannot remember much more of this day. I am pretty sure we ate in the Haven restaurant for dinner, and enjoyed time with the family, but I do not remember! sorry!

 

 

Thursday - Sea Day

 

Another sea day! Woo hoo! We sure loved the sea days, as it was Haven sundeck time! Yah! Today is when we figured out why no one was hanging out in the front facing part of the ship. It was so hot up there and no breeze! We suffered through it for at least 2 hours before we figured out that the SIDES have a breeze! DOH! We moved over there and life was good! Today Oliver brought us shrimp, ice cream, the fruit kabobs, water, etc. We also ordered lunch (burger and onion rings) from the server and I had my first rebellious fish drink. It was great and I can see why everyone loves its! I also checked out the Flamingo grill on this day and brought up some things for the fam to try. The croquettes were so so, the rice pudding good, and the coconut empenada great! Soon enough, it was time to head back to the room to get ready for a fun evening!

 

Tonight was the night we saw Legally Blonde. I have to say, it was not to my liking. I think if you are into musicals, you would probably like it, but it is just not my thing. The fam was mixed on it as well. I ended up leaving early. This brings me to a comparison of the Epic Entertainment to the Getaway entertainment. In my opinion, the Epic wins HANDS DOWN. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Epic. So did hubby. I did not enjoy the entertainment very much on the Getaway. Like I mentioned, it was ok, but nothing that really impressed me, except the Illusionarium.

 

Tonight for dinner, hubby and I went to O-Sheehans again because he really wanted a pot pie. I ended up getting one too, and they were GOOD! The wings were really good too, but the hot ones are NOT very hot. The blue cheese dressing was really good too.

 

Tonight was also the GLOW party! Woo Hoo! Hubby and I went to it, but no one else from the fam did. We had a great time! Loved the techno music they played, and it was just a whole lot of fun! It was cooler that night as well, along with less people, so for me, a lot more fun than the 80s party, and I loved the 80s party too! :)

We went to the Bliss after the Glow party, and NO ONE was there! We waited until about 1 am and still no one showed up, so we finally gave up and left. :(

 

All in all, it was a great day, but we were really looking forward to Nassau, as we had booked a private boat tour with Bahama Private boats.

 

Next up, Nassau!

Edited June 24, 2014 by maja651

[maja651]

Yes, that is!

 

The hottest trip I ever had in the Caribbean was in January one year. The second hottest was July. The third was probably an October stay at St. Thomas. I guess you just never know.

 

I'm enjoying your review! I'd be ticked about the reservation screw ups. I would never let anyone other than my husband or myself book anything and that way we have all the control and only have ourselves to blame if it messes up. I get anxiety at the thought of a concierge booking something for me. No. Way. Ever. (I'm obsessive about it.) I'm sorry you missed Le Bistro!!

 

wow, I guess I am not that familiar with the Caribbean! lol So maybe for me, the waterfront would never be something for me. lol

 

Yes, I was ticked about the ressie screw ups, but it actually saved us money, and we really liked the Haven restaurant, so it was not a huge deal. But, like I said, it was the first cruise where we did not go to a specialty restaurant.

 

I am glad you are enjoying! :) It is fun reliving it, even if I can't seem to remember every detail.:D

[jackson bernard]

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!

 

Oh no....the dreaded toilet booth. You would think they would have learned their lesson from the Epic...ho hum

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Forums mobile app

[SissasMomE]

Bubba kegs - I just bought us some for our next trip! I got us the 56-ounce ones. They look great, and I like that they are stainless!

 

Cruising - I won't go anymore in the summer. Well, at least not in August to the western caribbean. WAY too hot and humid - and that's when I was living full time in Florida! I have never sailed in June or July, but I love sailing in the spring. November and December can be a little chilly at night, but I am like you - I'd rather have that then that darn humidity!

 

I can't believe you had those errors and mishaps with the concierge. That is just a shame to spend all that money and not have it done right. People consistently praise the Haven staff on the Epic. I wonder why it's such a noticeable difference?

 

When you were at the mojito bar, was Bong on duty? I'm surprised you had bad service there. We loved him, and were there often. Maybe you went when he was on his break? We did like listening to the music there, and he made us strong drinks LOL

Edited June 24, 2014 by SissasMomE

[Coastalbreezes]

I agree 100% with you about Adrian. He is simply the best and I was disappointed to discover that he will be on vacation for my upcoming BA cruise. Anoop is filling in and I hope my experience will be a good one.

 

Tracy

[DrNora]

I forgot to mention that I had ordered a couple of cakes from the Cake Boss before the cruise. One was to arrive on embarkation day, and one was to arrive on Wednesday, after the St. Maarten day. I had called the pre-concierge ahead of time to ensure those delivery dates were accurate. Well, they messed up and delivered both cakes on day 1. I called Anoop to tell him the mistake, and he assured me it would be fixed. He told us to keep both cakes, and we would get a third one the day we had originally asked for it. I appreciated that he helped with this, but I was slightly annoyed that it was not done properly from the start. He later asked me details on who I talked to from the pre-concierge, etc. and quizzed me on the name of the person. Now, I had called 55 days out, and I certainly could not remember the name of the person, but he seemed very concerned that I did not know the name. That bothered me a bit, but not anything that ruined my day. So, lesson for everyone, get everything in writing, and write down the name of who you talk to.

 

Regarding Anoop and the concierge staff - ok, they are not terrible, but they are not great either. Maybe I was really spoiled by Adrian, but I was very underwhelmed by Anoop and especially by Noemi. In fact, I had made specialty dining reservations for Le Bistro and La Cuccina before the cruise. When we boarded, we got a message that indicated that our pre-booked show for Legally Blonde was moved from Wednesday to Friday. That did not work for us, as we did not want to go to a show on Friday night. We changed it no issue, but then it was an issue with our dinner reservations. I talked to Noemi, who changed my dinner reservations with no issue. Fast forward a few days later, the new dinner reservations were never made, and Noemi was not able to get us into Le Bistro for the entire rest of the cruise. Really? I was really ticked off, but tried not to show it. I just asked her to cancel all reservations and give me the credit back to my OBC. She agreed to, but it took me 4 calls, and a couple of days to make this happen. Let's just say, I was not impressed, and really missed Adrian and his staff. I DID save money on the tip to them though.

 

Lesson for those reading - don't expect too much from the concierge staff on the Getaway.

 

We have done the suites on NCL pre- Haven and have always been treated like , well , crap by the concierges. We are not pushy or loud, and we come with three kids. Our first concierge on Jewel told me right out that he didn't take to children well ( a skinny, smarmy british jerkash who had received rave reviews here on CC). The last concierge was a drippy,squishy man who kissed me every time he had the chance- kissed EVERY woman every chance that he got, wore too much cologne, and was of ZERO use the one time we had a request. The other concierges were ubiquitous and left no impression.

 

The butlers, on the other hand, were awesome- and this was pre Haven butler-o-rama days!

 

Although their suite life is less thrilling, RCL has better concierges by far. That is where the comparison ends. But at least they are polite and helpful and not drippy.