Haven Restaurant and Activities

[dbcharles]

Any advice? I am booked in Haven family suite. Any advice on restaurant?

 

What about activities and shows that I should book through Haven instead?

 

How was your haven experience?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[WaldosPepper]

It's helpful to know which ship's Haven you will be in, as there are different configurations, and offerings. The more info you give us, the better we can advise.

 

:)

[dbcharles]

Gateway aug. 9

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[WaldosPepper]

Okay! The Haven on the Getaway has it's own restaurant, so you can enjoy all three meals there each day if you choose. The menu is a definite step up from what you would find in the main dining rooms, and more on par with what's offered at the specialty restaurants onboard. You of course can choose to have your meals at any of the other venues onboard, however there are cover charges for the specialty restaurants.

 

If you wish to reserve shows, or dining venues, the Concierge can take care of all of this for you. They can also make spa treatment reservations, book your shore excursions, offer guidance on the ports, etc. They will also assist you with early entry into the Illusionarium if you book this show, and will seat you in the reserved seating area of the main theater as well.

 

If you elect to dine in your suite, the Butler will serve you. He or she will also deliver daily treats to your suite, and ensure that you are well-stocked with supplies for your Lavazza machine, which makes espresso, cappuccino, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. They will make sure you have adequate plates, flatware and glassware, etc at all times.

 

You can expect to be very well taken care of, and enjoy a fabulous cruise.

[dbcharles]

Thanks for the insights! That sounds awesome!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ee1999]

Thanks for the insights! That sounds awesome!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You will find the concierge service is very different from concierge to concierge. If you read Haven Getaway reviews you will see in some cases you are better off to pre-book restaurants and shows prior to boarding.

 

I recommend booking specialty restaurants online as soon as possible. Also, book the comedy shows online, there is no special seating for Haven guests in the comedy theater.

 

If it's important to you to experience something I wouldn't count on the concierge on Getaway, I would book it now.

[Annmeat]

Dbcharles:

 

What ages are your 4 teens?

 

I am traveling with 3 teens on the GA next week. Will let you know how it goes!

 

The only shows we booked ahead was Illusionarium as we want to see it on a specific night, and several sessions of the Levity Comedy Group that I noticed one of the kids signed us up for. I had not planned on signing up for any other shows ahead of time, as I don't know what we will feel like doing once on board.

 

If your kids have any specific questions, please let me know and my 3 can hunt down the answers for you .

 

We are getting pretty excited about this cruise. Our precious Haven experiences have been on the smaller ships . The ropes course and the slides look amazing!

[dbcharles]

12 13 15 17

 

I cannot wait to hear how your teens experience is and what they did outside of water and ropes.

 

Have a safe and fun cruise!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Annmeat]

Dbcharles:

 

What ages are your 4 teens?

 

I am traveling with 3 teens on the GA next week. Will let you know how it goes!

 

The only shows we booked ahead was Illusionarium as we want to see it on a specific night, and several sessions of the Levity Comedy Group that I noticed one of the kids signed us up for. I had not planned on signing up for any other shows ahead of time, as I don't know what we will feel like doing once on board.

We do not care if we miss" Legally Blonde" and only 2 of us have any interest in" burn the Floor"

 

If your kids have any specific questions, please let me know and my 3 can hunt down the answers for you .

 

We are getting pretty excited about this cruise. Our precious Haven experiences

have been on the smaller ships . The ropes course and the slides look amazing!

 

 

As for in room dining- this will be very, very close quarters in the suites. The table is TINY - there is a video posted by member Steilkurve of the 2br suites.

I would not plan on having any meals with 4 teenagers in my cabin.

 

We have friends who have been on Getaway and had a not so grand experience with the concierge team, you may be lucky in August as it seems the present concierge is only filling in until sometime in August.

 

If you have not done so, there are 2 complete and awesome reviews of the Haven here in the forum from recent cruisers. One is by ee1999 and the other by MaJa . They give lots of information.

 

I should ask my kids to do a teen review when we get back- that is some info that parents could use!!

 

Have fun planning

 

Ann

[Annmeat]

Oops! Part of my post posted twice! Sorry for the redundancy!

[ee1999]

Dbcharles:

 

What ages are your 4 teens?

 

I am traveling with 3 teens on the GA next week. Will let you know how it goes!

 

The only shows we booked ahead was Illusionarium as we want to see it on a specific night, and several sessions of the Levity Comedy Group that I noticed one of the kids signed us up for. I had not planned on signing up for any other shows ahead of time, as I don't know what we will feel like doing once on board.

We do not care if we miss" Legally Blonde" and only 2 of us have any interest in" burn the Floor"

 

If your kids have any specific questions, please let me know and my 3 can hunt down the answers for you .

 

We are getting pretty excited about this cruise. Our precious Haven experiences

have been on the smaller ships . The ropes course and the slides look amazing!

 

 

As for in room dining- this will be very, very close quarters in the suites. The table is TINY - there is a video posted by member Steilkurve of the 2br suites.

I would not plan on having any meals with 4 teenagers in my cabin.

 

We have friends who have been on Getaway and had a not so grand experience with the concierge team, you may be lucky in August as it seems the present concierge is only filling in until sometime in August.

 

If you have not done so, there are 2 complete and awesome reviews of the Haven here in the forum from recent cruisers. One is by ee1999 and the other by MaJa . They give lots of information.

 

I should ask my kids to do a teen review when we get back- that is some info that parents could use!!

 

Have fun planning

 

Ann

 

Ann,

I believe a teen review would be an awesome idea! I get the feeling that teens would really love Getaway with the ropes course and slides. Plus it seems like there are a lot of great spots for them to hang out in on Getaway. It will be interesting to hear their take.

 

Bill

[maja651]

You will absolutely LOVE the Haven! We ate most meals in the Haven restaurant. The staff there is just amazing, and we enjoyed seeing them! One example, Michelle, one of the servers, one night after dinner brought our family a special 7 dessert sampling of new menu items they are considering. Full size of each one. I unfortunately missed that one, but my family still raves about it. Also, the last night, we all ordered something off the menu, but she wanted us to try to chef's special that night, so she brought 3 full servings of that (there were 7 of us) along with our ordered meals. I am telling you, she was amazing! oh, and btw, that special was really good too! Things like that add up, and for us at least, we just preferred to eat there. We felt like Michelle and Suzana were like family by the end of the week. Oh, and if you want ANYTHING from anywhere else on the ship, they really will bring it to you with no issue! We had lobster in the Haven restaurant on lobster night. We could have had prime rib in the Haven restaurant instead of O-Sheehans on prime rib night. They do not make you feel bad for asking, and honestly they will do anything! My brother had a habit of wanting lunch menu items for dinner. No issue! My nephews wanted things from O-Sheehans, again, no issue!

 

Now, to the concierge and staff. Well, that is where they fell short. Anooop, the concierge, was a nice enough guy, but not up to the standards of Adrian (another NCL concierge). His assistant, Noemi, even worse. I am not saying they are terrible people, but I was not impressed. In fact, we had to make changes to pre-booked specialty restaurants, and they were not able to do it (even though, the reason for the change was that THEY changed the Legally Blind show from Wednesday to Friday (we found out when we got on board), and still concierge could not get us new reservations to Le Bistro. We ended up not eating in one specialty restaurant because of that, but saved money and were fine because again, we LOVED the Haven restaurant. SO...... my advice, make your reservations ahead of time, and pray you don't have to change them.

 

Illusionarium is a must see in my opinion. Book it for the first night and it is free if you are doing UDP, or 20% off if you are not. (we got credit on our OB ac count for the 20% since we pre-booked it). My entire family, and our friends (ages 10, 16, 18, 36, 40, 42,43, 46, 48, 65, 78) ALL enjoyed it. Food was BLEH, but the show was worth it, and you are on a cruise ship, you can get food before or after! :)

 

I did write an extensive review as someone else posted. Look it up for other details.

Edited July 11, 2014 by maja651

[52marv]

Hi DB,

 

I've cut & pasted my response to another person about my Haven tips I culled from CC before I left in March.

 

Have fun:

 

 

We were on the Getaway in a 2 bed Haven suite with our 16 & 13 year olds. We LOVED it!

 

You can have anything in the Haven restaurant, even if it's not on the menu. We are an allergy family and the staff went out of the way to create substitutions for my daughter. A friend orders eggs benedict with steak for breakfast in the Haven as her version of steak and eggs. We try not to get crazy with ordering unobtainable things, but the staff, continually surpassed our notion of what was possible. The staff in the Haven is wonderful.

 

If you want MDR food, they will deliver it to you in the Haven or your room. We asked to have MDR menus placed in our room at the start of the cruise.

 

Ask the preconcierge, through email before you go, to put bed toppers on the kids room beds. It makes it a bit more comfy.

 

Anoop and Noemi, the concierges are fantastic. They escort you to the front of the line when disembarking at islands and on the last day right off the ship. No lines ever. They escort you to front of line for Illusionarium dinner magic show. They can get you reservations for any restaurant, show, spa excursion (except last night, Cagney's was booked solid)

 

Use the Pre-concierge service. NCL will email the name of the Pre-concierge, ours was Arthur Paris and he was wonderful. They will do whatever you ask, we arranged for spa, food & drink in room, empty mini fridge or fill it with what you like, afternoon tea.

 

The Haven has reserved seating in the theater on the left side about ten rows from the front, so you don't need to go early (they release Haven seats 5 minutes before the show). It's good seating, although if you want to sit in the center of the theater, go early.

 

Our butler was Rodney, he was wonderful. I arranged to have chocolate chip cookies and gummi bears in the room when we arrived and he kept them coming all week. Every afternoon @ 4 pm he delivered chocolate covered strawberries, canapés (salmon, shrimp, brie, prosciutto) sandwiches (your choice) and chips. If we had wanted something else, he would have brought it.

 

Lobster night is in the Buffet on the 2nd day on Getaway. Instead, on that night, @ 6 pm Rodney delivered two plates of lobster tails to our suite, perfectly cooked. My son and husband were amazed. They will also get you Lobster that night in the Haven restarant

 

Other people had breakfast, lunch dinner delivered.

 

Rodney delivered DVDs for my daughter.

 

On the sun deck, Oliver & Mary, the deck stewards bring around cookies, fruit skewers, cold towels, little cups of smoothies, drinks.

Anoop and Noemi are the Concierges. Rodney is the Butler and Ahmed is the Steward and they all go way above and beyond in making your cruise special. I asked for chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered strawberries and gummi bears to be waiting in the room for the kids on the first day, and they brought this:

 

 

Also, lobster night is in the buffet, not the main dining room. Ask Rodney to bring lobsters to your room @ 5-6 pm. My husband and son raved about how well cooked they were. Rodney pays attention to what treats you like and then brings you more. I always ate the grapes in the fruit bowl, so he started doubling & tripling the grapes!

 

This was my view at breakfast every morning:

 

 

On sea days I sat on the upper deck of the Haven Sun Deck overlooking the ocean.

 

The seats against the railing have an unobstructed view, but they felt very hot to me.

 

 

I personally preferred to sit in the blue chairs at the end of the third row back against the white sunshade with a red umbrella to my left.https://www.flickr.com/photos/21740531@N07/13582255693/ No matter where you sit, you can see the ocean.

 

Oliver and Mary, the Deck Stewards are amazing! They are constantly offering smoothies, cold towels, fruit skewers, moving umbrellas, anything you want.

 

Every single staff member in the Haven is outstanding, the best cruise staff I have ever met. You are going to LOVE it!! The room even has high powered binoculars on the bookshelf in the living room! Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you. In the meantime, here are the Haven/Ship tips I culled from CC before I went that worked for us. My personal experience is in italics:

 

GETAWAY HAVEN CRUISE TIPS

 

Get to port @ 11am. Go to Terminal C. As soon as you are through security look for priority suites room on the left. They will then take you to special waiting room for suites where they have snacks and drinks. You get escorted on ship 1st.

 

Anoop Bhanu is the Concierge. Consummate professional and a very nice man. No matter what we need, always there to assist. Assistant, Ram and third member of the Concierge team, Noemi, also very helpful all week.

 

There is early suite walk-off disembarkation through Anoop.

 

Anoop met us each morning to facilitate (secret passage) getting off ship. Met us onshore to get us on tender. Always check with concierge for the plan on port days. They meet at different places to escort you off.

 

Rodney, our Butler, brought chocolate chip cookies, gummy bears and peanut M&Ms. He asked what we would like waiting when we returned from excursion and showed up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (We actually had salami, ham, bologna and turkey). Brought cheesecake brownie from Osheehan’s. Delivered DVD's and CD's; afternoon tea We pre-ordered lobster tails as appetizers in our room at 5:30 PM on the second night--the night that the buffet serves it, and they came exactly as ordered, hot and perfectly cooked, except our butler gave us double what we had ordered. We asked that menus from all the restaurants be in the cabin, to make it easier to choose when ordering room service. Asked for chocolate croissants to be delivered every morning at 7:30 AM (except the last morning), so I could enjoy one with my early morning cappuccino. Butler brought us a pot of decaf, two pots of regular, a pastry tray, and a fruit tray every morning before 7am

 

Valet served breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks everyday of our cruise in the courtyard including a relaxed last breakfast on the day of our disembarkation. Courtyard valet will serve breakfast in the courtyard earlier that day as well.

 

Butler brings treats every day @ about 4pm. Ask what you can request or be surprised. We always had fresh fruit, canapes, gummi bears & cookies for kids

 

Don’t miss breakfast & lunch in the Haven, quiet, peaceful and high service, if you want something just ask its made to order right there. Butler will bring to room but I’d rather have there in the Haven.

 

Since you're in suite tip butler and concierge. Go to Guest Services get voucher to give to them and have it charged to your onboard account. I know you can't use OBC for the DSC but I think you can use it for butler and concierge.

 

Cabins are usually not ready after lunch but you can drop your hand luggage in the cabin and lock valuables in the safe.

 

Crowds gather in the three-deck atrium — with its giant video screen — to play "Deal or No Deal," compete in trivia contests

 

Lavazza pod machine is in your room, butler gives pods for coffee or tea. It's excellent coffee. Has steam wand and pitcher, its easy to steam milk for cappuccino or latte,

 

Letters will be delivered to your room for events. Suite party is very nice, they offer tray of drinks but its open bar if you want.

 

Lack of electrical outlets in your cabin: bring along a power strip. We brought power strips for our room and the kids room and are glad we did

 

Haven Restaurant Desert: Brownie with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream it’s delicious. In the Haven Restaurant you can order the Eggs Benedict along with the filet from the steak and eggs for your own "perfect" version of steak and eggs!!

 

Ocean Blue on the waterfront- the Lobster roll, very good. crab tostada. Lobster Roll from Ocean Blue on the Waterfront for lunch WOW! ($10) Steak Tartar and Dover Sole in Ocean Blue for dinner AMAZING! ($49)

 

If you go to Moderno be careful of that salad bar. It's fantastic, but it will fill you up fast and you have 11 kinds of meat to sample. They're all great, and they are quite free about giving you seconds and thirds! Have the roasted pineapple at Moderno, it's great!

 

If you ask your waiter you can get deserts from Cagney’s in Maderno and the fried bananas from Maderno for her desert in Cagneys’

 

Moderno excellent and well worth $20 cover charge. Le Bistro is good too but for the same price Moderno was a bit better value [Le Bistro had escargot which I love but other lines offer this for free in the MDR so I was sad NCL only has it in the pay restaurants]. You can't go wrong with either but if you only do 1 cover charge restaurant on the trip I would pick Moderno.

 

O'Sheehans: nice breakfast; limited eggs, delicious French toast. A basket of pastries on the table. Never crowded. Wings, fish & chips are great, try chicken potpie. Corn Beef Cabbage Soup amazing! Buffalo Wings, Burger, Corn Beef sandwich. Bar menu not as large as sit down restaurant side ask the bartenders to get something from the restaurant side and they obliged with a smile. They post the restaurant menu right by the reception podium at the restaurant. prime rib dinner on the 1st night. Monday evening was prime rib night in O’Sheehans, they also had rib bight and fried chicken night. Ice cream menu, you pay extra but the sundaes are yummy.

 

The Noodle Bar has a limited menu, but the Chef, who was very pleasant to speak with, said you can mix and match and change the menu items if you don’t see what you want. We thought Shanghais was EXCELLENT they do dumplings, egg rolls, noodle dishes. It was so good we went three times.

 

Flamingo Grill great choice for breakfast. Buffet style. Never crowded; always able to find a table. Made to order omelets, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, different types of egg sandwiches, fruit, pastries, bagels/rolls, lox, etc. No oatmeal - have to go to the buffet for that. Favorite spot for breakfast. Lightly used covered open-air lunch and breakfast spot. It’s on 16 I think aft nice little out of the way spot. pre-made egg mcmuffin type sandwiches, but also bagels, fruit, croissants and they do eggs/omelets to order. Never crowded great view. Just go up one flight from the Garden Café on 16 aft It was ok, we prefered the Haven breakfast

 

Don't miss the gelato stand out on the boardwalk. They change the flavors every day or so. Keep an eye out for the Cappuccino flavor. Wow!

 

Sugarcane's Mojito bar deck 8. Mojito flight a bargain at $15: 6 different types served in 2 ounce tasting glasses.

 

Best MDR service to be in the Manhattan Room and their everyday menu is different [and a bit better IMO] than Taste or Savor even though the daily specials are the same in all three. Getaway practices Freestyle dining, meaning there's no early or late assigned seating, and reservations are not allowed in the complimentary dining rooms, except for Haven passengers through concierge

 

Improved deserts since the last time I sailed with them. The German cake on the first day was awesome; the queen's dessert was also very good.

 

The Svedka Icebar is very cool there is a $20 cover it includes 2 drinks so the price is not much more than buying two drinks at a normal bar.

 

Have an MBtini. Bartender Julioi now on Getaway. Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka, Frangelico, splash of cream served in an ice cold martini glass. Right before serving, have them pour a shot of Bailey's down the side so it sits at the bottom. TO.DIE.FOR.

 

Drink a PALOMA, it's a more tart version of a mojito

 

The Humidor wonderful place to unwind after dinner with a smoke and good company. Old time ocean liner type feel with leather seats and dark colors.

 

All the specialty restaurants (Cagney's, Le Bistro, Moderno favorites) (varying cover charge, with discount/wine on first night only)

 

Lobster Tail from Carlo's Famous Bake shop YUM! a nice touch...best cannoli

 

Dragon Roll and Godzilla Rolls from Wasabi very good (a la carte)

 

Deck 17 Forward Sundeck (way forward) cabana loungers and always lightly attended and quiet even on sea days. Pass Vibe and keep going and there's clamshells and loungers. Bar servers walking around.

 

Waterfront Port side near tradewinds shop best place to enjoy view no obstructions.

 

Norwegian Getaway's sports deck also is home to a bungee trampoline.

 

Don’t miss the free fall slide. Purple slide is the fastest; yellow slide is slower. When you do the free fall slide be sure to either wear nose plugs or hold your nose; when you hit bottom water comes hard and fast from everywhere. Water slides, were pretty fun. Did these early (11:30AM), never thought the lines were too long. The longest we waited was for The Plunge, which was about 20 minutes. Part of the issue with that slide is that you need some sort of vest to get on it. When you are done, you are actually expected to go back up the stairs and return the vest. Slides are fun once or twice.

 

Pools are too small for such a large ship. Hot tubs always packed in the mornings. We only went into the pool in the late afternoon/early evening (after 2PM until about 5PM); by then, both had much fewer people and more loungers available. The main pool has a neat wave feature every few minutes, which was fun. It is a little over 6ft deep.

 

Pool is saltwater. It hurt my eyes and I could feel it on my sinuses

 

If you want to use pool, find lounger on deck 15. If you want the slides, stay on deck 16. That’s where the entry is. Slides do not empty into main pool.

 

Ropes course so much fun! NOTE: wear closed toe shoes. Line up at 9:30 for the 10:00 opening, can definitely be a long wait. Waited max 30 minutes. Plank is scarier than it looks, skipped it first time because it was so cold and windy up there! You can stay as long as you like, but don’t! Be considerate of the other people who are waiting to try below.

The zip line is short but fun; not always open, so don’t take your chances by waiting for the last sea day, aim for peak mealtimes to get on the ropes course: around 12:30PM or 1PM.

 

Mini golf always full. NCL should really regulate play. Only so many balls and clubs, and we just saw kids running around all over the place, not playing golf, but not giving up the equipment either. We waited ten minutes.

 

Climbing wall open at 2pm, line 20 deep almost immediately every time. Only open one or two sections of the wall at a time, even though it looked like there were at least 3 levels of difficulty. Only one staff member

 

If you are up early go to the Jacuzzis in Spice H20. We went around 8am and had the whole thing to ourselves for almost an hour!

 

If you want to be at Spice H20 for the fireworks go early. They close it when it gets to a certain capacity. fire works. The best seats in the house are on the sun deck on deck 17 - directly above/next to vibe. Not only did we get to see our own fireworks but apparently the Disney fantasy that left st Maarten shortly after we did was doing fireworks as well so the ships co-ordinated with each other and Disney did theirs first followed immediately by NCls. Unfortunately not everyone realized Disney was also shooting off the fireworks so many missed that part. We were up high enough to see it all.

 

Spice H20 really was a haven for us. Plenty of loungers and adults-only until 6PM. half the loungers were empty… coincidentally, the ones in the shade! No sight of any kids there, even though the arcade and teen lounge is nearby. Water in the little fountain area was cold, why I never saw anyone using it.

 

Samba dance classes, salsa, swing, tango and Meringue. Nice that in the Bliss lounge they played music to practice the dance to for the next hour after the class, i.e., the Salsa Power Hour, the Swing Hour

 

Parties each night in H20. Loved being outside dancing all ages made it much more fun. Unlike an indoor dance club that attracts the younger crowd, these dance parties were a blast and our kids could join us on the dance floor. Glow party was a complete blast as was the 80's dance night that features fireworks. NOTE: The day of the glow party look at your freestyle daily, you can decorate your own t-shirts with glow paint for free in the Grammy Experience venue. Shirts were free as was the activity. Made the night! We also enjoyed grabbing a drink before of after dinner each night at one of the outdoor bars.

 

Trivia at 9am and 5pm in the Atrium in front of the big screen

 

Illusionarium Yes they do you have to check in 25 min before the show in the Haven lounge & the Concierge Hostess then takes you down in the goods lift to directly outside of the doors on entering you pick whatever table you want.

 

In SPA give you are card to fill out when you go in for the treatment. For YEARS I have written on the card "no sales" and have not had a problem since then.

[Annmeat]

52marv

 

I have your post printed out from when you gave it to me a while ago. It went in to my folder yesterday right after my passports and e-docs.

 

Thank you for making my pending cruise easier!,

 

 

Ann

[52marv]

Hi Ann,

 

You are so kind, I hope you guys have a blast! Bon Voyage!

 

Lee