A Haven Getaway on the Getaway - January 6, 2019: A Review

[PaulInPGH]

Day 2: Wherein we sequester ourselves from the general population.

 

Of all the Haven perks, I think the private Haven restaurant turned out to be our favorite. We dined there almost every day on this cruise and the food was always fantastic. We breakfasted there the first morning and had steak and eggs and the salmon frittata. This would be the first of A LOT of steak we’d eat on this vacation (steak-cation?). I also appreciated that breakfast in the Haven restaurant was offered until 10:30 on sea days, which allowed us plenty of time to enjoy some sleeping in each morning.

 

After our tasty breakfast, we made our way down to the thermal suite to enjoy some spa time. We loved this on the Escape in September, and we enjoyed it again on this cruise. It was a bit smaller than the version on the Escape, which only became a problem on the final sea day when there were zero loungers available. The loungers themselves were also nowhere near as comfortable as the ones in the thermal suite on the Escape. This turned out not to matter much, as we spent most of our lounging time in the Haven courtyard, but it’s something to consider for future cruises. We definitely got a lot of use out of the various jets in the thalassotherapy pool, not to mention the hot tub and salt room. We skipped the sauna because we are not masochists.

 

After a brief dip in the spa, we made our way up to the Haven to explore the courtyard area. We absolutely loved the sun deck on deck 17, where we found the most comfortable loungers on the ship. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we spent some quality time enjoying the sun and wonderful breeze, not to mention a few drinks brought to us by the courtyard valet, Mark, who was very nice and very attentive all week.

 

We also sampled the Haven pool, which was very small, not to mention freezing cold. Seriously, it was a good thing there were no kids around when we got in the pool that first day, as my wife and I swore an epic blue streak when we hit the cold water.

[PaulInPGH]

Haven Courtyard.

[PaulInPGH]

Haven sun deck on deck 17.

[PaulInPGH]

We tried the Haven restaurant for lunch and the food was again great. My wife tried the flatbread and I sampled the French dip.

 

We spent a couple more hours enjoying the quiet Haven facilities after lunch. I can very easily see how doing a Haven cruise can spoil you for future cruises. It was always a heady feeling, using the keycard to enter that private sanctuary away from the rest of the ship. Leaving the quiet of the Haven complex for the crowded craziness of the rest of the ship became harder and harder as the week progressed.

 

After we had our fill of relaxing in our quiet Haven area, we opted for even more relaxation in our even more private cabin. We sampled the in-room hot tub, which was a lot of fun. We relaxed and lounged and enjoyed the cookies brought by Joseph for our afternoon snack.

[PaulInPGH]

Making our way down to the atrium bar for some coffee, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Getaway had not yet switched to Starbucks coffee. Lavazza was still available (at least until the Getaway goes in for refurbishment), and we enjoyed some of our favorite coffee while listening to the jazzy combo play some mellow tunes.

 

At 6:30, we made our way over to Fat Cats for the Haven meet and greet with the ship’s officers. It was a little strange, as all the officers were lined up in a row. We shook hands with all of them, one after the other, which was a bit odd. I think I expected more of a mix and mingle kind of thing, not a line of people to meet one after the other. Still, there was champagne and canapes, and the Captain got up on stage with the band and played Eric Clapton, which was awesome. Though the more I think about it, I feel he should have played I'm Your Captain by Grand Funk Railroad!

[PaulInPGH]

The Captain, rocking with the band.

[PaulInPGH]

Our most frequent dining destination, the Haven restaurant.

[PaulInPGH]

For the third time that day we made our way up to the Haven restaurant. Dinner was good, though the risotto was really heavy on the truffle oil. My wife enjoyed the sea bass, and the shrimp skewers I ordered were also great.

 

Following dinner, we braved the general population and made our way to the Mojito Bar to listen to a music duo play some tunes. The ship seemed uncharacteristically dead, which we’d noticed the previous night, as well. I’m not sure if everyone was partying outside since the weather was so nice, but on our last Getaway cruise the Mojito bar was always elbow-to-elbow. Not that we were complaining; it just seemed odd.

 

We tried Fat Cats again, this time for a 70s and 80s medley, which ended up consisting of a lot of Kool and the Gang songs. Again, we probably would have stayed longer had the venue been a bit more comfortable.

 

We attempted to keep the party going back at the Mojito Bar, but since we’re old now, we crapped out pretty early. Relaxing is shockingly tiring. Very full, and very tired, we returned to our room and called it a night.

 

Up next: Day 3 – More Haven!

[PaulInPGH]

6 hours ago, Kalum said:

love your review!

thank you so much!

Thanks so much!

[PaulInPGH]

Day 3: Wherein our exclusive areas become even more exclusive.

 

The first port stop was to be Roatan. We’d been there before, so we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the nearly empty facilities. We started with a relaxing breakfast in our cabin, which was really nice thanks to the table and two chairs we could utilize, instead of holding room service plates on our laps. The food came from the Haven restaurant, which was also a huge plus. We both ordered custom omelets, hash browns, and toast. We also followed-up with Joseph about the gratin recipe we were promised, as it had not yet been delivered. He kind of acted as if we were insane, but he said he would take care of it.

 

On our last Getaway cruise, I loved the grotto area at Spice H20. It’s a delightful way to cool off, especially when your only other option is the always crowded main pool. With a nice empty ship, we decided to spend a little time in Spice H20 enjoying both the cooling grotto and warming hot tub, both of which were completely empty except for us.

 

We then checked out the spa, which was almost empty, as well. We had the thalassotherapy pool and hot tub to ourselves, and we began to feel as if we were on our own private ship!

[PaulInPGH]

Breakfast not quite in bed, but close enough.

[PaulInPGH]

Welcome to Roatan!

[PaulInPGH]

Our bodies sufficiently pounded, we traversed the few decks back up to the Haven courtyard. This was the hottest day of the cruise, which meant that our favorite deck 17 lounging area was a little too hot for us to fully enjoy. However, it was warm enough to properly enjoy the ice bath (A.K.A. Haven pool).

 

An NCL must for us is an order of wings from O’Sheehan’s, so we made our way down to deck 7 for lunch. I also ordered the fish and chips, and my wife ordered a Chicago dog, and everything was fantastic. The O’Sheehan’s on the Escape constantly left something to be desired, but the one on the Getaway was firing on all cylinders this cruise. Everything was extremely hot and fresh, and it was well worth venturing outside of our Haven cocoon.

 

The empty ship also allowed us to play the mini bowling game near O’Sheehan’s, which is obscenely priced at $6 per game! We also couldn’t figure out how to add a second player, so my wife and I just took turns. We also played a couple games of air hockey, at which I lost spectacularly. My wife was even playing left-handed due to an injured shoulder and she still destroyed me. I’m very bad.

[PaulInPGH]

Like the star athletes we are, we needed to cool down after our strenuous games, so we went back for some more time in the thalassotherapy pool. After we limbered up, we went back to our cabin to find Joseph’s afternoon delight—this time a yummy selection of cheeses.

 

Rather than shower and change, we decided to head back to the Haven courtyard to enjoy some evening lounging while everyone else went to dinner. We enjoyed an empty hot tub, and we tried some uncomfortable wicker loungers which are placed in water—presumably for cooling off while sunbathing—but which are less enjoyable at night.

 

After some quality time on our balcony, we showered and changed and headed back to the Haven restaurant for a pre-dinner drink at the bar, followed by dinner in the Haven restaurant. Dinner that night was the surf and turf (this version was filet and shrimp). As always at the Haven restaurant, it was wonderful. My only complaint with the Haven restaurant, at least for dinner, is it would be nice if the menu changed from day-to-day. At the very least, it would be nice if there were some standard options that stayed the same, while having a few daily specials, as is the case down in the dining room. Not a major complaint, but hopefully something that will show up down the line.

 

Again suffering from relaxaustion, we made it another early night.

 

Up next: Day 4 – Seriously, we’re still doing nothing.

[PaulInPGH]

Our first, but not our last, surf and turf at the Haven restaurant.

[Greenpea2]

18 minutes ago, PaulInPGH said:

Like the star athletes we are, we needed to cool down after our strenuous games, so we went back for some more time in the thalassotherapy pool. After we limbered up, we went back to our cabin to find Joseph’s afternoon delight—this time a yummy selection of cheeses.

 

Rather than shower and change, we decided to head back to the Haven courtyard to enjoy some evening lounging while everyone else went to dinner. We enjoyed an empty hot tub, and we tried some uncomfortable wicker loungers which are placed in water—presumably for cooling off while sunbathing—but which are less enjoyable at night.

 

After some quality time on our balcony, we showered and changed and headed back to the Haven restaurant for a pre-dinner drink at the bar, followed by dinner in the Haven restaurant. Dinner that night was the surf and turf (this version was filet and shrimp). As always at the Haven restaurant, it was wonderful. My only complaint with the Haven restaurant, at least for dinner, is it would be nice if the menu changed from day-to-day. At the very least, it would be nice if there were some standard options that stayed the same, while having a few daily specials, as is the case down in the dining room. Not a major complaint, but hopefully something that will show up down the line.

 

Again suffering from relaxaustion, we made it another early night.

 

Up next: Day 4 – Seriously, we’re still doing nothing.

Relaxaustion! LOL Best way to describe it. Thanks for this--I feel like I'm onboard. Relaxausted.

[PaulInPGH]

18 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

Relaxaustion! LOL Best way to describe it. Thanks for this--I feel like I'm onboard. Relaxausted.

Thank you. I'm not gonna lie, I gave myself a good laugh when I came up with that one. It does fit though, as you do kind of develop a low-level malaise when you do nothing for days on end.

[Bulldogsoc]

Thx. Enjoyed your prose. 

[PaulInPGH]

18 minutes ago, Bulldogsoc said:

Thx. Enjoyed your prose. 

Much appreciated.

[SenatorsFan]

I always find  your reviews very entertaining, so thanks for writing another one! We were on Getaway in October for the second time, but alas, in a lowly balcony cabin. I made do with the raspberry guava mojitos, my husband also enjoyed the thermal spa and we had a good cruise. 

I'm also glad to hear you enjoyed the Cavern Club on Epic, since that's up next for us in April and we like live music, too.

Heather

[PaulInPGH]

6 minutes ago, SenatorsFan said:

I always find  your reviews very entertaining, so thanks for writing another one! We were on Getaway in October for the second time, but alas, in a lowly balcony cabin. I made do with the raspberry guava mojitos, my husband also enjoyed the thermal spa and we had a good cruise. 

I'm also glad to hear you enjoyed the Cavern Club on Epic, since that's up next for us in April and we like live music, too.

Heather

Thank you, Heather. I'm glad you guys enjoyed your Getaway cruise in October. I was wondering how we'd enjoy sailing a ship for the second time (this was our first repeat experience), but doing the Haven was so novel that it felt like an entirely different ship.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy the Cavern Club and the Epic in general. I can't say too much about the Epic's features because we sailed it in Europe, and other than maybe catching a bit of music at the end of the day, most days we were so tired from being in port we just grabbed dinner and went to sleep.

 

Cheers.

[aubreyc1988]

On 1/22/2019 at 5:51 AM, PaulInPGH said:

 

Following an uneventful drill, we made our way over to the Mojito Bar on deck 8, which was one of our favorite spots on our last Getaway cruise. Unfortunately, the menu has changed a bit since then, and my favorite raspberry mojito is no more. I did try their rum punch though, and it was a delight.

 

 

OH NO, that's my favorite drink! 😞 I will miss it a lot, although since they started premixing it, it just hasn't been the same! They used to make it from scratch and it was HEAVENLY then. 

[PaulInPGH]

7 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

OH NO, that's my favorite drink! 😞 I will miss it a lot, although since they started premixing it, it just hasn't been the same! They used to make it from scratch and it was HEAVENLY then. 

The original version, before the inclusion of the guava, was my favorite drink on our first Getaway cruise in 2015. My wife still likes the spicy passion mojito, but that one isn't quite to my taste. They do make a good rum punch there now though.

[aubreyc1988]

1 minute ago, PaulInPGH said:

The original version, before the inclusion of the guava, was my favorite drink on our first Getaway cruise in 2015. My wife still likes the spicy passion mojito, but that one isn't quite to my taste. They do make a good rum punch there now though.

I was on the Getaway in 2014, and yes the raspberry mojitos were better that year than they have been recently. I think it's more that the premixing of the drinks just doesn't make them taste as good.  I totally understand why they have to do it though

[PaulInPGH]

Day 4: Wherein we skip Harvest Caye.

 

We visited Harvest Caye soon after it opened back in 2016, and we found it pretty lacking. The pool is impressive (maybe the largest I’ve ever seen), but the beach was rocky, and the other offerings held little appeal.

 

So instead of leaving the ship and spending time with the masses, we again stayed onboard and enjoyed some quiet time. That morning’s Haven breakfast was another omelet for me, and the Huevos Rancheros for my wife, which she says was a true standout.

 

We wanted to take advantage of another quiet morning at Spice H20, but the weather was too overcast and breezy to make the grotto an appealing option. Instead, we went to the warm spa where we were literally the only two people.

 

The Haven courtyard was also a ghost town (ghost ship?). We spent a lovely few hours with the pool and hot tubs to ourselves. I alternated between the cozy warmth of the hot tub and the freezing death of the pool—what a way to feel alive.