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Observations from the Breakaway Haven


rattanchair
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We are on the 6th day of our Breakaway Haven cruise in an aft penthouse H6 and have to say the ship is beautiful and generally immaculate, giving the crew a daily chance to clean up after a bunch of slob passengers. The only thing wrong with this ship are a few of its guests. The cabin is the best we have yet encountered at sea. The staff and crew are very friendly and accommodating, which should be expected. We could not find a better combination, especially in the Haven. Now I have to tell you about an incident that happened in the Haven Restaurant last evening. I have never seen such an incident in all our years of cruising. A threesome of ladies, about 50ish, were sitting at a table in the Haven Restaurant , drinking and not eating. The next thing I witnessed was 2 of the ladies carrying out their third party member in a manner I can only describe as seeing in a war movie like 'Saving Private Ryan'. The two of them on either side of the passed out compatriot dragging her out of the Haven 'war zone', her arms draped around their shoulders. The 2 remaining ladies returned a short time later to their original positions, continuing their libations. Only moments later I look up from my  grilled salmon entree and see that the second lady of the original threesome , had fallen out of her chair, and was lying on her back on the floor laughing hysterically. She refused to get up or except help from the staff. A fellow passenger got up from his meal and walked over to assist, but she refused his help as well. The third lady of the original threesome just sat in her chair and drank through the entire escapade.  The lady finally rolled over and resumed her original position in her chair at the table, grabbed her beer bottle and took a chug (no, she was not drinking out of a glass). By this time I was enjoying my chocolate layer cake, when the alerted ship personnel wisely sent in someone to stand, converse and chaperone the two ladies. Who would have guessed  that evening we would be treated to a dinner and a show.

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Wow!  I just love people watching!  Will be on Breakaway in 9 days.  Have my eye on an H6...currently in an H7 and I was hoping they would drop the price so I could just make a lateral move...hasn't happened yet (we are about $400 bucks apart at the moment.) But I am so glad you are enjoying your room and Haven experience!

Edited by Georgia_Peaches
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1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!  I just love people watching!  Will be on Breakaway in 9 days.  Have my eye on an H6...currently in an H7 and I was hoping they would drop the price so I could just make a lateral move...hasn't happened yet (we are about $400 bucks apart at the moment.  But I am so glad you are enjoying your room and Haven experience!

At the present moment we are on our H6 balcony in Cozumel. It is raining, but the balcony is so huge and so deep, the rain has a refreshing coolness to it. H6 is the way to go. You will never cruise a lower category again on this vessel. Bon voyage.

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8 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Have my eye on an H6...currently in an H7 and I was hoping they would drop the price so I could just make a lateral move...hasn't happened yet (we are about $400 bucks apart at the moment.

 

For $400 more, I'd easily take the H6 over the H7. Even if it's the smallest balcony (deck 13) H6.

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13 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!  I just love people watching!  Will be on Breakaway in 9 days.  Have my eye on an H6...currently in an H7 and I was hoping they would drop the price so I could just make a lateral move...hasn't happened yet (we are about $400 bucks apart at the moment.) But I am so glad you are enjoying your room and Haven experience!

 

Hope you get your H6,  I need the H7  LOL

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26 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!  I just love people watching!  Will be on Breakaway in 9 days.  Have my eye on an H6...currently in an H7 and I was hoping they would drop the price so I could just make a lateral move...hasn't happened yet (we are about $400 bucks apart at the moment.) But I am so glad you are enjoying your room and Haven experience!

We paid $9071 for our H6, which we booked 8-29-18, if it is any help.

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For what it is worth, I have another Breakaway observation. We just started this 'ship within a ship' concept of cruising. We thought we could spend all our time within The Haven, as within the Coastal Kitchen, the Luminae, the Retreat, or the Yacht Club. We started out with a big misconception with the NCL Haven when it comes to dining. NCL posters sold us a bill of goods when it comes to circumventing the limited, never changing Haven breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. Several have posted Haven guests can order off Main or Specialty Restaurants menus and have them delivered to the Haven Restaurant for your dining pleasure.This we found to be untrue on this sailing, June 09. You can accomplish this, but delivery will only be through your butler and only to your cabin. Now who likes to dress up and eat dinner in their cabin? Yes, perhaps if you are sick, incapacitated, or quarantined. Then forget about people watching and catching a 'show'. So from the very start of your cruise be ever so adventurous and book all the Specialty Restaurant venues and the Manhattan Supper Club (when the dance band is playing). We missed all the Specialty venues this cruise (did not use our 3x specialty perk). You might as well, as we discovered that the Haven is not really as NCL is marketing it to be--it is exactly like the rest of the ship.

Edited by rattanchair
removed a pejorative
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16 hours ago, rattanchair said:

We paid $9071 for our H6, which we booked 8-29-18, if it is any help.

When I first booked back in February, it was for my annual mom-daughter cruise.  I wanted her (mom) to experience the Haven bc she and dad are Princess loyalists.  I booked us a spa suite because it was entry level to the Haven and also gave us access to the thermal suite.  The rate at the time was $3400 pp. (more than I wanted to spend, but oh well.)  Since then, I've watched the rates for the Haven drop significantly. 🙄 When I noticed the H7 going for the rate of $3400pp, I called my TA to make the move to the bigger space...but we lost the spa.  So I booked thermal suite passes on line for another $400.  Since then, the original room rate has dropped to the high 2k pp. (actually spa suites are showing as sold out, but H5 and H6 are still available). So I just can't make myself cough up the extra $400 to close the gap between the forward and the aft.  We have an aft booked on Getaway next summer so I may just have to wait.  I'm guessing that the current $3600 pp for the H6 isn't going to budge since we are just a week out.  But we are going to have a blast regardless!  Sorry your cruise is coming to an end.  Hopefully you will have time to post a review of your whole experience.  No pressure ☺️.

Edited by Georgia_Peaches
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Just now, BirdTravels said:

We don’t particularly care for that type of entertainment disrupting our meals. The restaurant manager should have stepped in earlier and had the trio escorted to their suites for continued libations. 

Just a thought but shouldn’t the staff have cut these women off long before they became falling down drunk?

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My concern is that they dragged their companion out of the Haven supposedly to her room

and then returned. They didn't seem concerned that the passed out passenger might

have alcohol poisoning or some other medical type emergency.

Maybe her husband was in the suite?

Edited by Peachypooh
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All your replies are quite valid. I have no answers, only my observations. Another observation last evening. Chit-chatting with a gentlemen from Kansas City on his first cruise ever. No one advised him that there is an apparent dress code at Manhattan Supper Club, Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. We were also not advised of any dress code as well, but we were not affected because I wear a jacket and dress shirt and tie every evening while on any cruise. This gentleman only brought with him shorts. Now had he booked the Haven he would have had no problem being allowed in and seated. I observed that even bare feet were allowed in the Haven carpeted lounge as on one evening a father role modeled to his teenage son, how to approach the Haven Bar in bare feet and order a alcoholic beverage.

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There must be something in the water.  I was at Gibson’s Steak House in Chicago a few weeks ago.  It’s fairly upscale.  Similar situation, only it was 3 men, probably in their 50s.

 

They were loud and fairly obnoxious.  Finally, one of them fell out of their chair while the other two laughed loudly.  Someone must have called security as they were approached and wanted to fight the security personnel.  They were “escorted” out of the restaurant.

 

I think it was earlier this year, a drunk guy did a swan dive off a Royal Caribbean ship.

 

Some just don’t know how to behave, regardless of their financial means.

 

Again, something in the water.

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1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

When I first booked back in February, it was for my annual mom-daughter cruise.  I wanted her (mom) to experience the Haven bc she and dad are Princess loyalists.  I booked us a spa suite because it was entry level to the Haven and also gave us access to the thermal suite.  The rate at the time was $3400 pp. (more than I wanted to spend, but oh well.)  Since then, I've watched the rates for the Haven drop significantly. 🙄 When I noticed the H7 going for the rate of $3400pp, I called my TA to make the move to the bigger space...but we lost the spa.  So I booked thermal suite passes on line for another $400.  Since then, the original room rate has dropped to the high 2k pp. (actually spa suites are showing as sold out, but H5 and H6 are still available). So I just can't make myself cough up the extra $400 to close the gap between the forward and the aft.  We have an aft booked on Getaway next summer so I may just have to wait.  I'm guessing that the current $3600 pp for the H6 isn't going to budge since we are just a week out.  But we are going to have a blast regardless!  Sorry your cruise is coming to an end.  Hopefully you will have time to post a review of your whole experience.  No pressure ☺️.

 Dear GP, Thank you for the heads up on the pricing. I booked the H6 so far ahead to reserve the cabin with the largest balcony. I depend on my TA to keep me informed about price reductions, which obviously she is slipping. I can not seem to find any price reductions when I go on- line to the NCL web site. No big deal at this junction in our lives. I am just thrilled we can still climb the stairs on these ships. I love what another CC poster posted, He has " never seen a hearse towing a U-haul ". Another great CC poster posted "Carpe Diem" , do it while you have the chance. DW does not enjoy long cruises or flying any more. We are not sorry this cruise is coming to an end. Tune onto the  CC Celebrity Equinox web site June 22 sailing for my observations from a Celebrity Suite. One of our old travel agents use to tell us " spend your money traveling, because if you do not, your heirs will". She died at 94. Bon voyage !

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56 minutes ago, rattanchair said:

 Dear GP, Thank you for the heads up on the pricing. I booked the H6 so far ahead to reserve the cabin with the largest balcony. I depend on my TA to keep me informed about price reductions, which obviously she is slipping. I can not seem to find any price reductions when I go on- line to the NCL web site. No big deal at this junction in our lives. I am just thrilled we can still climb the stairs on these ships. I love what another CC poster posted, He has " never seen a hearse towing a U-haul ". Another great CC poster posted "Carpe Diem" , do it while you have the chance. DW does not enjoy long cruises or flying any more. We are not sorry this cruise is coming to an end. Tune onto the  CC Celebrity Equinox web site June 22 sailing for my observations from a Celebrity Suite. One of our old travel agents use to tell us " spend your money traveling, because if you do not, your heirs will". She died at 94. Bon voyage !

Hi RC,

You are so right!  Thank you for the sage advice.  Not sure why I was getting so bogged down by $400 bucks.  Just called my TA to get the room I've wanted all along (9916).  If the information on CC is accurate, I believe this deck offers the deepest balconies.  Mom is going to love it and the experience for her will be priceless.  Have fun on the Equinox...one of my favorite ships and the Celebrity suite is awesome!  Enjoy!

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2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Hi RC,

You are so right!  Thank you for the sage advice.  Not sure why I was getting so bogged down by $400 bucks.  Just called my TA to get the room I've wanted all along (9916).  If the information on CC is accurate, I believe this deck offers the deepest balconies.  Mom is going to love it and the experience for her will be priceless.  Have fun on the Equinox...one of my favorite ships and the Celebrity suite is awesome!  Enjoy!

Dear GP,  You booked the BEST cabin on the Breakaway IMHO. We are leaving #9316 tomorrow morning. I am saying the BEST because 3x in 7 days the toilets would not flush in #9316 (you have 2 water closets) and neither worked. The crew had them fixed every time within hours.  I recommend test flush before each use to avoid embarrassment. In all events they were repaired without entry into our cabin. I surmise your cabin will not be affected being on the starboard side and ours is on the port side, hence you have the BEST cabin with the largest balcony on the ship. Your mom will never cruise Princess again.

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That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing.  Did you  offer any assistance? Maybe just telling us this story on cruise critic will make you feel better. I’m glad you’re having a great cruise. By the way it’s accept not “except” Lol.

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We were in the Breakaway Haven a couple weeks ago. Saw a gentleman come to lunch at the restaurant wet, towel wrapped around his neck. He proceeds to lift his shirt up and dry off his stomach and armpits in the restaurant.

 

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Just now, andymattmom said:

We were in the Breakaway Haven a couple weeks ago. Saw a gentleman come to lunch at the restaurant wet, towel wrapped around his neck. He proceeds to lift his shirt up and dry off his stomach and armpits in the restaurant.

 

Dear AMM,   I very much enjoyed your review. It prompted me to give these observations. Thank you for posting.

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