Breakaway Haven review May 29

[rbird]

This is just another report/ review of the NCL Breakaway Haven May 29 sailing to Costa Maya, Harvest Caye, Roatan and Cozumel.  My travel party included DH, me and my adult son who claimed he was just “along for the ride”😊

This is our first cruise since 2019.   We booked about 90 days.  I waited until the cruise line dropped some of the testing requirements.  I was willing to test once prior to embarking and before flying to Florida.   I work in the medical field and am very familiar with the covid virus.   The stress of testing negative really affected our pre cruise excitement.  
I only booked two dinners outside the Haven and had no other planned activities.

We woke up of Friday and did our EMED proctored tests from home.   Very easy and I highly recommend them.  EMED test have an expiration date so don’t order them to early.

 

After our negative test, we started packing and then left the next morning to fly into MIA a day early.  Stayed at The Hampton Brickell.  Great stay as usual.  Clean and reliable. We took a short Uber ride to POM at 9am.  We had a 9-930 check in.  I had my   Printed negative test results in large ziplock bag and my vaccine card in there as well.  Simple -no fumbling through papers.  They just looked at them once prior to entering the terminal.  The Haven check in was super easy to find and well marked prior to even entering the new building. Not many ppl there at 915 am.  We masked up for our flights, Ubers, elevators and check in with the NCL agent and hand sanitized often.  The Haven Lounge is beautiful, with plenty of space and snacks to cover you until boarding between 11-12.   The butlers start buzzing around prior to embarkation and lead groups on board.   Once off the gangway, the groups waited for elevators few of which were masked.  We took the stairs from deck 6 to 16.   After the first flight we unmasked as no one was taking the stairs. No lie- we were huffing and puffing but it was worth it.  By now it was noon.  We arrived in the Haven passed by the bar and immediately got in a short line for lunch in the Haven.

[rbird]

[rbird]

At first I felt bad as everyone can see you boarding first as Haven pax walking down a hall in the terminal with glass walls.   But then I realized the NCL did this a marketing thing.  

The Haven restaurant lived up to expectations with surf and turf being on offer every night!   The menu is set all week and I never repeated a dinner choice.  The staff is exceptional.  We seldom waited for a table but we also eat earlier than most folks.  We ate in LeBistro and Moderna.  I was disappointed with LeBistro. The service was great but I felt my food in the Haven was better, JMO.   We enjoyed Moderno.  I don’t eat a lot of meat so the salad/ appetizer buffet was great, IMO.  
 

The Haven bar tenders are truly the best on the ship.   I contemplated upgrading my beverage plan but was satisfied with the wine.  DH like beer and an occasional fancy drink.   My son had the beverage plan and he doesn’t drink.  So NCL made out on him.   The coffee in the Haven is French press, so no need to trek downstairs for Starbucks.   
 

 

Edited June 7, 2022 by rbird

[rbird]

We stayed in the 2 BR villa 16106.  I declined  upgrading to the owners suite because of the 2nd BR for our adult son.  
Again, we did little planning ahead of time and did not have a letter for our butler.   No need for one.  We were honored to have Maria, one of the most experienced, professional, warm and exceptional butlers.   The mini fridge came with 3 things.  Water, sparkling water and something else.  We asked for a pitcher of water, afterwords two pitchers of ice water we refreshed daily.  Maria encouraged us to order breakfast in our cabin prior to an early excursion.  So we tried it.  Wow.   It was very nice.   We skipped the shows during the last two days of the cruise since there was a noticeable increase in passenger coughing towards the end.  We saw SIx of day 2 and went to the comedy club on day 3.  
Instead of cramming in with hundreds of passengers in the theater with obvious increasing viral loads we chose to enjoy a sunset from our veranda.   We used our veranda more than other cruises since we were trying to stay healthy throughout the cruise.  

Edited June 7, 2022 by rbird

[HBCcruiser]

Thank you for this BA Haven review. We are on her in 40 days and are also staying in the 2bd. We will be in 16714. Can't wait! 

[Sthrngary]

26 minutes ago, rbird said:

 I was disappointed with LeBistro.

I am so excited you had this opportunity in the NCL Haven.  I am also appreciative that you reviewed the Breakaway.  I will be cruising on the Breakaway in December 2022.  I have cruise the Haven on the Getaway which is a sister ship and the Joy.  

 

On to LeBistro.  In 2019, it had a different menu.  Even then, it was not my favorite.  The key to French cuisine in my opinion are the sauces and gravy's.  Add to that the seasoning used.  The food tasted kind of bland.  Knowing this, a persons enjoyment of LeBistro is on the choices they make.  I had the Scallop soup and lamb chops.  The food for me was very good however the portion sizes was tiny.  I made the best of this experience because I had the Premium Plus Beverage package.  My meal included many (did I say many) glasses of very nice French Champagne. 

 

This dining experience was far less for the food and more for the feeling provided by the staff as well as the atmosphere. I completely agree with your statement.

 

Cruise well.

[rbird]

The Haven on the Breakaway is nice albeit a little smaller than the Escape.  I’m still wondering why they didn’t put an elevator in there.  I’m assuming if you can’t to stairs you would need to leave Haven proper, take and elevator and then come back in through the door unless you were taking the concierge elevator.  🤔 

it never felt crowded except for the Harvest Caye day.   We brought our masks for the elevators and crowd.   No one looked at us twice.   No judgment, just do your own thing which I love.  Having priority disembarkation is the bomb!   We love the Haven for this reason.   
the concierge, Virginia also highlighted our trip because we did everything last minute.  We arrived in Costa missa to windy, rainy weather.  Can’t believe they could actually dock.   We Booked a beach day the night prior and didn’t read the weather.  Hey- reading on vacation was a chore.  Hah.  Virginia took one look at my face the next morning and said,  do you want to cancel?   I piped up and blurted out. YES. She said go back to bed.   I was so relieved.   I didn’t even ask or care about the excursion cost.   I noticed later in the cruise that I was refunded.  Wow.   The concierge can make things happen.  They are wonderful and allowed us to cruise freestyle.   Harvest Caye was great in my opinion and I didn’t mind paying on the island for extras.   My husband and son walked back to the Haven  to have lunch while I stayed parked in my beach hair and fasted.   I ate more than enough food and never felt hungry.  I brought my water carton from the room that held me over for the day.  
Roatan surprised me and again I added my zip line excursion the night before thanks to the concierge service.  Cozumel was ok.  We booked Isla Passion.  It was inexpensive and rightly so.   We did not eat anything there by choice.   
 

This was our 2nd time in the Haven and it did not disappoint.  The service was better than our last cruise. 

We visited OSheehan’s a couple of times for our Buffalo wings and they were quite good.   The bar service at the martini bar was subpar.   You could really feel the shortage of staff in the other parts of the ship.  Although, I was happy the kids club was open so the Haven pool remained relatively calm all week.   We walked past the American diner.  NCL should be ashamed at up charging that.  It’s not themed or anything.   I expected a Johnny Rocket kind of thing.  No mini golf or rock wall - just empty sad space.   
 

 

 

[rbird]

Dang.  Cc only allows one edit.   I need to correct typos and punctuation.   So sorry for those errors.