NCL Prima Haven trip report Dec 29, 2023 - Jan 5, 2024

[jgarth]

We just got back from our first NCL cruise last night. Before we sailed, I searched high and low for specific details about the Prima Haven experience as well as the specific excursions we booked, but I wasn't able to find too many specific details, so I thought I'd report back on our trip in an effort to help others who might be sailing soon and have some of the same questions that I had.

 

I'll describe each day in a separate post. It might take me a couple days to get through the whole cruise, but I'll try my best to get in as many details as possible!

 

There were 4 of us cruising: me (51), husband Mike (52), daughter (21) and daughter's boyfriend (21). We have sailed concierge on Disney 4 times. Since DD is now 21, we thought we'd try NCL Haven instead this time. We had a great week and really enjoyed so many things, but spoiler alert...this will be our only cruise with NCL. While they did a lot of things right, we just felt like their service fell short in so many areas. So we'll head back to Disney or try out one of the other lines next time! But as I said, despite some lacking service, we still had an overall positive experience and loved our trip.

 

Feel free to jump in and ask any questions as I'm posting! 

 

Day 1

 

We sailed out of Galveston on December 29. I think this was maybe only the 3rd? trip out of Galveston for the Prima, so we were prepared to not have it be a smooth experience. It was fine, though. It was a cold day. We are based in Chicago, but we have a house in Houston, so we drove down from there in the morning. We got to port a little early since we didn't know what traffic would be like. I'd paid for a parking spot in the covered garage a few months ago. That garage opened at 9:05. We parked and walked across the street with our luggage. We dropped off our luggage with the porters at door J. We figured our "Priority Haven" tags meant that they'd be taken to the rooms first. We figured wrong. First tip of mine...If you're staying in the Prima Haven, carry your luggage on with you. They let you drop it off in your room right away even if the room isn't ready. The luggage was brought on the ship by floor. Our floor 15 was the last floor to get called, so our luggage wasn't at our door until the evening. 

 

After dropping our luggage, we waited in line outside the port. Everyone (haven or not) waits in the same line. The doors open at 9:30 to let everyone in and through security. After security, there is a separate check-in line for haven. Once we checked in and got our room key, we sat in a big open room. The Haven area of that room was just roped off with light snacks and drinks. There were 3 photographers set up in the room to take family embarkation photos. I think it was a little before 11 when the concierge Lyster came out to bring us on to the ship. He led us through the atrium up to Haven. There didn't appear to be any advantage to Haven getting on early because I believe they were letting in the other ship guests who arrived at 9:30 through the door in the back. By the time we got to the Haven elevators, people were streaming in from the opposite direction. 

 

We were taken up the Haven elevators to the Haven lounge for the speech from the concierge. For us, that speech was a waste of time. He just gave everyone a paper to fill out their dining requests and requests for Donna Summer and Price Is Right. I'd already booked all those things for myself on the app. He said you needed to show up early for DS and PIR if you wanted to sit in the Haven section. He said they couldn't help get seats for the Improv or Syd Norman's. We'd need to line up for those an hour early with everyone else. 

 

After that, we wandered the ship to start learning our way around and see what was open. There wasn't much of anything open the first day besides food and drink. It took us a full day to figure out where everything was and how to get there.  The colored in triangles on the carpet in some areas point forward. But I didn't think things were otherwise very clearly marked forward or aft. We REALLY liked the interactive maps by the elevators. Those were so helpful. You could click on where you wanted to go, and the map would show you the route to get there. That was especially important those early days on the ship when you're trying to learn which areas don't go through all the way to the front or back. As many have said, the ship layout is a little wonky. Not ruin-your-trip level wonky. But it does take some getting used to.

 

We ate lunch at Hudson's because I'd looked at menus I'd found online, and it looked like they had a really big and varied lunch menu. I was wrong about that. It was a very limited menu. At least that first day. Not sure if it changed. We never went back there for lunch again. Here is where I should mention we are NOT foodies. I in particular just like very plain options. Steak, chicken, spaghetti, burgers, etc. If your 5-year-old would like it, I probably would, too. 😉 We had burgers. I did ask to see the kid's menu just figuring I could order some pizza or chicken strips. That wouldn't be the last time on this ship I was told "no" to what I thought was a very simple request. The waiter acted like I was putting him out and he'd have to walk miles to find me a kid's menu. So I just said never mind and ordered the burger. It was a tasty burger. But we were quickly getting the impression that this cruise line, or at least this ship, did not pride itself on service. 

 

As soon as we noticed the option became available to book things on the interactive screens by the elevators, I booked us 5:00 reservations for the Speedway. When we arrived for check-in, my daughter had to run back to the room to leave her purse. You can't bring them with you, and there's nowhere to store them. That put us back a group, so it was about 6 when we finished. 3 of us loved the speedway. DD had some obnoxious teen ram her into the wall twice, so she wasn't a fan. You ride for 9 minutes. I wish I would've worn my contacts. My glasses fit under the helmet, but contacts would've been better. 

 

The "selfie spot" was under maintenance today. I checked a couple more times during the trip to try it out, but it was never working. One of the glass walkways on Deck 8 was also "under maintenance" every time we tried walking that deck. We could never get all the way around the outside without coming inside. 

 

Photos were from 6:00-10:00pm each night. (Well, approximately 6:00...there were a couple nights that they weren't set up and ready until 6:15.) They were in the atrium area or the photo shop area on decks 6, 7, and 8. There was never a wait when we went. I ordered one of the packages. It was $349 for 24 photos printed and emailed digital on the last day. (More to report on those on Day 7.)

 

After photos, we had dinner at Haven that night. There was never a wait for dinner there. The space was plenty big to accommodate the Haven diners. The food was good. Again I asked for a kid's menu just to see it and see what the options were when/if I got tired of the same adult menu items. Again I was told no, they didn't have one available. Not sure what they would've said to me if I was actually a kid? Thought it was weird. But my prime rib was very tasty. DH loved the surf and turf and got it several nights. DD's BF got the chicken and liked that as well. 

 

I found the Haven bar service a little more disappointing than other reviews I've read. It was fine. But it wasn't quick. And they never got to know us well enough to learn our simple drink order...Coors Light, margarita, 2 old fashioneds. The Haven lounge area was a really nice place to sit and relax, but they missed the mark in a couple areas. There was no music at all, so it wasn't a lively place. It was a pretty boring environment. It also would've been nice to have a shelf of games or cards available. There was one Monopoly game missing all the cards, one game of Scrabble, and one game of Supermarket Sweep. Bring some cards games with if your family likes to play games together!

 

We checked out the shops on night 1. The jewelry and watch salespeople were pretty aggressive, so we didn't feel comfortable to just enjoy browsing in those places. The shop with a limited amount of NCL merchandise, some purses, clothing, toiletries, etc. was a more fun spot to look around. 

 

Our room itself had pros and cons. We were in a 2-bedroom family suite. The space worked nicely for us having 2 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a sitting area, and a nice balcony. But it was crazy how the outlets were severely lacking in the right spots. There was no outlet in the bathrooms for any hair appliances. The dryer provided by NCL is plugged in to the back of the drawers under the sink. Wherever that outlet is, it can't be accessed. DD tried straightening her hair by the mini fridge so she could look into the mirror on the back of the door. But that was unfortunately right under a smoke detector, which she set off. Nobody was concerned enough about the alarm to come check it out. It went off for a while before we finally called the butler, who called someone from maintenance to come shut off the alarm. We have quite the humorous video of DH and the BF fanning DD with pillows while she sat by the open balcony door trying to straighten the other half of her hair without setting off the alarm again. After that night, she stood in my closet by my full-length mirror to do her hair in there since her cord reached the outlet by my bed. You might want to consider bringing a small mirror in case your room doesn't have a mirror by any outlets!

 

We didn't love the decor in the Haven rooms. Not sure why the regular rooms are white and light and bright and modern looking, while the Haven rooms are olive green and brown and look straight out of the 70s. But that's just a matter of personal taste. 

 

That's about it for Day 1 observations! Thanks for following along!

 

 

 

 

[UKstages]

8 minutes ago, jgarth said:

But we were quickly getting the impression that this cruise line, or at least this ship, did not pride itself on service. 

 

it's the ship.

 

it's a very poorly managed ship, with dispassionate senior leadership.

 

i have a long post/review here on cruise critic that speaks to this issue.

 

i wouldn't write off NCL until you have sailed at least one other ship. in my opinion, the joy is among the best in the fleet. (good haven, too.)

[jgarth]

Day 2 Sea Day

 

We ate breakfast at the Local. It was just okay. We didn't learn until late in the week that the Haven eggs were way better than anywhere else. We should've been eating our breakfast there all week!

 

We went to Tee Time at 9 when it opened, but their system was down. We headed over to the Stadium to play shuffleboard while we waited to see if Tee Time would open up. Getting to the Stadium at 9 right when it opened before it filled up with kids was a great choice. We had it pretty much to ourselves. It's a fun area to kill a little time. 

 

We went back to Tee Time at 10, and it opened. It was so much fun! It was $10/person. We loved it and played it a second time later in the week. 

 

Today was warmer than we expected so we headed to the Haven sundeck and spent most of the day there. Both decks 16 and 17 were really nice areas. Lots of loungers on both the pool deck and hot tub deck. There weren't too many kids. There were a few left unsupervised, but not nearly as many as I expected for a holiday cruise. On the whole cruise actually, there weren't a ton of kids, which is probably good, as I don't know how much this ship in particular had on it that would be fun for younger ones. Sitting on the sundeck, you have access to the Haven "snack menu" which is basically burger/hot dog type items. If you wanted to order from the whole menu, you'd have to sit at one of the tables in the outdoor restaurant area. We just stayed in our lounger and ordered a burger. There were Haven servers to bring you drinks or burgers to your chair. 

 

We did walk through the buffet area today to check it out. Based on reports I'd read, I'd pictured it to be really tiny. It seemed to be a fine size to me. We wound up grabbing food from there for several breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the week since it's quick and easy, and only once did we have to go to Food Republic for overflow seating. Maybe we just timed it right, but I thought the buffet area was a perfectly acceptable size. And there was a soft serve ice cream machine there which I hadn't expected on this ship.

 

DH and I went to Syd Norman's for a 70's trivia game. That was a lot of fun. We were born in the 70's and felt like we'd know very little trivia about it, so while we were waiting to start, we googled "common 70's trivia questions." We lucked out that half the questions they asked were word for word from the list we read. LOL We still didn't win, but at least we knew the answers to a few. I wish they'd had more trivia games scheduled at times that worked for us throughout the week because it was a fun event in a nice venue. Speaking of that venue, though, they really need to add seating in there. It could easily accommodate more people. 

 

We took our family photo again, and we went back to the Haven for dinner. We had Donna Summer tickets tonight, but I was the only person who wanted to see it, and I didn't care to see it badly enough to make any of my family members suffer through a musical that I'd read so many mixed reviews on, so we went to the comedy show instead. At 8:00 we got in line for the 9:00 comedy show at the Improv and got seats. The comedian was funny, so I'm glad we chose him over DS. 

 

When we got back to the room, I expected to see some towel animals on the bed. But nope. No towel animals tonight or any other night on the cruise. We got the freestyle daily on the bed each night, and most afternoons we got a snack from the butler. 

 

We ordered late night room service. It took about a half hour. We first called the number that was on the menu, but that lady told us we had a butler and needed to call him instead or we would be charged. So we called him. Seems like that's info that they should tell you or leave by the menu so you don't waste time calling the wrong person.

 

Just a couple more random room comments/thought...1) they need a towel rack in the bathroom and 2) the basins for the bathroom sinks really are too large. There's very limited space to set your items on the counter. We fixed that problem by just leaving our bathroom drawers open and using those as our counter space. But when you try setting a towel down near the sink, it inevitably falls in the too-large sink basin and gets drenched. And our room steward wasn't overly generous with replacing the towels even when we asked for extra, so we really couldn't afford to drop any in the sink. 😉 

 

That's it for Day 2! 

[david_sobe]

Really looking forward to this review.  I wish you would have come here to get better expectations before boarding. Priority boarding with the Haven does not mean: boarding all Haven guests first or  getting you past the security line first.  It only means that once your passport and credit card is registered they will escort you through all the lines to get to the ship.  You discovered that yes, many will ease on to the ship faster than many Haven guests.  It all depends how busy the Haven lounge is.  The priority luggage tags is more about making people "feel special" more than anything.  I have never discovered being in the Haven means you get your luggage any faster.  I am perplexed at some of your choices.  The biggest perk of the Haven on embarkation day is sitting down to lunch in the Haven restaurant.  What made you go to the MDR?   Scrambled eggs in the MDR or buffet is many times not real eggs and some sort of egg beaters.  They always have real eggs in the Haven restaurant.  They have the best breakfasts there so I am shocked you went to the local for breakfast.  I have not been on Prima but I agree with your feelings about the 70s casual dark green colors in the Haven.  NCL made the Haven very casual while making other parts of the ship more elegant.  I have seen videos of Owners suites on the Prima and the wall colors are so dark and depressing green. The other ships have the opposite.  Anyway, looking forward to the rest of the review!

[jgarth]

50 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Really looking forward to this review.  I wish you would have come here to get better expectations before boarding. Priority boarding with the Haven does not mean: boarding all Haven guests first or  getting you past the security line first.  It only means that once your passport and credit card is registered they will escort you through all the lines to get to the ship.  You discovered that yes, many will ease on to the ship faster than many Haven guests.  It all depends how busy the Haven lounge is.  The priority luggage tags is more about making people "feel special" more than anything.  I have never discovered being in the Haven means you get your luggage any faster.  I am perplexed at some of your choices.  The biggest perk of the Haven on embarkation day is sitting down to lunch in the Haven restaurant.  What made you go to the MDR?   Scrambled eggs in the MDR or buffet is many times not real eggs and some sort of egg beaters.  They always have real eggs in the Haven restaurant.  They have the best breakfasts there so I am shocked you went to the local for breakfast.  I have not been on Prima but I agree with your feelings about the 70s casual dark green colors in the Haven.  NCL made the Haven very casual while making other parts of the ship more elegant.  I have seen videos of Owners suites on the Prima and the wall colors are so dark and depressing green. The other ships have the opposite.  Anyway, looking forward to the rest of the review!

Honestly, I did search extensively here and everywhere I could find for Haven info. But the Havens and Haven experience seemed to vary ship to ship and person to person, so we just did the best we could with the info I found. We chose not to go to Haven for lunch because we knew we were going there for dinner and wanted to experience as many venues as possible in our limited time onboard. And based on the menu I found online, we thought we were making a good decision at the time. Same choice for the Local. We wanted to try as many places as possible for breakfast. Haven just happened to be the best! 

[jgarth]

Day 3 Costa Maya and NYE

We slept in a bit today since we didn't have an excursion at Costa Maya, and even if we did, the ship wasn't getting in to port until after lunch. We picked up breakfast in the buffet and took it back to the room. Yes to the cinnamon rolls at the buffet (surprisingly tasty!), no to the scrambled "eggs." (Yes, I now know we should've gone to Haven every morning, but the buffet was really convenient when we didn't want to take the time for a sit down meal!)

 

We spent the rest of the morning and through lunch time up on the Haven sundeck and in the infinity pool. The closer we got to port, the higher the pool filled up. The temp in it was really nice. We had it to ourselves for quite a long time. I assume most people were getting ready for shore excursions. We enjoyed having the sundeck to ourselves on a nice warm day. Jefferson was a good server outside. He really hustled taking care of both decks.

 

At 2:30, we got off to check out the Costa Maya port just so we could say we'd been there and seen it. I understand why so many people say not to bother with it, but we were glad we at least checked it out once. We have no need to ever go back, though. We decided to try out the Haven "escort" off the ship. All they did was take us to deck 4 and point to the stairs where we'd go down to exit. We could've done that ourselves. So cross that off any list of potential "perks" you think you might get in Prima's Haven. LOL The sellers on Costa Maya were very aggressive. Didn't care for that. There were a couple really cute photo spots, though...a big Costa Maya sign and a really colorful painted wall. DD loved the flamingos in the port and took a bunch of photos there. We bought ourselves a deck of cards in port so we could play some games at night in between dinner and our nightly entertainment. Then we headed back to the ship. This day there WAS a separate marked entrance back on to the ship for Haven and suites. But I didn't see one any other day. 

 

Back on the ship, the kids did the wave slide and liked it. DH and I took their photos and held their stuff. They only had about half a dozen people waiting in line ahead of them. They said it was worth going once but didn't feel the need to go again, especially if there was a line. 

 

We got ready for NYE dinner at what we expected to be Cagney's. When we booked the cruise, one of our "free" things was 2 specialty dining meals. So I booked Cagney's for NYE and figured DH and I would take advantage of the free dining in a new venue, and we'd just pay for the 2 kids. Our reservation was at 6:00. Photos started at 6:00 also (allegedly), and we thought it would be good to get one while we were looking fresh, so I asked the concierge if there was a grace period for reservations, and he said 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the photographers weren't ready to go at 6:00, so we wound up taking our photo at 6:13 and rushing like crazy to get to Cagney's in time. It was no problem checking in for our reservation at 6:15, but the hostess commented something about paying a la carte for all 4 meals. When I mentioned that we were supposed to have 2 free, she called Haven who looked it up and they also showed in their system that we'd need to pay for all 4. There was no way I was wasting $200 to eat the same (or lesser) surf and turf that came included at Haven, so we left and went to Haven to dine for free. When we went checked in with the Haven hostess (who we loved because she was so friendly...Marties), she noticed we had reservations at Cagney's. We quickly explained why we changed to Haven that night, and she sat us at a really nice table by the window. A few minutes later, the concierge came to our table to ask what happened. We told him, and he said we should go to the Haven desk to fill out a report so that they could call shoreside and straighten it out. Getting 2 meals free and still needing to pay for 2 more was in no way worth our time to wait in line at the desk and fill out a report, so we never did. We just enjoyed our Haven meal and went on with our evening. We had a great dinner there as usual, BUT Haven really dropped the ball on NYE festivities. They did nothing special. No special menu items. No music. No snacks. No noisemakers. No party hats. No champagne. Nothing. Just a regular night. We sat in the lounge to have a drink and play some cards while waiting for the NYE parties to start elsewhere on the ship.

 

By the time we went downstairs at 9 for the NYE parties which started at 10:30, we'd missed out on getting any of the party hats or headbands that had been set out downstairs on tables for the guests to take. I asked a lady where she got hers, and she told me they'd been on a table in the hall. She didn't want her headband, so she handed it over to me, which was very nice of her. I was hoping NCL would be like Disney and just put that sort of stuff in your room so everyone could have something. But nope. DH and I went to Syd Norman's for the pre-party with Shane. We wanted to try to get a seat so we could just stay in that venue for the NYE party in there that started at 10:30. We were standing-room only at first, but we lucked out during one of his breaks when some people left, and we were able to snag their seats. That was definitely the right vibe for us in a small bar. We liked Shane's voice and music choice a lot. He was good. There were 4 parties for NYE. DD and her BF tried them all. 1) Prima Theater. DD and her BF checked that one out first and immediately left. Got "high school" vibes from it. 2) Atrium. DD and her BF also checked that one out and didn't like that vibe either. 3) Syd Norman's. They came to say hi to us there and were happy we had seats, but they were heading outside to party #4) Pool deck. That was the right place for them. They said it was a lot of fun. Familiar Strangers was the music group out there. We all liked them when we saw them performing around the ship. One fun thing was that on the screen in Syd Norman's, they showed video feeds from the other parties on the ship. So it was nice to see what was happening in the other spots. Right before midnight, someone came in and was randomly passing out noisemakers. I chased him down to get one. Shane ended his performance at 12:20, so we went up to the pool deck to check that out, and the last song was playing up there as well. The buffet was open from 12-2 that night. We ran into the kids, grabbed some buffet food, and called it a night. 

[purpleally]

Costa Maya is worth a stop. But you have to get out of the port are. Keep walking.  Turn left. Grab a taxi and take it to the Malecon. Endless beach bars. 

[jgarth]

Day 4 Harvest Caye

 

We were in a hurry to get off the ship and get to our beach villa today, so we grabbed breakfast at the buffet again. We got off the ship at 9:30. We went to Haven to see if the "escort" was the same as the day before. It was. Just walked us to the top of the stairs and pointed us down to the exit. Fortunately, there was no line to get off. HC was cloudy today but warm enough. We got lucky that we didn't get the rain that the beach villa concierge told us the people the day before had all day. We had a couple sprinkles during the day, but the canopy of the villa kept us dry. 

 

We chose to make the few minute walk on the pier to HC rather than ride in a cart. When we got to HC, we took a photo in front of the Belize sign. DD got a coffee. Then we stopped at the info building and checked in to the beach villa. They drove us to our villa #6. They were assigning the villas in order based on who arrived first. We liked #6. The villa was perfect. We loved having our own bathroom and speakers for music and water bottles in the fridge and plenty of deck chairs. 6 towels, 6 water bottles, and a fresh fruit plate were included. We should've brought a ball, and we really needed bug spray. DH and I took a cart back to the shops and bought a couple balls for the water. They don't sell bug spray, but they do sell insect repellent bracelets. We didn't think they'd work, but they really did. I didn't get one bite after I started wearing it. Before that, the little bugs were biting us constantly on the deck and in the sand. So bring bug spray or buy the bracelets. 2/$5.

 

Our server at the villas was attentive and came by to check on us several times and bring us food and drinks. We didn't need to leave to get our own. They provided a menu, and we just ordered off that. The cart came to pick us up at 3:15 since everyone needed to be back on the ship at 4. We were almost the last people left on the beach. I think the sprinkles cleared most people out about an hour earlier, but like I said, we were protected under the canopy. We stopped quickly at the Wildlife Experience to walk through that before we left because we wanted to see the butterflies. It was quick and fun. Doesn't take more than 10 minutes to see everything. We walked back to the ship from there. 

 

There were no snacks in our room when we got back from HC. That night we decided to eat in Commodores just for a different view than Haven. Eh. It was fine. The menu again didn't match at all what I'd seen online. The strip steak was much better in the Haven. I saw a kid eating a cheese pizza that looked good, so I ordered that. 

 

We got in line for the 10:00 Rumours show at 9:00. There were already about 20 people ahead of us at that time. By the time they let us in at 9:30, there were about 40 people ahead of us from people letting random family, friends, and brand new acquaintances in line with them. Fortunately, we made a beeline to the back wall and were still able to get 4 seats. As I said earlier, they could fit more seating in there. They really should add some more stools! It was a good show. The band and singers are all talented. Personally, I would've much rather listened to all Fleetwood Mac's hits than that one album. But it was fine. The real entertainment came after the show when a very intoxicated old man started yelling at the perfectly lovely stage manager for no good reason. And some lady came over and started yelling at the drunk guy. "Shame on you! Shame on you!" That was our family quote of the week. 

 

And that was it for Day 4. 

[KKB]

@jgarth

Thanks for this review.

We board Prima next week...tho not in Haven.

 

The 1st time we hit Costa Maya I had the same opinion as you.

But then we discovered the AMAZING beaches...knee deep forever.

I recommend Maya Chan or Jaime's at the Blue Reef if you ever go back.

 

[jgarth]

Day 5 Roatan

 

We were really rushing to get to our excursion meeting point, so we grabbed breakfast in the buffet again. This time the concierge DID take us all the way downstairs and through the exit. It was about a 10-minute walk to all the excursion buses. Our meeting time for Zip n Beach was 9:20. There are different "zones" for the excursions, and your zone is listed on your excursion ticket. At about 9:35, our shuttle left. We really enjoyed our tour guide. He made the 25 minute bus ride interesting with his stories and his upbeat personality. 

 

We got to the zipline place (South Shore Zip-line Adventures) around 10. They gave us instructions, let us use the restroom, and put stuff in the lockers before we started. The lockers were $2 each. The guides do all the work as far as outfitting you and hooking you up to the lines, so it's very easy. We did 11 lines. The first line is a short, low to the ground line that makes everyone comfortable with how it works. The excursion was fun. There was someone taking photos...a few of the family before you start, and a few of each person on one line. I bought all the photos for our family for $30. I'm interested to see how they'll turn out. (When I placed the photo order last night at Walgreens, they were all marked "low resolution.") The photos were supposed to be emailed the night of the excursion, but I didn't get them. They gave an email address to contact the next morning if the photos didn't show up. I sent an email and received the link right away after that. They gave us just enough time to order photos, go to the bathroom, and get on the bus for the beach. It was nice having the guide who made sure everyone was accounted for and on the right bus. 

 

I think we left ziplining around 12:30, but the ship time/local time were a bit confusing, so I'm not sure. Rather than changing the clocks back and forth and back and forth as we sailed in and out of time zones, we were instructed just to keep our phones on ship time, which just went forward and back once on the cruise. But that meant that in some ports, our time was different than local time. So I'm not really sure how many hours we ziplined and how many hours we were at the beach. 

 

We took about a 10 minute bus ride (back toward the port) to the beach. Paradise-something or other, maybe? We changed into our suits there. Not the most glamorous bathroom facilities there, but there were hooks at least to hang your stuff. The guys went snorkeling for about an hour. $45 each. They said they enjoyed it. DD and I got drinks (DD's best pina colada of the trip) and tried to camp out on the beach. It was SO hot. And we were watching all the backpacks for the guys and ourselves, so we couldn't really leave the loungers to cool off in the water. DD suggested we go back by the entrance and check out the shaded pool instead. Best idea ever. The water was cool, but it was very refreshing. And we were able to stand in the water and chat with other people from our excursion while we had our drinks and waited for the guys. I think we got a little less than an hour and a half there. I'd highly recommend the zip n beach excursion. We all enjoyed it. Roatan was the favorite stop for both DD and her BF. We left at 1:45 local time (2:45 ship time) and got back to the port and on the ship JUST in time to leave at 3:30. There was no haven entrance to the ship this day.

 

We were starving when we got back since we didn't eat lunch at the beach. The grill room was open, but the buffet wasn't. That was a long line since everyone getting back on the ship was equally hungry and headed right there. It would've made sense to have the buffet open at that time as well. The grill room was one of our favorite parts of the buffet, though. It's a little section separated by sliding doors so you almost don't see it unless you go looking for it. But it had longer hours than the buffet with good burgers and hot dogs and fries for when you need a snack.

 

The butler did have cookies in our room today. Those were my favorite afternoon snack rather than the tiny little bite size appetizer things left some other days. I might've forgot to mention that Day 4 was the day you could fill your laundry bag for $29. It was about a 36-hour turnaround time from when we called to get the bag picked up on Day 4 and when we got it back the afternoon of Day 5. The room steward had our room clean twice a day, so he definitely did his job. But he didn't go over-and-above, for sure. We had one bar of soap that we used in the shower that was never replaced so we could have one by the sink as well. We definitely could've used more towels. We were skimping on those. When I asked him to leave extra, he didn't leave any "extra," but at least he replaced the ones we'd used, which he didn't always do on the other days. And as I said, no towel animals. They sell towel animal photo frames on the ship, so I'm guessing some of the room stewards do make them? I'm not complaining like the lack of towel animals ruined our trip, but it's such an easy thing to do (at least once!) to come back to the room and have a fun surprise. On this ship, we just felt like so many of the workers did the bare minimum of what their job required. 

 

We ate dinner at the Haven again. The hostess came over to chat with us a bit since DD's BF left the night before and thanked her in Filipino, so she wanted to see how he knew Filipino. (His parents are both from the Philippines.) Once again, she was definitely a bright spot in the Haven. So friendly. The waiters and waitresses in Haven were pretty good, as well, the whole week. 

 

We went to the newlywed game show in the theater. That was really funny. I think I mentioned before, I wish they offered more entertainment like that at varying times throughout the day rather than just once. All the singers onboard were good. Even DD who normally doesn't like going to sit and listen to music liked them all. 

 

One random thought about something I liked on the ship was how all the doors are automatic. It's nice not having to touch everything. I thought I escaped germ-free, but I do have a small cold starting up. Could be from the airport, though.  

[david_sobe]

I was watching a cruise video vlog about the Viva and they had a similar experience as you while waiting in line for Syd Normans.  They are extremely positive cruisers but were very irked that they stood in line for an hour and watched over 20 people come and cut in line in front of them.  I think that is a sad commentary on society today.  No one is taught manners anymore.  NCL should have staff make sure this does not happen. It sort of reminds me of the ice cream machine at the buffet.  There is a line 6 people deep waiting to fill their cones.  Suddenly out of nowhere some grabs a cone, cuts the line and gets their ice cream as if the line does not exist.  

Edited January 7 by david_sobe

[jgarth]

Day 6 Cozumel

 

The kids went to Haven for breakfast outside. This is when we finally learned that the breakfast quality in Haven was far superior to other locations on the ship. Better late than never! DH and I had already gone to the buffet. The hostess in the buffet every morning was so nice and friendly. I could've done without the group of servers wandering around singing to each table about pouring your coffee, though. They were a bit too much for me in the morning! LOL 

 

We left the ship at 9:45 for our 10:20 ATV meet-up time. We met our tour group in the port. We signed waivers. One family was turned away because their 18yo's drivers license was vertical instead of horizontal. The tour company wouldn't accept it. We looked around the port until it was time to go. We found Cozumel to be a nicer port area than Costa Maya.  

 

It was about a 25-minute bus ride to the ATV's. There was no designated guide this day. We just took the same pink bus to each spot. We watched a training video. We put our stuff in lockers. $6 each plus a $6 deposit that got returned when you bought the key back. They said we should wear our sunglasses instead of the goggles, and the bandana was mandatory. Then the ride started. I was surprised by how much fun I had. Most of the trail was dry and bumpy, but there were a few big puddles to drive through, so we did get muddy from the knees down. It turned out that DD wasn't comfortable driving her own ATV, so one of the guides called for a double to be dropped off for her. She switched to the double with her BF for half the ride, then to DH for the other half of the ride. I thought the ATV guides did a great job monitoring the comfort level and speed of the riders. At each checkpoint, they would hold the slower riders back to let the faster riders take the lead. After 8 miles, we got to the caverns. They looked so green and murky, but the guide filled a water bottle to show us that the water itself was actually crystal clear. It smelled like sulphur, though. My family didn't swim. We didn't want to be soaking wet for the rest of the ride back. We had another 3 miles to drive back. There were lots of photos taken at the beginning and end of the ride. They were $15 each or every photo of your family for $80. So I bought them all. Afterward, there was just enough time to buy photos and have a free tequila taste-test. Then we got on the bus for about a 10-minute ride to Playa Mia.

 

We were at Playa Mia for about an hour and a half. Many NCL people were already there for what was probably a whole-day excursion. There was a small beach area that seemed to be all NCL people. (All the towels on the loungers were NCL.) Oh...speaking of towels...we had to grab our own towels when we got off the ship each day, so we each carried our own backpacks. At Playa Mia, there were shops, a big eating area, a kids pool area, a regular pool area, and beach. We grabbed a table by the pool and ordered lunch and drinks. The restrooms were nice and clean there. I liked all our excursions, but I think I had the most fun on the ATV's. 

 

We got back to the port around 3:30. We looked around at the shops for a bit since we didn't need to be back on the ship until 5:30 and weren't quite as rushed as we were the day before. We bought more cards since somehow we lost the first deck we bought in Costa Maya.   

 

That morning, I saw the butler in the hallway and asked him for a pitcher of water and a plate of cookies when we returned. The pitcher of water was in the fridge, but there weren't any cookies. Just the regular snack that everyone got that day. A random thought about drinks and snacks in the Haven...It would be nice if Haven had a little snack table out. We hung out in there often playing cards, and it would've been nice to have a little treat available to munch on. And I've seen people complain about how annoying it is having to show your room card EVERY. SINGLE. TIME you want a drink in Haven. Now that I've done it, I totally get it. Everyone in Haven should be on Unlimited Beverage so that's not necessary. Or at the very least, they should just be able to look at your card and see that you have the "UB" card on it and hand it right back to you. Instead, for every drink, they need to take the card and enter it into the system. Time consuming. 

 

We tried going to Indulge for dinner that night since everyone raves about it, and I wanted to experience it. I was pretty confident DD and I wouldn't find anything we liked, but I figured DH and the BF would. They didn't see anything they wanted to try either, though, so we abandoned that and went back to Haven for dinner. After dinner, we played cards in Haven. We ordered drinks. After standing at the bar for quite a while waiting to be served, the bar server told DH she'd bring him his order when it was ready. She never did, though. We had to get to the theater for a comedy show, so we went back to the bar and our drinks were just sitting on the end of the counter. DH grabbed them. He got a strange look from the bartender like we were stealing someone else's drinks, but we were confident it was our margarita, old fashioned, and coors light that hadn't been delivered. 

 

Both comedians were in the theater that night. We thought they were both funny. Afterward, I went to choose the 24 photos for our photo package, knowing that if I waited until the next day, it would be packed with hundreds of people trying to do the same thing. The system was a little glitchy when trying to "favorite" the photos we liked best, but the photographers were friendly and helped us figure it out. I was told they'd all be printed and delivered to the room on night 7 (they were). I was also told I'd receive an email to download them all together. Fortunately, I ignored that and spent about an hour downloading them individually that night from the app. Because I never got the email. 

 

That was it for Day 6. 

[cruiseny4life]

On 1/6/2024 at 3:40 PM, jgarth said:

We didn't love the decor in the Haven rooms. Not sure why the regular rooms are white and light and bright and modern looking, while the Haven rooms are olive green and brown and look straight out of the 70s. But that's just a matter of personal taste. 

Agreed! It gives off all the That 70's Show vibes! I'm not a fan....at all. But, then again, I'm not a fan of shag carpet, puke green walls, or that Pepto Bismol colored furniture. I'm a child of the 90's, so ya know! I have decent taste....says baggy pants kid me. 

[Greenpea2]

On 1/7/2024 at 12:46 PM, jgarth said:

Day 5 Roatan

 

 And as I said, no towel animals. They sell towel animal photo frames on the ship, so I'm guessing some of the room stewards do make them? I'm not complaining like the lack of towel animals ruined our trip, but it's such an easy thing to do (at least once!) to come back to the room and have a fun surprise. On this ship, we just felt like so many of the workers did the bare minimum of what their job required. 

 

 

They no longer do towel animals unless you request one. That change happened more than a year ago and there were several threads about it on CC, My Steward on the Bliss last year did not, I said nothing because she worked so hard and was so sweet and caring I did not want to ask more of her. Then one day we were chatting about this and that and the subject somehow came up. Turns out she LOVES doing them! I said please do a few for us! She was so happy, lol. And they were great.

 

Just ask.

[dexddd]

Sounds pretty much like our Prima experience on early sailing.  Nothing has changed.

 

I would have stuck to Haven restaurant more though.  Quite good.  Even skipped Cagney's yet again.  Plus you can order room service from there.

[jgarth]

Day 7 Sea Day

 

We finally made the right choice for breakfast and ate at Haven. So much better than the buffet. We went to Tee Time at 9. The stadium was already open before the posted 9am time. We tried walking deck 8 again. The glass walkway was still under maintenance. The selfie spot still wasn't working either. DD's BF won $10 at the casino. We got our Price Is Right name tags from the Haven desk for the game tonight. We planned to spend most of our last day on the sundeck, but it was really cool. That actually worked out since we were able to go to Deal or No Deal instead. We bought 3 cards for $59 and played along with the contestants on the stage. The kids won an instant bingo pull tab card (and won $1 on that) and 2 6x8 photos by matching the cases opened on the stage. DH and I didn't win anything on our card. It was fun. 

 

We went to Local for dessert. I had been wanting to try the ice cream sundae on their menu. It was delicious. We also got the pretzel bites. We were excited to try the darts game that we thought we'd reserved for 4:45. I had gone on Day 6 to try to get a reservation right before dinner on Day 6. She told me the latest they had that day was 4:00. So I asked her to check Day 7. She said the latest that day was 4:45, so I took it. Unfortunately, when we arrived at 4:45 on Day 7 (and waited 10 minutes in line to check in), the guy had no reservation for us. He checked and saw we'd missed our 4:45 reservation which was set up for the day before...the day I'd asked for and the lady said wasn't available. Grrr. Anyway since it was the last day, their only solution was for us to keep coming back every 15 minutes to see if someone else didn't show up for their time. No thanks. Moral of the story, book that for earlier in the week if you really want to play!

 

We thought maybe we'd kill the free time we had at the Galaxy Pavilion, but that was closed from 4-6. So we grabbed our cards and played in the observation lounge. We grabbed dinner at the buffet. When we got back to the room, our photo package had been delivered. (*Update...right after I posted yesterday that I never received the email link to the photos I purchased, I did receive the link.) The photos were all the correct ones, and the quality was good. The packages were overpriced, but since I'm a scrapbooker, that's my souvenir. Speaking of souvenirs, DD got a purse for $100 and the BF got an NCL lego ship for $20. 

 

We had to be at the theater on Deck 6 at 6:25 for Price is Right to get the Haven seats up front. The concierge let us in to use the bathroom while we waited. When we went back out to the line, another lady working in the theater was frantically running after us, yelling at us to close the door! close the door! Not sure what she was so upset about. You couldn't see anything from that entrance, and we had permission to be in there. Price Is Right started at 7 and was a lot of fun. There were 3 games. 4 new people were called up each game for the chance to play. They played Cliffhanger, Race Game, and Plinko. Then 3 more people were called up to spin the big wheel. The winner of that played the final round, and 1 more person was called up to join her. So a lot of people got the chance to play. Nobody in my family got called, but we were pretty good at bidding, so being in the front row, we were able to help a couple other people get on stage. Both game shows we went to were high energy and entertaining, even if you weren't called up on stage. I wish we enjoyed our service on NCL enough to cruise on Viva because we love Press Your Luck. I bet that's a fun one to watch! 

 

We went to play cards in Haven. I realized I forgot to get the free 6x8 photos that the kids won. When we stopped by the photo shop right after Deal, they told us to come back later. When I went back that night, the system wasn't working right. It took me about an hour to get the 2 photos ordered. They had me try every single machine before finally entering it manually on one of their tablets. While I was down there, I realized they never delivered the free frames I got with my photo package purchase. They made note of that and delivered the frames around midnight. 

 

Random thoughts...I saw in the Freestyle Daily that we were supposed to fill out hero cards. Nobody had ever mentioned those to us or said where we could get them, so I wasn't going to wait in line to ask. We never tried the spa or specialty restaurants so I can't comment on those other than saying they looked nice when we walked through them. DH did try the gym one morning and said there were about a dozen people in there. We would've like to try an art auction, but they were too long and not at good times for us. We enjoyed seeing the artwork on the wall by Improv change throughout the week.

 

The internet worked fine for us the whole week. DH had unlimited premium, which I bought in advance. I upgraded my free 150 minutes to unlimited for I think about $100? maybe $109? after I got on the ship. For DD and BF, I got them 1 account for 2 devices. The app worked fine for us as well. It was helpful to have the What's Happening section and Freestyle Daily on there. 

 

My last post will be about Disembarkation which was quite the adventure.