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1 hour ago, vent1020 said:

Will do,  Thanks for the review btw.

Of course. Other folks' reviews helped us make up our minds, so it seemed only fair. 🙂

Have a great trip -- hope you have as much fun as we did!

9 minutes ago, vent1020 said:

We'll be in the Haven this weekend on the Breakaway.  Can't wait.  We've stayed in suites before, but never stayed in the Haven.

Awesome! Please tell Stefan (butler), Cielo (Haven dining room maitre d'), and Bowen (Haven concierge) "hello" from Jason and Andrew. Really great team in the Haven!

10 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

Fantastic videos!  Sailing on her on 8/11!!! Not a Deluxe Owners Suite, but hey, an Oceanview is plenty enough for me!!!

I hope you have an awesome trip! We sailed out of New Orleans for our Breakaway trip in February, but we're sailing out of Miami on our cruise in June. I'll be curious to compare the two!

Also, another thing I was concerned about was wind on the balcony. When we were in an owner's suite on the Jewel, we had a side balcony that had a wall separating it from the forward-facing balcony, protecting that area from the wind. On the Breakaway, the side-facing part of the balcony is open to the front of the ship/the forward part of the balcony. While it gets windy when you're standing up, the way the railing is designed pushes the wind mostly over you while you're seated—so while it was breezy, we had no issues sitting out on the balcony while we were at sea.

9 hours ago, dexddd said:

Glad you had a good time.  Any issues with noise from the movable wall?

Really good question -- and no noise complaints. It was surprisingly solid. I was a little concerned about that before we sailed!

Hi, all:

We recently sailed on the Breakaway in the Haven, and our trip was amazing. It was only our second cruise with Norwegian (both times in the Haven), and we're officially hooked. Our cabin was 16102, a Deluxe Owner's Suite (category H2), which was spacious and comfortable. Probably time to replace some of the aging furnishings, but it was otherwise immaculately clean—we already booked the same room again for the ship's June 23 sailing out of Miami. The staff were incredible—notable standouts included Stefan L., our butler; Ronaldo C., our steward; Cielo R., the maitre d' of the Haven dining room; and Bowen P., the Haven concierge. Such an amazing team!  

For those considering it, we have no hesitation recommending it. It's not an inexpensive vacation, but if you're looking for a quiet, luxurious, personalized cruise experience, it's a tremendous value. We've put together some videos of the cabin, the Haven, and the ship for those who are considering it (see below). You can also read our more detailed review on Cruise Critic here.   

Full tour of the Breakaway:

Tour of The Haven on the Breakaway:

Tour of our cabin, 16102 (Deluxe Owner's Suite, category H2):

Yes -- spa water/tea/coffee are available in the courtyard. But you can also just straight to the Haven bar in the lounge adjacent to the courtyard and get any beverage you'd like! You'll also have a Nespresso coffee machine in your suite. Lots of options in the Haven.

We really had a great trip and have no hesitation in recommending the Haven on the Breakaway. In fact, we booked the same cabin again (16102) for the June 23 sailing. Can't wait!

1 minute ago, perditax said:

 

Thanks. Not what I hoped to hear (solo studio has the fancy coffee, fruit, water, OJ, teas, baked goods, etc, basically all day).

 

Does Haven pay for room service now?

No, guests in the Haven do not pay for room service. 🙂

I just got off the Breakaway a couple weeks ago. We were in the Haven Deluxe Owner's Suite, which was awesome. Food was NEVER a problem. In addition to there being snacks in the Courtyard area, the butler (Stefan, who was amazing) delivered daily amenities to the room, like tea sandwiches, M&Ms, cookies, and pretzel bread. He asked us what we liked on the first day, and always made sure we were stocked. 

I just posted a short video tour today of the Haven on the Breakaway, in case you'd like to check it out -- it shows (briefly) the snack setup in the courtyard:

21 hours ago, NightOne said:

 

I didn't think Haven ever opens to non-Haven guests ... ever.  (unlike Carnival Havana)

 

I could be wrong about that but that is the way I understand it.

Yeah, they generally don't open the Haven to non-Haven guests, except for a media familiarization tour or something like that. Haven guests are allowed to invite non-Haven guests, but I don't think they're allowed to use the amenities. I'm staying in the Haven on my cruise next month, and I'll be curious to see if they'll let us invite people up as part of the cabin crawl. Haven't participated in one before.

So, just out of curiosity, has anyone actually tested whether or not Harrahs will allow you to leave your car while you're gone on the cruise? We're cruising on the Breakaway next February and are currently trying to figure out the best plan of attack. Thanks!

Yes! That's what we really wanted -- the aft haven suite! Alas, they are completely sold out for our sailing. I keep refreshing to see if one will become available, though! Glad to know you enjoyed it because your description is exactly what we were hoping it'd be.

Yeah, the price difference between the 2-bedroom family villa and the owner's suite on our sailing of the Breakaway was small enough to be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, the owner's suite balcony on the Breakaway is not enclosed.

Hi, all:

We're currently booked in a Haven 2-bedroom family villa on the Breakaway, but we're second-guessing our choice. On our first cruise, we were in an Owner's Suite on the Jewel and loved it. We're only two people, but the appeal of having two full bathrooms, rather than one full bathroom and a half bathroom, was what drove us to book the 2-bedroom family villa this time on the Breakaway.

Here's our hang-up that's causing us to consider changing from the family villa to the owner's suite: the balcony. The balcony on the family villa just looks tiny. No loungers and tight. The owner's suite, however, has a massive balcony, including two loungers and regular seating. The problem, though, is that the owner's suite balcony is forward-facing, so we're assuming we wouldn't really be able to use it on sea days.

Can any of you speak to your experience with the balcony in an owner's suite on the Breakaway? Is it totally unusable on sea days?

Thanks for your help!

Jason

My apologies then. All I had to go on is how Princess presents it:

 

 

The Bon Voyage Experience is an innovative new program harkening back to the nostalgic tradition from the early days of cruising, allowing guests the opportunity to invite family and friends aboard your ship on embarkation day. The program's new twist also allows cruisers new to Princess to see the inside of a Princess ship and experience the excitement of cruising first-hand -- even if they're not affiliated with booked guests.

Guests will spend up to four hours onboard before the ship sets sail, where they'll enjoy a four-course dining room lunch (including wine), a guided ship tour, and a souvenir photo! Plus, the $39 per person cost of the program can be applied toward a future cruise with Princess. Only 50 guests are able to participate in the Bon Voyage Experience on any given embarkation day, so make sure you make your reservations soon!

Right -- there's not a ton of information about it available online. But the most important tidbit from their content -- the part that made me contact them about it -- was specifically the "even if they're not affiliated with booked guests" bit.

Some people are able to visit, but I'm not sure if it's an official program or if they are perhaps family of NCL employees or otherwise connected. Just this past weekend two frequent NCL cruisers (they are both members of this forum but I won't share their names unless they choose to come forward) were on the Gem taking photos and posting to our Facebook group and noted they were "just visiting", not sailing.

Oh, interesting!

(And appreciate you protecting their privacy. :))

This program enables passengers to have limited friends/family onboard for a couple of hours on embarkation day. You cannot just pay a fee to go onboard with no invitation.

Not true about the "Bon Voyage Experience" program. I was not invited, nor was I accompanying passengers. The BVE program is open to anyone who wants to experience a Princess ship between sailings. I simply called Princess, asked if there were still BVE tickets available between sailings on the date that I wanted, was charged $39/person, logged in to Princess, completed the registration, and printed my boarding passes.

Thanks for the info -- much appreciated!

I promise I searched before posting this, so please be gentle. :-)

Princess has a program called the "Bon Voyage Experience," which allows people to pay a small fee to visit their ships when they're in port. I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not a program like this exists for NCL? Going to be around Port Everglades and Port Canaveral for the next couple weeks, and I'd like to see as many ships as I can while I'm down there!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Thank you, all! We're looking at cruising Hawaii early next year on the Pride of America. Hope to have another review to share with you soon. :-)

Thank you! And yes -- she totally grew on us, too! I'm sad she'll be moving to Australia, but we're also looking forward to giving the Pearl a try.

We were on the May 5 – May 13, 2017, sailing of the Norwegian Jewel in Alaska. We were hesitant cruisers. In fact, the only thing that prevented us from going to Alaska is that we were both turned off by the idea of cruising—and cruising seemed to be the only way to do it efficiently. Thanks to Cruise Critic and lots of YouTube videos, we decided to bite the bullet and book the cruise, and we had an amazing time.

We were in an Owner's Suite with Large Balcony (category H3 - suite 10004), and it was large, comfortable, and offered phenomenal views, which, after all, is why you're in Alaska! The Jewel and its decor felt dated, and that left us with a fairly negative first impression, but once we got going, we grew to love the ship and everything about it. For first-time cruisers like us who are hesitating going to Alaska because you're reluctant to go on a cruise, do it! We had so much fun, and we're already looking forward to our next cruise.

• You can read a full review of our trip on Cruise critic here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=577721&et_cid=2861228&et_rid=238872108&et_referrer=Boards_WAR_CC
  

• We've also made a
  of videos we filmed while on the cruise (including a tour of the suite), which you can access here:
  
  

Thank you to all of you who have posted information and reviews about cruising on Cruise Critic. I can't tell you how helpful that information was to us! In addition to motivating us to finally book the trip, it made the first-time cruising experience much less intimidating for us.

We were on the Jewel for the May 5 - May 13, 2017, Alaska sailing and had an amazing time. This was our first trip to Alaska AND our first cruise. We were in an Owner's Suite with Large Balcony (room 10004), which was great, although our initial reaction to the Jewel wasn't super positive. We grew to love the ship, however, and ended up having an incredible trip. We've already made two more deposits for future cruises in the Haven.

• For those interested, we made a playlist with a bunch of videos we filmed on the cruise, including a tour of the suite and lots of footage from the ship and excursions, on our
  .
  

• You can also read our full review of the cruise on Cruise Critic by clicking here.
  

In short, we had an amazing time. We can't wait to go back to Alaska once the Bliss starts sailing up there! Have a great trip.