cruiseny4life

We were fortunate to eat at American Diner for free on embarkation day as it was a choice to Haven guests. We enjoyed the food and ordered a milkshake (not free). Honestly, the banana milkshake is likely the absolute best milkshake I have ever had. We did go back to American Diner later in the week and shared an order of mozzarella sticks and another milkshake. This time, the milkshake wasn't as good - there were no chocolate flakes on it, just cereal flakes which was different than our first. The mozz sticks were yummy and the marinara is great! If another place had mozz sticks we likely would not have gone back, except to get one of those milkshakes. I'm honestly not sure why anyone would purchase food at American Diner or use their Free at Sea here, unless they have kids.

Stay where you are! 🙂 We were in an HI on Getaway back in April on deck 14. We were one deck away from the entrance to the Thermal Suite which was used a lot by us and two decks away from the Haven Restaurant/Lounge/Courtyard. We had a very quiet room and great room steward, Gusti! My husband and I appreciated being able to walk two flights of stairs to the Haven as it allowed us a little bit of exercise. Also, I believe the rooms on the 16th deck surrounding the courtyard might be a bit louder as people head from the lounge/restaurant back to their rooms, or leaving their room to head anywhere else on the ship. Just a hunch since we were on a very quiet 14th deck. We've been looking at a future cruise on the Getaway and are pretty sure we'll be getting the same HI category room, 14130 so long as it's available. Also, the room is on bridge level (on the Getaway) so you can see the officers on the bridge from your balcony as they work the controls.

When I went to Cagney's on Getaway my server told me 2 sides....I was about to bursting with a salad, appetizer, entree, 2 sides, and dessert...pretty sure I didn't finish the dessert. It's sooooo much food! And I was afraid before the cruise that I'd go hungry.

I agree it's not quite the vacation I would want, especially since I'd be trading a Haven room for some interior room nearly at water level, however I'd love the time away. I enjoy quiet, relaxing places and if I were sick I think this would be perfect for me! I really need to book a cabin in the woods far from anything...if only my husband would agree, or let me vacation on my own. 🙂

@CruiseCriticAaronI enjoyed reading the review of your trip. I appreciate that you pointed out the challenges of traveling with a little kid, so that people won't go in thinking it's all ocean breezes and dolphins. I learned a few new things and confirmed that if my husband and I ever have kids, we'll not be cruising with them. Nice review though and appreciate you posting it here for us to read! Also...you got a nice name haha, same as me. 🙂

No. No service charge for room service while in the Haven. If you order from a specialty restaurant, outside of your Free at Sea perks/dining plan, then you'll be charged for the meal.

School break for the tri-state area, so there were kids of all ages (6 - 18). We did see a few college students that appeared to be on spring break, but not many. 4/17 was Easter, so mainly families. I'd say the older someone was, the more likely they were to wear a mask. When kids were with their parents it also looked like they had their masks on (the under 12 crowd), but when parents weren't around, masks weren't around. Masks were required in the terminal upon embarkation - this was not adhered to, nor enforced by anyone, including at the security check. You mention staying 6 feet from people while in line, however the check-in for Bermuda documentation used the back and forth style of webbing so you would always be within 3 feet (or closer) of someone else. It was simply not possible to social distance in any meaningful way. We stayed negative on our trip so it can be done through luck and a bit of carefulness.

@mking8288is right. You'll need to watch what happens over the next few weeks. His embarkation sounded very different to my embarkation to Bermuda on April 17th (granted that was the crazy 8 hour line embarkation). We were in Haven, but couldn't access until after security, with a document check prior to security. Keep monitoring the lives/comments as it may change in advance of your cruise. Our experience - we arrived at 10:45 and it took 3 hours to get on the ship, even though we were Haven and we "kind of" cut the line (sorry, not sorry). We walked to the terminal from our hotel, entered through the first floor, took the elevators up and joined the line. We didn't know the line extended outside for a block or two. Had we joined the line correctly, we would have been in line for at least 5 hours.

Also, don't believe the Cruise Next guy. He claims two of the $250 certificates will pay your deposit for a Haven booking. Yes, he said this and we (ignorantly) believed him. Our next sailing will require a $1,500 deposit. We can use the $500 in certificates, but we still have to pony up $1,000 cash too. This is fine...we're staying in the Haven. We can afford it, but the flat out lie was not appreciated.

Scroll down and you'll find the burnt coffee purveyor's menu here.

This is funny! Back in 2009 I took my first cruise with my grandma and a couple college friends. We went to Canada, no New England ports. It was....an underwhelming experience, although the Bay of Fundy National Park was a fun little non-cruise ship excursion! I'm hoping you don't have miles of endless fog your entire cruise!

We spent a bit of time walking decks 6, 7, and 8 to see what was there, as well as time spent in the casino giving NCL some more money! We got lucky, then blew it on blackjack. Sailing on 4/17 out of NYC on the Getaway, I'm not sure if smoking was allowed. I do not recall the smell of cigarette smoke. My entire family, except my husband and I smoke, so I definitely recognize the smell. I didn't smell it and our ship was at 100% capacity so if there was smoking the ventilators must have worked really well. To be fair, though we wandered around decks 6, 7, and 8 a bit, we didn't really spend a ton of time there so perhaps no one was smoking when we were galivanting about.

My husband and I sailed on 4/17 from NYC on the Getaway to Bermuda. You know, the one where people waited in line for up to eight hours to embark. I'm sure a few instances of COVID/flu transmission occurred while everyone waited in this line as there was no social distancing and it seemed that only my husband and I wore a mask. We got lucky and embarked in just three hours (feels really weird to say we were lucky). This was one of the first cruises that was at over 100% capacity due to school breaks, so we probably got a glimpse of what full ship cruising will be like. When we got on the ship we were amongst the masses that pretended COVID didn't exist. 95% of cruisers didn't wear masks. That percentage may be even higher! Masks, on passengers, were virtually non-existent. I will admit to being one of those. At this point, we are both triple vaccinated. At the time I worked in a school and was around COVID every single day as I was the director of the school so went to the nurse's office almost every time we had a student test positive for COVID. I've taken the position that I'm going to get COVID. I don't know when, where, or how, nor will I ever really know the details of how the transmission occurs. I'm a fat diabetic so am immunocompromised - I'm hoping the vaccines will aid me when I do get COVID! When we were in Bermuda, masks were required on public transportation, including NCL's free ferry and buses. I wrote a review on this forum where I mentioned that I forgot to put my mask on when getting on one of the Bermuda buses. No one reminded me, but I did hastily put it on when I looked around and realized I was the only one not wearing it. I truly forgot, wasn't trying to be an arrogant American with an attitude. We feel that we did take some precautions on the ship. We did not attend any shows. We did participate in the CC slot pulls and were unmasked during this time. Also, spent a little extra cash in the casino and were unmasked. We only used the elevators 3 or 4 times the entire week. Twice we were smashed in with a lot of people. I don't believe the ten or so had a mask on (we didn't). Most days we were in the thermal suite with limited numbers of other guests (except the first day when it was crazy) and spent considerable time in the Haven Courtyard and Restaurant. Honestly, the Haven made this trip feel safer. Also, our meal times were early so Cagney's and Teppanyaki were not full. We then retreated to our balcony or the thermal suite. There were plenty of occasions for transmission if you spent considerable time in public spaces, waiting in line, participating in trivia, or shows, etc. Thankfully we did not get COVID, however many people reported they got COVID on social after the cruise. There was also some other type of respiratory bug going around (maybe the flu) that was reported. I say all this just to give you an idea of what it was like on a fully booked cruise. Best wishes as you make the right decision for you. As for my husband and I, it's going to be a year or so until we venture onto a cruise ship again. We'll be going camping, hiking, and fixing up our new house. To many happy voyages!

I'm not yet 40 and have always abhorred high tops! It's not age good sir...they're just not comfortable tables. Give me a booth any day.

Other than attempting to shame carnivores, your post is completely irrelevant. You do realize that fish that are caught and released can go on to live a joyful fishy life.

Oh I could totally do this! I do on business trips all the time, well those are suits. I just want to align with the dress of the evening in the most farcical way possible!

I think you'd be happy with Cunard.

Thank you for posting this! We love Northern Michigan and were looking at Grand Hotel for a long weekend trip. It has now been scratched off as that is 100% not our style. I'm happy for those fancy people to have a place, but as you could tell from my posts, I'm not fancy.

Hi @Kathleen Kruiser, @Sthrngarywrote an absolutely amazing introduction to the Haven on these boards. I'd suggest reading every one of the posts - I learned so much in advance of my first Haven cruise. Click here for the link. I'm going to put a shameless plug for my review of the cruise too. I explain my husband and I's experience on NCL's Getaway from NYC to Bermuda in April of this year. I hope you enjoy and aren't bored! The amazing Gary's post will answer your question on the "more service" as Deluxe Owner Suites do receive a certain amount of free booze in the room that no other Haven room receives. Have Spa Balconies receive free access to the thermal suite - anyone else in the Haven has to purchase this pass like everyone else on the boat. You can get room service with no service fee from any restaurant on board, but you'll have to pay for the meal, or use your Free at Sea, if you order from a specialty restaurant. Can't speak to the difference between a genie and butler, but Gary's post does (or maybe his older Haven post does...one of them does). Happy dance if you book the Haven!!

Try to give them some notice. They'll do it, but someone is going to be hustling up and down some stairs to do this.

@Jimboin order to get the perks of the spa you have to book either a Spa Balcony or Haven Spa Balcony. All other Haven rooms (penthouse, owners suite, courtyard, etc.) do not receive the thermal spa/suite privileges. You can purchase it, but sounds like you don't want this, so you're good to go in the Haven rooms. To be fair, I have only been on one NCL cruise (and one Carnival cruise)...after the NCL cruise, my husband and I decided we will never, seriously never, sail outside of the Haven on NCL. It is the only way to go. If you can pony up the bucks or find a deal (good luck on Prima) you should do it. You won't need those specialty restaurants - the Haven Restaurant is, by far, the best restaurant on the ship. They'll provide you anything, within reason and with appropriate timing of your request. Examples: I wanted 3 crab tails. I got them. My husband wanted 9 shrimp, instead of the normal 3 - no problem sir. He wanted 2 filets - he got them. We requested pretzel rolls at every dinner, instead of the Haven bread. We got them for every dinner thereafter. Janet, Getaway's Haven host, made sure of that! I can't express how satisfied we were with the Haven.

You should totally have them fillet the fish (though isn't part of the fun of fishing, having to clean the guts up), then have a grill out at a local park. Maybe a few logistics to deal with this plan though...ok...eat them at the dock as @BirdTravelssays.

I assume this person enjoys eating fresh fish. What's wrong with eating a fish caught this way vs. canned tuna caught and placed in a hold for many hours? Fishing's not for me, but hey, let the guy/gal enjoy their fun.....also, appears they will be doing catch and release.

We didn't try the cheesecake - unfortunately we passed on dessert several times, being too full from apps and mains. I wish we had had the space! I did see the cheesecake and it appeared to be the pudding type cheesecake, rather than traditional NY style cheesecake. I like both, my grandmother hates the pudding type, so I'm glad she wasn't on there to complain:-) I try not to be a foodie haha, but I'm pretty particular so I suppose I do fall into that category...I would love to partake in Food Republic if I ever cruise on one of those ships! I refuse to pay for food on board so that does keep me from trying a lot of restaurants - limited to those in the two Free at Sea for a seven day cruise. In the future I hope to take a longer cruise which will allow me a couple more specialty restaurants on the same ship.

Thank you kind sir! I do try...perhaps I'll be kinder to the buffet after your recommendations and @MsTabbyKats!