Norwegian Escape Haven Spa Suite Review with photos & videos

[Trumpster]

That's a really excellent question... one which I've given a lot of thought to, and which I have discussed with Kellyn quite a bit.

 

Basically, it comes down to:

If we were to cruise on the Escape again, would we choose a Haven Spa Suite again, or could we be happy in a Spa Balcony cabin? That way we would at least still have access to the Thermal Suite within the spa... one of our favorite things about this ship. I simply could not envision us sailing in any less than a Spa Balcony cabin on Norwegian Escape... because we love the Thermal Suite so much!

 

So, when I put the question to Kellyn, her response was that she liked it exactly as we did it, and that she would want to do it exactly that way again.

 

For me, it's not quite that clear cut... because I don't really need The Haven courtyard. I'd be happy to hang out in the spa's Thermal Suite if I just wanted to relax... or on deck 19 if I wanted sun without the noise and the big crowds.

 

But The Haven comes with some pretty nice perks besides the courtyard. I did prefer the breakfasts in The Haven restaurant over the other breakfast choices. I did also really like having the Unlimited Beverage Package and the Unlimited Dining Package... both which came along with booking a Haven suite. Also, the onboard credit they gave us for booking a Haven suite... that paid for the pricey unlimited Internet. I liked all those things. It was also super-convenient to have that Haven concierge when it came time to changing reservations that I had made months in advance from home.

 

Bottom line...

Unless money all of a sudden got really tight in our family, I think my next NCL cruise will very likely be in The Haven again.

 

Thanks, well reasoned and thoughtful response.

[Spaniel Lover]

There's one other noteworthy item regarding food and restaurants... and that's La Cucina, the Norwegian Escape's Italian restaurant. Kellyn and I ate dinner there one night, and we sat in the outdoor seating known as The Waterfront. It was a beautiful early-evening, right at sunset.

 

 

Things started pretty well. They brought us some nice, warm French bread... warm enough to actually melt the butter they served it with. That's a good start. Kellyn's meal was quite delicious, too. She ordered the Grilled Sea Bass:

 

 

But I have some kind of horrible losing streak going when it comes to Italian restaurants on cruise ships. Actually, there was ONE that I loved... the Italian restaurant on Royal Caribbean's Allure Of The Seas. Their lasagna was so good, and the waiter could tell I was totally loving it... that he ended up bringing me a second serving at no additional charge. That was a good cruise memory.

 

On Carnival, it's always been a different story for me. I keep going back to their Italian restaurant, but never enjoying the food. I always tell myself that it was my fault... I simply ordered the wrong thing on the menu, and next time I'll try something different. And every next time, the same thing happens! Finally, I just decided that Carnival and I have very different ideas about what an Italian restaurant should be. So, I don't ever go to theirs anymore.

 

I was hoping for better on Norwegian Escape! But, unfortunately, I set a lifetime record at La Cucina... a record low! Simply THE WORST lasagna I have ever had. The menu said it was beef lasagna, and it sure was. It fact, it was more beef than lasagna. Like about four times as much beef as you would ever want in a batch of lasagna... and about half as much cheese as you would want! Definitely not recommended by this lasagna lover!

 

Before I move on to the next subject, I just want to make sure you don't misunderstand: I had a lot of good meals on Norwegian Escape, and Kellyn and I both agreed that overall, the food was better than on a lot of the cruises we've been on. So, please don't get the wrong impression just because I called out a couple of areas where improvements could be made!

[Spaniel Lover]

Sailaway from Miami

 

We've sailed out of the port of Miami many times, and I always enjoy it. It's one of the most beautiful sailaways you'll ever experience... especially when you get to the part with the view of world-famous South Beach...

 

 

A few minutes after that last picture, when our ship made a turn to the left, there was a pretty cool view of a Carnival ship heading out to sea and some big clouds lit up nicely by the late-afternoon sun...

 

 

So, I certainly had good luck with the photos that day... but I wish I could say the same about the embarkation process we went through at the pier! As a Haven guest, the process of checking in and boarding is supposed to be pretty quick and painless. It certainly was in 2014 when we were Haven guests boarding the Norwegian Getaway. But for some reason, the folks doing The Haven check-in on this particular day were a little off their game. Even though it wasn't particularly busy when we came through, and we know that boarding had already begun before we arrived, they just left us sitting for the longest time in the check-in lounge. It was literally 60 minutes from the time we got out of our cab until we were finally walking aboard the ship. It shouldn't take that long, and as far as I know, it doesn't normally... at least not for Haven guests! But for some reason, that day it didn't go as smoothly as it should have.

[Spaniel Lover]

Shore Excursions

 

After two sea days, our first port of call was St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We've been there many times before, and I've always enjoyed it. For this visit, we decided to visit a famous tourist spot in St Thomas that we've never managed to get to until now: Coral World Ocean Park, and the adjacent beach known as Coki Beach.

 

What really got me interested in Coral World park was seeing it on Dream Quest... that Saturday morning TV show that's shot onboard NCL ships. They visited Coral World park in one episode, and it looked interesting to me.

 

The iconic centerpiece of Coral World park is the undersea observatory, which is the white structure at the end of the pier in this next photo.

 

 

The above-the-waterline portion of the observatory isn't what it's all about... but things get very interesting once you start walking down the red circular staircase and you reach the levels of the structure that are under the waterline. It's kind of like visiting an aquarium on land, only you're not looking in to tanks made to look like ocean environments... you're really looking in to an actual ocean environment!

 

 

The many windows in the undersea observatory give you the opportunity to stop and watch the surrounding marine life for as long as you'd like. It was very cool, and I especially liked that it was real, not an aquarium made to simulate an ocean environment.

 

There's more to Coral World than just the undersea observatory, of course. Here's a map that shows you what they have:

 

[Spaniel Lover]

I liked the opportunity to get up close to a variety of interesting creatures at Coral World.

Here are a few new friends I made that day:

 

Iguana

 

 

 

Lorakeet

 

 

 

Sea Turtle

 

 

Another thing I really liked about the shore excursion to Coral World was that it was really two shore excursions in one. Not only did we have the opportunity to spend ample time viewing the attractions at Coral World park, but there was also plenty of time to swim and snorkel at Coki Beach, which is located right next door. You get to choose how much time you spend at Coral World, and when you've had enough... you just walk over to the beach and rent a lounger and relax.

 

 

It's a nice beach, with plenty of shade available under the various trees. It's always important to find a shady spot in these kinds of situations, because even with sun block applied, it's easy to get a sunburn during a beach day like this. You definitely don't want to get a sunburn at the beginning of your cruise!

 

 

There was some good snorkeling in the area to the left of the photo, by the rocks. Plenty of fish... but do watch out for the strong tidal currents. You do not want a wave to push you in to one of those rocks. I brought my own snorkel gear, but there is also gear to rent at a little shack at the entrance to the beach. I tried a new snorkeling trick here that I read about on the Internet, and it worked well. I read a suggestion to bring some milk bone brand dog biscuits with you when you snorkel. (Get the smallest possible dog biscuit size, not the huge ones for big dogs.) Take a hand full of the dog biscuits in to the water with you, and let the water soften them up as you snorkel out to where the fish are. After a few minutes of soaking in the water, you'll be able to use your hands to break up the dog biscuits in to little bits of fish food... and in no time you'll be the most popular guy under the water, at least as far as the fish are concerned!

 

There are places behind the trees where you can get food and drinks, although we opted to hold off until we got back to the ship and could eat and drink for free. I thought that this shore excursion was just the right length, giving us plenty of time to explore Coral World, plus several hours at the beach.

[Trumpster]

One more question :o

 

How do you rate or balance different cruises.

 

For example This Escape cruise in the Haven vs The BTB on the Breeze in a spa cabin.

 

It isn't apples to apples is it?

 

PS: your ccl cucina experiences are well documented on your website, didn't see RCCL let you down too, perhaps you should tie a string on you finger...no italian. ..no italian.

 

Would recommend MSC'S Yacht Club but its an Italian company, might not be the right food for you. :D

[Spaniel Lover]

Back at the ship, we had a nice lunch and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Once the sun started to set that evening, things got especially beautiful in St Thomas!

 

 

We took a walk around the ship to shoot some sunset photos and to see how our fellow passengers were enjoying the evening. I found this happy group of people in a Jacuzzi at Spice H2O, enjoying an amazing view of St Thomas and the sunset:

 

 

As the sun set in the west, the two other cruise ships that were in port that day made their departure. Our ship had been the first to arrive in port that day, and it was the last to leave that night. There was no rush to get back out to sea, as our next destination was Tortola... which was literally just about an hour or two away by sea.

 

[Spaniel Lover]

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

 

Tortola was a new one for us. In all of our previous cruises, we had never visited Tortola before. In fact, the port facilities at Tortola are brand new... and there's still a lot of construction going on to various shops and restaurants that are being built adjacent to the pier.

 

In picking a shore excursion, we knew we wanted to spend a day at the beach... but there were a lot of choices. We ended up choosing one that involved a boat ride over to a neighboring island, Jost Van Dyke. What attracted us to this particular shore excursion was that the boat that takes you over to Jost Van Dyke has an unusual stairway built on to it... which makes it very easy to get on and off the boat from the beach. You can see how easy it is to get on and off the boat in this video provided by Norwegian Cruise Line. At :42 seconds in to the video, you'll see how easy it is to get on to the beach from the boat.

 

[YOUTUBE]URHHpoZSAAg[/YOUTUBE]

 

The shore excursion to Jost Van Dyke was almost exactly like what NCL captured in their video. We even had the same Captain! I laughed when I met her as we boarded her boat, and told her that I had seen her in the video on YouTube. The name of her boat is the Rebel Yell.

 

The Rebel Yell met us in Tortola, just at the end of the cruise ship pier. It was super convenient to just walk off the ship, down the pier, and then right on to the Rebel Yell for a nice ride over to Jost Van Dyke. As we left the cruise ship pier in Tortola and sailed right past the Norwegian Escape, I shot some video that gives you a pretty good look at the exterior of the Norwegian Escape:

 

[YOUTUBE]6Z7mMkwMB_k[/YOUTUBE]

 

Be sure to wear a (waterproof) watch to Jost Van Dyke. The Rebel Yell drops you off right on the beach, and then they tell you to go have fun for the afternoon and meet them back at that same spot on the beach at a certain time. The Rebel Yell actually leaves at that point, goes to get more people, and comes back later. I think they actually made two trips back and forth ferrying people to the beach before taking us back later that day. There are lots of similar-looking small boats picking up beach people throughout the day, so it's important to remember the name of the boat you're looking for (Rebel Yell) and the time they told you to meet them.

 

Our time on Just Van Dyke was very much like what we had seen in the YouTube video provided by NCL. The trick is to find a good spot on the beach to spend the day. Some of the bars and restaurants on the beach offer free loungers to their customers, but all those were in the full sun with no shade. We opted to walk further down the beach until we found some loungers that were for rent under the shade of some big palm trees. I had no intention of getting a sun burn during my vacation, and if I had to spend $20 for two loungers in the shade, that was fine by me!

 

 

I brought my snorkel gear with me, but that was a bust. There really wasn't anything to see under the water at this beach. Also, on this day in January, the water was just a little cooler than I would have preferred. It was definitely warm enough for swimming... it just wasn't incredibly warm like it would have been if we had visited the area in September.

 

At lunch time, I walked over to the Soggy Dollar Bar and ordered a burger. It wasn't bad, the fries were EXCELLENT, and the service was quite friendly.

 

 

While it wasn't the amazingly-warm beach experience that I had dreamed about, we did have a nice day on the beach at Jost Van Dyke... and if we ever make it back this way during the hot weather of hurricane season in late summer and early fall, it would definitely be worth another visit.

 

[Spaniel Lover]

Nassau, the Bahamas

 

Kellyn and I have been to Nassau many times before. We totally love the water park at the Atlantis resort, but you really need to have the whole day available to make the high cost of admission worth it. The Norwegian Escape makes a pretty quick visit to Nassau, so we decided to just spend the day on the ship.

 

Two things caught my eye in Nassau, and both were Carnival-related. The first was the Carnival Fantasy, which was docked at the next pier when we arrived. I thought it was very ironic to be docked next to the Carnival Fantasy... as it's the oldest ship still sailing in the Carnival fleet... and here we were sailing on the Norwegian Escape, the newest cruise ship in the world. The irony of that, and memories of all the cruises we've done on Carnival, just jumped out at me that day.

 

 

The other thing I found interesting that day in Nassau was when a second Carnival ship pulled in along side of us. It was the Carnival Sensation... also a very old ship in the Carnival fleet. What's interesting about the Carnival Sensation is a modification they made to her years ago, in order to create some balcony cabins on a ship that only had a handful of them originally. They literally welded on balconies to the exterior of the ship, and then cut doors in to the hull. It's weird and genius all at the same time!

 

 

The Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Sensation are sister ships that were originally of identical design. If you compare the two pictures above, you can see how they modified the Carnival Sensation to add those balconies at the rear.

[Spaniel Lover]

Beautiful Sunsets

 

Part of the fun of taking a cruise is seeing (and photographing) all those beautiful sunrises and sunsets! I decided to relax and take the pressure off this cruise and not even try to get any sunrise photos. But the sunsets were so good, I think I more than made up for it!

 

 

 

Sunset in St Thomas

[Spaniel Lover]

Internet Access

 

I'm one of those guys that needs to have full time access to the Internet, even when I'm on vacation. So, I've become a connoisseur of cruise ship Internet technology over the years, and have come to appreciate it when cruise lines go to the expense of installing the advanced equipment necessary to provide fast and reliable Internet access at sea. It definitely can be done! Royal Caribbean has got a system that uses the low-earth orbit O3B satellite network... and that's the gold standard by which all other cruise ship Internet connections must be judged. That O3B network works amazingly well, with excellent consistency and reliability.

 

When we sailed on Norwegian Getaway in 2014, the Internet service was very flaky and inconsistent. There were times, in certain ports, where the ship made a wireless connection to a land-based fiber optic system that provided blazing fast speeds. But when the ship went out to sea, the service got horrible. There was one time on the Norwegian Getaway where the Internet service was so awful that I decided to make a video showing me taking measurements of the quality of the connection, using SpeedTest.net

when the Internet connection was actually so horrible that I couldn't even connect to SpeedTest.net to do the test!

 

After those bad experiences with the Internet service on Norwegian Getaway in 2014, I was hoping that things would be better on the Norwegian Escape! And during the first few days of the cruise, they certainly were. Ping times averaged around 560 ms, which is about right for a satellite-based Internet connection. The only way to do much better than that on a ping test at sea is to use the O3B satellite network, which gets faster ping times due to their satellites orbiting lower in the sky. Download speeds during the first few days typically measured right around 35 Mbps, but sometimes measured above 70 Mbps... very fast for an Internet connection at sea. Upload speeds were horrible, though... usually well below 1 Mbps.

 

I have a nephew that works for an Internet Technology company and he warned me not to put to much faith in to SpeedTest measurements. He says that Internet Service providers long ago learned how to game the system. He says that when a network detects a request to connect to SpeedTest.net, that connection is automatically given the highest priority and receives the fastest possible connection that is available... in effect being placed "at the front of the line" with no other traffic interfering and slowing things down. When you make a connection to any regular server... such as checking your email, or visiting a regular web site... your connection must compete with all the other traffic on the network. Depending on how many other people are trying to use the service at the same time, and what kinds of demands they're putting on the system, it can really slow things down in a way that can't be measured in a SpeedTest. So, that's where a real test of a ship's Internet connection comes down to actually just using the system and seeing how it responds and feels.

 

In my extensive use of the Internet onboard Norwegian Escape, it really did work fairly well for the first few days. I was surprised and impressed. Also, it became totally amazing when the ship got to St Thomas and made a wireless connection to a land-based tower with a fiber optic network. At that point, ping times dropped down to about 100 ms, download speeds were around 40 Mbps, and upload speeds got blazing-fast at nearly 50 Mbps! Especially when uploading a photo or video, the service worked incredibly well at that point... even better than the connection I get at home. But once we left St Thomas, things went downhill... hitting a low point at about day 5 of our cruise. At that point, the Speedtests showed download speeds of only around 3 or 4 Mbps... and in my actual use seemed much worse than that. In fact, at one point I just turned my computer off and went to do something else because the Internet connection was working so horribly.

 

When we got to Nassau on day 7 of the cruise, we had the best connection of the entire week. Again, the ship obviously connected to a land-based tower with a fiber connection... because ping times dropped down to around 80 ms and both upload and download speeds came in at around 70 Mbps. This was the perfect opportunity for me to upload some of my videos to my YouTube channel!

 

The next day, when the ship docked in Miami, it once again must have made a connection to a Fiber network... because the ping times were below 80 ms again and the upload and download speeds got quite snappy once more.

 

The bottom line is that the Internet Service was much better on Norwegian Escape than it was for us in 2014 on Norwegian Getaway. The pricing was horrible, though... at over double the cost of what an unlimited Internet connection would cost on one of the newer Carnival ships with service that worked almost as well. If you have stuff to upload... wait until you get to St Thomas or Nassau and take advantage of the ship's excellent connection there!

[Spaniel Lover]

Our Flight From LAX

 

The story of this particular vacation would not be complete if I didn't mention the amazing experience we had flying out of Los Angeles international airport. First off, in a simple stroke of good luck, I found a flight that was scheduled at the perfect time for us... and it just happened to be on one of United Airline's brand new top-of-the-line 787 Dreamliners. I think airplanes are cool... and to be able to fly on the latest, greatest model with all the most current innovations... that was just a fantastic stroke of luck. But there's more...

 

We travel with United on most of our airline flights, so I had finally gotten to the point where I had a decent chunk of frequent flyer miles in my account. It was time to put those to good use! Using the majority of my frequent flyer miles and also chipping in a couple of hundred bucks, I was able to get us an upgrade in to First Class. After lots and lots of flying, this was my very first time flying in First Class... and it was totally worth it! If you ever get the opportunity to fly on a 787 Dreamliner in first class, you've GOT to do it.

 

We had gigantic seats that could be folded down flat to form a bed. We had a fantastic entertainment system with on-demand movies at no additional charge. Lunch was included. I had a couple of rum & Cokes... and they were free, too. The windows on a 787 Dreamliner are amazing... they're much bigger than on a regular plane. We had incredible views of Catalina Island, San Diego, and the Salton Sea as we flew out of Southern California. It really was a flight I will never forget!

[Spaniel Lover]

Downloads

 

If you're thinking of taking a cruise on the Norwegian Escape,

here are links to a few documents you might want to download:

 

Norwegian Escape Deck Plans

 

Freestyle Daily newsletters - All 7 days

 

First Day information

 

Disembarkation information

 

Shore Excursion information

[Spaniel Lover]

What Camera Do I Use?

 

Whenever I post these cruise reviews, I always get questions about what camera I used to take the photos. I actually bring two cameras with me on a cruise, plus my cell phone, and on this particular cruise I also brought along a very unusual stabilized video camera. More about that in a minute. Let's start with my main camera.

 

Most of the pictures you've seen here were shot with my Canon EOS-70D digital SLR camera. I bring several different lenses with me on a cruise, too.

 

 

The 70D is probably too much camera for most people... so if you're in the market for a very high quality digital SLR camera, the one I actually recommend for most people is the Canon Digital Rebel T5i. If you get one, make sure you get the T5i with the 135mm lens, not the cheap version with the 55mm lens.

 

I also like to have a Canon EF-S 10-18mm lens with me when I'm on a cruise ship. This is a wide angle lens, which is extremely useful when trying to shoot in small spaces (for example, the stuff I shot in the bathroom of our cabin, for the cabin tour video) or when shooting something very large... like a cruise ship, when you're standing on the pier next to it.

 

One important technique that I use with my Canon DSLR, since I'm looking to getting the highest quality photos possible, is to shoot in RAW format rather than JPG. This preserves the photos with the highest possible quality, and gives me the greatest ability to tweak them after shooting them. However, it does require a lot of extra work. Any photos which I want to share (via email, Facebook, or on this web site, for example) have to be converted from RAW to JPG. This takes some time and effort, but it's worth it to me in order to get the best end results. Just about all the photos you see on this page have been tweaked to some extent to give them the best finished look. For most photos, I do some sharpening and color correction. On some photos, I have to do even more tweaking than that to get them to look just right.

 

I also bring along a tripod with me, to allow me to shoot long-exposure shots in low-light situations. It's also handy to have for shooting "selfies". I've got a tripod that is just the right size to fit inside my big suitcase but which is heavy duty enough to be stable. It also has a fluid head, which is something that's very important to look for in a tripod if you intend to use it when shooting video. Perhaps you saw

. All the smooth camera motion you see in that video is because of the tripod with the fluid head.

 

On our Caribbean cruises, I do a lot of snorkeling. I shoot underwater photos and videos with a fairly inexpensive waterproof camera... the Olympus TG-830. However, that's a slightly older model now... and if you're in the market for one, you should get the new version which is the Olympus TG-850.

 

Olympus TG-850 waterproof camera

 

Finally, there's an interesting new stabilized video camera on the market called the DJI Osmo. It has a gimbal built in to it, which smoothes out all the shakiness you typically see in videos shot with a hand held camera. In the professional video world, they use a Steadicam to create smooth handheld video shots. The DJI Osmo is a way to get somewhat similar results without spending a lot of money.

 

DJI Osmo, stabilized handheld video camera

 

DJI is famous for making the most popular quadcopter drones on the market today... such as the DJI Phantom and the DJI Inspire. DJI developed their gimbal as a way to smooth out the video when a drone is bouncing all around in the sky. Someone at DJI got the bright idea that if they skipped the drone but kept the gimbal and the camera, and mounted it on to a hand grip, they would have a great device for taking smooth looking videos while walking around. That's how the DJI Osmo was born. It sounded like a cool idea to me, so I bought one of the first ones on the market and I use it for video shots where smooth camera motion is important. For example, in

where I walk through the pool area of the Norwegian Escape and then through The Haven to compare the two vastly different atmospheres, I used the Osmo to provide smooth camera motion while walking with the camera in my hand.

[Spaniel Lover]

Our Future Cruises

 

2015 was an amazing year for us, as far as cruising goes, and we're certainly off to a good start in 2016. We spent a total of 47 days at sea in 2015, shattering our previous personal record of 39 that we set in 2014. We won't be spending anywhere near that many days at sea this year, as we're going to try a different strategy than we used last year.

 

Last year we made an effort to take longer cruises, figuring that it was a better vacation overall to spend 14 days in a standard balcony cabin on a somewhat older ship than it would be to spend 7 days in some fancy cabin on a brand new cruise ship. This year, we're trying the exact opposite strategy... and doing shorter cruises on three brand new cruise ships.

 

We loved the Norwegian Escape, and you're probably wondering how we're going to top that! Honestly, I'm not sure we can.

 

In the second quarter of 2016, we'll be cruising with Royal Caribbean on their newest ship: Anthem Of The Seas. That's the one you may have read about with the robotic bartender, the bumper cars, and the skydiving simulator. After a great cruise last year on one of Royal Caribbean's older ships, I'm really curious to see how the next generation of RCCL ships strikes me. The reviews on CruiseCritic have been pretty bad, so I'm keeping my expectations low.

 

Later in the year, we're going to try a brand new cruise line. I don't just mean that it's a cruise line we haven't sailed on before... I mean it's a cruise line that didn't exist before! I'm talking about Viking Ocean Cruises. Viking has been the leader in river cruising, especially in Europe... and a few months ago they began a whole new chapter in their story with the christening of their very first ocean cruise ship, the Viking Star.

 

Photo of the christening of the Viking Star provided by Viking Ocean Cruises

 

Reviews here on CruiseCritic have been EXTREMELY positive, and Viking is turning the industry upside down with a very different approach to cruising than most cruise lines take.

 

For example, every cabin has a balcony. There are no interior staterooms at all. There also are no children onboard. They're not allowed! Want to bring a bottle of rum onboard with you? You don't have to smuggle it... just bring it along, they have no problem with that... and they don't charge you any kind of corkage fee for anything you might bring. Want to use the thermal suite in the spa? No problem! Every passenger has access to it, at no additional charge. And everyone says that the ship feels very un-crowded... since it's about the size of one of Carnival's Fantasy-class ships, but carries about half as many passengers!

 

Speaking of Carnival... you may be wondering when we'll be sailing on the brand new Carnival ship, the Carnival Vista. That won't be until 2017. Those Havana suites at the back of the ship, with hammocks on the balconies, look pretty cool! Check out the Havana area on the Carnival Vista if you haven't already. It's their first test of a Haven-style area that only certain passengers will have access to, complete with a swimming pool and upgraded patio furniture. I can't wait to try it!

[Spaniel Lover]

How do you rate or balance different cruises.

 

For example This Escape cruise in the Haven vs The BTB on the Breeze in a spa cabin.

 

It isn't apples to apples is it?

 

Exactly. That's the thing about cruising with many different cruise lines... there's never a clear winner as far as who is "best". Each have their own little areas that they excel at.

 

We were very happy with Carnival for a long time, and that's why we stuck with them exclusively for a pretty long period. But it was also all about "value" or "bang for the buck" in those days... as money was a little tighter at that point. Now we're fortunate enough to have had some lucky breaks and made some good decisions and we're not under the financial pressure to do things quite so inexpensively anymore. So we can do back-to-back cruises now, or cruise in The Haven, if we want to.

 

But like you said, sometimes you have to ask yourself which you would enjoy more: two weeks on Carnival, or one week in The Haven? We did a lot of longer cruises last year... this year we're doing less cruises, but more expensive ones. Ask me at the end of the year which worked out better!

 

At this point, my answer would be "I like them all!"

 

Would recommend MSC'S Yacht Club but its an Italian company, might not be the right food for you. :D

 

Many others have suggested MSC's Yacht Club to me, too. But you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the food thing. That's the main thing that's really keeping me away from MSC. My food tastes are very "American"... and I don't think that's MSC's focus.

 

I would really have to see menus and food porn from a MSC Caribbean sailing before I seriously considered it.

[Spaniel Lover]

As always a great review, kudo's for your photos!

 

Didn't snagged the extra special H8, 16100? ;)

 

I'll tell you what cabin on NCL really fascinates me. It's on the Norwegian Pearl... the Haven Deluxe Owner's Suite. You have your own private Jacuzzi out on your patio. I could TOTALLY go for that!

 

Here's a diagram:

 

[Spaniel Lover]

I just realized that I forgot to include one of the videos I recorded during our cruise!

 

My wife likes to play air hockey, and the Norwegian Escape has an interesting new variation on the classic arcade game, which is called PacMan Smash.

 

Here's a video of her beating me at PacMan Smash, and when you get :19 seconds in to the video, you'll see how PacMan Smash differs from traditional air hockey.

 

[YOUTUBE]ZM0Q7wmGxBI[/YOUTUBE]

 

Since my wife doesn't read Cruise Critic, I can let you in on a little secret about why she has an incredible unbeaten record going when we play PacMan smash or any kind of air hockey:

 

I throw the games!

 

I realized years ago that it was a lot more fun for her to play this game she likes so much if I let her win. So, I always do now. I just play a very sloppy defense and don't defend my goal very well. Also, in PacMan Smash, when it gets to the point where the dozens of little pucks are released, I figure she is paying more attention to her side of the field than mine... so I score a few against my own goal, and she doesn't notice. Take a look at the :30 second point in the video and you'll see me sneak one in against myself.

 

It's good to finally be able to admit my little secret to someone!

[Ranger719]

Like you I'm somewhat of a photo nut ...Nikon D750 and a Olympus TG-4 for the wet shots...and lots of work on Lightroom....enjoyed looking at all your photos and Videos....that DJI Osmo really looks interesting . I assume the Samsung Smartphone is just being used as a monitor... Are you happy with it and did you look into using a GoPro with a gimbal mount? I'll be in the Haven on the Escape this coming Saturday .

[Spaniel Lover]

I can't honestly say that I like the DJI Osmo very much.

 

The biggest problem is having to use a cell phone as a video monitor. I really wish they had just built a dedicated monitor on to it... so you didn't have to mess with connecting the phone to the OSMO via the OSMO's wi-fi... and also having to use an app on the phone to make it all work.

 

The reason that's a problem is that from the time you say to yourself "I'm going to shoot some video now" to the time you have all the stuff hooked up to each other and fully functional... it is, at best, a couple of minutes. That's not that big of a deal if you are going to shoot one long video... but if you want to shoot a five second clip now, another five second clip a half hour from now when you see the next interesting thing, and another a half hour after that... it just becomes a big hassle. Shooting video with a DSLR is much easier, as you can be up and running within five seconds of seeing something interesting you want to shoot... and you can easily turn the thing on and off a hundred times during the day, if you see 100 different quick interesting things you want to edit together in to your final product.

 

The other problem is that the Osmo sometimes has trouble keeping the horizon level. You can go in to the app and make some adjustments... but it still can sometimes lose track of what is level with the horizon. In my video walking through The Haven, there was a point when I was walking through the second floor of The Haven courtyard when the Osmo just wanted to tilt way off axis. It took me a while to nudge it back to level.

 

When you're shooting things on the open deck of a cruise ship or any kind of boat, where it's easy to see the horizon off in the distance, it's really critical that the camera stay level to the horizon... or the end result looks stupid.

 

The Osmo did successfully give me nice stabilized video for that video where I was walking through the pool deck and in to The Haven... but that was about the only time during the cruise when using the Osmo was worth the trouble. All the other video I shot was with my Canon DSLR.

[Ranger719]

Thanks for the info...DSLRs do take pretty good video

[asen2asen]

Hey Neighbor!!

 

Thank you so much for your information and pictures!! You have gotten me even more excited!!

 

We are just a hop, skip and a jump from you in the the beautiful Salinas Valley!! This will be our 6th February in a row in an NCL Haven 2 Bedroom-I haven't found a found a better way to celebrate a birthday yet!!! There is simply no turning back!

Work hard, play hard!!

 

Thanks again!!

[justhappy]

Enjoyed your review immensely, your photos are wonderful.

Sad to hear that the Haven restaurant's outdoor seating is subject to the noise from the pool area.😕

One thing I noticed that's different from the Getaways Haven sun deck is that the Escape doesn't have those big oversized round covered loungers. I really enjoyed those on the Getaway.

 

I hope you had your Lawrey's seasoned salt with you for those breakfast dishes 😊

[LakeWobegon]

My wife and I are laughing at the no kids policy on Viking. With an 8 and 11 year old, we are thinking a line or ship should offer a no one over 50 cruise so no one would complain about well-behaved kids because they simply can't stand kids. Ha.

 

Anyway, thanks for a wonderful review. We likely won't choose the Haven anytime soon but enjoy reading about what its like. And someday we may choose it. I like reading about high end hunting guns even though I'm more than satisfied with my old Remington 870.

 

We did evaluate the Haven for our Easter week cruise on Escape in just about two months. But the lowest price Haven room would have been $17,000+ for the four of us if I am not mistaken, if we had booked it a year ago. We were able to get two connecting large balcony rooms for about 1/3 of that instead. But like I said, I enjoyed reading it. And maybe someday.

[Cruisevirgin1965]

Thank you so much for your review and pictures. We are staying in your suite - cabin 16118 in just 2 weeks so it was great to actually see pictures of it. While we have stayed in suites on NCL ships before, this will be our first time staying in The Haven. Even more excited than I was!