Would you rather spend the money to be in the Haven or spend it on another cruise?

[BEACHBARB]

Prior to our Breakaway Haven cruise 1/29/17 - I would have definitely said more cruises. Now - we can't go back. We LOVED it and think it's worth it.

[uneamie]

Hmm...we have 2 balcony's booked for a 14 day on Breakaway. My hubby and I in one , 2 brothers in the other. It's about $1800 per person per cabin with port and taxes....roughly $3600 per cabin. When I looked at the price of a Haven suite. It's around $6000 per person....yikes! $12,000. Some on here said that the Haven was not much more than booking 2 balconies. Our 2 balconies together are $7200...versus 4 people at 6K per person. That does not sound like only a little bit more. I'd love to book the Haven for the 4 of us but the per person 6K....I don't think so. I'd much rather spend that on a few more cruises, especially since we don't spend that much time in our rooms.

[Doitforlove]

I've not sailed on NCL yet (two weeks!) but would love to sail in the Haven. Unfortunately it's not in the budget right now (we're in our 20s and early in our careers) so we are doing Haven Lite. Spa passes and speciality dining each night. We get our own slice of "haven" in the form of dedicated loungers/pool area in the spa - also no kids!! Plus the upscale dining experiences at places like Ocean Blue, Le Bistro and Cagney's.

 

 

We ended up paying an extra $750 - if that- for these experiences. Much less than booking a Haven room. It works for us for now. Plus we may sail again later this year!

Edited April 12, 2017 by Doitforlove

[yummysbakery]

I started cruising with Ncl because of the haven. Prices used to be much more affordable especially when 3-8 passengers were free. This year I'm cruising with 3 others in two inside rooms and a week later in a suite on the jade. I originally booked the haven but for 4K less I downgraded to an aft penthouse suite since on the jade there really isn't much difference between the suites and the haven. BUT for four cruises after that I have booked the haven and can't see myself doing anything but the haven. The one haven suite I will probably never experience is the garden villas. At 20K plus that's where I draw the line!

 

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[ncklhaus]

I pay full price for Haven and will continue to do so. Even if cost of 3 cruises.

 

 

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Same here. I will book Haven only and pay full price. I'm not willing to hope for an upsell. I've got one booked and paid in full for December on Breakaway. Once we get back from that one I'm booking Escape for January 2019 in the Haven.

[Gershep]

I would rather put the money on more cruises.

[Aldeya]

Cruise more often.

 

We're so low maintenance, it actually bothers us to have someone "wait upon" us. We're capable of making our own dining reservations (or eating in the MDR, if needed). We like seeing other people, so we don't need a dedicated restaurant. If we have to wait 5-10 minutes for a table at a restaurant, we're comfortable with our own company to handle that. I'm fat, and if I don't get chocolate-covered strawberries or M&Ms every afternoon, it's no great loss. The perks would be wasted on us.

 

I will say the only thing that might make us consider a Haven room would be if the Haven area were kid-free, and I'm not even convinced of that.

 

For us, the getting away is the vacation; maybe we're just not pamperable!

 

--Michael

 

I was going to write the reply and then I saw your post :) Our feelings to the tee.

 

Nothing more to add. Thank you! :)

[Cyclops32]

Hmm...we have 2 balcony's booked for a 14 day on Breakaway. My hubby and I in one , 2 brothers in the other. It's about $1800 per person per cabin with port and taxes....roughly $3600 per cabin. When I looked at the price of a Haven suite. It's around $6000 per person....yikes! $12,000. Some on here said that the Haven was not much more than booking 2 balconies. Our 2 balconies together are $7200...versus 4 people at 6K per person. That does not sound like only a little bit more. I'd love to book the Haven for the 4 of us but the per person 6K....I don't think so. I'd much rather spend that on a few more cruises, especially since we don't spend that much time in our rooms.

You have to consider which Haven room. You are comparing too. Also if the 4 of you are in one Haven suite then the 3rd and 4th are almost nothing. DW, sons and me booked our first cruise as a family in the Haven. The second I invited my sister to come bc along and we went to a bigger Haven suite and the cost of adding her was in the hundreds of dollars not thousands.

Haven' date=' for a few reasons:

1. We travel as a family and often with promotions, a haven suite isn't much more than 2 balcony cabins, which would be the bare minimum for us.

2. On Breakaway, we know we don't enjoy ourselves when we are not in the Haven, mainly due to crowds and disembarkation. Paying extra to make sure we have a good vacation experience from start to finish is worth it, as our vacation time is a premium.

3. We like being spoiled on vacation, and the Haven does a great job of meeting that goal!

 

If it were just DH and I, and we were retired, I don't know that we would splurge for the Haven as often, as we wouldn't be time-crunched and could travel more freely than we do now.

 

 

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[perditax]

Option C--pretty sure my next big-ticket cruise will be on Oceania.

[NancyL2]

Haven...hands down! It's an experience in itself.

[casofilia]

We cruise to see new places and meet new people so I always answer a question like this with; I would rather 4 cruises at $1000 rather than 1 cruise at $4000.

[uneamie]

You have to consider which Haven room. You are comparing too. Also if the 4 of you are in one Haven suite then the 3rd and 4th are almost nothing. DW, sons and me booked our first cruise as a family in the Haven. The second I invited my sister to come bc along and we went to a bigger Haven suite and the cost of adding her was in the hundreds of dollars not thousands.

 

 

 

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Hmm....our totals for 2 balconies are a bit over $8k....for our 14 day Western Caribbean cruise Jan 19th 2018. If I could get a Haven suite for the 4 of us for not much more than that then of course I'd go for it..........but I've checked and it seems like it is thousands more, not hundreds...no matter which Haven suite I look at. Maybe I am doing it wrong. I don't know. But thank you for your imput here. I appreciate it.

[Travelling2Some]

When it comes to cruises all I need is a good book and a cocktail and I can do that anywhere on the ship. But I am different on land vacations so I can well understand the "quality over quantity" rationale as well. It's a matter of which is more precious, time or money? When my husband was working vacation time was the most precious thing. Now that he's retired we're always on vacation so big splurges don't seem necessary as often.

[sverigecruiser]

Hmm....our totals for 2 balconies are a bit over $8k....for our 14 day Western Caribbean cruise Jan 19th 2018. If I could get a Haven suite for the 4 of us for not much more than that then of course I'd go for it..........but I've checked and it seems like it is thousands more, not hundreds...no matter which Haven suite I look at. Maybe I am doing it wrong. I don't know. But thank you for your imput here. I appreciate it.

 

I looked at ncl.eu and a suite for 4 should cost around 15000 on your cruise. Much more than 8000 but still far from 24000.

 

The extra cost for the Haven is normally much higher on the longer cruises. Some long transatlantic cruises are very cheap for a standard cabin but the Haven.....

[sverigecruiser]

You sound like us! It would creep me out a little having a stranger hanging around to wait on me, and we love each other's company. I hope we get to cruise with people like you!

 

Strangers are hanging around to wait on the passengers everywhere on a cruiseship! To avoid that you need another kind of vacation.

 

The biggest difference is that in the Haven the strangers quickly learn if you want them to hang around or if you want them to stay away until you let them know that you need them.

[sverigecruiser]

Definitely the Haven. For our first cruise in March, the H2 owners suite was only 700 more than 2 balconies. We loved it. From the second we got to skip the line to get on the ship, to the priority elevator to get off the ship, we were spoiled, pampered, and made to feel so special. I could never see not booking the Haven going forward. I would constantly be looking at the Haven area knowing what I could be experiencing. I'd personally rather not go on the cruise if I didn't book the Haven. That's how much we loved it! I value the quality of the experiences versus the quantity of them. But everyone is different, thank goodness, or the prices of the Haven would rise significantly!

 

You are exactly like me. Your thoughts are very welcome at cruisecritic!

[luckyinpa]

You sound like us! It would creep me out a little having a stranger hanging around to wait on me, and we love each other's company. I hope we get to cruise with people like you!

 

actually with the buttons on the BA next to the door, they wont enter your room if DND is on. heck on day 1 you could tell the butler i dont need you, dont enter room and they would not complain at all. they do what you want or dont want. you could tell the steward the same. dont do afternoon or evening services. no one will mind not doing work lol

 

i found out on other ships they dont have this light system and you rely on magnets and stuff.

 

also in the haven restaurant the service is super and you cant say that for every other place on board. it's virtually guaranteed. that being said, i did get good service in the specialty restaurants but MDRs are terribley slow of course.

[luckyinpa]

The one haven suite I will probably never experience is the garden villas. At 20K plus that's where I draw the line!

 

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garden is one of my dreams. find 2 couples to go with and at times its been as low as 2500 PP but it does tend to be around 20. heck ive though about giving up cruising and saving the 2K per year but that's a long wait to do it that way

 

i've also see pics of the loft suites on Anthem and those look very cool too. there's a royal loft for a mere 10 K on a 4 nite bermuda cruise. gonna start printing money now.

[luckyinpa]

Hmm....our totals for 2 balconies are a bit over $8k....for our 14 day Western Caribbean cruise Jan 19th 2018. If I could get a Haven suite for the 4 of us for not much more than that then of course I'd go for it..........but I've checked and it seems like it is thousands more, not hundreds...no matter which Haven suite I look at. Maybe I am doing it wrong. I don't know. But thank you for your imput here. I appreciate it.

 

13k was cheapest i could find for 4.

[sverigecruiser]

garden is one of my dreams. find 2 couples to go with and at times its been as low as 2500 PP but it does tend to be around 20. heck ive though about giving up cruising and saving the 2K per year but that's a long wait to do it that way

 

i've also see pics of the loft suites on Anthem and those look very cool too. there's a royal loft for a mere 10 K on a 4 nite bermuda cruise. gonna start printing money now.

 

MSC have twofloor suites on their new ship Meraviglia, they look very nice but unfortunately they don't have Yacht Club access so we will never book them. (Yacht Club is what they have instead of the Haven.)

[LrgPizza]

We would rather pay more to avoid lines and have a stress free vacation. We do concierge on Disney and typically spring for the more exclusive levels at resorts. We both work very hard, and would rather have one week of great service, no lines, and get the reservations we want than have two weeks somewhere.

The whole "lines" thing confuses me. I've never stayed in the Haven, and I've never waited in any line for anything longer than maybe 1 or 2 minutes (including boarding, shows, dining, disembarkation, etc.). Maybe we just have impeccable timing, but it's more likely that the belief that there are lots of long lines for everything is grossly exaggerated.

[luckyinpa]

The whole "lines" thing confuses me. I've never stayed in the Haven, and I've never waited in any line for anything longer than maybe 1 or 2 minutes (including boarding, shows, dining, disembarkation, etc.). Maybe we just have impeccable timing, but it's more likely that the belief that there are lots of long lines for everything is grossly exaggerated.

 

you've never waited in line in NYC to get on or off more than 2 minutes?

 

please tell us your secret. not even haven guests get off in 2 minutes. :)

 

i'm been fortunate enough to not have to ever stand in the security line my 2 trips, but i witnessed them and they were both very long on embark and debark. of course you can tip the porter on debark to avoid that one. but how do you avoid any lines to get off the ship?

[Sissaaaaaa]

Haven, without a doubt. Well, ships that have a real Haven ... Luckily we have a lot of vacation time, so we get to take different trips throughout the year.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Sissaaaaaa

[LrgPizza]

you've never waited in line in NYC to get on or off more than 2 minutes?

 

 

 

please tell us your secret. not even haven guests get off in 2 minutes. :)

 

 

 

i'm been fortunate enough to not have to ever stand in the security line my 2 trips, but i witnessed them and they were both very long on embark and debark. of course you can tip the porter on debark to avoid that one. but how do you avoid any lines to get off the ship?

 

 

Never sailed from NYC, but I will in June. Hopefully my luck continues!

 

When it's time to get off, we walk down the stairs and get off. Yes, we have had lines at customs sometimes, but that has nothing to do with NCL or cabin type.

 

Once we were given priority disembark along with Haven guests. We were taken to a back service elevator to be escorted off the ship. This was on Escape. That time took a bit longer since they wouldn't let us just go, like we usually do. We had to wait with a group to be "escorted". I suppose you could say it wasn't a line, but a clump of people. We will avoid that next time.

 

 

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[Sissaaaaaa]

What ship did you bid on for the Haven? An "Away" ship?

Once you experience the Haven, you will have a better understanding of the personalized service, extra dedicated space and a whole different experience than if in a standard cabin.

 

Good luck!

 

So true! I always said I would never 'waste' the money. ;p It is such a huge difference, I would have a hard time cruising without it. Once you experience it, you are doomed.