Specialty Dining vs. Haven Restaurant

[amygutman]

12 hours ago, Harratine said:

Do you have a specialty restaurant package?  Most Haven guests will get all the offers, so not sure.  If you do, it mixes up with the Haven restaurant nicely,,,, few meals out in the specialty restaurants and then break it up with the Haven.  Oddly enough, Cagneys probably most follows the Haven menu, so if there was a choice, skip that restaurant or you will be saying that it is “Better in the Haven”.  That would have been good advice before we did that.  And we love Cagneys. 

 

Be be sure to enjoy breakfast in the Haven restaurant.  Our favorites were the French press coffee and the seafood Benedict.

 

Have a fun trip

FRENCH. PRESS. COFFEE.

No matter how I try to make it myself at home, NCL French best is so, so much better. 

Perhaps it's just the vacation aspect, but this coffee is ... well...for a coffee addict, it's my crack. 

19 days until I get my next taste.....

[sargemrs]

4 hours ago, amygutman said:

FRENCH. PRESS. COFFEE.

No matter how I try to make it myself at home, NCL French best is so, so much better. 

Perhaps it's just the vacation aspect, but this coffee is ... well...for a coffee addict, it's my crack. 

19 days until I get my next taste.....

YES!!!!!  My sentiments exactly!!!  The only negative is that it doesn't stay hot long, but the servers are so gracious to make us another pot if it does cool down!

[etravel]

We loved that coffee too, yum!!! And what a great view looking out to the ocean! Fabulous! 

[jdmcmellon]

Thank you everyone for the feedback.  What were your favorite specialty restaurants?  Any restaurants we should avoid?  

[rattanchair]

On the Breakaway now. Category H6  $9071. Read CC reviews of several on The Haven, which made us try NCL. Dining is a big determinate for us. We do not want to venture out of the Haven enclave for our meals at specialty dining. We have the 3x dining package as a perk. Read that they would accommodate suite guests with entrees from specialty restaurants brought to the Haven dining room. This  is not true! The concierge said that this can be accomplish only through room service and could not guarantee that the meal would be hot or as good as expected. Tried at lunch today in Haven to pre- order dinner off the Main dining room menu with the maitre d' and was told it was not possible. Did not go so far as to find out if we would be charged for this perk if we ordered specialty entree as room service. Feel perk only applies to actually going there. Such is life.

Edited June 11, 2019 by rattanchair
sentence structure

[amygutman]

14 hours ago, rattanchair said:

On the Breakaway now. Category H6  $9071. Read CC reviews of several on The Haven, which made us try NCL. Dining is a big determinate for us. We do not want to venture out of the Haven enclave for our meals at specialty dining. We have the 3x dining package as a perk. Read that they would accommodate suite guests with entrees from specialty restaurants brought to the Haven dining room. This  is not true! The concierge said that this can be accomplish only through room service and could not guarantee that the meal would be hot or as good as expected. Tried at lunch today in Haven to pre- order dinner off the Main dining room menu with the maitre d' and was told it was not possible. Did not go so far as to find out if we would be charged for this perk if we ordered specialty entree as room service. Feel perk only applies to actually going there. Such is life.

Perhaps it has to do with time of day / waiter / meal ...we've asked for a few specialty items from other restaurants - granted, it's generally in advance, but have had no issue at all with the exception of the "no sushi travelling rule". 

 

Hmmm... I mean I love the Haven, and love the special meal "tweaks" from the Haven kitchen, but that I agree is a slight bummer. Amy

[rattanchair]

34 minutes ago, amygutman said:

Perhaps it has to do with time of day / waiter / meal ...we've asked for a few specialty items from other restaurants - granted, it's generally in advance, but have had no issue at all with the exception of the "no sushi travelling rule". 

 

Hmmm... I mean I love the Haven, and love the special meal "tweaks" from the Haven kitchen, but that I agree is a slight bummer. Amy

We are advance booking our meals every day for dinner to avoid salt. Perhaps this is why I was denied ordering a 3 cheese zita dish from the main dining menu. Or I am just not a preferred passenger privy to the same perks as you all.

[Sup_Devil]

So the consensus is to just stick to the Haven restaurant for breakfast right?? No reason to venture out for that? 

[FLcruisergrl]

2 hours ago, Sup_Devil said:

So the consensus is to just stick to the Haven restaurant for breakfast right?? No reason to venture out for that? 

Yes! The Haven breakfast is great. No need to go elsewhere.

[js]

On 5/28/2019 at 8:45 AM, amygutman said:

FRENCH. PRESS. COFFEE.

No matter how I try to make it myself at home, NCL French best is so, so much better. 

Perhaps it's just the vacation aspect, but this coffee is ... well...for a coffee addict, it's my crack. 

19 days until I get my next taste.....

 

I drink iced black coffee each morning.  One of my FAVORITE things in the Haven is that each evening, they give me the French Press and I put in the fridge for the morning  Lovely.

 

We are Platinum so we will use our two specialty dining ressies given to us and then spend the rest of the time at the Haven restaurant.  Like others have said, it is very personalized service. Can't wait to sail Encore next July and hoping Edgar will be overseeing the Haven restaurant.  He was excellent.

[etravel]

Same here JS...we will be on the Encore in May 2020 and plan to use our specialty dining and the rest in the Haven!!! Can't wait either! 

[elwood_98034]

4 hours ago, Sup_Devil said:

So the consensus is to just stick to the Haven restaurant for breakfast right?? No reason to venture out for that? 

In my personal experience, and from other posts I hear that the Cafe can be a total mosh pit at breakfast time. Especially when chair hogs get there early and stake out all the window tables - you have nowhere to sit.

[amygutman]

On 6/12/2019 at 8:48 AM, rattanchair said:

We are advance booking our meals every day for dinner to avoid salt. Perhaps this is why I was denied ordering a 3 cheese zita dish from the main dining menu. Or I am just not a preferred passenger privy to the same perks as you all.

Not so much a preferred passenger...we just always try to be polite and pleasant, and not too demanding. Honestly - once the Haven restaurant staff figured out my preferences, they actually started offering options that they thought myself or family would like. 37 years as a vegan - you get used to asking for random special meals..as an aside, I can't wait to try fish on the Dawn next week as a newly minted pescatarian.

 

They even brought the breakfast French Press coffee to our room if I had more than 1/2 of the carafe left after breakfast. 

 

Not sure why we had such different experiences, but I can assure you, we are not rock-star cruisers...just friendly ones. 

Amy

[rattanchair]

13 minutes ago, amygutman said:

Not so much a preferred passenger...we just always try to be polite and pleasant, and not too demanding. Honestly - once the Haven restaurant staff figured out my preferences, they actually started offering options that they thought myself or family would like. 37 years as a vegan - you get used to asking for random special meals..as an aside, I can't wait to try fish on the Dawn next week as a newly minted pescatarian.

 

They even brought the breakfast French Press coffee to our room if I had more than 1/2 of the carafe left after breakfast. 

 

Not sure why we had such different experiences, but I can assure you, we are not rock-star cruisers...just friendly ones. 

Am

Dear Amy,  My only, only, only contention with your past posts ( and posts of other NCL cheerleaders) Is your ability to get Specialty Restaurant meals delivered to the Haven Restaurant for your evening meal enjoyment. The Haven staff are very accommodating our low salt no salt request. We can not even order from the Main Dining menu in the Haven Dining Room, which we can in Luminae. Have not had a bad meal yet in the Haven. But you know the menu is never changing.  How many evenings can we take eating the same chocolate tart bombe (changed spelling to avoid national security concerns). Do not eat nuts, and do not expect them to remove the nuts from the carrot cake, which I spent my first evening actively forcing out of my mouth, a social taboo especially in the Haven. I find that their tactics are to force Haven guests out to other venues. Last night we discovered The Manhattan Supper Club, not for dinner but for a truly delightful time sharing 3 different desserts at a table near the dance floor listening to the dance band. Having payed top dollar $9071 for the suite and waived our ability to bid on a lessor cabin (we have the largest balcony on the ship), we just expected to get the same perks you all touted. Granted I am not as pretty as you (I have never met an unlovely Amy), and that must be the reason you got the specialty meals delivered to the Haven Restaurant. Yes, the concierge did offer to have our butler bring any specialty restaurant meal to our cabin, but he said he could not promise that it would be hot or the 'same,' whatever that means. Please stop touting perks only 'certain' people get, it is a big disappointment when the rest of us can not avail ourselves of the same perks, at any price.

[gizfish]

1 hour ago, rattanchair said:

Dear Amy,  My only, only, only contention with your past posts ( and posts of other NCL cheerleaders) Is your ability to get Specialty Restaurant meals delivered to the Haven Restaurant for your evening meal enjoyment. The Haven staff are very accommodating our low salt no salt request. We can not even order from the Main Dining menu in the Haven Dining Room, which we can in Luminae. Have not had a bad meal yet in the Haven. But you know the menu is never changing.  How many evenings can we take eating the same chocolate tart bombe (changed spelling to avoid national security concerns). Do not eat nuts, and do not expect them to remove the nuts from the carrot cake, which I spent my first evening actively forcing out of my mouth, a social taboo especially in the Haven. I find that their tactics are to force Haven guests out to other venues. Last night we discovered The Manhattan Supper Club, not for dinner but for a truly delightful time sharing 3 different desserts at a table near the dance floor listening to the dance band. Having payed top dollar $9071 for the suite and waived our ability to bid on a lessor cabin (we have the largest balcony on the ship), we just expected to get the same perks you all touted. Granted I am not as pretty as you (I have never met an unlovely Amy), and that must be the reason you got the specialty meals delivered to the Haven Restaurant. Yes, the concierge did offer to have our butler bring any specialty restaurant meal to our cabin, but he said he could not promise that it would be hot or the 'same,' whatever that means. Please stop touting perks only 'certain' people get, it is a big disappointment when the rest of us can not avail ourselves of the same perks, at any price.

I am betting the issue is that you have requested the low salt meals and the Haven is having a problem accommodating that with food brought in from outside their galley.  I personally have not had food brought to me from specialty restaurants to the Haven dining room.  But on all three occasions being in the Haven, both on Breakaway and Escape, I have had no problems with getting main dining room meals and desserts brought to me in the Haven dining room.  They have also accommodated special requests like eggs benedict for dinner and a burger with custom toppings.  The issue doesn't seem to be some people are special.  Rather your special request seems to be causing the issue.  

[sverigecruiser]

 

We eat breakfast and lunch in the Haven restaurant every day. We usually eat 2-3 dinners in other restaurants and the rest in the Haven restaurant.

[rattanchair]

Just finished lunch in the Haven. Had the french dip. Waiter came back to me and said ' Sir, the french dip has salt'.  In this instance I said to bring on the french dip the way its. I had a choice. I was given a choice. I could choose to have it the way it is or choose something else. I am not being given a choice to have the same salted entrees from the specialty restaurants. The no salt is just a request not a requirement. Perhaps one of you preferred NCL cheerleaders can email my concierge Roy Peregrino and ask him why they can not provide a present Haven guest your perk of providing a, one , (since we only have 2 days left on this Breakaway) Specialty Restaurant meal in the Haven restaurant.      On second thought don't do it ,I may be over salted to death.

Edited June 13, 2019 by rattanchair
addition

[amygutman]

8 hours ago, rattanchair said:

Granted I am not as pretty as you (I have never met an unlovely Amy), and that must be the reason you got the specialty meals delivered to the Haven Restaurant. Yes, the concierge did offer to have our butler bring any specialty restaurant meal to our cabin, but he said he could not promise that it would be hot or the 'same,' whatever that means. Please stop touting perks only 'certain' people get, it is a big disappointment when the rest of us can not avail ourselves of the same perks, at any price.

Well...you flatter me sir. 

 

Though I will have to admit, it's hard to be aware of  touting perks other cruisers don't have...when they seem to be perks at least some other cruisers have. I suppose it's like being called up on stage for one of the shows - some people are, some people aren't...or successfully haggling for an upgrade via phone where others cannot. Even silly things like actually getting the "pillow choice" on the suite list - it's ike a mythical unicorn, but I'm sure there is a poster out there who gets their memory foam pillow every time they cruise (and that is most certainly not I!) 😁

 

As this is both an opinion and a fact-based forum, perhaps we can agree that not everyone has the same experiences - but I would never intentionally mislead anyone as to false promises. 

 

Amy