This was my 3rd NCL cruise and my 8th cruise overall. Unlike all of my previous cruises which I was with one other person, this was my first family cruise which consisted of 6 people in total including my unvaccinated 3 yr old. As such this cruise was a totally new experience for me.
Embarkation was a mixed bag. The process was extremely smooth including getting the extra test done for my unvaccinated daughter. We arrived at the port at around 10:30 AM which was our assigned time and we were almost immediately able to get our medical documents checked and get my daughter’s test done. After we received the negative result we were able to go through security, get checked in, got our key cards, was able to check in a bottle of wine we brought, and get to the waiting area with our group number. That whole process took about 30 minutes which included 10-15 minutes taking the COVID test and waiting for the results. The bad news was it was at least another hour before they called us to board. Due to announcements it sounded like the process was being held up by either a health inspection or some other government reason as they made an announcement about they were waiting for the all clear for being allowed to continue the boarding process. That said, it took over 90 minutes from curb to ship.
One side note regarding the embarkation process. Even though we have the drink package, as I indicated earlier we did bring a bottle of wine on board that we like and that we knew the cruise line would not carry. When I checked the bottle in, they checked to see if I had the drink package. Once they confirmed I had the drink package the employee indicated that the corkage fee would not be charged. I’m not sure if this is standard policy or not that if you have the drink package that the corkage fee is waived, but that is what the employee indicated to me on this cruise. I would also note, the last NCL cruise I went on pre pandemic, I did not have the drink package and brought a bottle of wine onboard and the corkage fee was not charged on that sailing either.
Once we were onboard we decided to proceed to our muster station to get that out of the way. All that happened was they scanned our key cards and we were on our way. We then went to Splash Academy to register my 3yr old daughter and 7 yr old nephew. My nephew was able to register, however, my daughter was not as Splash Academy was not yet open for children under 5 yrs old. My nephew did get to use Splash Academy twice and enjoyed both visits.
We had two side by side balcony cabins on deck 10. The rooms had the standard two twins, or when combined, one king size bed and each room had a couch that converted into another bed. The balcony had two chairs and a little table. Also included are the safe, phone and tv which were all functionally easy to navigate. The bathrooms in both rooms were much larger than the standard cruise bathroom which contained his and her sinks, a rectangular shaped shower (instead of the circular showers I have been used to), a detachable shower head that you could raise or lower depending on your height, and 6 different shower sprayers. There was a large amount of storage in the bathroom on the shelves as well as three storage drawers. There was separate dispensers for the body soap and shampoo in the shower as well as another hand soap dispenser by the sink.
As part of the Norwegian standard free at sea program we had the drink package and the restaurant package for eating at two specialty restaurants. The two specialty restaurants we ate at were Le Bistro (the french restaurant) and Teppanyaki (the hibachi restaurant). We also ate at one of the three main dinings rooms (Taste), O’Sheehans, and the ship’s buffet the Garden Cafe.
O’Sheehans is the 24 hour complimentary restaurant on the ship. It has typical pub food like burgers, hot dogs, wings, spinach dip, as well as english pub items like fish and chips. Within O’Sheehans is also an old school ice cream bar which sells sundaes, milk shakes and ice cream floats for an extra charge. Unlike the main dining rooms, O’Sheehan’s menu does not change except for a blue plate special that changes daily. I enjoy the restaurant in general, however, if you are a late night eater, compared to Royal or Carnival, I think O’Sheehans (or the Local on newer ships) is the best late night food option on the major lines. Of the three main dining rooms (Taste, Savor and Manhattan Room), we chose to eat at Taste so we would get the same servers. It was standard main dining room food, some of the food really hit the mark, some misses but nothing was ever terrible. The Garden Cafe buffet was pretty good and there was just enough rotation in the offerings to keep things from getting boring. Overall the quality was good, not great, with the exception of the indian food station which I thought was pretty high quality and was probably the best cruise ship buffet indian food I have eaten. There was a complimentary noodle bar also on the ship which we did not partake.
For specialty dining I find Norwegian knows how to offer multiple high quality options. The quality of the food at the specialty restaurants has never disappointed in the past and it definitely did not disappoint this time around. Le Bistro did not disappoint and the food and hibachi show at Teppanyaki was great as well. We did have one hiccup that people should know about regarding our meal at Teppanyaki. As I noted earlier we had the meal plan which, to my surprise, only counts for the first two people in the cruise cabin, so the children were not included. That said, even if this was the case, we were fine paying for the children’s charge for the specialty restaurants, which we did for Le Bistro. However, when it came to Teppanyaki, when we arrived the staff indicated since Teppanyaki is not “a la carte” that the children would be charged full price ($60 per person). After speaking to the manager and explaining I understood this is company policy and not their fault but there was nothing that I noticed on the website/app to explain that children would be charged full price and anything they could do would be appreciated, they agreed to waive the charges, though they did not have to. I really appreciate the manager waiving the charges, but everyone should know if they have children on an NCL cruise and go to a price fix restaurant like Teppanyaki to make sure they verify if they will have a children’s rate or if they will have to pay full price.
Entertainment and Activities on NCL are always great. You can make reservations for all the shows when you get on the ship (through the app). I’m not sure if you could get into the shows without reservations as due to the three year old my wife was able to go to one of the two main shows but I was not able to attend either. She indicated the show she went to was fantastic and pretty packed. I was able to attend Howl at the Moon which is a dueling piano show with extremely talented singers/musicians and gets some comedic moments with adult humor as the night gets later. It is one of my favorite standard shows on the Norwegian ships that have it.
On this cruise we did not get to use the Thermal Suite which is one of our favorite places. We also did not get to partake in many offered adult activities due to following around our 3 year old, however, in this case we spent a lot of time on the pool deck for that very same reason. The pool deck contained a splash park my daughter and nephew thoroughly enjoyed. I got to try out most of the water slides and I must say, for cruise ship water slides they were pretty intense. Due to the Haven taking up about a 1/3 of the pool deck space, it should be noted the main pools did get extremely crowded on sea days. If you want a chair in the shade on sea days you need to get up early to get your chair. If the shade is not that important to you then there are plenty of chairs available on the sun deck. I personally wish cruise lines would implement a 30 minute policy to free up unused chairs, but alas you need to follow the rules the cruise ship is currently implementing.
I did partake in the casino on one night. Smoking smell was not terrible, however, you could smell it in the main 6, 7, 8 atrium when people were smoking in the casino. NCL eventually fixed the smoking issue on the Norwegian Bliss and newer ships with the dedicated fish tank smoking room but for this ship you must be aware.
Ports - The only port we got off the ship was Harvest Caye, Norwegian’s private island off of Belize. The downside of this private island is that it almost acts as a standard port as there is no complimentary food or drinks. Everything must be purchased. However, even with that significant drawback, it might be my favorite private island, even compared to Royal’s Coco Caye due to its size. The island might not have a water park or a hot air balloon but if you want a beach, pool and children’s splash park, you cannot ask for a better island. We were able to purchase a cabana for $400 (much less than the $1000 - $2000 for Coco Caye) which is located by the pool. The pool is a very large pool and did not feel overcrowded. Since Harvest Caye is extremely narrow you can walk the width of the island from one side to the other in less than 5 minutes. It makes everything extremely accessible and a short distance by walking. The beach and ocean is less than a 1 minute walk from the pool if you go to the beach that is next to the pool. The kids splash park is pretty “far” from the pool when talking about the island and it is about a 5 minute walk from the pool. Compared to Coco Caye, everything on Harvest Caye is within a short walk. The only place I wouldn’t walk from the ship are the luxury cottages that can be rented at the far end of the island which, if you do rent, do have shuttle services that bring you back and forth to the ship.
To summarize my experience, I found the room good size which didn’t feel too crowded even with a third person in the room with a great sized bathroom and shower. Food quality was above average, ship service for all aspects amazing, entertainment that we were able to attend were great. Pool deck, like most Norwegian ships will feel crowded on sea days due to the reduced deck space that the Haven takes up. As always, remember with Norwegian to make reservations for any specialty restaurants and shows you want to go to on the first day when you first get on the ship.
