Haven Alaskan cruise

Norwegian Encore Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Elainamo

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaska: Glacier Bay Skagway & Juneau (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 22, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Encore

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 15862

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 months ago

Review summary

With this being my first cruise in the Haven, I will probably never go back to non Haven guest. However, with the amount of money I spent being in the Haven, I can not justify doing it again. It was an amazing experience and I’m thankful I did it, but I probably would not come back. That is not because of the staff (they were amazing!) it’s mostly because 1. Pricing 2. Location of my room to haven lobby 3. Everything outside of the haven was meh at best 4. Not as many activities 5. Excursions were just okay and not worth the price With all of those reasons, I can’t say it’s worth it.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Boarding was a little confusing as a Haven guest. There wasn’t much signage and we stood in line until we saw the sign for Haven with lead us to the exact spot we were in, so it really didn’t matter. Other than that, it was fine. We barely had time to wait, so we didn’t get to enjoy the snacks but on the plus side we just walked on the cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

If I was rating the Haven experience alone, it would be a 4.5. The reason for not a full 5 was that the food was definitely not as fresh the last few days and it was very noticeable. But you’re on a cruise, so I can understand that. Now the speciality restaurants- 2 stars. They were not worth the price at all and it was a huge difference in treatment from a Haven guest to being in the speciality restaurant. If I were to do this again, I would not go to any speciality restaurant.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

With Alaskan cruise, you can’t do much outside. So no laser tag, race carts, or swimming. Everything was either too cold or too long of a line. Because of that, the galaxy room was always packed and we couldn’t even do the escape room. The spa was horrible and shows are not my thing. Bingo was fun, but there wasn’t enough of it. I wish there would have been more activities for just Haven because everything was just absolutely too crowded otherwise.

Entertainment

Not interesting for me.

Children's Programs

No children in party

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

I’m rating this based on Haven. 5 stars hands down. Everyone was absolutely amazing and they all need raises. Seriously. Keep them. They are good employees! Everyone not in the haven was a different story. BIG difference and not in a good way.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

The ships design for an Alaskan cruise wasn’t the best. My room was at the back of the boat and the haven lobby was at the front and I had to walk outside to get to it. There was always someone squeegeeing outside, but it’s still hard to keep dry when it’s constantly raining.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our steward did an amazing job! Size was perfect, balcony was awesome. I enjoyed it very much! I just wasn’t a fan of the location in regards to the haven lobby.