The Haven was the best way to cruise!

My husband and I decided to take my 90 year old mother and her 85 year old sister on a cruise to get they away from the New York cold weather. We booked into "The Haven" category aboard the Norwegian Gem which included a 24 hour Butler service and a Concierge. I was worried about taking my mom who has limited mobility and needs a wheelchair most of the time or a walker to help her travel short distances so I wrote a short letter to the Norwegian management. I was pleasantly surprised when someone called me at home a week before we were scheduled to travel and spoke with me at length regarding what we needed to make my mom and our cruise a memorable one. When we got to the pier, our baggage was taken and we were whisked ahead of many long lines of people and quickly registered. Within 20 minutes of getting to the pier, Patrick (I think he was the Concierge) escorted us to a private dining room and a very friendly young lady Mae greeted us by name, seated us and left us in the very capable hands of a very engaging young man named Praja and three of his co-workers who served us a very nice lunch ...very professional and very friendly. Patrick came back after lunch to give us a few pointers on what we could expect on the cruise and we were shown to our Suite on the 10th floor in The Haven. We walked into our suite and were stunned at the opulence... a Master bedroom with it's own balcony, a large screen TV and it's own ensuite on one send, a large sitting area, a separate dining area with 4 chairs, large table and a chandelier, and another area where a huge couch opened into a queen size bed, smaller bathroom and another large balcony. We did not want for anything, our butler Jayson was amazing and every request was taken care of. Our refrigerator was fully stocked with sodas and water of our choice, red and white wine, and a Nespresso machine which was used to capacity every day for coffee and tea and was always fully stocked. Every morning my mom and aunt got breakfast served in bed. Every day at 4 p.m. snacks were delivered and extra pillows, blankets, beddings and daily cleaning was done by a quite but very friendly and capable young man Antonio. Patrick, George, Lionel, Rita, Frankie, Ketchu, Praja, Hazel, Francisco and a few others were amazing with their friendly smiles, services and just taking the time to chat with my mom or help in getting her in her wheelchair on or off the ship whenever we docked (calling her Mommy and my aunt "Aunty"...which made their day!) Leo the very versatile entertainer who took requests and played his guitar like a gifted angel...performed almost every night and was our favorite along with the piano player who did all the oldies but goodies and had everyone eating out of his hands! The Steel pan band was amazing, every day around the pool or on deck in the evenings you could jive with their lively sounds. The Grand Pacific Restaurant (Dress code required) had the most amazing food, changing menu every night and was always busy with lots of friendly staff.  Cagney’s also served good food but the menu was the same every day/night. The two things I would change about this cruise would be to limit the amount of days at sea (too many sea days) and the most important one is to have NO SMOKING in the casino!! We would just get settled and enjoying the machines and someone would sit down next to us and start blowing their smoke in our faces...this was a real bummer!!! You leave there feeling sick and smelling like smoke...we all hated that part of our cruise!!! There were supposedly some decks that were "smokers' heaven" but consideration should definitely be given for the non-smokers in the casino!  I would recommend this cruise to others but advise them to definitely travel at "The Haven" level if they can afford it. It's less crowded and you really get what you pay for...great service!!  Thank you Norwegian Gem.