Cruising has always been our family's favorite vacation, but this was our first time cruising with Norwegian. Previously, we've done mainly Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, with a Costa cruise and a Carnival cruise once, too. We were very happy with Royal Caribbean/Celebrity and are Diamond loyalty, so we saw no reason to really try something new. The Haven sounded interesting though, so we decided to give Norwegian a shot. We absolutely loved it, and I'll admit - this was a huge surprise to us! I'm not sure if it was a perception issue or what, but we'd always envisioned Norwegian parallel to Carnival. The nice atmosphere around the ship pleasantly surprised us, and none of us were quite sure why we thought what we did about Norwegian prior to sailing with them. Similarly, our many friends who cruise frequently have not ever sailed Norwegian for the same reason, though we certainly will be telling them about our experience - it's not what they may think of Norwegian.

We were very happy in the Haven - it truly felt like a haven from the rest of the ship. Our favorite staff member there was Roberto. He came around the pool deck multiple times a day and made sure we were well taken care of. The concierge Gabriel also has the best attitude - his answer is always yes. The women who worked with him were not quite as helpful, always stating a reason as to why something couldn't be done. Our cabin attendant was very present and friendly too. Our biggest disappointment was our butler Jorge. He was absent until the end of the cruise, when he was in the hall to collect tips. We asked him to do a few things for us, and he only did one and said he could not do the others, even though they were very reasonable requests (ex. bringing us a food item offered at another part of the ship). I suggest Norwegian comes up with a list of common requests so that the passengers and butlers are on the same page. It's very exciting to think you have a butler, but a huge let down when the butler does nothing for you. It'd also be great if they could recommend tip amounts. Saying it's up to you is really too up in the air. Guidelines would help guests.

The Haven restaurant was very good, but the service was exceptionally slow sometimes. I think it would be nice if Norwegian added some healthier options to its menus. We ate all around the ship at several speciality restaurants, and this was a major lacking area as opposed to other cruise lines that have calorie and health conscious items available. There is also a noticeable lack of quality seafood offered, such as salmon, which is even on the regular dining menu on Celebrity. Read more