We've cruised a fair amount in the past few years & are now Platinum on NCL. Had booked this cruise months ago & had an inside room. My wife (she's the one who constantly is checking NCL for "deals") found a mini-suite for only a couple hundred dollars more & I call our NCL TA and upgraded....then, had our luggage tickets, just about packed, etc., & the Thursday before we left, I received a phone call from NCL in Miami wanting to know if we were interested in upgrading to the Haven. I had no idea what that was, but contacted my wife & looked info up & said "Heck Yeah!" Lady said that if I hadn't answered, she'd just "go on to the next person on the list!"

Have been out of New Orleans several times in the past years & no problem getting there. Parking in an "open" lot sucks though! Our first cruise there, NCL had a parking garage, but guess Carnival has both of them now???? Dropped luggage off & parked. Once we showed the "tickets" w/the Haven on it, we were escorted to a "special" check-in, & then to the "VIP Lounge." Nice amenities & met our Butler, Concierge, etc. In approx. 10 minutes, we were escorted to the ship & to our rooms. Rooms were amazing!

I ran the M&G the next day & we did a Cabin Crawl....got to see an Aft Balcony (first for us) & a Penthouse (also first for us.) The Penthouse was exactly the same room layout as ours. BUT, we had access to the Haven Pool area....small pool, but had a hot tub....plenty of lounge chairs, etc. PLUS, we had access to Cagney's for breakfast & lunch IN THAT AREA w/our own private waiter....Penthouse folks could use Cagney's itself, but not access our area. Our waiter, Benny, was FANTASTIC! One of the few times on a cruise where I've agreed w/my wife that he/she deserved an extra tip ($). Read more