We were with 10 other travelers celebrating a retirement. The ship was chosen for its itinerary, which was excellent. The vibration problem in our cabin, 12318, almost ruined our trip; more on that separately in the cabin review. In short: after three sleepless nights, we were ready to swear off ever cruising again!

The cruise didn't start well. Our luggage, despite being Haven priority, didn't make it to our stateroom in time for our dinner reservation. I found a poor crewman who looked overworked (and who didn't speak English) who took me into a crew area where he pointed to a vast array of luggage. I picked out our two pieces and wheeled them back to the cabin. Haven cabins supposedly have a butler. We didn't meet ours for two days, and didn't use his services for the duration of the cruise. The first bath towel I used in the bathroom ripped in half in normal use. I think it had been bleached to death. There were other little problems, like with the maddening cabin light controls, one of which broke and fell apart. All said, our first trip on NCL and the Haven experience started out very poorly.

Food in the Haven restaurant was generally very good. We ate all of our breakfasts and three dinners there. We also enjoyed Cagney's Steakhouse and Le Bistro. Service in all of them was very good to excellent. We ate once at Manhattan, and once was enough. Food at the Garden Cafe was very much like a mid-level cafeteria - fast and mediocre. Read more