About us...This was our 4th NCL cruise, 2nd on the Gem and 3rd Haven suite. We are a couple in our 40s with an 8 yo son, and with only 1 frustrating mis-step, had the best vacation of our lives. Spoiled, yes…but we will never book another non-Haven suite. It’s worth every penny for us to have my son swimming in a heated pool when it is 40 degrees at the Port of New York and not miss out on a minute of vacation. Not fighting for loungers, having every detail and request attended to and being 120% made to feel like you were the most important persons on the ship…amazing. Pricey – yes, and we work all year to afford this luxury. We book 12 months in advance with "Our Guy", and pay each month so it doesn’t hurt as much. To us, it is worth it.

We would not have been more pleased with the “surprise” itinerary – Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Thomas, as well as the last minute finger-crossing that the newly installed azipods would bring the ship back to NY from Barbados where it was recently stranded. Our fellow CruiseCritic friends (especially PatJim and Donna – amazing folks) kept everyone organized from a cabin crawl (which we missed due to having too much fun with Tim Kaminski the funniest guy on NCL), Thanksgiving dinner for 65, and a huge meet-and-greet. We showed our Haven to some new CruiseCritic friends, and hope that they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Embarkation: 31 minutes from checking in our bags to being in our room on the ship, including a bathroom break. 31 minutes. Walked in, passport check, headed to the Haven check in lounge, and escorted to our room. Did not even have time to indulge in the wonderful breakfast spread they had laid out. My impression from non-suite passengers was it was the quickest embarkation for them as well, due to all the rooms being ready as the ship was essentially empty on the return trip from Barbados. Read more