About Us…couple in our 40s, celebrating our 13th anniversary and my 46th birthday on this trip. Have a 9 yo son who loves cruising, but not kid’s clubs – organized activities and sports are not his thing. We’ve been on Disney, Royal and Celebrity, and have done suites / Havens for the past 6 cruises; this is our first cruise as Platinum and were delighted at some of the non-Haven Latitude perks including free laundry, a few bottles of wine, and specialty dining. We save up for this luxury twice a year, and it’s worth every penny for the perks, peace of mind, lack of queuing, no planning requirements, personalized service and a pool you can happily use when it’s cold or rainy. We have met really wonderful travelers from all walks of life on all of our NCL cruises – a number of which we were happy to see again on this cruise.

EMBARKATION / DISEMBARKATION

Father’s Day was embarkation – so cool to see so many “dad” shirts / ties / hats. We take a car service from upstate NY vs parking. Similar price, but no worries about flat tires, shoveling (not at this time of year, of course), etc. From being dropped off to registering in the Haven lounge was approximately 15 mins – very efficient NCL & Port Authority crew making quick work of seemingly long lines. From Haven to ship – 15 minutes tops. No time to even enjoy the coffee and snacks. We had a personal escort to a private elevator right up to the Haven where I found myself getting a bear hug from Amit – a pool attendant on the Gem last Thanksgiving and we became friends. On the last night of our Thanksgiving cruise he found out he had been promoted to assistant butler. He said that it was his dream job – coming from a village in India without electricity to being trained as a European-style butler after starting out as junior wait staff was why he was so loyal to NCL (and us as well)! Read more