This transatlantic cruise was 3 years in the making! Twice canceled and then the ship's grounding almost didn't make it! But the trip finally came together. For the first time ever I put in a bid to upgrade and we won! We moved from a regular aft balcony to a Haven penthouse aft balcony. It was our first time in the Haven,but it won't be our last. The trip started on the wrong shoe when the day before we got repeated calls, emails and texts to keep reporting later to the dock. We couldn't change our limo driver's schedule so we got there around 12:15. They did begin processing paperwork and then we were move into the Haven room to wait. The ship arrived around 3:30 and they brought us wraps, drinks and cookies. We finally boarded about 5pm. We were escorted to our cabin! What a great space! Two bathrooms, a large livingroom/ dining area, a separate bedroom with the most comfortable king size bed. Our balcony contained 4 chairs and a table, two chaise loungers and another table! There was room to spare!

The Haven loung, courtyard and restaurant were great. We had 5 free specialty restaurants and we had purchssed 4 more( the 4 we bought were before we upgraded)

Even though the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus don't change in the Haven, there were specials and honestly they were so accommodating that it was fine. One night I wanted only surf, so I got two lobsters!! The chocolate decadent cake for dessert was awesome! The waitstaff knew everyone and were the most fantastic people. Our Concierge, David, was a dream come true. No request was too much. We did eat at Cagneys twice. La Cucina twice , LeBistro once and Tappenaki(sp) once. They never fail to deliver. With only 1500 guests and 1540 crew members you were never far from someone wanting to help. There were a few niggles. We had purchased the Thermal Suite package before we went, thinking that the weather could be iffy. Well it was the biggest waste of $600 dollars. Instead of it being a place to relax and rewind, it basically was 4 men and 1 very loud women planting themselves in the hot tub for extended periods of time talking over the water. The signs that this was a quiet zone were everywhere and totally ignored.The place is an echo chamber. Will never do it again. The shows, especially The Choir of Man, were great. Read more