Norwegian Escape Review
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Sailed for the first time on NCL in a Haven Penthouse Balcony room. The NCL embarkation and disembarkation processes need a lot of work. Although we were pretty much escorted through the throngs of people it was still a little bit convoluted. We arrived about 10:15 am and there were already at least a thousand people in various lines waiting to board. I can see why people get upset over the process as there were not nearly enough employees to assist those standing in long lines.
The Haven experience is wonderful and the Haven restaurant is elegant and welcoming. The staff there are the best and special kudos to Griffin-the greeter who I think has never had a bad day. He was friendly, cheerful and caring-simply a great employee.
The Haven pool area has a small sitting pool with chairs in it and a 4 ft deep little lap pool. There is also a dry sauna just off the pool deck and plenty of chairs near the pool and on the deck above. The service in the Haven pool area was also great with drinks and lunch brought to those hanging out there.
Cabin Review
The Haven Courtyard Penthouse with Balcony
Once onboard we were able to get into our room at about 1 pm. The room was not as large as a Celebrity cruise line sky suite(which we usually have) but was comfortable and the bathroom was very nice with a tub and a shower. Our butler Jon-Jon and attendant Alvin were both spot on excellent and quickly took care of the couple requests we had. Each afternoon we received little finger sandwiches, candy, crackers, etc. The best thing about the room was its location on the 17th floor of the starboard side of the ship. We were literally about 50 feet from the entrance to the bar and Haven pool/sun lounge area. I highly recommend avoiding booking a Haven room anywhere near the Vibe Beach Club as it can be quite noisy(19th deck port side).