Haven Restaurant
The restaurant is big enough that you don’t have to wait for a table when you show up. As usual, the company does not operate with fixed tables and schedules. So, during the opening hours of the restaurant you can eat when you want. The opening hours are quite wide, for example from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner.
The menus for all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) at the Haven Restaurant have been standardized throughout the company, but above all have been fixed: it will be the same menu every day, NCL explaining that these menus are varied enough to that we can eat different dishes every day. This is not very true for cruises exceeding 7 nights, and a fortiori for a cruise of 21 nights. And even less true when you chain in quick succession a 21-night cruise which follows within a few weeks another of 12 nights.
The Chef has felt the complaints increase… to the point of adding “dishes of the day” for passengers who were beginning to get bored (especially when you are charged more than $750 a night per person!). The dishes in question deviated strongly from the standardized menu, probably because the logistics could not follow during this longer than normal repositioning cruise. But the result was very disappointing both in terms of originality and quality.
This is not representative of a standard 7-night cruise of the company, rather planned to be shorter than these 21 nights, and for passengers who are not serial-cruisers… And it is quite consistent with the famous comments of the former leader of the group: for him, regular passengers were not interesting because they did not spend enough on board. So logical.
However, all this should not take away all the good that I think of the dishes on the now fixed menus. Indeed, the choice is vast, the variety is there and the quality too. Note, for example, that at dinner, the “Surf & Turf” is à la carte, so it is possible to eat lobster with a piece of beef every evening if you wish. Other passengers, outside Haven, must pay for this.
A quick tour of the dishes, a few examples… starting with breakfast. Among my favourites, so good, the eggs benedict, the avocado toast and the shrimp toast!
Lunch, with among my favorites, the mozzarella and proscuito salad and shrimp scampi.
Dinner, with my favorites like steak tartare, porcini risotto, or surf and turf (especially for the surf part!)…
And some daily specials, daily special, not really up to par…
Following pages: the ship, the attractions, the spa, the restaurants, the drink package, the itinerary…
Hi Jean Phillipe,
You are brave to travel on cruise lines other than Viking, though I get the appeal of different itineraries. I love reading about your experiences, thanks for sharing. Next time you are in Seattle you should give us a call.
Theresa and I are currently booked on 3 Viking cruises. Now I understand why you said you would likely be changing some of your future trips, as we changed one of the cruises we booked on board and will likely be changing the other as well. We are currently scheduled for Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica, 12/15/2024; Ancient Adriatic Treasures in October this year (this one we will likely change), and British Isles Explorer, 9/17/2025.
Hope we run into you on another cruise in the future.
Bon Voyage,
Kathy
Knowing other cruise lines is the best way to appreciate the best ones (and yes, it’s a risk to be disappointed with the bad ones !).
We do hope to share a new Viking adventure with both of you too.