For spring break 2023, we decided to take a Caribbean cruise…and, for the first time, we allowed one of our children to bring a friend along. Since they were high school juniors, we knew they’d be safe hanging out around the ship, and that Kenneth would have markedly more fun with a friend than he would with us. We booked an itinerary that we thought everyone would enjoy since they were known locations…Bahamas, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Puerto Plata.

Since we knew we’d be bringing a friend along, we made sure to book a ship and a cabin that would be comfortable for five people. We decided on a two-bedroom family suite in The Haven on the Norwegian Encore. This allowed the boys to have their own bedroom (and bathroom!) with bunk beds, for us to have our own bedroom and large ensuite bathroom (for Belinda to share with us), and for her to sleep by herself on the pull out bed in the living area. It really is one of the largest cabins for families at sea, and I do love that you could fit up to six people reasonably comfortably in the same room, which is especially great for larger families with smaller children. We looked at doing a similar journey on a Celebrity ship in The Retreat…but while we like Celebrity’s product better than NCL, a room for five people was hard to come by.

When we arrived to the port of Miami to board the ship, we were given a letter that said that instead of visiting their private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay, we were instead going to be beginning our voyage in Nassau. So, we booked tickets to spend the day at the Baha Mar water park instead. We had visited Baha Mar several years ago, but the water park had not yet opened, so we were happy to be able to check that out. It was a fun day…the boys got to ride all the water slides and had a great time. Of course, while they were split up from us, Fern and Belinda realized they were standing in line for a slide behind a former Dallas Cowboys star, Tony Romo. Kenneth’s friend, who is a die hard Cowboys fan, immediately led the two of them out for a search of the grounds to see if they could find him too. Much to their disappointment, they could not.

We spent the next day at sea, and made sure to take advantage of all of the activities on the ship. We booked a time to race the go carts on the onboard race track…which was really quite fun, although since they lack any sort of power steering, it really was a bit more difficult than I’d expected. I think it’d be difficult for some younger children to steer. We also spent time at the pool and on the water slides, as well as did some bowling and played in the big VR arcade. There certainly isn’t ever a lack of activities on the ship.

The next few days was back to the islands again. We have visited St. Thomas so many times, we knew exactly what we wanted to do. It is so easy to grab a taxi right at the port and head out to Magen’s Bay, which is a beautiful beach. Originally we had thought of sailing to St. John for the day, but we waited too long to book that excursion and the one we wanted was sold out. However, a day at Magen’s Bay is never a bad day! While the service there is always lacking (particularly the guys that do the chair service), it is a beautiful beach! And this time, with two strong teenage boys to help us, getting the chairs dragged across the beach when the chair guys refused to help was much easier.

We were lucky on this itinerary to have two back to back beautiful beach days. Our next stop was Tortola. The BVI may even beat the USVI for beauty. The island was definitely beautiful this day, and we all enjoyed another lazy day of lounging in the sun and swimming in the sea.

Our final port day of this cruise was at Puerto Plata. We had looked into going to a beach, but all of the reviews that we read weren’t overly positive about the beach experience. One of the officers on the ship told us about Taino Bay, which is right off the ship. There are pools, shops, restaurants, and a monkey experience called Monkey Island. Unfortunately, the day we were there was on the cloudy side, and was a little cool. We did take advantage of a “trip” to Monkey Island, though! That was definitely a fun, if overwhelming, experience. They made us take off glasses, hats, etc, and store our belongings before we went in. I could immediately see why…the minute we walked in, the monkeys were jumping on people, knowing that they were going to get some tasty fruit. The monkeys made us laugh as they ran across our shoulders, down our arms, and jumped on our heads.

A few thoughts about our experience with NCL and in The Haven this time around. This is our second post-pandemic cruise with NCL…our first was a year prior to this one. While the ship amenities are still very nice, we definitely noticed some cost cutting and downgrades over the previous year. I understand that the cruise lines lost buckets of money during the pandemic and that they need to work to ensure that they can maintain profitability, but the cuts were noticeable. The menu in The Haven restaurant had been streamlined and the quality of the food was almost inedible some nights. The service from the staff in the restaurant was lacking…it was often slow and inattentive, waiters would forget to bring items that had been asked for, and what service we did have was often very abrupt. It was a change from previous cruises where we felt very taken care of in The Haven restaurant. My biggest complaint about NCL, though, is that I always feel like I’m being nickeled and dimed. Even though things are “included” in the neverending sales they offer…everything is the bare minimum. The internet service isn’t very good…but you still need to upgrade the included version to be able to do anything other than email. Tips aren’t included. You have to pay more to upgrade to a premium drink package. I just feel like in The Haven…where guests are paying multiples of the fares that people in most of the other cabins are paying…they could be a little more generous. It’s like they’re trying to create a luxury experience, but can’t get away from trying to squeeze every nickel out of you no matter how much your fare was.

Now, for the positives. The Haven lounge was still very good…the fact that they have real bartenders who will mix up drinks based on your preferences is a nice touch, and much better than simply employing someone who can pour wine and make standard cocktails. The lounge was full most nights with passengers socializing and the bartenders mixing drinks. We have always enjoyed the Broadway program aboard NCL ships, and this time was no exception. We saw The Choir of Man the first night it ran on the ship…and we enjoyed it so much, we went back for their last performance, which was great because it was actually the last performance for that particular cast as their contract was up and they’d be disembarking with us. It was amazing, and was every bit the quality of show that you’d see from a touring company at one of the theaters across the USA that hosts Broadway productions.

Disembarkation was, as usual, a little bit of a mess. The Haven does take guests down in groups in the staff elevators, so you do get a bit of an advantage there. We had a late flight that day, so we decided to book a shore excursion to the Everglades to do the airboat rides, with the added benefit that the bus would drop you off at the airport after the excursion. It’s always fun, albeit a little creepy, to get out in the swamps and see the alligators glide right past you.

All in all, it was a good vacation to several beautiful islands, and our kids enjoyed it. Kenneth made lasting memories with one of his best friends…and we all had an opportunity to relax and enjoy the sunshine. I do hope NCL makes some product and service enhancements, though. It definitely made us think twice about wanting to spend that amount of money with them again any time soon.