ad – This content was created on a press trip (similar to those travel agents and journalists take). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’ve been cruising with Norwegian for 20 years, and in that time, I’ve stayed in all of the cheapest cabins -mostly inside cabins or ocean views – but a few balconies, too, and that felt like a real treat.

I’ve loved them all, but on every trip I’ve ever taken, I’ve always looked longingly at the doors of an area called “The Haven”

It’s felt like some kind of forbidden secret that I’ve never been able to experience. 

I never imagined that I’d be able to stay in there myself but for three days I did. I explored the pool deck, restaurant, lounge, and everything else that is normally off-limits to me when I cruise, trying to work out what it’s all about.

I always rush to the cruise line’s website when my cabin is assigned, but I normally have some idea what to expect, at least on the cabin type.

On this cruise, though which was a pre-launch cruise where I didn’t get to pick.

I knew that I could be literally anywhere, from the top to the bottom, the front to the back, I could be in the smallest solo inside cabin or the biggest suite.

I was assigned cabin 15226 – and to find out that was in The Haven was so exciting. I double and tripled checked it. 

I had so many questions. Would the food really be better than in the rest of the ship? How could one pool deck be better than another? And is it really worth the extra cost? 

I didn’t know what was included in The Haven because, to be honest, it’s so far out of my norm I’ve never really looked into it.

As the cruise went on, I would find answers to these questions and a few more that I didn’t even know to ask at this point. 

We picked up our cruise cards, and I headed straight to the back of the ship to board the exclusive elevators, which were our way into the Haven.

I’d walked past these a lot of times before, but never with the power to make the elevators stop for me. I felt very very powerful. 

The Haven is located at the top of the back of the ship on decks 16 and 17. All the Haven cabins are close by, but some are on lower levels. Mine was on deck 15, one deck below the main Haven areas. 

We arrived right by the main concierge desk, and it’s here that the crew can help guests with things like booking reservations and excursions.

We didn’t need any since we were just going to Bruges and back, but knowing that we had a place we could come with any questions was really nice. 

We wandered around the side to the lounge, and I loved the design here.  The bar itself is huge, and it all felt very luxurious and classy but I didn’t feel uncomfortable being there.

I was a bit nervous that I’d feel out of place, but I didn’t at all. Norwegian are a very casual cruise line, and that extends everywhere, which I think is great. 

This area really felt to me like a luxurious yacht or perhaps a small boutique river cruise ship. The great thing about this being on a big ship though, was that we still had access to everything the ship had to offer.

We could go out on the Aqua coaster, go to the theatre, but then come back here whenever we wanted a calm place to have a drink. 

The lounge has lovely big floor-to-ceiling windows on one side and on the other side the restaurant has the same.

I always find that Norwegian cruise ships are really focused on looking outside at the view, and I love that. I was so looking forward to eating here because I’d heard great things about the food. 

At this point, the weather wasn’t great, but I hoped that as the cruise would go on we’d be able to see some blue skies so that we could make the most out of the pool deck. That’s a big selling point for this “ship within a ship” concept. 

We headed down to our cabin next to have a look around. I’d been assigned a 2-bedroom, 6-person family cabin, which it’s safe to say, is not a cabin I’ve ever stayed in before.

I’ve never had a cabin with multiple bedrooms, and the most exciting thing for me was that this cabin also had multiple bathrooms.

Two toilets in one cabin is just such a crazy concept to me. I’ve stayed in inside cabins before with 3 other people all sharing one bathroom, so this was like the extreme opposite. 

Most of the regular cabins onboard hold up to 4 people, so having this option for 6 is something special. 

Walking into the cabin, it felt really spacious. I spent a lot of time in the area, which I called the living room, I’d set up the sofa as my little office and it was a very comfortable place to do my work.

Over by the door, there was a little butler’s station with a coffee machine and a fridge, a full-length mirror and on the wall opposite, there was a big TV.

There was a table and two chairs here too, and you are able to eat any of the meals from the Haven restaurant in here if you’d prefer.

They’ll come and set up the table nicely and serve you everything. I imagine thats really lovely if you’ve had a busy day in port and you want to relax.

Outside of regular meal times there is a room service menu too of course, and that’s all included in the Haven. 

Some people like to eat out on the balcony, which looks dreamy. I’m not used to having a balcony at all so having one as big as this was incredible.

It wasn’t ever very warm on this cruise, but you can bet that I was making the most out of every second that the sun was shining. 

All the cabins within the Haven have access to a butler 24/7. Not the same butler all the time, of course. They do sleep, they’re humans, not robots, but everybody has access to a butler all the time, and the butlers get to know what you like. 

I’ve heard from friends who have stayed in The Haven that their butler brought them sweets and cookies, which look so good.

I’d have a real hard time resisting those if they just magically appeared in my room whenever I wanted them. I’m not sure I trust myself with that kind of power. 

There are more perks, too that I didn’t have the chance to experience, like priority embarkation because I was already onboard the ship.

Before this, I stayed in a regular cabin, which gave me a chance to explore everything onboard.

There are also reserved seats in the theatre, but as I’d already seen the main shows, I decided to stay mostly in the Haven. I only had a few days in this area, and I was going to make the most out of it! 

My bedroom was so comfortable, and this is probably the biggest bed that I’ve ever slept in. The blinds were operated with buttons, and all of the lights dimmed.

We had plenty of plug sockets and USBs in our bedroom part of the cabin, both the old and new style.

I loved being able to lie in bed while watching a sail away, I think they organised the space here really well by having the bathrooms further into the cabin and the living areas closer to the windows. 

I’ve been told that you can pick the pillows that you’d like from the pillow menu, but I’ve never actually done that.

To be honest, at home I like the flattest, oldest kind of pillow you can find, and I don’t think ‘do you have any pillows that are far beyond their best’ is something that is on the menu.

That said though I feel like the butler could make anything happen, perhaps a flat pillow is a thing, I have no idea. 

Our bedroom had a walk-in wardrobe for our clothes as well as other drawers around the cabin. Some of them didn’t look like drawers, I don’t think so, make sure you don’t miss them if you do stay here. 

The ensuite bathroom was the most amazing space with a giant sink, a big shower, some really nice toiletries, and a toilet in its own little room. 

Back across the main lounge, there was another room which converted into a second bedroom with two bunk beds and a second bathroom. The sofa in the main lounge is a sofa bed too, so that’s how the cabin sleeps 6. 

This cabin is advertised as a family cabin, and I think it works well for that.

The kids can sleep in their own room or spend time in there during the day if they want some privacy while the adults have their own half of the cabin. You could call it the East Wing, or the West Wing if you were feeling fancy.

There’s a TV in the second bedroom too which brings the TV count to three, three in one cabin! 

I’ll now always be looking for my second bathroom in cruise ship cabins, which might be a blessing or a curse, we’ll see. There was something really different in these bathrooms, though, but more about that later. 

We headed to The Haven restaurant for our dinner next and met with a friend of mine Sheri, you might know her from the YouTube channel Cruise Tips TV.

The food in The Haven was absolutely fantastic. Some of the best food I’ve ever had on a cruise – or on land, for that matter.

The service was always so fast and friendly and the restaurant itself was beautiful. There is an outside seating area too which I imagine is lovely in warm weather.

The menu in the Haven is the same every night so it’s really easy to know if you want something on the menu or if you want to go out to try one of the other speciality or included dining venues around the ship.

There’s certainly no shortage of food onboard. The portions were really quite big and the bread in here was amazing. 

The more at sea package is included for all guests who are staying in The Haven, which means that everybody has drinks and Wifi included as standard, as it should be I think. 

What I liked about that was that I felt free to try different things, if I didn’t like a drink, no problem at all, I could just get a new drink, and it wouldn’t feel as though I was risking my money.

The drinks menu in the lounge was different from any I’ve seen before in that it basically said you tell the waiters what you like, and we’ll make you a cocktail to fit that.

They did have the standard drinks on the menu, of course but I also tried a few which weren’t on the menu which were really good.

This information is saved, so if you find a drink you really like the crew will know how to make it again.

We met lots of crew members who had been working onboard Norwegian ships for a decade or more, which I always think is good – It shows that they like it.

They were really excited to be on a brand new cruise ship, and we were too. 

One thing that did take some getting used to for me was that there is no staircase actually within The Haven, so to get from the lounge on 16 to my cabin on 15, I’d either have to take the Haven lift or to walk out of The Haven, down the stairs and back in.

Not a problem at all, I just found that strange as I usually don’t take the lift at all when I cruise if I can avoid it.

Maybe Norwegian could install a slide instead. They do have some very impressive slides onboard.

As we went to bed, we got to see the most amazing sight from our balcony. We sailed away in fog so thick the cruise ship had to use the fog horn.

I know some people find this creepy, but I think it is the coolest. We couldn’t hear it in the cabin at all. Watch the video below to hear it:

I haven’t even mentioned my favourite thing about the cabin yet, and that is that the toilets are somehow longer and more comfortable than any toilet I’ve ever had on a cruise ship. 

That might sound like an odd thing to say, but I’ve been on 76 cruises where the toilets were exactly the same, so I honestly just thought that was how cruise ship toilets were.

Turns out they aren’t, they don’t have to be all the same, I just had to make it through those luxurious doors to try out the fancy toilets. 

I’m usually not much of a breakfast person, but I decided to go to the Haven restaurant for breakfast just to check it out.

I was happy to see that as well as the usual sit-down breakfast menu, they also had a buffet area where you could just take whatever you wanted.

That suited me so well, and not having to go down to the regular buffet or any other venue was really nice.

I picked up some fruit and a few other things and I’m sure this would be my go to if I was cruising in here regularly. Or maybe room service too, both sound good. 

I’d probably eat my room service breakfast in my Haven robe because it’s the softest most comfortable thing.

I would always choose to wear this instead of putting on a jumper or a coat, whatever clothes I had on this would go on top. It had pockets too, perfect.

I took the robe up to the top deck when the sun came out and would wear it over my swimwear. 

Haven guests have access to the most amazing pool deck on deck 16, which has a bar and an infinity pool at the back.

There’s a sauna and ice room too as well as lots and lots of comfortable seats. 

On the deck above, there are loads more places to sit and some hot tubs too. The pillows were a nice touch, and I liked how there were always some seats in the sun and some in the shade. The area wraps right around the back, and there are umbrellas and covered areas. 

There are binoculars here, and I’m sure they’re designed to look for bears in Alaska or whales, but we were in Southampton, so I had a look at IKEA.

You might have to use your imagination for some pretty ports here, but we did spend a good amount of time at sea with the incredible views.

I found a bird onboard, too when we were very far from land, I think he was just taking a little break. Either that or he wanted to join me and Sheri in the pool. 

As well as the chairs being very thick and comfortable, one thing that made the space feel luxurious to me was the towels, they were ready rolled on each chair and there were plenty more you could pick up if you needed them.

Each seat has a place for a drink too, which is great and this is something I think Norwegian do really well, not just within Haven but outside too. The sunloungers always have tables, it’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference.

The waiters would come around offering us drinks when we were here, and I did take a dip in the pool, which was lovely.

This was at the end of a trip which started in Lisbon, where we had some very rough seas. Seeing the blue sky here felt like a dream come true. 

To find out what happened on that first cruise and what we got up to on the rest of the ship, check out this video next. You’ll get to see me do stuff and eat food and brave a 10-storey drop slide, among other things.

******************link to video**********