Lisbon/Galveston Transatlantic Review – NCL Viva in The Haven (page 3 of 5)

After visiting Sintra, we’re heading back to eat on the ship. Lunch will still be just as good. The weather’s taken a turn, so we’ll be eating inside.

After a good restorative nap, A little stroll on deck 8 (outside The Haven), even if the weather is a bit chilly and not super nice. It's really great because you can walk all the way around the ship outside on this deck. I find it really lovely and pleasant.

Oh, that deck eight that goes around the ship—I really loved it! In the evenings, peaceful walks with beautiful sunsets—what great memories!

And the evening meal... Still just as good.

Okay, so the review about The Haven is almost done... I’ll post a few more photos of the "food"—yeah, on a transatlantic cruise, all you do is eat (or almost). We had 5 specialty restaurants—I’ll list them too—but the quality was below The Haven’s restaurant, especially in terms of service and the lack of calm. I’ll also add the port stops, but none were mind-blowing. That said, I wanted beach time, and I got beach time ;) The shows? Meh, not great.

Hi Nathalie, I’m still following you, now from Victoria, Seychelles. Thanks for taking the time to write this trip report—it’s so much more vivid and enjoyable to read than those quick FB posts.

Well, on a transatlantic crossing, you relax, chill out, take a dip, read, and eat... We’ve got 6 days at sea.

Here are a few more food photos.

So we have a specialty restaurant package (5). One evening on this transatlantic, we went to eat at the French bistro restaurant. Here’s a funny little anecdote. Earlier in the afternoon, we got a call in our cabin from Le Bistrot restaurant to confirm our reservation for the evening. This was the first time that had happened... but what really stood out was how much the person insisted on telling us what to wear for dinner. They kept stressing that men needed to wear sleeves and a collar, along with dress pants and proper shoes. They even specified that it was a restaurant with a somewhat upscale dress code.

It made me smile because I think that, since The Haven is so laid-back in terms of dress code, they must be cautious and don’t want to offend their more privileged guests, so they’d rather warn them that there’s a required dress code. That’s how I interpreted it, anyway, since this is my several time sailing with NCL, and never before has a specialty restaurant called to tell me to dress up!

Anyway, we *loved* the bistro on our February cruise on the Spirit—we even used our two-visit package for this restaurant because we thought it was that good.

This time, though, we were disappointed... The menu is the same... I think that because we’re in The Haven, where the food is exceptional and you can pretty much get the same dishes on demand—even the lobster, which is an extra charge at the bistro—we just didn’t enjoy the bistro as much. The Haven restaurant is quiet, fast, and the servers are starting to recognize us, so we simply preferred it over the bistro.

The bistro was packed, the servers were overwhelmed, and it was really noisy. I think that played a big part. I’m still sharing the photos, though!



















So this restaurant is part of the "More at Sea" package. If you want to book it as an extra, it’s $60 per person.

Hi Nathalie,

The dishes looked amazing and the sunset was gorgeous. Thanks so much, Guylène

Hi Nath!

As mentioned before, the Bistrot sur le Sky restaurant isn’t worth the $60, and I found the dishes pretty average for a French restaurant. We ate there three times, and it was really nothing special. Good thing it was included in the package.

It’s still weird that someone called you to ask you to dress up for the restaurant! At the same time, there are people on cruises who act like they’re at a "campsite" and show up in flip-flops and swimsuits. Maybe that’s why they insist on the "dress code" being respected! !

Exactly the case in The Haven 🤑

Hi everyone,

Personally, I always find the French restaurants on ships a bit disappointing when they're not downright awful. I prefer world cuisines that I'm less familiar with and don’t cook myself. Right now, I’m loving the Indian food—they’ve got the spices just right here. 😎

This summer on the Viva, where we were in a balcony cabin, we also got a call reminding us about dinner at the bistro that same evening and that men shouldn’t come in shorts 😎. Last year, we didn’t get that call. You have to admit, the decor in the French restaurant is stunning. I did notice a very slight drop in quality, but their mushroom velouté is delicious, and I always get the lobster with the extra charge because when it’s cooked in cream and mushrooms, it’s the only way to forget it’s frozen—nothing like Breton lobster!

The other restaurants are more ordinary. We swapped the Mediterranean restaurant for the Italian one at the last minute, even though it was much cheaper, and we really liked it.

Absolutely, we also switched to Italian and ate outside. Really nice.

Another evening... Another specialty restaurant called Food Republic. A $50 package deal. It's a bit of a world cuisine, leaning more towards Asian. You order using iPads, and then it's served at your table. It's prepared fresh at the counters you can see across from the tables. The restaurant itself isn't fancy at all. Just wooden tables and chairs. The food is good and very filling. That said, nothing gourmet either.

Following

Another evening... We ordered Indian food to eat on our terrace. Unfortunately, the photos aren’t great because it’s nighttime and my phone isn’t great in low light... It’s a restaurant where I also went once at lunchtime—you order on iPads, and it’s kind of a global cuisine system. The Indian food is really good. You place the order with the butler, and they bring it to the room. However, you have to go get the wine yourself at the bar. The butler can’t bring alcohol to the room. I think you can ask room service for it, but there’s a fee, so it’s not really worth it since the bar is just an elevator ride away and it’s The Haven’s bar.

Regarding layovers I don’t have much to say since they were mostly beach stops. Classic Saint-Martin was our third or fourth time, so I just stayed at the beach near the ship, which we walked to from the boat on the way there. My partner then went for a run while I sunbathed and swam. I took a water taxi back to the ship. $5.

Charlotte Amalie: we did U.S. immigration on board—it was well organized, and we had priority with The Haven, so no waiting. We took a taxi to Maegan Bay. $15 per person, and I think the entrance fee was $8 or $10. Then it was $20 for a sun lounger—it’s a gorgeous beach. I’ll post some photos of it. For the return trip, it’s either a kind of minibus or a taxi depending on availability, and it’s the same price for the ride back.

Hi Nath,

Sure enough, the beach near the port in St. Martin is really beautiful and super convenient. Plus, it has everything you need for a great day (no need to go to Maho Beach, where there’s barely any beach left after the last hurricane).

For St. Thomas, if the ship isn’t docked downtown, a taxi is a must for sightseeing. But for Magens Bay, I see the prices haven’t changed—and honestly, I don’t think it’s worth it. There was a time when this beach was really famous, even a must-see in St. Thomas, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. And don’t even get me started on the drinks—they’re outrageously expensive! Sure, we’re in St. Thomas, but it’s way too pricey for what you get!

My gut tells me your conclusion is going to be a positive one!

Looking forward to the rest! !

Here we are in La Romana, Dominican Republic. I really had high hopes for this stop, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a success. First off, there were very few NCL excursions—and none to Saona Island, not even to a beach or Punta Cana. Punta Cana is still about 1h15–1h30 away, and I didn’t dare go on my own. Given the chaos at the port of La Romana, I’m glad I didn’t. This port is honestly a joke to me. Even though the stop was long, it didn’t feel long enough to try booking an excursion to Saona on my own—plus, the weather wasn’t great, and it even rained part of the morning. All I wanted was to go to Bayahibe Beach. First, it’s a mess with the taxis—or at least, there are quite a few scams. You start by negotiating the taxi price, and they tell you it’s for at least 4 people. They give you a price, but then it turns out that price is only if you’re 6 people *and* everyone’s going to the same place... Otherwise, it’s not the same price—obviously, it’s more expensive. Then they say they’ll only take you if you book the return trip too, and again, everyone has to have the same return time. Since you don’t know half the people in your taxi, you can imagine how complicated that gets. We had to get out of the taxi because out of the 6 we’d finally managed to gather, two people didn’t want to go to the same place. So those two got out, and we had to wait to find two others who *did* want to go to the same place—the beach—and who also wanted to return at the same time. Long story short, all this chaos took nearly 45 minutes... I almost turned back. Eventually, we got there, but not at the price we were initially quoted. At some point, you just have to go. From what I remember, it was $20 per trip, and since we were 6, that’s still a pretty hefty sum for such a poor country! During the ride, 4 people started hesitating about going to Saona instead... The driver, probably seeing an opportunity, stopped at the boat departure point and tried to drop us off so we could walk to the beach. We refused to get out of the taxi and waited about 15 minutes while he negotiated a boat for the 4 of them. The negotiation probably didn’t work out because they came back to the taxi, trying to convince us to go with them in some kind of small boat... We refused, and apparently, the price didn’t suit them either, so they got back in the taxi. Finally, we made it to our beach... It’s the public beach at Bayahibe... meh. Nothing like the huge white-sand beach we were expecting... There was a hotel nearby, and we hoped we could rent a spot for the day or even half a day to be on a nicer beach, but there was a guard, and it wasn’t possible—it was only for hotel guests. So we had no choice but to rent two sunbeds on the public beach, which looked like they’d seen better days. About $10 each, if I remember right. For 4 hours, it’ll do, especially since it rained several times. At one point, they brought us a menu to order food—we hadn’t planned on eating, so it was actually good timing, but the prices were shocking in dollars and in English, the kind of tourist trap you’d expect.

Well, that’s that...