This un-crowded, luxurious courtyard area is one of my favorite things about the Norwegian Joy…
By my standards: one of the best cruise ships in the world.
This is all part of The Haven, an area of the ship that most passengers don’t have access to.
Only a small number of affluent travelers willing to pay more for a pampered, un-crowded, VIP cruise experience, have access to this area.
Haven passengers also have a special observation lounge that they can relax in.
It’s at the very front of the ship, with excellent views of everything ahead of the ship.
It’s fully enclosed, and climate controlled, of course...
So, when you’re in here, you’re comfortable no matter how windy, or hot, or cold it may be outside.
Now the regular passengers have an observation lounge, too…
But it’s full of people.
Good luck finding a place to sit on a sea day.
The Haven’s private observation lounge was never crowded any times I visited.
The Haven Courtyard is also comfortable in all weather conditions…
Thanks to a big glass dome overhead that can be opened in times of perfect weather...
And closed anytime the weather outside is less than perfect.
Just off the Haven Courtyard is The Haven Lounge, with its own bar…
And the bartenders here really aim to please.
Only NCL’s best bartenders, the ones that really understand customer service, get assigned to The Haven.
Haven passengers also have a Concierge staff to make reservations for shows, or at restaurants…
Even at times when other passengers are told it’s completely booked up.
And you have a butler, too… who brings flowers and snacks to your suite…
And makes sure that everything in your suite is absolutely perfect.
And if you cruise in The Haven to somewhere tropical and warm…
Like the Mexican Riviera, or the Caribbean…
One of the best things about The Haven experience is having access to The Haven Sun Deck.
Usually on a cruise ship the sun deck or pool deck is a loud, crowded place to be.
But in The Haven, it’s amazing because it’s so quiet and un-crowded and luxurious.
There are even roaming servers taking drink orders and bringing the drinks right to you.
And those drinks don’t cost you any extra… it’s all included for guests staying in The Haven.
I’ve stayed in The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line six different times now, on six different NCL ships...
And this time I tried something a little different!
On a lot of my previous cruises in The Haven I stayed in what’s known as a Haven Spa Suite…
Because that’s usually the least expensive type of cabin that gives you access to The Haven.
But there’s one thing about The Haven Spa Suites that is less than ideal…
They’re not actually located within The Haven.
You have to leave your cabin and take a bit of a walk, usually to a different floor of the ship, to get to The Haven from a Haven Spa Suite.
So this time around, on Norwegian Joy, I decided to book what’s known as a Haven Courtyard Penthouse Suite.
Don’t let the word Penthouse scare you… it’s really not that much more expensive than staying in a Haven Spa Suite.
But the cool thing about a Haven Courtyard Penthouse suite is its location...
Right in the heart of The Haven, just steps away from the Courtyard.
In fact, from my Courtyard Penthouse suite in The Haven...
I could walk out the front door and be inside The Haven Courtyard in just 15 seconds!
It was as if my suite had a sun room attached to it...
With a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, loungers, and daybeds.
And another advantage my suite had was a really big balcony…
Much bigger than the balconies on The Haven Spa Suites.
Here’s the balcony that was on my Haven Spa Suite on a previous Norwegian Cruise.
It’s about the same size as the balcony you’d get if you just booked a regular non-Haven balcony cabin.
But look at the balcony that we had on our Haven Courtyard Penthouse Suite on Norwegian Joy!
That’s about double the size of what I expected. It’s really roomy.
In fact, instead of just putting regular balcony chairs out here on our balcony…
It’s really too bad that NCL didn’t put loungers or a daybed out here.
There was plenty of room for it.
Don’t go away! I’m going to take a very quick break, but I’m coming right back…
With a closer look at our suite, plus a little later…
An invitation to join me for a Caribbean cruise on a brand new cruise ship.
I really love the interior design of our Haven Courtyard Penthouse Suite…
The warm earth tones they chose for the color scheme…
We’re going to emulate that in our dream house we’re having built for us next year.
Notice the interesting little lighting detail they did above the bed.
Here’s a little better shot of it.
I liked lying on the bed and looking up at that.
I thought this lighting fixture on the wall was also interesting.
There was lots of storage in the room.
His and hers closets.
This was my closet.
And my wife’s closet on the left there, with lots of shelves and even some drawers.
Plus, out by the TV... which had Pay-Per-View movies at no extra charge…
There was some very handy additional shelving. Not to mention all the storage in the desk.
Altogether, plenty of storage in our suite.
Let’s talk about electrical outlets.
On the left side of the bed, there was an American-style 120 volt outlet…
Which is great for people with sleep apnea that need a CPAP machine to sleep at night.
But on the right side of the bed, I think NCL blew it.
They put in a European style 240 volt outlet and no American style outlet.
On the left side of the desk, there are two electrical outlets, but…
One gets used up by this fairly useless wireless phone.
What do they think… that you’re going to need to make calls from the balcony? Or the bathroom?
There is a second power outlet, and notice the black cord that I’ve got plugged in to it.
That leads over here to this excellent little power strip that I got from Sailpak.com
What I like about it is that it’s got 3 electric outlets plus 3 USB charging ports…
All in a small and lightweight device that adds very little weight to my luggage.
Some other products I really like from Sailpak.com are these little magnetic hooks.
They’re very powerful.
Most cruise ship doors are metal, and a lot of cruise ship walls are metal, too.
So, magnetic hooks are quite useful in a cruise ship.
I’ve got a really nice backpack that I got from Sailpak.com
It’s big enough to fit my big 17” laptop, and it's really great to use on shore excursions.
If you prefer a beach bag instead of a backpack… they have those, too.
Be sure to pick up some of these clips. They’re very handy to have.
And possibly my favorite category at Sailpak.com is the funny t-shirts!
If you do buy something from Sailpak.com, use the promo code “Zim” to get a really nice discount on your purchase.
Ah… sorry, got slightly off topic there… we were almost done with a cabin tour, but…
I still have to show you the bathroom of our suite.
It was quite a bit bigger and nicer than a lot of cruise ship bathrooms.
Plus a full bathtub and shower combination.
So, all in all, we were quite pleased with our suite.
It’s a Haven Courtyard Penthouse Suite, category H5…
And if you go to Norwegian’s web site...
You can see when they describe these Courtyard Penthouse suites...
They mention that the balcony sizes range from as low as 54 square feet to as much as 138 square feet.
And it’s the same price whether you get one with a big balcony or a small balcony…
So, do yourself a favor and get the one we were in with the big balcony… it’s cabin number 17718.
If you’d like to come along with me on a cruise sometime...
Check your calendar and see if you’re free the first week of March of 2021.
I’m organizing a group cruise to the Caribbean on a really interesting brand new ship...
The Mardi Gras… an entirely new class of ship for Carnival Cruise Line.
I would love to have you come along with me.
We will have some fun in the Caribbean at some great beaches.
Join me for a burger at Guys Burger Joint...
Or some trash can nachos at The Pig & Anchor.
If you’ve been enjoying my cruise videos, why not come along with me to the Caribbean?
It’s the first week of March, 2021.
Technically, the sailing date is actually February 27th.
You can visit my web site for more information, or contact my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher...
Who handles all the arrangements for our group cruises.
You know, if you’re interested in booking a cruise…
Whether it’s our group cruise to the Caribbean, or a cruise on the Norwegian Joy...
Or a cruise on some other ship… even some other cruise line....
It doesn’t matter whether it’s an expensive suite like we had on this cruise...
Or some inexpensive cabin... It’s a good idea to have a travel agent book it for you.
And feel free to use mine, Caitlin Gallagher.
She has made my life easier since I started having her book all my cruises instead of doing it myself.
Caitlin can help you avoid making any rookie mistakes in booking your cruise…
And can go to bat for you with the cruise line if any problems arise.
If you enjoyed this video, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
I’ve got one more video in the works for you about my cruise on Norwegian Joy.
And it’s the big one where I show you some of the fun things we did…
Some of the cool features of the ship…
And give you my honest review of our cruise… including many, many things that they got right…
And a couple of little things that could be improved.
And stand by for some links to a few other videos I think you’d enjoy!