BDay Breakaway Bermuda cruise 8/16-8/23

We were in the Haven last week, as well. My daughter is in one of your photos!

We were in the Haven last week, as well. My daughter is in one of your photos!

Ohh wow that's awesome! I wonder if I interacted with you as I didn't really interact much with anyone in the Haven as I was rarely in the Haven. I did talk to a couple guys in the Haven restaurant and they were pretty awesome. I think I was quite easy to remember as I was like the only young Asian guy that wasn't under 18 or over 40 lol.

Enjoying reading your reviews! Please keep them & the pics coming. I am going on the BA in November for 1st time so love to hear others stories. Thanks for taking the time to post review & pictures.

O'Sheehans was a guilty pleasure of mine on the ship when it was past midnight as it's only 24 hour place onboard if you don't count room service. Unfortunately, I will say the service at O'Sheehans can be a hit-or-miss. There have been a couple times in which I would stand at the podium (the host wasn't there) and the waiters will just walk past without even acknowledging my presence. There have also been times when I sat down and never got service but yet waiters/waitresses continue to walk past me. The midnight menu was also pretty limited and I also noticed there was no dessert. I recall there was always pound cake and something else on the menu. My order was always chicken wings with fries and diet pepsi. The only bad service I received this time around was I asked for diet pepsi and the waiter gave me 2 plastic cups (like the cups you see in the Garden Cafe) filled with pepsi. Every other time I came here, I got diet pepsi in a recyclable plastic cup so I thought this was unusual. I asked for a straw as well and he said he will get it right away but then never came back. Because O'Sheehans is the only 24 hour spot, sometimes you will have really drunk people eating here. It's typically not an issue until they start being unbearably loud

My typical order of wings with fries.

I am actually at the airport now traveling for work so typing on mobile now. For some weird reason, if I try to edit a previous post, it won't let me start off where I left off...grrr. Before this cruise, work was actually really stressful. Sure I still answered some work emails but it was nice to get away from the stress. My philosophy for when I am stressed has always been "One thing at a time!"

Sometimes I wish NCL has another 24 hour spot or O'Sheehans has more variety but it's just a thought and not so much "OMG NCL needs to do this NOW!" I have noticed they are particularly strict about not letting anyone under 18 eat at O'Sheehans. Word for the wise for folks under 18, if the host asks how old you are and you hesitate and say 18, it's pretty obvious you are lying lol. Like I know you guys wanna find a spot to bond with your new friends met from Bliss Lounge or Entourage Club but lying about being 18 to get into O'Sheehans after midnight can ultimately get the hostess into trouble if their parents decided to complain to hotel manager or restaurant manager about host letting in under 18 folks.

As a seasoned NCL cruiser, I have accepted the fact that the food is aite and can be a hit or miss for others. There are definitely recycled recipes (like curry chicken, curry pork, curry fish etc) but it is a buffet so i am not expecting 5 star cuisine. This is not an attack on you but I am not a food snob nor "foodie" so anything that's not super salty or has a huge lack of flavor is fine by me. I still like to eat and pig out as I see food as a source of protein after working out. I love to pig out on the buffet pizza even though it's nothing out of this world.

 

As for service, it can be bad and I will address bad service in my review.

Maybe I'm spoiled by the food as I live in NY. Idk, the food was actually better in the buffet than the sit downs, which was surprising. So you had issues with the service too?

Hi,

I sailed the Breakaway in July in the Haven and had a lot of the same experiences. Also loved Ferdie, Anoop was the invisible man and loved the Haven color changing sign.

I'm not sure if Frederick was still in the Haven Restaurant, but he was great. I thought the food was hit or miss in the Haven Restaurant. Really liked the Crispy Shrimp cake appetizer one night, and later in the week it was meh. Loved the restaurant atmosphere though, and it was nice to be casual.

Thanks for the great pics!

Thanks for the review of pics. I keep hearing so many mixed reviews about the Breakaway...

We're sailing it in Oct. Food can really make or break a cruise, my wife and I don't care for shows so much we just like to chill, hang out some where and eat some decent food.

I have MDR booked 3 nights and Taste/Savor for the other 2. We plan on eating free stuff only. I hear the buffet is unbearably crowded for b'fast and lunch due to location and boat size. Not really looking forward to that but we'll see how it goes!

Thanks again.

Loving your review!! It's so fun :) and thanks for all the pictures!

More please :D

Once again, thanks for reading my review cool cats.

Hi,

 

I sailed the Breakaway in July in the Haven and had a lot of the same experiences. Also loved Ferdie, Anoop was the invisible man and loved the Haven color changing sign.

 

I'm not sure if Frederick was still in the Haven Restaurant, but he was great. I thought the food was hit or miss in the Haven Restaurant. Really liked the Crispy Shrimp cake appetizer one night, and later in the week it was meh. Loved the restaurant atmosphere though, and it was nice to be casual.

 

Thanks for the great pics!

Funny thing about the color changing Haven sign was my mom thought there were only 2 color changes as she didn't see the 3rd one before we entered the Haven lol.

Besides asking Concierge to print out my specialty dining plans for the week and then eventually cancel Moderno's on Day 2 and then trying to book a Friday shore excursion past 8pm (when they get off work), I didn't use them for anything else. I still remember Anoop rubbed me the wrong way when I was trying to ask about my specialty dining plans for the week. He was helping someone else so I stood to the left of that guy as it can be hard to form a line as the wall is like less than 5 ft away from Concierge desk and I didn't wanna get up in that dude's space. I waited for like 2 mins and then this group of people lined up on the other side (they weren't trying to cut or anything though). When Anoop was done with the first guy, I then approach his desk (the other group knew I was already in line) and his immediate response was essentially accusing me of cutting in front of the other group. It's like yooo, I have waited for a couple mins now and you seriously accusing me of cutting??

Ferdie was just so awesome and he would give me a fist bump every time I saw him.

We actually never once ate dinner at the Haven restaurant. We either had specialty dining or buffet,

Thanks for the review of pics. I keep hearing so many mixed reviews about the Breakaway...

 

We're sailing it in Oct. Food can really make or break a cruise, my wife and I don't care for shows so much we just like to chill, hang out some where and eat some decent food.

 

I have MDR booked 3 nights and Taste/Savor for the other 2. We plan on eating free stuff only. I hear the buffet is unbearably crowded for b'fast and lunch due to location and boat size. Not really looking forward to that but we'll see how it goes!

 

Thanks again.

I would say for food (as I mentioned in a previous comment), do not expect 5 star food at the buffet or even MDR as then you will be pretty disappointed. And yea, the buffet will be packed for breakfast and lunch.

OP, would you remember the name of the shuttle you used from the airport to the dock and was it $15 per person?

Grrr I forgot the name of the shuttle. I remember you cross the street after exiting the Newark Airport and then turn right. You will then see a tourist bus (they use a tourist bus as the shuttle with power plugs too and a wifi that didn't work lol) and a guy with a clipboard getting customers. It was $15/person (or was it 16..I forgot) and you get dropped off at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th Ave and between 41st and 42nd St. You then walk like 1.2 miles west to get to the cruise terminal.

I suspect this is the bus (shuttle):

http://www.coachusa.com/olympia/ss.newarkairport.asp

It costs $16 one way and takes you to Port Authority Bus Terminal, which is about a mile from the cruise terminal.

Day 3 was another sea day which meant more chilling around the ship. I remember someone on here once said when it comes to big ships like the Breakaway, the ship is the destination while the ports are just there. It makes sense as the itineraries for Breakaway, Getaway and eventually the Escape aren't exactly port intensive like the European ports It's interesting, we along with NCL probably thought "por qué no los dos? with the Epic and the Mediterranean ports but that obviously didn't go well as Epic is coming back to the US.

Because it was another sea day, I went to the gym again and unsurprisingly, it was packed. Because of this, it was normal to work in with others (meaning you do your set while the rest and vice versa) though at times, I sensed that some people just wanted the bench or cable machine to themselves. It was like I got the vibe that they were begrudgingly letting me work in with them. Besides it being bad gym etiquette to not let someone work in, it was like..yo, there are a lot of people here and I rather not wait 5-10 mins for you to finish your set when I know I can complete my set during your rest period.

One of my favorite thing about the Breakaway is the ropes course. Despite having a fear of heights, I still did the ropes course twice. I also finally did the obstacles with just one rope between 2 platforms and then you have other ropes hanging around to help you. Guys and gals, do remember that you can't have anything in your pockets except your room key. Walking the plank is also a pretty nice experience though it can be pretty scary to look down like 18 stories.

Ropes course! I like how the ropes course on the Breakaway is more colorful than the all-brown colored ropes course on the Getaway. Have a fear of heights? Please do try the ropes course :cool:

For dinner that night, we had Cagney’s at like 5:30pm so our food arrived pretty fast. I got shrimp cocktail for appetizer, 8 oz filet mignon for my entrée, roasted mushrooms and creamed corn for my sides and finally oreo cheesecake for dessert. I got my filet mignon medium rare and it tasted delicious. I also find it interesting how because I have already ordered sides, the only thing on my plate is the filet mignon..no decoration or anything. Cagney’s is known for their oreo cheesecake dessert but this time, I thought it only tasted okay.

My 8oz filet mignon. As mentioned, because we ordered sides on the side (of course!), the plate simply comes with the steak and little tomato.

Oreo cheesecake!

Being the food enthusiast that I am, I also went to Shanghai Noodle like 2 hours later to get the spicy seafood udon. Ever since the Chinese restaurants have become complimentary, I have taken a liking to the spicy seafood udon. Unlike the Chinese restaurant on Jewel-class and Dawn-class ships, the one on Breakaway-class has seating arrangements similar to a cafeteria. Funny story, I went by myself and I actually got seated with another Asian family. I ordered my spicy seafood udon and waited. Eventually, the server came out with 2 spicy udons and gave one to me as she assumed I was together with the other Asian family. The family then said "no wait, we ordered 2 spicy seafood udons. She then took the spicy seafood udon from me (I haven't started digging into it) and gave it to the family (rightfully so!).

I did finally get my own spicy seafood udon!

After slurping down my udon, I then attended the 70's Disco Groove Party just cuz I love dancing and love the great vibes. One thing I really like about the big ships like Epic and Breakaway-class is that they have the outdoor Spice H2O for parties like 70's Disco Groove, White Hot Party/GLOW and etc. I do like the Spinnaker Lounge on the Jewel-class ships but I just like the open environment so much more (minus the rain lol). At the 70's Disco Groove Party, I even got invited to dance with the staffers aka dress up as one of the Village People. Basically, they will teach you and like 3 other people a quick dance choreography and then you performed in front of the crowd. The cruise staffers will treat you to a free drink for doing this and I simply got a diet pepsi as I don't really drink. This was the first time I have ever gotten chosen to be part of an act!

70's Party

I'm enjoying your review! I'm debating on booking the Breakaway next October since my other cruise I was planning for that time just got cancelled. This is helping me to decide :D

I'm enjoying your review! I'm debating on booking the Breakaway next October since my other cruise I was planning for that time just got cancelled. This is helping me to decide :D

I hope this review pushes you towards booking the Breakaway as it is a very nice ship!

We finally got to Bermuda on day 4 and of course, like everyone was rushing to get off the ship. I wonder if they know we will be here for 3 days? J/k! I remember I woke up early, had some breakfast, played some trivia before getting off the ship with parents. Despite I really love getting breakfast in Haven restaurant (or Cagney's/Moderno's on older ships), I only got breakfast 3 times the whole trip as I slept through all of them lol.

Egg white omelette with breakfast potatoes and Frosted Flakes for breakfast. They were g-r-r-reat!

We then walked around the port and wanted to go to Hamilton. However, it was just way too hot so after like an hour or so, we headed back to the ship and called it a day lol.

For dinner, we had La Cucina for the first time EVER (and this was our 12 cruise with NCL!). I wanted to try La Cucina last 2 times I took NCL but it just never happened. I ordered the calamari for appetizer and it was pretty yummy. I also got the minestrone soup with shrimp and the shrimp was grilled and tasted really good. My main course was the lobster fettucine and it was amazing. For dessert, I had the tirasmisu and that was good too. I also ordered a pizza for appetizer but it never came :(. I was actually kinda glad it never came as I was pretty full after dinner so I can't imagine how full I would be if I also had the pizza. I also wanted to dine outside on the waterfront but it was actually raining at the time as Bermuda has unpredictable weather.

The calamari

The minestrone soup. Notice how big the shrimp is!

Lobster fettucine.

I also participated in the Dancing with the Breakaway Stars and I was glad I didn't get eliminated first!! I think my Loser's Lounge bit was memorable as apparently it was shown in the "during this cruise" clip on day 7 during the International Talent Show! I previously signed up twice for the show on different ships but never got picked so it was fun to be able to participate in this event. I also got a free t-shirt out of it :)

The Pasta looks great. Did you love the bread with the oil? So good!

The Pasta looks great. Did you love the bread with the oil? So good!

I did..despite I don't really eat bread nowadays.

For day 5 (aka 2nd day in Bermuda), we unfortunately slept in till like 1pm. Remember when I said I only ate breakfast 4/7 days onboard? This is why lol. After waking up, we got some food from the buffet and then left the ship. We then bought 3 round trip tokens for Hamilton and it was $4.50 one way per person so 9 bucks per person to Hamilton and back. The boat to Hamilton comes every half hour so we just stood in the shade in the meantime. The boat was decent sized and we sat up top so we could take pictures. It took like 20 minutes to get to Hamilton.

The beautiful Norwegian Breakaway. Docked next to us was Celebrity but we all know NCL is better ;)

We actually didn't do much in Hamilton other than walk around and check out the city. Apparently it's one of the smallest capital cities in the world with its population of 1,000ish people. There was definitely a Caribbean feel to the city even though I know Bermudians take great exception to their island being called "in the Caribbean."

City hall in Hamilton.

Another shot of Hamilton.

After walking around for like an hour or so, we then waited in line for the boat to take us back to the ship. I think the boat that picks us up from Hamilton back to the ship is like once every hour so by the time the boat was here, there were a lot of people in line. We actually started lining up like 15 minutes before and there were only like 10 people chilling there. Perhaps this was just me but I noticed some locals would just straight up cut right in front of everyone and the person manning the entrance would just smile at the person as he/she walked by. However, I doubt any of us are allowed to do that!

For dinner, we had teppanyaki again and it was at 9:30pm this time! As mentioned in an earlier post, teppanyaki is like one of the most popular specialty dining (why else could NCL raise it to $29.95/person and we haven't really said much of anything? :p) For my parents (especially my mom), they cannot take too much soy sauce and typically, the teppanyaki would add a lot of soy sauce to the garlic fried rice and to our main entrees. I would have to tell the chef to add less soy sauce for my parents and he happily obliged! He would cook my parents' fried rice separately while adding less soy sauce. I remember the party of 4 we shared the table with, one of them had allergies (probably to the cooking oil) so whatever she ordered (including the veggies), it was cooked in the kitchen and delivered to her. What an awesome person to still tag along with her friend (family?) to teppanyaki instead of sitting it out!

Because teppanyaki started at 9:30pm, it didn't end until 11pm so I didn't get to go to GLOW Party early to receive a glowstick. I am pretty comfortable being the first 50 (or even the 1st person!) on the dance floor so I wouldn't mind getting a glowstick. The turnout for the GLOW Party was huge and I really like how both Silas and Adam try to hype things up and keep the party going. Sometimes I think we take the CD and ACD for granted at events as they are really good hosts. Like I know they do this week after week but because they get a different set of audience every week, the ability to entertain the crowd and get people in events is just awesome.

Nice review.

Keith

I was on same cruise, but as a shlep in a standard balcony room. 1st and last with ncl. Ship is beautiful, but food???? Mediocre AT BEST.Coffee was undrinkable... And service in restaurants terrible. Guess I am spoiled with celebrity. Carnivals food was even better.

See that is why the subject of food is so objective . I sailed on the Celebrity Summit a few weeks ago. The food quality and service especially in the MDR had gone down compared to last year. Had lunch at Bistro on 5 one day, and it took 2 hours. Plus don't get me started on the coffee. It was horrible. Only time I was able to get a decent cup of coffee was at Cafe Al Bacio.

See that is why the subject of food is so objective . I sailed on the Celebrity Summit a few weeks ago. The food quality and service especially in the MDR had gone down compared to last year. Had lunch at Bistro on 5 one day, and it took 2 hours. Plus don't get me started on the coffee. It was horrible. Only time I was able to get a decent cup of coffee was at Cafe Al Bacio.

I agree. Neither of you are wrong or anything but it's just that people have different tastes. If anything, I find it weird when people feel the need to shove their opinions about food (from whichever cruiseline) down everyone's throats.

I agree. Neither of you are wrong or anything but it's just that people have different tastes. If anything, I find it weird when people feel the need to shove their opinions about food (from whichever cruiseline) down everyone's throats.

I agree with you. I enjoy food but am not a food snob, so to speak, so I can deal with just about anything edible. Also, I don't cruise for the food, I cruise for the fun, sun & relaxation. I think you're right about people shoving opinions down peoples throat.

Day 6 was our final day in beautiful Bermuda. We booked a ship excursion to go out on a glass-bottom ship but this excursion wasn't till 1pm. I took the liberty of waking up at 9am so I could attend trivia (I was like only person participating lol) and then ate breakfast. Kinda sad that I need to even bring up the fact that I actually woke up early when I imagine like everyone else onboard probably wakes up 8am to start off their day. For breakfast, I had the steak and eggs and you can't go wrong with steak and eggs. I love steak and I love fried eggs so voila, steak and eggs!

Steak and eggs with breakfast potatoes. I like my steak medium rare-to-medium and eggs over easy. I also got diet pepsi to go along with my breakfast..yes I am weird :p

I originally wanted to go out and shoot some hoops at the basketball court but then it was raining outside. I then went to the gym as I wanted to get my workout out of the way and then rest tomorrow. It was nice having the gym to myself as it can really get packed in there.

Picture of the pretty empty gym. It would be nice if they have more machines as there are a lot of people onboard.

We then headed down to the gangway a little before 12:50pm so we aren't late for our tour. The gathering point was at the end of the pier and they got everyone onboard the glass-bottomed boat pretty fast! There were two captains (they were cousins) and they were Kevin and Jason(?). They were pretty entertaining and had a great sense of humor while telling us about Bermuda. It's cool that they are all British descendants but their accent sounds closer to American than British. They told us about how boats sinking near Bermuda has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle (I still like that urban legend though!!!) but rather it's due to how there are a lot of coral reefs. When ships see land (aka Bermuda), they get so excited that they wanna sail in asap but then they hit coral reefs and then the ship sinks. Both of them were also big environmental conservationist and disliked it when people destroyed coral reefs.

Picture of the corals from the glass bottom!

The ship wreck. Perhaps I have watched too many movies or shows but if I just magically teleported to this location, I would think this is fake or some sort of a prop. This excursion took like an hour and a half and because it is a NCL excursion, the ship will wait for us! After getting back on board, I participated in the sailaway party and it was pretty fun. Unfortunately I also sweated a lot but fun > sweat.

I'm enjoying this review. I was on the Breakaway in 2013 and on the Gem last Christmas. Mom and I fell in love with O'sheehans on the Gem, we even had breakfast there. It was great for us, same stuff every day? Fine.

I'd love to do the Haven some day. I'm real cheap and would feel strange if I spent that much money on a vacation. I keep worrying about "what if something happens?" No cursing for me this year, as I have had extensive foot surgery and have no clue when I'll be out the cast.

But I love your reviews, pictures and everything. Maybe I'll be on the Haven in a few years! :)