BDay Breakaway Bermuda cruise 8/16-8/23

So for my bday this year (27th bday although people on the ship thought I looked 18. Asian genes ftw!), I took a cruise to Bermuda with my parents. This was my 2nd time on the Breakaway as I last took it during its inaugural year to the Bahamas.

Unlike the majority onboard, I am actually from San Francisco Bay Area (yes California) instead of NYC/Jersey/New England so we actually took a red-eye flight from SFO to Newark. I have taken more than a couple red-eye flights in the past so I have essentially accepted the fact that it will be very tough to get much of any sleep. After we touched down in Newark, we then took a shuttle ($15/person) into Manhattan and we were like 1.1 mile from the cruise terminal. Because we arrived in Manhattan at around 9am, we went to McDonalds to get breakfast and kill time. We then walked to the cruise terminal around 10am.

Because it was hot in NYC that day, it felt so nice when we went indoors inside the cruise terminal!

We were in the Haven Courtyard Penthouse so we were able to get on the Haven priority line even though I felt it was clearly designated. Basically, you had to keep walking and eventually you will see the VIP room.

Inside the Haven lounge listening to Concierge while waiting for our rooms to be ready.

Our Concierge was Anoop and there was also an assistant concierge but I don't think I ever once got his name. Anoop didn't really make much of an impression on us and never even asked for our names while the waitresses and hostesses at the Haven restaurant did (and remembered our names throughout the week!). Our cabin steward Judy and butler Hipo were fantastic and would always greet us whenever we crossed paths. They also remembered our names throughout the week!

Our beautiful stateroom (I slept on the tiny couch)

Haven Courtyard.

This was our first time in the Haven on a big ship as we have only been in the Jewel-class Haven (on the Jade). When I first walked into the courtyard, I was just like..WOWWW! Now I have seen pictures of the Breakaway Haven online but omg it was something else to see it LIVE! There were lounge chairs in the water and a sauna too! The private deck on deck 17 was also nice but too bad I never really went up there to soak the sun.

Haven restaurant.

After checking out the Haven, we then went to lunch inside the Haven restaurant and it was really nice to have a private restaurant. Like I know Cagneys/Moderno's on older ships also serves as a VIP private restaurant but having the restaurant actually INSIDE the Haven was just so cool!

After safety drill, I then hit the gym as I am like a gym nut that really needs to get his exercise on. I love the Breakaway/Getaway but one thing I am really not a fan of is their gym. For a ship that carries like 4500 passengers, the gym is relatively small (I wanna say it's barely bigger than Jewel class gyms). I also don't like the separation between cardio machines and free weights/weight machines as I like a big open space. My favorite gym is still Epic's gym! Basically my exercise philosophy onboard is go hard at the gym and then pig out, rest and repeat. I also do cardio by walking around the shop and taking the stairs when I can.

My birthday was on the 16th and we had teppanyaki for dinner. Interestingly, 2 others were also celebrating their birthdays including a lil 2 year old girl. The waiter asked if I wanted a cake and singing but I politely declined. Every time we take NCL, we always go for teppanyaki and we essentially know what kinda tricks the chefs will perform and what he will sing. However, this doesn't stop us from going OOOOO and clapping when he pulls off an awesome stunt. Because I love lobster, I always get the seafood combo (lobsters, scallops and calamari) and it's always yummy.

It's also always scary/funny when the teppanyaki chef first shows up and just bangs on the grill. This always scares all of us haha. The only thing I don't like about teppanyaki is that if the party that's assigned to sit at your table is running late, then that means no orders would be taken until everyone has arrived. This can irk you if you have an event to attend to after (if you want teppanyaki, you gotta book as early as you can!.

Really looking forward to your review!!:)

Really looking forward to your review!!:)

Looking forward to writing more! (after I fly across the country that is..tho I can always write more offline and then post once I get internet.)

Looking forward to writing more! (after I fly across the country that is..tho I can always write more offline and then post once I get internet.)

Thank you for taking the time to write and post pictures!

How do you get your pictures to look as big as they are?

Haven Courtyard.

Just curious if the roof was retracted on sea days during your cruise?

Do you have any photos of what it looks like fully retracted?

Somehow I think I need to rob a bank so I can cruise in the Haven once in my lifetime. That looks awesome!! Thanks for posting those pictures!

Great review so far - looking forward to reading more.

Just curious if the roof was retracted on sea days during your cruise?

Do you have any photos of what it looks like fully retracted?

Yes, the roof was retracted during sea day and when it was docked...granted that it wasn't raining as Bermuda had really weird weather. It would rain in the morning and at night but then not so much during the day.

You are in luck..picture of roof fully retracted on the 1st sea day!

Somehow I think I need to rob a bank so I can cruise in the Haven once in my lifetime. That looks awesome!! Thanks for posting those pictures!

The Haven is definitely worth robbing a bank for. Life is about taking risks and you only live once right?? J/K!

I really didn't do much on day 1 other than teppanyaki, walk around, go to Garden Cafe and etc. We also got the unlimited wifi package as we love how we don't need to keep track of time being used. Actually, perhaps this is a recent experiment but they were actually doing the internet plans by megabytes used. I believe in place of the 250 min package was the 1000 mB package for $125. I think this can be a pretty good deal if you aren't watching videos or downloading a lot of stuff. I also did karaoke multiple times throughout as I do enjoy karaoke. Yes, it can take a lot of balls going on stage in front of 20-30 something people. On the little sign up sheet, it even says "Karaoke: 95% confidence, 5% talent" (I may be wrong on the percentages). Everyone is super supportive and it's just an overall fun positive environment.

I got a birthday cupcake from the Hotel Director! Pretty cool!

Typical crowd at karaoke

Day 2 was a sea day and we woke up early for the complimentary mini Behind the Scenes tour for Platinum members. My mom only brought sandals and I forgot to tell her that the tour requires closed toe shoes so because of that, the assistant cruise consultant apologetically told her that she couldn't participate in the tour. This is my 3rd time doing the Platinum Behind the Scenes tour and wanna know something amusing? The last time I did the complimentary Behind the Scenes tour, I was the only one who signed up so it was just one cruise staffer showing me around. It was nice to do a Behind the Scenes tour on a big ship and it's just really amazing how everything works. It's like a corporation within a floating hotel. Because the BTS tour was scheduled same time as the Meet & Greet, I couldn't attend the M&E. This would have been my first M&E ever and I was definitely looking forward to attending too! Yes, one can say I chose the BTS tour over the M&G!

Inside the galley. It's just amazing how everything is prepped.

Look at all that meat!!!

Love your review so far. Great pictures!

Love your review so far. Great pictures!

Thanks for the love. More and more to come!

The second night was the seafood buffet at the Garden Cafe. I originally booked Moderno's but I cancelled it as I rather go crazy on seafood. I love shrimp (and lobster too) so seafood night at the buffet was something I looked forward to!

Salmon, shrimp skewer and others. I was surprised that they had steak just about every night as on previous cruises, they had steak one or two nights or even during the day and the quality was leaning towards bad. I remember in the past, if I wanted a steak, I would go to MDR to satisfy my steak cravings. I actually like the buffet steak too as they would cook it medium rare-to-medium (which is how I like my steak).

Shrimp skewers, lobster pasta, steak and diet pepsi.

I ate a lot on seafood night and had god knows how many shrimps.

Fries aren't limited to seafood night as they are there every day in Garden Cafe lol. The Garden Cafe fries and pizza are my guilty pleasure and I would have some fries and a slice (JUST ONE slice!) for lunch.

Yes, the roof was retracted during sea day and when it was docked...granted that it wasn't raining as Bermuda had really weird weather. It would rain in the morning and at night but then not so much during the day.

 

You are in luck..picture of roof fully retracted on the 1st sea day!

Thank you for the photo!

Loving this! We are on the BA on Sept 27. Keep it coming! :D

Love it so far and looking forward to more. Sailing next week in the Haven and you are getting me all hot and bothered!!! Thanks again and looking forward to more!!

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

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 see from your notes that they are still doing the Platinum behind the scenes tour the same time as the CC M&G. I pointed that out last year to the BA HD that they need to alter that. People on other ships were seeing the same thing but a couple have made specific point to NCL coordinator on ship to make it a different time prior to sailing. I know on our Dec. Spirit trip the CC rollcall coordinator said she was already in contact with the NCL on board cooridinator and they promised to not overlap them.

I see from your notes that they are still doing the Platinum behind the scenes tour the same time as the CC M&G. I pointed that out last year to the BA HD that they need to alter that. People on other ships were seeing the same thing but a couple have made specific point to NCL coordinator on ship to make it a different time prior to sailing. I know on our Dec. Spirit trip the CC rollcall coordinator said she was already in contact with the NCL on board cooridinator and they promised to not overlap them.

Yeaaa...like I read on here that the M&G typically conflicted with the BTS tour and I was really hoping maybe it would be different for my cruise. When I saw that the BTS tour was scheduled like 30-45 mins before the M&G, I was just like NOOO.

Before I continue my review, I wanna thank everyone for reading my review so far. You guys/gals are cool cats!

For me when I go on cruises, I do my own stuff while my parents do their own stuff. My parents will never attend any trivias, do the ropes course, or attend the White Hot Party/GLOW Party. Not gonna lie, one of my goals for our next cruise (a NYE cruise) is to get my parents to attend the White Hot Party. A quick random note, you know how the staffers always wear the white "Norwegians Like It Hot" t-shirts the day of the White Hot Party and NCL sells those t-shirts day after White Hot Party? It's interesting how I don't think I have ever seen anyone wear that "Norwegians Like It Hot" t-shirt to the White Hot Party on a different ship.

Ok..back to my review!

I would attend events like karaoke, trivias, game shows like This or That or Sing It If You Know It, 70's Party, 80's Party, GLOW Party and etc. Attending events is a good way to meet both other cruisers and also the cruise director's staffers. For cruise director, I had heard Julie would be the CD but nope, the cruise director was Silas Cook and he was pretty awesome. I like that he was charismatic but not to the point of overdoing it (aka coming off as fake). Not only was he a great host at events, he would also walk around the ship and greet passengers. Besides seeing the CD at an event, it's always nice to see him around the ship, especially with a huge ship like the Breakaway. The Assistant Cruise Director was Adam Fisher and I actually remember him as ACD on the Getaway last year. He's also a great guy and a great host as well. Him and Silas had different styles when it came to hosting. For example, Silas told jokes with a smile on his face while Adam told jokes with a deadpan expression. For sure we always knew Adam was kidding but there were definitely times when you would think "OH SNAP, he went there!" For example, he said 2 zingers during the Battle of the Sexes event. He first said "Who here think the ladies are gonna...lose???" When all the ladies cheered, he was like "I said LOSE..see, woman never listen!" When asking the contestants where they are from, he also said "Ohh Jersey, Jersey folks are like New Yorkers except angrier!" He basically had the whole room laughing. On the last night of the cruise, he was walking around on deck 7 and mingling with passengers so that was pretty nice. I also remember after the 70's Funk Party, he went down to Bliss and try to get the party going there as well. I really like it when the CD and ACD go beyond the call of duty. I know I don't like it when the CD, ACD, or their staffers just promptly leaves after a dance event kicks off or has ended. It makes me feel as though they don't care to interact with passengers (despite they are like the face of the ship) and just want to scrape by doing the bare minimum. I have seen this on other ships when the staffers (male ones) either interacted with girls only or they want people to get on the dance floor but then they are standing in the back chatting amongst themselves.

It was also nice interacting with the cruise director's staffers as they were the ones who would host game shows or trivia. Shoutouts to Ferdi "Ferdilicious" Imperial, Zesty Zach, and Katie for being awesome staffers. I didn't get to attend events Katie hosted but both Ferdi and Zach had a wicked sense of humor as both would use humor to get people to participate in trivias. Zack is like that really chill uncle and his chill mindset pretty much allowed him to say just about anything and it would come out pretty funny. Both were always able to get the crowd to participate in events and would dance with people at dance events at Spice H2O.

I know I spent this post talking about the CD, ACD, and their staff and this is because I am someone who does attend a lot of events so it's always nice to come across awesome CD's staffers. Sure they don't really make or break my vacation but an awesome bunch of staffers makes a lasting impression.

On night of Day 2, I checked out the Battles of the Sexes game show and it was very entertaining. The most entertaining part was having everyone in a line and they had to sing 1-3 lines (depending on whether more people got eliminated) of any song and anyone who repeats any song someone has sang would be eliminated.

A quick side note, one thing I really like about the Epic and the Breakaway-class shops is that the atrium is in a great location on deck 6/7 so a lot of non-party events are hosted there. It's like a premier location for events as it can attract people who were just walking by and now they wanna stay and watch and maybe even participate!!. For a lot of the events that wasn't the morning trivia, I had a very tough time finding seats as the event would draw a lot of people. On the Jewel-class ships, just about every event is at the Spinnaker Lounge and while I do like the Spinnaker Lounge (great dance floor), it's kinda out of everyone's way as it's on deck 13 forward. Don't get me wrong though, I still like the atrium on the Jewel-class ships but I like the atrium so much more on the Epic and Breakaway-class ships.

On deck 6 of the atrium.

Looking up to deck 7 of the atrium

I also attended Norwegian's Night Out (aka one of the nights you can dress up!!) event just to get my dance on. Sometimes I feel as though I take freestyle cruising a little too seriously as I was wearing jeans and t-shirt while others dressed up to this event. I didn't even bring a collared-shirt this time around. I think besides the 1st day (right when we got onboard) and during Norwegian's Night Out event, I wore shorts the entire cruise. Heck, I wore shorts to Ocean Blue and I am surprised they never told me to go change into jeans. I imagine the Manhattan Room and Le Bistro would have immediately told me to wear jeans but I didn't eat there the entire cruise.

Norwegian's Night Out at Spice H2O deck 17

The little bed I slept on. I wanna say it was even smaller than the sofa bed in the balcony rooms :eek: However, I slept like a baby on it so it really didn't cause any issues at all. Also gotta love the towel animals!

Entry to the Haven. "The Haven" sign actually changes colors. We see purple now but then it also turns to red and green. One thing I really like about the Haven is how it's there but it doesn't draw attention to it. There's no gigantic signs that say "THE HAVEN IS HERE EVERYONE!" and it's not plastered in elevators or anything. Besides the CC Cool Cats, I imagine a lot of people don't know about the Haven. My only gripe with the Haven is that no elevator goes straight to the Haven. There are 4 elevators that stop at deck 16 outside the Haven (the other 4 doesn't stop at deck 16 cuz the child care center is there) and those elevators are a pain in the you-know-what to get. Majority of the time, I just walked down to deck 15 and then take an elevator to go down.

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.

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.

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.