HoosierShipmate

Thanks Greg - appreciated the report as usual!  Looking forward to the next one!!

Our last ‘glow party’ was really frustrating because the cruise director basically stayed on stage yelling ‘it’s the glow party!’ THE ENTIRE TIME - just nonstop talking over the music - people were trying to dance, enjoy the vibes on deck, and he was just talk talk talk - I get the intro/welcome but after that just let the DJ do their thing!

On 1/9/2024 at 3:11 AM, eltigre said:

Is there music every night in the Manhattan room?  Any idea as to what time it starts?

I believe every dinner has music in the Manhattan room, but can’t remember if t hey have predetermined times, or just perform for a while, take a break, return,etc. - the dailies may have info on that (see prior posts) - and when the music is - but I’ve never eaten in there and not had music at all. Perhaps the first seating times or last might be silent?

47 minutes ago, IamPEBJ said:

 

We did reservations every time and was glad. There were lines every day and waits up to an hour at each one at times.

Were you able to do same day reservations? Or did you book in advance for manhattan room?

7 hours ago, eltigre said:

Thanks so much for the dailies & the info. The end of Feb we are on the Breakaway and we are figuring out what we want to see & do. I would like to try all 3 dining rooms and I see on your dailies Jazz at 7:30 in Manhattan. 

Do they have music during dinner every evening there, or is this a special dinner & needs reservations? I have heard it is set up like a supper club.

Was the Box Office to see the weeks show schedule & sign up for shows on deck 6 at the comedy club?  Thanks 

We didn’t do reservations, just used the ability to show up and get a pager - sometimes there were wait times and I’m guessing near the performance time perhaps more so.  It’s a huge room, with a stage - so you might be really close (super loud) or perhaps far away. We were very close and honestly could see well but would have preferred to be away from the stage and able to enjoy the music but still talk at our table. There is dancing, but the odds of seeing me on the dance floor are slim to none 🙂. — The comedians when we went were in the main theater several times so we didn’t do comedy in the smaller club. I think it’s first come first served when they’re in the club. 

Thank you @At7Seas for this report - am really enjoying it so far, the descriptions and details and photos are all amazing.  I love seeing the places, the drinks and especially the meals during longer cruises and I’m looking forward to all the updates!  Kudos and thank you! 

On 12/12/2023 at 12:34 PM, cat shepard said:

 

Did you happen to notice any rowing machines?

@cat shepardI can’t comment specifically on this ship, but the Breakaway had a Concept 2. I see what I think is the same in one pic. My daughter is a university rower and she was delighted as she needed to spend time on the erg daily LOL

4 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

This was a terrific review! Thank you for writing it and sharing your food and experiences.

@YVRteacher My pleasure. I actually loved doing it and might plan my next cruise sooner just to do it again!  I plan to do a ‘wrap up’ but between being so busy and also feeling like ‘ending’ something seems like I keep putting it off 🙂

9 hours ago, IamPEBJ said:

Told you I would report on the Avocado wrap. It was good but could have used a lot more avocado. The eggs were perfect.

@IamPEBJ I saw that the American Diner was now complimentary - love that change but wish it had been prior - options near the pool for lunch needed the addition.  As to the eggs. . . . I believe somebody might have thoughts on those eggs, waiting to see! 🙂

On 12/31/2023 at 1:08 AM, red11 said:

Is SIX not the full show on board? It’s only a 90 minute show without intermission on land (when it came to St. Louis). 
 

Did you have to tender at any ports? TIA

Now that you’ve said it’s only 90 minutes in total, I wonder if it is the whole show. It ‘felt’ complete but I assumed they had cut something.  Still great, either way.

As to tender ports - none on this cruise for us, but don’t know if weather could affect that. 

23 hours ago, GuelphCruisers said:

Any idea what they are replacing Six with?

Disappointed we will miss that show on our Breakaway sailing later this year.

I haven’t heard yet, but am sad that Six is going away. I had heard so many great things, and it surpassed my expectations. Going to need to see the full show somewhere eventually!

On 12/29/2023 at 8:53 AM, Sam & Soph said:

Hey Doug here’s a little tip for you if you’re going to do the hike up for coffee. My husband packs a cardboard 6-pack holder from beer. It folds flat in the suitcase and when you get your coffee, the cups fit great in the holder and a little extra room for extras. In his case a danish or 2. Packs it back for home. I think the Corona beer one has been on about 10 cruises with us.👍

Nice idea!  I would fill it with bagels and coffee and just sit on the balcony until I got moving to eat second breakfast in the MDR 🙂

On 12/29/2023 at 1:51 AM, Rosequin said:

Thank you for sharing! I was debating booking this in March for my birthday and your post convinced me lol. First time on this itinerary, any recommendations for excursions? Is the snorkeling decent at Harvest Caye? And is it similar to Great Stirrup Cay in that you can use drink package/etc? Thanks! 🙂 

The drink package on NCL unfortunately only works on the ship itself. It’s pay as you go at private island/ports etc.  We aren’t big excursion people but will say the snorkeling at Roatan when we did it was amazing. We hired a private driver and went to a resort with snorkeling right off the beach and it was terrific.  

A lot of discussion on the whale lot - as of last week, we parked in the whale lot, which was being run by Hilton employees. They do have new fencing up, we’re charging $150 for the week as a flat fee.  It’s not covered parking like the garages, but I felt very safe leaving my car there.  It may not be ‘official’ by the port, but it’s a real parking option, very easy to access and you can park, take your luggage a very short walk over to the handlers and you’re done.  It has easy access to both the ship and the Riverwalk shops.  

On 12/26/2023 at 11:45 AM, chewsifer1220 said:

I appreciate this Live so much! I am sailing on the Breakaway next December and it will be my first sailing on NCL. I appreciate you  @HoosierShipmate so much for taking the time to take all the photos, taking your time to answer others questions and giving your time to do this. This helped me cement in that I will enjoy my first cruise on NCL and the Breakaway!  

 

I am a balcony junkie. I will be spending probably over 50% of my time there so for me a balcony is a must. And I splurged on the Club Balcony Suite with a larger balcony since I know how much time I'll be spending there.  Anyone who looks down on me on my balcony will get bored quickly so I'm not worried about that lol

 

Hope you got home safe! 

 

Oh and I prefer sunny side up 🤪

Thank you for the kind words - and I may now be a balcony junkie too. Was looking at future cruises and spent more time on balcony prices than usual!

On 12/26/2023 at 11:32 AM, cruiseny4life said:

Ok, Rocketman might be here for the eggs, but I'm here for that bacon. It looks PERFECT!!! Not quite limp, but far away from crispy. I'm loving the one potato too. That's all I need to know I still hate them. 😂

I actually found the bacon on the buffet the day we had that to be amazing - I made a bacon sandwich that probably wasn’t heart heathy!

A quick review of disembarkation now that I’m not the driver. We stopped for gas, Angie is behind the wheel and I can type. After Christmas I’m sure I’ll put some additional general thoughts together here but that will give me some time to review in my mind any thoughts or comparisons with prior cruises.

I put a stopwatch on disembarking today:

At 7:24am we walked out of the kids’ cabin on deck 5 where we had put our luggage all together during breakfast.

By 7:47am we had scanned our keycards for the final time. The final scan was in The Manhattan Room which I don’t remember from the past.

At 8:14am we cleared US Customs and were outside.

At 8:21am we were in car.

Before 9:00am I’m driving across the causeway and clear of NOLA headed north.

It felt longer than usual, but when I look back it wasn’t as long as it seemed. I do think we have been much faster in the past but normally we grab something in the buffet and sit in the hallway (probably against their wishes) waiting for the CD to tell us they’re ready. Then I shove little old ladies out of my way and rush to be up front ahead of everyone else carrying their own stuff.  Today we weren’t as worried about getting on the road bc our travel needs are different.  

Thanks for following along this week. I read trip reports all the time for entertainment and planning and knew it would be work but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would!  
 

Everyone enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate and look for the recap later in the week!

J

17 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Hope you're still monitoring this thread.

Since you're travelling to Nashville today, you might want to stop at Bucee's just south of the Ala/Tenn state line.  It's right near Athens Alabama on the right side of the interstate.  Well worth a visit.  BTW, the brisket is better than runny eggs.  Not a sit down place, just a grab and go.  They do sell gasoline.

Love Buckees and had the brisket on the way to NOLA and will open the bites on the drive!

We arrived at Savor around 6:45 and worried there would be a crowd.  Nope, it’s a ghost town.  Usually we have a 12+ hour drive so we grab buffet and stand by a door to sprint off the ship as soon as possible. We have more time today bc we are only driving to Nashville tonight and nobody has work/school tomorrow.

Full breakfast menu in the MDR even though they’re kicking us off the ship today!  
 

I’m jealous because I know as I take this pic, there is likely somebody looking out of one of those hotel rooms taking the opposite pic and they’re excited to be on board in just a few hours.  If that’s you, I hope your trip is as great as ours was!

It’s 5:59am and we are pulling up on New Orleans now. Here are a few shots as we arrive….

27 minutes ago, broth said:

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience with all of us. Thoroughly enjoyed following along and daydreaming of our upcoming voyage on Breakaway.

 

Safe travels home and Merry Christmas!

 

For those who are using this thread to plan their own trip, I am attaching a condensed pdf of all the Dailies shared by Hoosier S. I enjoy flipping back and forth between days and it seems easier to do in one file. Breakaway Dailies - Dec 2023.pdf

@brothThe condensed dailies is fantastic thank you!  That’ll be really helpful - I know when I pour thru these it can be a hassle to pull and print that type of thing!

We are solidly in the river again. Good views of the drilling platforms as we left dinner tonight.  Tomorrow we will break tradition and eat in the MDR for breakfast rather than hurrying thru the buffet. Then we will carry our luggage off as usual rather than dealing with leaving it out and collecting it by customs.  

Some folks are just particular about their eggs!

The final dinner at Cagney’s.  We started our cruise and ended our cruise at Cagney’s.  A reminder on the menu:

For our starters I once again had French onion soup, Chelsie switched to a Caesar salad and Josh to the beefsteak tomato. Angie again had shrimp cocktail.

I switched it up for my main course with the ribeye.  I had heard mixed reviews here but wanted to try it - wish I hadn’t. It was good but not great like the filet. My sides were much better however with truffle mashed potatoes and fries. Both were great.

Everyone else had the 8oz filet mignon with a variety of sides. Everyone loved what they ordered.  Honestly I’d never remember who got what so pics of everything just use your imagination 🙂

Love their onion soup!

The ribeye has great flavor but was too chewy and just simply not as great as the filet earlier in the week.  I hope I read this before our next cruise as a reminder!

We really screwed up dessert. Three of us ordered the same thing. Three blueberry oatmeal crisps (which I had night one and was amazing but really we should have coordinated and shred) and Chelsie had the 7-Layer cake again.

I loved my blueberry dessert again but should have changed to the raspberry crème brûlée instead just for the variety.

Now I’m stuffed and probably should pack. We plan to eat in the MDR for breakfast and then walk off the ship.