Suze10860

Just wanted to say that in all my NCL cruises, I've never had to wait in the Theater for disembarkation no matter what colored tags I had or what time I was scheduled to depart.

If they are doing this now, ( I hope not, I hated that on other cruise lines) it is a new thing.

 

Lois

I might be speaking out of turn on that. Since I wasn't disembarking that way, I didn't pay that much attention. It's just from the multiple conversations that I heard around me in line. From various people. If it's totally wrong, I apologize.

Great review! :) I thought Moderno was Brazillian..?! I have been there on the Getaway last year and plan to go again in a few weeks...is it different on the Breakaway?

Oops. Should have said that. It is a Brazilian Rodiozio every night for dinner. Besides the Bavarian buffet lunch, my friend went to a Mediterranean buffet one day early in the cruise that she loved.

Missing the PRIVATE ISLAND - While my husband and I were eating breakfast on that day, I was looking out the window and said "No way we are tendering today. That ocean looks rough." Of course, that's disappointing, but what are you going to do. That's nature.

Here's my gripe: I know that they then "change" the activities planned for the day. That's great. However, as far as I can tell: NO CHANGES IN THE LUNCH OPPORTUNITIES! The main dining rooms closed at I think 1:30 (normal time) and nothing was really available later other than O'Sheehan's and the buffet. All those people stuck on the ship at lunchtime, how about more and longer choices? We had a heck of a time finding a place to eat. Every venue was mobbed. That was our only unpleasant experience at lunch time on the ship. Since they seem to miss the island quite often, maybe they can plan accordingly.

OUTDOOR STUFF

The running track is the most ridiculous thing I've seen - for running or walking. Too small and in too crowded an area. I know the hours are limited, but it's still not good.

I think as I'm writing this I'm coming to understand that I really have issues with the way the OUTDOOR public areas are laid out. Honestly, nothing on 6, 7 or 8 seemed terribly over crowded (at least when I was there.) But outside - ooooph!

Every chair was filled at Spice H20 on the first day I went (which was the Florida day, and you would think people would be off the ship) - and the water feature wasn't working. So this was on Tuesday, the 3rd day of the cruise. I'm pretty sure that if a guy I was talking to hadn't decided to go to Guest Services to complain, it probably wouldn't have been fixed at all. No one was working on it. As it was, someone came up that afternoon, but it still took them 2 days to get it done. This was our first cruise where we did NOT go in the actual pool once, or even lay around it - combination of weather and crazy crowds on the days when it was warm enough.

Now I know the weather wasn't great, but the only outdoor parts of the ship that didn't seem overly crowded were the rope course and the slides. Never saw a line at either. I've read this idea before, but it didn't really sink in until I lived it myself: Maybe a gigantic ship sailing out of NYC year round should have more sheltered outdoor areas and fewer huge features (taking up tons of area) that require super nice weather to even use.

We LOVED the Waterfront. We found that area to be surprisingly not crowded most of the time. We could almost always find a chair or a comfy couch to relax on. We also ate every one of our Specialty meals outside - and were surprised that more people don't do that. There were always empty tables. (Le Bistro is not on the Waterfront, so we ate inside there.)

SPECIALTY RESERVATIONS

I don't understand their reservation system for dining. I had pre-reserved all of our dinners, but tried to change one on board. There were NO reservations available for any specialty restaurant at any "popular" time that we tried. I checked every restaurant. I get it...restaurants fill up. Only thing is, every time we ate (reservations at 7 or 7:30 - prime time) the restaurants were at least half empty. When I asked on the phone one time why this was, no reservations available in not full restaurants, I was told they needed to keep tables open so that they could seat reservations as soon as they came without making them wait. Huh? Not sure how that works. Doesn't make sense to me. The one night we had to change our reservation from 7:00, we were told the only time available was 8:45 so we took it. Note: I breezed past at 7:10 and yes, there were plenty of tables available. If someone in the restaurant business can explain that to me, I'm happy to listen. My advice is book your specialty dining early, and don't plan on changing.

SAILING OUT OF NYC Speaking of sailing out of NYC - I absolutely love it and wish there were more choices. If I take a 7 day cruise, I am 100% fine with the first full sea day and the final full sea day being cold if sailing during non-summer months. As far as I'm concerned, I still consider this a definite plus to NCL for having the ship sailing from NYC. When I booked this, it definitely seemed like the best (practically only?) possibility. It was a fun cruise and I'm certainly not sorry we did it. Sailing out of NY/NJ is a number one priority for us.

Anyone have any specific questions?

This review has definitely gotten away from me and I'm just not doing it the way I wanted to. It's obviously very disorganized - which is not my usual way. Maybe I'll just make some general observations.

Uptown Grill - the burgers here were pretty good. The first time we ate there the fries were cold and tasted like styrofoam; the second time they were really good. Both times they messed up the order. My biggest complaint about the venue: Why in the world do they have one (1!) person taking every single order. In what universe does that make sense? How about 2 or 3 people taking orders? Maybe that would speed it up a little bit. We were told 30 minutes to get our burgers, and it took over 45 minutes. And while I'm at it, the one guy who was taking orders was crabby. If you are there 5 minutes before the place opens, he literally chases you away. Not particularly nice. But for cruise ship burgers, these were good and the toppings were excellent.

Main Dining Rooms - we ate in Savor, Taste and the Manhattan Room at some point over the 7 days. We had lunch on embarkation day in either Taste or Savor (sorry - I don't remember which one) and it was very good. I did forget how tiny the portions were however. The service was quick and friendly. But it was a great way to start our cruise and we really enjoyed it.

Our three dinners (one in which ever restaurant we didn't have lunch in - Savor or Taste, and two in the Manhattan Room) were also good. My husband got a Caesar salad at every meal and thought it was wonderful. Some of the portions were tiny and some where quite large (my friend got the turkey and stuffing and it was huge.) We had breakfast in Taste and/or Savor probably 5 times. I think that their little hash browns are delicious. Another example of inconsistency though. The first time we were there we order a side order of the potatoes. They came out with enough to feed a small army. The next time we ordered a side of them I got 3 patties on my plate. I really have no complaints about any of the MDR's. The servers were all very good.

Buffet We are not buffet people. It looked ok. However, we did pick up some little snacks there on the first day for our own sail away party. Their choice of cheese was very pathetic - some little triangle slices of american and swiss. Something a little more exotic would have been nice, and I don't think we saw any crackers at all. I'm a sucker for pizza (thin crust) so I did enjoy that. Very much. I was really looking forward to the delicious crepes that I had devoured on the Jewel. I never saw them. I also remember some really good cookies on the Jewel and I didn't see them either. But maybe I just wasn't there at the right times. The times I was in the buffet it wasn't really crowded, but then again, I wasn't there that much.

Specialty Restaurants - we had four nights of specialty dining as one of our Free at Sea options. We ate at Cagney's, La Cucina, Le Bistro and Moderno. Cagney's was by far our favorite. The prime rib I got was not only delicious it was gigantic. I had a crab cake appetizer that I loved. At Cagney's they were very specific about telling us (without our asking) that you could get as much and as many of anything on the menu, with the exception of main entrees. That was limited to one. That worked perfectly for us. Everything about our experience there was top notch. The food, the waiter, the service. All great.

The tiramisu at La Cucina was fantastic. The Bavarian buffet in Moderno was thoroughly wonderful. The guys even got some great German beer. Generally speaking, I'll repeat what I said in my Jewel review - I don't really like the NCL desserts (with the exception of that tiramisu!) There aren't many foods that I'm really picky about, but dessert is one of them. I like to make my own.

None of the other 3 venues lived up to Cagney's (which was our first specialty dinner.) They were good, just not great. And my husband and I both agreed that we were totally fine with it because we hadn't actually paid full price extra money to eat at any of them.

Kids I didn't see tons of kids. I have no idea if there were a lot of them. The only place I did consistently see lots of kids were in the Hot Tubs. We actually spent quite a bit of time in a Hot Tub with 3 little ones (all under 8) who were in there on their own. I'm sure their parents (they were 3 unrelated kids who didn't know each other) were nearby because eventually they did come fetch them, but I thought it was a little odd. One little girl was 5. To me, that's young to be in a hot tub without a parent. Honestly, I think that they were all too young to be in there without a parent. It's not a kiddie pool. It's a Hot Tub. But we chatted them up and they didn't bother us. We're at the point in life where our kids are in their mid 20's, so for us, it's easy to enjoy other people's kids.

Hi Can I ask what it's the absolute latest they make you get off the ship? Thanks

Sorry - I don't know the answer to that.

Hey there. I was on the April 3 sailing in a mini suite. I'm currently working on a review...in installments. If there are any specific questions I could help you with, I'd be more than happy to try.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2341421

We were on the same sailing. I think you were lucky to get off the ship when you did. Self-assist wasn't an option for us because we had my mother-in-law in her wheelchair, so two of us had to carry her luggage and my husband's (who was pushing the wheelchair) and a walker in addition to all of our own stuff. We requested a 9:15 time slot and our "color" was finally called an hour later to line up on deck 7. Since deck 7 was mayhem when we arrived to wait to be called, we waited on 6, but there were not enough chairs, so we took turns standing during the hour we waited. After we were called to line up, it took at least a half hour from that point to just get off the ship, only to get into another line at the top level of the terminal, which led to the escalator (which we were fortunate to skip half of since we had to take the elevator). At the bottom, you had to get into another line that wrapped around the outer edge of half of the terminal just to be allowed into the area to pick up your luggage. Then there was another line for the customs that wrapped back and forth across the terminal about 6 or 7 times (we were thankfully also put into a shorter line because of the wheelchair at that point too). I felt sorry for everyone who was in the big line. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. I wanted to take a cell phone photo of this zoo because I didn't think anyone would believe it, but I remembered that's not allowed in the secure area. I've got to believe we happened to be there for the worst of it. Since it was 10:45 by the time we actually made it to the terminal building, maybe most of the rest of the people had decided to leave the ship at that point regardless of what color their luggage tag was.

 

Sue

Yowzaa! That does sound unpleasant. Just a bad scene all around I guess.

I just started my review for our April 3 cruise and I've already mentioned in it that we do leave our room steward a little "hello" note with $20 on our first night. Believe me if you want, or don't believe me, I don't do it to assure better service and it's in no way a bribe. I do it to say thanks in advance and to show that I appreciate how hard they work. I also leave another $20 with a little "good bye" thank you note on the last night. It's never happened, but I guess if our room steward was absolutely horrible I wouldn't leave the second $20 tip. Maybe.

It's definitely just a personal decision and yes, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine either way. No need for either viewpoint to judge the other...

Wow...I must have been misinformed or they changed the rule.

Really I think it's just another example of NCL being pretty inconsistent about stuff like this. If they had another room steward, I'm guessing it was just as likely that they would have been told that they were not entitled to the spa passes. I sort of got the feeling that a lot of times they're making up the rules as they go along. This time it certainly worked in my friend's benefit!!

Do you remember if you got off the ship in the back or front of the ship?

 

Many people complain to NCL about disembarkation, they don't care. Like you said they don't even have crew helping. Having crew guiding people could be an easy fix. I just love the people that try and cut the line.

I can't swear to it (because I'm bad at stuff like this) but I'm pretty sure we got off in the front.

Please - don't talk to me about people trying to cut the line. I've got absolutely no patience for rudeness like that. OK. I might have exchanged a few words with a woman who was so freaking obnoxious. She was intent on working her way up past people, including past me. Sorry. I was having no part of that. There was a guy standing behind me in line who had obviously run in to this woman before, because he made a comment that she'd been being pushy the entire cruise so she probably wasn't going to stop now! My always calm husband (yeah - I know I've mentioned a bunch of times that he's a retired cop, but it really is such a big part of him) reminded me that it's just not worth it to even try to reason with some people. Just ignore the super rude woman. Not worth it. Smile. Stay calm.

I want to be positive now so I'm going to tell you what I thought about the Unlimited Beverage Package. My husband and I (and the other couple who cruised with it) thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread!

It cost us $174 for the week. When we first boarded and ordered our first round of drinks we had to sign a slip for them - because you are paying the tax while the ship is in port in NYC. Each round cost around $25 - I was drinking prosecco and my husband was drinking Hendricks gin and tonic. Nothing really over the top. Doesn't take any special math skills to figure out that after 7 rounds we have broken even. That would mean that if we had only one drink each every day of the cruise we would break even. Actually, I'm pretty sure we broke even that first day! (Don't judge me...it's been a stressful time at home. ;))

My husband was very very very very happy with their alcohol selections. Besides the Hendricks gin (which is his favorite gin) he enjoyed the 1800 tequila and the Don Julio tequila and the Patron tequila. He's actually a bourbon man, and he especially like the Bookers bourbon and was willing to pay $3.50 a glass for it (big spender, right?) He also like the Basil Hayden bourbon.

I stuck mostly with prosecco, with a few frozen drinks thrown in just because it was vacation. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I had my first Bushwacker!!

The hubby really like having his nightly glass of 43 while I had a lovely Bailey's.

So in our opinion, the UBP is a pretty wonderful thing when you're paying only the service fee/gratuities on it. And although it might sound like we spent the entire cruise bellied up to the bar, we really didn't. I think we're pretty average. (Oh jeez - now I'm just sounding defensive aren't I?!?!)

Final grade: UBP as a perk ~ A+++

I can echo the no announcement. I was in the Haven and the only reason I knew that we must have finally cleared is that we were trying to go to breakfast and they started putting people in the service elevators. We went to eat and finished and were escorted down. By the time we made it downstairs we were in the middle of self-embark. So I will say that there might be a reason that people are claiming luggage in the middle of self-disembark, as they don't delay priority disembarkation even if self-disembarkation is not finished. We also utilized the porter as we had a ton of luggage and learned years ago that it is worth the $20-$30. He walked us all the way across the street to our car and by the time we walked up we were the next people in line compared to the 90 or so people in the left and right lanes.

Yup. And again, I'm not meaning to dis anyone who used a porter or who was in the middle of the self assist people. My only gripe is with NCL on this.

Funny part it, right as we were approaching the building, there was a gentleman in a suit from NCL outside, directing people and looking somewhat important. I told him that the disembarkation was horrific and he looked at me like I was crazy and that I was the only person in the history of the world to even suggest such a thing!

Really similar experience to you Suze10860. However my boiling point was to a bartender that was inconsistent in his own practice. So my S/O was ordering a double shot of vodka on ice because he was mixing it with a low carb monster that we brought from home. Wasn't an issue in any other bar all week. We go to shakers and was told that it is against the rules and can't be done. That they could only do a single even though they would give you 2 shots at a time, just not in the same glass. Fast forward to us still sitting at the bar 10 minutes later where a lady comes up asking for the champagne glass to be filled to the top or in a wine glass because she didn't want to stand up again. Bartender fulfilled her request. So I politely asked what was the difference between what she asked for and what I asked for. He honestly said 'nothing' and that she was just being a pain all week and didn't want to deal with her. So my S/O asked if all you needed to do was be a pain to get a full bottle because that follows the same logic. Bartender apologized and said that he we could get what we wanted but I was pretty done at that point. I'm all for consistency across the board but at the very least be consistent within yourself.

Exactly! Thanks for sharing that.

And I can see that maybe if someone is reading this they might think I'm being overly picky. But honestly, a full week of this type of thing constantly happening can get extremely frustrating.

I have a question...

 

 

 

That's the "Easy Walk Off" that is between 8:00AM and 9:00AM where you carry your own luggage, right?

 

 

 

The first group off at 9:00AM is Gold and Platinum guest as well as Airport and Post Hotel transfer passengers. What time did you get to the luggage pickup area?

 

I've found that the EZ-Walk off isn't worth it. I too many people trying to lug their stuff off the ship. They may have come with one bag per person, but they're leaving with more than what they came and it jams up the lines.

 

Moving your luggage 30 feet to a porter's cart is a lot easier when you've got two bottle of liquor and goodness knows what other trinkets the family has bought during the trip.

Our only other experience with the self assist was on our previous NCL cruise on the Jewel. As I said, it was wonderful and super fast, so I had no reason to think this time would be any different.

On the sheet we got in our cabin, it very specifically said that the self assist was absolutely first - between 8:00 and 8:45 a.m. Our plan was to be off the ship as soon as they announced it was time for self assist to disembark. My complaint is that they NEVER made any announcement. When we got on the horrible line at 8:30 there were definitely people in that line who were NOT self assist. I heard people say that they didn't realize how it worked and didn't know that they were supposed to be in the theater waiting to be called for their specific timed disembarkation.

My complaint is that there were people in front of me in line who had no luggage and should have been waiting in the theater, but they were getting off with the self assist people. When we all got inside the building, the people with luggage waiting there for them were able to go through customs ahead of all of the self assist people who were stuck waiting in another line with all of our luggage.

I'm not really "blaming" those people; I'm blaming NCL for botching the process and neither following nor enforcing their own rules and procedures. Honestly, I believe the people who were in line saying that they didn't realize they were supposed to be in the theater waiting to be called. There was no guidance from the crew - none. No one was directing people in any direction. It was pretty much a crazy free for all.

Of course in hindsight I blame myself for NOT ignoring the 7:15 announcement about not lining up on deck 7 until they made the actual disembarkation announcement. From the sounds of it, if we had just headed downstairs at 8:00 a.m. we would have avoided the crowd all together. Curse my husband's 30 years of law enforcement, making a big old rule follower!!!

For example, when asking to book a spa appointment, he simply called them and handed us the phone to talk.

Wow - I've said quite a few times on this board that my husband and I are not really Haven people because I probably wouldn't use either the butler or the concierge.

However, if I did ask the concierge to help me with a reservation (which I'm pretty sure is his job) and he dialed and handed me the phone, my head might explode. By definition, isn't that what a concierge does - make reservations?!?!?

I promised to come back with the final outcome on the guarantee balcony cabin.

And the winner is...............

THEY GOT THE SPA PASSES

Yup - their room steward told them to go to guest services to get a sticker on the back of their key cards. They did, and enjoyed the spa three or four times over the course of the week.

I was quite happy for them!

Looking forward to your insight in inconsistencies. I noticed that all week and had a bit of an exchange with a bartender over it. Eventually it worked out but it had me fuming for a good 20 minutes.

My husband and I seemed to find inconsistencies all over the place with the staff, especially at the bars and in the restaurants.

Every bartender seems to just follow his own rules and even recipes. Something as simple as a specific tequila on the rocks with lime and salt could be made numerous ways depending on who was doing the making. A single shot, a double shot, a tiny amount of ice, a glass full of ice, let's forget the lime, no salt around the rim, etc. They are all NCL bars - even if they have different names on them. Every bartender is an NCL bartender. You would think that something as simple as "tequila on the rocks with lime and salt" would be relatively easy to serve consistently. And I'm not saying it needs to be cookie cutter drinks with pre-measured shots exactly the same in each bar. Just some consistency in how they're trained I guess. And I can't tell you how many times my husband would order a specific brand to be told that they don't have it, but then he would point it out to them at the bar. It took half the week to finally learn exactly what brand of beers were available. If there is a complete list available somewhere, we were never able to figure out where. It shouldn't be that hard and I would think bartenders would have that info at their fingertips.

Three of the five incorrect charges on our account were when my husband ordered Bookers Bourbon which costs $17. So, with tax, we should have been charged about $3.50 each time he got one. A couple of the bartenders got that right. Three times, however, we were charged a little over $21 for the drink. One bartender sort of argued it with us. Another one looked at us like we had three heads when we pointed it out. Luckily a manager was nearby to void it immediately. That particular bartender told me he would take care of it later! Sorry - but if someone's job is to be a bartender, you need to keep them trained and informed about how the packages work. There's no excuse for that.

Some of our servers (in the specialty restaurants) were really bad. Just about any venue where you placed an order, things were messed up. Uptown Grill never got it right. (I have more issues with the Uptown Grill for later - including how rude the guy taking the orders was.) Our waitress in La Cucina was as sweet and lovely as could be, but she was a really poor waitress. Same thing with the waiter at Moderno. After he very poorly explained how the rodizio system works, he seemed to not understand it himself. He brought our sides out while we were still eating salad - they were ice cold by the time the meat arrived; he actually turned my coaster from red to green while I was eating my salad so that the guy with the skewer could give me some sausage - I had to tell him I wasn't ready; he brought us our cheesy bread when we were practically done with the meal. Nice guy, but not so great at his waiter gig. At Le Bistro, the guy was not only crabby but also a pretty bad waiter. Initially didn't even ask if we wanted drinks - we just had to tell him. Never asked if we wanted coffee at the end of the meal. Since my husband and I had the Specialty Dining package as one of our perks, we weren't specifically "paying" at each restaurant. Needless to say, if I were paying extra for these meals I would probably be angry at all of this instead of just annoyed by it.

Every night after dinner my husband ordered a Liquor 43. Without fail, he would be told that they do NOT have it (probably because the waiter/waitress had not heard of it.) Each time my husband would tell them (very nicely) he was pretty sure that they did have it, and would they please check. And yes - every night they brought it to him. If he hadn't actually seen it at a bar on our first day, he probably would have just taken the first waiter who said they didn't have it at his word. Again, just annoying.

At the bars, we usually tipped $1 for our drinks. A few times we had no singles, and asked the bartender if they could give us change and we were told he did not have change. Then, one time we asked and we were told they could not make change. Which one is it? We would have stopped asking after the first time if we were told they could not do it. I really don't know what the truth is, but why would different bartenders say different things? Inconsistent.

The over-charges on the drinks really bugged me. None of these times were we even given a slip to sign. The only reason I was immediately on it was because we'd already had an incorrect charge, so I was constantly checking our account on my phone. I shouldn't have to be checking things so carefully to be sure I'm not getting ripped off. I think the fact that it happened 3 times just with drinks is terrible.

My husband and I are both far from high maintenance. We're extremely friendly with all of the staff and love to chat them up. Sometimes I have to tell my husband to stop engaging so much ~ he loves to talk to everyone. I will admit that I probably have a little bit of a high standard for people who are in the "service industry." If you choose to be that person who is in contact with the public, you really need not only to be good at it, but to really be nice about it. Those are the two biggest responsibilities when you're a wait-person or a bartender. If you can't do both of these, maybe a different (perhaps more behind the scenes) job is better. I guess my main complaint is that the majority of the bartenders and wait-staff personnel we had contact with were either not aware of how to actually do their job and/or not really able to do their job well and/or not very pleasant about doing their job. To me, those are inconsistencies with the staff. There were, of course, some wonderful exceptions.

Suze,

I was also waiting in my cabin for that announcement, which did not happen. About 8:15 we decided to just go down, the line was moving pretty good by that point already, and we were not in line more that 20 minutes or so.

Thanks for confirming that I'm not losing my mind! Always a concern with me...

Sounds crazy that the situation went so wrong just in the time between 8:15 and 8:30 right?!?!?! I definitely think the problem was created by NCL and I can't figure out for the life of me how they let it happen. How did they not realize they never made any announcements?

Suze, thank you for your review and comments so far. They are much appreciated! We are getting ready for our trip in less than a week, so this has been helpful to realistically set our expectations.

Thanks for that. I really don't want to bring anyone down with my opinions. Just know that we met more than one person who absolutely LOVED the Breakaway. One couple was on their 3rd cruise on her in the past 18 months. Another gentleman was on his 7th Breakaway cruise!! So, just remember that everything I say is obviously my opinion. Your mileage may vary...

Hello. I feel that most of the stuff I've said so far hasn't been great, so I thought I'd start with my review of our cabin. I guess it's really for anyone interested in booking a mini suite with a large balcony.

We were in Cabin 8726. I can't tell you how much I loved it. Honestly, it was probably the actual saving grace for the cruise. I guess I've discovered that my husband and I are NOT the people who say "we spend so little time in our room it really doesn't matter." We spend a lot of time there, which was sort of extra necessary because #1 the weather wasn't great, and #2 the aforementioned crowding on the ship.

I thought being on Deck 8 was fantastic. So convenient to everything going on on decks 6, 7 and 8. Yes, not exactly convenient for the upper decks but considering we don't really do the buffet and, again, the crowding by the pool and sun decks, it wasn't an issue for us. I'll say that noise was never a problem - even being so close to the Waterfront. I did feel like I smelled smoke one time, but that was it. No noticeable or unpleasant motion.

The bathroom was wonderful - very large. I know that the square footage in the room itself isn't much more than a regular balcony, but it seemed bigger than the balcony room our friends were in that we visited. Maybe it was just in my head.

I think the storage in the cabin was awesome. There were just 2 of us, but we both tend to overpack. (I brought 10 pairs of shoes/sandals with me!) We didn't even need all of the space there was. Popped our very large suitcases under the bed, spread out all of our toiletries in the bathroom, used the very large number of hangers in the closet. Good to go.

I know I complained about the little box TV on the Jewel, so I'll say my husband was happier with the flat screen in our cabin this time. And the channel choices were fine, as long as you're content with either liberal (MSNBC) or conservative (Fox) news, random television series, soccer and various movies. I think for us it was fine as either background noise, some brief entertainment, and a way to keep abreast of anything really important happening in the world.

So how about that balcony? What can I say. We had a table, 2 chairs and 2 loungers. It was fantastic. Yes, it is exposed, but I think I saw people above us only once. We had a nice young couple with 2 little ones on one side. We chatted them up across balconies a couple of times. Never saw the people on the other side. I felt perfectly private.

I'm going to mention our room steward, Kris (I think it was spelled that way) here. He was great. I read here on CC quite a few years ago the idea of leaving a note and a $20 tip on the first night, asking him to clear out the mini fridge. We did that, and also mentioned that we like to have a lot of ice in our room. Every day he left us two full ice buckets. We didn't see him very much, but every time we did he was friendly and knew our names. He just seemed to "get us" right away. We made sure to leave another $20 tip on the last night, thanking him for everything.

Cute story: I like to have diet ice tea in my room at all times so I brought a jar of powder and an insulated pitcher to make it in the room. I kept it in the refrigerator the entire time and it was great. On the last night, I left the pitcher on the desk so that I wouldn't forget it. Well, I guess it looked like something that NCL might use, because Kris cleaned it away that night! It wasn't a big deal, but I was a little sad that it was gone. On the final morning, at around 7:00 a.m. I was lucky enough to see Kris in the hallway. I explained to him what had happened, and he immediately knew what I was talking about. He went down the hall, into some room, and came back with the pitcher. He said he was happy that whoever it was that should have cleaned it out of that room had been very slow!

So again, I absolutely loved the mini suite with large balcony. Final grade for cabin and cabin steward: A+

Suze, we missed the meet and greet so I'm sorry I never met up with anyone. I agree with you. This was our 5th cruise with NCL and my least favorite although my husband and I too had a great time. We stayed in the Haven which is amazing. The ship was too crowded, I found some of the staff downright rude which I have never seen before. We had no problem getting off because we did the self assist and haven was out first. We sailed the gem last year and we love that ship. Maybe the breakaway is just too big for our liking, I'm not sure. Glad you had a good time.

Marine Mom - I'm really sorry I missed you too! We were at the M&G but it wasn't really well attended.

When I said in my first post that the crew was "inconsistent" part of it was rudeness. It was also lack of knowledge and information. Thank goodness that there were some staff who were remarkably helpful and pleasant.

Again, from my Jewel review:

Service: I think that the staff on the NCL Jewel is the happiest, friendliest, most helpful group of people I've every met! Really, every single person we dealt with was fantastic. It's funny, on our first night at LeBistro, I felt that our waiter was a little crabby in the beginning. I joked to my husband that maybe they do that on purpose because it's a French restaurant (hahaha). I don't know what happened, but the second time he walked over to our table he had turned into a friendly joking guy. Kind of odd, but whatever. Loved the washy-washy girls. Our cabin steward (Fernando) was great. Very friendly and did a great job. We met Hugo (the hotel director) at the M&G and he seemed like a nice enough guy. We "heard" Captain Lars on the loudspeaker, and my husband kept saying how much he liked him! There was just something very "likable" about the guy! We didn't have much contact with the cruise director, but we did appreciate his enthusiasm and energy!! All of the waiters/waitresses were great. We loved talking to some of them about their home lives in various foreign countries. Lovely young ladies behind the "desk" in the atrium. Final service grade: A+

Needless to say, the final service grade on the Breakaway will not be an A+.

Any specials on internet access on Breakaway

We didn't do any Breakaway internet. Sorry - no info on that.

Not trying to be a tease, I'm just too crazed with getting life back together to really get in to the actual review. I thought I would address the disembarkation issue first though.

OK - We chose self-assist since last time we did it on the Jewel we were literally off and in the car in like 20 minutes. I'm a pretty big rule follower (you know - comes from being married to a cop) so I paid very close attention to what we were supposed to do. That meant that we waited very very patiently to hear the announcement that the self-assist people should start disembarkation. We were ready to go at 8:00 a.m. since that's when it was supposed to actually begin. The last announcement we heard was at about 7:15 saying that people should NOT be congregating on deck 7 because there was already a line. So, we were waiting patiently in our cabin. It said on the paperwork that all announcements would be made/heard inside the cabins after 8:00 a.m. Well, when 8:30 rolled around WITH NO additional announcement, I told my husband we should probably go check it out.

We were on deck 8 forward, and once we got down our hallway to the stairs, it was the worst mob scene I had ever seen. The kind that is actually dangerous. From past the elevators, up the stairs and down the stairs, wall to wall people, with all of their luggage, not moving at all. At all. When we finally started to move we absolutely inched along. Of course, you get the lovely entitled people who for some reason think they should work their way through the crowd. Seriously. Like saying "excuse me" means they can push by you.

It also turns out that there were many people there who were NOT doing self assist. There were quite a few that had a time, but they said they didn't realize they were supposed to be in the theater waiting. So there they were with us. Very nice. So there we are, sweating, lugging all of our luggage, creeping along for over an hour.

It was interesting to note that when we finally got off of the ship and into the customs area, there were a lot of people from our ship there claiming their luggage. Not sure how that happened since the first "timed" passengers shouldn't have gotten off before the self-assist, right? And, then because they then get all of their luggage on a cart with a porter, they go to a customs officer before us - they have their own line. It was quite annoying.

We finally got in our car at 10:00 a.m. Maybe some people think that an hour and a half isn't that long for disembarkation, but from my past experience it was horrible and the worst part is - sorry - it was totally NCL's fault. I spoke with others in line and no one heard announcements for self assist to begin disembarkation. Not one person. There was not one crew member anywhere near the hallway/stairway on the 8th floor. No one was providing any guidance at all. It was really a disaster.

Because I wanted to be sure I was remembering things correctly, below is a portion of my review when we were on the Jewel 4 years ago.

Disembarkation: We thought it was so smooth. Maybe we were just lucky both getting on and off the ship, but we think that NCL really does do this well. We had a delicious breakfast in Tsar's around 7:45 a.m. (Note: the menu is a little different on the last day.) We hung in our cabin until about 9:00 a.m. Went to sit (quite comfortably) in the atrium until 9:45 a.m. (which is the time we chose.) Got on line when called, waiting a few minutes. Walked off the ship and right through security and customs. We were outside the building just a few minutes after 10:00 a.m. Much easier than on either of our previous cruises. Final grade: A

Maybe my expectations were high, but I don't think you can blame me for that. So honestly, I would give our disembarkation from the Breakaway a D- final grade. The only reason it's not an F is because no one got hurt or into a physical altercation while on line!!

Just off the Breakaway today. Not quite up to really starting the full review, but I did want to get just a little bit down tonight. Unfortunately, my take-away from this, my 5th total cruise and 2nd on NCL, was somewhat disappointing.

Before I say anything else I will point out that my husband and I had a fantastic time. We had a lot of fun and there were many things that were just wonderful. For me, however, there were some negatives that did outweigh the positive. Very quickly, the highlights were:

Our mini suite with large balcony cabin

The Unlimited Beverage Package

Dinner at Cagney's

Sailing from NYC

Great cabin steward

My personal downsides:

Crowds - which I think is a function of a poorly designed ship (JUST MY OPINION)

General inconsistencies of the crew

Incorrect charges to our account (5 times it happened!)

Our disembarkation

Again, I am going to write a review with more detail. I think that my +'s are very specific, but my -'s are sort of general and could probably use some explaining. In the meantime, if anyone has any specific questions, let me know.

Mom's head is so big and full of hot air, she's started a new career selling advertising and flying over baseball stadiums. How did you like the Breakaway? I hope you drank a bushwhacker and ate a cinnamon roll for me! :D

Well, if I'm going to be totally honest (and I do try to be at all times), I DID have a Bushwhacker 100% on your recommendation. It was freaking unbelievable!!!! So good.

I'm a little sad to say that we weren't wild about the Breakaway. We had a great time (you know - vacation, no responsibilities, free drinks) but the ship was just too darn crowded. I do plan on writing a review, but I'm busy detoxing right now.

On a serious note, I obviously don't know you at all, but if your review and pictures speak to what you and your family are really like, I think you're one very special little group. Enjoy raising that gorgeous little boy!!

Well, if it helps you feel better and put it in perspective, our youngest son is a Marine currently deployed in the Middle East. He's not even allowed to tell us exactly where he is most of the time. And you know that can't be good! I'd sleep much better if he was studying in Europe!!!

Wow. I wouldn't even dare make that comparison from my end. You should be remarkably proud of your son. I wish him nothing but safety and I wish you some good nights' sleep!!

Thanks everyone. The question wasn't actually for me, it was for my bestie and her hubby who are sailing with us this Sunday. They just booked the Guarantee on Wednesday, and got the assignment yesterday (Friday).

When she checked the reservation on line it says "Balcony" - no mention of "Spa." I'm personally guessing that they don't get the spa access. From the sounds of the replies, they probably won't. However, I do think that there is a small possibility that they will...very small. Honestly, they really don't care - at all. So if it does happen it will be just a very pleasant surprise.

I promise to let you all know for sure upon our return.

Thanks again.