Gatorj

On 2/25/2024 at 8:10 AM, RushFan said:

I will try to post them here for you.

Hey Rush - for some reason the Dailies are blacked out.  Any chance you can re-post whatever you have?  On the Joy 3/9 and looking for the weekly schedule of activities to plan ahead.  Thanks for anything you can do. 

Awesome.  Thanks!

Hey folks, we will be on the Breakaway in a few weeks and would love to see the dailies from the New England / Canada itinerary this fall.  We love to plan many of our events ahead of time and seeing the Dailies gets us excited for the trip.  Thanks in advance if anyone can assist.

I leave you with one more tidbit.

Remember this?


And this?


Flying home through Atlanta, we ran into this:


It’s as if the chandelier and stairway had a very large baby.

Ta Ta!!

So final thoughts.  

 

We've done all the Away and Away-plus ships (does the Joy count?), as well as almost all the other NCL ships.  As far as an experience, the Breakaway ranked in the middle.  Probably along with the Getaway.  Why?  NO SPINNAKER.  Trying to cram 500, 700, or whatever into the Atrium for EVERY gameshow is simply ridiculous.  It literally makes that area a trainwreck to get around.  They've fixed it on the Excape, but then screwed it up with the Bliss by making that area an observation lounge in which nothing happens but an indoor chair-hog heaven.  

 

What we did like, and there was MUCH we did like (even love).  The food and service on this cruise were far and above what we've experienced on most of our NCL cruises over the last few years.  The main dining room food was really good, even exceptional, for main dining rooms.  Not only was the food very good, but we did not have one single bad service (except Osheehans - why is it always so slow?).  We didn't even experience a mediocre service.  We dined in Taste, Savor, and Manhattan room, and all were fantastic.  The credit goes to the onboard leadership and their guidance and insistence that the service and food quality were very good.  The ship was clean. The restrooms seemed clean in the public areas.  The staff seemed friendly, if rushed and overworked, but friendly.  

 

(Post cruise we found out that the ship had failed an inspection prior to our sailing - perhaps they went over and above to improve on this sailing?)

 

Nevertheless, we were very happy.  In fact, we felt the food was better in the main dining room than the 2 specialty choices we made.  That says a lot.  

 

So, as a cruise line NCL still ranks in our top couple as far as preference, but the Breakaway just isn't our class of ship.  I think we prefer either the bigger Escape, or the smaller Jewel class ships.  We're looking forward to the Encore, Joy, and the Leonardo's once they sail.  And yes, we'll try them all. 

 

We do however have an MSC cruise booked on the new Seaview this coming June.  Sailing the Western Med after spending 4 days in Rome.  And, trying out the Yacht Club experience.  Will be interesting to compare to the Haven on NCL.  

 

Until then and I hope you've enjoyed - I have!

 

.....So long!

 

 

So, it's been a day since we left the ship, but I promised a closing of the thread.  

 

Day 7 was cloudy, cool, and windy.  Not much action on the upper decks, with the exception of those who enjoy cloudy, cool and windy.  And kids that liked to try to run into the wind.  We basically stayed inside and just walked around.  Went to the cruisenext desk to sign up for our normal 2 pack of certificates and was basically verbally accosted for being an idiot by asking for the onboard credit.  There's a new program and you can EITHER get the normal 50% onboard credit off whatever you pre-pay, or now you can get double the certificates.  I don't mind someone explaining it to me - but I was literally called an idiot for not wanting the double up and felt like I was being pressured by a seriously deranged used car salesman.  It was literally the most unprofessional behavior I've witnessed.  Did I report it?  No.  Why?  Because that's his job.  I took the double up and went back to the cabin for long, cold shower.  Now that I've washed off the rebuke......

 

Early afternoon means time to head back to the room to pack.  Dirties in one suitcase, leftover clean and other stuff in another, and none of that crazy Marie Kondo method this time.  Does it fit?  Yep.  Looks good to me.  Time to dress for the evening and head out to BINGO.  I'll take 3 big packs please.  Got really excited when DW and I both stood up with 1 numbers left.  Looked over at her, and we both needed the same number.  Dangit.  And???? Didn't win.  Oh well.  Didn't win the cruise either.  Guess I'll use to pressure packed cruisenext certificates.  

 

So off to dinner, drinks (not in that order), the Perfect Couple show, and then off to see Milan and Jovana in Shakers.  When it was time to depart (and I mean time for the 2 old people) DW and I headed down to Osheehans for the final chicken wings.  See previous post.  I think I was actually crying.  Or maybe it was the sauce in my eye.  Off to bed and last night on the ship. The kids decided to close out the bar.  3am.  Patch or no, I'm too old for that. And that's that!  

 

 

Disembarkation wasn’t bad, it’s just the port of New Orleans is a mess. The taxi situation is interesting, and the lines were long. Moved pretty well, and ship to taxi was about 15 minutes.

Day 7 and final thoughts will be later today.

What’s the saddest thing about the last night on NCL?

Last chicken wing nightcap.

I’ll post more when we’re back on land.

Thanks for following along!

Quick sound bite on travel arrangements. Got an email from Southwest yesterday that our flight home has been cancelled. Yep, it was a 737 Max 8. Please contact them for rebooking. Of course all other flights home are already full and we were offered another travel day.

No thanks. Refund please. New flights on Delta through Atlanta.

Cruise Critic M&G was equally attended this time around. Big difference however was the interaction of the ship’s officers who seemed genuinely interested to hear what we had to say about our week. They were taking notes and handing out business cards. Nice touch.

All in all it’s been a really good trip.

Weather today is crappy; cloudy, windy, and getting cooler. Upper decks are pretty empty.

I have one more question:Is Heineken included in the beverage package? 

Should be. All drinks (including beers) under $15 are included.

As Mandygirl said, they had to stop the ship last night for a medical evacuation. A coast guard (Mexican navy?) patrol boat came out from Cancun to meet the ship. Transfer took all of 10 minutes and we were off again. I do hope the person is ok. It must be terrifying for a family to have this occur, especially far from home.

Cruise Critic M&G take 2 is at 11am today. Let’s hope for a better turnout.

Day 7 Daily

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us all.  Enjoy your last day!

Thank you for being the first to officially remind me. [emoji22]

Osheehans for nachos with extra cheese and extra bacon will cure that funk.

Second homage of the cruise. This time to the Dougout. Going to try the stairs. If you can do it, you know.

After tee many martoonies this is no longer a chandelier but a door to another dimension.

We have timewarped to a different ship. Holy Smokes.

Yikes! This is (quite literally) my nightmare. I currently have 135 signed up (for the 3/24 sailing) and they had to change the venue because our numbers are so big. May I ask...did the meet & greet coordinator volunteer do everything they could to make sure people showed?
 
I've hyped it up like crazy, we have prizes to give away that I've shown in the roll call, I'm delivering invitations to each cabin on Sunday night, I'm responding personally to everyone beyond the "got you." We have a gift exchange, a slot pull, and a cabin crawl and pub crawl later in the week. What else should I be doing to ensure a high turnout?

Turns out it wasn’t well handled by NCL. We have another one scheduled for tomorrow for which they’ve sent invites to everyone’s cabin. Let’s hope this one is better.

Half size. More than with it. The 3 regular size afterwards are taking their toll.

Worth it. Not with it. Sheesh.

That's not bad--thanks for the info. They used to be around 6 small martinis--those look full size, are they? Can't wait to do this!

Half size. More than with it. The 3 regular size afterwards are taking their toll.

As a "ground service" worker, with the strenuous work and effort in making sure your luggage and personal belongings make your flight a lil recreation in-between flights is sometimes a stress reliever. We work harder than people know and most of the time it's not us to blame. Just saying.

Thanks for the post. Call it editorial humor. I fly a lot and recognize most of the issue is airline scheduling inefficiency. Just come along for the ride. Trying to have fun here.

6 martinis.

Thank you, come again.

How much is that now? Haven't been cruising in 4 years.

$20. 20% discount with the bevy package.

Yes Sid, you should. That stuff works.

The chocolate martini was my favorite - duh.

But you can’t have 6 of them. Yet. I’m trying.

The apple -tini is a close second.

Martini tasting. Now 6. Let me say that again......SIX martinis. Let me run back to the room for another patch.

 
Ok, I’ll be the first to ask, what does PBP stand for?
 

Premium Beverage Package
Aka
Free Booze

For those haters out there throwing shade at the mandatory gratuities added to the package and saying it’s not really free....

You pay 20% gratuity on anything purchase onboard (drinks, food, etc), so why would you think you shouldn’t have to pay a gratuity on the drink package. Gratuities are how the service folks get paid. If the line gave everyone free drinks without the gratuities, they wouldn’t have the $$ to pay the service employees.

To those that don’t agree with that, do a little research on the cruise lines profit margins. They’re pretty slim as it is. Where would those funds come from if they didn’t charge the gratuities?