snorkelgrl88

Wow ... a NY tax ... they don't miss a beat! Were you able to get any of the speciality drinks that came in any of the souvenir glasses if you paid extra? Do you recall if people were able to wear jeans while dining in the Manhattan as apparently there is a slight dress code there ( no shorts etc ) ... Thanks

Pretty sure the state tax is normal in any state a ship is docked in the US, from my experiences. I didn't get any drinks in the souvenir glasses, and I only saw one person with one. My understanding though, you can get the drink without the souvenir glass and not pay extra, or pay the difference to get the drink with the glass. I can't recall about seeing jeans in the Manhattan dining room, since we only ate there our first day. I did see them and shorts in Taste and Savor dining options though.

We will be cruising on the Breakaway in August and our hotel is located near Penn Station. I was wondering how much the taxi ride was from Penn Station to the cruise terminal.

 

 

 

Thanks

Cab ride from Penn Station to the terminal was around $13. Can ride to penn station the day we got off was under $10 (a lot less traffic at 8am on a Sunday!).

Thks for the review ... did you two enjoyed the benefits of the UBP?

We did enjoy it very much! It was nice not to worry about getting charge. If we didn't have it, I know we wouldn't have drank as much. , fyi- you will get charge the NY tax on drinks the first day up until about an hour after embarking NYC. We would definitely go with the UBP again!

Thank you for your wonderful review, we leave Sunday on the Breakaway and we can't wait!! It is our 25th Anniversary and first time on a ship this size. Did you have trouble finding chairs on sea days? I am so happy you loved Bermuda it is truly our favorite island as you can see from our signature!:D

 

Happy Cruising!!

Thank you! We had no problem finding a chair on the pool deck in the shade. We weren't picky on the shade of sun. The adult pool was comfortable to relax in for our times of sun. For those wanting a seat in the sun, it would've been more challenging. Enjoy your vacation and happy anniversary!!

I’m on CC so much leading up to a cruise, reading over reviews and looking at pictures. I always have hopes on writing my own review after I sail, but I actually never followed through with writing one. I decided this time to follow through and write a review, although a little late, on our NCL Breakaway cruise to Bermuda 6/12-6/19.

Background: DH and I live in Pennsylvania and are a young newly married couple. We both turned 28 the week before (we’re a day a part), and we celebrated our 1st anniversary on this cruise. He’s been on two Carnival cruises, and I have been on 11 cruises (9 Carnival, 1 RCCL, & 1 Princess). This was our first Norwegian cruise, and also our first time to Bermuda. We chose this cruise primarily based on the itinerary and length of time in Bermuda.

Embarkation Day: We took the Amtrak trainfrom PA and arrived at Penn Station around 11. From there we grabbed a cab on 8th Ave (they were all lined up), and off we went to the cruise terminal. They were already boarding people by the time we arrived around 11:30. We got in the long line to check-in at noon and it took an hour to get through the line until we were handed our Freestyle cards and off we went to board the ship! I thought the check-in process was incredibly slow compared to other experiences I’ve had, but then for all the other cruises I’ve been to the terminal a lot earlier. Once we arrived to the check-in counter, our check-in was quick, so we didn’t really understand why some groups took so long even when they weren’t big groups. We got on the ship and went directly to Savor (one of the smaller complimentary dining rooms) for lunch; I figured the buffet area would be packed. Oh but we stopped at the bar right there to get our first drinks on our Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP). Based on people’s comments on here, I got a rebellious fish!—delicious! Lunch we both got the popcorn shrimp app and I got a fish sandwich on pretzel roll and hubby got a tuna sandwich. We were both very pleased.

Muster drill was smooth; getting sent to a common place (ours was Taste restaurant). Carnival does both; bigger ships I noticed send people into common places and not all lined up on an outside deck like Sardines. After muster, we went up to Deck 8 where the Waterfront part of the ship was. We went to the bar on the Starboard side since that is the side we would see the Statue of Liberty for Sail Away. For dinner that night, we went to the Manhattan room, our only time there. The live band was nice and it was fun to get up to dance as we waited for our food, but we decided not to go back.

Stateroom: We booked an Ocean View Stateroom (#5830) to get the UBP. Room seemed to be a typical style room. Closet was smaller than ones on Carnival, but it was fine for the two of us. What I did love was the bathroom, (minus our finicky toilet flush button)! The shower door was so much nicer than having a curtain that sticks to you and still gets water all over the floor. We also liked the switches above the light switch that you could use to let the room steward know when he/she could make up the room or do not disturb. There were lights above the door in the hallway that indicated whichever switch you clicked. Our stateroom steward was Arlene. Pros and cons with her. She always was friendly and called us by our name, which is always a nice touch, and she kept the room clean. A few cons were that we always had to ask for a beach towel, even after leaving our used one in the room. Also, mornings we typically left our room by 8-830 and would hit the make-up room switch. We would come down to our room after lunch to find that our room still had the green light on and it was still not made up. Ultimately these are minor cons and life moved on :)

Bermuda: AMAZING TIME! Love the island and the people and the idea of being able to get on and off the ship as we please. First day, Wednesday, we did a complete island tour through Ricky’s Tours. Wonderful guy and an excellent tour to get accustomed to the island. Total tour was about 6 ½ hours long. We had lunch at the café at Crystal Caves--delicious fish sandwich per Ricky’s suggestion. Second day, Thursday, we went on our own and purchased the 1 day transportation pass. We took the ferry to Hamilton, got on a bus and went to the aquarium/zoo/museum first. Admission was $10, which we thought was well worth the cost. We got back on the bus and went to Crystal Caves. There are two different caves (Crystal and Fantasy), and you have the option to tour one or both. Due to timing, we decided to just do the one cave, Crystal. I’ve read on here that that is the more impressive of the two, and we were not disappointed! After that we ate lunch at the Swizzle Inn and I tried their rum swizzle. The place was nearby to Crystal Caves. After lunch, we took the bus up to St. George, and walked 0.8 mile (most up-hill) to Tobacco Bay. We rented one lounge chair for the both of us to share ($15). Water was perfect! You can snorkel around the rock formations. You see a decent amount of the same 3 fish around, but it wasn’t spectacular. Not bad for off beach snorkeling though. Tobacco Bay did offer free wi-fi, which I noticed on their one board when we were about to leave. We took the 3:30 ferry from St. George back to the dockyard. FYI—line was very long around 3pm when we got there. Line continued to grow, and we noticed everyone was not able to make it on. Next and last ferry from St. George that day was 5:30pm, 2 hours later. When we got back to the dockyard, we wandered around there and eventually got back on the ship. Third Day, Friday, we were supposed to do a 4-mile offshore snorkeling excursion to the ship wrecks. Well it was super windy (over 20mph) that day and we found out our tour was cancelled. We booked this on our own through a third party; not through the cruise line. We didn’t know it was cancelled, even though I had my doubts, until we asked around the water sports building for the two people doing the tour. We got in touch with another member of that company, and we actually got put on a ship excursion snorkeling boat. It was a double decker boat, that had a few glass bottom windows that took us out to the Vixen ship wreck and then to a cove (that blocked the wind) for snorkeling, floating with noodles, and complementary rum swizzles. It turned out to be a great day after all. We loved the hospitality of the crew at the dockyard when getting back on the ship. Fresh beach towel exchange, cold damp washcloths, drinks (water & lemonade), and the “washy washy” folks.

Food: We are not picky people when it comes to eating, so we’re easily pleased. We ate at the buffet for breakfast most mornings. I loved the little potato pancakes they had. We went to O’Sheehan’s on the last sea day to try it out, and Uptown Grill for a breakfast sandwich one of the mornings in Bermuda. For lunch, we only ever did the buffet one time. We went to O’Sheehan’s twice and Uptown grill once (we ate off the ship twice in Bermuda). Burgers are great and so was the Shepard’s Pie at O’Sheehan’s. Hubby got wings the two times in O’Sheehan’s, and he said they were good. Their jerk flavor wasn’t spicy he said; seemed sweet. For dinner, we didn’t do any of the specialty restaurants; we’re OK with sticking with the complementary places. Taste and Savor had quicker service and was not as loud as the Manhattan room; those two places were just our preference each night. This was our first time doing any time dining, and we never had an issue getting a table for two. Some nights we ate around 630pm and other nights was around 8pm. I did miss having the same wait staff every night as assigned dining would have, but it was nice to go to dinner when we wanted and base it around activities happening on the ship that night. All three locations have the same menu, but we always seemed to find something every night. Soups always came out hot and the food was very good, and comparable to Carnival (some nights possibly a bit better). However, desserts I enjoyed more on Carnival (sorry but to me nothing compares to the warm chocolate melting cake). We never made it to Shanghai’s Noodle Bar, which I thought was in an odd location, right off the casino so the cigarette smoke would linker in. It was crowded all the times we walked by it though during dinner hours. Overall, we were both very impressed with the different food options. The buffet set-up was awesome! We could not say that enough! Tip for those that don’t know: walk to very back of the ship in the buffet area. There was always plenty of seating and minimal lines (even at the omelet station).

Pool Area & On-board Activities: Yes the pool areas were crowded. This set-up was probably my least favorite out of all the ships I’ve been on. The two bars were so close to the pools; it didn’t leave much room for lounge chairs. Pool itself was not crowded the times we were around it typically from 11-1 or so. Slides were fun; lines weren’t long for us. Played mini golf a few times. Did not do the ropes course or rock climbing wall. I wanted to do the ropes course but waited too long and the last day was so windy I was afraid to do it. It surprised me they actually had the course open! We liked the arcade games (basketball, ski ball, and air hockey) in O’Sheehan’s area. The golf game there did not work correctly (don’t waste your money). We did not do bowling at all ($5 pp). It was in a convenient location for us “big kids” so we didn’t have to go to where all the kids were in the arcade. J We wasted our OBC and money playing Bingo a few times and Deal or No Deal, but we enjoyed the activities. We also did some of the activities/game shows that were held in the Atrium. We played the slots in the casino a few times, and walked away with $25 more than we started so that’s a big win in my book. I’ve read on CC some complaints on the smoking smell trickling down in other areas of the ship. Really the worse part we noticed was the compacted side of the casino. Played a slot there for 30 seconds and had to move. Other than that and for the outside starboard side of the Waterfront (deck 8), the smoking wasn’t bad. Better than other ships I’ve been on I would say.

Entertainment: Rock of Ages- simply amazing! We both greatly enjoyed the (2 hour) show! As others have mentioned, this show is not to be missed but is not for young children. We did see a decent amount of kids (under 10) there with their parents. Didn’t notice anyone leave, but we were also into the show and not paying attention to other passengers. We did not attend Burn the Floor. Second City- hilarious. We reserved tickets to one show when we boarded, and enjoyed it so much we were lucky to be able to reserve for another show later on in the cruise. Howl at the Moon- we greatly enjoyed this place but only made it there once. There were three performers and they circle out (two performing at once and third person on a break). The two guys (forget their names) were our favorite duo. We didn’t go to any of the events held at Spice H2O at night.

Disembarkation: We did self-assist to get of the ship. The papers say it’ll start around 8-830, but they made an announcement I think around 7:30am! We were off the ship, through customs, and at Penn Station by 8am. It was a huge breeze! Our train was to leave close to 11am, but we ended up changing to an earlier train once we got to Penn Station.

Closing thoughts: We loved Norwegian and Bermuda. We never felt over crowded for having almost 4700 passengers, and all the crew was wonderful. It was a great first experience with this cruise line, and we will definitely be back both to NCL and Bermuda. Not sure where our next cruise will be to and on what cruise line. I do still love Carnival and will still cruise with them, but I’m also interested in doing other NCL ones in the future. For us I think it all comes down to location and price, so we’ll see!

Any questions, please ask! I’ll try to respond in a timely fashion. :D

Hoping the weather is better for you! My parents are on the ship now, so I was curious to see of any "live" posts

OP, thanks for your review! I have a number of Carnival Cruises under my belt as well and will be trying out NCL on the Breakaway in less than two weeks.

Thanks for starting a review. Looking forward to read more! Sailing on her in less than 2 weeks!

Looking forward on reading more. Have a great trip!

We booked this cruise. And when it comes to planning, I am beyond ridiculous.

 

 

 

Usually, when in Bermuda, the NCL Breakaway is also there. However, that week it is not.

 

 

 

So, where is it? I went to the NCL web site, and nothing there for the Breakaway. I then went to the Roll Call. There is no roll call for that week.

 

 

 

That is really strange for a ship of that size.

 

 

 

I then started googling, and found the Port of Halifax Nova Scotia has the Breakaway there June 29.

 

 

 

Strange, huh?

 

 

 

Another strange thing, at least for me, is our cruise roll call is just about non-existent.

 

 

 

Must have something to do with the “Bermuda Triangle”.

I read on CC that the Breakaway is chartered that week and that's why it's not going to Bermuda. Just look at it with being lucky with one less ship in port! :)

Congratulations on getting married! Looking forward to your review. This will be our first NCL experience come June 12th. Celebrating our 1 year anniversary.

Great review. Thanks! Trying out NCL and will be on the Breakaway June 12th! :D

I'm looking into possible offshore snorkeling excursions for our trip in June. I haven't found too much on here with people's experiences. Has anyone done a tour that's not just snorkeling off a beach? I'm looking at the shipwreck snorkeling option in particular. Curious if anyone has tried it or have another suggestion.

If you get a 2day pass does it have to be used the in two consecutive days? We'll be there for three days, so wasn't sure if it's possible to use for day 1 and 3. Just getting ideas for planning. [emoji4]

Lisa I can't wait!!! 🍹🚢⚓ We're in DELCO.

 

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We'll be on this Sunday too! From Lancaster County, PA!

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Loving this review. We cruise on her in a week!!

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I was on the Breeze last year and absolutely loved the burritos they had on board at the Blue Iguana Cantina. I can't remember if I saw anyone do this, but have you seen or done this yourself...just gave the guys a bowl and got a burrito bowl, minus the tortilla? I'm thinking about doing this on my next cruise, and was just curious if it's been done by others before.

and yes, I know I can get the burrito and eat everything but the tortilla, but I'm trying not to be too wasteful since I know enough food gets wasted every day.

thanks for your help! :)

Thanks for the review. I'll be on the Freedom in 9 Days on this itinerary..**(SINGLE DIGIT DANCE)**! I love looking at pictures..makes me more excited:D

I was on both in the past, and going on Freedom again in March). I greatly enjoyed both of them. If you said that both ships are similar in price, I'd say go for the longer cruise. Plus, I think it'll be a better first Carnival cruise experience for you, since it's not as big as the Dream...But whatever you decided, I don't think you'll be disappointed with either. :)