Markj

11 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

This is good advice, yet plenty of variables can change the timeline.  If we have a BAD hurricane season, some cruises may experience delays of their excursions showing up,

Im hoping there will not be too many hurricanes in Alaska :-)

Does anyone know approximately when the excursions for the 2020 Alaska cruise season will be on the NCL website and available to book?

Thank you in advance for your help

Thank you for such a good report along with all the photo's and videos to it was great to see.

We will be in this exact cabin next June sailing from Seattle so this was a fabulous preview of our trip.

Thank you for taking the time to do it and for sharing

Getting back to the reason the OP asked the question  here's a very good live review of the cruise we were on from Dougout:

Breakaway Live Review - by Dougout

Enjoy

I did this one Markj Breakaway Review

There were a couple of others reviewing the same cruise too

This will definitely NOT be to everyone's taste - however if you love Heavy Metal and love NCL and fancied a cruise down the US West Coast then check out the Megacruise which features Anthrax, Megadeth and whole load of other metal bands - and its on the Jewel!!! Ive never done a specialist cruise however there have been quite a few Rock oriented cruises lately and I know there are plenty of other specialist cruises too.

I wonder if they get any complaints about noise on this one - Hahahaha

Megacruise

Looks wonderful - doing our 3rd Alaskan Cruise, this time on Bliss in July 2020

We also met Virginia, one of the Concierges, she was amazing all the cruise. The Haven lounge Bar bartenders: Kumar and Olga and the waiter Kai were AMAZING... It was great to have a place where you could relax and find assistance (if needed). Also our Stateroom Attendant did a good job and kept our room spotless during the length of the cruise even though the most of the days it was extremely slowly in the mornings.

Ocean Blue: we reserve this one for my Birthday and this was the highlight of the restaurants on Board. Food, service, menu, quality, temperature everything was PERFECT,

Agree completely with these - we had Seka too and she was great

You really need to pay attention to the words written.

 

In post #65 I was asked "How do you know the food quality is low?" (emphasis added). I don't know. And that is what I said: "I don't." And I went on to reinforce the fact that I didn't know: "what gets put in front of us (the finished product) is low quality and I suspect that is due in part becuase they start with low quality ingredients, but I don't know that to be what they start with." (emphasis added)

I see no need for rudeness. One of the criteria of this board is that personal insult is not allowed.

Your original post #7 is this:

I know the food quality is low and thinking things are mass prepared like airline meals isn't unreasonable. But, if you think of the logistics of bringing in literally thousands of prepared meals it seems to me to be very doubtful that is happening.

 

I believe the root cause of the low quality food is simply using low quality ingredients.

There is no mention here of whether you "know" or "do not know" - you make a very clear statement that in your belief the low quality food is caused by using low quality ingredients. Which, as has been demonstrated by others and by videos is absolute nonsense

QED

 

I don't. what gets put in front of us (the finished product) is low quality and I suspect that is due in part becuase they start with low quality ingredients, but I don't know that to be what they start with.

But that is exactly what you said - vis.-

Originally posted by PATRLR I believe the root cause of the low quality food is simply using low quality ingredients.

As usual, you are confused and not understanding what you are reading.

 

"quality" as I used the term and taste are two very different things. I'm happy for you that you enjoy the taste of the food and find it appetizing.

Ok - so objectively define the word "quality"

I know the food quality is low and thinking things are mass prepared like airline meals isn't unreasonable. But, if you think of the logistics of bringing in literally thousands of prepared meals it seems to me to be very doubtful that is happening.

 

I believe the root cause of the low quality food is simply using low quality ingredients.

You are of course entitled to your opinion but so am I

My background is hotels, restaurants and catering services so please accept that I understand both fine dining and mass catering.

In all restaurants there can be good and bad however on the tours I have done, the food I have seen and the meals I have tasted I cannot agree with anything you have said. Anyone who has had the Dover Sole in Ocean Blue, or the sushi, or the lamb

How about just going to South Africa and exploring there for a couple of weeks - and go cruising another year - there's so much to see and do in SA!!!

Cape Town is beautiful and well worth a visit for a few days. But it is not known for game parks which are mostly in the north of the country. However, I see this cruise spends a day in Port Elizabeth. There is nothing much to see in PE except nice beaches, however one hour's drive outside of the city is the Addo Elephant Park. It is about a thousand square miles so smaller than some of the parks up north (it is the third largest national park in the country) but worth considering to visit while in PE for the day. There are not only elephants there, also lions, rhino, buffalo, zebra, etc. Also there is no malaria there, unlike can be found in some of the northern camps. I lived in Port Elizabeth for the first 25 years of my life and since leaving there in the 1970s have visited PE every couple of years during the past 40+ years so know it well.

I second this as have been to SA a number of times - Cape Town is fabulous and plenty to see and do but no safari - Port Elizabeth is definitely the place however to do a safari justice you need to be at the Game lodge overnight as the first drive is usually 4-5am to catch all the animals before they have a sleep!!

I would recommend a couple of days on Safari ahead of the cruise - we went to Pumbaa game lodge just north of PE and it was excellent - (and our 3rd Safari)

Is there a webcam that I can watch the Bliss sailaway?

And there is a one on the ship itself

https://www.ncl.com/shipcams/blisscam/fullsize.jpg

Fat cats is now Syd Norman's, I hear, doing mostly 60s/70s music. I am hoping they still will have karaoke there.

Its Rock Music so a range of years from 60's to 90's and there is a daily Karaoke which from memory was usually quite late 1045/11ish and unfortunately whilst I love Karaoke too I was usually on my way to bed :eek:

Sure is, but only available to ex airline card holders, unfortunately not available to all.

 

The other good one readily available is the Santander Zero credit card which also has no cash withdrawal fees.

Yes - I have that one too!! :D

There are plenty of cards that do not charge a cash withdrawal fee, its just a case of using the right card.

This guide will tell you which one to use and you can test your current cards in the tool to see which is best:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/#checker

 

I have two Credit cards that charge zero overseas cash withdrawal fee.

 

My MBNA horizon card:

No annual fee

0.5% cashback on all your spending

No foreign exchange fees

Free cash withdrawals, both in the UK and overseas

I have the same card - its excellent

Yet more complexity and cost - use your CC to get cash at a foreign ATM and you will be charged a cash withrawal fee. Just for example, for UK customers, Amex charge either £3 or 3% whichever is greater and if it is not in your home currency they normally charge a currency exchange conversion charge of 2.99%. Other UK CCs also charge if you more or less the same to withdraw cash using the card. If you have a zero conversion charge Debit Card and use that, you will not be charged anything to draw cash from your account and the conversion back to your home currrrency will be done at the commercial conversion rate. UK banks tend to charge around 2-3% to withdraw foreign currency from an ATM abroad.

 

The best thing all round is to use the CC for the purchase assuming the trader acccepts CCs (most do now, including taxis these days). We just get a bit of foreign cash to buy the odd drink or snack.

Sorry but I didn't explain myself

I use a credit card with no transaction charges for pretty much all my purchases no matter where in the world I am.

However - there are some times when I need cash - small purchases, shops or bars that do not take a CC or for tour guide tips for example. My CC only charges me for the exchange rate and no transaction or ATM charges.So this is when I get money from the ATM and without fail this always give me a better exchange rate and is far more convenient than exchanging money in the UK before I set off.

Not complex and cheaper than changing cash in the UK - plus I only get small amounts of cash as and when I need it.

Been doing this for years

I agree Keith, I use Amex as it gets me British Airways Avios points, 90% of retailers is about right, Pizza Express today surprised me when they didn’t accept it. All the major supermarkets. Amazon accept it.

Me too -its how I rack up my Avios points - its rare now to find anywhere in the UK in the cities that doesn't take AMEX

And yes - agree above - get a CC that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees and then I use that in local currency and if I should need cash in the ATM's

I think it would be easiest if the OP simply told us where they are going then we could give them advice?

At the moment this thread has become a list of if, what's and maybe's???

We were booked into the Owners suit on the Breakaway and received an upgrade offer to the Deluxe Owners. So like you I checked and the booking page said the Deluxe were both sold.

I was pleasantly surprised when my offer was accepted and we were upgraded??

Not sure why this happens - but as has been discussed above maybe someone cancels or they show all cabins as booked so that they can run the upgrade and then fill the ship - who knows???

As mentioned - on ship its all US $ - in most of Europe it will be Euros - which countries are you calling at. On a recent Baltic Cruise we simply used credit cards in countries that did not take Euros

I've cruised on 13 cruise lines so far.

"Freestyle" is a nice legend of the past: I can cruise free style almost on every ship these days.

Entertainment: RCI is #1 at sea.

Open decks: HAL & Cunard are above everything else.

Food: there are better options (the list is too long).

Spaciousness: NCL is the lower part of the list.

Itineraries: pretty generic.

Pools: industry's second worst after Carnival mega ships.

Absolutely favorite:

. Just a few ships at sea do spa better than NCL.

Not that unique, but a notable thing that we love: water slides!

 

Happy cruising!

I'm not sure why you are commenting here. If you have no favorite thing about NCL just keep reading, really petty.

Agree - if you have a favorite thing then tell us all - so in your case it would be "Water Slides". What was the point of all the negatives! Well done, great contribution:eek:

My favourite is The Haven btw

As has been posted above the Haven Sun deck and Vibe are next to each other and so I would first check out the Haven sun deck. If you are then feeling that kids are an issue (on our cruise they were not) then the Vibe is at least under 16 free.

From my point of view the Haven has plenty of places to have a nice quiet rest and relax so I would never be paying extra for the Vibe.

However, if its for you simply ask the concierge to arrange it