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On NCL it is $21pp for an one hour open bar to give you a price comparison. Since NCL went up on their prices I have not been able to get folks on those sailings I have been on to book one.

What's all the uproar, do you NEED to have an open bar at your M&G? I was on NCL 2 weeks ago and we had a lovely non-alchoholic meet and greet. There were light refreshments served but it was FREE. If I wanted a drink, I'd buy one. Afterwards we had a slot pull and the casino generously offered each of us 1 free Rum Punch.

GUEST APPRECIATION - SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT

Cruise rates are in US dollars, per person and based on double occupancy. Onboard Credit offer is non-transferable and is provided as a non-refundable onboard credit to your Sail & Sign account of $50 per person up to a maximum of $100 per stateroom on select 2-5 day sailings and $80 per person up to a maximum of $160 per stateroom on select 6+ day sailings. Onboard credit is applicable for shore excursion purchases only and cannot be used to reserve shore excursions prior to sailing. Onboard credit may not be applied to cruise fare or Government taxes and fees.

Offer is capacity controlled and is not combinable with any other discount or promotional offer. Category restrictions and exclusions apply. Carnival reserves the right to withdraw and/or change offer at any time without prior notice. Cruise Fare does not include government taxes and fees. Government taxes and fees range from $37.06 to $319.82, and are assessed on a per guest basis and according to the itinerary. Guest may select the stateroom, but a minimum purchase of category 4A is required. Subsequent upgrades in lieu of price protection will no longer be offered. Cancellation penalties apply. Offer bookings made as part of a group will include amenities. Offer is applicable on sailings between 11/13/13 – 12/31/14. Valid on new bookings only. Must book between 11/13/13-11/23/13. Please request rate code OS4. Ships' Registry: The Bahamas, Panama & Malta.

under balance due on my Cruise Manager it is listed as:

Onboard Credit $160.00

We booked too last week and took advantage of this offer. It only cost me an extra $10 pp (or $20 total) and we get $80 free money on shore excursions.

According to my PVP, the money can only be used on shore excursions and they can only be excursions booked on board. It is one time use, meaning that if an excursion costs $29.99 you get it free, but lose out on the other $50.01. If the excursion costs $129.99, you only pay $50. The offer is only available to the first and second person in the cabin, not the third and fourth.

The muster stations are mandated by the cabin's placement on the ship, they can not change them based on the fact that it might be inconvinient for someone. The emergency procedures need to be always the same and they need to be able to train all crew to handle emergency situations always the same without per-cruise exceptions and changes.

 

If there was a real emergency and person in a wheelchair would need help to get to the muster station from wherever they are, the crew does have procedures and specific people assigned for that.

 

What comes to the placement of HC cabins, if all of them were placed right by the stairs and elevators, there would be complaining about the cabins not being placed to more quiet areas.

Carnival had a separate area in another lounge for wheelchair-bound passengers to meet for muster or in the event of an emergency. That's something NCL should look into. We were also dismissed a few minutes before everyone else which gave us a head start for the elevators back to the cabin.

As it was on NCL, it made for a very dangerous in the mass exodus from The Manhattan Room with someone in a wheelchair.

The poles were annoying (we were in the back) but there is a large screen on the wall if you can't see something.

We were on the other side of the room and had to squint to see the act on the TV screen. It was awful. My dad was in a wheelchair and couldn't see ANYTHING. If it was stand-up comedy it might have been enjoyable, but improv needs to be SEEN too.

My daughter is 15. Can you tell me more about the teen club? Do they have a lot of organized activities? Did your kids stayed until 1am? Did they go on the ropes course or climbing wall with the club? Did they have (pool) parties? Thanks!

My DD is 17 and loved Entourage! It took her a while to get adjusted, the first 2 nights it took some getting used to and some pushing from me to get her more involved, but by the 3rd night she was gone all day to Entourage and met some great friends!

From what I understand 1am is the curfew and even if the kids are out past 1am there was always aN NCL employee somewhere telling them that they were not to be out and about past curfew. DD said that they couldn't be served a soda at any of the bars or order food in O'Sheehans after 1:00 a.m. because of the curfew.

After being on the Breakaway 2 weeks ago and only going to Port Canaveral and Nassau, all I have to say is thank goodness the food was great and the entertainment, well, very entertaining!

Because other than that the itinerary was horrible, as well as the cold weather.

From now on we are booking strictly itinerary and if it were me, I'd definately book the Explorer's Bermuda/Caribbean itinerary over Breakaway's itinerary.

We loved sailing home to New York and being less than 2 hours from home. Looking forward to Carnival next year and flying south to San Juan (and warmer weather) and arriving back in New York City and only a short car ride home. :)

How was the noise level from above (H20) and below (restaurants)? Did you feel any vibrations, like others in aft cabins have reported?

My parents had aft-facing HC on deck 12. On nights there were parties in Spice H20 their room vibrated and you could hear the music even with the soundproofed balcony door shut close. It was awful, I felt so sorry for them. By Thursday NCL offered to move them but they didn't have another HC cabin available.

We were right next to them and although we had slight vibrations and could hear the music from Spice above, I could sleep through anything so it didn't bother me.

Surprisingly, the Breakaway aft had alot more vibrations under sail than the Carnival ship we were only last year.

We sailed the Breakaway 2 weeks ago. We loved the food and the ship itself, didn't care for the HUGE crowds after muster drill (and trying to navigate onto an elevator while pushing someone in a wheelchair). Also difficult was the narrow hallways and trying to navigate the utility carts and vacumn cleaners while pushing a wheelchair too. NCL knew we had an HC cabin and a person in a wheelchair, the least they could have done was provide us with another area for muster and NOT put HC cabins towards the aft of long narrow hallways.

Other than that, the entertainment was good, the magician/comedian was awful and the Second City show in Headlines was downright AWFUL! Specialty restaurants were delicious and I would NOT cruise in the Fall/Winter/Spring from anywhere in the northeast. The balconies were cold, the pools/slides were closed and the rock climbing wall and obstacle course were closed most times because of wind.

We missed GSC and with that only had 2 port stops: Port Canaveral and Nassau. That left us 5 sea days, which turned into "ship fever". At least we've confirmed the fact that we are NOT "consecutive sea days" people and would go stir crazy on a fall/winter transatlantic.

On the internet, the magician shows are not available for reservation for my cruise in December. I just assumed that those were shows you didn't need to reserve ahead of time (like the welcome on board one). When you say "sold out", does it mean you actually have to reserve them but can only do it on board? The magic show is my daughter's favorite, so any tips would be welcome to make sure she doesn't miss it!

We saw the magician/comedian. He wasn't that funny at all but I think it depends on which show you see. This was supposed to be 18+ but there were alot of kids under 18 that he pointed out and that may be why his show wasn't that funny.

We had to book this show while on board and for the entire week the only availability was a 10:45pm 18+ show but it was a waste, so was Second City in Headliners, that was the worst show I ever saw, actually didn't even see it because the view from where we were sitting was blocked by columns and others sitting in high top chairs. I'm glad I didn't spend another $20 per person for the Second City brunch.

I thought the food on NCL was fabulous, much better than Carnival.

The entertainment on NCL was top notch, compared to the attempt at entertainment on Carnival.

NCL was a win-win in both food and entertainment. But I cruise for the itinerary, not the ship.

My DD was 20 when she cruised with us last year. There isn't much, if anything, for the 18-20 year olds to do on a ship, especially out of San Juan.

DD ended up hanging out with us, doing excursions with us and seeing shows and stops in the casino (since she apparently is old enough to gamble but not enough to do any other adult things). *rolls eyes*

I'm curious, where did the Norway sail out of and what were her port stops?

We were on this cruise also, although we enjoyed ourselves and mostly relaxed (because of the amount of sea days involved and the surprise overnight in Nassau).

I don't think I'd do this cruise again other than maybe the few southern Caribbean cruises it does down to warmer weather (and no tendering). We've basically concluded that we are not fans of multiple sea days. Good think I found this out and won't be booking a transatlantic anytime soon. :p

We had problems with NCL connecting our credit card too! We pre-paid our tips and at checkin I gave them a valid credit card with plenty of money available to charge. On Sunday and Monday we made small purchases in the gift shop and I had $500 of OBC. On Tuesday, our sea pass is denied charges. I'm so mad because I had to leave 2 bottles of liquor at the counter and stand in line for an hour at guest services. When I approached the desk, they said I didn't set up a credit card. I handed them the same credit card I handed over in port at check-in and everything from that point on was ok. It just burned me that I wasted time providing them with the same information they already had

All in all great cruise, although would have liked to have had special muster for wheelchair passengers. By the time we got my dad down to our muster station, it was over and it was hell and very frustrating trying to get back to the elevators to get back to our cabin. Our muster was in The Manhattan Room and it was VERY VERY CROWDED.

I agree, Headliners is an awful design, not well thought out.

Enjoyed your review, cruised the same week and bottom line we enjoyed ourselves but we also realized we are not fan of "sea days", in which this cruise had plenty of them.

So sad it's Tortola. :(

Which beach has the monkeys, water sports, etc...reggae?

We were at Shipwreck last year and they had the monkeys and stand up paddleboarding.

Looking forward to returning to St. Kitts next year and going to Carambola! :)

I was able to sign up for the wine package on the Breakaway last week. The signups were located at the Mixx bar outside Savor and Taste restaurants when we stopped in for lunch after boarding.

I booked the three dinner package also. But I'll ask the staff if you get a bottle if you book a specialty on the first night. In my mind, the package of 3 specialty dinners is a great deal. Especially when you price them out individually.

 

 

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It is a good deal, we really enjoyed it on the Breakway. We didn't book a specialty the first night, we booked the Cirque show and because it was the first night, we received 10% off and saved $50. I figured that was worth more than a bottle of wine.

We then spread out our specialty dining to the other days of the week and worked around the MDR menu. The Signature Trio restaurants on the Breakaway were all excellent and well worth the $57 total for all three of them.

Any photos of or first hand info on the small cabanas yet?

For the last 3 weeks now none of the port stops to GSC have occurred due to high winds.

I have asked on the Carnival website, but I know there are alot of seasoned cruisers on this site also. Booked on the Valor/San Juan Sept 7, 2014. Which side-Port Side or Starboard usually faces land most of the time? Thanks for your answers!

I'll give you a tip. Book starboard side. When you leave Barbados and go to St. Lucia, if you wake up about 5:00 a.m. and look out from your Balcony, you'll be able to see the Pitons of St. Lucia. Really breathtaking!

For our cruise on the Victory (same itinerary) last year:

San Juan - port side

St. Thomas - starboard side

Barbados - starboard side

St. Lucia - port side

St. Kitts - starboard side

St. Maarten - port side

We booked Gust Appreciation - Shore Excursion Credit sale yesterday and I was able to pick my room.

The cost of the Shore Excursion credit was only $10 pp more than without the credit so it was worth it to us, since we plan on taking at least one Carnival excursion in the 5 islands we will be visiting.

Get out - we were looking at this trip as well! I like the different islands, and I like that we only need to fly one way!

Me too, and it's the flight down that you only have to buy, which should be relatively inexpensive, I don't plan on paying more than $200. It's the return ticket at the end of "jersey" week that the rates skyrocket, but we won't need to purchase tickets upon return.

It's an 8 day cruise, leaves Saturday at 10:00 p.m., gets into NY on Sunday; San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Kitts, Sea Day, Grand Turk, Sea Day, Sea Day, New York City