xenagurl

I really like a lot of them for a variety of reason but the two most memorable for me are Sinan Ulucay (Gem) and Gary Gladding (Jade).

I wonder if Sinan will be back? :(

Nice to see this thread moving again. I'm always curious as to who is performing there. JP Parent did a New York and Toronto show recently. Unfortunately we missed it as we were on the Breakaway at the time. Hopefully we'll see him again one of these days.

Me thinks that's him. He is a nice guy

 

Exactly. He's friendly and I believe it's cultural for him. There's nothing meant by it, that's just him.

Just tell him you don't like to kiss.... that should take care of that problem.....

Exactly. He's a pro, he caters to guests whims, he understand that all will not like the same thing. Simply saying "Carlos, you're so lovable but I'm not much of a kisser/hugger." is all that needs to be done.

Thanks for sharing. We have a long day in Agadir and I'm looking for options outside the city that will give us a more realistic flavor of the country.

I just noticed that you have a travel blog. I'm going to check it out!

 

I had a chance to spend time there alone as a solo female traveler,

 

I am looking at going on a middle eastern cruise as a solo female traveler, did you find anything about it difficult? I have traveled extensively on my own but never to the ME.

 

I've only traveled to North African countries as a solo female. Egypt and Morocco. (In Egypt I took overnight tours) Some of the cultures can be similar to Asia Minor such as speaking various dialects of Arabic, but they have their own flavor, especially Morocco as it's on the other side of Africa.

 

My Arabic is quite limited, my French too and I don't speak Moroccan Arabic. with all of that it was still a very pleasant, interesting and eye opening experience. You'll pay less for things if you speak French than if you speak English. And you're average Moroccan will speak French and Moroccan Arabic. Plenty speak English, Spanish, German and Japanese as well. They definitely have the term polyglot down to a science.

 

Vendors in El Fnaa can be a bit pushy but not overly aggressive, and they're not out and in your face the way they are in Cairo and the surrounds.

As with any place keep your wits about you and be careful of where you are alone at night. I'd suggest staying in a nice Riad where the owners will take an interest in you and have a great time. If you've traveled solo comfortably in any large city, you'll be fine in Marrakech. The other areas that I went to I felt comfortable in as well. You'll meet interesting people from all over the world and want to go back.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

I love

Morocco

It's a exciting place! I look forward to going back.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Keith

Thanks for checking it out. :)

It looks like you had a really nice time! I'll catch up on reading the rest this afternoon. :)

Very good write up. I love cruising, but when Park West goes the way of the dinosaur (if it ever does) I'll be happy. The same for the Elemis spas. However...if that's one of the ways of keeping costs down, I'll deal with it.

Well done review and great photos. Thanks for sharing!

Did they have the Burn the Floor performance in the MDR during the Transatlantic?

Thanks Xena, Breakaway being a new ship and I've been following her for months on Everything Breakaway, this is one tour I don't want to miss.

 

We are the last cruise to Bermuda in October. Good news about Sean. Hope he is still there. We had such a great time with him on the Star. So many reviews I've been reading mention the "disconnect" between staff and crew. This is not the NCL I know. I'm sure Sean will straighten this out.

 

I'll manage something re the Ship's Tour - even if I go on the tour and cut out early for the meeting. Thanks for your help.

That's definitely understandable. I'm sure it'll be interesting!

I didn't get that feeling at all (regarding the disconnect), but perhaps others encountered something that I didn't. Disconnect as if to say that they're not working together smoothly? If that's the case it's not something that we experienced at all.

I've several posts on my blog about various cities in Morocco. I'm posting the links and a few photos, hopefully it can give you some ideas on what to see when you're there.

I had a chance to spend time there alone as a solo female traveler, however due to the lovely Riad that I stayed at, I felt as if the owners were old friends.

Marrakech Morocco - part 1

http://travelxena.com/marrakech-morocco-part-1/

Marrakech Morocco - part 2

http://travelxena.com/marrakech-morocco-part-2/

Ait Ben Haddou, Ouarzazate and the Tizi n Tichka pass

http://travelxena.com/ouarzazate-tizi-n-tichka-pass-and-ait-ben-haddou-morocco/

Essaouira - Seaside City

http://travelxena.com/essaouira-morocco-an-african-seaside-city/

Thanks Xena - problem with that is that I'm organizing the M&G Meeting :eek:.

That's what I was doing and why I missed it as well. I thought of seeing if Dh could go in my place, but we figured we'd do the tour the next time around. Perhaps you can ask if you can go on the paid tour instead due to the conflict and since you will be organizing the M&G. They might consider it. I'm not sure when you're going but Sean Wurmhoering is the HD for the next few months, the same one that was on the Star when we were there, so perhaps a note to him would help.

Thank you Pat! :D Good to see you around here, I hope that you've been having a great year. :)

I didn't go on the tour I believe that it was at 10am and I knew that it would overlap. One member that went said that he left before it was over to at least stop by the M&G and that was about 40 minutes in. So unfortunately for the free behind the scenes tour it's definitely an either or situation.

Xena, just catching up with the reviews now. Yours was excellent as always! Love, love your interviews.

 

One question I have is concerning the Platinum Ship's Tour. Others have said it was scheduled the same time as the Meet & Greet Meeting. Was this the case on your sailing? How did you handle that?

Hello Xena, I am just now catching up with other reviews. Love your review, I think I might need another trip to Bermuda to see Tobacco Bay, looks like my kind of place :).

Hi Gambee. Thank you for checking it out. You've been doing a lot of work! I've enjoyed reading your review...chock full of info. :) You'd enjoy Tobacco Bay. Beautiful place. I hope to see you on the Breakaway again one of these days. :)

Sorry! The Prohibition Party is unique to Allure - it's because the big production show in the theater on Allure is the musical Chicago. The Prohibition Party picks up on the 20's gangster era theme from the show. It's not offered on any other ship.

Judy

Thanks for the info. :)

Does anyone know if this is held on the Jewel of the Seas as well?

For those that love Rosie of Fire and Ice fame, here are some pictures of her in action. I'll upload some video soon and post the link here too.

She is so amazingly fit and is a true fitness inspiration as well. !

Wahoo Restaurant in St. Georges Bermuda. Not my favorite place but it had a nice view.

A beautiful door that we passed by. There's a better pic of in the full blog post.

Thousands of photos here

I'm sure you'll have a great time. There's lots to do for anyone and everyone!

Thanks for sharing. It's good to hear that you enjoyed the entertainment as well. Sinan really is tops!

Tobacco bay and great place for kids and nervous swimmers to snorkel.

and the surroundings

Unfinished cathedral

http://travelxena.com/st-georges-bermuda-and-photos-around-the-norwegian-breakaway/

St. Georges Bermuda and Photos around the Norwegian Breakaway

Last but not least from our enjoyable cruise on the ship is our wanderings around St. Georges Bermuda and some random photos from areas of the ship. We spent the first day in Bermuda on the ship enjoying the water slides since most people were on shore, the second day we head to St. Georges and the third we just spent a few hours around dockyards. Frankly there’s not much to do there besides go to a small mall or eat at one of the restaurants there, so we sat around enjoyed the sun and breeze and picked up some water to take back on the ship. The photos below are from the second day.

In order to take the buses or ferries you can use tokens or passes. They have 1, 2 and 3 day passes available. Prices for them have gone up significantly since last year, so we opted for a two day pass and actually wound up wasting money since we didn’t use it on the last day. Honestly in future we’ll probably by tokens for when we need the ferry since we don’t spend all three days wandering the island anyway.

You can buy the passes at the tourist booth that’s right there as you get to the end of the pier. You can also get them in the little information shop that’s right in the center in the area where the ferries and buses stop.

We made our way to the unfinished cathedral, Tobacco bay and the surrounding area along with Fort Catherine, we stopped off for a bit to eat and then head back on the ferry. We walked about 2 miles total and it was nice to feel our legs stretch on land in the warm sun. I’ll be adding some more photos soon.

Waiting for more. I have the most fun reading Ben and his assistant's reviews!