FinlandGuy

Thank you for sharing your wonderful voyage.

Thank you for sharing this nice journey with us.

Thank you for the great review with pics and videos.

Thank you for taking us to your wonderful journey around the world.

If I remember correctly the Garden Cafe had some PG tips teabags available on top of the foil packed individual teabags (Juts black, Orange flavored black, Earl Gray, English breakfast, Lemon, Mint, etc). The foil packed tea bags were rather mild and usually I took two bags per cup.

I am currently on the epic on 10 day canneries and have not been changed for a drink vat or and tax

What's more have not had to sign for every drink either

I think it's because your cruise visits ports (Canary Islands) where the harmonized EU rules on VAT don't apply. Canary Islands are not part of the Community territory.

Went twice to La Cucina on my last Epic cruise. Good Osso Buco and good but very spicy Lobster Diavolo.

Two years ago we used Payless Car Rental. They picked us from the port parking and gave us a lift back. Good and friendly service. We rented a small car for getting us to an Orlando park for a few hours.

The other week on Norwegian Epic, our cabin steward mentioned something about "Norwegian Dragon", but it might just be a working name for the Asian fleet.

The Maitre d's on Oasis will really try to find you a suitable table and time. I was there last week, and the Grande dining room Maitre d's (especially on the left side of the entrance) was very nice and tried always to get us the table with the same nice waiter.

Just off the Oasis yesterday, and went to 150 Central Park, when they had the second menu with tuna or lamb. Cost was 30 pp, but as it was formal night we got a two for one deal. I know food is subjective, but I was rather deceived as it didn't have much taste. Or my expectations were too high.

Does anyone have experience on how long the taxi lines are in FLL on Saturdays around 12noon-1pm?

Also a company needs to be VAT registered to collect VAT. Therefore the receipt on purchase must mention the sellers VAT registration number. At least NCL had it clearly printed in any purchase receipt.

Unfortunately according to Meyer, these orders don't have anything to do with the Turku shipyard deal. So let's keep hoping there are other deal coming, i.e. from TUI.

The order of these two ships has been what Meyer Werft has been waiting in order to proceed with the deal on Turku shipyard, hopefully they will announce that soon.

 

<tongue-in-cheek>

As a Finn I much rather see Germans owning the shipyard after Norwegians who pretty much destroyed Finnish shipbuilding industry back in Aker days and Koreans who tried very hard to finish the job but eventually had to sell what they can in order to survive themselves. ;)

</tongue-in-cheek>

We also missed GSC last month, but it there was plenty to do (and eat) onboard. Breakaway seems to miss GSC often.

Good review. Thanks for taking the time to write.

Not entirely related, but on the Breakaway last month there seemed to be some problems with cabin keys on the first day. I couldn't enter my cabin at all and had to wait over 30 minutes in Guest Relations to get a new key. And based on discussion with fellow people in line, I wasn't the only one.

To start off New York had a cold front hit on Saturday prior to departure (from 50's to 20's with wind gusts to 35, freezing in Times Square area). First at sea day was freezing outside. Slides frozen and even salt on the decks so people wouldn't slip! Second day in Canaveral was warmer but mixed with rain. Still not warm enought to enjoy the outside decks and slides (I don't think the slides were open on 2nd day as well).

The slides were open already on the first day at sea (Monday). The free fall was great and the pool was heated (I'm used to cold).

Great way to propose! Wishing lots of happiness.

Just adding my two cents here as we (a party of 3) were on the cruise as well.

In the beginning we felt a bit crowded, but soon got used to it. For example, I usually went to swim at 5pm and often I was alone in the pool. As a gym freak, the fitness center was a big disappointment as it's clearly too small for the size of the ship (only one rowing machine, Gem had two) and only partial sea-view from the non-cardio room.

In the buffet we always managed to find a table after looking around for a minute or two. We always organize it so that first we all go and take drinks, then find a table, then two of us go take their food while one stays at the table with the drinks, and then the third goes to take some food. Specialty restaurants were good, especially enjoyed Bistro and I was wondering why I never tried it before. I was a bit disappointed in Cagney's menu because before they had the king crab legs (extra charge) which were great. Moderno was great as well, especially their salad table.

The Cirque performance was probably the best part of the cruise and well above the other entertainment performances.

I share the previous poster's opinion on the Guest Service. Huge queues, over 30 minutes waiting times and not very professional. We should have had a bottle of wine waiting in the cabin, but it was delivered only on the second last day of the cruise after complaining 3 times! They said that they had to check with head office if that bottle was promised to us or not (even if I had copies of the papers from our TA). I'm still angry at myself that I spent a total of over an hour waiting to get that cheap bottle of wine...

I could think of doing the Breakaway again, but not on the same itinerary.

When leaving for our Breakaway cruise the other week, we took a cab from our hotel on 36th Street at 11am to the port and the cab driver first tried to take us to the second level entrance through the ramp. The traffic was terrible and I asked to drop us near the ground level exit/entrance. At 11:30am the luggage leaving process was a bit chaotic as there was only one man handling the process.

We also had an issue on our first NCL cruise with Gem. We had bought the cruise through NCL office in Germany and we were offered OBC. The OBC never showed up during the cruise and Gem guest services had difficulties in contacting the NCL office in Germany. We also discussed it with the Finnish captain onboard Gem and he said that it's a well known issue that communication between the office and ships doesn't really work that well. After the cruise I complained to NCL Germany who first tried to offer me a certificate for the same amount for a future cruise, but when keeping complaining they agreed to transfer me the amount for the OBC.

Now I'm worried because I think we were promised a dinner a Cagney's for our Breakaway cruise and I can't see it on the cruise papers.

Thanks for the replies. I'm used to the finger prints and face pictures at US (and some other country) airport point of entries. I don't think they had eye scan yet in JFK's AA terminal in November 2012 when I was there last time. Wonder what's next...

Hopefully the immigration line for non-US citizens wont take too long so that we would still have some time to enjoy NY before our flight back home at 5pm.

Thank you for the answers. It seems that on some Fort Lauderdale based cruises the immigration agents board the ship in advance and all non-US citizens have to report early onboard and passengers aren't allowed to leave the ship before every foreigner is checked.

I tried to search but didn't find an answer, so hope someone could help. How does the immigration/passport control process take place for non-US citizens when coming back to NY from a Bahamas Breakaway cruise?