Mom2B&Z

ITA that cleanliness, decent food and friendly crew are a given.

Our big thing is activities. We are a family of 4 and like things to do together as well as apart. A variety of things to do is very important and a big reason why we enjoy cruising. This includes ship amenities like water slides, rock walls, ropes course but also cruise staff activities like trivia.

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Looking at Breakaway's March sailings. Noticed that there's nothing listed from March 11-18th. Is there no cruise that week, or is it just sold out?

That’s Ontario March break, we’ve been on Breakaway three times for March break and it was always sold out.

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It’s worth it to be in the Haven :)

I would call and see how much it would cost to book one of these cabins instead of dealing with the upgrade bidding. The H9 cabins are often a less expensive way to access the Haven.

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Our first cruise was with children this age, they are now 13 and 10. Vacations with children this age aren’t the usual “relax and enjoy” trip, they can be busy and need some planning, but we have great memories of our adventures :)

You will probably need a stroller, if not to carry all the stuff you will have for embarkation, disembarkation and possibly some ports. Most bring an umbrella stroller, we used a cheap one and it was fine. We also did baby wearing, so I wore ds2 in many ports and around the ship. I found it easier than dealing with the stroller, but it was what we were used to.

You can explore ports by foot or bus without a car seat, we always brought car seats if travelling by taxi. I purposefully booked tours with vehicles with seat belts and top tethers. I volunteered as a car seat technician for years and was comfortable installing car seats quickly in many vehicles. Personally I would not allow my child (or myself!) to travel unrestrained in a vehicle. You cannot hold a child safely on your lap, it’s not physically possible.

As for splash academy and bathroom use, the policy is the child must be able to do everything themselves. You have time to practice before you go, and I would start now. Keep in mind splash academy isn’t always like daycare, sometimes my kids loved it and other times they hated it. Some people do have their kids attend every hour that it is open, personally I don’t see those kids having a lot of fun after a few days.

As for other hints, bring whatever comforts your kids with you! If that means a favourite pillow, book, fork, cup...bring it. It will be worth the hassle to have them see some familiar comforts of home while they are away. Start talking about the ship, what happens when you get to port, what you will do to get onto the ship, look at pictures of things you can do on the ship so they start to get excited. We even include our boys in the conversation about what to do in port, at that age it was a fairly simple conversation, now they do some of the research :)

Good luck!

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I'm sailing on the Gem (March 2018) out of NYC for the Caribbean and I was thinking that at this time of year the sea might be rough any ideas.?

 

 

 

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We have sailed out of NYC in March 4 times. Sometimes it’s smooth sailing, other times it’s a bit rough. You never really know.

I suggest planning for the worst and hoping for the best!

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Agreed. They use the same garbage rate for shore excursions as well. I understand rates fluctuate, but ~10% above market currency is just silly.

I think it depends on the rate they were offering when you booked. I just calculated the exchange rate for our next cruise which was booked about 6 months ago, and it’s 74.5 cents. Not bad, but I believe the loonie is around 80 cents right now. I’ll be checking out the bank rate before I prepay this time.

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We have stayed in deck 9 and 12 H6 cabins on Breakaway, there was definitely a difference in the amount of noise from spice h20, with the deck 9 cabin being significantly quieter. In the deck 12 cabin we had to keep the balcony door locked and closed at night to avoid noise in the cabin.

Enjoy, these are our favourite cabins in the fleet!

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We usually prepay, however this time we probably won't. When you buy the cruise in Canadian dollars, the exchange rate is locked in. Our is about 35% I think. Since the exchange is so much lower now, I'll just pay in US funds on board. It's not a lot in savings, but it's always better in my pocket that theirs :)

Good point. Sometimes the exchange rate benefits us, sometimes it does not.

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We are platinum, but had the 10% discount applied to our children who are not platinum officially and were staying in our cabin. This was on Breakaway in March 2017.

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I'm from Canada and always prepay. About to head on my third NCL cruise, and I paid my gratuities a couple weeks ago. No hassle. On your edocs it shows that the gratuities are prepaid. Never had an issue.

Agreed. We too are from Canada, this will be our 10th NCL cruise. We prepay either through our TA or online via edocs. I print a copy of the confirmation showing they are paid just in case there is a mixup onboard, but never had to use it.

Definitely simplifies the onboard account.

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We also love suites, but did a balcony on POA. With our platinum perks, we had priority tender (which is only needed in Kona), boarding and disembarkation. POA isn’t like most other cruises, it’s very laid back and we never had a problem with crowds, getting a seat in the dining room etc.

I’d save the money and put it towards a cool excursion or a few extra nights in Hawaii.

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Boarding: as soon as you get inside the Manhattan terminal, find a staff member and ask them to direct you to the Haven check in. Our experience has been sometimes you get a shorter security line, sometimes you don’t. Once past security, ask again for the Haven line. You should be directed to a small room where they will take your photo, give you your cabin cards, and have snacks while you wait. The room is small and fills up quickly.

Gym: No special haven area, but my experience has been if you go in the afternoon it’s much less busy than in the morning. Sometimes the trainers will come chat, I freaked one out when I told him I was doing a 2.5hr bike ride! Half Ironman training...

Butler will bring anything you want to your cabin, just clarify whether there will be a charge when you call to order.

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We’ve used aeroplan points to buy gift certificates for our travel agency, which then applies it to our cruise. It’s long and convoluted, taking multiple months in some cases. Hopefully your points program is better than this one!

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Best coffee on Breakaway is whatever is in the French press in the Haven restaurant.

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I have one experimental eater and one meat and potatoes kind of kid. Both have found things they can eat on the suite menu, and occasionally ask for something a bit less interesting. Occasionally we let them eat at the buffet :) Your other option is to eat in your suite and order what each person likes, it means some running around for the butler but it can solve this issue rather nicely.

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On our March 11-18 2017 Epic cruise there were a lot of Canadian families. They were all extremely friendly and well mannered. Why would people on the Breakaway (NYers??) be horrified? I am from NY.

We were in the Haven and some people were not happy there were lots of families on that sailing.

I’m not insinuating that it was people from NY that were upset, but they definitely did not consider the Canadian school breaks when making their decision on timing. I think they were looking for a quiet retreat, which wasn’t exactly what they got. I vividly remember them glaring at our family as we walked into the Haven restaurant every morning for breakfast, even though my boys were well behaved.

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As someone else said, spring break varies all around the country, so assume there will be many kids on that sailing. You will also find that sailings out of Florida also attract many South Americans who travel with their families and large groups. Then, there are the homeschoolers and also people who have no hesitation in taking their kids out of school for a cruise.

 

 

 

I could go on and on with special weeks that attract certain groups, like Yeshiva parents or the Hispanic populations who celebrate their daughter turning 15 and book in large groups.

 

 

 

In reality, there are only a few months (not March and April) that are relatively "safe".

 

 

 

Don’t forget the Canadians! In Ontario, schools have a week off in March, usually the second or third week. I’ve seen some people on Breakaway be horrified that they were on a ship crowded with Canadian families.

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We’ve had an aft penthouse suite on Breakaway twice, the first butler was mediocre, the second was ok. They both seemed overworked and stressed compared to the butler we had for the SC on the Star. Meals were delivered hot, but there wasn’t the friendly banter and conversation that happened with our butler on the Star.

On our second Breakaway trip, I got sick and didn’t eat the meal delivered to our cabin. The butler started to chastise me for wasting food until I asked for ginger ale to settle my stomach :). He was much nicer after that!

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We *love* the aft penthouse suites (H6) which are obviously located outside the Haven. We rarely spent time in the Haven as we had our own private balcony of bliss. I wouldn’t hesitate to book an H6.

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Usually a letter comes at 50 days out with the luggage tags. Are you not getting these? Do you use a TA? Possible the letter gets routed from TA but not 100% sure on this as reports for those using TA and not using TA seem to be at 50 day mark. This may have changed over time though to being direct from NCL.

I get the luggage tags and the generic letter that comes with them, but never the list of items that can be requested. This is twice on Breakaway and once on the star. We are booked in a SC on the Gem and this is the first time we got the magic letter.

We book through a TA, but the preconcierge letter came to my email.

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This is our fourth suite and first amenity email from pre concierge. With all the negative responses on cc about requests actually being fulfilled, I haven’t bothered contacting them.

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I always pack long sleeve shirts and pants for the first and last days at sea. If we happen to be able to wear shorts, great! Otherwise we are prepared.

My favourite trick is to send the clothes we wear on the ship and on the first day to the laundry, so we can reuse the same clothes on the last sea day and for the trip home. Saves some room in the suitcases since pants and long sleeve shirts take up more space than shorts and tshirts.

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The only difference is access to the Haven area, everything else is the same. On that class of ship, the Haven is small and doesn’t have amenities like private restaurant etc that are found on the bigger ships. There is an underlying air of higher class” amongst the staff when dealing with Haven/non-haven passengers, but it’s never meant a great deal to us. Plus there is often a significant difference in price between the two categories, which to us is not warranted.

We too book non-haven two bedroom suites and love it! Enjoy your trip!

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Disagree all you want, but it isn't going to change my (and many others who say the same thing) opinion on the second bedroom. It is less space than an inside cabin.

Just because I don’t agree with “you and many others” doesn’t mean I’m entitled to my opinion.

This is the whole point of cruise critic: for people to express their opinions. We love the two bedroom suite, it suits our family very well. I acknowledge it may not work for others.

It’s unfortunate that you insist on everyone having your opinion.

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I understand and IMO it will always be about "you get what you pay for" and unfortunatley, Sunwing will continue to offer these packages to customers who haven't done enough research to realize that this company has a problem following through and making things right for their customers. I used SunWing once! that's it. Will not use them again and as a retiree, I understand about the cost of doing business... You can't blame the agents for trying to make a sale if you don't do your research to understand the consequences...

 

 

 

I'm a Canadian too and will not use SunWing again but I do understand that some feel they get a good deal with lower prices for their vacations... I do my own research and don't regret what I choose...

 

 

 

Enjoy your cruises...

 

Cheers :champagne-toast:

Cheers to you too!

Sunwing is the one with the champagne toast, right? ;)

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