1witchydiva

Thanks very much for your review 1witchdiva! If I could ever get that cabin and balcony there is no way I would ever leave!!! That would become my new home forever...squatters rights or something like that! :)

Your welcome.

I overheard my daughter telling my husband...... "Daddy , I think mommy is going to handcuff herself to the balcony, so she doesn't have to leave." Lol. Trust me, it was painful leaving that room. And leaving the butler and the room steward???? Yikes. It was a sad morning. Lol

So glad you enjoyed the cruise. The Haven sounds wonderful! Our tiny balcony was, well, tiny!!!!

 

Just thought I would let you know that yes, the chair hogs were out in full force. I was up and at the pool deck around 7:30 on sea days. I saw one lady each morning holding 12-16 chairs with towels, flip flops, bags. The first morning her husband showed up at 8:30 and nobody else until after 10. Terrible! There were many more who did the same.

 

Some people are just plain rude, what can you do?

 

;0)

Sigh.... I was hoping that the chair hogs weren't out in full force.

I am so sorry that we didnt cross paths again on the ship. I wanted to tell you and Gershep---Party on my balcony !!!! :) That would have been awesome....:D

Hi Diva, BTW, you didn't mention how/when you sprung the "Suite" surprise on your family and what their reaction was...do tell :D !!!

Omg , your right. I did forget.

They did not figure it out till we got to the pier . As we got thru the baggage area, my husband was looking for which line for deck 14. I grabbed his hand and told him "our line is here" and I was standing in front of the woman with the haven sign . He just stared at me and I said surprise. My family looked shocked lol. My husband said that he can't believe I did not tell them for so long . I got a big hug and kiss when we walked into the haven area at the pier.

When he saw the room he said holy blank blank. Are you sure this is the right room? When he saw that gorgeous balcony, he was hooked and I was the bomb. Lol :)

My daughter kept saying thank you, it's beautiful. My son asked me when did we become rich and forget to tell him???!!!! Lol.

The family loved the haven perks.

So, I pulled off my surprise and everyone had a wonderful time.

Now, that two years worth of planning and waiting is over, I feel sad. And I don't want to go back to the reality of work etc. Guess planning another cruise will help with this blah feeling. :)

Glad you had a great time!

Thanks....me too.....:) Except after two years of planning, I feel lost that its over....wwwaaaahhhhhh And I am already craving that darn pretzel bread.....

Thanks for the great review. I like your last comment, "I would not book so many specialty restaurants. I think I would have taken it day by day.".

 

That is what I think I would do also. Missing Slam Allen at Fat Cats because of a dinner ressie is just not acceptable! I figure I can always find something to eat somewhere around my entertainment!:)

Thank you. :)

You can always find something to eat,somewhere. :)

Awesome review... Thanks. :)

Thank you. :)

Thank you for your great review. If I had that balcony, I would NEVER leave my cabin...lol.

Thank you. Trust me, I did not want to leave that balcony. My daughter made a joke that I was going to handcuff myself to that balcony,so I wouldnt have to leave...:)

Welcome home

Thanks for blogging from the ship and the wonderful review!

 

Sounds like you had a great time but you did strike that familiar theme of event areas to small for the amount of people. After all the heat NCL took about Epic you would think the designers would get it right LOL

Thank you and your welcome. :)

Maybe others had better experiences with the venues. All I know is I kept trying to go see Slam Allen, fire and ice etc, and it was always packed. The staff kept telling me not to even attempt to go to h20 for the fireworks, too packed. Go figure. Lol

And the truth is, if I wasn't a haven guest I wouldn't have gotten decent seats for rock of ages or jungle fantasy. We were escorted for jungle before anyone else was let it and they had a few rows blocked off for haven guests for the rock of ages show.

I loved reading your review. We are going on the breakaway haven in August. I want to pre-book some specialty restaurants and keep other nights as "go with the flow ". What times do the shows and entertainment usually start?

They changed the times from when I pre booked for rock of ages. It was supposed to be 7pm and they changed it to 630 pm. There was one jungle fantasy at 9. I think they had an earlier one too. As soon as I finish unpacking, I will let you know all the times. The dailies are here somewhere, but I can't find them yet. :)

Sorry I forgot about the ice bar. What can I say except hubby wanted to go, I went and froze. Lol. They give you jackets and gloves. If anyone plans on going, I would recommend long pants and closed shoes. I went in with sandals and shorts, and my legs were freezing. It is not that large, which may not be so bad as you can all huddle together for warmth. :). 20 dollars per person and that includes 2 drinks. They were taking reservations in front of the ice bar.

Great review! Did you have to use the service of the concierge for anything? If you did, how accomodating was he/she? Did you get escorted into the shows and did you have to get tickets earlier?

 

We are so excited that we are going to be at the Epic Haven in six weeks.

 

Thanks

We had pre booked Rock of Ages but not jungle fantasy. I booked that as soon as I got on the ship with the I concierge app. Ryan was our concierge in the Haven area . He had a few people working with him. My husband booked the dive excursion with the concierge. They were wonderful, as they took all the information and sent the paperwork to the excursion desk. They were always smiling when you walked by.

For Jungle Fantasy show, we met at the concierge desk 45 minutes before and they escort you down and told us to sit wherever we wanted. Obviously we had great seats. :)

On Breakaway, that was the only show we met at the concierge desk for. My butler said he would personally escort us to any shows if we wanted. Rock of ages, had a few rows blocked off for haven guests .

Have a great cruise!!!! :)

Glad to hear you had a good time. It's much appreciated that you provided a balanced review. Everything wasn't perfect, everything wasn't horrible, bottom line you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much. I was really trying to do a balanced review. :)

Heavenly bliss--- the suite life.....

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag27/1witchydiva/66CAB28C-9373-4FB3-B25F-47C2007DDB22-123-0000001380A216D4_zpsd46fe1d4.jpg

Haven area

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag27/1witchydiva/95B5827A-81F3-423D-8062-C45F27E811F7-768-000000760ACFDDC3_zps524e7d5c.jpg

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag27/1witchydiva/48AB76BB-BB13-4AE6-9233-73DC047153C1-780-00000076D5243C63_zps8014aead.jpg

Second bathroom

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag27/1witchydiva/44172F09-68A8-46C0-80DD-1B9BDFAFAB3E-833-000000E6C45C73FC_zps9d77c22c.jpg

Bath tub. Notice how you have to raise your leg up a bit to enter.

View of Bermuda from balcony.

Haven area

Fireworks from the balcony

The couch opened

The heavenly balcony

Excuse the mess

This is my first review and I have only been on NCL ships, so I cant compare to other cruiselines. My family consists of my hubby and myself, my son 16 years old and my daughter who is 12 years old. We had no special dietary issues, only one of us has a food allergy- grapes. We are failrly new to cruising,although already addicted, and we are really easy going and we dont ask for much. This was also the first time that we stayed in a suite. I booked this cruise in 2011 as a surprise for hubby. No one in my family knew we were staying in a suite or that we would have Haven access. I managed to not tell my family for almost two years.

I am breaking it down into sections, so you can skip over what it not important to you.

Gambee, Slice of Life and Xenagurl, did awesome photo intensive and video, reviews. I can not top the best, so mine will not be as in depth.

Embarkation- We got there early, around 10am. The sight of this ship in person for the first time is amazing. Absolutey breathtaking. Very quick walk through the baggage security line. After we went through there, there was a woman standing there holding a Haven sign. We went with her to the Haven area. Juice,fruit and cookies were available. We did our card pictures, and we sat and we were boarded at 1115am. They took us straight to the Haven area. Ryan was our concierge and he gave a small speech. He was very friendly. We were told at noon the Haven restaurant would be open for lunch and our rooms would also be ready at that time. While we were waiting, the staff brought around burgers and fries and sandwiches.

Haven Restaurant- The Haven restaurant was good. Staff very very nice and friendly. We had pre- purchased the unlimited soda package. One staff member took our cards, and went to go the stickers put on our cards and got the cups for us. Mr S, the Maitre D of the Haven Restaurant was fantastic. He went to every single table and talked to everyone.

Sailaway- we stayed on the Haven deck and we were lucky enough to be able to sit on one of the little beds. Beautiful view. The Haven staff were coming around offering drinks.

Elevators- Sometimes it was hard to get an elevator, sometimes it was not. In all fairness, I may have found it a little harder than others, since not all elevators go to floor 16. Just be aware they close quick. It closed on my husband a few times.

Room-S6 Deck 14-14272. What can I say except , I love that room. Love, love love it. We measured the balcony at 8 feet deep and around 20 feet across. The balcony had 2 lounge chirs, 2 wicker chairs with a little table, and a seating table with 4 more chairs. Master bathroom had double sinks, a seperate room with door for the bathroom and shower .I believe the closet space is different here than on deck 11. We had 3 different closets. One in the master bedroom is a double. Their is a closet right before you walk into the master mathroom and one in the hallway. When you first walk in is the second bathroom. It has just a sink ,toilet and a shower. It also has some storage areas.

The bath tub is a really nice size. Just to note--you have to raise your leg up a bit to get in. If anyone has mobility issues, they might need a helping hand getting in or out.

There were two flat panel televisions. One in the master bedroom and one in the living room area.There were also two dvd players. There is a vanity table with a blow dryer, magnifying mirror. We were all very happy with the amount of storage we had.

If you are planning to use the sofa bed for sleeping, please ask for two pillow toppers. That bed is really hard. My kids slept fine and did not complain but I noticed how hard it was when I sat on it.

The noise from h20 did not bother us the first night. I heard the music from a distance. The second night on----it was a bit annoying. I was okay, but my kids had a hard time falling asleep. They turned on the television and that helped. .The base for a few minutes was so bad. I can only describe it as an elephant in a tutu dancing. That is the first image that came to my mind.It only lasted 5-10 minutes and then it was lowered to a much better level. Hubby and I went out to the balcony and listened to the music and danced. If you cant beat em, join em. I was not surprised when noone wanted to get up early in the morning.

I get violently seasick but I wanted this room. I usually stay midship. I can tell you that in my personal experience, the aft has more motion than I initially thought it would. I felt a side to side rocking a lot. It did not bother my husband, son or daughter. I appeared to be the one that felt it the most. Thankfully, I had the patch on so it did not ruin my vacation. Also, it did appear to get better for me as the days went on. Then Saturday morning, it was really rocking. I asked Armando and he said this is usually how it is on Saturday as the boat is moving much faster. He offered green apples, which really helped. He also reccommended not to lay down. Get some air and go somewhere. We also folowed that advice, and I did feel better. What could I expect? I am on a boat. :)

I did notice with this particular room, the divider for the balcony next door is sort of rounded. I am saying that because privacy may be an issue for some. They can definately see onto your balcony and you can easily see over to theirs. All you have to do with be to go to the end of the balcony, turn your head slightly and you can see the other balcony.

I will tell you that if you stay in the S6, and you plan on going to the haven frequently, it is a long walk. I just wanted to let anyone know who may not want to walk or unable to walk long distances. Personally, I will take an S6 again and walk. The balcony and aft views were that amazing.

The hallways are very narrow. When a cleaning cart in in the hallway, you have to really squeeze by, sometimes walking sideways. I did saw many with scooters and wheelchairs. I hope some one who was utilizing one, can share their experiences on if they had any issues . It is narrow.

As we were leaving the ship to go to Bermuda, the hallway where room 5200 was, on deck 5, was much wider than I saw on other decks. Definately not as narrow.

Room Steward- Anna was the absolute best. I adored her,as did my husband and children. Towel animals every night. She kept the room beautiful. She always stopped by to see if we needed anything. She was very friendly too.It was my birthday on Monday and I guess she rang the bell and we did not hear it, as we were all on the balcony. :) She went to the room next to us and stuck her head over from the balcony and said Happy Birthday. She gave me a cupcake and a card.

Haven-The Haven was sold out this cruise I was told. It was definately not empty. I believe this is to be expected as I chose prime time-July- to cruise. Very hard to find a chair on the first floor by the pool on sea days, but many,many were available on the upper decks. There were a lot of families that I saw in The Haven. There were also all age groups. There are only 7 lounge chairs around the Haven poolside on the first deck.There are 6 in the water.

I am not complaining, I am just going to state the facts below:

Kids were in all the hottubs on the first day. I saw no adults in the pool on embarkation day untill after 8pm.

I only saw one child doing cannonballs into the Haven pool. I also saw tub toys in the Haven pool. Including a pail. I saw this on emarkation day and the last day. It did not ruin our Haven experience. Again,I am just stating what I saw. We met some wonderful people. From the US and as far as Switzerland.

On most evenings, the Haven pool area was empty . We were the only ones there.

The Haven staff were wonderful. I had a wonderful experience with anyone I dealt with in the Haven area.

I did not have any negative interactions with any of the cruisers in the haven.

Butler- Our bulter was Armando and he was fantastic. He introduced himself to me and my family, as we were in the Haven area waiting for our rooms. He gave me his card with his extension number. He said he would be by later on after everyone was settled in but to call him if we needed anything before then. He stopped by the room a few hours later and went over the coffee maker, room service, escorting to shows if we wanted. We spent some time talking to him. He told us the hours that he would be working but reminded us that we can call anytime as there is a night butler that covers him. He was so sweet to my kids. Talking to them,asking questions, asking them what things do they like to do, what kind of food they like. He also came to sing Happy Birthday to me. :) He kept me supplied with my pretzel bread right out of the oven. We didnt ask for too much. We did have breakfast in the room many days. It was easier than trying to get my kids up and moving. If you get him as your butler, just tell him what you want or need from him. He was not intrusive but he kept reminiding us to call him if we needed anything. He brought afternoon snacks everyday.

Main Pool---- I did the plunge-Free fall slide. It was awesome. I loved it. The line looked a bit long but it went rather quick. No jewelry, no earrings, nothing. My hubby was removing my earings as we were waiting to go on. Water shoes were ok.

The pool area- I really , really want to say I loved it and it was wonerful--but I cant. It was so packed on sea days. I really think they needed to make larger pools or more of them. Again, I expected this as it is July. Kids pool, adult pool did not matter. Everyone was in both. There just wasnt enough room. I did not even attempt to get a chair. I did not go out to the pool area at 7 or 8 am,so I do not know if it was easier then to get a chair. Whenever I walked by, I saw tons of chairs with a towel, or a shoe or sunscreen but nobody in them. I did not stay around so I have no idea if those were the chair hogs in full force or not.

Cagneys We loved Cagneys. My daughter had the garlic shrimp, my son had the wagu sliders and the lobster and shrimp with linguini. I love that creme brulee.

Teppa- The family loved it. The cooks were joking around and interacting with everyone at the table. There were 3 tables in a row and they all started cooking at the same time.They started singing gangham style and dancing a bit. We enjoyed the food. They changed the rock of ages time from 7pm to 630pm. I had reserved Teppa for 5. Due to the time change, we could not have dessert to make the 630 pm show. I must say, that when the waitress at Teppa heard why we were not waiting for dessert, she had our dessert sent up to our room. When we returned to our room from Rock of Ages, our desserts were on the table.

Venues- I will say that I felt that the venues should have been made bigger. I wanted to go to Fat Catz,but I could not get in the door. Packed. I stood on the waterfront area so I could hear him ,but I couldnt see. All venues we attempted ,I noticed the same. Not anywhere near big enough for all the people that wanted to attend.

Rock Of Ages- I thought it was okay. Hubby liked it a lot. Personally, it was a little over an hour and a half long, I think they could have made it a bit shorter. But thats just my opinion. I know this been said a million times, but it is really not for kids. The woman were dressed in bra and underwear and garter belts. Some cursing. And a part of the stage set was a Live Nude sign. Sexual innuendo.

Fire and Ice--- I enjoyed watching them. I was only able to get a seat in the Atrium once to watch them. It was packed. I stood the other times.

Cirque- I enjoyed the show. They have a set menu, but they will work with you if you have food allergies etc. I thought the food was okay but I liked the show better. :)

Ocean Blue-Eh, it was okay. I liked the fried calamari and the Delmonico steak. We may have enjoyed it more but Saturday was a very rocky sea day and we werent feeling our best. Personally, I do not think I would pay that high an amount again.

Dining -Osheenans- Service was a bit slow and the food was okay. No complaints.

Excursions -We did the dolphin encounter. It was expensive but I think it was worth it. We had so much fun playing and interacting with the dolphins. They do not allow you to bring a camera to the dolphin area. They take pictures. (Who is surprised about that ) lol The pictures are sort of expensive too but they offer packages.The staff were wonderful and made sure we all got to interact with the dolphins. It was only our family with one specific worker. Her name was Rebecca and she was great.

Hubby went scuba diving. He did the two tank dive.My daughter did not want to join him. Something about no way am I diving in the Bermuda Triangle. :) If you scuba, make sure you have your Pad card with you. They request to see it before you can dive. There are also a few releases you have to sign.

Horsehoe Bay-We took the excursion thru the boat. A bus picked us at at the end of the pier. The bus dropped us off in the parking lot of the beach. Very nice beach. You can rent a chair and umbrella, Cash only on the beach.

Wifi- The package in Bemuda-for 3 days is 15.00. I was able to connect from the aft balcony. At times it was very fast and at times a little spotty. That is to be expected. The ships was very slow and expensive. You can go to the dock in Bermuda and get the internet card. They accept cash only there. You can also purchase the internet package with your phone or computer, and use a credit card. I believe they only accepted Visa or Mastercard.

Fireworks- We were able to see the fireworks from our balcony. Perfect view. They exploded right above the balcony level. Mr S and other staff reccommended we stay on our balcony as h20 was packed. I can not say if you could see them clearly from other balconies. There were at 1045 pm on Friday night.

Disembarktion- We carried our own baggage off. A long line on 7 to get off and then a line to get thru customs. They made us walk across the street for a cab. That is different that the last time we sailed out of New York. We just took the elevator to the second floor and grabbed a cab.

Final thoughts-- I loved the Breakaway. We had so much fun. Personally, I would not sail the Breakaway again during the busy, packed times, unless I was in the Haven. I really think having the Haven area was a huge plus for us. We could get away from the crowds if we wanted too. And that S6 balcony, who really needed to go anywhere? :)

Because of the size of the ship and the size of the venues, you need to pre-book most of your shows or specialty restaurants. I think that kind of takes away a bit of the freestyle concept. I found that we had to do things around our pre-booked restaurants and shows. Not a deal breaker but I never had to do all this pre-booking before. Again, just my opinion. Of course when I tried to change to different times, everything was booked or we would have had to eat dinner at 10 pm. If I was ever to be fortunate enough to be Haven guest again, I do not think I would book so many specialty restaurants. I think I would have just taken it day by day.

If I forgot anything, or anyone else has questions, ask away. I am having trouble posting pictures. I will keep trying.

Too funny LOL

It is the least I can do. Bear spent so much time on that spreadsheet for all of us. I have to get him numbers for that deck. :)

Don't forget to take pictures!!!!

Pictures, and more pictures. I promise. I am also packing my tape measure for the balcony. Lol. :)

Price out the Dawn, Sun, or any of the older ones. They are way cheaper than what we are paying for the Breakaway. As my daughter said "you picked a brand new ship to try a suite??" LOL I don't care .... I am so glad I booked it.

Thanks. I looked at the Gem, as hubby wants to do an Eastern Caribbean. When I saw the garden villa prices, I almost needed to call 911. Lol. All of the prices I saw were not something I could afford anytime soon. Not after the breakaway. :). Maybe in a few years. :)

So no extra off for returning guests. As you can see from my signature I cruise often so getting a great deal is always on my radar. Everyone's answers are great to give different perspectives. If we only did one big vacation every two years I'm sure we would upgrade but since we are retired sand like to get away frequently well stick to our balcony for now but I think I'll be on the lookout for a deal:):)

 

I knew that "rich" comment would get some responses. Everyone says that to us because we travel often but I just really shop for deals.

I think that if we were retired, I would definitely prefer to travel more frequently. I believe I would feel as you do. Look for deals and stay happy in my balcony. :) I am new to cruising and I'm already hooked. :)

Also the older ships are way cheaper than the newer ones.

Ya think???? Lol. I think the Breakaway was expensive, but I may be mistaken. I have only cruised ncl, and this will be our first suite. :)

There seems to be quite a lot of people on this board who are discussing suites, perks for suites, which suite to book. Is there a discount for suites for returning cruisers? Special discounts somewhere? What am I missing?

For my first NCL cruise on the Pride the difference between a balcony and a suite is $2700 per couple. That's another cruise for us. Are regular balconies that bad that so many upgrade to suites or are most NCL cruises on this board just wealthy;). Inquiring minds just want to know the secret.

Rich???? Hell no. :) Hubby and I both work full time. And I live in New York and pay 900 a month electric bills. :eek:

I have been saving and vacation and holiday club. It is four of us and even land vacations run into thousands of dollars. So, I save and we do a "nice" vacation every two years. The year in between, we do day trips or mini vacations-only a few days somewhere we can drive too. :)