tripleboom

Advance Check-In is the name of the luggage service. While their desk is inside of the terminal building, they do not appear to have a direct affiliation with the port authority. You can find more info here: https://www.advancecheckin.com/

When we arrived back in port, we proceeded to the customs hall, located our luggage, were cleared by the customs officer, and then proceeded out into the hallway that is just inside from the Julia Street pick up/drop off area. About 50 yards past the customs officer we saw the desk for "Advance Check-In" luggage service where they had about a half-dozen staff members set to tag your bags. We then pre-paid for our luggage to be delivered to MSY, where we were able to pick it up at the baggage claim level later that evening. The fee is $25 for the first piece of luggage, $45 for 2-4 pieces of luggage, and $10 for each additional piece of luggage after 4. $55 lighter (plus tip) and five bags lighter we were then free to go catch our Uber to head to the WWII Museum. A great way to kill time until our late flight!

Glad you enjoyed it! We were in a B6 category balcony. Those are larger balconies further forward on the ship. We LOVED having the extra space out there, particularly to be able to have the lounge chairs present. Here's a video I took of the same class of cabin back in 2019: As for some of my favorite tips? Always do Taste or Savor for lunch of embarkation day. The buffet is a mad house, and the relaxed pace and good food in Taste or Savor are such a welcome chance to catch your breath after the craziness of boarding day. Buy some magnetic hooks on Amazon. Because the walls and ceilings are magnetic, it makes for a great way to hang wet swimsuits, belts, hats etc. Anything you can do to declutter the relatively small room the better. Don't forget that the drawers under the couch do pull out. If there are linens stored there, your steward should be able to remove them if they're unneeded, or find somewhere else to store them if they'll be needed later. NCL has done a great job with storage in these cabins, but we still need every nook and cranny for our family of four to make it work! If you go to the buffet, grab your food and then head ALLLLLL the way to the back of the ship. The views are great, it's much easier to find seating, and the proximity to the aft beverage station makes like easier when compared to the crowded stations mid-buffet. If you have multiple electronics to charge (we had three phones, my GoPro, portable chargers, and a point & shoot camera), get either a power strip (surge protectors are banned, so be mindful of that) or a USB charging tower. Again, being able to skip a clunky power strip in favor of something smaller on the cabin desk is a big win for de-cluttering.

Thanks for following along!

Disembarkation Day Yup. That about sums it up. We slept in about as late as we could, and then made our way to the buffet. Enjoyed our last chocolate croissants, made-to-order omelets, and mocha French toast for a while, and then prepared to disembark. We had left almost all of our bags out the previous night, but kept one small roller for the sake of packing pajamas, toiletries, etc. Navigating the hallways with one suitcase is a far better option than trying to do so with all your luggage in tow, so if you don't have an early flight, I'd always recommend getting as many bags out of your room the night before. By the time they called our color group for disembarkation, we were able to head to deck #7 and walk right out onto the promenade deck. After about 10-12 minutes in line we were off the ship and headed toward customs. Because this was the last sailing out of New Orleans, there was a good number of the crew that were disembarking the vessel in addition to the guests. So while customs was probably a little more crowded than it had been in past months, it was still very easy to walk off, locate our luggage, and clear customs with zero hassles. Because we had such a late flight home, we had decided that we could drop our bags with an airport courier service, and then retrieve them from the airport later, thus freeing us up to enjoy our day in New Orleans relatively unencumbered. Shortly after passing through customs, you head down a long hallway which will eventually lead to the exits to the streets, Uber service, etc., but before you get that far there's a counter for "Advance Check In." The staff there quickly tagged our bags, provided us our retrieval stubs, and we were on our way. Prices vary depending on bag count, with one bag costing $25, 2-4 bags costing $45, and each additional bag beyond 4 costing another $10 each. Now that we were light five bags, we walked out of the terminal. The Uber/Lyft area was a bit of a disaster area the last time we made this trip, and it didn't look like much had changed this go around either. Fortunately, our intended destination was only about a 12 minute walk away. Connor is our little history buff, so when I told him that we would have time after the cruise to visit the National World War II museum, he was more than a little excited. Toward the end of the cruise he had remarked on the fact that he was kind of excited to get off the ship so he could get to the museum! If you have the opportunity to visit while you're there, this is an absolute must. You can easily make a very full day of the visit. With the impressive display of aircraft in one building, and the immersive walk through the Pacific and European theater areas it is the single most impressive museum I've ever been to (though admittedly the Smithsonian is still on my to-do list). After our day at the museum, we took an Uber over to the airport, retrieved our bags from the courier service (they had a little stand set up just inside the arrivals level doors, not the departures level doors. After two flights on United (connecting through Denver), we arrived back home just a little before midnight and closed the book on a wonderful family vacation. Thanks to all of you that stuck it out with me through this review! I wish it hadn't taken me about a month to complete, but such is the life of a dad with an active family. 🙂 Until next time! I hope everyone enjoys their upcoming vacations!

Stacy and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon up on the sun deck while the boys enjoyed a few last trips down the slides. Before we knew it, the sun was starting to get lower, and the oil rigs were starting to come into view. That could only mean one thing. We were getting closer to home! By the time we finished getting the boys through the buffet, the final sunset of the cruise was upon us. Name me something that produces as much mixed emotion as the final sunset of a cruise. Stacy and I had one more Specialty Dining meal to use. I think I had mentioned earlier that we're just not big fans of planning out every meal ahead of time, but would rather pick and choose what sounds good on any given evening. Because the ship was still not yet at full capacity, I wasn't surprised to see that there were no reservations available for Cagney's on the last night of the cruise, but we decided to walk up and see how our luck would play out. The maître d' confirmed that there was no availability for the rest of the night. That would have been fine, but the fact that Cagney's only appeared to be about 35% - 40% full when we arrived. There seemed to be more than enough seating capacity to accommodate us, but perhaps not enough staffing? Having seen other restaurants on board that were filled mostly full, it would have seemed that Cagney's should have been able to have been better staffed to accommodate more guests. We almost wrote off the use of our last SDP altogether, but instead settled for a later reservation at La Cucina. This afforded us the time to take one last stroll around The Waterfront for good measure. The food at La Cucina was pretty meh this go round, but my friendly little calamari were pretty tasty and the tiramisu is always a favorite! After that we called it a night. We returned to the room after a late night dessert run with the boys, and found one last creation from Amol waiting for us. With our bags tagged and waiting outside the door for pickup, we hit the hay, and prepared for a busy day back in New Orleans tomorrow.

I've mentioned my disappointment in the lack of children's programming aboard before. The arcade credit would have been a nice touch on top of some good pre-teen programming, but while there were some good young family options, there just wasn't a whole lot added to the dailies that was geared toward our boys' age group. So Stacy and I decided... let's make our own fun activity for them! By now, the boys had shown us that they were a) very responsible and b) well acquainted with the ins and outs of navigating the ship. So we decided, what better way to let them cut loose and have some fun than with a scavenger hunt! While the boys were enjoying the ropes course and arcade the day before, Stacy and I sat down and assembled a photo scavenger hunt for them. The rules were simple. Take a photo with each of the items listed, and once they were done they could bring it back the list and phone back to us for a prize! They were SO excited for this, and they were off! When they returned we had so much fun looking through all of their photos. Such a creative, fun pair of boys! 😄 Once they returned, each kid got a Norwegian Breakaway keychain that they could put on their backpack when they got home. I honestly think this was among the biggest highlights of their trip. Getting some autonomy to enjoy the ship on their own made them feel so grown up!

Day 7 - Day at Sea Having finally had the opportunity to do so, today we SLEPT IN. We grabbed breakfast at the buffet around 10 AM, and they were definitely already preparing for lunch by the time we settled in, closing off sections of the buffet to start the teardown and transition. So we cleared out and the boys polished off the last of their arcade credit. The boys also got to spend a chunk of time in Entourage on this day. Entourage is the teens club on board, but for a few times during the course of the cruise there was a kids takeover of the space. The teens were still welcome, but the younger kids were allowed to hang out there for a while with parental supervision. The boys played some Xbox, air hockey, and some foosball for a while. Again, it was better than having no kids programming at all, but it was still a far cry from the engaging programming of Splash Academy. Before too long it was time go check out Joseph Réohm in the Atrium. It was a very well attended show, so if there happens to be something similar during your sailing make sure to show up early to catch it! Landon even got called up to assist with a trick at one point. Joseph did a wonderful job of teaching some simple tricks to take home with us. I'd share with you, but that'd be against the magician's code. 😉 Afterward, Joseph even signed some playing cards for his fans, and was kind enough to take some selfies with the boys. Amol again surprised us with a few folded friends when we got back to the room.

After four straight days of very active port stops, I'm not gonna lie, it felt good to just get back on the ship and relax for a while. After getting changed and having lunch at the buffet, Stacy and I let the boys head to the arcade for a bit while we relaxed down on The Waterfront. We also made a pit stop at the shops to pick up a couple of items for an activity the next day. Once the boys returned we hit up the giant chess board and had a rules refresher/argument/"no, Landon, a knight can't do that." Afterward Landon spotted his initials among the plaques commemorating various ports the Breakaway had visited. After grabbing a quick buffet dinner we caught the magic show in the main theater. Joseph Réohm's show was super fun. It was probably only about a 45 minute show, so we were definitely left wanting more, but he promised a future appearance in the Atrium tomorrow, so we left with two boys VERY anxious to be sure we made it there tomorrow. After some late night snacks we shuffled a couple of exhausted boys off to bed early, but had some company waiting for us when we got back to the room.

After the dolphin swim, we spent a little time around the port area doing some shopping (Landon hadn't yet found his souvenir of choice from the trip), but the boys and I also decided to check out the network of suspension bridges that crisscross a section of the port facility. I hadn't realized it before, but the bridges actually link to a network of aviaries, so for $32 for the three of us (adult accompaniment was required) we each got a cup of seeds and headed up to the bridges. With the seeds in hand, we didn't have much trouble attracting the friendly birds. A few of the bridges even crossed over the top of the dolphin enclosure, and also afforded a great view of the ships in port. Was it worth $32? Probably not. But the boys really wanted to do it, and it was certainly still an enjoyable experience. Once we made it back down, we completed our shopping, and headed back to the ship. Had it been a longer day in port we definitely would have gone back to Yaya Beach, but an off-NCL excursion on a short port day is just asking for it! By the time we had gotten back to our room, Amol had been there and had used Connor's Honduran souvenir (a little frog that makes a croaking noise when you rub the stick over its back) in conjunction with his towel animal. As many of you know, the staff no longer make the towel animals by default, but if you ask them to do so they are, at least i Amol's case, so very happy to do it! Amol surprised us with several very cute animals over the course of the cruise. We were slated to leave by 1300, but I believe our delays today were due to passengers being unloaded by ambulance as opposed to late returners; though I'm not 100% on that either. We wound up leaving just about two hours late, leaving Oasis and Adventure behind us. It was just a titch windy leaving port today. 😂

Day 6 - Costa Maya This morning was going to be a VERY early start, so we had placed the room service order out the night before. The cereals, juices, rolls, etc. arrived promptly, we scarfed some food, got into swim stuff, and headed out. It was as long a walk as I had remembered down that pier, but we arrived at the excursions pavilion soon enough. Shortly after our 7:30 arrival we were led in a group to the Dolphin Discovery facility right there in port. We had considered several other dolphin tours over the course of our itinerary, but because we were in port for such a short day (0700 - 1300), we figured that dolphins in Costa Maya made the most sense. Stacy and I did a dolphin swim on our very first cruise back in 2011, so given the price point, I decided to bow out this go round so that she and the boys could enjoy the experience. After they deposited their towels and such in the lockers, they were outfitted with life vests and walked over to the dolphin tanks. Because Dolphin Discovery makes out like bandits on photos, I was not surprised that I wasn't allowed into the swim area, but I was able to snag a few photos thanks to the trusty 20x zoom on the Sony. I'm such a rebel. 😂 When they do the foot push, you REALLY get going!

In the evening we headed back to Spice H2O, but this time with the kids in tow. While Spice is adults only during the day, In the evenings Spice opens up to all ages. A lot of times they'll play a movie on the big screen back there, and since both boys had never seen this classic, it seemed like as good a plan for the evening as any! There were still a small handful of deck chairs around, but most of them had been put away for the evening which was a bit of a bummer. Would have made for a much more relaxing viewing experience. Still, the hot tubs were active, so there were a good number of people that were able to enjoy watching the movie while also enjoying the hot tub. After the movie, we grabbed some snacks/dessert in the buffet. Landon made good friends with the wonderful staff working the crepe bar over the course of the cruise, and it showed. After that, it was off to bed. Our last port stop of the cruise would see us arriving in Costa Maya the following day.

You are so incredibly kind, @M5M! Thanks for following along. We sure try our best to raise two good, young men, and the constantly impress us. We're kind of just making it all up as we go along, but I think that's parenthood in general! 😅

After winding our way back to the ship, the boys wanted to hit up the arcade for a bit as well as take on the ropes course once again. Again, because we knew that they felt comfortable with the ship at this point, and because we knew we didn't have Splash Academy to assist later in the evening, Stacy and I decided to let them go have some parent-free fun while we had some kid-free relaxation. So off to Spice H2O we went! I really love this spot to get away from the craziness of the pool deck. I was able to knock out some more of my book and also took the opportunity to cool off in the grotto-ish area here too. After a while Stacy and I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. The boys were already set to go, so after I took a quick shower and fixed my hair (😂) I took the boys around a couple of spots on the ship to keep them occupied. Finally got a good picture of both boys together on the ropes course. Before I knew it we were underway! Thanks to the existence of the water front, the Deck 7 promenade deck is largely deserted most times. So while there are no chairs, it can still be a great place to catch a sunset. Stacy agreed to meet us at O'Sheehan's for supper, so the boys and I killed a little extra time (and a few more $$$ of their arcade credit). Dinner at O'Sheehan's was pretty good. Three out of the four of us had our food come pretty quickly, but Landon was craving a kid's pizza. The NCL app shows the Kids' Menu as associated with O'Sheehan's (along with a number of other restaurants on board), but the waitress told us she'd have to get the pizza from the MDR area, so there may be a delay. Just something to be aware of if you've got a picky eater in your party. You can expect a significant delay and some hurdles to jump for the waitstaff. Had we known it was that big of a hassle, we probably would have just opted for the buffet again this night. Still, you can't beat that chocolate brownie cheesecake for dessert!!

Sorry for such a long delay in my report! The life of an insurance adjuster is rarely dull in the spring! Thanks to all of you that have patiently waited for me to get back here! After AJ's Sloths & Monkeys, we hopped back in the Explorer and headed down a few twisty roads to a nearby dock. The docks was actually within shouting distance of Frency's 44 where the ferry runs back and forth from Little French Key. We had been to LFK back in 2017, but it sounds like there's been a lot of upheaval over there in the past couple of years. The Facebook page for LFK would have you believe that the facility was taken over by armed thieves, but in speaking with the locals it sounds like it's more like a messy divorce with one of the spouses winning the control of the facility but not the Facebook page. I'd be so sad if LFK fell into disrepair or the animals neglected. So while I certainly hope for the best in the near future, I did note that the island looked pretty much deserted on the day we visited Roatan. Anyway, we were at the nearby dock to get outfitted and go snorkeling! Life vests were optional, and Landon's not the strongest swimmer yet so we did have him wear one out of an abundance of caution. That said, the boat took us out, and up current from the dock where we jumped into the pleasant, blue water, and started to snorkel/drift back toward our point of origin. The water was not terribly deep at all, and it was easy, once you assured you weren't stepping down onto coral, to stand up to have a look around. Periodically the guides grabbed a few examples of the local wildlife for us all to inspect. This included conch: GIANT sand dollars: And sea cucumbers. Or turds of the sea if you listen to the boys... There were more than a few active coral placements scattered along our path, but save for one lionfish I spotted off camera toward the very beginning, there wasn't a whole lot here that differentiated this experience from other snorkel excursions we've done. But the fact that it was relatively shallow, and that you could just relax and let the current carry you over the top of many of these coral formations really did make it beginner friendly. Soon we were back on the dock where we were each given a bottle of water and time to towel off and/or change before heading back to the ship.

The big stage shows (Six and Burn the Floor) were scheduled for shows at 7:30 and 10:00 PM on the nights that they ran. So there were a couple of nights where Six was scheduled to run at those times and a couple of nights where Burn the Floor was scheduled to run at those times. In reality there were multiple cancellations of scheduled shows, so other substitute shows (vocalist, magician, comedian, etc.) ran in the main theater instead.

Thanks to you both for following along! I always enjoy recounting our trip in this way and sharing the fun with others!

The last part of our tour at AJ's was in the monkey enclosure. We were told several times that it'd be a good idea to completely empty all our pockets, take off hats, etc. as the little guys were a crafty bunch that would likely dig through your pockets looking for any food or other souvenirs you may bring into the enclosure with you. Sure enough, once we were inside the monkeys started going through all our pockets, and even performed a....... shall we say, thorough search on Stacy. 🤣 This video shows just how active they were, even going so far as to steal Stacy's hair tie right out of her hair! And then quickly dropping it once they figured out it wasn't food. 😁 These sneaky little guys were an absolute riot, and we left AJ's with a grin plastered across our faces!

While the tour was marketed as monkeys and sloths, AJ's also had a few tropical birds hanging out there too.

Day 5 - Roatan Leading up to this sailing, we had seen several other Breakaway sailings had to cancel their Roatan port stop due to high winds. We were REALLY looking forward to this stop as a family, so I was so relieved to wake up the next morning and see we were making our approach into port. As always we docked in Coxen Hole, but this time were were in slot #2. For this port we elected to book another excursion through Viator. The pricing was much more competitive for similar tours through NCL, so for just over $200 for the four of us I had booked the Monkeys, Sloths, and Snorkel Adventure with Roatan Getaway Tours. Coxen Hole is a little crowded even by cruise port standards, and with Oasis of the Seas in port with us that was really driven home today. The tour guide's instructions said we were to meet them outside gate #2, so having done a little homework ahead of time, I was able to navigate the winding paths and shouting tour operators of the port like I was in a Family Circus cartoon, and find our way out. Exiting the gate dumped us onto the main street near the port, and directly ahead of us as promised was our tour operator holding a clearly marked sign. The company was operating a few different tours, so we were divided up by tours, and once everyone had arrived, we were sent off with our respective drivers. Our driver led us (and another couple from the Breakaway) on a short walk to his very nice 3rd row Ford Explorer, and soon we were off. Stacy and I were last here in 2017, and the first thing I noticed once we cleared the port area is just how much the main road had improved! They had finished repaving it within the past couple of years, and it really made our travel to the excursion locations sooooo much better. After about a 20-25 minute drive we arrived at stop #1, AJ's Monkeys & Sloths. Our guide led us to the entry door, and while a few other folks finished their interactions ahead of us, we were allowed to hang with a few of the guinea pigs they had there. And then it was the moment we all had waited for: SLOTHS!! We entered the next enclosure where a couple of handlers were holding Sophie and Flash. They basically held them by their long, stretched out arms, and then place them on you so they're giving you a hug. They really are the cutest, dopiest looking creatures you'll ever see!

After our relaxing day in the pool we headed back to the ship to cool off and relax for a bit. The boys and I cleaned up first, and then left mom in the room by herself while I brought the boys up to the buffet for supper. The crepe station is toward the back of the ship, and Landon headed there almost every night. This monstrosity was filled with butterscotch, mini M&Ms, and topped with chocolate and nutella. We're still waiting for him to come down off the crepe sugar rush. On the way back to our cabin Landon spotted a cruising duck above the elevator monitor! We then replanted it in the hallway back to our room. By this point in the cruise we were starting to let the boys have a little more flexibility and freedom as they had proven the could be trusted. So while Stacy and I headed to the MDR for a late dinner, we let the boys head to the arcade before returning to the room later to get ready for bed. They kept to their arcade budget for the night, and returned to the room as expected. We really are blessed with two incredibly responsible young men! Dinner tonight was again very good, but it really was still incredibly slow service. Our waiter was always there to refill a glass, but the gap between courses felt very slow once again. After a long delay we had debated about leaving before dessert arrived, but stuck it out. I am always game for a leisurely paced dining experience, but this still felt sluggish even by that standard. After dinner and return to our room we snuck out to the balcony to watch the last glance of the sunset. Early to bed tonight as we had an early call for our Roatan excursion tomorrow!

The boys were giddy and still riding the high from their trip down the zipline when we started back toward the ship. Because it's such a long haul from the shore to the ship, I think it discourages some people from going back there for lunch. But given that nothing on Harvest Caye is included in the cruise fare, we've always planned on knocking out any shopping and walking around stuff early, then head back to the ship for lunch and to change into swimsuits. On the way back the boys mounted the jetski photo op Tough to beat a lunch with a view! While the buffet is never too busy during lunchtime on a port day, we always sit toward the back of the ship in the Garden Cafe. It allowed us to washy washy and then split up, grab our food independently, and then always know that we could plan to find each other near the rear of the ship. There's more kid friendly food toward the aft (pizza, burgers, fries, chicken tenders, etc.) and the drink station in the back is always much calmer and less crowded than those toward the middle of the buffet. We've found this to be true on the Breakaway, Escape, and Bliss (though the buffet is forward on the Bliss, so the inverse is true. Further forward = less crowded). Once we were changed, we headed back to the island. Stacy and I had done the beach area before, and with a beach day on the day prior we thought it'd be a nice change of pace to just relax in the resort style pool instead. On the way to the pool we stopped by the Belize photo op. Apparently they had moved it since Stacy and I were last here in 2017, but some things don't change. Like, apparently Belize is my Red Wings swimming gear port. 🤷🏻‍♂️ The swimming pool really was so nice. Not overly crowded, and the perfect place to hang all day if you wanted. The boys could do headstands (depending on which life guard was watching) to their hearts' content, and Stacy and I were able to just relax and chat.

Ever since we told the boys about the cruise at Christmas, they had been absolutely thrilled with the idea of going on a zipline. Now, I know my kids well enough to know that the idea of a zipline and the willingness to do it once 100' in the air are two different things. So with that in mind, we decided that the Flighthouse Ziplines at Harvest Caye were probably the best idea. You could book in advance, or I knew from past experience that you could walk up the day of and still participate as well. With that in mind, we left the ship wearing gear that was compliant with the zipline (sleeved shirts, closed toed shoes, etc.), and wandered our way to the midpoint of the island where the zipline was located. Landon was 1,000,000% on board with it after a week of the ropes course, but Connor was a little more hesitant. We had told him it was zero pressure to do it, but that once we committed then he needed to go and conquer it. With this in mind, he made the decision and we headed to the counter to book the experience. Because Stacy and I had both done it previously, we didn't feel an obligation to go with the boys. There was no parental supervision required for the ride, but we of course had to sign the waivers for them. The cost was $55/kid (adults were more expensive). Almost immediately after paying (I'd find out later in my review of the stateroom charges that the $50 shore excursion credit WAS applied even though it wasn't an excursion participated in by Guest #1 on the reservation, so that was a happy surprise), the boys were sent over for their gear fitting. Super tough guys, let me tell ya... I brought my full GoPro kit with me for the cruise, so while all the helmets that had the GoPro mount already on them were checked out, I was instead allowed to use the head strap I had and got it all hooked into Connor's helmet. Shortly after they were both properly outfitted they were led to the elevator to take them up to the platforms. By this time Connor had started getting REALLY nervous. I had asked (basically knowing the likely answer) if I could accompany them to the platform just to make sure he didn't freeze up up there without someone to talk him down, but was told no. I didn't really have any problem with that. They need to have an area to work without worrying about others that AREN'T participating in the experience. So while Stacy and I took up positions down below, the boys were quickly to the front of the line and made ready to fly! And then they were off!!! I was able to capture some great video from the ground. And Connor's helmet mounted GoPro footage wound up being amazing!! You can hear him doing some heavy duty breathing at the beginning before they send him, and then it's all fun "WOOOOOOO!!!" from there. What an unforgettable experience for the both of them. The Lighthouse platform is about 100' in the air, and the zipline stretches for about a quarter mile. Just incredible that they got to make this fun memory!

I really have been so impressed with the job they do on board. Some of the poses they have you run through I know we're not going to buy, but I know they have their job to do so we run through it. But we really did have a tough time narrowing down our list to purchasing just 8. With the included 8x10 copy of each + the digital copy, plus our Silver status it was $160 ($200 base cost). Not too bad compared to what you'd pay for a photo shoot back home.

Thank you for the additional information. I wasn't hesitant to even mention the rumor simply because it WAS rumor only by the time I had heard it. My goodness what an absolute, terrifying nightmare!