TravelJoe

Thanks Kyle,

Nice play on words...

 

At least you spell "Havens nots" with a capital H. :D

Different play here....

The Have-n guests and the Have-n nots perhaps? :D

Sadly too many people these days want "compensation".

 

It saddens me.

 

It really does.

Agreed.... and especially when the poor person on the phone wasn't the one that caused the problem. I travel a lot, and am amazed at how people treat the poor soul trying to help them given the constraints of systems usually designed by/for finance. Yes, yell at the ticket agent trying to get you on a flight as they really wanted to re-route 200 people due to weather :)

I'm coordinating a group of 17 on the Breakaway the week before and (as cited there would be) I have had no problems with shows, dinners, etc. One thing that I do make a point of doing FREQUENTLY when on the phone with any sort of agent is thanking them and telling them no worries when they apologize for delays or things they can't do. Honey works better than vinegar all the time.

And as also cited, speak with the powers that be once you get on the ship. NCL has antiquated I/T systems and only allows limited functionality and times on their websites (which I think their own reps use). Some of it is just plain stupid in 2014 -- like the inability to reserve a table in a speciialy restaurant for an odd number of people. If someone did the math of how much more does it cost to fix the odd-number problem versus have those calls all hit agents, I think it would be fixed pronto.

My husband, daughter, and grandkids are on the 8/23 sailing on the Getaway. I have booked all our shows on line and we're all set. I have printed out all our confirmations but was wondering if there will be confirmations in our cabins that we bring with us, do we bring my printed ones, or do they just have a list and you give them your names. Just curious how that works. Thx for any input

Your eDocs (available after you do your online check-in and 60 days before sailing and all paid-up) will also list all reservations you've made when you print them (dining, excursions, entertainment). If you book something after the 60 day window, re-print your eDocs and it should have the updated details.

Background: I am a “young” 57, hubby 58 and parents 75. We Sailed the Breakaway to Bermuda May 25 – June 1. This was my first cruise on NCL. I Have been on 2 Carnival and 3 RCCl cruises, so was a bit apprehensive after reading many of the reviews. There was no reason to be. This was a fantastic cruise and the ship is awesome. There are obviously some differences between the cruise lines, but that is to be expected. All ships will have some pros and cons. The pros far outweigh any cons. I did miss the inside promenade deck on the larger RCCL ships, but not so much that I would not cruise NCL again. The waterfront was nice and peaceful, never crowded.

 

The Bermuda trip is a more expensive cruise and we were on a budget, so stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Queens, Long Island City the day before the cruise and it was a very nice property. You can read my review of that hotel on Trip Advisor. A taxi to the hotel from LGA was about $18.00 and a cab to Times Square was about $15.00 each way. The hotel called a car service to take us to the pier for $35.00, but we could have easily hailed a cab right outside the front doors. Make sure you have the exact street address for the pier. I “assumed” they would know where pier 88 was, BIG MISTAKE! LOL! He had to stop the car so I could rifle through my suitcase in the trunk and find the street address, but he did get us there, no problems!

 

We arrived at the ship around 10:45am, went through check-in very quickly, then had to wait about 30+ minutes or so before they started letting us on the ship. We had to stand as there was not enough seating. This was different from other ship lines, where we went right on the ship after checking in, at the same time. We were in group 12 and they called groups about 10 minutes apart. A man had to go around the terminal area yelling out which number was boarding as you could not hear the announcements. We did notice some people boarding with higher numbers than ours, pretty much ignoring the number called.

 

They do allow you to drop your carry-on luggage in the room (other lines have not), but as soon as we boarded, they announced rooms were ready. Our room was a mid-ship balcony, port side and our parents were next to us in one of the angled balconies. We were surprised to see they had a lounge chair on that balcony without us even having to ask. They also had a regular chair and the small table. We had the standard 2 chairs and table. The balcony size was fine for us and we had no problems with it. There are actually times on this sailing where you can’t be out there anyway because wind is cold, and when coming back from Bermuda, seas were so high, spray was hitting not only the balcony but the sliding glass doors. I imagine in the winter months, you can use the balcony even less. It is nice to be able to see out to sea from your bed/sofa though! It was also nice while docked in Bermuda for almost 3 days, to have the balcony. We were docked port side, which was nice. The Captain did state in a Q & A, they dock port side more, because it is faster to get out on Friday to head back to NY, but do have to dock starboard 1-2 times per month to exercise the life boats. There is no way to know in advance which side will be dock side. Our room was port side, so was a nice view of the wharf.

 

You have views from your balcony of the Memorial tower when leaving NY and of the Statue of Liberty when returning to NY, if port side. It would be the opposite if you have a starboard room. We went by the statue around 5:30am coming back to NY. The Captain did announce the day before, approximately when we would do that. I thought that was a nice gesture.

 

We went to Savor restaurant for embarkation lunch and there were no crowds or waits. It was very nice and Michael, our waiter was extremely friendly and informative. The lunch menu that day was different from what it was the rest of the week. It was the same menu each day, after that first day. I am assuming that lunch menu was the one used the previous week. Evening menus also did not deviate a lot. There were a few added items each night, but many remained the same. You could go view menus each day, posted near the restaurants. I suspect there is not a lot of variety at the main dining rooms because of all the specialty restaurants. Prime rib was served about 4 different times in different venues. Lobster tails was the first full sea day, in the buffet.

 

The cabin was very nice and quiet. The bed was very comfortable as were the linens. Towels were nice. Josephine was our room steward and she was excellent! Never saw her when she was not smiling and so friendly! She had 16 rooms to keep clean and did that in the morning/afternoon and again in the evening. She made great towel animals. She kept the ice bucket filled twice daily. I cannot say enough about her. She has worked for the company for 16 years (including the company that bought/started NCL). She said she is going on vacation for 6 weeks starting June 8 and has put in to come back to the Breakaway). All of the stewards we encountered in the halls were friendly. I am not sure why there have been negative reviews about staff, unless things have changed! I will also take this time to mention of all our cruises, this is the first where we have seen so much of an officer presence. We saw them frequently all over the ship, including the Captain, Hotel director, Food and Beverage managers, etc. Many also ate in the buffet along with the passengers. They also gave us a card with all their direct phone numbers if we needed anything or had any problems. All were in attendance at our “meet and greet” (thank you Harry for organizing!). I have never seen this much presence from the top brass on other ships I have sailed. They are usually behind the scenes and rarely seen. We had most evening meals in Savor and there were numerous upper level staff seen working in there. We did not eat in Manhattan because the menu was very similar and we just did not feel like dressing more. Lazy!

 

There was more than enough storage in the cabin. There is a mini-fridge that can be emptied by the cabin steward if desired. The bathroom was very nice and more spacious than others we have been in. The shower was more than adequate and great hot water. I did manage to lift my elbow and knock the soap dispenser all the way off the wall and had to put it back together! LOL! I was more careful after that incident. We used a dummy hotel card for the light switch, because I did not want to lose/forget my room key, I prefer to keep it in my wallet area. We did not need to charge things when out of the room though, so would pull it out and hide it somewhere else in the room most times. There are two outlets under the mirror, none near the bed, so bring a very long extension cord if you need anything plugged up at your bedside. I use a sound machine and the cord came in handy. We found our balcony light switch behind the coffee maker under the mirror, but we never really needed that on.

 

You do have the switches inside your door for “do not disturb” and “make up room”. Also, the switch where you place your key card to turn on power, right inside the door, is also a light switch for the room. Mash it down to turn on lights. My parents did not know this until the last day!

 

All of our wait staff were exceptional. There were a few we saw who were less social than others, but that could just be their personalities. Not everyone is gregarious! Including me! Most of our wait staff were very friendly and talkative and we enjoyed our interactions with them. We are not foodies and are pretty easy to please. If I don’t have to cook and clean it up, I am happy! For this reason, we did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants, even passed on the promotion for the free Unlimited dining program (kept our onboard credit deal instead). We ate in O’Sheehan’s twice, Savor, Taste and the buffet. All of our food was good (chef salad at O’Sheehan’s is fresh and excellent, but not huge like chef’s salads on land. It was perfect size for me, but I am petite. Strawberry pound cake is actually like our strawberry shortcake: pound cake, strawberries and whipped cream). I understand everyone has different expectations about food. I also understand it must be extremely difficult to cook for 4500+ people and please them all! Everyone has different tastes and I may like something you hate. With everything available on this ship, I cannot imagine people cannot find something they like. Antonio, Assistant Maitre’d in Savor was very friendly and outgoing. Always smiling and a pleasure! There was more than adequate staff in the venues in which we ate. They assisted each other and food was brought out timely and dishes removed quickly. I never felt at any time there were not enough staff on the ship. We did sail full, every cabin filled and there were a good many children, despite school not yet being out. I suspect the “children sail free” promotion helped with that. Not sure how many more would be on a summer sailing.

 

There are so many activities and entertainment options on board this ship; we were not able to see all. You should not have any problem finding something to do! The entertainers we saw were exceptional. Fire and ice, she is full of energy!

 

I did use the iconcierge program to track my account. This is one area that needs an adjustment. I had read on the Boards prior to sailing that the daily service charge could not be used with onboard credit and that was fine. However, when I started checking my account, it was subtracting the service charge from my onboard credit balance, so I “assumed” something had changed. I then didn’t worry about “spending” my onboard credit as I knew it would be taken care of one way or another and the balance kept getting smaller each day I checked until I started owing money. But, the morning we dis-embarked and I looked at my statement, I had an $11.00 non-refundable balance of the onboard credit left, so it had in fact NOT taken service charges from the balance. If I had known this, I would have had a drink or something to cover the rest of the credit. I felt like this was mis-leading since the account balance each day was subtracting service charges from my credit. So beware and DO NOT trust the account balance on iconcierge to be accurate. It is too late by the last day to spend it.

 

I was also able to use the app to make show reservations and there is an option to make meal reservations as well. I did not use it for anything else. The touch screens located all over the ship are great at showing dining availability at every dining venue. We never had a wait when we went anywhere.

 

The crew talent show was great and they took that time to bring on stage many of the staff for us to thank and they to thank us. Very nice! Some very talented crew members as well! We also enjoyed all

the Q & A sessions by ship officers. It was difficult to hear the one in the atrium because of so much background noise from passengers at the bar and in other areas surrounding the atrium. The theater is quieter, but only seats 800. I had no problems with the seats, as some have mentioned concerns, but my mother was not comfortable and my husband complained about the bar at the back of the seat and said the seat hurt his back, throws you forward or something to that affect! He is not that large. I am petite and apparently, l fit the chair fine as it did not bother me! My mother is short too, but an inch shorter than me. She kept re-positioning herself, but could never get comfortable. She wouldn’t go back in there for anything because of the seats. This is again a design/furniture issue, and I doubt anything can/will be done until refurbishing time. Maybe take a pillow with you from your room!

 

The atrium area is used for many games/entertainment options and seating is very limited. Staff do bring out some extra chairs, but it is still never enough. People also watch from the 7th deck above as bar stool type chairs encircle the area above, which is open and you can look over into the atrium. O’Sheehan’s is up there. If you want to see something or participate, you need to go very early for a seat and if multiple things are taking place back to back, almost impossible to get seating. This is a design issue, so not much can be done about it.

 

As far as smoke, and I am very sensitive to it and it does give me a headache if around it much, there are times you do smell it drifting from the casino, but it was not overbearing most of the time and we just did not remain in those areas, nor did we stay in the casino. There is less on port days when the casino is not open. We only saw someone smoking in a non-smoking area on debarkation day, deck 8 aft, but she did leave. Our cabin neighbor did smoke cigars on their balcony, but thankfully, not too often and did not bother us too much. I just went inside until they were done! And shut my balcony door so it would not drift into my room.

 

Muster drill was, well, muster drill. It took place at 3:30, or was supposed to. You have your key card swiped and get in your assigned area, ours was in the atrium. It was hot with everyone congregated in close quarters and many passengers arrived late, not NCL’s fault; my dad suggested throwing them overboard! LOL! It is amazing how rude some people can be and don’t respect others’ time. The drill itself did not take long, once they could get started!

 

We watched sail-a-way (4:00pm) from deck 8 aft and surprisingly, there were not many people there, so was very nice! I guess they were all up top, but we had awesome views of the city skyline, the Memorial tower and the Statue of Liberty!

 

Some other observations from this sailing compared to other lines, we did not feel pressured to buy drinks as much as other lines. And we did not feel pressured to take photos. I suspect NCL has figured out if people want to buy the photos, they will have the pictures taken on their own without harassment and if they want a drink, they will seek out the bar staff themselves! This was nice and made the sailing more enjoyable without a lot of extra harassing. The bar staff were all around, but not “in your face”.

I did not feel like the ship was overcrowded, despite over 4400 passengers. Most of our sailings have been on larger ships though, so we may be more used to the numbers. There were times when things were more crowded, like sales in the shop areas, after a show let out near the elevators, coming back on the ship the last day, the pool area, etc., but this is typical on any ship I think. Most of the time, I would have no clue so many were on board.

 

Julie was the Cruise Director and did a phenomenal job. She is very professional in my opinion, as were the other staff on the ship. We have to remind ourselves that all of the staff are working 7 days a week, week after week, month after month, non-stop, with very little down time, doing the same things over and again. This cannot be easy and they must always remain at the top of their game, stay friendly, etc. I daresay; most of us would not be able to do it! Some passengers can’t even do it for one week, LOL! I cannot thank them enough for the experience and for giving of themselves to make it happen for us. I appreciate them all, the ones we see and the ones we do not see. Our lives are in their hands for that week and I respect them for all they do.

 

Bermuda was awesome and we had great weather. We bought a two day transportation pass at the shore excursion desk and this saved us waiting in a line for one after going off the ship. The pass is good on any bus or ferry for 2 consecutive days, unlimited trips. You can also just buy tokens for $4.00 each (good for one trip, one way) or 3 day passes, when you get off the ship. You apparently cannot buy the ticket booklets (15 tickets for $30.00) right now except in Hamilton. Those can be more cost effective, depending on how many trips you plan, but not convenient if you can only get them in Hamilton. We had decided to remain around the dockyard the last day, so as not to miss the ship for any reason, so the 2 days pass was enough for us.

 

We rode the bus to Gibbs Lighthouse the first day (it is a good walk and hike uphill to get to it, but gorgeous views, we did not walk the stairs to the top of the lighthouse itself) and then took the bus on to Horseshoe Bay, beautiful beach. They rent umbrellas and chairs there for $11.00 each with $5.00 deposit, you get back when you return them, CASH ONLY. There are restrooms, showers and changing facilities, food and beverages. It was a great relaxing day at the beach. There is a van that will take you up the hill tot he bus stop for $2.00. He'll also bring you down for $1.00, but coming down is not as hard as walking up! LOL! Water was still too cold for us southerners, but many were swimming and snorkeling. We went by ferry to Hamilton later that afternoon for the harbor nights festival. It is mainly craft vendors and foods (snowcones, cotton candy, etc.) and musical entertainment. It did not start till about 7:00, though some vendors were set up around 6:00pm. We heard there would be a party that night at the dockyard from 11:00pm-3:00am, cover charge, but halved for cruisers to I think $5.00. My partying days are long past, so we did not go! LOL!

 

On Thursday, we took the first ferry to St. Georges (9:30 – get out there before 9:00 as the line was VERY long, I am not sure, but they may have taken a second ferry because lines so long). We got on the first ferry, surprisingly, but had to go to the very top, no seats and VERY windy ride. The ferry does hold a lot of people. We enjoyed walking around St. George’s and also ate at a waterfront restaurant there. It is very nice and quaint. We took the 1:00 ferry back, but could probably have stayed till the 3:30 one and seen more. The ferry actually departed the dock about 15 minutes early and we barely made it, but I think they were bringing another one in. Apparently, when ships are in port, they deviate from schedules and will bring in extra buses and ferries as needed. All of the staff on the ferries/buses were professional and friendly. They were doing their best to accommodate passengers.

 

There is a snorkel beach park near the ship, it is a man made beach, but nice. There is a $5.00 cover charge to get in. They also rent umbrellas, chairs, etc. It is clean. There is a putt putt type golf next to it, we did not do that. I think it was $15.00 adult fee. The putt putt golf on the top of the ship is actually quite cute and fun. Is harder while at sea and if windy, to play though.

 

We saw many partaking of the ropes course and the slides. We did not, but was fun to watch others. The basketball court looked to be a regulation sized one and the wind was blocked quite well up there. We did not use the pools/whirlpools, but many did. There seemed to be plenty of lounge chairs in areas not directly around the pool. The adult only area seemed nice as well as the area next to vibe at the front of the ship, more secluded. It can be windy though and may be better in summer months. Lot's of live entertainment in the pool area.

 

Our trip to Bermuda was very smooth sailing, I barely could tell we were on a ship. The ride back from Bermuda was quite different though! I suggest taking something before you leave Bermuda if any chance you could get sea sick or a little ill. The ship was definitely rocking and rolling and it made doing things more difficult. I was worn out just trying to pack! We had to sail through a cold front and then some storms in area, caused large waves and rougher seas. Plus, you are returning to NY at twice the speed at which you sailed to Bermuda because of the extra sea day going. I felt bad for the staff trying to work on this rocking ship! I would have thought they’d be more used to it, but our cabin steward, doing it for 16 years said it was very difficult to work and try and remain upright! She did say it is not always this bad though. Just another reason to appreciate what they do for us. They can’t just go lie down somewhere like we can!

 

We did not have trouble with elevators most of the time, except when everyone was arriving back on

the ship at the same time, or a show let out, etc. You just have to be patient, or take the stairs. The majority of the time, a non-issue. We did encounter some passengers sitting on the bottom step in one of the stairwells one time. Not sure why??? My mother has had knee surgery and needs to use the rail, to walk down, so could not go around them, they seemed perturbed to have to get up. Really?? Some people, but again, not NCL’s fault some people are rude!

 

There was the usual breaking in buffet lines, elevator lines, etc., again, rude people, what are you going to do? Just blow it off, not worth getting upset over. We did see a staff member tell a passenger he could not fill his water bottle at the drink machine, and there were signs clearly stating this. Of course, he was rude to her! I imagine he would say the opposite though…..

 

Debarkation was easy. You are allowed to choose what time you want to leave the ship and pick up luggage tags starting Friday afternoon near Guest Services. They recommend you be out of your cabin by 8:30am so they can start preparing for the next sailing. We chose a 9:45 time as our flight was not until 2:45, but did leave our room by 8:30 and went for breakfast. We went down to wait to leave the ship and the attendant at the elevator said all tag colors were ready and could leave, so we left the ship about 25 minutes earlier. Go to the aft to debark, as you will end up there anyway if you leave from the front of the ship, deck 7. The lines moved fairly quickly from the ship to the luggage pick up area. I took the advice I had seen on the message Boards and got a porter. He took our luggage and the 4 of us straight to customs, where we did not have to wait in a line like the others. Breezed right through there and he took us on the elevator to the top level (where you embark) and got us to the taxi line right there. No crossing the 12 lanes of traffic on the street, waiting in taxi lines, etc., which would have been more difficult for my parents. It was worth tipping him to do all that for us! The taxi ride to LGA was ~$45.00. There were some streets closed off for a parade and we went through a toll or tunnel and that added about $5.00 to the fare. Not sure if there was a better route to the airport or not, but it was still less expensive than paying $120.00 for the NCL transfer for 4 of us to the airport ($40.00 per person, you have to weigh what option is best for you).

 

I am pretty sure we did not see everything on this ship as there is so much! We did try to tour it all on a sea day, but I am sure we missed something. I would not hesitate to recommend this ship. Not sure where the negative reviews came from, or maybe changes have been made in response to criticisms, but I did not see anything to warrant most of the complaints. Some things are design issues and cannot be changed. As far as rude/unfriendly staff, I did not see it. We did not wait long to be seated at any restaurant we went to and I did not notice lines at any others. Meals took about as long as they typically do on any ship. Staff were working hard all the time and never stopped. All staff were very professional in appearance and demeanor. Breakaway is a great ship and I could see that all the staff from the officers on down take pride in their work and in the ship. Go with an open mind and good attitude and you’ll enjoy this ship!

debbie

Great write-up and review! Sailing in a few weeks after a previous NCL Star cruise and had some reservations over the larger ship, but it sounds like it's well under control!

Even more excited now!

If your daughter looks her age and is with you I wouldn't anticipate a problem. I have seen the staff in the late shows ask people with younger kids to depart the venue.

Thanks... that won't be a problem -- 17 going on 22. We usually have to tell the waiter to not put a wine glass in front of her when we order a bottle of wine.

Depends on your kid. The late night show is adults only but people still had their kid in there. Really annoyed me as our show was standing room only and I would never take a little kid to an adult show.

 

But I did enjoy all the second city shows I have seen.

So it sounds like no one checks to ensure the person is 18+? Reason I'm asking is that while I would never take a 10-year old to an adult only show, our youngest will be less than a month shy of 18 and gets the adult humor -- Would hate to show up and have her turned away.

Doesn't sound like this happens.... everyone gets in?

ME TOO! It certainly was a spectacular day for sailaway.

DITTO!!! 5 weeks and counting. I think I have everything covered for my crew of 17... waiting for one more package to arrive from NCL, but aside from travel to/from the pier, my spreadsheet looks like I have it all covered (fingers crossed).

I can't wait! I SO need a vacation.

Wow I agree then that the online reservation system is very lacking in functionality. That is something NCL should take a hard look at fixing.

Yeah, NCL needs some major work in the I/T and usability areas. We have a family reunion cruise with 6 cabins reserved... so I need 6 different logins just to look at the details and as you can imagine, scheduling is a real PITA not to mention inputting passenger information, etc.

It appears that as well as the high cost of beer and wine on board ship, NCL charge a recommended 15% gratuity on all drinks. Is this 15% gratuity enforceable or is it like in a restaurant, when if you do not consider you have good service, you refuse to paying any service charge. When I go to a bar in England, I do not give the barman a tip for him/her to pour me a pint or give me a bottle. If I guess that you sign for all drinks with no actual cash taking place, can you delete the gratuity and sign for the actual drink. I am not too sure whether this may rather annoy or upset the bar staff, but what is the gratuity actually for? I know that all Americans seem to live on tips, but I am not American, and the cruise is in Europe. Just curious therefore as to how common it is to refuse to pay any gratuity on a beer or bottle of wine. It is of course only a recommended amount, so on that basis a zero gratuity should cause no problem.

Isn't there always a Service Charge added to all restaurant/bar bills in Europe? When I traveled abroad, I found out the SC wasn't optional, whereas in the US, tips or gratuity are.

Basic supply and demand.... NCL has no need to lower the price if the demand continues until sailing (and as a stockholder, that's good for profit).

When we sailed in 2012, we booked a 2-bedroom family suite on the Star at close to half price a month before cruising, so clearly more supply than demand. I'm not seeing that on the Breakaway, and as a new ship, I'm not surprised.

Did Breakaway Haven in early May expecting there to be low numbers of kids. Unfortunately it only meant more small children. We have sailed in Haven suites three times now and BA is the first bad kid experience. I think parents like it because it's enclosed and they can keep an eye on their kids while they jump around in the pools and jacuzzis. Children monopolized the pools and jacuzzis almost the entire trip while playing football, jumping around and in water etc. We had to go outside on deck but that worked only when the weather was conducive. The nature of the Haven being enclosed only magnifies sound and even well behaved play can sound loud. Behavior, like food, is subjective, I will give pause to future Haven bookings due to the kid factor. On the Gem and Jewel, there were no kids running around. Don't know if it was itinerary or what. We always cruise May for good deals, less crowds, less kids and with our grown kids so adults only. Strangely, we did an all adult cruise on Disney and found the adult areas quite nice and even more relaxing. (adult pool area, adult dining venue, Serenity Bay over 18, great concierge lounge with food and free cocktails every night) The Haven common areas are just not what's advertised. We do love the rooms, service etc....

I think the observation cited here would be correct -- with non-schoolage children, there's no need to worry about when you go, so you could have more families with much younger children since demand may be lower, and hence, prices as well. Families (like us) with high school and college age children are limited to June through August.

No matter what type of cruise/trip you're on, you're going to encounter bad eggs in all venues -- ships, airplanes, hotels. Sometimes the more elite the environment, the more spoiled the adults and children are.

Bermuda is just lovely. It is clean and beautiful and very relaxing. There are many lines that go there with just Bermuda as the port...but the Breakaway? We tried it and swore Never Again! We are Diamond on RCCL, and Elite on Celebrity. I can tell you, I would rather do a Carnival than the Breakaway! The food is awful...it has slow and indifferent waiters, the hot food often comes out cool and they take it back and microwave it for you! People all around us complained that their dinner took over two to three hours because of terrible service. On line reservations are not forwarded to the ship so all our entertainment bookings were for nothing. We had to start all over at the box office. We could not do it from the so-called interactive tv in the room. The verandas were the tiniest in the industry. You should go onto utube and check that out. The entertainment was poor, with the worst cruise director and staff we gave ever seen. Those 27 restaurants? Forget it! They have tiny hot dog cart...a restaurant? I think not! They sell cupcakes.. That is not a restaurant , and where they sell specialty coffee...to add insult to everyone, you must also buy a cookie to go with it...they give you nothing to accompany your coffee for free! Outrageous! All the specialty restaurants are for fee and I think people went to try to get a decent meal.you are nickel and dimed everywhere. Pay more for the Haven? Heck, just get a different ship and be treated well!

 

The theatre has steep stairs and three nights we witnessed women and men fall over forwards as they tried to go down to a seat. Their comedy club has few shows and they were awful. One afternoon we went to the pub for lunch. They messed up our order, slapped down the plates and we could not get a waiter for over 20 minutes. The Italian specialty restaurant was terrible, from the soft crusted soggy bread to cool soup and chewy calamari. Do yourself a favor and look into another line to Bermuda. The only big thing about the Breakaway is the number of cabins and therefore the crush of people., and if you live in the tri-state area, you don't have to fly, but other lines do this too. Also look at cruises from Bayonne, NJ to Bermuda!

WOW!!!... sounds like you have some issues to resolve here and some axes to grind. Or you work for a competitor. Far from an objective review and not sure you're being 100% honest. If you have a confirmed reservation for a show from an online reservation, you will have a confirmation email, and if you don't then you must have done something wrong.

I'm no expert here, but our last NCL cruise was amazing. Will be on the Breakaway in 6 weeks and will provide my opinion then. I'm a seasoned traveler with 3 million miles with American Airlines, over 1,000 Marriott nights, close to that with Starwood, and new to cruising.... so travel is nothing new to me. My (our) last cruise was relaxing and the food was good to amazing (the Coq au Vin was outstanding in Le Bistro).

I'm hoping my Breakaway cruise is nowhere near the disappointment yours was, but will post an objective review when we get back.

I guess I should have said that in my original message. I do not have a problem with multiple tables adjacent to one another. I have a problem that I am being FORCED into a 5:30 dinner. And basically told tough. Even though they promised totally different.

The phone reps (and online booking) have some (many?) limitations, hence the 5:30 or 8:00 times. I submitted dining requests for two large crowds (17) and the conceirge told me that when I get on the ship, that I should go to Guest Services on deck 6 and speak with them. They will have access to all times for booking dinners, not just the two slots that the phone reps are limited to.

Good luck.... just enjoy -- I'm sure it will all work out in the end. The Manhattan dining room seats over 600 people, so I'm sure you'll get taken care of.

Nineteen people cannot all eat together.

Once a table has eight diners it becomes groups of diners.

They don't have tables for nineteen. It's a COLLOSAL PIA for them to do this once, much less every night.

Find something important to frowny-face about.

Yeah, I would agree 100%. After 8 people at a table, the conversation at the other end is a separate one.

We're 17 on our upcoming family reunion cruise, and we scheduled a group dinner the first and the last nights. My brother suggested every night (as they did with his wife's family previously on Disney), and I opted out of that. I'd like to spend at least one (or two) nights with just my family since one's already out of the house and the other two are coming/going all the time.

The specialty restaurants are great, but not set up for a party of 19.

Enjoy the cruise....

We have been deciding between the Breakaway and Summit to Bermuda for days and we have to make a decision!!!

 

So far, the Breakaway is winning but we still have a few niggles that I'm hoping someone can just put our minds at rest: -

 

1) We love the peacefulness of the Haven. We've been on the Epic twice. The first time there was an outside sundeck area for Haven guests only (up some stairs at the front of the ship), which was amazing. On the second trip this had been opened up to the masses and it looked like there had been an all night party there (but not in a good way). Is the outside sundeck area on the Breakaway just for Haven guests or has it been opened up or can other guests get in somehow?

 

2) We're looking at a room that's quite far forward in the Haven - 16704. We've done a transatlantic crossing before which was wild. How heavy will the seas be in July?

 

3) Has anyone stayed in this room?

 

4) Does the Haven still offer a smaller lunch menu in the Haven Grille? Does the Haven Grille exist on the Breakaway?

 

5) When do school start summer holidays in the US? We don't hate having children around, but we'd prefer it if there were less in the haven.

 

6) Has the Haven on the Breakaway got a sauna and steam room? We loved this on the Epic.

 

We really appreciate if anyone can help with these questions.

Answers to some of your questions (best that I can)

1) We love the peacefulness of the Haven. We've been on the Epic twice. The first time there was an outside sundeck area for Haven guests only (up some stairs at the front of the ship), which was amazing. On the second trip this had been opened up to the masses and it looked like there had been an all night party there (but not in a good way). Is the outside sundeck area on the Breakaway just for Haven guests or has it been opened up or can other guests get in somehow? The Haven has a private pool area and sundeck upstairs that borders Vibe.

2) We're looking at a room that's quite far forward in the Haven - 16704. We've done a transatlantic crossing before which was wild. How heavy will the seas be in July? We have the same stateroom booked for our 7/6 cruise. On our last cruise 2 years ago, we were in the same part of the ship and had no issues.

3) Has anyone stayed in this room? Scheduled...

4) Does the Haven still offer a smaller lunch menu in the Haven Grille? Does the Haven Grille exist on the Breakaway? I don't believe there's a Haven Grille on the Breakaway, just the Haven restaurant

5) When do school start summer holidays in the US? We don't hate having children around, but we'd prefer it if there were less in the haven. It depends; some schools start the week before Labor Day (9/1/14), others the Tuesday or Wednesday afterwards. But there's a good amount of schools outside of the northeast that are on trimesters -- so they could be off during almost any period. It was always a challenge scheduling family vacations with my sister from North Carolina as our kid's never had the same time off (except for Christmas)

6) Has the Haven on the Breakaway got a sauna and steam room? We loved this on the Epic. Yes, in the spa area, but that's an additional charge

Can't remember but pretty sure this link has the list of drinks!;) Enjoy!!:eek: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/pressroom/pressRelease.html?storyCode=PR_091213

This list is for the Getaway out of Miami -- with "Miami" influenced drinks. The Breakaway I believe have "NYC" influenced drinks... not sure what that equates to content-wise, but I'm guessing they will be a little different.

Can someone tell me if I booked through a travel agent whether or not I need to continue all communications regarding my trip through the agent or if I can email the Concierge desk directly?

 

Specifically, we are in a suite and I wanted to make diner reservations as well as request a pillow menu prior to getting on the ship.

You would still need to contact your TA for anything fare or cabin related (like moving to a different one). But for anything else that's part of the sailing, you can call or email the concierge desk (pillows, beverage preferences, dinner reservations or "requests").

The concierge line gets backed up with 15-20 minute waits. What has worked very well for me was after dealing with a concierge, she sent a confirmation email. I've been dealing directly with her since then via email and typically get a response within a few hours without having to wait on the phone for a new concierge.

Has anyone had any experience with Gluten Free dining on the Gem? Will we have to stick to a main dining room or can they accommodate at the buffet as well? We have made it know on our reservation but I am a little bit concerned. We are going from New York to Bahamas the end of August.

Thank you.

NCL does an amazing job with food allegies and the staff is aware of topics like cross-contamination. On our last cruise, my daughter was able to pre-order every meal the night before (granted, we did have to plan ahead as to where we would eat), but we knew her meal was gluten-free.

That said, I'd be careful of the buffets for the same reason you would be anywhere else. While the item may be prepared gluten-free, you can't be sure that the utensils haven't been contaminated by some other passenger using the french toast tongs to pick up their bacon. Guess it depends on the sensitivity of the person, but for that reason, my daughter avoided all buffet food.

Thanks for the info Joe. I read the same thing one time or another on the threads here, but for every person saying we can, two people will come along and say we can't :rolleyes: - we've always been used to the late seating time, which on other lines is 8:00ish; I guess it's just what we've grown accustomed to, but it's not cut in stone - we can be flexible. Will definitely hit Guest Services when we board.. at least it can't hurt to try.

Good luck Vicki -- my source of the info was from one of the Breakaway Freestyle Dailies that was posted from a recent 2014 cruise to Bermuda, so I didn't pull it out of the air or from past experiences. We're going to be in the same situation ourselves on our July sailing -- 17 of us. You can't make a reservation in advance, but I have "dining requests" in for the Manhattan dining room on the last night and The Haven dining room for the first.

Does anyone have pictures of room 15126 in the Haven on the Getaway. Thank you.

Not the exact cabin, but a video review of the Haven Penthouse Suite.

8 weeks for us! I've been counting down for over a year :p

 

Made a reservation last night for Moderno - it was so exciting. Now we just hope the other 6 nights we don't have to stand in line forever to get into MDRs. This is the first NCL sailing for us, and we like having a set dining time, same table, same waiters etc. We're a group of 25, but 8-10 of us will be dining together each evening... we kinda like knowing our table is there; it's gonna take some getting used to, but I'm willing to go with the flow.

If you're in a large group, stop by the Guest Services desk (deck 6) after you board; they can make dinner reservations for your large group for the same time every night if you like. You can also try calling the normal guest services line now and put in a "dining request" for the main dining room for the time you want. They won't guarantee it now, but when you get on the ship, it should be on record already. For a group that large, I'm sure they would rather know in advance than try to cobble tables together during peak dining times.

Wait till you hear the up charge! I scratch my head.

Well, I was expecting the worst -- but after I requested a bottle of Tanqueray and Dewars to replace the Beefeater gin and Grant's scotch, here's the response I got....

I'm happy with the White Label, but nice to have the offer of either with no uplift!

The ship changes to Bermuda time which is one hour ahead. Don't be late or the ship will leave!!! :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yeah -- unless you have reservations for something, the only time that the "real" time matters is on Friday when the ship sails. Otherwise, chillax! It's why I love the Bermuda cruise -- 2 full days in port and not clock to watch.

I am going on july 6th and they only offered second city at 6 30. I was wondering the same thing

which date are you looking to book? If I recall, there was one night that there was only one night available so I have an 11:15 confirmed reservation for the Friday show. I'm in the Haven, so I had the benefit of the 55 day window and booked the first day (I'm of the mindset that it's easier to book and cancel then to try to book and be disappointed)

this list was assembled by Waldospepper

 

It's been a long time since I put the list out there, and now seems as good a time as any. Disclaimer: I haven't updated it in several months, so my apologies in advance if there have been any changes. I promise to review it carefully and make any changes to it later tonight.

 

Suite categories are designated by the letter “S,” followed by a number (Haven suites) or letter (Non-Haven suites). Stateroom categories not beginning with the letter S do not receive perks.

 

• Haven suites have access to the Haven regardless of where they are situated on the ship. The Haven has its own pool, hot tub, sauna, and sundeck. Some have their own restaurant and bar within the Haven complex. Some Haven's also have a retractable roof over the central area. Haven configuration varies based on ship class/generation

 

• All suites have complimentary access to a private restaurant for breakfast and lunch.

 

• All suites have Butler and Concierge service. The Concierge can assist with dining reservations, shore excursion booking and guidance in many other areas. He or she also provides delivery of invitations and information to the suite, and performs all escorts on and off the ship. The Butler provides delivery of daily amenities, meals en suite, replenishes coffee and other supplies, and oversees the maintenance of the suite. Gratuity should be based upon services provided.

 

• All suites receive invitations to a special cocktail reception with the Captain and other Officers.

 

• All suites receive priority embarkation {including express through security and check-in, as well as a private lounge with various amenities to enjoy while awaiting escort aboard} and disembarkation {which includes a private area to gather, and escort off the ship & directly to the VIP Luggage area and Porter Services}, as well as priority tendering.

 

• All suites receive one bottle of Sparkling Wine, one large bottle of water, a bowl of fresh fruit (replenished upon consumption) and a fresh flower arrangement in their suite. (Note: Garden Villas, Deluxe Owner's Suites and Owner's Suites receive Champagne instead of Sparkling Wine)

 

• Garden Villa's receive 6 bottles of alcohol with unlimited mixers, soda and water, while Deluxe Owner's Suites and Owner's Suites each receive 3 bottles of alcohol with unlimited mixers, soda and water. All other categories do not receive complimentary liquor.

 

• All suites are provided with a variety of Elemis brand toiletries.

 

• All suites are equipped with a Coffee/Cappuccino/Espresso Machine (Most are Lavazza pod-style machines), however the Sun has Lavazza machines in the Owner’s Suites, but drip-style coffee brewers in all other suites (these suites cannot accommodate these devices).

 

• All suites have access to the Pre-Cruise Concierge service, which helps to coordinate your individual selections on pillow types, coffee and tea preferences, and a variety of special requests.

 

• All suites (except the SG and SJ suites on Deck 12 of the Star and some suites on the Sun) have a portable phone, which can be used throughout the ship.

 

• All suites are equipped with the "Bliss Bed" which truly lives up to its name, fitted with upgraded bedding. Also provided with upgraded bathrobes, as well as slippers.

 

• All suites have an expanded Room Service menu. Essentially, order whatever you want, and if it is available on the ship you will have it.

 

• Some suites have access to a reserved section of the theater on some ships, based upon stateroom category, as well as other factors, which can vary from sailing to sailing.

Great update and list -- on some of the ships, the category is now an Hx booking (no longer S (suite))

I received our luggage tags in the mail over the weekend and the following link for details on the Haven:

http://www.ncl.com/welcomethehaven

Enjoy... worth the pampering in my opinion.