dcollette

Sorry if this is a basic question but if you get FAS+ does that include the Starbucks machine? I hear the line for Starbucks can be lengthy so if I'm calculating that into my personal equation, I want to make sure I have it right. 

My youngest son was 3 when we last sailed breakaway but he didn't want to stay in the kids club. He loved the music, the mini golf and the smaller "kiddie" ropes course. He loved the pools (we brought his life jacket from home) and just in general liked walking around. We didn't do guppies, but it sure looked adorable and they also had cupcake decorating and other family fun activities. You won't be disappointed.

Oh, I totally agree, and I'm certain they are paid anything BUT a decent salary. I don't mean to say they should rely on a tip from guests, only that people who opt not to pay because they "claim" they don't use the ship's services while in port--they don't give a moment's thought to what it takes "behind the scenes" to make the ship run.

Ok, so I almost can't even keep up with all the crazy changes that seem to come out almost weekly. ( a slight exaggeration, I know :p ) So, they roll out these new promos, which for the UDP started off as for the first two people, then extended to all the passengers in the cabin. I'm not even sure if they changed it back again. :p

Then they decided to increase the DSC. Nothing terrible, but keeping it to a whole dollar amount would have been better, IMHO. (who wants to calculate 12.95 per day?)

Then they decided it would be a good idea to be food ****s and try to not allow food in the rooms and change the way room service is done. Now, I have only used room service when my girls were little and one was napping and I was in the room with a 3 year old that was hungry. We got sandwiches and fruit delivered. Generally, I run and fetch food from the buffet and bring it back to the room. I do not believe in the whole leave the dirty dishes in the halls, that is just gross. With the design of the new ships, the passages are far too narrow, especially when you add the carts to the mix. We just simply left the tray/plates neatly in our room and they were taken care of. Go ahead and try to stop me, that was my attitude when they first announced this new "change". Well, they have since rescinded that one. (no big surprise there :eek::eek: )

Now, they have upped the DSC again (how many cruises even paid the first increase??) I think there should be a discount if you prepay them prior to your cruise, no matter what the charge might be. That would probably get more people to prepay.

So, now they want to change some of the specialty dining to a la carte. In case they haven't noticed, the a la carte options that are already in place aren't that busy--what would make them think doing this in the dining venues would be a good idea?? No more Zakarian doesn't really affect me one way or another, the cover charge was ridiculous in my opinion anyhow.

Breaking ties with Nickelodeon raises some very interesting questions---will they redo the water park to remove the Nickelodeon theme??? That will take time and more money. They have not (to my knowledge) announced a replacement for Nickelodeon. That is a shame, there should be some theme for the younger guests. Perhaps they don't care about the kids that look forward to seeing their favorite characters onboard.

All these changes make me question the stability of the leadership, it almost seems like they have no idea what they are doing, what guests really want nor what direction they want to take.

All this and the prices of the cruises keep going up. Even 65 days out, if I try to do a "mock" booking, the cost is around $300 more that what I paid! I understand that more than one cruise line has stated they will no longer slash the prices last minute, to try to get those last minute cruise bookings to be at the same rate, but most of them are also done as guarantees, not as actual rooms so the cruiser really has no idea what they are getting. Seems like the company has really taken a turn for the worse. All the hard work Sheehan put in to make the brand positive and successful as a competitor are being undone faster than you can make a cup of coffee.

As a loyal NCL cruiser, I am certainly going to be looking at other options for our next cruise, sad to say. :confused::confused:

Ok, so I have to agree on some points here. I generally book pretty far out, generally well over a year. When I first booked, it was still under the $12 dsc, and when the notice came out that they were upping the charge to 12.95 (odd number, but whatever) I thought, well that doesn't seem too bad. However, all these changes seem sketchy to me...

First, we had the dining package as our "perk"-- then that changed from only covering the first two guests to all guests in the room. Good for me, as I had paid for my 3rd passenger to have the package, so they were able to refund that back to me. Then came the first of the dsc increases. Ok, not a big deal, I always pre pay and my rate was "locked in" so no problem. Now, a very short time later, they are upping the charge again, changing the arrival/departure times from Bermuda and no more Nickelodeon or Zakarian. Not to mention the choice to move to more a la carte pricing in the specialty dining rooms. None of this is appealing to me, and this may very well be my last NCL cruise, even though I have loved them dearly. It seems like all of the progress that Sheehan made to improve the brand have been completely reversed and are most likely going to turn most people away from the brand, both loyal and new cruisers alike.

I don't understand people wanting to remove the DSC, but I can also understand people wanting to make sure the ones who work hard should receive adequate tips. I'm certain the folks working hard down in the laundry room who we never get to see would appreciate a tip, and I'm fairly certain that the measly DSC does not cover these folks. I do think it would be in their best interest to explain how much of each DSC goes to what category of worker. People do work harder when they know that their tip is directly related to their service level, but some folks still don't tip adequately either way. I always tip extra (in cash) to those who deserve it, and if they had to turn those tips over--I would be enraged. There is no way for the line to track and force workers to turn over tips as mentioned earlier. It really doesn't help the workers. I hope they don't decide to cut back on staff as well with all these changes.

On our previous Breakaway cruise, we did not pay the insane (at that time it was still $50) cover charge, but we did enjoy some items from the waterfront "take out" window. We had the amazing lobster rolls and fried calamari, which were all excellent, and not overpriced.

We are now booked on what will apparently be the "last" cruise before these changes are implemented. I'm curious if the cover charge will be reduced prior to the change? Unfortunately, even with the UDP, you don't get a discount on Ocean Blue, so we won't be dining there, anyhow, but I wonder if the outside window will still be available?

I'm not sure rolling out all these changes back to back to back is such a good idea, people need to get used to new things but all these changes might give some the impression that they don't know what direction they are going in.

Guess we will have to wait and see.....

The beverage packages work the same; if part of a promo them they are included. If you purchase the promo the gratuity has always been added at point of sale. The recent changes in terms of the UBP is that gratuities on beverages have gone up from 15% to 18%.

 

Just a question about your third person. Are they in their own cabin? If the three of you are sharing a cabin and the UDP was chosen with the promo then everyone in the cabin gets the package. ( Was just thinking maybe that is why the system would not let you purchase it).

 

 

Rochelle

Ok, well the promo only applies to the first two passengers in the cabin, which is noted in the "fine print" ugh

Ok, so I received a response from my pcc. Since we have the promo, we are covered for the 18% I will add that the system did not let me purchase the udp for my third guest, most likely because they were in the process of increasing the price on it. Lol.

Question to those who may know, if you have the beverage package, does the same apply or do you get hot with the gratuity for beverages? Just curious

Well, two of us have the promo and the third passenger I paid for the package. I did shoot an email to my cruise consultant for clarification

Just in case if someone knows this already..... will the new 18% auto gratuity be charged to people who have the prepaid dining package? I will be emailing my consultant in the morning

I don't recall where, but I remember reading that they might be replacing the Rock of Ages show-- I still see it on their website as of today. Maybe it has to do with licensing of the show?? Not sure, but if they are changing some time this year, it would be nice to know what they are replacing it with.

We sailed with four, three of my youngest children and myself. I personally tried out the bunk bed (pull down) and the sofa bed, just to see. They were very comfortable. You can always request a topper if you need it softer, they will get you one.

With the promo from yesterday that has been extended to today did anyone get a smoking hot deal?

 

I was hoping to book the breakaway for jan. 2017 but those dates are not out yet. Also I see for breakaway 2016, it's not kids sale free, it's 50% off.

 

 

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Well, they do their weird math (have they been using common core math? LOL) but we managed to get a mid ship balcony for almost $600 cheaper than our family inside price. Yes, I lost my obc, but still came out about $300 ahead, even factoring that in and we managed to get the same exact balcony that we were able to get a free upgrade to on our last breakaway cruise. I'm excited. There are four of us, so other people may not see the same type of deal for them. For us, it was a no brainer. The room we had before I really enjoyed because I like the bed by the balcony so I can slip out there while the kids are sleeping. :D

Debbie

Thank you for your review. We have previously been on BA and will be sailing again September/Oct 2015 and was wondering what recent guests have been experiencing. Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday and thank you again for sharing with us!!

I have not seen this either. I also travel with three of my children (the other two are adults and can travel on their own). I know that the site now changes the rates when you look at pricing for four people as opposed to just two. My reservation for Breakaway for next year (sept) shows everyone paying an equal rate, weird, I know but that is how they are choosing to post prices now.

Our room steward on the Breakaway would "fold" it back up when she would come around in the morning (magically when we were usually eating an early breakfast) and set it up as well as the sofa when they would turn down the rooms for the night. I suppose if you want it left down, all you would need to do would be to leave a note or ask your steward to leave it down and I'm certain they would. We had a balcony room, and I wouldn't want it left down because it makes it very difficult to utilize the sofa beneath to sit on. In an inside cabin, you would not be able to sit on the bed for the most part if the bed were left down.

Hope this helps!

We stayed on deck 13, mid, not an aft balcony. While those balconies are super amazing, can't justify the expense. Maybe if the upgrade fairy visits me this time we can land one. :p Anyhow, just be aware pulling in and out of port--the aft does vibrate. Not insane, but you will notice it. You will totally love this ship and hopefully you will enjoy NCL so much that you'll be back again soon!! Very excited for you, enjoy your cruise!!

ok, not sure if this helps but...did you book a specific cabin? Sometimes guarantees take longer to get assigned. I generally book through NCL so I'm not sure if using a site like orbitz makes any difference. I know my edocs were available way ahead of time- I booked a specific cabin (actually had to reprint my edocs since we ended up with an upgrade :D) and everyone was 100% checked in. You may want to call them back and ask if there is a reason why.

I was curious what other people were thinking on this subject. WOW. Everyone has their opinion and is entitled to it. I hardly think this is really about taking away rights. For those that believe it is, answer me this...how about a non smoker's right to not have to be exposed to second hand smoke? The staff that cannot get away from it in the casino? It is about a company policy, not personal rights.

I have taken several cruises over the past dozen years or so and always with a balcony. I do not smoke, but my mother and grandmother were both chain smokers. Let me tell you, second hand smoke has given me chronic bronchitis (of which I had no choice). That being said, I have never had a huge issue with smelling smoke of others on my balcony. I have been far more offended by the drunken yelling of other passengers from their balconies late at night.

Having cruised Breakaway, my only negative comment is the smoke in the casino. Even my three year old smelled it and commented (when we were one deck below the casino, no less) on the stench. I personally don't mind if they allow smoking in the casino, that's fine--HOWEVER-- it should be closed off, not open to decks above and below to contaminate the air for those who choose not to smoke.

I am glad there is no smoking allowed on balconies, but as I said, I personally have never had an issue with that. On the waterfront, there are definitely areas that allow smoking that smell very badly to those who do not smoke. I simply avoid those areas in the late afternoon and evenings, as that seems to be the time when most smokers gather in those areas. Simple. It does, however make me hesitate to eat on the waterfront, as I'm not sure with the right wind conditions that I wouldn't be exposed to the same smoke.

Many vacation places, both land and sea, are moving towards more restricted smoking policies. I remember when they started banning smoking in restaurants how smokers complained, yet restaurants are still doing a booming business and don't seem to have suffered any horrific financial losses as a result. I know NCL has their cigar lounge (which is even more restrictive if that is your choice of smoking apparatus) and I'm sure the smoking cruisers would be very upset if there were only one place on the entire ship to smoke. So, it could be worse. Unless society drastically changes, I don't think we will ever see smoke free cruising or other vacations (and smoking allowed for that matter) so everyone has to compromise somewhere. NCL is just trying to find that delicate (yet difficult) balance.

$899 per person regardless of cabin. The price is in addition to the price of whatever cabin you choose, but you'll get 10% off the cabin at time of booking if you buy this.

Yes, it is $899 per person as an add on to an already existing reservation. They also have some pricing (for Getaway only I believe) with it included to make it easier. I received an email about this promo, and I checked it out because about a week or two prior, I had received a survey about just this promo. The main differences were in the proposed survey--the price was lower and covered the entire cabin--guess they decided against it. Oh well.

For me--traveling with my three youngest children-- this package is not worth it. I am unsure if all the people in the room have to pay for it (I'm guessing yes, as they already do that with UBP for all people over 21) or if they offer a lesser rate for children (which I somehow doubt). We don't generally spend $200 per person on excursions (never mind that this only includes ones booked through NCL), I can't ever recall purchasing 20 photos (let alone 80 if I had to purchase the package for each person) the UBP is pointless to me as I have maybe one coctail per cruise, if that and even the soda package for my teens on the last cruise ended up not being worth it either; I NEVER purchase bottles of water onboard, the specialty dining is enticing, but I can purchase that myself if I desire.

For some folks, I can see how this would be a great deal, however. If you normally get the UBP and/or the dining package--this might be worth it. I also could see some folks figuring that with what they paid extra, they may feel the need to "make" it pay. If you like dining exclusively in specialty restaurants, and take advantage of the UBP, the other stuff could work out in your favor. I have a feeling they are trying to entice people to pay one price and not worry about the rest. For me, not so much, as I generally don't spend that much per person on our regular fare, so how can I justify the added cost? For others, this would be a great way to budget your trip-- you would only need money for trinkets and such.

NCL wouldn't be offering this if there wasn't a market. People want to pay one price for everything and now they can. Great idea. If not, you can still decide to "freestyle" it and pay for what you want. Just opens up NCL for a wider range of customers. ( you know, the ones who constantly whine about being "nickeled and dimed" to death on NCL :p )

THIS!! Simply put.

 

There isn't a lobster restaurant on every corner because it's not an affordable daily meal.

 

I too love seafood and lobster is one of my favorites. It is very expensive in the Chicago area at a decent restaurant (I'm not going to even discuss the comment about it being available at Golden Corral). Fact is we dine out all year round but rarely if ever will I order lobster because of the price.

 

So why is it so hard to believe that we would to dine on lobster, especially if it was free when we take our "hard earned" cruise vacations? I was on the Breakaway last Thanksgiving and they had lobster tails in the buffet on the 2nd night. It wasn't the same quality that we'd get at the Chicago seafood/steakhouses but heck it was still delicious, AND it was free!

 

We will miss it if they stop serving them on NCL but I don't think that will stop us from sailing NCL in the future.

Ok, I'm from New England and I totally agree. Lobster is not something I can generally afford to splurge on when dining out. I will buy at the store when it goes on sale (which always coincides with molting season--so lots of shell and small amounts of meat-ugh) but even then maybe once a year. Feeding five people lobster gets super expensive super fast. When we were on Breakaway last November, they had it in the buffet on the 2nd night, the line was insane when we went up there for our "second dinner" lol and they were only giving out one (which was actually a half of a tail, because they split them down the middle to grill them) per person. Since only one daughter was in line with me, they would only give us two. They actually ran out like 3 people after us--but this was around 9pm or so. Very tasty, yes! I really miss having it in the MDR though.

I find it funny that I received an email about a survey in regards to this new all inclusive promotion about a week or so before they rolled it out. The pricing they were offering in the survey was a much better deal than what they are charging as an add on to an existing reservation. I don't drink, so the UBP is not worth much to me, I would totally enjoy the dining package, but I can purchase that by itself if I really want to. Also, the survey they asked about it being a single charge per stateroom--now THAT would make me jump on it, but to have to pay that amount for four people-- not so much. I'm sure for some this is a great deal, if they utilize the dining and beverage packages separately on a regular basis.

You can try to get off on one of the first tenders to try to get one of the clamshells. I agree I am surprised they do not rent umbrellas, but I suppose that could lead to all sorts of odd behaviors. :p (Like people taking them while you're in the water) Anyhow, up by where they have the buffet on the main beach, some of the picnic tables were in the shade. There really aren't a ton of trees to get shade from where there are also chairs. Cabanas are both expensive and generally sell out long before sailing. Unless you are splitting the cost with someone else, they can be expensive. Perhaps a smaller clip onto the chair type umbrella will work.

Good luck and enjoy!

While I'm sure there isn't a "cigar police" running around trying to find offenders, cigar smoke (and smell) is very pungent (sp?) and I would imagine that anyone on a neighboring balcony would be very quick to call it in. That being said, it would almost be impossible to avoid the smell from entering the cabins to some extent. I believe that is the reason for the rule. Some cigars have better aromas than others.

I don't know how they do it, but even when you walk by the cigar lounge, you don't smell a thing.

I'm sure by visiting the cigar lounge, you will meet other enthusiasts to chat with. I don't believe they allow it on the waterfront either (in the smoking sections) but I'm not certain.

For the most part, Breakaway utilizes two separate boarding locations, on the same deck I believe- just fore and aft. It depends on what deck and location you are on which "end" of the ship you board on. Not sure if they utilize only one boarding location if there aren't so many people onboard. My son a month ago, said they used both for their sailing as well. I believe it was deck 7, but I could be mistaken.

Depends on what you're looking for, to be honest. We had a balcony on 13 and loved it. Not far from pool deck (and the buffet :) ) I think you can't go wrong with either one, just depends on what you'd rather be closer to. I'm not a gambler, so being close to the casino was not something I cared about. It really wasn't that bad going to 678 Ocean place, either and we usually took the stairs.