BREAKAWAY review 11/17

[Fl0werChild_]

Hey all! first want to thank EVERYONE on here for helping me get all the facts i needed to have an AMAZING first cruise! WOW! what a great time my boyfriend and i had. i even think we might consider booking another cruise next year! okay so without further delay here is my review! i will do several parts I'm sure. and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

who we are: 24, 29 year olds from long island new york

why we cruised: celebration of our 2 year anniversary and my graduation from college

when: 11/17-11/24

where: Port Canaveral, GSC, Nassau

Room: 9314 balcony portside aft

 

DAY 1:

EMBARKING: we got to the cruise terminal a little on the later side, around 11:30. We knew vibe wasnt something we were looking to do, so we figured lets take our time in the morning. There was stand still traffic so we actually were dropped off at 42nd at the cross walk and walked across with our bags. we arrived to a long line to check bags, but it went pretty quickly (maybe 10 mins)! (also keep in mind its only getting colder). elevator up went through security, scanned carry ons, all very quickly. Waited another 15 minutes to check in and get our key cards and we were on board! PAINLESS, EASY! A+

 

SETTING UP OUR ACCOUNT: so we wanted to use cash. unfortunately there has been a recent compromise of my information by a young hacker, so i felt very uncomfortable putting down a credit card. We were told this would be an issue, but we persisted and they let us do it. We each put down enough $ for he UBP and a little more. but SpOILER ALERT: we had to visit guest services several times to find why our cards were "shut off" and had to put like 20$ on the card. then they forgot to actually put the $ into the account (another visit). this happened another time as well. but after that it was working just fine!

 

UBP: we went to the atrium coffee shop to purchase the UBP. which is a little sticker on your card. For us, it was 100% WORTH IT.You can certainly get most drinks, we mostly drank like daydreamers, rebellious fish, coronas, miami vices, bahama mamas, li teas, wine, johnny walker black on the rocks, captain and gingers, and some watermelon fizz martini from shakers. We tried other signature drinks here or there. Just keep in mind its ALL drinks 8.50 and under, all beer 5.50 and under and all wine 10 and under. they do a really good job of giving you what you want so if you would like something, just ask if its on the beverage package. we didnt keep all the receipts but the ones we did i added up and it was already at 700$ and we knew there was plenty more i had not kept. its 788$ for 2 people. 49$ a day + 15% grat = 56$ a day pp. everyone in the room has to get it. blah blah...

 

EXPLORING/SAILAWAY: we explored the ship, loved how the ship towered over the carnival ship next to us.Saw the shops, lots of jewelry, and liquor. Got our first drink. Rooms weren't ready till maybe like 1:30? im not too sure, but some people were able to get in earlier. Muster was a breeze (took 5 minutes). Went to our balcony for sail away. We had a gift of wine waiting. It was FOGGY! you couldnt see a thing!..so we thought

 

 

ROOM: Our room was surprisingly roomy! i was happy to have gotten a free upgrade from an inside midship to a balcony in the aft. I was warned by friends who have cruised before that the aft of the ship can get a little rocky. But i went ahead and took the free upgrade anyway. I would have gone CRAZY in an inside and im really happy i made that decision. outlets and blow dryers are in the main room. bathroom was just big enough, shower was just big enough for me, not sure how the boyfriend delt with that but he never seemed to complain. theres JUST enough storage space, and there are hangers in the closet but they are a little tough to remove. We had the set up where the bed is closest to the balcony door, and that was perfect!. Dont forget there is storage under the couch! Bed was comfortable. and sliding door of balcony stayed open just fine.

notice something different here? our balcony looks slightly larger doesnt it?

well lucky for us we booked room 9314 and we are the LAST balcony on port side in the aft. This means theres no room to the left of us. So we were able to open up the baclony divider and enjoy more room on our balcony! which was AWESOME! (we only needed like literally another ft or 2 to feel comfortable but it was great !

 

DINNER: Night 1 we dinned at moderno. DELICIOUS! SO GOOD! what a great time! we ate at 6:30, barely anyone was there. they did a good job making sure we got to eat all 10 meats. Salad bar is AMAZING. FREE BOTTLE OF WINE on the first night...we are wine drinkers and the red was actually quite enjoyable. Its the captains choice and we actually received a gift in the room from my boyfriends father and it was the same wine!

we were very tired so got drinks and called it a night.

[Fl0werChild_]

I will apologize because from here on out the reviews might be a little under detailed. Memory isnt the greatest or it was all that booze! lol

 

Next morning we decided to get up and eat breakfast at uptown grille and bar on deck 16. its a small place with limited choices but its actually quiet peaceful. they have bagels and fruits and open faced breakfast sandwiches some type of eggs on a club roll with toppings, sausage etc. its right next to spice h20 which was open by that point to get mimosas. which i found that the earlier you arrive the more the chances the bar is closed. But the atrium bar is always open! before breakfast we grabbed cappuccino for me (iced) and an espresso for him. The cappuccinos are DELICIOUS ! so good! i went back 3 more times over the week and they are fairly priced.

By today it was already warming up! YAY!

 

DEAL OR NO DEAL:We decided to play deal or no deal this afternoon, and it was actually really fun and enjoyable to play along. it was located in the theater and something i loved about that was they had waiter service in the theater. so when our drinks were empty there was another not to far away! you get to play along with a card and try to get matches from the person who is chosen to play live. for 2,000 max. You get to play twice for 19.99 which is WAY better than bingo which started at 39.99? like...WHAT? we had a good time.

 

we hung out and relaxed most of the day, it was very windy outside so we didnt stay out there for too long.

 

DINNER: we ate at the free restaurant tonight..i think it was savor..its which ever one has the purple decor. food was pretty good, not nearly as good as moderno waiter brought extra desserts..we had wine. service was great.

 

We weren't sure of what to do so we walked around the ship. which is where we found

DULING PIANOS: which we hung out at for a while...it was pretty entertaining. we had a good time, but left after 30 mins, the music wasnt our taste.

 

----NIGHT TIME FUN: I WILL APOLOGIZE BECAUSE THIS BELONGS UNDER DAY ONE! (already messing up) we took a bottle of wine and some glasses and went out to the hot tub. it was SOOO WINDY! but worth it. it was nice and relaxing, and you could tell so many people walking around thought we were CRAZY! lol -----

 

NIGHT TIME FUN: day 2!! --> NORWEGIANS NIGHT OUT

so i was wearing a nice dress for dinner and i was freezing cold, so i changed into something more comfortable and felt VERY under dressed! however it was so windy!! so i felt alright about that. The party was at Spice h20 which is a pretty neat place, and again waiter service ! woo hoo! so we jumped around for an hour and danced like maniacs then called it a night. (im sure there was a midnight snack involved)

[Fl0werChild_]

TODAY was my big day! i should tell you that originally i was trying to get my boyfriend to agree to go to Disney World with me for this vacation! but he wouldnt do it. So we compromised on a cruise that would take us to the most magical place on earth!

 

We went to the buffet for breakfast which was my favorite meal in the buffet. the banana topping for the french toast is out of this world!

we took our food back to the balcony as we sailed into port canaveral

 

It was really cool seeing all the people on other ships just stop whatever they were doing (even people working on rigs) to just gaze at the mighty breakaway. She gets all the attention she deserves. Anyywayy...we finished up breakfast and packed a backpack with waters we brought from home ***Oh heres a tip ! we brought water and redbull and to make it easier we just tapped them together with packing tape and handed it all to the porter when we got to the NY terminal, i thought that might be a problem but it wasn't at all***

 

now i will tell you the real facts about what its like to take an excursion to disney. I have read several reviews about this and i teetered back and forth for a long time deciding wether or not to drop 175 x 2 on tickets to the parks. Many reviews on these excursions are negative, and i can not speak for sea world or universal but if i had to rate this excursion i would give it a B+.. here is why

 

DISNEY WORLD - MAGIC KINGDOM.

So we arrived at the meeting point which is the theater...my boyfriend suggested we get there at 11:15 though the meeting time is 11:45..i will tell you that it took an extra 1/2 an hr to get clearance for us to leave the ship..so we were not off the boat till close to 12:30 (i think). we got off the boat and followed the signs to the coach buses. The company they use is fantastic and if you can get on the first bus you will be out to the parks earlier than the other 3 buses (because they women who gives all the information rides on the first bus and tells you everything on the way to the park...instead of having to wait for her to come on to your bus and do the routine with you). trip took around an hour, it wasnt too bad. Got to the park hopped on a monorail and we were in! by nearly 1:30. Now...i would describe myself as a disney couniseaur, i have the app with the wait times for rides, i know short cuts (though magic kingdom only has about 2 good ones) and i am familiar with the park so for us it was a BREEZE! we knew what rides to do first and we did. we did EVERY RIDE we wanted to do, and one of them twice. i was about 10% disappointed i couldn't ride one of the rides another time (the wait became 40 mins), but as we walked by another ride there was no wait so we easily could have done that. ALL in all it was worth it!

 

So magic kingdom is going through a revamp and they have added a new part called fantasy land...it is basically princess land complete with ariels grotto (new and improved and with a ride). the beasts castle which you cant go inside unless you dine in) a few shops a place to get an amazing non-acholoic drink (frozen apple jucice, hint of marshmallow, topped with mango and passionfruit foam!!! TO DIE FOR!!!) its cute! and they are also building a new ride for us older disney fans that reassembles the run away rail road, but with some different snow white themed features.

 

we had a lot of fun, my boyfriend is not a fan of disney but had a great time. we let an hour to spare to shop! last bus leaves the park at 715! so you have a chunk of time at these parks. it might be difficult with a bigger group, maybe with smaller children. but, if you are a couple or only have 1 child this probably would be the perfect excursion for you! as long as you are willing to research out the parks first and see what it is you want to do. A trip like this takes a LITTLE planning, and a LITTLE SMARTS, and its a long day packed into like 5 hours, and i think thats why many people aren't into it. Keep in mind we did go in NOVEMBER so the park crowds are light on a weekday in November. Im so glad i didnt listen to any of the negative reviews on the disney excursions! IT WAS AWESOME! Only thing i wished was we could have stayed for fire works or got on 1 or 2 more rides one more time. but my disney kick was satisfied.

 

we got back on bus by 6:50 and we left shortly after 7. We took the hour ride back which the bus driver entertained us with his "back in my day when i lived in new york city we used to play stoop ball, you know my son hes born in florida. he dont know what a stoop is..." so yeah that was um...entertaining to say the least, but a very nice man.

 

DINNER: We got back to the boat and ate dinner at the other free restaurant (taste i think, its the one with the red decor). We are not picky eaters (except for dietary restrictions) and we both work in the service industry. we always treat our waiters how we would want to be treated but tonight i saw things from other NCL guest that APPALLED ME. For whatever reason this restaurant, even though it serves the same food as the other, was CRASHING. The waiters were running every where, food was taking 30 mins, they were poorly understaffed. I felt bad i wanted to get up and start helping them bus and run food! there was a 30+ minute wait at the door, and empty tables waiting to be bussed. So our server, who was quick, smart, efficient, got us everything we needed and we didnt care how long the food took. But she was running, and anyone with eyes could tell she was busy, very busy. and yet still guests calling her over for her to TAKE THEIR PICTURE@!!!! ARE YOU F KIDDING ME! how about you ask the people next to you? i was DISGUSTED. i began to talk really loudly (i was a couple glasses in) so i hope that rude couple heard me. yuck. from here on out we ate across the hall at the other restaurant for dinner.

 

NIGHT TIME FUN: we saw second city tonight. HILARIOUS, boyfriend is into comedy he loved it. content is a bit skewed for the younger crowd from time to time. but all in all GREAT SHOW.

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great start to your review, looking forward to more!

 

My wife and I stayed in this exact cabin on our September Bermuda cruise!

[Fl0werChild_]

I was ELATED ! to find out that we were actually going to be able to tender at GSC. As many of you know they dont seem to have a great track record for being able to tender here. i was jumping for joy! we got a quick breakfast at the uptown and went back to the room to change.

The day before they give you the option to select a tender group if you wish. We were too busy readying to go to disney we didn't get a chance to. So we actually just walked down to the theater and said we didnt select a tender group and they told us to just walk on! so we did and we were the last 2 on that particular tender, but there was another one waiting right behind that.

 

Tendering was so smooth! im used to a ferry boat crossing the LI sound or the bay to fire island so this was so nice so calm so peaceful and we even saw a dolphin!

 

GSC: one word AMAZING! its beautiful and private and you can be as close to the action as you want or as far away as you want. you can be in the loud center with all the kids or you can be off in a cove with just a few other folks. This part i really liked! The only thing is you need to be willing to walk a little bit . we past the main beach area, then the second beach area, finally we settled in on the 3rd beach area. There was still quite a few kids and families so if youre looking for more peace and quiet keep going to the 3rd /4th/5th and / or the cove which isnt actually a beach its something they have man made i assume but its beautiful!

 

my old gripe is that the bar doesnt open until 11:30!!!! i guess i really didnt notice that we were up and out there that early it was only 10am! so we had a bit to wait. i rented a raft for the day for 10$ which was totally worth it..The water wasnt too cold or else i wouldnt be in it, i promise you that.

We had drinks, the one bar by our beach (strategically picked beach #3 because its close to a bar) the guy let us take 2 drinks at a time which wasnt allowed at the other bar closer to the main beach. i got a pina colada with a rum floater NOM! then went back to miami vices. The bbq was good. that was down over by beach #4 and the cove. There is a a main building with a bbq going on there but its soooo CROWDED! so if you can make the walk i suggest you set up further down the island. We ate lunch at the cove, and then resumed drinking and swimming till about 230/3.It was hot, we got tan lines, the bf had a burnt nose, but it was beautiful and well worth the extra effort we put in. We tendered back and went to go hang by the pool!

 

 

 

there were plenty of chairs and we got some *extra* decent sun and then decided to try the water slides.

(these images were from the first day so theyre more gloomy! sorry!)

 

the slides were fun, but keep in mind you have to take off ALL JEWELRY! I had a major problem with this! only because i had gotten a new hole pierced in my ears a few months back and they would need some extra special force to get the sport safe backs out! i had a heated argument with the guy over the fact that the backs were rounded and wouldnt harm me or the slide but no budging. Luckily my boyfriend got them out for me. It was worth it. the view is amazing from up there. Im not frightened by water slides and these weren't took crazy but i was definitely shaking on the top. ITS HIGH UP!

 

DINNER: we went down for dinner and we found a 40 minute wait. which we never mind..this was the longest wait we had been given. within 20 minutes we decided to do teppenyaki (i see what you did there ncl!) as we were making the reservation the buzzer went off to alert us our table was ready! **keep in mind, they over estimate wait times at the free restaurants, happened to us every night** we stuck with teppenyaki and glad we did!!! we drank sake like fishes!! we drank 60$ in sake! (thank you ubp ^_^) we had a great time, so much food ! it was a blast. We were exhausted so we went to bed.

[opalinem]

Thanks for sharing. That beach at GSC looks amazing :)

[JuneauWhatIMean]

Great review, you guys are darling! :D

[Fl0werChild_]

We arrived in beautiful nassau

breakfast again, and we were off exploring. surprised to only be really heckled by one guy trying to get us to kill ourselves on a moped. lol. we shopped around for gifts to bring back.

 

went to senor frogs for lunch which was a lot of fun, they make conch salad table side. they have karaoke going on, waiters dancing, huge strong drinks, and good food! and it was right before noon. its very pretty because its right on the water. of course it caters to the younger crowd (frozen drink chugging contests) but it was a great time.

 

we shopped a little more and then went to tortuga rum cake factory, got some cakes and overproof rum and grabbed a kalik beer and headed to check on junkanoo beach which is the public beach there. We didnt stay for long but we wanted to check out the water and the sand. Which was so blue so nice and the sand was so soft. they seemed to have bars and food lining the beach, so if we ever go back maybe well spend a few hours here hanging out. its not glamourous by any means but its a beach and the view is what makes it worth it. certainly you can choose to do a day at beaches or atlantis if you choose so.

 

POOL: we got some sun first on the top deck and again waiter service brought us drinks!. finally it was time to check out the pool. which to my surprise was pretty small but not too crowded by the time we went back on the ship around 330. the cool thing about the pool is its right in front of the band, and there are different varying levels of the pool, so lets say you just want your feet in, or just your legs (and bottom half) you can do that. not to much chair access around there, youre pretty much in the shade.

 

We went for dinner again at the original dinning room we had dined at the second night.

 

FIREWORKS/GLOW PARTY- well, this is where things start to go down hill a bit. After leaving nassau the water was rocky. i was afraid of getting sea sick this whole time and nothing happened until now. after dinner we went up to spice h20 for fireworks. they were delayed an then it started to rain. They informed us the captain was trying to steer us out of the storm and oh my did he. the boat was rockin and the wind was soooooo strong! but they were able to shoot off a few fire works! they moved the glow party into bliss which was too crowded so we left. I began to feel really sick, they said it was 12 ft waves? i slept the rest of the night.

[Fl0werChild_]

i will combine these two days and do an over all review on my last post

 

DAY 6:

after a rocky night in the aft of the ship by like noon i was feeling a bit better and up to doing something. we hung out in Spice h20 this afternoon. It was scattered showers and the water feature in there was FREEZING COLD! so once the drizzle started we were off inside to play trivia and just have drinks and go for dinner. we took it very easy today because i was trying to get myself to feel better. we played mini golf which is the bfs favorite.

We had dinner and chose to go to the casino

 

CASINO: 3 words BIG FAT LOSERS! we normally have good luck playing roulette and we were down 60$ the half hour. Once we stopped losing $ there the boyfriend who is an mediocre texas hold em player decided to play. He told me that he wasnt even sure why they were asking him to put down several different bets of $ he said he had never heard of that before, so he pulled out and didnt play for long. it seemed to me that if you are willing to put down BIG $ you can win. THis isnt like AC where you can walk in through 20 down and walk with 100$ like were used to. but it gave us something to do i guess.

We played darts which took the room swipe card. Saw ANOTHER second city show! this one was EVEN funnier ! not sure how but it was great! definitely go see them !

 

DAY 7

after breakfast we packed up and went down to the duty free shop to buy liquor and cigars. then it was time for the big deal or no deal, a chance to win 5,000$. they moved the game into the atrium which was crowded but we found a seat at the bar and played from there and were able to drink. one guy won over 500$ ! good for him! it was very exciting! lots of shouting! we loved that (like i said before)

 

After that they did a talent show in the theater! dan came out and he was shocked as to how many people packed out the theater. The talent show was a special one, for those devastated by the typhoon in the Philippines 60+% of the crew is from the philippines and as ive learned these are the most hard working, kind, patient individuals i have ever met in my entire life!. we went to the show! it was seriously like your room steward, your waiters, your bartenders, your concierge it was awesome to see them get up and show their stuff while representing their countries. It was so heartfelt my bf (who is a performer himself) cried at the end! they even showed a cruise cap review video and wouldn't you know WE WERE ON IT! jumping around dancing like maniacs lol! the show was great and im sure they raised a lot of $$$$. i was glad to be able to donate.

 

after this it was nap time, dinner time, relaxing time and then bed.

 

DISEMBARKING: We chose to disembark at 9am i was in my dads car by 10am. its long, its drawn out, it is what it is...if you choose to use the porter service things go faster. but if not try and have your luggage in a good way so youre not in pain carrying it, because you will be waiting a while. But once youre through, youre through!

[Fl0werChild_]

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

we were certainly some of the younger people on this cruise, and i really understand that not everyone can possibly be on the same page with everything. but if i was ever annoyed by anything at all on this cruise it was the the people.. We were having such a grand time and there were sooooo many debbie downers complaining about everything"im being nickeled and dimmed" "why do i have to wait 30 mins to eat" "why am i charged for drinking the water in the room, i didnt ask for it, it wasnt inside the mini bar!!" "why does it take so long to get on the tender" "can you drop everything youre doing and help me before you help all these people waiting in the line" "why is it taking so long to get my money back from my obc, why is the line so long? its only disembarking day!? jeeze i dont get it!" these are just a few examples but they were RAMPANT!

 

lots of line cutting from people in wheel chairs, which i should have you know! WE ALWAYS let people who are mobility disabled go in front of us if there is a reason it would make it easier for them. My bf works for AHRC

 

it was just weird, the crowd was a little mixed, i was often confused if someone was staring at me because they wanted to talk or because they they forgot that its rude to just stare. But thats what cruises are about i guess. it attracts all different types of people from all over the world. Im not going to play the "manner police" i was just a little shocked at some behaviors, thats all. I came home and thanked my parents for doing a good job raising me, and teaching me how to behave in a public setting properly (Even 10+ drinks in! :D )

 

also for the first 2 days there was a FOUL, and i mean FOUL oder coming from the area where taste, savor, the mix bar, the casino and bliss were located. We couldnt even stay in bliss when we walked in it was so bad. In fact we heard a couple at guest services trying to get there room changed because it was making them and their children nauseous!.

 

But no matter who was complaining or freaking out the staff handled it with grace, dignity, and patients, these folks are AMAZING!. i work in the service industry so i know how hard it is to keep your cool when an irate customer or a tough situation presents itself. But these folks handle it with flying colors !

 

all in all this vacation for us was a super success, 4 stars, A++ !!

We hope everyone who is lucky enough to enjoy the breakaway in the coming months sails with good weather! minimal storms, are able to tender at GSC and enjoys their time on this run!

THANK YOU TO ALL YOU CC MEMBERS FOR ALL YOUR HELP OVE THE PAST FEW MONTHS! you guys made my trip even better with all your tips and tricks!

& THANK YOU TO NCL & ALL THE STAFF FOR A WONDERFUL AMAZING TIME! ON OUR CELEBRATION VACATION!

 

TA TA FOR NOW CC! We WILL BE BACK!

-Monica

[ruchaos]

Thanks so much for the review!

We sail on sunday!!!

[rjs3434]

I was on the 11/17 sailing and agree with everything you said. It was an awesome time. :)

[Demonyte]

Nice to see review from younger folks too (when we started cruising alost five years ago, we were also in mid to late 20's and from the youngest end of the age scale), glad that you two enjoyed the cruise! :)

[meatball_nyc]

Monica,

Your review made me smile and I'm sooo happy you guys had such a great cruise!!!

I knew you were gonna LOVE CRUISING!

Loved all the pix. The one of all the booze receipts....lol!

 

I'm glad that they did that talent show / donation thing for the crew. Yes, they work so hard to make us happy.

 

You've got a great attitude and such positive energy. You and you're bf made your cruise great by going with the flow.

 

We're cruising on the Breakaway this July and are counting the days down and saving up every week to be able to set up our cash accounts. My son (18) and I are gonna have the best time!

 

Thank you for sharing your week on the Breakaway with us :)

 

HAPPY SAILING!!!

 

 

~robin and brian

 

Norwegian Breakaway 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2008

[tymike]

What a great, personal, informative review and with pictures to boot! Thank you so much!

 

I sailed on the Breakaway in July to Bermuda and also loved the ship but will be going on the Gem next summer so will have the same itinerary you had. Your information about Disney is really helpful as is your experience on GSC. I so hope we get to go to GSC, and if we do, your review will have helped make it an even better day!

 

Again, thanks for a terrific review! :)

[tammy531]

Great review!! Thanks!! I will be on her December 8th!

 

sent from my Samsung galaxy s3

[English101]

Nice to see review from younger folks too (when we started cruising alost five years ago, we were also in mid to late 20's and from the youngest end of the age scale), glad that you two enjoyed the cruise! :)

 

It's funny that she says it was an "older crowd"...my inlaws cruised on Breakaway in May and said it was a much you get crowd. I guess that puts me in "the crowd"lol. When we cruise, I'll be 34 and my husband will be 40.

[OnTheGoMom921]

Great review, sounds like you had a blast! You were very wise to glean as much information from these boards before your trip. It really makes for a better cruise. Just for future reference, for your NEXT cruise :D pack a bottle of ginger pills. You can get them at any drug store or health food store. They work wonders for quelling the queasiness from rough seas! No side effects, and you can still have your drinks.

Thank you for the entertaining recap of your trip! Also, the best cure for post cruise blues is to book another cruise! ;)