Breakaway 1/17 CTN Debacles

[lolane1]

First let me say that the Breakaway is a beautiful ship and that in general the staff was super friendly.

 

Debacle 1. The spa was oversold. What were they thinking selling so many spa passes on a two day cruise????? People were going to use it considering the cold weather and the shortness of the cruise. It was crowded, crowded, crowded. On Friday night, the spa opened after sailaway, 6PM. It became a substitute for the outdoor pool with loud party voices and jumping in the pool with some person screaming yahoo! frequently. Not nearly a spa atmosphere. The next day, we arrived early and were fortunate to get loungers but the chair hogs were out in force. When spa staff tried to remove towels from loungers, they got both the people who were legitimately in facilities as well as people glomming two loungers in case their spouses showed up. We witness at least three fights (and two people were so loud and belligerent in the process that their spa passes were canceled). Although this was totally entertaining, the entire spa atmosphere for the cruise was a bust. Because no loungers were available there were crowds sitting around on benches, and in the treatment rooms, and massive towels and robes piled up all over the place.

 

Debacle 2. THe 11:30 AM Second city show if booked online said FREE. A letter delivered to our cabin on arriving explained that "Unfortunately, the price of Second City's Presumed Murdered was erroneously omitted from our online booking system." Actually, the online booking didn't even indicate that it was the Presumed Murdered show, just a Second city performance. The letter went on to say, that if we wished to cancel to call the box office.

Well, here was the problem: We never read the letter, it was placed under a FCC advertisement and on the bed. We moved it to the nightstand to unpack and somehow it fell behind the nightstand.

When 11:30 came around the next day, we had just gotten loungers in the spa (read debacle 1) and were not going to move because we might never get a lounger again. So we did not go to Second CIty and just figured the free tickets would be released. Problem: we were charged for the show - 40 dollars. Yikes. I explained the situation to the box office and they would not refund the price because THE LETTER was left in our stateroom.(behind the nightstand under FCC letter) I asked for a call back from someone in authority and no one called back after 1 1/2 hours of waiting in my cabin. OK , a trip to customer relations to explain that were weren't there,etc, etc, etc. And Hansel, flatly told me my money would not be refunded. Hansel explained that many guests were complaining and they made an announcement before the show and I had a choice to leave!!!! HUH,Hansel, I WASN'T THERE!!!!! (Spa debacle) Oh, "You weren't there???? NO< HANSEL!!!!! THis was as painful to me at the time as it is for all of you reading this !! Finally, after Hansel made a phone call we were refunded our 40 dollars. Painful, painful, painful!

 

Debacle 3 : After a perfectly lovely night of food and entertainment we retuned to our room and both key cards didn't work. Oh gosh, was this payback for the Second City debacle?? Why have they locked us out of our rooms? Are they canceling our room like they canceled those spa persons passes???? Oh, I NEVER should have asked for a refund! Now we will be sleeping on the outside deck! (LOL) Both key cards could not have been demagnitized. A very long, long, sheepish walk to guest relations and they were dumbfounded. Fortunately, they handled this well. Within half an hour they had fixed the door which somehow broke. It was a handicapped room which we scored on a late booking.

 

Debacle 4, Not really a debacle but no bill was provided at 5AM on before we left. Actually, no bill at all but we checked on the TV and all seemed fine. Norwegian, do not say you are delivering a statement if you are not!

 

Finally, with all of this, the CTN was ultimately good. We had a great time even with the gliches. THe Breakaway is beautiful but as said by other reviewers, the smoke from the casino was a problem all over connecting floors and areas, especially for me as I am allergic and ended up with a nagging asthmatic cough on and off for the two days.

 

But, if you have no allergies, and no glitches, you should totally enjoy this beautiful ship. And yes, nothing was significant enough for me not to try the Breakaway again.

Edited January 19, 2014 by lolane1
addition and spelling

[disfan13]

Yikes I had many clients on this CTN, I will have to chat with them to see how they liked it. - I'm sorry about the glitches. Glad you were able to enjoy your cruise regardless.

[SeaShark]

Boy, that sure is a LOT of drama for just a two day cruise! I don't know that I'd be so willing to sail again on a line with that many debacles in that short of a time frame!

 

Look at the bright side...at least you got through debarkation process quickly so you could be home and posting on Cruise Critic before 11! Imagine where you'd be if that would have been a debacle. :rolleyes:

[lolane1]

Boy, that sure is a LOT of drama for just a two day cruise! I don't know that I'd be so willing to sail again on a line with that many debacles in that short of a time frame!

 

Look at the bright side...at least you got through debarkation process quickly so you could be home and posting on Cruise Critic before 11! Imagine where you'd be if that would have been a debacle. :rolleyes:

 

Literally, the first ones to the taxi stand (8AM) and a short ride to my apartment.

And really grateful we didn't have to sleep on deck!! (rolls eyes) Super tolerant to drama. But not tolerant if they wouldn't refund my 40 bucks.

[lolane1]

Boy, that sure is a LOT of drama for just a two day cruise! I don't know that I'd be so willing to sail again on a line with that many debacles in that short of a time frame!

 

Look at the bright side...at least you got through debarkation process quickly so you could be home and posting on Cruise Critic before 11! Imagine where you'd be if that would have been a debacle. :rolleyes:

And BTW, that almost was. As we were crossing the street, I noticed the dispatcher make 3 city cabs leave. As we approached, he tried to steer us to a livery cab. Noooo, honey, we a New Yorkers! That's not right. Some money changed hands there!!! Waited for the next city cab. (smiles)

[bob brown]

And BTW, that almost was. As we were crossing the street, I noticed the dispatcher make 3 city cabs leave. As we approached, he tried to steer us to a livery cab. Noooo, honey, we a New Yorkers! That's not right. Some money changed hands there!!! Waited for the next city cab. (smiles)

If that dispatcher is a Taxi and Limousine Commission employee, (s)he would be risking losing a good position doing a stunt like that...:(

[puddles99]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. We're booking in a Spa cabin for the 1/31 C2N and I really am hoping for a calmer experience than the one you had!

[Dawnmcl123]

Do you know if they had the 80's party?

[DGP1111]

First let me say that the Breakaway is a beautiful ship and that in general the staff was super friendly. . .

 

Debacle 2. The 11:30 AM Second city show if booked online said FREE. A letter delivered to our cabin on arriving explained that "Unfortunately, the price of Second City's Presumed Murdered was erroneously omitted from our online booking system."

 

. . . So we did not go to Second City and just figured the free tickets would be released. Problem: we were charged for the show - 40 dollars. Yikes.

 

 

. . . And yes, nothing was significant enough for me not to try the Breakaway again.

 

It almost sounds as though you had the same nincompoop Box Office Manager on Breakaway that we did on that ship in September. :(

If so, I was personally hoping that he'd be better equipped to handle challenging onboard errors in the future, or perhaps would find different employment (either by his choice or NCL's)

 

The ship advised, on embarkation, that it had adjusted the majority (100% for me) of the entertainment schedules, making some now conflict with other pre-arranged events such as dining.

Because they'd manually 'forced' the change into the system with real conflicts, the online Vacation Planner didn't function for affected passengers the entire sailing.

 

Many of us were still attempting to get some of it properly credited the morning of debarkation.

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Four pages of changes:

 

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[lolane1]

It almost sounds as though you had the same nincompoop Box Office Manager on Breakaway that we did on that ship in September. :(

If so, I was personally hoping that he'd be better equipped to handle challenging onboard errors in the future, or perhaps would find different employment (either by his choice or NCL's)

 

The ship advised, on embarkation, that it had adjusted the majority (100% for me) of the entertainment schedules, making some now conflict with other pre-arranged events such as dining.

Because they'd manually 'forced' the change into the system with real conflicts, the online Vacation Planner didn't function for affected passengers the entire sailing.

 

Many of us were still attempting to get some of it properly credited the morning of debarkation.

.

 

Four pages of changes:

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

 

Box Officer Manager is JOSHUA PEREZ. PS thanks for not calling me back.

[neptune18]

Why do they make all these show changes?

[stevenp190]

My friend and I just returned back to RI from the 2 Night Cruise on the Breakaway.

 

We had a mini suite on deck 13 and was well worth the money.

 

The food was great at each place we ate. We went to the Moderno Restaurant on Friday night and the service and food was excellent.

 

I personally would Never purchase a Spa pass on a 1 or 2 night cruise, what do you expect ? Of course it is going to be packed with Yahoos and over sold, NCL wants to make money.

 

As for the smoke, NOT an issue and my friend also has asthma. Yes, you could smell smoke in the casino because it is ALLOWED. We never mentioned to each other about smelling smoke outside of the casino.

 

Some people are never happy, we heard complaining as soon as we boarded at noon.

 

As for statement being placed outside the door, yes we didn't get ours either, no biggie. We checked our balance on the TV and on the NCL APP. Less paper used the better.

[bingo3]

As for the smoke, NOT an issue and my friend also has asthma. Yes, you could smell smoke in the casino because it is ALLOWED. We never mentioned to each other about smelling smoke outside of the casino.

 

Just because it didn't bother you doesn't mean it didn't bother others. I have been in all the major casinos in Vegas and they manage to handle the smoke quite nicely. Breakaway could too if they chose to. :)

[idamae3218]

I have to agree bingo 3. On other cruises I would go up or down a deck to avoid the smoke in the casino, couldn't do that on BA. It's casino design is a problem. Just trying to go to a restaurant required breathing smoke. Some people think if they weren't affected, no one is affected.

 

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[Medtech2]

Why do they make all these show changes?

On our September sailing it was because a new group of performers were starting that week, and needed extra rehearsal time.