Breakaway Fl and Bahamas with photos

[dcollette]

Ok, so it was tough to get pictures of these, as my scanner is not working right now.

 

Week at a glance by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

Breakaway week by deborah.collette, on Flickr

[dcollette]

Day 5

The Bahamas. Ok, so I was assured that the splash academy would be open when we docked. Not true. They do not open until 9am, so we missed our planned excursion, so I had to pay for another one later on. Not my first choice of excursion, or I would’ve booked it in the beginning. Note to others: if you book a snorkeling excursion you can take small children with you—they say you need to stay on the boat with them—however on the Athol Island excursion they will let even small children go in the water snorkeling (even though it says ages 6 and up). My 3 yr old went out with us, wore the mask and snorkel—but he was too scared to put his face in the water. Odd, right? The fish were literally right around him, if he had only looked down he would’ve been so excited! But, alas, we couldn’t convince him to do so. Well, I made the ridiculous mistake of forgetting my underwater video camera for this one, or I would have some amazing shots for you.

Shopping in the Bahamas is a nightmare. The best place, to me is right in the building you have to pass through when exiting and entering the ship. They have a variety of shops, good souvenir stuff, reasonable prices and most places take credit cards. Feels very safe in there. When you leave, well that’s different. People bombard you will taxi offers, hair braiding (heaven help you if you have longer hair, they can be relentless) and others. If you politely tell them no thank you, they don’t always leave you alone. I then took to just ignoring them all. Not even acknowledging them—only way to walk around. Made the huge mistake of going to the straw market. I had read this was not the best place to go, but figured we could at least haggle there. UGH. What a dumpy kind of place with very pushy (to put it nicely) people. You have to be firm. I walked away from more than one and even told one lady she was rude. Very run of the mill stuff, but DD2 did get a very nice dress. DS got one of those very common (and simple) walking turtles. He was thrilled, but they did have them cheaper in the building. Whatever.

 

 

So, we arrived and were able to see Atlantis from our balcony:

Nov 21 atlantis in distance by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

I'm pretty certain this is frowned upon, but we did it anyway:

Nov 21 bahamas birds by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

And a closer view:

Nov 21 feeding birds from balcony by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

Probably wouldn’t bother getting off the ship here again, other than to walk through the building to buy a few trinkets. We did manage to get some cute angel ornaments made from shells in there that were priced very reasonable. Asked the lady to make us a package type deal, as we bought several items and she did. Took a few dollars off most things. We also bought these cute necklaces made from fish scales. This lady was the sweetest ever, the farthest from pushy you could imagine. She gave DS a small bag of sea shells (no charge). She has some very pretty things. Amazing. Should’ve taken more photos of what she had.

 

Back to the ship, they had cold towels, punch, music and jello waiting for us. There were two carnival ships in port, the splendor and the pride as well as the navigator of the seas. Most of them were busy taking pictures of the Breakaway (we called it ship envy). She is a sight

This night we decided to chance the Manhattan room, as every night there was the most insane lines for this venue. Well, we went early, like right after they open (530). We got right in (totally by surprise) guess most folks were up top for sailaway. Well, the live band was playing, they are good—and when we pulled away from the dock, the room shook like crazy!! They didn’t miss a beat, though. No pun intended. As luck would have it (and we had no way of knowing) burn the floor performed that night in the Manhattan room! We were so excited. They literally were dancing right next to our table. Couldn’t be more pleased. Food was pretty good. Hard to concentrate on food when those amazing dancers are everywhere. Great night. This was also the night for fireworks, which they do at around 915. Well, during the M&G Dan said it was about 8 minutes, it really was less than 6. We went up to deck 16, right under where the NCL sign is. There were quite a few folks out there, but not terrible. Well, right before it started, it began to rain a bit. You would’ve thought the people on the ship were made of the same stuff as the wicked witch of the west. They were all going to melt. Ha ha. So we stayed out, as we are not afraid of getting rained on. So, we ended up with a perfect spot aft right by the rail on the port side (where they shoot the fireworks from). DD2 was on our port balcony deck 13 and saw many of the fireworks from there—FYI. I thought the display was pretty good. Some of them seemed to fire earlier than anticipated, rather close to the ship. It was very windy as well, so it must have been a logistical nightmare for them. After fireworks were over, we did not stay for the party. Hit our every night snackfest at the buffet and went back to the room.

 

Nov 21 Manhattan room bright dancers by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

Nov 21 Manhattan room appetizer by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

Nov 21 Manhattan room Catie's fried chicken by deborah.collette, on Flickr

[dcollette]

This RCCL ship was docked next to us in Nassau. Let me tell you they were jealous of all the goodies we were getting upon return to the ship. That really is such a nice touch. Cool cloths, jello, beverages, ice pop things. Really that little something extra

 

Nov 21 royal carribean navigator of the seas by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

I have no idea what this ship is used for, looks military type to me. We saw this on our walk away from the ship.

Nov 21 bahamas boat by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

Ok, so this is a pic of my kids being totally silly. However, I will say these beautiful pictures are all over the place (by the stairs, generally) and they really make great places to take some photos. The dress on the left is the one I purchased in the market. Overpriced, but hey she loved it and it really is pretty

Nov 21 kids in front of deck 13 pic by deborah.collette, on Flickr

[cruisemom72]

Hi - I am enjoying your review! Question - Do you happen to know if there is a age restriction for the water slides for a child to go on without an adult? My daughter is 8 and I would love for her to be able to go on the slides without me while I'm lounging on the deck watching. :)

[Godiva830]

I know I showed sunset already, but here was the sun rise on GSC

 

Nov 20 sun rise by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

 

Sorry, I don't recall which dessert this was:

Nov 20 Dessert not sure which one by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

 

Another dessert that I can't tell you what it was:

Nov 20 Dessert by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

our towel animal with our (very expensive) Disney souvenirs

Nov 20 towel animals by deborah.collette, on Flickr

 

The second pic is the coconut soufflé. It's my favorite dessert on NCL. luckily in the Haven restaurant I was able to order it every night. I love it :D:D

Edited February 27, 2014 by Godiva830

[dcollette]

Hi - I am enjoying your review! Question - Do you happen to know if there is a age restriction for the water slides for a child to go on without an adult? My daughter is 8 and I would love for her to be able to go on the slides without me while I'm lounging on the deck watching. :)

 

No, there aren't age restrictions per se, but they have height requirements. And children under 14, I believe are supposed to have a parent in the pool area. You don't have to go on the slides with her, no, I think the blue slide had a 42" height, which my little guy was a bit too short and disappointed. Next time he will be tall enough for sure!

 

I can't recall the height requirements of the other slides, and the ones where the floor drops out you have to weigh at least like 100lbs so you don't get stuck. But she would be able to do the others.