Breakaway Review, 2/23-3/2

[Michylicious]

Great review so far!!! Can't wait to read the rest!

[RikkuCat]

Wasabi and Shanghai's

One of our main reasons for not getting the UDP was that it doesn't include the a la carte restaurants, which we like to visit when we want a lighter dinner. (You do get a 20% discount at the a la carte restaurants with the UDP - great for snacks or lunch, but probably not worth the package price if you're going to eat dinner there).

 

Wasabi was good. Sushi is one of my favorite foods and we have some excellent sushi restaurants in our area, so my standards are high. Wasabi was good - not the best sushi I've had, but impressive for a cruise ship. DH, who eats sushi less often than I do, thought it was great.

 

Shanghai's is in a very strange location. When I read in previous reviews that it we right next to the casino, I expected it to be next door, but in a different space. No, it's pretty much IN the casino, which is weird. It has short decorative room-divider things to differentiate the restaurant space from the casino, but it doesn't work very well. It feels like someone dropped a random noodle bar in the middle of the casino. Reviews mentioned that it is really smokey in there from the casino, but we didn't think it was too bad. Neither of us is allergic to smoke, but we're both fairly sensitive to it. We ate there around 10 one night and the casino seemed busy (though I'm not a casino person, so maybe it was just a normal night - I don't know!), but we weren't uncomfortable and our clothes didn't smell like smoke afterwards. The food was tasty - I had spicy seafood udon soup, which had nice flavor. I don't remember what DH had, but he liked it. So all in all...good food, strange ambiance, but a great people-watching place. A number of officers stopped by Shanghai's to get food while we were there.

[RikkuCat]

Cagney's

We had a a bit of a dinner dilemma the last night of our cruise. We were planning to end the cruise with a late dinner at either Cagney's, Le Bistro, or Ocean Blue - whichever one we were in the mood for that day. We didn't make a reservation in advance because we weren't sure which restaurant we wanted to go to and we doubted that all of them would be booked up after 9.

 

When we returned to our cabin on the second to last night of the cruise, there was a letter waiting for us, inviting us to dinner with the Guest Services Director on the last night of the cruise - at Savor at 5:15. I bet we got the invitation because we didn't have a reservation in the system yet - but we didn't really want to eat in the MDR again (we had eaten in the Manhattan Room the night before) and we definitely wouldn't be ready to eat that early. And as much as we would have enjoyed dinner with an officer on one of the earlier nights of the cruise, we wanted to end the cruise with a dinner date at one of the nicer restaurants. We debated going to the early dinner and eating light and then having a late dinner on our own like we wanted, but we decided that we didn't want to spend the entire last evening of the cruise having two dinners. I felt bad about declining, but we called early so that they would have time to invite someone else. I hope someone had a great time!

 

We felt more in the mood for Cagney's that night and made a 9pm reservation. Cagney's was great - better than I remember it being last time. DH tried the Wagyu beef burger - OMG, it is HUGE! I had a filet with steamed broccoli and the Cagney fries - delicious! DH could only eat half the burger and had no room for dessert, but I saved room for a slice of Oreo cheesecake - so good! Cagney's was definitely the best meal we had on board and the service was terrific. We heard the table behind me muttering about poor service (we had the same server) so we wrote a note about how great of a job he did, so it would balance out whatever the other people said. I have no idea why they thought the service was bad, as he seemed to be just as attentive to them as he was to us.

[windjamming]

This is an awesome review, RikkuCat! I really like how well organized it is, and everything is very balanced and clearly explained.

 

We will be on the Breakaway later this year. Any other thoughts for a first-timer? :)

[RikkuCat]

Food recap

I think that covers everywhere that we ate. We ate dinner in Port Canaveral the night we were there and in O'Sheehan's on embarkation day.

 

Lunch was often determined by what was still open when we wanted to eat. DH slept late quite a bit and had late breakfasts, so he wasn't hungry for lunch until mid afternoon - and I was eating heavier breakfasts than I normally do, so I wasn't always hungry at noon, either. So we ate a couple late lunches in O'Sheehan's because everything else was closed. Lunch in GSC was good - burgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken, corn on huge cob, beans, rice, fruit, desserts. Everything tastes better on the beach for some reason - it must be that beach smell that makes us hungry! We forgot about the hot dog cart until the end of the week! I had read a review that said the hot dog cart locations were posted in the dailies, but I never saw them listed there. On our cruise, one cart was on the pool deck and the other in Spice H2O.

 

We only ate at the buffet twice for breakfast - both times because Uptown wasn't open. For whatever reason, Uptown was closed the entire last sea day, so we went to the buffet. The other day I went there was because I was STARVING at 7am and Uptown wasn't open yet. I thought the layout of the buffet worked very well. It wasn't crowded at all on there day I went early, but it was busy on the last sea day - we still found a table easily, though.

 

I think that covers food! I'll continue the review sometime tomorrow!

[EBONI325]

Thanks everyone for reading - glad to hear my little review is helpful so far! :)

 

Uptown Grill:

Uptown was my favorite spot for breakfast. It is a semi-outdoor buffet style spot on deck 16. WAIT A MINUTE! Didn't I say I don't like buffets? Yep, don't like buffets very much in general, but I liked Uptown. It's illogical - the only explanation I can think of is that when I'm outdoors in the middle of the ocean, I like most everything. :D If you want to split hairs, Uptown is not technically outdoors - it has a roof and wind-blocking panels on the ocean facing the ocean, but a breeze comes through and it's pleasant to sit up there.

 

For breakfast, they have egg sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, bagels/toast/etc, yogurt parfaits, fruit, hash browns, and probably a few other things I never noticed. I usually had an egg sandwich and a yogurt parfait. DH liked the cinnamon rolls, but they were too sweet for me. My only issue with Uptown - and this would not be an issue for everyone - is that they do not open until 8am, so I had to wait or go somewhere else a couple times if I was up early. On the other hand, Uptown is right next to the jogging track, so it's really convenient to grab a bite there if you're out jogging early - provided that it is after 8am!

 

Based on CC reviews, I thought Uptown would be my go-to lunch spot, too, but it wasn't what I expected. I remember reading a couple reviews that mentioned Uptown having made-to-order sandwiches and "a variety of salads." Based on this description, I had been dreaming about what would happen if some sort of vegetable heaven and a NY deli had a baby - but that wasn't the case. They indeed make sandwiches to order: but only corned beef and pastrami. The "variety of salads" was potato salad, pasta salad, and a beet salad. They also have meatball sandwiches, burgers, sausages, brats, French fries, and probably a few other things I didn't notice. It wasn't a bad selection, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. The beet salad, BTW, was pretty good. They serve lunch until 2, I believe.

 

Really enjoying your review

 

They also have an omelet station, bacon, sausage and some good mini potato pancakes, besides the hash browns.

[RikkuCat]

Really enjoying your review

 

They also have an omelet station, bacon, sausage and some good mini potato pancakes, besides the hash browns.

 

YES, now that you mention it, I remember DH eating some of those things! I'm such a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast that I barely notice what else is available after my first look. I'll have to try an omelet there next time.

 

Thanks, glad you're enjoying my review! I'll post some more at some point today.

[RikkuCat]

Layout and Decor:

Quick word on decor before I get started on the ship's layout: we loved it. The entire interior is very tastefully decorated and it has a more sophisticated feel to it than other NCL ships. 'Course, I've only been on the Star and the Breakaway - but I look at lots of photos! There were some spaces on the Star that I liked, but other spaces just looked really tacky to me. That wasn't the case on the Breakaway at all. Interior spaces all have a distinct look and I can't think of a single time that I cringed at the decor - except for the hull art, but that's me.

 

We thought it was REALLY easy to find our way around the ship. The 6/7/8 concept worked out very well - basically all the restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues are there, so its easy to find things. There has been a lot of criticism about the elevator setup. For those who don't know, the Breakaway has two elevator banks: forward and aft. Each has six elevators, if I remember correctly. There are no midship elevators, but there is a staircase in the atrium that connects decks 6, 7, and 8. My opinion is that this setup is perfectly fine. It is a large ship, but it only takes a minute to walk from midship to the forward or aft elevators. But that's MY opinion, from the perspective of someone who is young and healthy - it may be an inconvenient layout for people with mobility problems. At peak times, it DOES seem to take a while to get an elevator - this wasn't an issue for us, as we're perfectly happy to take the stairs, but if you can't or don't want to take the stairs, it may slow you down a little at peak times. At times when we were exhausted and decided to wait for an elevator, the wait did not bother us - heck, we're on vacation and don't need to be anywhere - but others are not as patient.

 

The Waterfront was lovely and I'm sure it'll be a blast in the summer. Sailing out of NYC at this time of year, I'm sure it isn't used as often as it will be in nicer weather. Since we had pretty warm weather on our sea days, it was comfortable to sit on the Waterfront on the sunny side of the ship, but if we wanted to sit on the shady side of the ship, I generally wanted a sweater. As I mentioned in the dining section, we did not end up eating outside because it was a little chilly after dark when the ship was moving - but I'd definitely do so next time. If you're eating dinner on the ship on the Port Canaveral day (or on a Bermuda cruise!), it would be gorgeous out there without a breeze. The restaurants on deck 8 have outdoor seating on the Waterfront, as well as one bar on each side (I think Maltings and Shakers). We had a couple drinks at these outdoor seating areas on sea days and it was nice - they have comfy chairs near the bars as well as regular bar stools, or you can sit at the outdoor area of any of the restaurants if you want. Also, there are binoculars outside on the Waterfront. It was also our go-to place to watch the sunset.

 

I'll finish my layout discussion later today!

[spidybabe]

Thanks for the review. We have sailed this wonderful, beautiful ship twice, yet I still love reading about it... feels like I'm onboard again--thanks

Safe sailing

[RikkuCat]

Layout, continued:

We really liked the location of our cabin. If you plan to get a spa pass, I highly recommend getting a spa cabin over a regular cabin - if not for the savings, then for the location. Our cabin was on deck 14 port side (try to get a port side cabin, as the starboard side ones are below the fitness center) and it was just a short walk down the hall and a flight up the stairs to get to the spa and fitness center. I made that journey quite often! You're also only one deck down from the pool deck and buffet, if you enjoy the buffet more than I do. It was also a pretty short walk to the sun deck overlooking the pool, jogging track, Uptown Grill, and the sports complex on deck 16.

 

We did not spend a lot of time on the pool deck this cruise - probably because we spent the time in the spa instead. There are some lounge chairs on the pool deck, but not a large seating area right on top of the pool, so I *sort of* understand the complaints about seating on the pool deck. That said, there are plenty of loungers on deck 16 overlooking the pool area. I would consider this area to be part of the pool deck itself, even though it's up a flight of stairs.

 

Spice H2O was sort of awkward to access - at least if you're coming from the forward on deck 16 (if you are aft on a lower deck, you can take the aft elevators and end up just outside the entrace). Since our cabin was deck 14 forward, however, we were usually coming from that direction. To get to Spice H2O, you'd need to walk through the sun deck overlooking the pool deck, walk through the jogging track, walk through part of Uptown Grill, open a door that looks like it would take you into the video arcade, walk a short ways past the elevators and out the doors to Spice H2O. Approaching it from that direction was a little odd and may be the reason why we forgot about Spice H2O for almost the entire cruise, after discovering it on the first day while exploring. I went into the cruise thinking that we'd sit there a fair amount, but we never ended up using it except for a brief walkthrough on the last two sea days because we learned that the hot dog cart was there. :D

 

More to come later this afternoon or evening!

[psac]

No, we didn't make it to Ocean Blue this time! We had weird eating patterns this cruise (late lunches) and never felt hungry enough at dinner time to enjoy Ocean Blue. We both wanted to try the Waterfront takeout for a lobster roll at lunch, but it was never open when we went by - I didn't check the hours, so it could be that they have a very short window for lunch.

 

Thanks for the reply! We're trying to decide if Ocean Blue is worth the money. We'll do every other flat fee dinner, but haven't decided about this one yet. Glad to see your positive review of Cagney's and mostly positive review of La Cucina!

[LazyDays64]

I'm really enjoying this review! I can't wait for our cruise in July, we're waiting not so patiently for it! :p

[RikkuCat]

Thanks for the reply! We're trying to decide if Ocean Blue is worth the money. We'll do every other flat fee dinner, but haven't decided about this one yet. Glad to see your positive review of Cagney's and mostly positive review of La Cucina!

 

I think I'd like Ocean Blue, but we'd need to take a good look at the menu to see if DH would like it. Honestly, we just ended up running out of time this trip. We ate at O'Sheehan's on embarkation night because we had drank two buckets of beer by the time we were ready for dinner! :eek: Wasabi the second night, dinner in PC the third night, La Cucina on GSC day, Shanghai's on Nassau day, Manhattan Room, and then we only had one more night left! Next time, we might not do the a la carte restaurants, but who knows? We just did what we felt like doing this cruise and there were a couple nights when we felt like eating light. We'll see what we feel like doing next time, and it might include Ocean Blue.

 

La Cucina WAS good - we both enjoyed our meals and we'll go back next time, but I just didn't enjoy the lobster fettuccine enough to order the same thing again next time. It's a really good deal since it has a lower cover charge.

[RikkuCat]

I'm really enjoying this review! I can't wait for our cruise in July, we're waiting not so patiently for it! :p

 

Thanks - and thank you to everyone else who has commented. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm having a good time writing it. ;)

[RikkuCat]

Entertainment

Confession: We were not night owls this cruise. We expected to do a lot with our evenings on board - in fact, the variety of evening entertainment options was one of the reasons we chose the Breakaway. Buuuuut, then we got on board and started freestylin' and ended up not doing much in the evenings.

 

As far as the shows go, there wasn't a certain show that we absolutely wanted to see. I went ahead and made reservations beforehand, figuring that I might as well. If we felt like going, great - if not, than someone on standby could have our seats. When the time came, we didn't feel like going, so we didn't end up seeing any of the shows.

 

Sidenote: I couldn't believe how many people on board were upset that they had to make a reservation to see a show! I understand not wanting to plan in advance, but if you really want to see a show, you're going to plan around it anyway, right? So why not make a reservation, since you're planning to be there anyway? Maybe some people missed the HUNDREDS of email notifications that NCL sent before the cruise about making reservations for dining and shows?

 

While we didn't make it to the shows, we're the type who enjoys sipping a drink and listening to some live music. We made it to Fat Cats once to see Slam Allen - GREAT, loved it! If we're a little more active in the evenings on our next cruise, I'd like to go more than once! I'll review the bars separately.

 

We didn't attend any daytime activities, either, though we were in O'Sheehan's several times while things were going on in the atrium and it sounded like people were having a good time. I walked past a Dora event in the atrium one morning and the kids were having a blast. The atrium did look crowded for some of the events there - people were standing or sitting on the floor, others were watching from O'Sheehan's a floor up. If you were in O'Sheehan's during an event in the atrium, the noise could be a little annoying - but there didn't seem to be a lot of back to back events in the atrium (at least, not while we were at O'Sheehan's, or we didn't notice when one event ended and another began!) so whatever was going on down there was over soon enough.

 

OH - FIREWORKS! I was looking forward to the fireworks, but we didn't end up seeing them. They may not even have happened our cruise - I eventually lost track of what was going on. The fireworks were scheduled for the night that we left Nassau, and we were sailing towards some sort of weather. They were originally scheduled for something around 9:15 - the daily said to view them from Spice H2O or port side on the Waterfront. We had eaten a late lunch that afternoon, so we were planning on a late dinner or room service if we weren't hungry before the restaurants closed. At some point before the fireworks were scheduled, there was an announcement that they were being delayed due to the weather and had been rescheduled for 10:15. We ended up having dinner at the noodle bar that night and I thought I heard another announcement that they had been delayed again. At that point, we were tired from a long day and went to bed - if there were any more announcements or fireworks that night, we slept right through them! Oh well - we've seen fireworks before and will again, so it's no big deal if we missed them!

 

The ropes course was SO MUCH FUN! I recommend going early in the week - you can always go again later if you want to, but if you wait until the last couple of days and encounter bad weather, you've missed it. We didn't have time to go until the last two sea days and it was closed every time we checked on one of them! We made it on the last sea day, but the plank and zip line were closed due to winds - which was a bummer. It was really fun people-watching up on the ropes course, too - we had fun guessing which way people would go and who would get scared and turn around. I'm not a big fan of heights, but once I got up there, I was impressed at my own bravery! I definitely would have walked the plank if it had been open - actually, I may or may not have tried to sweet talk them into opening it. :D No luck on that - silly ropes course staff were insistent upon safety. ;)

 

The slides are fun, too - I only tried them once, though. I probably would have gone more often if we had spent more time out on the pool deck. Lots of fun to have next time! We didn't try the rock-climbing this time, either - for the same reason that it was closed when the ropes course was, for winds. Mini golf was fun - it is a simple course, but a fun way to kill some time.

 

Next up: Bars

[cruise_alot123]

Entertainment

 

OH - FIREWORKS! I was looking forward to the fireworks, but we didn't end up seeing them. They may not even have happened our cruise - I eventually lost track of what was going on. The fireworks were scheduled for the night that we left Nassau, and we were sailing towards some sort of weather. They were originally scheduled for something around 9:15 - the daily said to view them from Spice H2O or port side on the Waterfront. We had eaten a late lunch that afternoon, so we were planning on a late dinner or room service if we weren't hungry before the restaurants closed. At some point before the fireworks were scheduled, there was an announcement that they were being delayed due to the weather and had been rescheduled for 10:15. We ended up having dinner at the noodle bar that night and I thought I heard another announcement that they had been delayed again. At that point, we were tired from a long day and went to bed - if there were any more announcements or fireworks that night, we slept right through them! Oh well - we've seen fireworks before and will again, so it's no big deal if we missed them!

 

The ropes course was SO MUCH FUN! I recommend going early in the week - you can always go again later if you want to, but if you wait until the last couple of days and encounter bad weather, you've missed it. We didn't have time to go until the last two sea days and it was closed every time we checked on one of them! We made it on the last sea day, but the plank and zip line were closed due to winds - which was a bummer. It was really fun people-watching up on the ropes course, too - we had fun guessing which way people would go and who would get scared and turn around. I'm not a big fan of heights, but once I got up there, I was impressed at my own bravery! I definitely would have walked the plank if it had been open - actually, I may or may not have tried to sweet talk them into opening it. :D No luck on that - silly ropes course staff were insistent upon safety. ;)

 

 

Next up: Bars

 

Hello Neighbor,

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise so did we. However, my wife was sick for the first half of the cruise so we did not make it to the CC gathering and therefore, did not get to meet you all.

 

We were there for the fireworks around 10:15 PM in the evening and it only lasted 10 mintutes with very loud rock n roll music. The weather was lousy and high wind but they did manage to get it going. My wife did the plank and zip line while we were in port canaveral since we did not get off the ship for having been to this port many times before.

 

Keep up the great review.......

 

Tony

Edited March 7, 2014 by cruise_alot123

[RikkuCat]

Bars

I rarely meet a bar that I don't like. :D But we all have our favorites, right? We did not get the UBP this time. It seemed like it would be a great deal, but I decided to do some math. I looked at the bar tab from our previous cruise and it was a little less than the UBP cost - close, but lower even factoring in all the extra tipping we did. I figured that our bar tab would be similar this cruise, and that we would still tip extra - so for the same drinks, we would come in with a higher cost after the additional tips. Unless we drank more than last time (certainly possible), we wouldn't break even. Also, I took a look at what was actually included in the UBP - many of our favorite beers were not, bottles of wine were not and wine by the glass was limited to glasses $10 and less, and drinks were limited to $8.50 or less. (Which seems like a low limit for drinks - I worried that my martinis wouldn't be covered). I didn't know how closely these rules were adhered to by the bartenders, but I didn't want to chance it - not since we expected our bar tab to come in to about the same amount or less without the package. Better to pay by the drink and not have to worry about whether the package covers your drink of choice - at least for us.

 

We planned to make it to a martini tasting this cruise, but they only had it twice - sad. We just missed the martini tasting on the first sea day, as we were finishing up a late lunch. The other was on one of the last sea days and we were probably checking the ropes course yet again to see if it was open! The martini bar was a nice place to grab a drink - we had some there, both indoors and on the Waterfront. I can't remember the singer's name, but we caught the same female singer there a couple times, performing a slightly odd calypso version of "Sweet Child of Mine." It wasn't bad - just unexpected!

 

We didn't go to the Ice Bar. We intended to, but got lazy, I guess. Here's the deal: I REALLY like the idea of the Ice Bar, but never wanted to go badly enough to go back to the cabin and change my shoes/clothes. They have parkas that you can put on - but I think they'd do more business if they had cozy boots you could slip on over your sandals. Pure laziness on my part, but there were more convenient places to have a drink, so we skipped it.

 

We enjoyed Maltings - it was probably my favorite spot to have a drink on board. Even though I'm a martini drinker, I liked the atmosphere of Maltings better than Shakers. That's where we found our favorite bartender of the cruise, Noel. We had a good time chatting with him - witty guy and a great bartender. He's actually the reason we missed one of the shows, because we decided to stay at the bar instead of going to the show.

 

O'Sheehan's was always a great place to hang out. They have pool, darts, and bowling there - also some board games. This might sound lame, but we played a couple games of cheese while having drinks at O'Sheehan's and had a really good time. Neither of us had played chess since we were kids, but I think we each held our own pretty well. (DH narrowly won both games of cheese, but I am MUCH better than he is at checkers). It has a nice sports pub vibe to it - embarkation day was the last day of the Olympics and we enjoyed watching the gold medal hockey game on the big screen from O'Sheehan's.

 

We stopped at a many of the other bars to grab a drink now and then during the cruise, but we were generally on our way somewhere else and didn't stay long. Service was good at all the bars. The bartender at the pool bar on embarkation night went out of his way to help us out. We had been in one of the hot tubs until they closed it and kicked us out. When we got back to the cabin, we realized that we had lost DH's keycard. Retraced our steps and sure enough, there it was at the bottom of the hot tub. The bartender looked around for something to use to fish it out and I'm pretty sure he would have dove into the hot tub himself to get it if we hadn't stopped him! :D Much easier to go get a new card!

 

Next up (tomorrow): Spa

[RikkuCat]

Hello Neighbor,

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise so did we. However, my wife was sick for the first half of the cruise so we did not make it to the CC gathering and therefore, did not get to meet you all.

 

We were there for the fireworks around 10:15 PM in the evening and it only lasted 10 mintutes with very loud rock n roll music. The weather was lousy and high wind but they did manage to get it going. My wife did the plank and zip line while we were in port canaveral since we did not get off the ship for having been to this port many times before.

 

Keep up the great review.......

 

Tony

 

Hi Tony! Sorry that your wife was sick - what a way to start a vacation! I'm glad she perked up and that you ended up having a great cruise. We didn't make it to the M&G, either - I couldn't pull myself away from the spa that morning. We ran into a couple from the roll call on the way to Blue Lagoon on the Nassau day - great people, they had made it to the M&G and the slot pull and said they had a great time.

Edited March 7, 2014 by RikkuCat

[JuneauMe]

Love the review!!! I was thinking about getting the UBP, so I have questions. I enjoy a few froo-froo drinks like Pina-coladas. (I can drink 'em, but I don't think I can spell 'em) Anyway, I figured that without the souvenir glass, it might be $8.50, does that sound right, and do you remember which beers aren't included.

Thanks for all the info

[amyben40]

Can't wait to hear about the spa!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[meatball_nyc]

Enjoying your review :)

Glad to see you enjoyed the Waterfront.

120 days until our trip aboard the Breakaway!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

 

~Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

[welove2cruise232]

Enjoying your review! Thanks!

[sabres431]

This is a fantastic review!! We'll be on Breakway in 9 days and this is a very nice breakdown and very easy to follow.

[RikkuCat]

Love the review!!! I was thinking about getting the UBP, so I have questions. I enjoy a few froo-froo drinks like Pina-coladas. (I can drink 'em, but I don't think I can spell 'em) Anyway, I figured that without the souvenir glass, it might be $8.50, does that sound right, and do you remember which beers aren't included.

Thanks for all the info

 

I found the list on a CC thread - there's a link on post #4 on this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1845628 There are a lot of beers that are included and we'd certainly be able to find something to drink if we had the package. For us, the fact that the package didn't include Franziskaner, Fosters (drinking a few of the oil cans are a vacation tradition for us), and Red Stripe (really? Isn't Red Stripe the go-to warm weather beer?) turned us off a little from the package. Between that and worry that martinis would cost more than $8.50, we decided against the package for this cruise. If we were traveling with family or friends and anticipated drinking more and caring less about what we were drinking, we would get it.

 

I think you'd be Ok with the pina coladas and such - they generally seem to be in the $6.50 or $7 range, with a couple bucks added on for the souvenir glass. Worst case scenario is that you pay for the first one if you want the glass, and then refills are covered by the UBP.

 

The UBP is a great deal for a lot of people - you just need to do a little math to figure out whether its the best deal for you. Are your drinks of choice included - if not, would you be happy to substitute something else? Do you drink enough on a cruise to break even? If you get the package, will you feel pressured to drink heavily every day to get your money's worth, and is that the kind of vacation you want this time? For us, the bar tab is about the same with or without the package, but not having the package gives us the freedom to spend that same amount of money on more expensive drinks. That said, if we were traveling with friends or family, we would probably get the package for the sake of simplicity. When its just us, however, we come out ahead without the package, as our overall bar tab is about the same, including additional tips. If we had the package, we would probably still tip extra - over the week, I'm sure our extra tips come out to $100 or more, so we would have spent more if we had the package.

[CruiseGirlKS]

Enjoying your review, can't wait to hear more. :)