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Breakaway - My thoughts, vignettes and thing that made me say “Huh”

watsonnj

By watsonnj,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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watsonnj

watsonnj

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First a Thank You

 

I want to thank all the Cruise Critic members who took the time to post reviews and leave comments. It was a great help leading up to my wife and I cruising on the Breakaway March 2nd through the 9th. I read many reviews in the months leading up the cruise to the point of an unhealthy daily obsession. So here is my experience on the Breakaway. Some of it is tongue in cheek all of it is more or less true. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

The Master Plan

 

The planning for the Normandy invasion had nothing on me. Like I said I had read every review and comment on the Cruise Critic boards and review site, reviews on the NCL site and several other web sites that review cruising. I put the reviews and complaints into three categories. First legitimate, like the food was served cold. Second subjective, like I did not like a certain show. Third absurd, the elevators were to slow. (Really you’re on vacation where are you going in such a rush.) I knew to check for price drops and look for upsell deals. (Which did happen, I went from a mid-ship balcony to a mid-ship mini-suite balcony with a single phone call to my NCL personal cruise consultant, very easy.) At the 45 day mark before the cruise I pre booked all the shows and specialty restaurants. I sought out copies of the dailies so I could preplan each day. I read every show review I could find and checked out every shore excursion. Researched dinner packages (UDP), beverage package (UBP) and in room bar set-up. I checked the navigational maps, long term weather forecasts and my astrology chart. I knew what time the sun would rise and set (important for picking a cabin, starboard side has the sunset on the way down and darker in the mornings, more conducive for sleeping in). I read the very long thread on what newbies forget to pack. I knew that there were only two American power outlets in the room, the room needed a card to turn on the light, the shower was large and the balcony was small. I knew to take at least one carry on with all your important personal items, jewelry, passports, medications and one change of clothes. After months of obsessive planning and one night where my wife said that I if did not stop she was going to smother me with a pillow in my sleep (I was reading a review in bed on my cell). The day finally arrived and I boarded the ship with the confident stride of any great Field General. I had left nothing to chance, no stone unturned, I could not have been more ready. As I unpacked my carry on, I took out my shaving kit and placed it carefully on the sink. I opened it, looked inside and asked my wife “Hon, did you pack the toothpaste? She said “No I though you did General.” Damn……….

 

And Away We Go

 

I knew that I wanted to be at the pier by no later than 11:30. From what I had read that seemed a reasonable time to arrive and beat the crowds and yet not sit around too long waiting to board. Total travel time for us is about an hour to get to the pier. We live in New Jersey and it is an easy trip up the Turnpike to the Weehawken ferry and a short walk from the New York side to the Breakaway. I knew that I had to plan this out with expert timing. I needed to tell our son, who kindly agreed to drive us to the ferry and my wife that I wanted to be on the road by 9:30 not a second later that was a must. We hit the road at exactly 10:01 which was the time I really wanted to leave anyway.

 

We were across the Hudson and at the pier at 11:11. Gave the porter our bags (by the way just before the cruise we purchased one of those suitcases with the four wheels, worth the investment, made walking with the bags much easier) and through security with no wait. Once through security there was a customer service rep directing people where to go. She asked us if we had sailed before and we said yes, she directed us to the Latitudes check in line. Now for those who say that embarkation was a disaster I can see how that could happen. When we arrived the crowd was lite so the rep was easy to spot. In a big crowd I could see how you could miss her and wander into the wrong line. The line for check-in took about 15 minutes. Bring a pen with you to fill out the health survey, they hand them out while you stand on line.

 

Now just before our cruise my wife and I needed to renew our passports. We both got our new passports and the new passport ID card which is valid when entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry. Not valid for international travel by air. I want you to know by the way of full disclosure that it was I who talked my wife into the extra expense of getting the ID cards I just thought it would be easier to carry than the larger passport and served the same purpose when traveling to the Bahamas. I told her the card would be all that we would need. She said, “Are you sure about this, I’m packing both any way.” “Suit yourself.” I said “But I’m never wrong and I’ve thought of everything.”

 

When we got to the front of the line my wife handed over her passport and I smugly handed over my shiny new ID card. The rep at check-in took my card and said “Oh, this isn’t good, don’t you have passport?” I could feel the blood rushing to my feet, I could feel my wife’s beady little blue eyes boring into the side of my head with the look of I told you so on her face. I would not give her the satisfaction of looking at her. But this time, this one time I know I was right I had researched this and thought of everything. My stare was fixed on the rep. surely she has to be mistaken I just need to explain to her that the card is good for sea travel to and from the Bahamas. She said” I know that (now giving me the same look that I know my wife is giving me) but what happens if you are in the Bahamas and you have to fly home in an emergency?” The blank look on my face told it all. I had not thought of that. Still not looking at my wife I could hear her digging through her purse to get my passport. I slowly put my hand out, still not making eye contact. She placed the passport in my hand saying “Here ya go General” Damn……...

 

(The truth here about the ID card is that she would have accepted it but I would have to fill out some additional forms. The card was all I needed to show the customs officer when we returned to the U.S. Bottom line just bring the passport.)

 

Ship Ahoy

 

Once check-in was over we had a short wait before they starting calling boarding numbers. Putting my little passport gaffe behind me, we were on board by 12:35 and went straight to our room 11784 which was all ready for us. I picked this room because it was close to the elevators and stair well. The wife and I like to use the stairs as much as possible in hopes of getting some exercise. We unpacked our carry on and headed to O’Sheehans for lunch. We were done with lunch and exploring the ship by 1:30.

 

I’m going to leave the room details, ship décor review as well as descriptions of the other common areas of the ship to others on this board. There are already so many that I really have nothing of note to add. I will say the room was functional, nicely appointed and served us very well as our home for the week. If you want to read a really great review of the Breakaway check out Cruise with Gambee at http://cruisewithgambee.com/breakaway-review-2/.

 

We were on the starboard side of the ship so we were facing Jersey as we left. If you want, your family and friends can watch the sail away via webcam. Tell them to check out http://portnywebcam.com. My daughter in-law saw us, captured a picture of us standing on our balcony with her cell phone sent us the picture while we were still on the balcony. What a world we live in.

 

As we sailed past the Statue of Liberty we could hear a group on deck 8 singing God Bless America it was nice to hear, the wife and I joined in but I don’t think they could hear us.

 

The day was cold and cloudy but we were on our way. My master plan of seeing the sunset from my balcony was obstructed by clouds, despite all my obsessive planning I had forgotten my tooth paste and had it not been for my dear wife bringing my passport I might still be on the dock. Despite all that I was finally on my balcony with my arm around my wife watching New Jersey fade into the horizon satisfied that I had done my very best. It was at this very moment in time that my wife asked me in a soft warm voice “Dear did you lock the front door.” Damn………. “I’m just messing with you. I locked it.” “You’re just evil” I said “I know General, I know.”

 

More to come. :)

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amyben40

amyben40

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We only took the passport cards and there's only one form to sign. It says that you are aware that you can't fly out of the Bahamas with a passport card. Sign, date it and you're on your way.

 

 

 

 

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TaraMatt

TaraMatt

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We only took the passport cards and there's only one form to sign. It says that you are aware that you can't fly out of the Bahamas with a passport card. Sign, date it and you're on your way.

 

 

Hm....I wonder what about children? We were considering only getting the ID cards for the children, because it is cheaper! Having to renew the passport every 5 years is expensive with 3 kids...so I was hoping that I would be able get away with just the cards. This would definitely change my plans...

 

 

Love, love, love the review!

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amyben40

amyben40

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We didn't take any children but I'm sure it would be the same policy. They would not be able to fly home incase of an emergency. You have to decide if it's worth the risk.

 

We live on the edge. No travel insurance and we use passport cards. Lol

 

 

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watsonnj

watsonnj

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Things That Made Me Go “Huh.”

 

Like I said before I’m not going to review every aspect of the cruise. I thought all the food was good to very good. Overall service was outstanding. I liked the overall décor of the ship. It never felt over crowded. I was not bothered by the smoke in the casino.

 

 

I would like to touch on some things that made me go “Huh.”

 

 

1. I had lunch at O’Sheehan’s one day and at the end of the meal the waiter asked if I want desert. I had a hankering for some chocolate ice cream. I said “One scoop of chocolate please” He said “Ok that will be three dollars” I asked why and he said because it was from the ice cream bar. Now I understand the whole upsell aspect and I get it. O’Sheehan’s has an ice cream bar where you can get malts, banana splits and hot fudge brownie Sundays. I get the upsell idea but all I wanted was one scoop of chocolate. I thought I must be missing something so I care fully explained to the waiter that I did not want anything special just one scoop of good old chocolate. He said three dollars. Now I’m sure that it has to be me that’s missing something. It came to me that ice cream here must be of better quality like a Häagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry. So I asked. Nope the same ice cream served everywhere else on the ship for free. So I said if I walk up to the buffet fill my bowl to overflowing with chocolate ice cream the very same ice cream as here add sprinkles and Carmel and chocolate syrup I could get that for free. Yep he said, and one scoop of the same chocolate here. Three dollars he said. I tipped him three bucks and went to the buffet. Just made me say “Huh”.

 

2. Rock of Ages The wife and I both enjoyed the show. It was the choice, of all the plays to pick why this one. Between the sex and the F-word we thought it was an odd choice for a cruise ship. Just made me say “Huh”.

 

3. The dinner show at Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. I read all the reviews on C.C. and knew that the show was good the food was not. So we ate at Cagney’s before the show. Glad we did. The show was good the food was not. Checking the amount of food left on everyone’s plate at the end of the show I was not the only one who did not care for the meal. The dinner was just a distraction to the show it really added nothing to the overall experience. Just made me say “Huh”.

 

4. The chairs in the Headliners club. They are hard wooden straight back chairs with no padding. I don’t know how it happened but as I aged my padding slowly disappeared. So I found the chairs very uncomfortable. Would a cushion have broken the budget? Just made me say “Huh”.

 

5. The double sink in the bathroom. Really. The wife and I have been married for thirty three years and never once in all that time was there ever a need for us to be in the bathroom at the same time. The bathroom for me is a single occupancy room. I have no desire to witness any of my wife’s personal hygiene routine. And I’m sure she has no interest in seeing me floss or trim my nose hair or shave my face and ears yes ears. The honeymoon at that point would surely be over…….. But then I said to myself maybe I’m missing something. Maybe couples now a days do use the bathroom together after all they spent 840 million on this ship I’m sure there was a study on bathroom usage. Maybe it’s me. Could it be that most of today couples rise simultaneously from their evening slumber walk dreamily hand in hand into the bathroom and engage in an erotic exhibition of brush-rinse-spit? It should have been one sink more counter top. Just made me say “Huh”.

 

 

6. Now this one I will admit I knew from reading all the reviews but did not think it would bother me as much as it did. It was the liquid soap in the shower. Somehow I had it in my head that soap was soap no big deal right. I was wrong. I never knew how much of a buffer a bar of soap was. I really missed not having some kind of a barrier between my hand and well me. My wife said that I could use her puff ball with the liquid soap. I dismissed that notion faster than when the delivery room nurse asked if I wanted to see the placenta. Yea…… no. I like to have lather when I wash, this stuff you had to rub your hand together to the point of making it combust in order to get even a small amount of foam. It really made me say “Yuck” more than it made me say “Huh”

 

7. I saved my biggest “Huh” till last. During the night on the way home off the Carolina coast we ran into a storm a big storm with very big waves. The seas were rough when we went to bed but not terrible. By about 5:30 am the ship was rocking and rolling. The soda that my wife had on the night stand next to the bed in a fruitless attempt to keep her stomach calm ended up in bed with it soaking her and the sheets. We needed to change the sheets and wipe down the mattress. She needed to change, because she was soaked with soda. We managed to get things cleaned up and got back into bed. Sleeping was out of the question but bed was really the safest place to be. About five minutes later the tray with all the coffee cups, drinking glasses and the ice bucket made its way to the floor with a loud crash. Broken glass all over the cabin floor. We cleaned it up as best we could and I gave house keeping a call in hopes of getting a vacuum. No dice, they were swamped with broken glass in many cabins. No problem we just kept our shoes on until Jhonnie could get to us. My dear wife on one of her many trips to the bathroom weakly said “Hold off on the next cruise deposit until you see if I’m alive in the morning.” I told her not to worry that everything would be alright the deposit was good for four years and surely by then I would have been able to find someone else. I knew in her weakened condition she was unable to retaliate but I also knew in my heart that I would pay for that comment later. Sometime around 6:30 am the Captain came on to reassure us that we were not going to sink and everything was going to be fine. He said that we had hit some rough seas, but that we were sailing out of it. He was very calm and very comforting. Now I have flown before and have been on flights with turbulence. I would say that most of the time before we hit the turbulence which is an invisible atmospheric condition we got some type of warning from the cockpit. Now you would think that perhaps just perhaps someone on the bridge or watching the radar or the guy in the crow’s nest should have seen 30 foot waves in our future and given us the heads up. You know something like stow you valuables on the floor, batten down the hatches or lash yourself to the mizzen mast like Lieutenant Dan in Forest Gump, it’s about to get real, something. It was one of those things that just made me say “Huh”.

 

The Crew

 

I had read so many negative reviews about the crew for the Breakaway I got nervous about what to expect. Things like they were rude or they seemed disinterested were just some of the negative comments. I know everyone’s experience is different and I can only comment on what I saw and how I was treated. But my wife and I did not meet a single staff member that did not treat us like we were special. (Except for the lady at check-in who gave me that look of consternation but in all honesty I had that one coming.)

 

To start with our room steward Jhonnie was fabulous. From the very first day he called me by name. He kept the room immaculately clean, the ice bucket was full and we had a new towel animal every night. We saw him every day. The room when we arrived had everything we had ordered. The bar set up was in place, a bottle of Jack and a bottle of Gray Goose. The excursion tickets for SeaWorld were on the bed. Everything was ready when we arrived. I had to ask for nothing. Well I did have to ask for some cranberry juice and some pineapple juice for the bar set-up for some reason the vodka came with sprite as a mixer. It was no problem at all Jhonnie had it covered with one phone call.

 

We purchased the Ultimate Dining Package and ate in one of the specialty restaurants every night. All the waiters were top notch and we enjoyed talking with them. Food and service was great.

 

I hate to speak badly about anyone but I have to be honest, I just did not take to Dan the Man our Cruise Director. He seemed phony to me and my wife and when he made announcements and announced himself as Dan the Man it just seem pretentious. If I had met him on the cruise I was going to introduce myself as Howard the Magnificent.

 

That’s Entertainment

 

For us cruising is all about relaxing during the day, reading, resting and of course napping. We really enjoy the night life. We love to be entertained. My wife loves singing and dancing. I can do neither. A show with both is a homerun. She loved Burn the Floor. I liked it but would only go again because she loved it so much. We both enjoyed Rock of Ages, great lead singers. Like I said I just thought it was a strange choice for a family cruise ship. We enjoyed The Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy show I thought it was good not great. Tough call for me as to whether it was worth the up charge or not. The meal was not so good plan to eat before or after the show. We did not see any of the Second City shows. And we missed the Magician Martin Brock because dinner ran late and did not want to be one of those couples that walk in in during the middle of a show.

 

Now for what we really loved and I’m surprised not many people talk about, the lounge and bar entertainment. In one word “absolutely fantastic “ok that’s two words. But if you didn’t go to any of the shows in the main theaters there was still so much entertainment going in the bars and lounges that you would still have an outstanding cruise. IMPAC is a great band, very entertaining and kept the ship rocking. They played pool side and in the Atrium.

 

In the Shakers bar there was usually a quieter and more intimate entertainment going on. Soft piano music and singing by Carlo Nuschi was a nice way to relax after dinner. There was also Alis & Pedja who performed and Guitar Melodies with Angel also very good. They all would play elsewhere on the ship during the cruise so when you find a favorite check the dailies for their locations that night.

 

Now I save the best two for last Dueling Pianos in the Headliners Club and Slam Allen Blues Band in Fat Cats. These two acts made the cruise for us. Dueling Pianos is three extraordinarily talented musicians who take turns playing the two pianos on stage. So while one is on break the other two are still playing, its nonstop music. All three are professional entertainers who know how to play to a crowd. They put paper and pencils on all the tables so you can make requests. Now the trick here is you can make any request you want but they usually like to play something upbeat. And if your request is accompanied with some cash the sooner you’ll hear your request. Now I understand that they periodically rotate performers. On our cruise the three were Ben who looked like a motorcycle gang member but played the piano with great energy and passion and was as nice as they come. Ronda, who was very talented, could just kill Rolling on the River and had enough energy to fill the whole room by herself. And rounding out the three was Steve Savage who could headline in any club in America, he was that good. A side story about Steve later. We never had a problem finding a seat, bar service was very good and the crowd was always into it. Great fun, do not miss this.

 

Slam Allen in Fat Cats. Did we ever enjoy him and his band. If you love jazz and blues you will love Slam Allen. If you like jazz and blues you will love Slam Allen. Even if you hate jazz and blues you are going to love Slam Allen. He is just one of those people that you are drawn to. He is instantly likeable, charming and very charismatic. He is a world-class jazz and blues guitar player with a great voice. He knows how to get the best out of the audience. He had everyone up and dancing on more than one occasion it was a non-stop party. Do not miss him either.

 

Now one of the really cool things that happened in both clubs was that other performers who were not working would come in and sit in with the band. The male lead from Rock of Ages sat in and played the drums with Dueling Pianos he also sang some of the hard rock tunes that were requested. Some of the members of IMPAC came into both clubs and would sit in and play and sing. I loved it; it gave the clubs a feel of a home town jam session. Also if you have talent let them know. Because they will let you sing and play with them if you wish. Slam Allen gave up his own guitar to a guy in the audience who could just rip it. His name was Mike and he sat in several times during the week and added to the party. Mike if you’re reading this kudos my friend.

 

Ok now for the side story. Like Walt Disney said it’s a small world after all. One night we’re sitting listening to Dueling Pianos when Ben welcomes back Steve from his break and says “Give it up for Steve from Scotch Plains N.J.” well that got our attention Scotch Plains is a small town in New Jersey just next to our even smaller town. Small world right? It’s about to get smaller. So at the next break I go up to Steve and introduce myself and tell him that we live in Fanwood and we make some small talk. He tells me that he knows Fanwood quite well he had worked in downtown Fanwood at the Hallmark store as a teen. Wait for it. I told him that my wife years ago managed the Hallmark in Fanwood. You guessed it my wife gave Steve his first job. Small world right.

 

In Conclusion

 

We did the C.C. Meet and Greet and the slot pull. All very nice people, sign up on the Roll Call you won’t regret it. Thanks to Jan and Carol for setting thing up and Rich you are a Hoot.

 

We had a great cruise. Even if my wife did think the ship was going to break in two and we were all going to drown. I told her that we would more likely be crushed or eaten by sharks long before we drowned. Somehow that did not help.

 

Just remember people you’re on vacation. Don’t let the little thing bother you. Help one another be kind to one another and most of all laugh at yourself because God knows everyone else is. Happy cruising. :)

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