Just off the Breakaway- anyone have questions?

[sar]

We just got off the Breakaway this morning after a wonderful week away. I had been a little worried between the recent changes at NCL as well as some of the reviews, but my worrying was in vain- the ship was lovely and we had a terrific time.

 

I'll put up a longer review with pictures later, but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask away. We had Vibe passes and the UBP.

[sar]

And many many thanks to Maryfrei for doing such a wonderful job organizing the Meet & Greet and to Gryffin (Nancy and Theresa) for organizing the slot pull.

[layn133]

So glad to hear it was a great trip! We are excited about our June trip! I was wondering...

 

1. What time did you get to the port in order to get Vibe passes? Was it really a race to guest services like some comments/reviews have stated?

 

2.Was Second City performing? It seems like they are not available for anyone to book after May... did they show up as an option for you to reserve?

 

3. Are they still canceling all show reservations? If so, did you go to any shows? What was the wait like?

 

4. How crowded is crowded? When people say crowded, I envision wall to wall people... did you find it so crowded that you were uncomfortable and couldn't avoid people?

 

5. What was your favorite part of the ship?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers you may have. :-)

[scottishtink]

I'm following too ! We leave on Breakaway 24 th May and I'm interested in the vibe pass and time to get to port !

[staceyv64]

I am following too....sailing in June!

[sar]

Hello hello! I hope you have an awesome time. :D I'm jealous- I just ended my trip and I'd be happy to go again in June.

 

So glad to hear it was a great trip! We are excited about our June trip! I was wondering...

 

1. What time did you get to the port in order to get Vibe passes? Was it really a race to guest services like some comments/reviews have stated?

 

We were a little insane and got to the pier even earlier than we expected- 9:20ish. They didn't even open SECURITY to get in until 9:30, but we went through pretty quickly and because my father was a Silver Latitudes member I think we got a higher boarding card than we would have- we had boarding card #5. They started boarding at about 12:40pm and called our number pretty quickly. We boarded in the front of the boat on deck 7 and went right down the flight of stairs to Guest Services- it was a quick walk. The Vibe line was very easy to find and we were pass #19 and 20. All the cabanas except for one had sold out before we got there. However, later in the week we spoke to a woman who also had Vibe passes, and she and her partner went and got theirs AFTER the muster drill on Sunday. I don't know if that's typical or was just an odd quirk for our week.

 

2.Was Second City performing? It seems like they are not available for anyone to book after May... did they show up as an option for you to reserve?

 

Second City was performing on our trip- I didn't ask and wasn't sure if they'll be there after May. We had made reservations for Monday night through NCL.com a while ago, but I messed up and thought the reservations were for Tuesday. We went to the Box Office to change them Tuesday morning and ended up just getting another set of reservations for the Thursday night show, and we were there about 10 minutes before showtime and just walked in. The show was great and I hope they're not leaving.

 

3. Are they still canceling all show reservations? If so, did you go to any shows? What was the wait like?

 

We had made reservations for Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages while ago, and like everyone else we got the notice upon boarding that the reservations weren't being accepted and the showtimes had changed. After all that, we ended up skipping the shows because the times didn't work out great for us and we just weren't interested- I'm sorry I can't give you more of an idea about the wait!

 

4. How crowded is crowded? When people say crowded, I envision wall to wall people... did you find it so crowded that you were uncomfortable and couldn't avoid people?

 

It's a BIG ship and it carries A LOT of people. That said, I only found myself really aggravated with the crowds on a few occasions. Waiting for boarding was one of those times- and there was the occasional time in the buffet when it was packed. The Sun Decks on Sea Days could be crazy, and it could be annoying to try to walk through the casino in the evening. However, despite how crowded the boat could be I was surprised at how easy it was to find quiet spaces or spaces where there weren't hoards of people. We're also early risers, and as I said we skipped the shows- this may have made a big difference. But we went to the Waterfront most mornings and enjoyed the quiet there. Vibe was hardly every crowded. We did the rope walk Thursday afternoon and I rode the waterslides before lunch on Friday- there was no wait at all. Prime Meridien was a pretty quiet place to have a drink before dinner and I think a lot of it involves finding those places and then going back to them.

 

5. What was your favorite part of the ship?

 

We LOVED the Waterfront. Loved it. We would head there after breakfast and sit and read until the sun came up a little more and we could go up to Vibe. Vibe was also spectacular. It really made the vacation for us- I think Spice H2O would have been good if we hadn't gotten in, but it was nice not to have to worry about getting a couple of chairs in a good location.

 

Thanks in advance for any answers you may have. :-)

 

I hope these helped!!

Edited April 19, 2015 by sar
clarity

[scottishtink]

Thank you for all your helpful information !! We are staying in hotel across from the port in New York and plan to arrive for 9:15 , don't mind waiting in line and hopefully will get a low number boarding card as I am platinum , we are really looking forward to this trip as we have never been to Bermuda !

[layn133]

Thank you! That was really helpful. I am also thinking the Waterfront will be a good spot for us! I think we will be similar vacationers- finding a few places that are quiet that we know we can head to if it gets too crazy. I alternate between loving crowds and people watching to needing quiet space so it sounds like we can find both.

 

I still go back and forth on the vibe- I like the idea of having a place where it is quiet- where we know we can get chairs... but we 100% will not be out in the sun during peak sun hours (11am-3:30pm) due to some medical things. Perhaps with an umbrella or in shade- but most likely we would be looking for lounge chairs after 3 or 4 pm to just be in the warmth but not sun. Did you happen to notice what the availability of lounge chairs was during off-peak times?

 

Thanks again- sorry I am monopolizing your post! ;-)

[tumblew467]

Hi I was just wondering if the noodle bar was busy since it is complimentary now.

[suejoe]

Thanks so much for the info. We leave in 4 weeks and are planning on getting to pier early so we can get Vibe Passes. We have the UBP and are looking forward to spending some time on the Waterfront. Glad you had a good cruise......we can't wait!!

[Jdfireman]

Was.it.me or was the smoke smell in the casino overwhelming on the ship

[pinstripes4887]

Hi I was just wondering if the noodle bar was busy since it is complimentary now.

 

 

I just got off the Breakaway today too. I had the noodle bar on three nights. The first night it was almost empty. When in Port Canaveral I went right when it had opened and the crowd was small but quickly built up. Later in the cruise I went again and the restaurant was packed with about a 30 minute wait. Once seated I felt that the service really suffered with the huge crowd. Guests that were seated after us were greeted and had their orders taken before we were given water. I had to speak with a maître'd to make sure my order was taken. Overall, the food was good but once word got out on the ship that the restaurant was complimentary the restaurant was very crowded and it did not seem like the large crowd could be handled. I think they may still be working out the kinks from the switchover to complimentary.

[BrPanthers99]

Thank you for all your helpful information !! We are staying in hotel across from the port in New York and plan to arrive for 9:15 , don't mind waiting in line and hopefully will get a low number boarding card as I am platinum , we are really looking forward to this trip as we have never been to Bermuda !

 

 

I was on this week also. Got to the pier at 9:50 and it was pretty empty

[BrPanthers99]

Was.it.me or was the smoke smell in the casino overwhelming on the ship

 

 

I thought I was pretty well contained in the casino. This week was a lot of older people, and families with kids under 5. Casino was packed, likely because of the demographics

[sar]

Hi I was just wondering if the noodle bar was busy since it is complimentary now.

 

It was definitely hopping at dinner time, especially later in the week. Our food came very quickly, although there was some confusion at first since the server tried to give me the order of the woman next to me. We also brought our beverages in which probably helped. But the food was delicious- I'm glad they decided to make it complimentary.

[jkkas]

Hi I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the ultimate beverage package. Did you have any trouble getting drinks. And also did you ever have to pay extra for drinks? Thanks

[sar]

Hi I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the ultimate beverage package. Did you have any trouble getting drinks. And also did you ever have to pay extra for drinks? Thanks

 

We LOVED the UBP. Loved it. We had no issues with it and it worked perfectly for us. The only time we were questioned or "denied" a beverage was when we tried to use it to order at "tall pour" of wine (1.5 glasses) at dinner- apparently that was not allowed. But we ordered two glasses of wine each, and got them, and then the bill at the end of the night. All our drinks and gratuities were included and never showed up on our account on iConcierge or on the tv, even if we got the bill for four drinks at once.

 

I had been worried about the bartenders being overly busy because of the package but we never encountered that. I don't think we ever had an outrageous long wait for drinks at any bar and the drinks we ordered at dinner came quickly. That said- we ordered mostly beer and wine with dinner and saved the mixed drinks and cocktails for the afternoon.

 

We liked it so much that are leaning towards purchasing it for the next cruise (if they end the promotion) because we think it will be worth it. It really gave us the freedom to try different drinks and not be worried about disliking something.

Edited April 19, 2015 by sar

[jkkas]

Thank you for the info that's good to know. You mentioned that u used the iconcierge app did you use the texting feature? And if so how was it? Thanks again

[sar]

Thank you for the info that's good to know. You mentioned that u used the iconcierge app did you use the texting feature? And if so how was it? Thanks again

 

I'm glad it helped! And sorry, but we didn't use the texting feature.

[tumblew467]

thank you sar and pinstripes