Breakaway 5/17 review

[kernie968]

This was my second time on the Breakaway. First time was December 2014 in a Haven aft penthouse suite. We had a great cruise and I was sad to think I would never be in a Haven suite again. Originally we booked this cruise with a regular balcony room on deck 10. I was excited to see Bermuda, but sad that the Haven was out of our price range. I was wondering what a cruise would be like without the Haven. The upsell emails started, so I called to make sure we would not lose our drink package if we up graded and was told we would still have the drink package. Travel partners did not want to add any more money, so I decided that I could still have a great time without the Haven.

 

My youngest son had cruised with me in December and explained to my oldest son who was going on this cruise with me that the extra money would be worth it for the Haven, so 6 days before we sailed I called the upsell department to ask if any rooms were available and we switched to a 2 bedroom family villa! I went from being a little excited to I cannot sleep excited!

 

For this cruise I was traveling with my 22 year old son and my 18 year old day care daughter. She started coming to my day care when she was 12 months old and has always considered me to be he other mother. Switching from a regular balcony room, where we would all be stuck together all the time, to a 2 bedroom suite made this trip incredible!

 

We started with a Amtrak train to Penn station. We were excited and loud, so people moved away from us on the train. We grabbed a cab from Penn Station which cost $10.50. There was no line to drop off our luggage. We boarded the elevator, got off and said we need the Haven check in and life was easy. No lines at all as we passed through security. We checked in and went to the food table to grab cookies, just then they said it was time to board the ship.

 

It is nice being one of the first people to board. The crew members are standing in line to greet you and with big smiles. We were whisked up to the Haven lounge where we told to find seats, so the concierge could give his speech, then the sliders started to arrive. We had punch, sliders, and finger sandwiches. We had just finished our second sliders, when they announced that all of the rooms on deck 15 were ready. Before heading to our room we grabbed our first drinks from the Haven bar! We planned on drinking a lot since we had the UBP.

 

We had room 15108. The living room was a little larger than the aft penthouse. The small bedroom was not a bad size. There was a closet, shelves and a shelf that ran the length of the room. The bathroom was a good size. There was a TV and DVD player. This is the room that day care daughter chose. This was perfect because she had her own bathroom and when she was tired of us she could retreat to her "cave", which she did multiple times. We asked the room steward for egg crate mattress toppers for both the living room couch and the second bedroom, both bed were comfortable with the toppers. I feel the living room couch would be too hard without the foam.

 

DS took the master bedroom and loved the bed! He said it was extremely comfortable. The room has plenty of space with 2 closets, drawers under the TV and storage above the TV. The make up dresser area has shelves and a lot of space.

 

The bathroom is awesome!. There are shelves and drawers to put everything that you bring. We did not fill all the spaces. At first I thought having a bathroom with huge windows would be weird, but it is nice. You have to pull the blinds to take a shower in port, but in the middle of the ocean there is no one to see you! There is a big window sill by the bathtub and we filled the tub with hot water, got drinks from the bar and sat soaking our feet while watching the ocean. It turns out I like having a bathroom with big windows.

 

We loved the room, but we had to get used to the sound of water swishing around. We have no idea where the sound was coming from or why, but you could hear it at night, which was annoying the first two nights until we got used to the sound. I had brought a noise machine with me, so I was OK with it, but the other two said it was hard to sleep the first two nights. If you cannot sleep with annoying noises bring something to mask the noise.

 

If you get lucky enough to upgrade to the Haven do it. We changed into our swimsuits and spent two hours using the Haven hot tubs, sauna and pool all to ourselves. We watched people looking around and exploring, but no one else came with their suits. It was great to start vacation with the area to ourselves. We dried off in the loungers and had more drinks. We changed, went to the lifeboat drill, then sail away from our balcony. We were port side so lots of great pictures of New York City, then up to the Haven sundeck to watch the Statue of Liberty and going under the bridge. The champagne was flowing and we were beyond excited to get this vacation started!

 

Hopefully, I can figure out how to get the pictures attached tomorrow.

[cruzkitty]

Loving your Review and looking forward to the pictures We're sailing on the BA next year in A Have Courtyard Suite. Thanks for posting!

[bangzoom6877]

Can't wait to see pictures! We're not in the Haven, but going on the BA in July. We have two connecting inside cabins with our two sons, ages 8 and 10.

[staceyv64]

What time did you arrive at the pier?

[kernie968]

We arrived at the pier around 11:15.

[kernie968]

Hopefully I can remember how to add pictures.

 

 

This was the living room. Plenty of space for the three of us.

 

 

This was the desk by the TV in the living room. Storage space above and drawers below the desk.

 

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The door to the master bedroom is to the right of the TV. In the aft penthouse suite this was a regular door, but in the two bedroom it is a sliding door.

 

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The shelf by the door became out favorite place to keep our collection of glasses from our drinks. We tried to fill the shelf before we went out. I was concerned with the UBP that maybe we would spend way too much time inebriated, but spacing out the drinks made it so I never really felt drunk. We would take turns running up to the Haven bar and getting drinks. The first two days they took each of our cards when we ordered a drink, but by the third day they said since we were in one room they could put them on one card, so one of us could get the drinks while the other one rested. I do not know if this goes for the rest of the bars on the ship. It was nice taking turns and not both having to run up to the bar.

 

The first night we had dinner in the Haven restaurant. I love the Haven restaurant. There is never a line. The water glasses are filled and bar drinks are ordered within the first two minutes of being seated. The bread basket comes out, we place our orders and we are relaxed and happy. The food in is the best. Never have I had anything that was not incredible. Both DS and DD loved the food. DD usually orders burgers, but tried the duck, filet of beef, and a pasta dish that she loved. DS tried different foods, but was like me and only wanted to order the filet of beef because it is the best.

 

We walked around after dinner on the main decks, so DD and DS could see the layout of the ship and somehow we ended up at the buffet. I do not know how, but DD and DS filled up plates from the buffet and ate a second dinner. They both agreed the food was not as good as the Haven, but what the heck they were on a cruise and eating is just part of the experience!

[ncklhaus]

Loving your review! I'll be following.

I love that you were so excited on the train that people moved away from you. :eek:Too funny. :D

[kernie968]

ncklhaus-since there was three of us I sat in front of the other two and knelt on my seat and talked to them. The people directly behind the other two got up and moved. I felt bad because I did not want to think that I was annoying, but I was too excited to sit in my seat and just watch the river.

 

I never sleep good the first night of any vacation, so I was up to watch the sunrise from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The balcony is small, but not a bad size. We never felt crowded on it. We brought our snacks out there a few times and brought out a extra chair and it was fine.

 

 

 

I knew it would be a long time before the other two woke up so I went to O'Sheenans for breakfast. When I got there at 6:15AM, I was the only one there. I order chocolate croissants and coffee. They brought me my order within minutes. I am not picky about food, but the coffee was disgusting! It tasted like it had been sitting around for hours, which it probably had been.

 

I went back to the room and used the Lavazza machine to make a cup of coffee that was drinkable. I had brought a container of chocolate syrup, so we could make chocolate lattes and they are good! I never went back to O'Sheenans for breakfast again.

 

When the other two came to life we ventured up to the Haven for breakfast. They had mimosas in the courtyard, so we grabbed a couple then went to the restaurant. The Haven restaurant makes great omelets and french toast. Just like dinner service and fast and friendly.

 

The second bedroom is great if you are traveling with teens. It is a great space to get away from the annoying adults!

 

Once the bed was made the room steward left the bed like this which was fine because DS liked her afternoon naps.

 

 

The bathroom was a decent size.

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[kernie968]

Finish up the room picture. The master bedroom is tight, but how much room do you need to sleep? I managed to take one nap on the bed and it is very comfortable.

 

 

 

The make up desk is nice. They have a container of cotton balls and Qtips.

 

The master bathroom is huge. There was again so much storage space that we never used it all.

 

 

 

 

 

I really thought the bathtub by the window was a bad idea, but it grew on me.

 

[kernie968]

Second time on the Breakaway and I still did not cross off everything on my list of things I wanted to do, so I guess I will have to go again. We loved the rope course. Once you get up there you have so many choices of which way to go that you have to back track to do them all. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes in line. It was fun to do it while the boat was moving over when the boat is still. The plank is way scarier when the boat is moving!

 

Miniature golf is fun. Never waited in line to do that either. The waterfront is a great place to get a drink and just hang out. Sunsets are awesome from the aft walkway on deck 8.

 

With the drink package I wondered how hard it would be to get a drink. Some bars were more crowded than others. The Shaker Martini bar is awesome, but sometimes is full. My DS hung out at the Maltings Beer and Whiskey bar. He said a few times it was completely full.

 

We never went to the pools or hot tubs on deck 15, but we did the slides. I had heard stories of people getting stuck on the slides and could not imagine how that could happen. Well now I know. We decided to start with the free fall slide. DD forgot and wore earring and was sent away, but I told her to go wait for me to come down. The countdown started 3...2..1 and the floor goes out. I was so excited for a few seconds then I started to slow down. Next thing I knew I was stopped and started tumbling backwards! No way this could be happening I had done the slide last trip no problem. After I came to a complete stop I saw the escape hatch and climbed out. The guy told me top hold still and I had to wait for another person to come and unlock a gate so I could get down. Turns out that my new bathing suit was not slippery enough to go down the chute! So getting stuck in the slide was not on my list of things to do, but it happened anyways!

 

We saw Rock of Ages and enjoyed it. It was funny and kept our attention. My DS actually talked to the two stars of the show earlier that day at the Maltings bar. Anyone who brings little kids is crazy. The people who sat down next to us had to kids under the age of six and left after 10 minutes.

[suejoe]

Hi Karen, Great review! We had a great time on this cruise too. We were able to get Vibe passes and spent most of our time there. Love your pictures. Keep them coming.

Susan & Joe

[kernie968]

Hi Susan. I cannot believe that we never ran into each other again after the Meet and Greet.

 

Now the reason we took this cruise was a graduation gift for DD. She chose the Bermuda itinerary and I was not very excited about it. What good is a cruise ship if you are just sitting in a port? I love the smell of the ocean, the rocking of the waves, but this was the cruise she wanted, so I booked it thinking I will probably not like it.

 

When we arrived in Bermuda we could not dock because of the Dawn running aground we could not pull into the port.

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We had to anchor which was fine because we had a nice view of Bermuda. This was one of the times that we were glad we had splurge on the Haven. We were being tendered to the island on the lifeboats and being Haven members we were whisked down an employee elevator to a floor that was only cruise employees. As we walked down the hallway a very mean looking man in a uniform started asking us, not to nicely, why were on this deck that was not for guests. We just kept walking because we were being waved down the hallway by a nicer looking man. We said that guys waving us down there and he yelled I am an officer and he is not, so you need to listen to me. We kept walking. I turned around to see the red faced officer giving it to the guy who waved us on. We were the first ones on the lifeboat. It was nice to see the lifeboat not in a emergency setting.

 

We had purchases a two day bus and ferry pass in the Haven before we left, but we never grabbed a map, so we had no idea where the bus stops were. We saw a very long line and thought maybe that is for the bus. It turns out that was the line for the ferry to St. George's. There was also a extremely long line to buy the bus passes. Try to buy them on the ship if you can.

 

We ended up buying tickets for the Horseshoe bay shuttle. For $16 dollars you get a round trip ticket. They drive you down the hill and drop you off at the beach. Having never been to Bermuda I did not know how long the walk would be to the top to the bus stop. We were glad we took the shuttle. When we got ready to leave the shuttle was waiting.

 

Horseshoe bay was beautiful. We stopped and said ohhhh, then I told them to get moving. We did not want to hang out with the crowds. We hiked along a trail for 10 minutes, then we found a beach that we had to ourselves. Throughout the day a few people came to our beach for a few minutes, then walked on. The water was not warm, but was not as cold as Cape Cod water so we all swam. My DS almost swam into a huge white fish. While DS and DD sunbathed I hiked along the shore. There are many rock formations to climb on and they are sharp! I wore water shoes, but I cut my hands and legs climbing on the rocks. Next time I will bring gloves and possible long pants.

 

 

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Can you believe we had this beach to ourselves? We could not believe it.

[bangzoom6877]

Excellent review so far! That story about getting stuck on the water slide is crazy...I would have completely panicked. I don't go on water slides anymore, and have only done the little dinky ones at Sesame Place...even those scare me lol. My 8- year-old likes water slides that are on the smaller side, that don't end in deep water. My 10-year-old loves water slides but said he wouldn't do the free fall when we watched the video. He is interested in the other water slides though and is very excited for those. We also don't plan to go to the pool on deck 15, but will go to the water slides with the boys and my nieces.

 

DH is very interested in the ropes course. I'm not sure if it is for me, as I have had neck and back issues. In 2011 I had spinal surgery in my neck due to a badly herniated disk. I have arthritis in my lower back and have also had muscle alignment issues in the pts which have landed me in physical therapy. I exercise 6 days a week, strength and cardio training (more recently PiYo, a pilates and yoga DVD program from beachbody), so I'm in decent shape but still concerned about my neck and back. I do go to the gym regularly on cruises to keep up with my exercise, and it would be nice to just use the ropes course as a substitute for a couple of gym trips, but I'm just not sure. How tough is it? Is there serious bending and twisting involved?

 

I totally agree that Rock of Ages is absolutely not for children! DH and I saw it on broadway a few years ago and we really loved that show. We reserved it one night on our cruise and my parents will join us. The boys will be at Splash Academy while we are at the show.

 

I have 46 days until my BA cruise, and can't wait to go! :)

[kernie968]

bangzoom6877-I wasn't scared when I got stuck in the slide because I had read about other people who had got stuck and climbed out the escape hatch. If I did not know about the escape hatch I would have been screaming my head off! I actually thought it was pretty funny. My bathing suit that I got stuck with was a long pair of swim shorts. Beware.

 

The rope course is set up so that you come to a landing and have I think 4 choices of which way you cross to the next landing. There are easy ways and harder ways. It is not hard to tell which ones are hard and which are easy. You should be good choosing the easier paths. It is fun. DD and I would take two different paths and race to the other side which made it harder, but more fun.

[sarajean]

Where do you get tickets for Horseshoe beach? Ship or outside of ship?

And where do you actually get the shuttle?

 

By the way your pictures are beautiful, thank you for sharing.

Love to try The Haven someday alittle out of my price range right now will try to get the tickets for VIBE though

[kernie968]

we purchased a 2 day bus and ferry pass on the ship. The Haven concierge was selling them at his desk. We only used one day so next time I might only purchase the one day pass. The shuttle is easy to find. When you exit the ship you have to cross one direction and the shuttles are right there. We walked up and bought 3 tickets and were directed to a shuttle. We were the last 3 people on so we could not sit together, but that is not a problem. It is just a big van and I got to talk some people from the Celebrity Summit. If you plan on one day at Horseshoe Bay the shuttle is better than the bus because it does not have to make stops and it drops you off at the beach so you do not have to hike up or down the hill. Plus we never had to wait for a shuttle. The shuttle was waiting for us.

 

As for the Haven I would never pay the full price. If I can purchase a upgrade at a low enough price then it is worth it. I really want to take the Breakaway again and not in the Haven so I can experience more of the ship. It was just too easy to stay in the Haven and not fight crowds.

[sarajean]

Thank you for the info.

I love the beach my DH doesn’t so we usually only go once and Horseshoe sound very convenient because the shuttle drops you off and I have read the hill is pretty long (bad knees)

Another day is an all day tour that one of CC is arranging (nice of him to do)

Third day haven’t decided yet. I was also thinking of the sunset catamaran tour. Don’t know if I should buy through the cruise ship or on our own. Any suggestions?

Haven’t been to Bermuda for almost 35 years don’t remember much.

[sarajean]

Forgot to ask is there chairs and umbrella to rent? facilities?

[kernie968]

Almost forgot a couple of things about Horseshoe Bay the changing rooms were clean. The line for the bathroom was out the door, but there was no line for the changing room. While we were at the beach we saw some pretty big fish that seem to enjoy riding the waves. Overall we saw 10 different fish all riding the waves and it looked like they were having fun. I took pictures but never got a really clear picture. When I was climbing on the rocks I saw a few crabs and there were some small pools of water with a lot of different creatures. My favorite things were the white birds with the long tails. We mistakenly climbed near one of their nests and were dive bombed by the birds. After realizing why they were attacking us we were more careful about where we climbed. I felt very safe at the beach even when I was out exploring by myself.

 

When we arrived back at the dockyard the Breakaway was just coming in to dock, so the shuttle tickets had drink offers at the Frog and Onion so we went there for a bite to eat. It was a pretty cool place. All of the chairs at the tables did not match so I felt right at home since mine do not match. They were serving drinks in the biggest glasses I had ever seen. We all ordered a bite to eat and one drink. Beware the drink was $14.95 because we were supposed to keep the glass. We said we only wanted the drink, but still got charged the full price. The bill was over $100! We decided to only eat on the ship after that.

 

We were sunburned and tired, so we had out butler, Jose, bring us burgers and fries. We tried to stay awake for a movie.

 

As usual I woke up early on Thursday and hiked down to Uptown grill for a snack. I love there hash browns! I decided to hang out at the pool area on deck 15 as the crew were training on how to flip a blowup life raft in the pool. It was nice watching as a young woman worked hard to get the raft to flip with encouragement from her coworkers. Everyone clapped for her when she got out from under the raft. When DD and DS finally got up a had a second breakfast at Uptown grill.

 

We had to take the ferry to St George's and went to get in line 30 minutes early. The line gets long, but they can get a lot of people on the ferry. We grabbed seats in front which made getting off easy.

 

St George's had a lot of nice shops. We did not want to buy much as we were heading over to Tom Moore's Jungle, but I would love to spend more time at the shops next time I go to Bermuda. We bought some drinks and snack food then went on a search for a bus. As luck would have it a bus pulled up and we then realized we were at a bus stop. On the bus a very nice lady took my map and explained to me where we had to go and what stop to get off. She even pushed the button for us.

 

When you cross the causeway after the airport you get off at the first stop, then walk back down the hill. There was a gas station across the street and they have a bathroom. There are no bathrooms in the jungle. We started on the trail thinking maybe we will spend a hour, but three hours later we emerged dehydrated and tired, but we all felt this was the best part of the trip. When you first start on the trail there is beautiful beach scenery.

 

 

We kept stopping and taking pictures. We loved watching the fish in the clear water. Eventually we found a y in the trail and we went left. This took us away from the water, but now we had to watch out for chameleons.

 

 

The little buggers are everywhere. One even ran across DS's foot leaving little footprints! The trail was flat and easy to walk on.

 

 

We were amazed that we were the only ones on the trail. The trail had little side trails that ran off mostly to the right and we could not wait to go down the trails to see what we would find. Sometimes it was a cave other times it was a lagoon and one time it was a cave full of water.

 

 

This lagoon had fish that expect you to feed them! As soon as they see people they swim up to where you are standing and look up at you. We only had a granola bar so we threw in some of the granola. Next time we will bring cheerios for them.

 

 

 

 

 

This cave we would have missed if we had not ran into 4 guys who were clearing the trails. The one guys told us we could swim in the cave if we wanted to. It was small and a little slippery. DD bent over to take a picture and her sunglasses dropped into the water. She knelt down and managed to grab them, but when she stood up we realized the cave was slippery because it was covered in mud. She was a mess! Good thing we had brought wet wipes.

 

When I go back to Bermuda I definitely want to go back to the Jungle and explore a few more trails. We got back on the bus where we got off and the very next stop was the Swizzle Inn, but we were too tired to get off the bus. A very nice elderly man started telling me about Bermuda. He was like a personal tour guide telling me what to look for. All the people in Bermuda that we met were the friendliest people ever. We managed to get to the ferry and be one of the last people to get on and head back to the Breakaway for naps!

[hansolosmom]

wow - sounds like a great trip. I love Bermuda, we've been once & I really want to get back there. The cave pictures are amazing

[kernie968]

I took almost 1,000 photos! It is a beautiful island and the ship is pretty amazing too.

 

Sarajean-we had planned to do a sunset kayak tour, but were too tired every night to do it. If you make plans for a sunset catamaran tour make sure you do not wear yourself out during the day.

 

The last day on the island we did like everyone else and stayed close to the ship. What a mistake. Everyone goes to the Clock Tower Mall to shop. It is a nice mall, but did not have the kind of souvenirs we were looking for and got very crowded! We wished we had taken the ferry over to Hamilton to shop.

 

Two things to remember-one the only place near the ship that we could buy booze was the Island Outfitters. It stops selling booze at 1:00 PM. We found this out at 12:45 and ran over to get some Gosling's rum and Rum Swizzle to take home. They send it to the ship which is nice. The other things is be careful with your credit card. My DD had a brand new credit card for this trip. He used it on the ship for his account and used it in two of the shops at the Clock Tower Mall. The week after we came back he received a call from his credit card company asking about strange charges which were not his. They had to freeze his account. Watch your account when you get back.

 

While we were docked in Bermuda the ship was empty sometimes. I went to a game show in the Atrium and was shocked to see empty seats. Usually it is standing room only. It was easy to get a seat at a bar. I started to see the advantages of being in a port for 3 days.

 

I went thinking I would hate the ship not moving, but it turns out it works great as a hotel.It is nice to get your meals on the ship because the restaurants on the island are expensive. It is nice not having to worry about missing the ship for two of the days. I am positive I will do the Breakaway to Bermuda again.

 

Saturday was our last day on the ship and we all agreed that we did not want to get off. We went to the Uptown Grill for breakfast, then spend two hours in the pool and hot tubs in the Haven courtyard all to ourselves again. We had found out the day before that the Haven bar has a snack menu. For our lunch we sat at the bar trying out some new drinks and ordering from the snack menu. The homemade potato chips coated in blue cheese dressing are outstanding. We all order seconds. Some of the other snacks were amazing.

 

The Haven Courtyard at night is the best. The lighting makes it seems so warm and inviting. We loved the nights that we soaked in the hot tubs. It is peaceful at night because everyone else is out doing things on the ship and missing the best time to be in the Haven.

 

 

 

 

These are some of the snacks that our butler left for us.

 

 

 

Sunday morning we woke up at six and we already docked. We had a quick breakfast at the Haven and then we were escorted off the ship by the concierge at 7:20 AM. We did not have any lines at customs and were in a taxi heading to Penn station at 7:30. We bought out Amtrak tickets at 7:45 and went to find the Red Caps. If you take Amtrak get a Red Cap. As soon as they know your train is at the track they take you down before everyone else and get you on the train. We were in our seats at 7:55. We tipped the guy ten bucks and had the train to ourselves for 10 minutes.

 

We were back in Albany at 11 and wishing that we were back on the Breakaway. It was a great trip.

[bangzoom6877]

What did Uptown Grill have for breakfast? Did they have cinnamon rolls? I mean REAL cinnamon rolls, warm and with gooey frosting on them...not the ones that are similar to the other breakfast danish in the MDR and buffet minus the fruit filling. Did they have the real deal? Do you have any pictures of Uptown Grill breakfast? Besides their hash browns, anything you recommend there at breakfast time? I definitely want to try their burgers too at lunch!

[meatball_nyc]

Nice review so far. Thanks for sharing.

Loved the pix of Jobsons Cove and the beaches to the left of Horseshoe Bay Beach. That was our favorite day in Bermuda last summer.

Looking forward to more :)

 

~Robin

[kernie968]

Uptown grill does not have good cinnamon rolls. They have used rolls with flavored topping, but they were kind of gross. They do have egg and sausage sandwiches, the same pastries as the buffet, bacon, sausage, the hash brown and a ham and cheese in a pastry puff that was really good. You could toast your own bagel. They had another section that I do not remember because it was probably fruits and that's not what I like at breakfast.

[bangzoom6877]

Uptown grill does not have good cinnamon rolls. They have used rolls with flavored topping, but they were kind of gross. They do have egg and sausage sandwiches, the same pastries as the buffet, bacon, sausage, the hash brown and a ham and cheese in a pastry puff that was really good. You could toast your own bagel. They had another section that I do not remember because it was probably fruits and that's not what I like at breakfast.

 

Aww, that's disappointing about the cinnamon rolls. The ham and cheese in pastry sounds great though with some hash browns on the side! Is there coffee there too or do I have to go to the crowded buffet area downstairs to get a cup of coffee?