Hit the jackpot in Spa Suite-Breakaway to Bermuda 10/4-photo review

[alrichards4003]

Who are we?

 

DH and I are both 43. I sometimes work a lot of overtime, which enables me to pay for cruises, but also wears me out so I feel like I need a cruise. We are parents to two cats and two loving beages, a/k/a the handsome devils:

 

 

How did we get here?

 

We had a 2 bedroom suite on a pacific coast cruise and loved it, the next year we were going to have a suite on our cruise to Alaska on the Pearl, but we bought a house and in addition to everything else we ended up having to rewire the electricity in the entire house, we ended up getting a mini-suite. The last day, I was having breakfast in Blue Lagoon, they were having a future cruise presentation and I heard them discuss the spa suite with a jacuzzi in the room, hmm? We love the spa and always get a thermal spa pass.

 

We got home and saw the spa suite on the breakaway. Bermuda was on our list, it left from NY, which we both loved and it stayed in Bermuda for a couple of days, which is something DH had been wanting to do.

 

I booked the Spa Suite in November. Shortly thereafter NCL started the promos, I called and they rebooked up with the UBP, UDP and $300 shipboard credit. So since we had a spa suite we also got access to the thermal suite. I was saving money left and right. Right?

 

We normally take 3 cruises/vacations a year, but since this one was more expensive, in addition to the costs in NY, we only took 2. The last one was in Feb. so we were ready.

 

Disclaimers:

 

I take lots of pictures of food, some people don't care for my pictures, some people's experiences are different than mine, that doesn't make theirs any less valid, nor does it make mine any less true. We had a very full day in New York, so it will take some time to get to the ship. I hope everyone enjoys reading the following review.

[alrichards4003]

I am an obsessive planner. DH does not plan at all, but likes everything planned out. "Which way do we turn? What subway line do we take, what kind of food are we having for dinner?"

 

So as most planners know when plans go awry, it can cause a disturbance in the universe. The week before I was constantly watching the weather. i felt that we would be going to Bermuda. DH saw the weather a couple of days before and thought Bermdua was going to take a direct hit. I told him it would be fine and since we had a spa suite, we could sit in the room in port in NY for a week and still have a great time.

 

We live in Florida and are not used to the cold weather. Saturday 10/3 the day before the cruise we were flying to NY. Since parking would be $81 for the 8-9 days we took cabs to and from the airport as it only cost $25 each way. Our flight left at 8, so the cab picked us up at 6:15. I got up at 4:45 to walk the dogs and get ready. This would be a long, but fun day.

 

At the airport, DH reading a book with no pictures:

 

 

We were staying at Washington Square Hotel, it was $300, I liked the location in Greenwich Village, where we would be spending the end of our evening. The room was small, but made the room on the ship seem that much larger.

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

We were too early to check in, but they stored our luggage. Time for lunch. New York pizza:

 

 

I had white pizza and bbq chicken pizza, DH just had the BBQ chicken pizza. $12 for 3 slices and 2 soft drinks.

 

 

 

Then we were off to Museum of Sex:

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

We then walked to the Empire State Building. We went the observatory and the skyride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

More views, it was low 50s and rained all day, so pictures reflect overcast conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review. We were in Bermuda 3 years ago and loved it!

[meatball_nyc]

I'm also looking forward to reading more. Great pix so far :)

Please say you dined at Babbo!! Mario Batali has such great little places.

[alrichards4003]

Looking forward to your review. We were in Bermuda 3 years ago and loved it!

 

Thanks, Bermuda is a great place and we will definitely be back.

[alrichards4003]

I'm also looking forward to reading more. Great pix so far :)

Please say you dined at Babbo!! Mario Batali has such great little places.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately we did not eat at Babbo, I could not believe how close it was. We had reservations for Tapas, instead.

[Toola99709]

The pictures and the info on NYC are great. We're booked for next October. From one planner to another this is great!

[dobiemom]

Love the pics! Looking forward to the rest of the review. :)

[alrichards4003]

The pictures and the info on NYC are great. We're booked for next October. From one planner to another this is great!

 

Great, it is good to get infor from others, I know I have. One thing I recommend is the NY Pass. A 1 day pass was $90 per person, but if we had bought the admission separately for where we went would have been $105, not a huge saving, but it is convenient, and a good way to prepay costs, if we had gone to the Met like I had planned we would have saved more.

[alrichards4003]

Love the pics! Looking forward to the rest of the review. :)

 

Thanks. I took the day off for groceries and laundry and will try to add some more posts in between.

[alrichards4003]

There is a Heartland Brewery attached to the Empire State building and it was time for a break.

 

 

 

A little blurry:

 

 

I had the crazy cabdriver:

 

 

DH had an angry orchard, no picture:mad:

[alrichards4003]

MoMa is one of my favorite places in NY. They had a Picasso sculpture exhibit, the place was packed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have this print, the original is much more impressive:

[alrichards4003]

 

 

We have this one too:

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

We were going to go to the Metroplitan museum and the rooftop garden, but we were tired and thought it would be too cold for the rooftop. So we went back to the hotel to check in and rest before dinner.

 

 

 

 

We had an 8:00 reservation at Cafe Espanol:

 

My sangria:

 

 

bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

 

[alrichards4003]

DH did not bring his glasses so he wanted me to read the menu to him. Normally I would have, but there had to be about 60-75 items. I just decided I would order for both of us. Fried Calamari:

 

serrano ham, chorizo and manchengo cheese:

 

 

DH's Pork chops with onions and peppers and yellow rice:

 

 

I never had paella and wanted to try it. I ordered seafood, the waiter asked if I wanted lobster, and I added it on.

 

 

I didn't even eat half. It was very good.

 

 

 

We had 10:30 reservations at the comedy cellar. In line:

 

 

It was a great show and as a surprise Louis CK dropped in.Afterwards we went back to the hotel and instantly fell asleep, what a great day.

[alrichards4003]

The hotel had free wi-fi, which we used and a free breakfast, but I made reservations at Jane so we did not use the breakfast.

 

Greenwich village on Sunday morning:

 

 

 

 

Jane, where everything was amazing:

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

 

Pastry basket, I had the candied bacon scone and tried a piece of the everything biscuit:

 

 

DH's chicken and waffles, which he raved about and the macaroni and cheese fried truffle:

 

 

My lobster benedict with perfectly cooked potatoes and carmelized onions:

 

[alrichards4003]

Walked back to the hotel. Washington Square park:

 

 

 

 

We checked out and took a cab to the pier, the bicycle race was finishing, so it took a little longer. The cab driver insisted that we just had to walk a little ways, we did, with the luggage, oh well.

 

Security was quick, then we went to haven waiting area, where we got or cards, and the notice the ship would not be leaving until 2 a.m., it was good as far as keeping me out of the casino for one night. I spent enough time in there as it was.

 

Once you were able to board, the took us to the Haven courtyard. They passsed out fruit punch (i don't think the can serve alcohol until noon in NY), sliders and bruschetta. We didn't try them since we ate like little piggies 2 hours ago.

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Virginia was our concierge, she gave the introduction talk.

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Time to check out the room:

 

 

The bed was huge, and the blanket was so confortable:

 

 

The jacuzzi:

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

The balcony was shallow but quite wide.

 

 

 

Time for the first drink, DH is a smoker so we went to Spice H2O. We had the UBP, we were charged gratuity and NY tax while we were in port, however the receipt has the full price of the drink, but we were told it would come off and we would not be charged for it and we weren't.

 

DH's BBC:

 

 

My mai-tai: