MITSUGIRLY BREAKAWAY's 1 last time for the year-review/pictorial

[mitsugirly]

The bathroom was nicely decorated with neutral colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were very pleased with our room, our service and choice of hotel and especially the location.

 

 

Now on to our adventures of the day/evening....

[js]

Cant wait! Thanks for doing your review. I read them all hen I see them!

[mitsugirly]

Ok, time to head off to a Halloween party out on the farm that Kendra is throwing. It's going to be a cold night so thank goodness Halloween costumes allow for tons of layering underneath them. :D

 

I probably won't be back until midnight tonight. But, when I return, I'll make sure to get in a few segments before heading off to bed. :p

 

Until then...

[js]

Ok, time to head off to a Halloween party out on the farm that Kendra is throwing. It's going to be a cold night so thank goodness Halloween costumes allow for tons of layering underneath them. :D

 

I probably won't be back until midnight tonight. But, when I return, I'll make sure to get in a few segments before heading off to bed. :p

 

Until then...

 

 

Have fun! If Im up, Ill be checking in lol

[Kreativ' Gal]

Excited to follow along, I'm sailing BA in 8 days!

[keeponcruising]

Strap yourself in. We are in for another good ride:)

[nacdcruiser]

Super happy to see you back & sharing another vacation (adventure) with us -

 

Looking forward!

 

John

[AKR2011]

Thank you so much for your awesome reviews! I read them all and always look forward to them. Each time I am reminded that I am a little bit closer to my next cruise. I see a lot of pictorial reviews, but I have to say that yours are my absolute favorite. I love reading about your family's adventures and wish you luck on getting to the rest of the NCL Fleet. The Gem is still going out of NY for awhile, but I'm not sure the itinerary is what you're looking for. And I feel like The Jade is always overseas, but you never know. Either way, I look forward to another review. I'm sure it will come before my next cruise :( Thank you again for your awesome reviews! I can't wait for more :D

[ncklhaus]

I'm so happy that you are doing your review. It's going to give me something to look forward to. I had to cancel my 11/8 Breakaway cruise due to my illness. I had my first chemo treatment 2 days ago and the steroids aren't letting me sleep much. So I'll be checking in throughout the night to see your updates.

What airport did you fly into? I may have missed it. Was it Newark, La Guardia, or JFK?

Hope you had a great time at the Halloween party. Now get back to the review!:D

[jenseib]

Joining in...going back to read now! :D

[perfect match]

Haven't you noticed that adventures follow me everywhere I go? I think it's just me I swear. Someone likes to see just how far my buttons can be pushed and what my reaction will be each time. :p

 

Actually the funny thing is, he did not have ANY reaction. None at all. He didn't even look back or anything. He just kept walking. It was weird.

 

DH does owe me big time. I think another cruise will do. LOL

 

I agree! Another cruise sounds good to me, too!

 

Your hotel looked really nice. A good fit for you and the extended family, too.

 

Hope you had a great time at the Halloween party. I'll be back to check for updates.

[mitsugirly]

Have fun! If Im up, Ill be checking in lol

 

 

We had a blast and so did the little ones. Thanks. :)

 

Excited to follow along' date=' I'm sailing BA in 8 days![/quote']

 

 

Well, I'm probably not going to get to the nitty gritty and good things by then. :p But I hope you have a wonderful cruise on the BA.

[mitsugirly]

Strap yourself in. We are in for another good ride:)

 

Maybe that's what I forgot to do...strap in (during the cruise) LOL

 

Super happy to see you back & sharing another vacation (adventure) with us -

 

Looking forward!

 

John

 

Thanks for joining me John. :)

[mitsugirly]

Thank you so much for your awesome reviews! I read them all and always look forward to them. Each time I am reminded that I am a little bit closer to my next cruise. I see a lot of pictorial reviews, but I have to say that yours are my absolute favorite. I love reading about your family's adventures and wish you luck on getting to the rest of the NCL Fleet. The Gem is still going out of NY for awhile, but I'm not sure the itinerary is what you're looking for. And I feel like The Jade is always overseas, but you never know. Either way, I look forward to another review. I'm sure it will come before my next cruise :( Thank you again for your awesome reviews! I can't wait for more :D

 

Aww, you are so sweet and thank you so much for the compliments. I really appreciate it.

 

Yea, I'm not really interested in any NY to Bahamas cruises, so that would be out for me. I will have to wait until some day when they reposition it.

 

I do know the Jade has several cruises to the Caribbean out of Houston. So the next NCL I book will probably be that one. Otherwise, I will probably revert back to sailing some other Carnival ships in the mean time. :D

 

I'm so happy that you are doing your review. It's going to give me something to look forward to. I had to cancel my 11/8 Breakaway cruise due to my illness. I had my first chemo treatment 2 days ago and the steroids aren't letting me sleep much. So I'll be checking in throughout the night to see your updates.

What airport did you fly into? I may have missed it. Was it Newark, La Guardia, or JFK?

Hope you had a great time at the Halloween party. Now get back to the review!:D

 

So sorry about your Nov 8 cruise Joann. You are such a strong lady and I have been thinking about you often (and glad the chemo is treating you well this time around so far). You look absolutely awesome for someone who just had surgery. My thoughts are with you daily. :)

 

Actually I guess I forgot to mention which airport we flew into. It was LGA. It had the best prices and was close to the hotel.

[mitsugirly]

Joining in...going back to read now! :D

 

Thanks for joining. :)

 

I agree! Another cruise sounds good to me, too!

 

Your hotel looked really nice. A good fit for you and the extended family, too.

 

Hope you had a great time at the Halloween party. I'll be back to check for updates.

 

Another cruise coming right up...sooner or later. :p

 

It was definitely a nice hotel and perfect for our family of 10.

 

We had an awesome time at the party tonight and Sakari is currently "begging" to go to bed and be tucked in. :p

[mitsugirly]

Since I have already showed you around the hotel, it's time to get into our fun filled night.

 

We had all checked in, the kids made it to their room and by this time it was "Happy Hour" or whatever new fangled name they had for it. (I believe they list it as a "complimentary evening reception with beverages and appetizers".

 

I have stayed at the Drury before and they had an evening reception as well. It was very nice and had some FOOD to nibble on and actually it was enough to make a small meal out of and fill the belly before retiring to the room in the evening. It also includes "tickets" for 2 drinks. Since this place had an evening reception as well, I fully expected it to be about the same thing (and so did a few of my budget-minded kids who was counting on this) as the Drury. Boy-was-I-wrong!

 

We arrived back down stairs and headed toward the dining area where it looked to be like a cafe setting. There were some people behind the counter and ask if they could help me. "Yep, where's the food?" (snicker). They pointed back toward the bar area. Um, ok, I did not see any food walking into here, but decided I'm getting blind in my old age and probably missed it. No biggie.

 

Around the corner we went....to find THIS as the appetizers:

 

 

Some kind of noodles with peppers or something in it (did not even look appetizing) and some crackers! Really? This was not going to make a mini-meal for any of us.

 

Wait up...I see more:

 

This block of something looked a little more interesting:

 

 

Ok, so I guess when you pay $200 a night, you are served crackers and a ball of something.

 

 

Oh hold on...what's that smell? POPCORN! Yep, the hubby could live off of this stuff (has it every night before bed when relaxing), but me? Nope, that's not going to do.

 

 

At this point my kids are looking at me in that shameful way I look at them when I scold them. :o"Really mom? This is what you thought we'd save money on dinner with?" Sigh. I hung my head in shame and reminded them "Hey, you get a free drink!!" :D (That did not earn me any points, but I thought I would at least try it as my excuse.)

 

 

So if you are going here thinking it's anything like the Drury (we went to in NOLA), get it out of your head. It's not.

[mitsugirly]

We all headed to the bar to get our 1 free drink. Hmm, not much of a selection for sure. It was only the house drinks and none were any type of frozen drinks like I like. Darn! What a let down.

 

I did tell them lady at the bar that I only liked fruity frozen drinks and she said she would come up with something for me that she thought I would like. She made some type of mango something-or-other and crushed up some ice and said it was the best she could do. It wasn't half bad either. I was happy with her selection and give her an A+ for effort.

 

Courtney (my youngest sons finance) ended up with some kind of drink that was REALLY strong and she couldn't even drink it, but smiled through the situation like she was enjoying it, but the liquid wasn't getting any lower after putting it up to her lips. LOL

 

 

 

The hubby got a blue drink that gets an A+ for it's looks, but once again, none of us could drink it...WHEW! It was strong and just didn't taste as pretty as it looked.

 

He also smiled for his drink picture, but didn't fake that he was drinking it all night. He let it be known it was not going down his throat after the first sip.

 

 

Kendra ended up with a pretty red drink that was strong just like everyone else's drink. However, she wasn't one to let hers go to waste. She went up and ask for a glass of water and we found her off at a table doing this...

 

 

She convinced us that it taste much better this way and I could hardly stop laughing watching her, but did manage to give it a try...because I'll try just about anything at least once.

 

 

I have to say she was right...it worked and was perfect when you combine the two. Who knew?

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After managing to get our drinks down, we all sat around in the side lobby deciding what to do about dinner.

 

 

We couldn't make up our mind if we wanted to stay there for dinner (a real dinner since they had a restaurant) or walk across the hotel lot to a restaurant. Now it's October and it's in New Jersey/New York and it's fricken COLD out there. The temps had been dropping and we knew we weren't going very far if we had to walk!

 

The great thing about the location of this hotel is that it's right beside some restaurants and a mall, but yet not out on a main road or anything. You just kinda walk the parking lot across to it.

 

We had seen an iHop on the lot and decided that it would be the best choice for all of us. I can eat breakfast just about any time of the day and that was making my mouth water.

 

Everyone agreed that we wouldn't turn into popsicles running across to the iHop and we all headed out.

 

We all sat down and ordered and had a great time at our meal cracking jokes and talking about the cruise the next day.

 

 

 

Our bellies were full and we were satisfied, then back to the hotel we went.

 

We wanted to go get pop to carry on the ship, so us girls decided we would head out on our own to find a gas station or grocery store. Kendra found a name of a local grocery store and the people at the front desk said it was just down the road. She put it into her GPS and I kissed the hubby goodbye and said it was nice being married to him and to please remember me if I didn't return. (After all, we are in a city we know nothing about and first and foremost, Kendra is driving).

 

Off we went, turn this way, turn that way, hey...didn't we just pass that? Wait, did this road just split off in 2 directions? I can't tell which way it's saying to go. Ok, this doesn't look like a good road to be going down. Where are we? Wait, I see something that looks familiar. Didn't we just pass that too? Sigh...

 

What should have taken probably 10 minutes to get to took more like 30 minutes, but...we made it!

 

We manage to get our pop and we headed back out to the suv that Kendra and her family drove in with. (My boys and their girls drove in using my oldest sons car). Crank, rattle, KNOCK...yikes! What the heck is that sound Kendra? "Oh my, I think it's the muffler." Um NO, "That's no muffler sound, that's more like a rod knocking in your engine". I'm praying that we don't break down in this neighborhood at this point and all kinds of thoughts are circling in my head now. Please just get us back Kendra...and NOT the way we came...the right way that goes straight there and not in circles. :rolleyes:

 

We finally made it back, she called her fiance out to hear the noise and of course it was not as loud this time around and made us look like we were lying. I went ahead and went back into the hotel, drop to the floor and kissed the ground. Well, not really, I headed upstairs to let the hubby know he would have a few more years to put up with me after all.

 

Kendra came in later to let me know that in fact the car did make the loud sound again the second time she started it up and I reminded her that I was just glad I flew in and didn't have to rely on riding back with them home. ;)

 

We retired to the room, had our showers and watched a little t.v. before bed time. As always, it was hard to sleep knowing the big day we had tomorrow, the excitement, sleeping in a different bed than my own and most of all...sleeping in a darn regular sized bed. I just can't do it. I'm use to my king sized bed and anything smaller, I can't sleep. Sigh But we'll call it "sleep" for the purposes of this review. wink wink

 

 

My thoughts on the Embassy:

 

It was a VERY nice hotel. Nicely decorated, friendly service, very nice rooms, a pool, a work out room and a small little area you could buy snacks and pop if you wanted. Just beware, the pop in the vending machines on the room floors cost $2.00. If you buy it here at the front desk, it's $2.75 or something like that. Yes, I reminded the guy at the front desk that they are cheaper in the vending machines and he laughed and said he knew.

One thing this hotel does NOT provide is free wifi. You have to pay for it, so you'll be using your phone if you don't want to pay for it.

It's in a great location with food within walking distance and the restaurant on the premises.

It's a short ride from the airport and a pretty short ride to the cruise port. I think it's the perfect location if you don't want to spend a lot of $$ on a hotel for your over night stay prior to a cruise.

They also let you PARK YOUR CAR FOR THE WEEK HERE FOR FREE!!! You can't beat that considering most of the hotels will charge for this service, even the hotels located on the same grounds as this charged.

Another plus, free airport shuttle to the hotel.

 

Would I book it again? Yep, sure would.

 

[ncklhaus]

Thanks for posting again tonight. That darn decadron is keeping me up.:mad:

LGA is not my favorite airport, I'm a JFK girl myself. :p

I was able to reschedule my Breakaway cruise to April 3rd, so I will be completely healthy by then again. And I'll have a brand new set by then too! :D

Edited October 18, 2015 by ncklhaus

[Shediabla]

Glad you made it back safe from your pop adventure. The snacks laid out were Embassy brand standard. Many evening reception bartenders equate stronger drinks with bigger tips. And frozen drinks at evening reception, along with hot snacks, are actually against the brand standard.

 

I'm looking forward to your trip report. You always do an amazing job. You've quickly become a favorite for me since I joined cc in anticipation for my first cruise in a little under 2 months.

 

Enjoy breakfast in the morning. And stay away from the breakfast potatoes on the buffet. Unless you see an attendant setting them out, they're just disappointing. :)

 

Happy cruising!

 

Disclaimer: I'm sure someone on this board will respond with "Well the Embassy in *name a city* had..." I'm aware. I was an evening reception bartender for 3 years. Just because *name a city " did it, does not mean every Embassy will do it. I've heard my fair share of "but that Embassy did" stories.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Edited October 18, 2015 by Shediabla

[njhorseman]

 

Actually I guess I forgot to mention which airport we flew into. It was LGA. It had the best prices and was close to the hotel.

 

You flew into EWR. ;)

[Orleanscruiser]

Actually I guess I forgot to mention which airport we flew into. It was LGA. It had the best prices and was close to the hotel.

 

 

EWR is only 5 minutes from the Embassy west or 3.5 miles

and LGA is 33 minutes without traffic from 95 Glimcher Realty Way, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, USA or 42 miles

[CAC104]

I have stayed at Embassy Suites and your experience with the happy hour was different fro ours. I think this was because this E.S. had their own restaurant. They sure didn't want to put out a lot of free food if they were looking for dinner customers. Also, we weren't limited to one drink. I only like wine and beer and I remember having more than one glass of wine. The price you paid for the room was a very good one for that area.

[Laszlo]

Following!!!

[mickev99]

That looks like a gourmet meal compared to what we got at Embassy in Orlando by the airport. We got Goldfish crackers and chips and salsa. We did get unlimited free drinks during a certain time period, though.

Edited October 18, 2015 by mickev99