Breakaway to Bahamas Comments

[Kellyann]

I'll leave the reviews for the writers but wanted to share some of my thoughts from my 11/8 Breakaway cruise. Overall the crew, the food, the complimentary dining rooms and entertainment was wonderful. Our mini-suite mid-ship balcony was more than adequate (except undersize balcony) so overall it was a good experience.

Some cons:

Boarding: don't worry about choosing a specific time because they never even asked. We got there for our 10:30 boarding but I think if we had chosen noon but got there at 10:30, it wouldn't have mattered. We sat in a room for over an hour & a half waiting to board.

 

Tendering in Great Stirrup Cay was the worst I've ever seen. Instead of having the pax wait in the theater like most ships have you do, they had a thousand or more people crowded in a hallway outside the theater. There was nobody directing anyone, nobody keeping the line intact an nobody explaining what on earth they were doing. They really screwed this up and the people were quite upset standing there for over 45 minutes basically in the dark.

 

Unless you have a life or death reason to carry your own luggage off the ship, don't do it. We sat at one of the restaurants and watched people standing for over an hour with the line not even moving and everyone of them hauling suitcases. It was bedlam and I felt so sorry for them. NCL makes it sound like it's a great way to experience "free style" by getting off early, but trust me I was happy I picked a 10:30 departure and had them take the luggage from outside our cabin the night before.

 

The show "Rock of Ages" was not to our liking. The music was too loud and we felt that the vulgarity wasn't that necessary. I never saw a show with so many people leaving in the middle of it. Some idiot parents actually had their children sitting with them even though all publicity says it is not intended for children.

 

Everything I read prior to our cruise described the flow of the ship as poor. They were so correct. The public walkways are poorly laid out and made little sense. The venues for some acts were too small to accommodate all the people. They shouldn't be building ships with more pax than they can move around easily. That's the very last big ship for me.

 

Tonya who sings and plays the piano was utterly terrible. She is definitely a third-string act and doesn't deserve to be part of the wonderful talent on that ship.

 

Pros:

Burn the Floor was spectacular, Fire and Ice was electrifying, Angel who plays the guitar was so talented, the crew talent show was worth watching. Many of the shows and demos in the atrium area were funny and so entertaining.

The Thermal Spa pass was worth every penny. We spent a few hours every day there.

The restaurants were beautifully decorated and all the food was very good. All of the crew work so hard and always have a smile or a kind word for you. I couldn't compliment them enough.

Our mini suite room was very comfortable with plenty of shelving for the 2 of us, a comfortable K.S. bed, a well-laid out bathroom with great shower and dual sinks. Most comfortable except for the tiny tiny balcony. Smallest I've ever seen.

 

Overall a nice experience but my future cruising will be on a smaller ship. If you have questions, I will try to answer them for you.

[mjkacmom]

I think the times they are now assigning is to spread out when passengers arrive. No one is boarding the ship until close to noon.

[Geeni]

I was on the same sailing and I totally agree about the tendering for GSC. When booking the cruise I originally planned on doing an excursion there but in the end decided against it and I'm glad I did. I know they said they were letting everyone with booked excursions go among the first but because the crowd even then was AWFUL, I don't think that would have done much.

 

That and the noise in the hallways at night/into the wee hours of the morning were the two biggest cons of the trip imo.

 

Oh, and the disembarkation was also a terrible mess. They need to organize the easy walk-off into groups too, and also not call the first color when most of the easy-walkers are still trying to get off the ship.

 

I may write an actual review at another time, so I'll go into more detail then. I did have fun, overall.

[FranknBeans]

Unless you have a life or death reason to carry your own luggage off the ship, don't do it. We sat at one of the restaurants and watched people standing for over an hour with the line not even moving and everyone of them hauling suitcases. It was bedlam and I felt so sorry for them. NCL makes it sound like it's a great way to experience "free style" by getting off early, but trust me I was happy I picked a 10:30 departure and had them take the luggage from outside our cabin the night before.

 

First let me say thanks for your input.

I have one question, if you picked a 10:30 time what did you make it off ship?

[Kellyann]

Unless you have a life or death reason to carry your own luggage off the ship, don't do it. We sat at one of the restaurants and watched people standing for over an hour with the line not even moving and everyone of them hauling suitcases. It was bedlam and I felt so sorry for them. NCL makes it sound like it's a great way to experience "free style" by getting off early, but trust me I was happy I picked a 10:30 departure and had them take the luggage from outside our cabin the night before.

 

First let me say thanks for your input.

I have one question, if you picked a 10:30 time what did you make it off ship?

 

At around 10:15 they said all colors that hadn't been called could leave. I was disappointed when we walked off the ship and found a very long line waiting to get their luggage and go through customs. It was kind of breezy standing on the dock in the cold and I wondered why they called us when we were in for a long, cold wait. I think we got out of there around 11:45. They seem to have a problem moving that number of pax off the ship. God forbid if there was a scenario where we had to exit quickly. It just wouldn't happen. We still had a wonderful time and I hope you do also.

[MaryZ]

I felt kinda bad for everyone who wasn't in a suite or had status for the tendering. We were on the first tender and it was easy for us. Although the staff wasn't as informed as they should have been.

 

We got to the ship about 1030 and were on around noon I guess. Had lots of fun at the martini bar all week. Casino has some new slots since April. Burn the floor is always excellent, rock of ages is always fun and 2nd city is always....well it's just always there and we can't figure out why.

 

Lots of kids! Way more kids than I've been on a cruise with in a very long time and they all seemed to having a good time. The parents looked exhausted :D

 

We didn't eat in any of the main dining rooms this cruise. So no idea what the menus even were. The food in the specialty dining was fine.

 

Leaving, we did the take your own luggage and were off by 830am

[purplestarlisa]

We were on this cruise. We chose the first disembarkation color we could get. We got in line to leave around 9:15, and were through customs and in our ride home at 10:07. The key to getting through customs is aggressively find a porter. There was literally no line.

[rogue 35]

Be happy you made GSC, we were on the 11/1 sailing and didn't make it. We are 0 for 2 trying to get to GSC.

[AndyCapn]

Tendering in Great Stirrup Cay was the worst I've ever seen. Instead of having the pax wait in the theater like most ships have you do, they had a thousand or more people crowded in a hallway outside the theater. There was nobody directing anyone, nobody keeping the line intact an nobody explaining what on earth they were doing. They really screwed this up and the people were quite upset standing there for over 45 minutes basically in the dark.

 

It did seem to catch the staff completely off guard. We were supposed to be on Tender boat E but after being called and seeing the end of the line was past the casino, we waited until the afternoon. We did overhear the casino staff calling somebody to send security around to control the line.

 

In our minds, there's no way the line from the tender to the theatre, the theatre itself, and the line to the casino could have been entirely filled with the people on the first five tenders groups (after two boats had already departed). But there was no one to check that people were in the right line and it came across as a free-for-all.

 

They had problems at embarkation with people crowding the entrances before their group number came up, so maybe we all just got stuck with a boorish, ignorant manifest. But NCL needs to have a contingency plan for that, and it sure didn't look like they did.

[jackparts]

The problems in the past with NCL is that they do not learn or care to learn from their mistakes. If a problem happens on a cruise, it will happen again and again and again. Tendering in GCS had always been a problem. You would think they would have someone helping to keep order in the line to tender, but no. They are always reactive and need to be told about a problem, then, they wait til late to try and solve the problem. Ongoing NCL, do not try, just do!

[Kellyann]

Be happy you made GSC, we were on the 11/1 sailing and didn't make it. We are 0 for 2 trying to get to GSC.

 

It would be sad to miss it once, but twice. That's a bummer. I understand the Thermal Spa was also closed the week of 11/1. You guys got the short end of the deal. I hope you have better luck in the future.

[Kellyann]

We were on this cruise. We chose the first disembarkation color we could get. We got in line to leave around 9:15, and were through customs and in our ride home at 10:07. The key to getting through customs is aggressively find a porter. There was literally no line.

 

We also got a porter albeit later in the morning when the crowds had thinned out a little. However, you can't get a porter until you've reached the customs area and by that time you've been in some line for well over 1/2 hour. We sat down for breakfast at O'Sheehan's around 8:45. We felt sorry for people standing in a line that was going no where. Someone at our table commented that it took almost 1/2 an hour for people to move about 200 feet. It was ridiculous.

 

It would take a good 15 minutes to get from the theater area to the gangplank, then walk almost a block to the entrance to the Customs area, then down the escalator, and that woud be if you were the only ones exiting. Not sure what you did to accomplish an exit in 22 minutes, but more power to you.

[worktocruise610]

We were also on this cruise & had a great time. The tender part - horrendous! We had purchased a clamshell & were told, by shore excursion & guest services, to go straight to theater, not general line, to be put on a tender. The woman "handling" the line (she was doing nothing) would not let us down to the theater or listen to anything I said. I think she was by far the nastiest person I have ever encountered on any of my 15+ cruises. I went to guest services & complained; the woman was awesome & rectified the problem asap. But that was the worst of the trip, everything else was real good.

We got on line to disembark about 9:35-9:40 & were in a cab on our way to Penn about 10:15. The longest wait was on the pier trying to get to the luggage. Going thru customs was fine. They had plenty agents working & a couple keeping the lines in order.

All in all a great time, but then every vacation for me always is :D

[redbaron70]

We were on this cruise as well. I agree about the tendering -- my guess is that very few people signed up for a tender and got in line whenever they felt like it. We were in group F and went down when our group was called, but there was no way I was going to stand in that line! We decided to go up to the pool for a while -- at first the kids were disappointed that we weren't going straight to the beach, but they were thrilled to find there were no lines for the water slides. We headed down to the theater to get a tender around noon, and it still took an hour for us to get to the island. It seemed sort of ridiculous.

 

A tip about disembarkation: head aft! There was almost no line to get off the ship, although it was backed up on the gangway and through customs. It took about 45 minutes from the time we left our cabin to the time we reached our car (parked at pier).

 

I agree with the OP about the size of this ship. We like large ships, but this one was a little too large for us in terms of the number of passengers. We had a good time but will look for a slightly smaller ship next time.

[mgasparro1]

They missed it again today! On their way to Nassau!! We leave on Sunday and are already planning not to go to GSC :(

[Kellyann]

We were also on this cruise & had a great time. The tender part - horrendous! We had purchased a clamshell & were told, by shore excursion & guest services, to go straight to theater, not general line, to be put on a tender. The woman "handling" the line (she was doing nothing) would not let us down to the theater or listen to anything I said. I think she was by far the nastiest person I have ever encountered on any of my 15+ cruises. I went to guest services & complained; the woman was awesome & rectified the problem asap. But that was the worst of the trip, everything else was real good.

We got on line to disembark about 9:35-9:40 & were in a cab on our way to Penn about 10:15. The longest wait was on the pier trying to get to the luggage. Going thru customs was fine. They had plenty agents working & a couple keeping the lines in order.

All in all a great time, but then every vacation for me always is :D

 

Looking back on the tendering process, I am beginning to see why there were so many problems. Earlier in the week I went to the Shore Excursion Desk and said I wanted to order a clam shell. The indifferent guy showed me a map of GSC and said "pick your area". The lagoon area was not one of the areas that he was showing me, so I asked him if clam shells are available in Lagoon area. He said "yes" but it's a far walk. I then said "isn't there a tram that takes you there"? Reluctantly he admitted there was and gave me two tickets. (Thank God for Cruise Critic so that sometimes we know more than the crew) I asked about when and where I get the tender and he just didn't know or didn't answer. I went back later to ask the same question of another shore excursion person and they said "no you don't need anything more than your clam shell ticket". That's two people not having a clue nor caring to find out.

 

Now it's port day for GSC......in the middle of the bedlam at the elevator bank when they started calling out letters, I asked a guy in a white outfit "how do I get a letter?" He responded for me to look on my room key and that's the letter I need to use. Really? How incredibly inept. No wonder there was so much confusion. Some people had letters, some people didn't and didn't know they were supposed to have them and all of the crew responsible for a smooth exit to GSC were inept and uncaring. NCL ought to know by now how the tendering process works.

[TraJon9]

They missed it again today! On their way to Nassau!! We leave on Sunday and are already planning not to go to GSC :(

 

I heard in November it is usually every other week with the seas.. So keep positive! It was truly fantastic and if you want to not deal with crowds when you exit head left to trams for the lagoon.. We had so few people over there and heard how crazy it was if you head to the area directly in front. We spent 5 hours floating around the lagoon with a perfect day.

[rapidturtle]

We were on the 10/25 sailing, and they sat us in the theater for tendering. It was actually quite organized. They took a section at a time and counted the people, and then would wait a few minutes before taking anyone else.

We found Rock of Ages to be awesome. Great singers, with lots of personality.

Edited November 18, 2015 by rapidturtle

[jfkny]

I am on the Breakaway right now and we did indeed miss the private island. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day, however there were winds that the Captain said would make tendering unsuccessful.

We were very disappointed because the island was one of the reason we booked the trip.

Instead we arrived in Nassau around 5 pm.

[Kellyann]

I really feel sorry for you that you are missing Great Stirrup Cay. Last week I kept hoping that they wouldn't cancel our trip there, but we got lucky. I have a suggestion for you. I enjoyed the Blue Lagoon excursion in Nassau just as much as GSC. The cost was $62 and it included everything you could think of in the way of water sport toys, loungers, plenty of shade, lunch, two drinks, ferry ride to the island. Plus you could watch the dolphins swimming around in the area right next to where you are swimming. It was really a surprisingly great day. I hope you enjoy Nassau whatever you do.

[setsail1975]

We were on the 11/8 sailing also. I agree with your post. Here are some of my experiences......

 

Embarkation was so easy we arrived at the pier at 11:00am was group 1 for boarding on the ship by 11:45am. Eating at the Garden Cafe we found a table for 7 no issues. We were in a mid ship balcony room 9252 the room was fine, but as soon as we left NYC our balcony door was infested with fruit flys on the outside doors.. We couldn't open our balcony door because they would have come in our cabin.. Never saw that before. I contacted head of housekeeping, who happened to be right outside in the hallway and she contacted Pest Control and while we were at dinner they fumigated our balcony..... Then we had to wait for housekeeping to sweep up all the dead insects off our balcony the next day.. But all was well after that. Balcony is one of the smallest we've had.

 

Food was good! Loved the warm volcano cake . I have to admit I had one every night for dessert.. [emoji5]️ then I found the crepe station one night passing through the Garden Cafe... I found the staff much friendlier and dining ran smoother than our last sailing on the BA in 2013.

 

Shore excursions, we did Cocoa Beach we didn't go into the water other than getting our feet wet, but about 20 of the group of friends we were with all went in the water and every single one of them were stung by jelly fish!!!! Lifeguard said due to the rough surf they were churned up. We then did the Aquaventure at Atlantis.. Though my husband and kids wanted to go, I feel 600$ for us 5 to swim in pools was not worth it. Considering we've gone and stayed at the Atlantis many times. We've normally just booked a room in the past on our cruises there, but because we're a family of 5 we needed 2 rooms, so the excursion offered through NCL was our cheapest way to go. Lunch poolside was at the sum of 75$ for 3 cheeseburgers, 1 chicken nugget meal and loaded nachos that they charged me an additional $3.50 for cheese on them.. Then we were charged a gratuity of $9.00 just for placing an order. Next time we will do Blue Lagoon.

 

Entertainment was just ok. Loved Burn the Floor and went to the 80's remix party. My friends got picked to dress as " Kiss" . Other than that we didn't do any other shows, we've walked out of Rock of Ages in the past. We found nighttime to be boring. We like to go to variety of shows like you would on the smaller ships and we didn't find this on the BA.

 

Tendering at GSC was unorganized, but we are Gold so we got on the 1st tender out and enjoyed GSC very early. We were so excited we finally made it there!!!!We stayed till the 4:00 pm tender back.

 

Disembarkation we signed up for Yellow which was latitudes times for Gold/Platinum but we didn't wait till our color was called we lined up with the self assist because our driver got to the pier earlier then expected. We didn't have our luggage with us other than carryons. We were off the ship by 9:30 a little hold up in line due to congestion inside the port . We claimed our bags and through customs within 15 mins.

 

We had a great time . I probably will not choose to do this itinerary again, since we've done it 5x already. We live in CT and it just was just easy leaving from NYC. Our next cruise is 5 months away out of Miami. The countdown continues [emoji41]