A Majorly Delinquent Review of the Breakaway: Bermuda 7/26/15

[Dorhead1230]

Apology/Background/Quick Review:

 

Greetings, fellow cruisers! I have established a pattern of reviewing cruises fairly late after returning, but this year, I reached a new height in delinquency. I sailed the Breakaway to Bermuda on July 26, 2015. A few things have delayed my review, primarily the fact that I have moved buildings within my school district and am now teaching grade 7 English, which I have never done before. It has kept me quite busy. I also think that I subconsciously stalled because some people on the CC boards were becoming exceedingly negative and cranky. However, I am now on my holiday vacation so I have a bit of time, and I simply cannot let a few crank-pots prevent me from bestowing upon you my infinite wisdom about the Breakaway and Bermuda! Therefore, it is with many apologies that I present to you my cruise journal/review of the July 26, 2015 Bermuda cruise. I know that many things change, but I hope that this information will still answer some questions and provide some guidance, tips, and helpful information for the next Bermuda cruising season.

 

First, a brief introduction—at the time of sailing, I was 31. As I mentioned, I am an English teacher. I travel with my boyfriend, who is an NYPD officer and was 35 at the time of sailing. We live on Long Island. I have been on five total cruises; this was my third on NCL, first on the Breakaway. DB has been on three total cruises; all have been on NCL and this was his first on the Breakaway as well. All of our NCL cruises have been together. I sailed on my previous cruises on Princess and DCL as a teenager. We sail NCL through the casino. For this cruise, we booked using DB’s discount for being Diamond with the Caesars (Total Rewards) casinos in Atlantic City.

 

If you have read my previous reviews, or have just given some thought to what I do for a living, you will know that you are in for a lengthy read. Microsoft Word has informed me that this document is 10,929 words long. I am giving you advance notice of this in case you’d like to run to the bathroom, fix yourself a snack or a stiff drink, break this up into chunks to read, or abandon ship (see what I did there?) entirely and find shorter (and, dare I say, more timely) reviews to read. I will also say up front that we do not hang out by the pool, we have no children, and we did not purchase passes for the spa or Vibe. If you are looking for details about any of those areas, this will not be the review for you. Obviously, we spend a lot of time in the casino. We also attend shows, eat a lot, venture around Bermuda on our own (not through ship excursions), and hit the ropes course and slides. I organized the CC Meet and Greet for this sailing, along with a slot pull. I will be providing plenty of details about all of these areas/activities.

 

If you’d like the dime version of the review…we had an awesome cruise. There. Done. Bye. Okay, just a wee bit more. The service was excellent, the food ranged from very good to excellent, the entertainment was very enjoyable, the ship is beautiful, and Bermuda is the happiest place on earth (That’s right, Disney, I went there. Send your mouse henchman after me, if you dare.). We had a promo UBP and experienced no issues whatsoever with wait times for drinks but, again, we don’t hang out by the pool and I cannot comment on the pool bar situation. We had cabin 9318 and we could have held a rave on our balcony; it was huge. We enjoyed ourselves enough on this cruise that we will be sailing on the 9-day Eastern Caribbean and Bermuda cruise on the Breakaway on July 1, 2016. I’ll tell you more about the amusing story of that booking if you stick around for the full review (see? a little motivation for you). We will not be staying in an aft balcony again, because DB said at the end of the cruise that he found the engine vibrations annoying. I love him with all of my heart, but I think he’s being a baby. It really didn’t bother me. In fact, I am not sure that it was an extreme nuisance for him, either. After we made our next reservation, he said, “Maybe we should have taken the same cabin again?” After I growled and narrowed my eyes for a moment, I said that I did not want to run the risk of him complaining about the engines for 9 days straight, so we booked a mid-ship balcony for next time. The important thing to keep in mind if you do not want to read this entire review is that there will be a next time, which I think says all that needs to be said about how much we enjoyed ourselves on this cruise.

 

Also, I am not much of a photographer, and mainly just take pictures with my iPhone while on vacation, but I do have several dozen pictures in a Shutterfly album located at this link, if you would like to check them out: https://dorheadbreakaway2015.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5

 

Sunday, July 26:

 

Just as we did for our Gem cruise in 2014, we used the 7 Bus commuter bus service to travel from Long Island into NYC. Once again, I highly recommend this option if you live somewhere on LI that is convenient to one of the pick-up locations, and if you are capable of handling your own luggage enough to walk to a good spot to hail a cab. We took the 7 Bus from Ronkonkoma, and it was right on time for pick-up at 8:30AM. We made incredible time into Manhattan and, even with a stop in Melville and a couple of stops along 3rd Avenue, we were off the bus at 59th Street and 3rd Avenue by about 9:35AM. We walked over to 57th Street (which I recommend because it goes in the right direction) caught a cab driving down the street without waiting at all, and zipped right on down to the pier. There was already a fair amount of people, both getting off the previous cruise and arriving for ours, but a porter quickly waved us over to him, we left our bags and tipped him, and were on our way to security. Security was quick and easy, and the port employees were friendly. We found a very nice woman who let us into the CAS check-in line, were checked in, given our key cards (marked for the UBP), and were off! We took our embarkation photo, and were seated in the CAS waiting area by about 10:10AM. We couldn't believe how quickly we got to the pier and how early we were completely checked in and ready to go! I now had plenty of time to stare at the ship and bounce around like a 5-year-old waiting to board—you know, just usual pre-cruise behavior.

 

The terminal gets super crowded for a mega-ship cruise. This was not something we were used to from our previous cruises on the Dawn and the Gem. The port handles it well, though, and makes announcements detailing the check-in and boarding process, along with asking people to keep all of the middle areas as clear as possible in order to expedite the process.

 

Boarding started at about 11:30AM. We set foot on the Breakaway at 11:45AM. We passed by our cabin, which was already completely made up, to drop off our carry-on. I rushed DB out of the cabin because I wanted to stay out of the steward's way. We said hello to him, but did not get his name at that time. We later learned that his name is Johnnie, and he is a great cabin steward. We had everything we needed with no issues at all throughout the entire cruise.

 

Savor was the MDR open for lunch, so we headed there and were immediately seated at a window table. I cannot emphasize enough how nice it is to go for a sit-down lunch upon embarkation. It is probably the single best thing I ever learned here on CC. Our server was very friendly and efficient. He brought us water immediately, and we both ordered the scallops gratin, chicken salad for DB, and a shrimp burger for me. We also started to work out our UBPs with a Malibu and diet Pepsi for me and a Bacardi and Pepsi for DB. We really are not big drinkers, but in order to report fully on the UBP for the benefit of the CC community, I worked quite diligently to make an exception. Our server brought the drinks quickly and our appetizers soon followed. The scallops were good, and also garlicky (and served with garlic bread, but hey, you don’t usually take a cruise for a first date), albeit a bit greasy from the copious amounts of butter used in their preparation. However you don't end up eating most of the butter (unless you want to!) as you scoop the scallops out of the dish. DB's disappointment upon realizing that the scallops were bay, not sea, scallops was actually quite comical. I wasn’t expecting scallops that usually run $20 per pound at the grocery store in a complimentary venue’s lunch. DB really enjoyed his chicken salad, served open-faced with curly fries. My shrimp burger was good, but one must keep in mind that shrimp is not fatty and is therefore a tad dry in burger form. The guacamole on top helped to compensate for that, though. The curly fries were seasoned nicely and were obviously freshly-fried and not greasy. DB finished his meal with a chocolate-orange mousse (the orange part was Jell-O) and I had a blueberry sherbet.

 

We returned to the cabin as they were announced to be officially ready, and I needed to empty many unnecessary items out of my purse. A few notes about the cabin beyond what I mentioned in the introduction: huge balcony, good location, nice bathroom with a lot of shelf space. It didn't look like there would be much storage space, but there was actually way more than we needed. All of our clothes and shoes fit easily in the closet, with some miscellaneous items in the cabinets below the TV. We didn't even need to use the drawers under the couch, or the square ottoman/seat that is hollow inside for storage.

 

I retrieved our amenity confirmation, as the OBC I ordered with my NCL credit card points was not showing on our account. (This is a good time to mention that we installed the iConcierge app on our phones prior to departure. The app is awesome for menus, activities, and checking account balances. It is mediocre for texting. It is garbage for voice communication.) We proceeded to guest services where a very nice rep saved me the trouble of waiting in line by explaining that the OBC would probably not appear until tomorrow.

 

Onward to continue working that UBP! We decided to have a drink at Maltings, which consisted of a Dark and Stormy for DB, and a Bacardi Limon and diet for me. The bartender there at the time, Jesse, was friendly and really hauling butt to help the numerous customers that continued arriving at the bar. Jesse would go on to become one of our BFFs for the duration of the cruise. What a fabulous bartender!

 

We proceeded to the muster drill, which was quick, painless, and mainly useless, but I have to say, people were quieter and better-behaved than on previous cruises, which allowed it to be over quickly. We returned to Maltings in order to grab a couple of cocktails to enjoy on our balcony during sailaway. I ordered a Patron margarita, rocks, no salt. It was good—not the best sour mix I've ever tasted, but not nearly the worst either. DB ordered a Bacardi mojito. He took one sip and told me I needed to try it. I don't like mojitos and he knows that, but he insisted that it was one of the best he'd ever tasted, so I tried it and, man, was it good! These would subsequently be deemed the Jesse Mojitos by DB, and would become a major factor in our cruise enjoyment! We realized we were moving at this point, and scampered back to our balcony for some shots of the skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and we even managed to get a few good ones of the Summit nearby. DB wanted to go to a high deck to go under the Verrazano Bridge, but by the time we got our acts together to leave the cabin, we heard the cute kids next door whooping and hollering and figured we were going under the bridge, so we just went back out on our own balcony.

 

We went up to the Garden Cafe to get a snack, because clearly you need to eat twice as often on a cruise as you do in real life. I didn't even realize it was 5:00PM already until we saw the prime rib at the carving station and I realized dinner service had begun. We never eat dinner that early, though, and just picked on some snacks (cheese, pretzel sticks, grapes, olives, etc.). It was not yet busy at all at that time in there.

 

What time was it now? Casino o’clock! We got there about 5-10 minutes before they activated the machines. We both immediately began to get destroyed by Evil Slot Machines. I stopped playing and then DB hit 180 free spins on China Shores, which turned into 400 with retriggers and paid over $800. I then cautiously forgave the Evil Slot Machines. By the time this all occurred it was about 8:30PM. There were plenty of drink servers in the casino throughout this time who were courteous and quick. In fact, this was the first cruise on which the casino servers were attentive and always available. On the Gem and the Dawn, we always went to the bar and got our own drinks. I think I went to the casino bar myself maybe three or four times during this entire cruise. There were two servers in particular who were awesome, even going out of their way to find DB and me to check if we needed anything. A couple of the slot attendants were very nice and friendly, as well. Overall, this was a very pleasant casino staff.

 

We had already determined that we would go to O'Sheehan's tonight so that DB could have prime rib. We weren't that interested in the MDR menu for the evening, anyway. We headed to O'Sheehan's, were seated without a wait, and served quickly. The server immediately brought us waters and returned a few minutes later because she was helping other tables. We both ordered beers, hot wings, and DB the prime rib special, while I ordered the pot pie. The wings were actually very good and our beers were brought quickly. DB’s prime rib was fine, but each time he eats NCL prime rib, he says that there is something lacking that he can’t put his finger on, and that the prime rib at Harrah’s in AC is always better. The pot pie was quite good, if not the life-changing experience that some make it out to be (all O’Sheehan’s pot pie enthusiasts can now take a moment to hurl obscenities at me). It had nice big chunks of chicken, though. DB didn't think that we'd make the 9:30PM show, but we were out by 9:15PM, as we had decided to return after the show for ice cream.

 

The welcome aboard show was amusing, even though it was mainly a subliminal commercial for the ship and several of the up-charge activities. There was a really great song by the cast of Rock of Ages, Arvin and Emily have amazing voices, and the Burn the Floor dancers are crazy good!

 

We returned to O’Sheehan’s for ice cream, which was rather a dumb idea. Ice cream is my favorite type of dessert and this was pretty disappointing. If it was free I wouldn’t even mention it, but it was not at all worth paying for. This could all be moot, as I am not sure whether the ice cream will even still be offered once the new menus are implemented. DB's shake was thin and terrible, and my sundae had syrup in it, not hot fudge as it said on the menu. Some of my excess ice cream somewhat rescued the shake. The server was once again super-nice, though.

 

We returned to the casino at around 11PM, figuring we'd kill half an hour until the Paradise Lotto drawing. Lo and behold, DB gets another 140-something spins on the same machine and wins a few hundred more. I am thinking that maybe a lasting peace can be established with the Machines. Alas, no $777K jackpot tonight, so we finally went back to the cabin to unpack, which we normally would have done way earlier. We had somewhat stupidly left our Do Not Disturb on, but it might have been for the best, as we hadn't unpacked and our suitcases and everything would have been completely in our steward's way. (Johnnie said the next day that he had left his cart in the hallway in case we needed anything, which I thought was very sweet.) DB decided that he felt like returning to the casino, but it was already after midnight, and I didn't feel like donating anymore, so I stayed in the cabin to relax and get some notes from the day written out. DB ended up with a hand pay ($1400) on China Shores. If you’re starting to worry about those poor folks running the casino, I’ll set your mind at ease. They get it back. They always do.

 

Monday, July 27:

 

We got up on the early side (by our standards) to be sure that we'd be ready for the CC M&G, as I was the organizer this time! We headed to Moderno for breakfast. It is definitely a scaled-down buffet, but has plenty of options and pretty much everything we tend to eat at breakfast. There are fresh eggs/omelets, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown patties, French toast, pancakes, pastries, fresh fruit, smoked salmon, breads, juices, milk, and coffee. It is so much less crowded than the Garden Café. I highly recommend considering it for breakfast, especially if your cabin is within any proximity to Moderno (deck 8 aft).

 

We headed to La Cucina where our M&G was set up. We had a couple dozen attendees, and I always enjoy the opportunity to meet some fellow CCers. There is something very nice about being able to see familiar faces in a sea of strangers during the week. Many of the senior officers (food and beverage people, housekeeping, hotel director, Julie the CD, guest services) attended (no captain this time). The group coordinators were super-nice as well, and as always, pastries, water, tea, and coffee were set up. The HD said there were over 4,700 people on this sailing! Honestly, there were only a couple of times that I really felt the crowds, and I hate crowds, so if it didn’t bother me most of the time, I don’t think that it would be a concern for most people.

 

We headed to the casino for a slot pull. We bounced around to several WoF machines. We didn't hit the big one, but it was ridiculously fun, as we had a couple of good hits that let us continue playing (and yelling and screaming) for the better part of an hour. Not one single spin up top, though! We finished without our cash, but a good time was had by all. We stayed in the casino a bit and then headed to Garden Café for lunch.

 

The buffet was crowded, but not to the point of insanity. By the way, I love the fact that the ship has actual sinks for hand-washing at the buffet entrance, rather than just hand sanitizer. I wish that I had seen more people use them, but at least my own germ phobia was somewhat mollified. We found a table pretty quickly once we had our food. There was a decent variety. I tend to enjoy the Indian options, and had a good lentil dish and beef curry. On the way out, they were putting out some different items (I think for the late lunch) and a few of the dishes looked really good!

 

We went to the cabin briefly and then to the video wall trivia in the Atrium. It was "Celebrities When they were Young," and even with the help of B&S (two of our M&G friends), I didn't get many right! We went back to the casino for a while, where I played a knock-down-the-token machine in order to slow down my losing, and managed to knock down $12 and one of the NCL dies. I ran around singing “We Are the Champions” at the top of my lungs (ok, I just hummed it quietly).

 

After getting changed for dinner, we headed over toward Taste and Savor. We ended up at Savor. I am about to sound like I just fell of the turnip truck, which could not possibly be further from the truth, but I was so pleased and impressed that the host noticed my black pants and switched out my white napkin for a black one! We had a window table for two. The service was prompt, friendly, and correct. We each ordered a glass of wine (NCL proprietary wines...sauvignon blanc and red blend). Appetizers were the smoked salmon tartare for DB and the lemon chicken Caesar salad for me. Our entrees were strip steak (from the classics menu) for DB and broiled salmon for me. Everything was really very delicious. The salmon was cooked absolutely perfectly. DB ordered his steak medium-rare because he assumed it would come out medium, and he was right. We both had the raspberry chocolate truffle cake for dessert. It was okay, but we used to love it, and we think they changed how they make it now that it isn’t an every-night option anymore.

 

We went back to the casino before the late Burn the Floor show. I had a brief glorious run during which I won back my losses and then some. I now, with some trepidation, began referring to the Machines by cute nicknames.

 

We then saw Burn the Floor. We had a decent pick of seats by arriving 15 minutes early, but the theater did entirely fill up by show time. The theater seats are actually re-tooled medieval torture devices. I read it in reviews, but could not believe it until my poor backside experienced it firsthand. The show was awesome, but I could only think of my numb butt. The dancers are from all over the world and are amazingly talented and energetic. The musicians and singers (borrowed from the RoA cast) are knock-your-socks-off, too.

 

I don’t want to shock you, but we headed back to the casino when the show was over. We briefly stopped in the cabin first, and I found my delightful towel animal that incorporated a pool towel. We also found the time change notice. We ended up in the casino until (with the time change) about 2-2:30AM because DB hit about 550 free spins on China Shores and another hand pay. At this point, I am thinking of bringing the Machine flowers and chocolates. We went to O'Sheehan's for a snack (tuna on wheat for me, mild wings for DB, both just fine), wandered for a few minutes, and then finally headed to bed very late.

 

Tuesday, July 28:

 

We slept in until 11AM due to our casino escapades last night. Therefore, it was too late for breakfast. I had declared this Ropes Course Day, so we dressed in clothes appropriate for that and went to the buffet to eat before heading outside. Many of the lunch dishes were different from yesterday, but we didn't want to eat too heavily before going on the ropes course, so we both just grabbed a few items. There was some good Indian food again (lamb curry), and also some very good raspberry swirl pound cake. Off to the ropes course!

 

We waited probably only about 10 minutes to be able to go up there, and it was a sea day with very nice weather. We could see the lines for the water slides and they looked long, but not atrocious. I loved, loved, loved the ropes course! It's so much fun! DB, on the other hand, was not too psyched. He doesn’t care for heights and wears a size 14 shoe (which made a lot of the beams and obstacles extra-challenging for him), but he did a really good job despite being very nervous through most of it! He couldn't bring himself to walk the plank while the ship was moving, but I headed out there. The mechanism to take your own picture wasn't working, but they had a photographer stationed there instead. I don't think that it was particularly scary, but I am a bit of a monkey. Heights don't bother me and I love climbing on stuff. I could see how it's just really not for some people, though. One poor lady got up the steps at the beginning of the course while we were still waiting in line and looked like she was just about to cry before coming right back down.

 

We played a round on the mini golf course. It's cute and fun to kill a few minutes. The ship moving adds another layer of fun to trying to control your putts! I’d like to try it again at night next time (the same goes for the ropes course, for that matter).

 

It was hot, so we headed in to the Atrium Bar, because we wanted a drink and I wanted to play superheroes/villains video wall trivia. DB ordered a mojito and declared the Jesse Mojito to be the only true mojito. I had a Miami Vice, which is fruity and frozen and delightful. Trivia was fun, and definitely easier than yesterday's "celebrities when they were young" theme. DB and I got 19 out of 20 correct this time!

 

We had a little over an hour left before we'd have to head up to shower and change for the evening, so we went to the casino, both lost a little, and then headed out to get a snack for while we were dressing. I went to Garden Café and was able to fix a nice cheese plate. They must have just set out dinner the minute I got there, because there were good ingredients for a cheese plate. I got some cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese (they also had Brie but I don't like it at all), grapes, dried apricots, marinated olives, pretzel sticks, and a couple of slices of a nice whole-grain baguette with dried cranberries in it.

 

We attended the early show of Rock of Ages. I really try to be a non-judgmental person, especially when it comes to people and their kids, but people in the audience here baffled me. Do people think they are just joking when they say the show is not appropriate for kids? It’s in the Daily, it’s announced during the day, it’s announced prior to the show—why would they say it if it were untrue? DB and I saw the show in AC once, so I was basically just sitting there waiting for people with children to start walking out. By about 10 minutes in, the woman in front of us looked like her head was on a swivel staring down her husband every five seconds until they finally took their small kids and left...good thing they didn't stick around for the stripper scene. Look people, I am a New Yorker, I have a foul mouth and a dirty sense of humor and I am telling you—that show is a hard PG-13. The show was great, but I like that show and I totally love that music. The performers are very talented. The band that plays during the shows is just incredible. The only rough part was that I am not used to sitting through entire shows without an intermission, especially in chairs that would have made the members of the Spanish Inquisition throw up in their mouths a little.

 

We returned to Savor for dinner. The hostess told us it would be a 10-15 minute wait and gave us a buzzer. We waited maybe 10 minutes and just as we figured that we’d get a drink at Mixx, we were buzzed. We were once again seated at a window table, in a different section this time. Our server was great once again. She was very attentive and professional, always returned to make sure everything was good, and once again, we were served each course promptly. The drink server, Christina, remembered us from the night before. She is beyond sweet, returned with our wine promptly, and made sure to check later whether we liked it. I had a green salad with mustard vinaigrette and also decided to try something that I wouldn't normally order, the chicken cordon bleu. It was actually very good. It was served with a warm German potato salad (but no bacon in it), a piece of broccoli, and peas and carrots. As a whole, it was a fairly large entree and I couldn't finish all of the sides. DB had his smoked salmon tartare again, a French onion soup, and the spaghetti carbonara. He quite liked the pasta. We both had a warm chocolate volcano for dessert. NCL's desserts do not always quite "wow" me, but I just love those chocolate volcanoes.

 

We wandered over in the direction of Headliners and it was packed. I didn't feel enough desire to check out Howl at the Moon to stand butt-to-butt with a zillion other people, so up the stairs to the casino. We needed our Paradise Lotto tickets anyway. This was my night at the casino. I was slowly leaking my money away when I hit the bonus on a Dragon's Orb machine with a $.60 bet. It went crazy, retriggered twice, and paid me $300. A few minutes later, I went to play one of two $1.50 max bet Quick Hits, and it started paying a little, and them BAM! Seven Quick Hits for $166, followed by hitting the bonus free spins three times. I had thrown a $20 in that machine and cashed out with $330. I was now attempting to friend the Machines on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Meanwhile, DB had thrown our losing lotto tickets into the consolation drawing and his name got pulled for a bottle of wine. It figures...the first time we didn't need it at all because of the UBP!

 

We headed back up to get ourselves organized for tomorrow. In the fridge, we had two lobster tails and two rainbow cookies that we had purchased at Carlo's earlier in the day. We ate the rainbow cookies. They stink. Seriously, you can get better ones at 90% of the grocery stores on Long Island. We eventually ate the lobster tails, which were good—nice and crispy on the outside with a tasty pastry cream on the inside (extra impressive actually, as we ate them a day or so later).

 

Wednesday, July 29:

 

Our alarm did not go off, so thank goodness for Julie's prompt announcement at a few minutes after 8AM that we were able to get off the ship. We got ready quickly, and decided to try Taste for a MDR breakfast, figuring that might be easier at this point than fighting the buffet crowd as everyone tries to get off the ship. It was so wonderful to have a civilized, served breakfast. It was the first time we ever had a dining room breakfast and we couldn’t believe we never tried it sooner. DB had pancakes with bacon and a fried egg. I had poached eggs with hash browns, and sides of silver dollar pancakes and corned beef hash. It was all very good. One of my poached eggs was a bit overcooked, but no big deal as there was too much food anyway (our waiter had even brought over a basket of assorted pastries while we waited for our food). The service was attentive and fairly quick, as we had already become accustomed to in the dining rooms by this point.

 

The day ended up being mainly a washout. It was very cloudy, but we hoped the rain would hold out and we located and paid for the Horseshoe Bay beach shuttle that runs from the Dockyard. I think it is totally worth the few extra bucks that it cost over what bus fare would have been ($16 per person, round-trip). There were only two other couples on the bus on the way there, and the driver was nice and gave us some narration as we went. When we got down onto the beach, we took about a five-minute walk down the beach to where there were very few people. People just don't seem to want to bother to walk, so you can get to much less crowded areas by taking a relatively short walk. We didn't rent any chairs or umbrellas, because we wouldn't have been staying the entire day and it wasn't sunny. We weren't even thinking along the lines of needing an umbrella for rain! It started drizzling, then raining, then pouring, then stopped, then repeated several times. We toughed it out for a while, hoping that it would pass. We stayed in the water most of the time, figuring that was the better place to get rained on. Ironically, DB was pretty happy throughout most of this, because he does not enjoy sitting out in the sun for extended periods of time. Finally, I’d had it, and even he couldn’t take it anymore, so we gave up, gathered our drowned-rat selves and our soaking wet stuff, and headed back to catch a return shuttle. This one was full, as a few families had also decided to give up.

 

We returned to our cabin to sort through all of our wet stuff and lay it out on the balcony chairs and to get cleaned up. We headed to the Garden Cafe to get lunch. The Indian offerings were good again, as was a marinated cucumber salad. DB said that a turkey and avocado sandwich was good, as well. We went to the atrium for monuments video wall trivia, which was fun and pretty challenging, and then I bought $12 worth of internet usage just to email the family to tell them we were okay, as it continued to rain and we couldn't get off the ship to buy internet anywhere else.

 

Dinner tonight was at Le Bistro. There were a few empty small tables in the restaurant throughout our meal, just for the record. The service was very good, but I have to say, we received such excellent service in Savor that it really didn't seem over-and-above. We were served a salmon mousse amuse bouche with crostini to spread it on. I do not care for smoked salmon, but I really enjoy this mousse at Le Bistro. DB ordered the scallop appetizer (he was careful to state his pine nut allergy, and there was no issue). I had the mussels, which are excellent. I could do shots of that sauce. DB ordered the lamb, which he doesn't even eat in real life, and he enjoyed it, so that is actually saying a lot. I had the duo de canard, and it was excellent. The duck was cooked perfectly. Someone slipped with the salt on the green beans, though. DB finished with the creme brûlée, which was beautiful and had a perfect crust on top, and I had the profiteroles, which are tasty but not incredibly special.

 

We spent the remainder of the evening in the casino, and I even had a few little hits to finish up a bit more than before. I was going from Mystical Unicorn to Mystical Unicorn and just kept winning on all of them! This was going way too well. The Machines were now trying to lull me into a false sense of complacency. We headed to bed right after another failed lotto draw in order to get up and make the first ferry to St. George's.

 

Thursday, July 30:

 

We got up early and went to Garden Cafe. It was busy, but I think that we were just early enough to avoid the real bedlam, because it seemed a lot more packed by the time we were leaving. Everything was good; although the breakfast offerings remain the same each day, there is a lot of variety in the first place, so it's fine.

 

We bought our ferry tokens in the terminal (we did not bother with transportation passes on this trip because our plans did not make them worth it) and headed straight over to the St. George's ferry line. There were already many people in line (this was around 9AM for a 9:30AM ferry), but we were still far enough up in line that I knew we'd have no problem getting on. While DB got in line, I bought a 24-hour Wi-Fi card at the visitors' information kiosk. We didn't activate it until later on in the day, and it kind of sucked this time. It worked much better during our previous trip to Bermuda. We were able to FaceTime with each of our moms briefly at different points later in the day, but it was disconnecting and was a real pain in the butt to even get a signal in the first place.

 

We boarded the 9:30AM ferry. DB is 6'1" tall; if you sit in the row where the poles are (on this particular ferry) you have quite a bit more leg room. The Bermuda ferries are clean and comfortable (even the restroom was clean), and the ferry ride is in and of itself a treat, as you get to see the beautiful Bermuda water, shoreline, and homes. We did not intend to go to the beach today, and didn't feel like paying $20 per person for the "train" ride tour (the train is a converted trolley-type vehicle; it is not a train on tracks). I had emailed to see if the official UNESCO walking tour would take place during Cup Match and received a response saying yes, but I was skeptical because it was such a big holiday there. We checked at the visitors' center, and the tour guide was indeed not coming that day, nor had any other tourists attempted to sign up for the walking tour, anyway. Knowing that certain sights were probably closed, and that they would still be there on our next trip to Bermuda (because there will be one), we figured this might be the only time (at least for who knows how long) that we'd be there during Cup Match, so we headed to the St. George's Cricket Club. Now, cricket is a ridiculously boring game (and I am a baseball fan, so obviously I have an affinity for watching paint dry), but the atmosphere there and the experience were awesome. Some of the companies that sponsor Cup Match set up visitor stands for non-locals, with some swag with company logos (we got some great sun-blocking hats), free food, drinks, and a spot to watch from. People were super-nice and answered any questions I had about the game of cricket, which is pretty confusing. It was really hot and we knew we weren't going to survive until the 3:30PM ferry back (plus my shoes, which should have been comfortable, were tearing my feet apart), so we headed back to the St. George’s terminal for the 1:00PM ferry. We took a cab part of the way because of my feet. After a very pleasant ferry ride back, and DB saving my life through the purchase of a $2 pair of flip-flops for $12.95 at a Dockyard store, we returned to the ship.

 

We decided that we'd rather sit down to get some lunch, so we went to O'Sheehan's. DB had chicken fingers, which he said were pretty good, and the grilled chicken sandwich, which he quite liked. I had mild wings (which ended up a little too mild, so I put Tabasco on them) which were good, and the fish and chips. Some people might think that mushy peas are gross, but I spent my junior year of college in London, so I love them. There were two fairly large pieces of battered fish that were good, and still flaky on the inside, not dried out at all. Plus, they have malt vinegar if you ask for it! We split a piece of the brownie cheesecake. DB really liked it; I thought it was just okay.

 

We ended up sitting at Maltings for a while drinking Jesse Mojitos. He is just awesome. I was asking him to make raspberry ones (awesome), and to try making me a pineapple one (terrible idea—don’t do it), and he made DB a frozen one at one point. Try the frozen—they are great. He is a very talented bartender and a hell of a nice guy. We went to the Atrium because they announced that they were about to show the animated short film Destino, which was created via a collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. I had never seen it and enjoy Dali's art, so we went to watch it. It was interesting and a very beautiful example of surrealist art/animation. It’s also a sales ploy for Park West, but that doesn’t take away from the beautiful artistry of the film.

 

After getting cleaned up and changed for the evening, we went to the Atrium because I wanted to be there for the “55 to Stay Alive” game show. I tossed my name into the bucket, and lo and behold, out it came. I put on quite a show during my challenge (let’s just say there were copious amounts of booty shaking involved) and during the final round (which involved swinging around a banana suspended down from my waist). The whole thing was hilarious.

 

We headed back to Savor for a late dinner. This was the first and only time that it took a few minutes before our server came over. DB and I both ordered the fried calamari appetizer, DB the French onion soup, me the cauliflower soup, and then we both ordered the "prawns" and linguine in a cream (Thermidor) sauce. It was all good. The "prawns" were, as I expected, regular shrimp. The sauce was a little salty for my taste. I had the chocolate volcano again, and DB had the chocolate crepe. He said it was good enough, but he didn't love the filling.

 

We headed to the casino for the remainder of the night, where we again did not win Paradise Lotto, but I managed to come ahead a few dollars more. At this point, I was terrified. Surely, the Machines were plotting some spectacular retribution (although, in all honesty, they had already begun their assault on DB’s initial winnings).

 

Friday, July 31:

 

We didn't get up especially early because we had stayed up fairly late, and our only plan for the day was to stay in the Dockyard area. I am way too nervous to go farther away from the ship on the last day, especially during a national holiday when public transportation was limited. We managed to get into Garden Cafe and grab our breakfast just before they had to make the change over to lunch. The breakfast food was good, as usual.

 

We got off the ship and first headed in the direction of the Bermuda Museum/fort area. The admission was $10 per person (it is usually $12, I think, but was reduced while they repair the hurricane damage to the Commissioner’s House). There was a building that you could enter that had several displays of items from Bermuda's history, and traced that history beginning with the discovery of the island, through early shipwrecks and castaways, then colonization and the discovery of many of the historical artifacts.

 

We walked over to the Dolphin Quest area, which is within the museum grounds, and watched the dolphins and the people who were doing the excursion for a while. We then walked the perimeter of the grounds, which in and of itself is worth the price of admission. You get incredible views and can take stunning photos. It's also one of the only ways to get the perfect distance and elevation to take great shots of the Breakaway docked at the pier, because the ship is so huge. There are also several old cannons to look at and take photos with/of. We only had about an hour left, so we headed over to the Clock Tower Mall, bought t-shirts for the nieces and nephews at Davidson's, managed to make one FaceTime call with the lousy Wi-Fi, and headed back to the ship.

 

I absolutely love NCL's way of welcoming you back to the ship when preparing to leave a port. Besides the refreshing cold towels and drinks, there was festive music, dancing crew members from different departments, Sponge Bob, and Julie and another crew member on stilts! It almost makes you feel better about having to leave the amazing, wonderful, beautiful island of Bermuda...almost.

 

When we got back on board, we decided to give the water slides a whirl. At that point, the Free Fall was closed for maintenance, but it didn't end up mattering as our slide fun was short-lived because DB suffered The Catastrophic Injury. We both tried the yellow whip slide, and then the purple one, and when DB got to the bottom of the purple one where I was waiting, he said he had slipped at the top when sitting down and hurt his arm. I thought he was being melodramatic, but then I saw he had sheared a decent patch of skin off of his forearm and it was starting to bleed. Luckily, my over-preparation came in handy for once, as we had Neosporin, gauze pads, and tape in the first aid kit and were able to clean it up ourselves. He was totally fine, but it definitely put a damper on his love of waterslides and left him with no desire to try the ones on the ship again.

 

DB needed some proper medication, so we went to have a couple of Jesse Mojitos. Our dinner reservation at Cagney's was not until 9:30PM and Shanghai Noodles was opening at 4:30PM, so we decided to have a late lunch so that we could try it. We had 2 orders of the pot stickers (one steamed, one fried), as DB wanted to put a few in his noodle soup. We also shared an order of house fried rice, and I had the Singapore noodles and DB had the roast pork noodle soup. It was all very good. The Singapore noodles are very spicy. The food comes out sporadically, which was fine for a late lunch or a late snack if you eat early dinners, but I wouldn't want to have it instead of a regular dinner at another venue because you’re not necessarily eating at the same time as your dining companion(s). You’re also sitting at the long noodle bar tables with others, which is fun but, again, not really what I like for dinner. Even at the buffet, you can just sit alone with your travelling companion(s).

 

We played briefly in the casino, and then went to get changed and ready for the rest of the evening. I went and watched the end of Arvin and Emily's evening Atrium performance, which I tried to catch a little of each night. It was great as usual, and then I stuck around to watch the Jeopardy game show. DB is not as much of a trivia lover as I am, so he hung out in the casino during the game show. The show was entertaining, not hilarious like the other game shows, but it is fun to watch if you're a trivia fan.

 

We headed over to Cagney's and were seated promptly. The service there was very pleasant and efficient. The rolls that they bring are good. They have a soft, almost focaccia-like texture, and a nice but not overpowering flavor of basil and rosemary. We both had shrimp cocktail, which consisted of three nice-sized shrimp, and wedge salads, which were tasty (even though NCL's blue cheese dressing is not the greatest). We had 8 oz. filet mignons as entrees, mine with Gorgonzola and DB's with garlic butter. We ordered roasted mushrooms on the side to share, and DB had the garlic mashed potatoes, while I ordered the potatoes au gratin. The meat was really excellent. It was tender and flavorful, and both came out cooked as ordered. We finished with the brownie and the Oreo cheesecake. The brownie was not at all impressive (I bake better ones, seriously), and the Oreo cheesecake was pretty decent, but not so good that I can understand why people go so ga-ga for it. You might have picked up on a pattern with me and NCL’s desserts. They are generally fine, but just never as good as I hope or as good as they look. I am a very serious and capable baker in my spare time, though, so I might be a little difficult to please in that area. We timed the end of our meal perfectly for the fireworks, and were able to simply go out to the Waterfront from Cagney's and have a perfect, not-crowded viewing location. The fireworks were enjoyable. They ended the fireworks displays shortly after our cruise. It was a nice experience, and I certainly didn’t expect some massive fireworks show off the side of a ship, but don’t be too disappointed if you never got to see it. The vast majority of you have probably seen better in your own local area for the 4th of July, I guarantee it.

 

We returned to the casino for the remainder of the night, where I managed to stay up and DB managed to continue the downward spiral that commenced after his early luck (he had somehow inexplicably angered the Machines, whereas I had evidently pleased them in some way). Also, we again did not win Paradise Lotto. The ship had begun really rocking and rolling by the time the evening came around, and it continued through the night. We weren't getting sick or anything, but it was enough that it made it difficult for me to sleep, and people (even non-inebriated ones) were stumbling a bit.

 

Saturday, August 1:

 

I have to do my best on the last full day of a cruise not to be depressed and cantankerous because it's ending, so that I can really enjoy the last day. We went for a quick breakfast at Garden Cafe, because we had not tried our luck in a slot tournament yet and wanted to make it down to the casino to give it a go. While we were eating, the Captain came on to give a navigational update, and we realized that the rocking and rolling was due to a heck of a storm that had been nearby throughout the night and early morning hours, and that the winds had been 50 knots. The weather did gradually improve throughout the course of the day, as the Captain had said it would, but the ship continued to be somewhat rocky.

 

We headed down to the casino and tried our luck at a slot tournament, but it didn't pan out. We never have any luck in slot tournaments! We decided to take care of a couple of "errands" until I was going to play in the blackjack tournament, so we went to drop off the paper to buy our future cruise reward and to pick up Vacation Hero cards to fill out. We intended to buy a photo or two, but the photo gallery was a mob scene, so we figured we'd return later. I proceeded to also have no luck in my round of the blackjack tournament. At least this time it was just lousy cards, not the nefarious Machines, that foiled me.

 

We had not yet attended any art auctions during this cruise, so we went to the Grand Finale auction. My oh my, did they stretch this one out. I was climbing out of my skin by the end, but we had already sat there so long that we decided to stick it out in case we won the "guess the price of the Nano." We didn't. We were actually quite surprised by the number of people who made purchases, some of them quite pricey, as we kind of figured that people were generally well-aware of Park West's terrible reputation and high-pressure sales tactics by now. We just like to look at the art and see if we might be able to pick up one of the framed walk-off pieces super-cheap.

 

As Uptown Grill is not open for lunch on port days, we had still not tried it. We had burgers (DB the cowboy burger and me a custom one with cheddar, mushrooms, onions, and BBQ sauce). We also got salads from the salad bar, which has many options for toppings and vegetables. I am pretty picky about burgers. There's exactly one burger place at home from which I'll eat them, otherwise I'll only eat them if they're made by my family or me. These were really good. They lived up to the many positive comments that I had read about them. They use a good quality meat that isn't super-greasy, and there was no gristle or other general unpleasantness. They are also quite large.

 

We went to the casino briefly, but then I saw that they were doing the final jackpot Bingo. Bingo on the ship is pretty much a rip-off, but DB had been getting slaughtered in the casino by that point, and there was no way that the sinister Machines were taking back all the rest of what I had won, so we figured an hour of Bingo for $30 would be better than spending that time in the casino. The final Bingo is one game only, a coverall. If you get it in 47 numbers or fewer, it's a $5000 payout. No one did, so the lady who hit it first won a $500 consolation prize. We had gotten 6 cards plus 3 instant win strips for $30.

 

We tried the photo gallery one more time. We only had a few photos taken during the whole cruise, because we really don't seek out the photographers much. We generally like to purchase one, though. Our photo from Le Bistro was great, but unfortunately, the photographer posed us in a way that allowed you to see random people in the background. It hadn't occurred to us at the time, but it should have probably occurred to him. We didn't buy it. We need to keep the background in mind for future reference when taking photos, especially in the restaurants. I wasn't spending $24.95 for my photo from the plank; I told DB he'll just have to travel far and wide, telling the tale of my bravery and keeping the legend alive. This was the first good embarkation photo we've ever taken, so we bought it for $24.95, and then for $5 more, we also got the smaller version that included the picture of the ship, the captain, and the route info.

 

I do not like to think about packing as we try to enjoy our final evening on the ship, so we returned to the cabin to take care of it. We keep ourselves very well-organized throughout the cruise, so it is not a very arduous task. While in the cabin, we changed for the evening. We caught the end of Arvin and Emily’s act again in the Atrium, not only because I came to really enjoy them, but also because I wanted to secure good seats for the movie clip trivia that would follow. At this point, I must just take a moment to agree with the many others who have stated that the Atrium is a lousy place for game shows and other events that will draw a large crowd. I think it is the single biggest design flaw of the -Away ships. You really have to camp out sometimes, engage in evasive maneuvers, and survive some Mad Max-esque behaviors on the part of fellow passengers to get decent seats (or any seats at all, sometimes).

Anyway, DB is not a trivia person, but I knew this was a good one for us, because between the two of us, we know a ton of movies. We actually won because we got 20 out of 20 correct! We even knew a couple of them that were specific sequels or part of larger franchises. Once again, cue the “We Are the Champions” music. We were rewarded for our brilliance with four yellow NCL beer cozies. They sit on the server in our dining room, proudly proclaiming our superior movie knowledge to the entire world.

 

We had never dined in The Manhattan Room. I didn't much care, but DB figured we should try it, so we headed there. It was busy and crowded, but we only had to wait in line 5-10 minutes to get to the hostess stand and were then seated immediately. There were way too many men wearing shorts. I am all about doing what you want to do on vacation; in fact, we rarely dine in the aft dining rooms because DB himself prefers shorts most nights. I just think that people should have the decency to adhere to the dress code, especially considering that NCL’s dress code is not at all demanding anyway. NCL should also enforce it; either don’t have any dress code at all, or enforce what you do have. Anyway, I guess that is just my cranky-teacher “if we don’t have rules the whole world descends into chaos” little rant. Dinner was good, but I honestly don't see this dining room as at all superior to the others. DB had his favorite smoked salmon tartare and a Caesar salad to start; I had the cream of broccoli soup and the crab and cheese soufflé. All were good. My entree was actually one of the best things I ate all week. It was a braised lamb shank with a wine sauce, mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots and parsnips. The lamb was so tender that I didn't even need a knife. The bone slipped clean out with no effort whatsoever. DB had the calamari pasta. He said it was okay, but he didn't seem particularly impressed. He finished with a chocolate volcano, and I decided to branch out to the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. I enjoyed it, even though it wasn't anything particularly creative or fancy.

 

DB wanted out of his dress slacks, so he changed into shorts quickly because I was insisting that the Atrium would be bedlam for The Perfect Couple game show. I was right, but we were early enough to still be able to pull chairs over a little from the café area. The game was really funny, and the three couples who played were all good sports and very entertaining to watch. They all succeeded in the silly challenges set before them.

 

We passed the remainder of the night in the casino. We didn't win Paradise Lotto that night, either. I am still trying to figure out which department to complain to about that. I am pretty sure they just read the wrong numbers and NCL actually owes me about $800K right now. We played for a while, just tooling around, as I was not willing to lose a dime more than what I had decided on that morning. I lost what I had taken into the casino with me that day, but still managed to leave the ship up $250. The Machines and I shared a final, meaningful look, parting as equals until next time.

 

Sunday, August 2:

 

I only slept a few hours, and ended up getting out of bed at 6:45AM. I looked out from behind the balcony drapes and there it was, ugly New Jersey. Sorry, New Jersey, but the last land we saw was Bermuda, so, you lose.

 

We showered and dressed, and finished packing up our few remaining belongings that we couldn't pack up the night before. We had already determined that we would go to Savor for breakfast rather than entering the gladiatorial ring at Garden Cafe. We had a nice breakfast served to us, despite the fact that we both looked as mopey as could be. I wanted to be sure that we were out of Johnnie's way as quickly as possible, so we returned to the cabin, retrieved our bags, and said goodbye to Johnnie and gave him his tip.

 

We lucked out and caught an empty elevator. We were fully prepared to wait it out for a while, because the exit line on deck 7 looked crazy when we saw it after leaving Savor. However, when we got off the elevator, the line wasn't bad at all, so we figured we'd might as well just leave. We boogied along, right off the ship, and then...customs and immigration. I thought we'd be there until doomsday, but the line did move with reasonable speed. There were pier employees that kept the line moving single file onto the escalators, directed people depending on whether they had bags to retrieve, and split people onto the various immigration lines. We crossed the street, easily caught a cab (there was a huge line-up of empty cabs just ready and waiting), and arrived at Penn Station by about 9:40AM. We caught the 10:12AM LIRR Ronkonkoma train, and were in my mom's car, just a few minutes from home, by about 11:30AM.

 

I spent the rest of the day lamenting the fact that no one had any entertainment planned for me and that I could not consult my iConcierge app or my Daily to find out what's to watch, play, or eat. As a matter of fact, at this point, I’ve spent the past few months enduring that very same disappointment!

 

Final Thoughts:

 

We had a truly great experience on this cruise. The crew was friendly and attentive. The food was, overall, quite enjoyable and there was ample variety in the food offerings and dining venues. We enjoyed the entertainment and activities that we attended, and were able to make good use of our UBP, with friendly bar service and little to no wait times for service. Most of all, we love Bermuda and have had two great visits there. We look forward to more visits to that beautiful island in the future. I am a real believer in the fact that a vacation is what you make of it, and that when you approach the experience with a positive attitude, you generally have a pretty great time. It would take something truly awful to actually ruin a vacation for us, or even to make me really complain or consider the cruise to be sub-par. I know how lucky we are every time we are able to take an exciting trip like this, so I always try to appreciate everything as much as possible!

 

We loved this cruise so much that soon after our return, I began to check Breakaway cruises for next summer, despite the fact that DB does not generally get to choose vacation weeks at work for the following year until around November or December. When I saw the July 1 9-day Eastern Caribbean and Bermuda itinerary, I could not resist calling Casinos at Sea just to inquire about it, especially considering that it is the only itinerary of its kind on the Breakaway. I asked whether DB’s Diamond TR discount or a CAS discount would be better, and the representative informed me that they would comp us an inside. I told him to upgrade us to a balcony and booked it on the spot. The whole time this was happening, DB was sitting about 5 feet away from me, looking at me like he was going to kill me for just booking it without us discussing it, but he no longer objected when I told him about the deal we got! Then, at the end of November, I was even able to call to add on the pick 2 promotion (just paying package gratuities), so we also have the UBP and a 4-night SDP. It turned into an even more incredible deal! That just left us to sweat out whether or not he would be able to get that week for vacation, but he was able to, so now we are left to plan our next wonderful Breakaway experience (with 2 extra days next time!).

 

Well, that’s about all I have for you for now. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you found some useful information here. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to answer them!

[Suenelsen]

What a great review .... You are ABSOLUTELY right about vacation being what you make of it [emoji106]. Can't wait to return to The Breakaway

[Dorhead1230]

What a great review .... You are ABSOLUTELY right about vacation being what you make of it [emoji106]. Can't wait to return to The Breakaway

 

Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed it. I hope you get to sail the Breakaway again soon! :D

[MotherofTrips]

Thank you for your review. I really enjoyed it. I booked in the exact cabin for June 2016. We also spend a lot of time in the casinos but my husband plays blackjack. I was not able to view your pictures though :(. So you have any of the balcony? Also how noisy is it? This is our first time in an aft balcony

[Dorhead1230]

Thank you for your review. I really enjoyed it. I booked in the exact cabin for June 2016. We also spend a lot of time in the casinos but my husband plays blackjack. I was not able to view your pictures though :(. So you have any of the balcony? Also how noisy is it? This is our first time in an aft balcony

 

Hi! You are going to love the aft balcony. It was a great cabin, and the noise and vibration are nothing too crazy. I just think that, maybe because of the size of the ship or the engine location or something, you do hear and feel the engines a little while the ship is underway. I think that, for my boyfriend, it was just annoying because we never experienced that at all before, even in an aft balcony on the Gem. So, I just didn't bother to book an aft for the next one, especially since it is a 9-day with 4 ports and we will be underway every day, unlike a regular Bermuda cruise. But, even he was saying maybe we should have just gotten the aft again lol. I only have one picture of the balcony. It is actually the first picture in the Shutterfly album I posted the link to. I can't insert it here because I don't have any account with a site that hot links. Hopefully, you will be able to follow the link and load the album! It should load on a regular computer; I wasn't able to follow the link using the CC app on my cell phone, but it's fine on my laptop.

[Pugzila1022]

Fantastic review.

 

I'm a Rock of Ages fan too, and have seen it many times on Breakaway. I'm always amazed that parents ignore the many announcements warning about the content.

 

I especially enjoyed reading about your adventures with the evil slot machines. Sounds like you had a good time in the casino and it paid off with a sweet deal through Casinos At Sea.

[Dorhead1230]

Fantastic review.

 

I'm a Rock of Ages fan too, and have seen it many times on Breakaway. I'm always amazed that parents ignore the many announcements warning about the content.

 

I especially enjoyed reading about your adventures with the evil slot machines. Sounds like you had a good time in the casino and it paid off with a sweet deal through Casinos At Sea.

 

We really lucked out with that CAS comp. We gambled quite a bit on that cruise, especially because we were winning and were, therefore, mainly playing with the casino's money. However, I did not expect to get a comp for that 9-day cruise at all, because it's a 9-day and a one-of-a-kind itinerary! Add on the promo inclusions and we're paying about a quarter of what the vacation would actually cost! :D

[MotherofTrips]

Hi! You are going to love the aft balcony. It was a great cabin, and the noise and vibration are nothing too crazy. I just think that, maybe because of the size of the ship or the engine location or something, you do hear and feel the engines a little while the ship is underway. I think that, for my boyfriend, it was just annoying because we never experienced that at all before, even in an aft balcony on the Gem. So, I just didn't bother to book an aft for the next one, especially since it is a 9-day with 4 ports and we will be underway every day, unlike a regular Bermuda cruise. But, even he was saying maybe we should have just gotten the aft again lol. I only have one picture of the balcony. It is actually the first picture in the Shutterfly album I posted the link to. I can't insert it here because I don't have any account with a site that hot links. Hopefully, you will be able to follow the link and load the album! It should load on a regular computer; I wasn't able to follow the link using the CC app on my cell phone, but it's fine on my laptop.

 

 

I also read some comments of soot accumulating on the balcony. Did you have that problem? Also did you have 2 lounge chairs and 2 reg chairs?

[Dorhead1230]

I also read some comments of soot accumulating on the balcony. Did you have that problem? Also did you have 2 lounge chairs and 2 reg chairs?

 

We never had any soot issues, perhaps because it's a lower deck in terms of the aft balconies. Yes, there were 2 chairs, 2 loungers, and a small cocktail table...and still LOTS of extra space to walk around!:)

[Sprasa03]

great review!

[Dorhead1230]

great review!

 

Thank you! :)

[blueflower1968]

Awesome review!

[Dorhead1230]

Awesome review!

 

 

Thanks so much!

[Sparkles87]

Great review! Thanks

 

Im on the 9 night Carribean and Bermuda Cruise on the 1st July too.

It'll be my first Breakaway cruise, first time in the Carribean and first time in the USA. I am mega-excited... :D

[Dorhead1230]

Great review! Thanks

 

 

 

Im on the 9 night Carribean and Bermuda Cruise on the 1st July too.

 

It'll be my first Breakaway cruise, first time in the Carribean and first time in the USA. I am mega-excited... :D

 

 

Thank you!

 

I really do need to mosey on over to the roll call for our cruise. I am usually so active on the roll calls, and I even organized the Meet and Greet and slot pull last time, but I've been a bum about this one so far [emoji14]. It should be a great cruise! All of the ports except Bermuda are new for my boyfriend and me. Will you get some time in NYC before/after the cruise? I am from Long Island, but I have spent plenty of time in the city throughout my life, so just ask if you have any questions and I will be happy to try to help you out with answers!

[Sparkles87]

Thank you!

 

I really do need to mosey on over to the roll call for our cruise. I am usually so active on the roll calls, and I even organized the Meet and Greet and slot pull last time, but I've been a bum about this one so far [emoji14]. It should be a great cruise! All of the ports except Bermuda are new for my boyfriend and me. Will you get some time in NYC before/after the cruise? I am from Long Island, but I have spent plenty of time in the city throughout my life, so just ask if you have any questions and I will be happy to try to help you out with answers!

 

I am on the roll call, you should check it out, though I'll admit I haven't been very active on it myself! A meet and greet is being arranged at the moment - I haven't put my name down yet. There seems to be a lot of families on, and as a solo cruiser im not sure it will be my kind of thing.

 

I have managed to grab myself a 2 night stay in NYC at the Westin Times Square, though with flights and embarktion I will only really have 1 day to explore... I intend to make the most of it! Empire State Building, Top of the Rock , Central Park and a city sightseeing bus is currently my plan.

 

Can't wait...! :D

[Dorhead1230]

I am on the roll call, you should check it out, though I'll admit I haven't been very active on it myself! A meet and greet is being arranged at the moment - I haven't put my name down yet. There seems to be a lot of families on, and as a solo cruiser im not sure it will be my kind of thing.

 

I have managed to grab myself a 2 night stay in NYC at the Westin Times Square, though with flights and embarktion I will only really have 1 day to explore... I intend to make the most of it! Empire State Building, Top of the Rock , Central Park and a city sightseeing bus is currently my plan.

 

Can't wait...! :D

 

I have to say, when I read the roll call, I was kind of thinking that it didn't seem like there were any other couples or singles our age. Maybe that's why I haven't posted yet :o. If you go to the meet and greet, we will, too! :) You can hang out with us. It is just the two of us. I am 32 and my boyfriend is 36. I am not sure whether that's way over or under your age group, but we are fun either way :p. I will probably post something on the roll call today.

 

That sounds like a great plan for NYC! If you haven't yet, you should look up hop-on-hop-off bus tours. I know Big Bus Tours has downtown and uptown loops that will stop at all of the places you're interested in. So, if you buy a 1-day ticket, it includes both of those loops. You can stay on the bus to just drive by the stuff you only want to look at, but you can get off for a while at the Empire State Building, Central Park, etc. I think it's maybe around $50 for the day. It will help you navigate in the most geographically-logical way so that you don't waste time and exhaust yourself, and you won't have to bother with taxis, subways, or buses, or worry about getting lost! Anyway, just a little suggestion that might help you maximize your limited time without being too exhausted. We can talk on the roll call after this, but please feel free to ask any NYC questions, or restaurant recommendations, etc.!

[mcsb11]

You guys hot the casino a lot. Do you have preferred slots that you found the payout to be better on?

 

I was on the same cruise the year prior and didn't hit the slots as much. looking forward to getting into the casino a little more when I go this summer.

 

The 20 inches of snow is making me want to breakaway to the summer...

[Dorhead1230]

You guys hot the casino a lot. Do you have preferred slots that you found the payout to be better on?

 

I was on the same cruise the year prior and didn't hit the slots as much. looking forward to getting into the casino a little more when I go this summer.

 

The 20 inches of snow is making me want to breakaway to the summer...

 

We have grown partial to a lot of the Konami slots (China Shores, China Mystery, Mayan Riches, Dragon's Law, etc.) during our trips to AC. My boyfriend was absolutely killing a China Shores for the first few days of the cruise. He had 2 hand pays on the same machine. I think they are pretty much all in the smoking section. That didn't last the whole time, though!

 

I was bouncing around more. I like those machines, but I also enjoy Mystical Unicorn. There are some machines (in both the smoking and non-smoking areas) called "Game Chest." They allow you to select from several games (BierHaus, King of Africa, Jackpot Comet, and the like). I played Mystical Unicorn on several (maybe all of those) and got paid well (maybe a hundred, couple hundred) a few times. I also really liked that there were a couple of $.01 Quick Hits (on the non-smoking side) with $1.50 max bet. My boyfriend is a max bet player, but I am not really (unless I am way up; then I go nuts :p), and I won't play Quick Hits unless it's at max bet, so I loved that there were a couple of $1.50 ones. I saw a few people hit pretty big (in the thousands) on some of the $.01 Quick Hits ($3 max bet) in the smoking section.

 

The machines that are total crap are the $1 WoFs (you saw in the review how the slot pull went lol) and the ones along the wall in the smoking section that they use for the slot tournaments (like the Wild '70s, Wild Pixies, Haunted House, etc.). I never win anything, nor did I see anyone win anything noteworthy, on those. I don't even really like those machines in AC. Too much hub-bubb without enough paying me! :D

 

Now I want to gamble...good thing we're heading to AC in a couple of weeks! ;) Let me know if you have any other Breakaway questions.

[Lollygil]

Great Review! I am totally excited for my Bermuda cruise now.

[Dorhead1230]

Great Review! I am totally excited for my Bermuda cruise now.

 

Glad to be of service! :D I hope that you have a great time on your cruise!

[GUT2407]

Great review thanks.

[Dorhead1230]

Great review thanks.

 

 

Thanks! [emoji1]

[Jezo]

Moderno is a free breakfast place?

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.