Breakaway 14 Day Southern Caribbean Review with lots of pictures (and the Haven)

[kgtgirl]

Loving your review, apparently photobucket is down so can't see the pictures till than hopefully they'll fix it to, but in case anyone else can't see them that is why.

[ncklhaus]

Loving your review, apparently photobucket is down so can't see the pictures till than hopefully they'll fix it to, but in case anyone else can't see them that is why.

 

I'm hoping they fix it soon. It's 4:40pm and it's still down. I was hoping to finish day 1 today and start on day 2.

[bda73]

Hi, just wanted to drop a note as both of my parents hav battled colon cancer (and knock on wood have had the upper hand getting rid of it) to say to you that its a wonderful story and that because of courageous women like yourself that more women will go and get themselved checked out. The more awareness the better everone is.

 

Congrats on kicking cancers ass not omce but twice, thank you for putting your story out here. Thank you for showing the courage. ..and thanks for the upcoming reviews...

 

My family will be going on the breakaway in july and cant wait to see the big ship, this will be pur 4th ncl cruise but none of the past were of this size.

 

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[ncklhaus]

Hi, just wanted to drop a note as both of my parents hav battled colon cancer (and knock on wood have had the upper hand getting rid of it) to say to you that its a wonderful story and that because of courageous women like yourself that more women will go and get themselved checked out. The more awareness the better everone is.

 

Congrats on kicking cancers ass not omce but twice, thank you for putting your story out here. Thank you for showing the courage. ..and thanks for the upcoming reviews...

 

My family will be going on the breakaway in july and cant wait to see the big ship, this will be pur 4th ncl cruise but none of the past were of this size.

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for your sweet comments. And I am so happy to hear about your parents. They must have had screening colonoscopies and caught it early. My mothers identical twin sister knew something was wrong (they were both nurses) and didn't go for her colonoscopy until it was stage 4 and it was too late. Same with my father in law. Stage 4, refused to go to the doctor until there was no chance for survival.

 

So listen up people! Go get your boobs squished! Get your asses checked! Go for all of your screenings! It just might save your life. OK, coming down off my soap box now.

[gmazz]

Thanks for your sweet comments. And I am so happy to hear about your parents. They must have had screening colonoscopies and caught it early. My mothers identical twin sister knew something was wrong (they were both nurses) and didn't go for her colonoscopy until it was stage 4 and it was too late. Same with my father in law. Stage 4, refused to go to the doctor until there was no chance for survival.

 

So listen up people! Go get your boobs squished! Get your asses checked! Go for all of your screenings! It just might save your life. OK, coming down off my soap box now.

 

I have been following your review and your journey. Thank you for sharing. I completely agree on getting your boobs squished. I did last week and had the letter in the mail today that the girls are all clear. We have had a friend and family member dealing with breast cancer recently. My step dad went through chemo and radiation treatment about 2-1/2 years ago for throat cancer and we are still waiting for him to be able to eat. Hopefully this will be the year he gets the good news.

Wishing you a speedy recovery from your build a boob surgery. Cancer really does stink!

 

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[njmomof2]

Get the girls squished yearly as well as the other lady parts. Had my first colonoscopy in November (a couple of years behind the recommendation, but I did it). The worst part was that foul liquid drink...yuck! Almost didn't get the second installment down. I was lucky that I didn't have to spend hours in the bathroom; had a relatively easy time of it. My sister and I did them back to back. The funniest part was that the dr did her first, followed by me.

 

Get done and sit with him to discuss the results. His first words...I never get to do siblings and it was a great opportunity to examine internal structures. You and your sister have IDENTICAL COLONS. Even down to the benign polyp in EXACTLY THE SAME SPOT. Got it removed, biopsy was clean and got a 5 year return time.

 

So ladies (and gents) listen to JoAnn and get those parts checked regularly!!!!

[ncklhaus]

We had arrived! Even though we had been on the Breakaway last year, the first sighting of the ship still gives me goosebumps. But first, we had to get through security.

 

Once the porter took our bags, we were directed to head to the left for the line that would handle the Haven security and then check-in. Since I have 3 joint replacements, and even the tissue expanders have metal in them, I knew that I was going to beep. I told the expediter about this and he had me go through the line with the female security screener. A quick wanding and a pat down, and we were through!

Since we were staying in the Haven, they then have you walk all the way to the back of the terminal to check in there. We were supposed to go right into the Haven waiting area to check in, give our credit card, and get our key cards. But a little communication error and we had to check in with the masses. LOL But seriously, we checked in real quick and then they realized that we were Haven and walked us to the other area and were given our key cards there.

We like to keep our key cards on a lanyard around our necks and I always bring a hole puncher with us. That's when I realized that we never did our Embarkation photo! :(

I took these pictures of the ship from the Haven waiting room. They had a table set up with coffee, tea, juice, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, and even finger sandwiches. Nice! We were getting stoked!

 

 

 

So I just realized I didn't tell you about our passport fiasco. When we changed our cruise to April, we noticed that our passports would be expiring in March. So we needed new passports. OK we have plenty of time to get them. By the time we got around to getting our pictures taken and the forms sent in WITH OUR PASSPORTS, it was the first week of December. Do you see where I am going with this? In all of the excitement of changing the dates and the other things going on, I completely forgot we didn't have passports :eek:

We have less than a week to go! OMG. The checks for the passports were cashed the day before Christmas. There's no way we are getting them in time. I check the status of the passports online. Your passport is in the final stages of processing. Allow 2 weeks. Or something like that. Mind you this is now December 29th and we leave on Jan 3. On December 31, our canceled passports and our new passport cards come. Maybe we will get the passports tomorrow. Oh yeah, tomorrow is New Years Day, no mail. So that means we only have Jan 2nd left to get them in time. On Jan 2, the mail comes. Cue the choir music! They came! Whew. I quickly logged on the computer and updated our account with the new passport numbers and reprinted the e-docs. We were good to go.

[ncklhaus]

Get the girls squished yearly as well as the other lady parts. Had my first colonoscopy in November (a couple of years behind the recommendation, but I did it). The worst part was that foul liquid drink...yuck! Almost didn't get the second installment down. I was lucky that I didn't have to spend hours in the bathroom; had a relatively easy time of it. My sister and I did them back to back. The funniest part was that the dr did her first, followed by me.

 

Get done and sit with him to discuss the results. His first words...I never get to do siblings and it was a great opportunity to examine internal structures. You and your sister have IDENTICAL COLONS. Even down to the benign polyp in EXACTLY THE SAME SPOT. Got it removed, biopsy was clean and got a 5 year return time.

 

So ladies (and gents) listen to JoAnn and get those parts checked regularly!!!!

 

OMG identical colons!

[ncklhaus]

I have been following your review and your journey. Thank you for sharing. I completely agree on getting your boobs squished. I did last week and had the letter in the mail today that the girls are all clear. We have had a friend and family member dealing with breast cancer recently. My step dad went through chemo and radiation treatment about 2-1/2 years ago for throat cancer and we are still waiting for him to be able to eat. Hopefully this will be the year he gets the good news.

Wishing you a speedy recovery from your build a boob surgery. Cancer really does stink!

 

Sent from my XT1080 using Forums mobile app

 

Congrats on your clear results. 👏

This will be the year he gets his good news. My uncle had stage 4 cancer of the larynx a few years ago. He had a trach and wasn't able to eat. He's cancer free now and had the trach closed up. He's eating and good as new. He even plays drums in a Christian Rock band.

I'm feeling really good now. I was cleared to drive yesterday and I go back to work on Monday.

[ncklhaus]

Back to the review.

 

So after a few drinks at the Haven bar, we decided to turn in. Back to the room

 

Melissa's bottom bunk setup with her dolls. Our room steward was awesome.

 

 

She was thrilled. She wasn't even upset that the top bunk wasn't down.

I figured, first night, bottom bunk.

 

 

[ncklhaus]

At home we normally watch tv and read on our kindlles in bed for a while before going to sleep. Once we shut off the tv, we usually listen to sports radio until we fall asleep. But there's no radio on the ship. And it's VERY quiet, too quiet for us. So since we had the unlimited internet package and I have Amazon prime music on my Kindle, I was able to stream music for us every night. It worked great. I just picked a 2 hour Acoustic Pop playlist and we were good to go.

I set up the blinds in the bathroom so that the sunshine would come in through the huge windows when the sun came up. The bathroom and bedroom are divided by a thick curtain and I left that open about a few inches. It was nice to have the room lighten up gradually in the morning.

 

So that's all of day one. Day two coming up.

[ncklhaus]

Monday January 4th Day 2 Sea Day

 

 

We woke around 7:30am after a good night's sleep. Our bed was extremely comfortable. We have always needed the mattress topper in the past, but not this time. Melissa would have slept most of the morning had we not woken her, but it was time for breakfast in the Haven restaurant. OMG.

 

They have the items on the menu and then there is also a small buffet with cereal, while fresh fruit, cut fresh fruit, fruit salad, mixed berries, amazing whipped cream, Danish, croissants, rolls, dried meats, cheeses, fish, smoked salmon, and all the fixings.

 

 

Crab cakes Benedict

 

 

 

 

Filet and Eggs

 

 

 

Traditional Eggs Benedict

 

 

 

 

Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

 

 

 

Mixed Berries

 

[Sizzlechest]

It looks like the steak and eggs hasn't changed since I tried the "suite life" years ago. Hockey puck sized "steaks" even though you're paying Haven prices.

 

Did you ever try the Fruits de Mer in Brioche?

[ncklhaus]

It looks like the steak and eggs hasn't changed since I tried the "suite life" years ago. Hockey puck sized "steaks" even though you're paying Haven prices.

 

Did you ever try the Fruits de Mer in Brioche?

 

The steak and eggs was fantastic. I ate a filet in Cagney's and it couldn't come close to the Haven breakfast filet.. And for breakfast it was the perfect size for me. If I wanted 2 of them I could have asked for 2. No problem. You're in the Haven! They aim to please.

 

I did try the Fruits de Mer later in the week, and it was ok. I'm not that into bread, so that's my opinion. My husband had it and he loved it.

[Sizzlechest]

The steak and eggs was fantastic. I ate a filet in Cagney's and it couldn't come close to the Haven breakfast filet.. And for breakfast it was the perfect size for me. If I wanted 2 of them I could have asked for 2. No problem. You're in the Haven! They aim to please.

 

Are you saying NCL stocks two different fillets, one for Cagney's and one for The Haven?

 

I did try the Fruits de Mer later in the week, and it was ok. I'm not that into bread, so that's my opinion. My husband had it and he loved it.

 

Good to know. I really like it in Le Bistro, but it's a love/hate dish with most people.

[ncklhaus]

Are you saying NCL stocks two different fillets, one for Cagney's and one for The Haven?

 

I don't know if they are 2 different types, but the way they were cooked was, by far, better in Haven. I know there are different sizes offered in Cagney's and Haven has larger filets for dinner and smaller ones for breakfast.

[Got Tequila?]

It looks like the steak and eggs hasn't changed since I tried the "suite life" years ago. Hockey puck sized "steaks" even though you're paying Haven prices.

 

Did you ever try the Fruits de Mer in Brioche?

 

Steak in the Haven restaurant on the Breakaway was amazing for breakfast last week, and the week before.

 

They have changed the breakfast and lunch menu on the Breakaway, they changed it on the 29th of January for the last couple days of our cruise....was supposed to roll out on 1/31.

 

I didn't try the new lunch menu, or even see it but I did take a few photos of the new breakfast menu

 

[CruiserGirl15]

This is the best review ever! Every day, every post I get more excited about what's to come on my cruise in 33 days!!!!

[bda73]

I would expect the size of the steak to be small for breakfast.

 

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[ncklhaus]

This is the best review ever! Every day, every post I get more excited about what's to come on my cruise in 33 days!!!!

 

Thanks so much! I'll try and get more done soon.

[ncklhaus]

I would expect the size of the steak to be small for breakfast.

 

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I think it was the perfect size for breakfast. The dinner sized filet in the Haven restaurant was at least twice the size. I would get it for dinner some nights, eat half, and then joke with the waiter that I'll have the other half in the morning.

[ncklhaus]

After an amazing breakfast, it was time to go the the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at 11:00am in La Cucina. As usual, they have coffee, tea, orange juice, cookies and such set up. I went with Melissa and Mike hung out in the Atrium.

This M&G was very nice and they had the usual department heads come. This time we even had the Captain and the Cruise Director. I don't remember them coming in the past. But maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, after they were introduced and did the usual banter, it was time for questions. Someone asked why the fireworks were no longer being done and I was very impressed with the answer. They told the truth. Prem (the Hotel Director) said it was cancelled because of 3 things.

#1- Money - it's very expensive to do a 5-8 minute show at sea.

#2- Safety - shooting off fireworks at sea can be extremely dangerous. Cruise ships are their own fire rescue.

#3 - Man power - because the fireworks are so dangerous, they have to be guarded 24/7

And that brings us back to #1- Money.

 

After the crew left, we were all just chatting amongst ourselves and I signed up for the slot pull. That was going to be right after the M&G ended. Out of nowhere, Melissa looks at me and says, "I think I'm going to be sick." Oh no! I didn't put the drops behind her ears! (I use this liquid called MotionEaze to combat motion sickness. It's by the makers of Sea Bands. You can find it in CVS, Wal-Mart, or other stores like that. I even use it on my dog because he gets car sick just going around the block. Not anymore.) We run to the bathroom but she's ok. I find Mike and he will take her back to the room and put the drops on and watch some tv together while I go to the slot pull.

The slot pull was a lot of fun. I'm not a big gambler and I usually don't play the slots. That's until I was introduced to the slot machines called "Quick Hits". More on that coming up later.

We had the iCongierge app and Mike let me know that she was feeling better. The MotionEaze works really well and fast. When I was done at the Slot Pull they wanted to go to lunch. She really was feeling better. :D

I actually left the Slot Pull around 1:00-1:15 and it was still going on! We didn't win anything in the end, but it was fun.

Edited February 2, 2016 by ncklhaus

[ncklhaus]

I went to the room to meet them and figure out where they wanted to go for lunch. Surprise, surprise. We chose the Haven restaurant.

We all ordered shrimp cocktail and our waiter asked if we would like doubles. Um, OK.

 

Double Shrimp Cocktail

 

 

They had a soup of the day, and today's was Hot and Sour Soup. It has to have been the best Hot and Sour Soup I've ever had and I really like H&S soup. Mike and I both had it and agree.

 

Hot and Sour Soup

 

 

 

Melissa got what would be her favorite lunch dish in the Haven. Hot Dog and French Fries.

 

 

 

Mike and I had another appetizer as our main course because we were going to Teppanyaki tonight. I had the Arugula salad with Hearts of Palm and Prosciutto and he had the Salmon dish. I forget what it's called, but he thoroughly enjoyed it.

We ordered those items quite a few times during the cruise and I probably have pictures, but I haven't found them yet.

[Sizzlechest]

I would expect the size of the steak to be small for breakfast.

 

There's small...

 

 

and then there's...that.

 

 

I think it was the perfect size for breakfast. The dinner sized filet in the Haven restaurant was at least twice the size. I would get it for dinner some nights, eat half, and then joke with the waiter that I'll have the other half in the morning.

 

Are you the same person that comes up with servings size on the food labels?

 

 

:)

[ncklhaus]

It was warming up nicely but it was overcast and even drizzly at times. We went back to the room to chill out for a little while and figure out what we would do for the afternoon. I took these pictures from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were chilling out, the doorbell rings. Yep. We've got a doorbell. Unbelievable. It was the Butler, Flor. And she was bringing us afternoon snacks. Ugh. More food. There's no way we could eat anymore, right? Wrong. LOL

 

Chocolates and tartlets (one was snatched before I could take the picture)

 

 

 

Fruit and cheese plate