REVIEW: April 3 Breakaway

[Suze10860]

This is fun.

 

First thank you for taking the time to write your experience.

 

From your pre-cruise posts I know you were thinking about getting Vibe passes and then decided against it. Did you regret that decision? Do you think you would've been able to get them or did they sell out really fast? (If you heard). Were you able to find chairs on deck in Spice or higher?

 

I'm also wanting to avoid any stress related to getting a Vibe pass but do like to sit in the sun and read on sea days. Any advise?

 

We had boarding number 5 and I feel like we were among the first to get on the ship. I honestly don't know how quickly the VIBE passes went. I was up on the sun deck peering over the wall at what I assume was the VIBE area. It was a sunny hot day at sea, and the area was not crowded at all. There were plenty of loungers available.

 

The sun deck that I was on was also not crowded - loungers available. I personally am happy with my decision not to try for the VIBE passes - only because I'm cheap. And for me, if I'm not able to lay in a lounge chair by the pool, I'd probably just prefer to be on my balcony.

 

The first day I went to Spice (when the water feature was not working - grrrrr) it was sunny and warm and it was packed (this was the Cape Canaveral day when I thought it wouldn't be that crowded.) I don't really enjoy being anywhere with lounge chairs lined up next to each other that way. But we were chatting with some other people so we hung out and it was fine.

 

I didn't even check it on the missed private island day because I just assumed it would be crowded. I went back on the Nassau day and it was much less crowded and the water feature was working. That was nice.

 

I think that the upper sun decks seemed to have room available most of the time.

 

Thanks for your review, Suze!

 

I have 2 questions... Ive never sailed NCL before and Im on the BA in Oct.

 

1) After we leave port in NYC, do we pay ANYTHING on the UBP or will the bill always be $0? (no tip, no tax, no nothing?). I might have read something in your review wrong that you were charged incorrectly on a drink? Should you have been charged anything at all?

 

2) Ive only sailed Carnival, and was hoping for a more positive experience with NCL... now I'm a bit worried lol. I have a few picky eaters and in the MDR of Carnival, we ordered multiple entrees... are you able to do that in the main dining rooms on NCL? (my son loves steak, so we'd sit down at the tables in Carnival and the waiter would know just to bring him two of the flat iron steaks.. nothing else, just two steaks lol). Are we able to order multiple entrees at a time or is that taboo on NCL?

 

1) The only time we paid anything for drinks with the UBP was

 

* In port in NYC

* In port in Cape Canaveral

* Drinks over $15

 

We paid about $30 in extra charges.

 

I'll stand by my advice of checking your account quickly and often! The iConcierge app was great for that. Also, our experience was that the only time you will need to sign a slip is when you are being charged anything...that's what tipped me off one of the times when my husband ordered what should have been his $3.50 Bookers Bourbon. We weren't asked to sign, but then when I checked my phone I saw that they charged us the full $21+ that the drink would normally cost ($17 plus tax and tip.)

 

2) Don't worry at all about ordering in the MDRs. You can order whatever you want. My husband got multiple entrees multiple times, and I did it too on the last night.

 

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time on your cruise. We really did (even though it might seem like I'm complaining about a lot!)

[Suze10860]

The reservations availability in restaurants is not based on table space, it is based on cooking space. The chefs can only prepare so many meals per hour so they space the reservations out so people can get their meals in a timely manner. This does allow for some wiggle room, but NCL does not want a restaurant completely full and people waiting an unreasonable amount of time for their food to be served.

 

This applies to specialty restaurants. I do not know what they do with MDRs.

 

I guess that makes sense, but I think they might be over-doing it. When I say that the restaurants were half empty, I'm not exaggerating. Most land restaurants seem to over book their reservations, but there might be a happy middle-ground somewhere.

[Suze10860]

Suze,

 

We are booked in 8716 sailing 5/1. were you able to spend time on the balcony. Aslo, I read about noise from the theater below.

 

I hope you love your room as much as we did! I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. You are about 5 cabins more forward than we were, so you're further from the Waterfront and all the action. Considering we had no problem with noise or anything else from there, I'm sure you'll be fine. I never heard noise from anywhere, including the theater.

 

I spent time on my balcony every day - with the exception of the last sea day (Saturday) because it really was just too nasty to be outside anywhere. Decks 7 and 8 were closed all day. Since you're sailing on 5/1 I'm sure your weather will be much better than ours, so you'll be in better shape than we were. As I said earlier, I personally felt perfectly private out there. Only saw someone above me once.

 

My cabin and balcony were for us one of the (if not the) best parts of the cruise.

[legaldoll]

Not sure who said you had to wait in the theater. We did not do self-assist debarkation simply because this was not my first rodeo with NCL and I find that way too many people are attempting to leave the ship with their luggage in tow and it is just not worth the crowds. We heard the announcements very clearly and were told we could wait in any of the common areas of the ship (but asked to avoid deck 7 because of the hordes of people attempting to get off the ship with luggage). Personally, unless you have a flight to catch, I don't feel that people should be allowed to disembark with their luggage in tow. The ship arrived late (not anyone's fault) and customs held up the disembarkation for quite a while after that. Then, when the ship was cleared by customs, mass amounts of people attempted to disembark at once and the port can't handle it. We had a relaxing morning watching the bedlam and drinking coffee. When our tag was called, we simply walked off the ship and were in our car in less than 10 minutes.

[Gershep]

Thanks for your review.

 

Can you give a little more details on the different lunch buffets and where they are held.

 

I don't remember this on our last BA cruise.

[Suze10860]

Not sure who said you had to wait in the theater. We did not do self-assist debarkation simply because this was not my first rodeo with NCL and I find that way too many people are attempting to leave the ship with their luggage in tow and it is just not worth the crowds. We heard the announcements very clearly and were told we could wait in any of the common areas of the ship (but asked to avoid deck 7 because of the hordes of people attempting to get off the ship with luggage). Personally, unless you have a flight to catch, I don't feel that people should be allowed to disembark with their luggage in tow. The ship arrived late (not anyone's fault) and customs held up the disembarkation for quite a while after that. Then, when the ship was cleared by customs, mass amounts of people attempted to disembark at once and the port can't handle it. We had a relaxing morning watching the bedlam and drinking coffee. When our tag was called, we simply walked off the ship and were in our car in less than 10 minutes.

 

I stand corrected on the theater. My husband will attest to the fact that more than one person did, however, say it while we were in line. And there were definitely quite a few people with assigned times in the self assist line with us.

 

I'm going to have to assume that the announcements to which you refer were the very early ones (like 7:15 a.m.) about the crowds on deck 7. This was well before any disembarking was supposed to begin. If you heard something after that time about self assist, it must have been made only to certain areas. It says right on the paper I'm holding in my hand that all announcement after 8:00 a.m. would be made into all cabins as well as public areas. That because it also says (in bold no less) that you need to leave your cabin by 8:30 a.m. You can hopefully understand why I felt secure waiting in my cabin until 8:30 a.m. for the announcement that NEVER came.

 

I'll guarantee that we heard no announcement ever about self assist beginning. I know that at least one other person on this thread confirmed that. That would be from 7:15 a.m. when we heard the last announcement, until about 9:30 when we actually got off of the ship. Of course, from 8:30 until 9:30 when I was standing in line sweating and being pushed along by certain rude fellow passengers and searching in vain for crew members to help guide people, I was probably so cranky I might not have been exactly listening. Seemed pretty irrelevant by then.

 

And the only reason I chose self assist was the exact reason it seems you did not choose it. The last time I sailed with NCL I was off in 20 minutes. And really, just because you choose NOT to use self assist, I'm not sure why you think others shouldn't be allowed to do it. Sorry if this post sounds snarky, but that line sort of got under my skin.

[Suze10860]

Thanks for your review.

 

Can you give a little more details on the different lunch buffets and where they are held.

 

I don't remember this on our last BA cruise.

 

I just grabbed all of my Freestyle Dailies.

 

Day 2 - Moderno Mediterranean buffet

Day 6 - Moderno Indian buffet

Day 7 - Moderno Bavarian buffet

 

These are all lunch - from 12:30-2:00/2:30

[Sizzlechest]

I just grabbed all of my Freestyle Dailies.

 

Day 2 - Moderno Mediterranean buffet

Day 6 - Moderno Indian buffet

Day 7 - Moderno Bavarian buffet

 

These are all lunch - from 12:30-2:00/2:30

 

Thank you for this, too. I'm going to be on a 9-day cruise, so I'll just keep an eye out. I'm guessing these were all At Sea days, right?

[Suze10860]

Thank you for this, too. I'm going to be on a 9-day cruise, so I'll just keep an eye out. I'm guessing these were all At Sea days, right?

 

Yes to the "At Sea" days. The only one that my husband and I went to was the Bavarian. It was really excellent. My husband took some lovely pictures of me with the suckling pig they had on display. He loves to do things like that for some reason! We loved all of the food there. My husband thought it was one of the best meals he had on the cruise.

 

My friend, who happens to be quasi-vegitarian, really like the Mediterranean buffet. None of us went to the Indian buffet.

 

Enjoy!

[Gershep]

I just grabbed all of my Freestyle Dailies.

 

Day 2 - Moderno Mediterranean buffet

Day 6 - Moderno Indian buffet

Day 7 - Moderno Bavarian buffet

Y

These are all lunch - from 12:30-2:00/2:30

 

Thank you!

[oceanjuli]

Suze,

 

I just want to thank you for your informative and very thorough information. It sounds like yours and my cruising styles are similar so I have a feeling I will have a similar experience to yours. You write very well with no misspellings (from what I noticed . . .:D). Honestly, anyone who writes a review but demonstrates a poor command of the English language or an inability to write properly automatically is discounted in my opinion. Ditto the people who seem to only care about the food . . .it's NCL, not a high-end cruise line, so no one should expect gourmet fare 100% of the time on these mainstream, large cruise lines.

 

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for taking the time to really tell anyone who is interested all the little details about the Breakaway. And, yes, the petty annoyances you experienced throughout the trip sound completely justified . . .I would get annoyed too!

 

Happy Future Cruising!

[Suze10860]

Suze,

 

I just want to thank you for your informative and very thorough information. It sounds like yours and my cruising styles are similar so I have a feeling I will have a similar experience to yours. You write very well with no misspellings (from what I noticed . . .:D). Honestly, anyone who writes a review but demonstrates a poor command of the English language or an inability to write properly automatically is discounted in my opinion. Ditto the people who seem to only care about the food . . .it's NCL, not a high-end cruise line, so no one should expect gourmet fare 100% of the time on these mainstream, large cruise lines.

 

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for taking the time to really tell anyone who is interested all the little details about the Breakaway. And, yes, the petty annoyances you experienced throughout the trip sound completely justified . . .I would get annoyed too!

 

Happy Future Cruising!

 

Thank you. That was a very nice post. I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[Sprasa03]

The one night we had to change our reservation from 7:00, we were told the only time available was 8:45 so we took it. Note: I breezed past at 7:10 and yes, there were plenty of tables available. If someone in the restaurant business can explain that to me, I'm happy to listen. My advice is book your specialty dining early, and don't plan on changing.

 

I'm not in the restaurant business but I think it has to do with how many waiters they have. If they have empty tables but not enough staff to wait on them then they don't seat anyone there.

[Suze10860]

I'm not in the restaurant business but I think it has to do with how many waiters they have. If they have empty tables but not enough staff to wait on them then they don't seat anyone there.

 

I understand that too. But I figure if you are on a sold out cruise ship, how do you not have enough wait staff for the restaurant? Just seems like poor planning.

[ennazus]

 

 

 

 

Buffet We are not buffet people. It looked ok. However, we did pick up some little snacks there on the first day for our own sail away party. Their choice of cheese was very pathetic - some little triangle slices of american and swiss. Something a little more exotic would have been nice, and I don't think we saw any crackers at all. I'm a sucker for pizza (thin crust) so I did enjoy that. Very much. I was really looking forward to the delicious crepes that I had devoured on the Jewel. I never saw them. I also remember some really good cookies on the Jewel and I didn't see them either. But maybe I just wasn't there at the right times. The times I was in the buffet it wasn't really crowded, but then again, I wasn't there that much.

 

 

We ate at the buffet a lot this time (just off the BA on 4/17/2016). I found the crepes in the evening. Sometimes on the semi-closed side (I say semi-closed side because it was really closed except for the crepe station...so easy to miss). I also remember cookies on the Dawn and asked about them. They are apparently only put out at snack time 3:00 and 9:00 PM. We did find them at those times (or shortly after).

[Suze10860]

We ate at the buffet a lot this time (just off the BA on 4/17/2016). I found the crepes in the evening. Sometimes on the semi-closed side (I say semi-closed side because it was really closed except for the crepe station...so easy to miss). I also remember cookies on the Dawn and asked about them. They are apparently only put out at snack time 3:00 and 9:00 PM. We did find them at those times (or shortly after).

 

Thanks for that info.

 

Yeah - I definitely didn't even walk around the buffet as much this time as I did on the Jewel. I've pretty much just come to realize that the husband is NOT a buffet guy. I am a little sad that I missed those crepes though...they were so darn good!!!

[emmak8]

We made specialty dining reservations and entertainment reservations before the cruise on the internet. Worked out great.

[Linda the Book Lover]

Thanks Suze for this review. The DH and I are looking at the Breakaway for 2017 and we have changed our mind from a spa mini suite to the mini suite with the large balcony. This way we can both enjoy our balcony. We are still discussing Vibe (someone bringing us drinks option LOL) You did mention smelling smoke once. We just recently sailed the Jade and the smoke by Le Bistro was very noticeable and by evening we could not enjoy the Martini Bar. My eyes turned red and I was coughing up a lung LOL Ok maybe not a lung but I am allergic to cigarette etc. smoke and it was such a problem we had to go somewhere else. I am thinking about further foward on cabin choice.