Monster Photo Review of NCL Breakaway Cruise 7/31 to 8/7

[Smitty74]

After reading negative after negative I am really enjoying following your review. DH and I will be onboard over New Year and are looking forward to it.

 

Thank you for helping me realise that for every negative there is a positive (hopefully lots of positives) and I eagerly await your next posting.

 

BTW I hope you will mention if there are any 'perceived negatives' and not just ignore them to make your review read better. The pics of the pool area look truly horrendous and I'm now wondering why I bothered to buy a new swimming costume if I can't get near :D :eek:

 

Could you tell me how bad the smoking and the smell of smoking is? Some reviews say it is pretty bad.

 

Trust me, there are a few negatives coming...

 

As for Smoke. there was one time we were on the outside boardwalk on deck 7. We took a door midship to go back inside, and this door walked us right into the middle of a casino. when the door opened, the inside air rushed through the open door, and for a moment, it smelled like I was back in the smoking section of a Denny's restaurant back in 1995. There was another time I was on the pool deck, and walked past the semi-enclosed smoking area. there was probably 15 people smoking inside a 200 square foot room, and the smoke coming out of the door was very noticeable. Other than that, the smoke smell was never noticable unless you were in the casino. I made a special effort to see if I could notice it in Le Bistro and other areas where people complained about it, and I never noticed anything.

[Smitty74]

Hi Smitty 74,

I have two questions. Can you confirm if Lobster has been removed from the Teppanyaki menu and other restaurants? Secondly have you been able to tell from experience how high some of the Ultra premium liquors now cost? I am a big fan of high end libation i.e Remy Martin XO, Patron or Glenmorangie. It used to cost 2 dollars more but now I can only imagine how much more it will cost based on the new drink prices. Thank for any insight you can provide:):).

 

Every Premium Restaurant we went into (Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Cagny's) had lobster on the menu every night. the standard dining rooms never had it.

 

As for premium liquor. two fingers of Macallans single malt scotch 15 year old was roughly $18. It might have been $17.95, or something similar, but I remember thinking it was $18. I saw others drinking similar high end liquors, and that seems to be the standard high end drink price. the most expensive thing I saw drunk was a dark and stormy. It used a can of Goslings ginger beer (which Im sure wasnt cheap) and then some Goslings Black seal rum, which for some reason NCL considers to be a premium liquor. It was $20 I love black seal, but Im scratching my head how its considered a premium drink.

[Smitty74]

Day 4, GOOD MORNING BERMUDA!!!!!!!!!!!

 

the 4th day started early, and about 7 am I awoke and stepped onto my balcony to see us arriving in Bermuda! <editors note: hang on, because this is where the pictures start coming hard and heavy. At this point in my review, Im only about a third of the way through my pile of pictures.>

 

 

 

 

 

We had a tour scheduled for 10am, so first, we went back to Savor for breakfast.

 

I had the Eggs benedict with canadian bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It was good.

 

My Wife had some kind of pound cake french toast type of contraption. She told me it wasnt that great.

 

 

for our morning tour, we book a private Taxi tour with a tour guide that was highly recommended on Cruise critics Bermuda message board. His name is Dennis Hollis ( dwhollis@logic.bm ), and we had a very nice tour with him. the tour rates are set by the goverment, and since we were 4 or less people, it was $50 per hour. We told him we wanted to see everything, so we toured for 5 hours. He would suggest things to see, and then we would say yes or no. He was very accommodating, and we definitely got our moneys worth.

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, In a Bermuda state of mind continued.....

 

We stopped by a tiny family church to look around.

 

 

 

 

Notice the Berrmuda cypress logs holding the roof together. This building was very old...

 

Every house in Bermuda collect the rain water that falls on their roofs. this picture shows the collection system that this old church uses. the water is stored, and then used for everthing from drinking to showering.

 

Next we went to an Old fort that was used by the americans back in WW2. what a tough posting........

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, continued.....

 

 

 

 

 

they said alot of people get married here.

 

Next we went to the lighthouse.

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4 continued....

 

 

 

 

We made it to George town in time for the "Dunking of the Wench" It appear this poor woman was found guilty of gossiping, and nagging her husband.

 

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4 continued.....

 

Lets see if I can post a video

 

 

I guess not, but if you click the picture, it will let you see the lady get her just and deserved punishment....

 

After that, we asked Dennis to take us to a small cafe for some lunch. I dont remember the name of the place, but it was next to St. Peter's church., and wasnt that expensive (a rarity in Bermuda)

 

Hanging out with Dennis at lunch

 

this is where I was introduced to my new favorite soda in the world.

 

Barritts ginger beer is slightly more spicy than ginger ale, but its still sweet and refreshing.

 

Next we walk through St. Peter's

 

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, continued.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Continued....

 

 

 

After St. Peter's, we went to the Perfume shop next door. My Wife and Daughter fell in love with this place.

 

then we drove past the unfinished cathedral.

 

and then past the tobacco bay beach

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4 continued.....

 

More Random pictures of the west end of the island from our driving tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NLH Arizona]

Thank you for all your wonderful pictures and all your thoughts about your cruise. Since Bermuda is not on my list of places to cruise, it is wonderful that I can see it through your lenses (eyes).

[tmilak]

Every Premium Restaurant we went into (Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Cagny's) had lobster on the menu every night. the standard dining rooms never had it.

 

As for premium liquor. two fingers of Macallans single malt scotch 15 year old was roughly $18. It might have been $17.95, or something similar, but I remember thinking it was $18. I saw others drinking similar high end liquors, and that seems to be the standard high end drink price. the most expensive thing I saw drunk was a dark and stormy. It used a can of Goslings ginger beer (which Im sure wasnt cheap) and then some Goslings Black seal rum, which for some reason NCL considers to be a premium liquor. It was $20 I love black seal, but Im scratching my head how its considered a premium drink.

 

Thank you very much for your response.

[Smitty74]

Day 4 continued.....

 

since it was a Wednesday, and thats when Hamilton has its weekly "Harbor Nights" street party. we asked Dennis to finish his tour in Hamilton. the plan was to wish him farewell, do a little shopping, eat a little dinner, and then after enjoying the downtown festival, we would jump on the ferry back to the ship.

 

First thing we did in Hamilton was stop by a local Cafe for a snack and a drink. This was also our first access to the internet since we left New York!

 

 

as you can imagine, we spent like an hour in that cafe catching up on things. the cafe didnt mind though because we kept buying food and drinks...

 

My Wife stopped in a drug store, and I saw the sign below. Im glad I dont smoke.

 

Heres some pictures of the harbor area.

 

 

 

My wife loved watching the Gumba Dancers.

 

[Hoosier1439]

Thank you Smitty for the great pics! My lovely wife and I have 65 days to go! I can't wait!

Edited August 12, 2016 by Hoosier1439

[Smitty74]

142 pictures so far in this review, and I have a few hours in Day 4 to show you, and then 3 more full days to go........

 

BTW, I love the "great review, keep going" posts. it provides alot of encouragement.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Smitty74

[luckyinpa]

Not only is your daughter adorable, she has great taste, as I also like the virgin strawberry Daiquiris.

 

we dont have the booze package but until this post i never thought about virgin drinks, which id enjoy very much. id never have thought they would be included in the soda package but i'm glad they are.

[bumorgan]

Great review so far! Thanks Smitty!!:)

 

 

Dan

[garnet115]

we dont have the booze package but until this post i never thought about virgin drinks, which id enjoy very much. id never have thought they would be included in the soda package but i'm glad they are.

 

My experience has been that virgin drinks are not included in the soda package. On our last cruise, when I had UBP, there were times when my daughter wanted a virgin pina colada and they put it on my UBP. Other times, they would charge for her drink even though she had the soda package. My recollection is that the virgin drinks are in the $4 to $5 range.

[warb]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post a review. Great photos,too. I'm glad you

 

are commenting about stuff. We did Breakaway to Bahamas. Dawn to Bermuda.

 

I noticed your daughter was having a Strawberry Daiquiri at lunch , during your tour.

 

Great photos of you, your wife and daughter. Looking forward to the rest of your

 

report. The Good and not so good.

[Smitty74]

Day 4 Continued.......

 

Time for another video. Once again, click the picture to be taken to the video.

 

this one is a video as well, click it to watch the video

 

 

Dinner in Hamilton was at the Hog Penny Pub. Pretty good pub grub, but dinner for three with no alcohol was a little over $80 after the mandatory 15% tip. It wasnt worth all that, but I guess if your going to eat in Bermuda, your going to pay for it.

 

Heres where I have to admit something to you. After touring all day. I was tired. My wife and daughter were full of energy, they were having fun at Harbor nights, and had another couple of hours worth of shopping they wanted to do before they went back to the ship. I ended up leaving and going back to the ship. One nice advantage of being in Hamilton is I was able to buy individual ride ferry tokens for $4.50 each. Im told that the ferry office at the dockyard only sells the $19 daily pass, so this saved us a little money.

 

Views from the Ferry

 

 

 

This is a video from my ferry ride. Once again, you gotta click it to watch it.

[LrgPizza]

Hey, there's the Escape in Bermuda! I didn't know she'd visited there. Cool.

[Smitty74]

Day 4, continued.....

 

the Ferry ride continues

 

I didnt take a picture of it (I should have) but by the time I got back to the dockyard around 7:45, there were a couple hundred people in line to get on the ferry to go the the Harbor nights festival. If your going to Harbor Nights, I suggest you go early. dont think your going to causally walk up to the ferry at 7pm and just walk on. there are already hundreds of people on Breakaway AND on the Summit who had that same idea.

 

I went back to the ship, and got the muinchies around 9pm, heres a picture of the buffet

 

the point Im making is even at 9pm, the buffet was crowded. It was always crowded. especially during regular meal times. It didnt help that half of it was always closed. They would shut down one side and sanitize everything. when that side was spotless, they would open it up, and then shut down the other side and sanitize it. this was a never ending loop. I appreciate them keeping me from getting sick, but always running at half capacity made the half that was running very busy at all times.

 

while Im at it, as a Carnival Cruiser, the soft serve ice cream situation had me scratching my head in confusion. On a carnival ship, there would have been 4 or maybe even 6 soft serve ice cream machines spread around the ship, Even when one of them was down for cleaning, there was ALWAYS another machine 60 feet away that was running. On the Breakaway, there are a total of two soft serve machines. both are in the buffet area, and since only onde side of the buffet is open at a time, there was only one soft serve machine available at a time. This caused a big back up at the one working machine. If you wanted to get a cone outside of regular hours (10 pm ice cream cone anybody) then it was probable that neither machine would be working.

 

Maybe not a big deal to many of you, but Carnival spoiled me. if Im on a cruise, I want an ice cream cone whenever I want an ice cream cone darnit!!! lol

[Smitty74]

Day 5, Lets go to the Beach!!!!

 

On our second day in Port, My wife decided it was time for a beach day. for $7 per person, you jumped on a mini bus that took you directly to Horse Shoe Beach

 

 

HorseShoe beach is arguably one of the ten prettiest beaches in the entire world.

 

The pink sand is most visible, right at the water line.

 

 

 

[luckyinpa]

My experience has been that virgin drinks are not included in the soda package. On our last cruise, when I had UBP, there were times when my daughter wanted a virgin pina colada and they put it on my UBP. Other times, they would charge for her drink even though she had the soda package. My recollection is that the virgin drinks are in the $4 to $5 range.

 

you dont mean charges for sodas do you?

[LrgPizza]

Hey, there's the Escape in Bermuda! I didn't know she'd visited there. Cool.

 

Oh hell, that's the Breakaway. I really shouldn't try looking at my phone screen without my glasses. I saw the wrong slides and everything, let alone the wrong paint job. #blindasabat

 

Carry on...