Breakaway Bermuda 10/16 (Haven Mostly) Review

[bwelborn]

Just back yesterday from the Breakaway (and we actually went to Bermuda) cruise. I'll start this and see when I can get time to fully complete it.

 

Background-early 40's, just my husband and myself on this cruise. We've done various other lines, probably 20 cruises total-Carnival, Royal, MSC, HAL mostly. We used to book the cheapest cabins possible and have slowly come up from there in category. Now we cruise to simply rest and avoid as much commotion as possible hence a suite with amenities. We've never done Norwegian or the Haven so some things from the cruise line perspective were new to us.

 

We had the DOS and I'm not even sure what to say about it...absolutely off the chain.

 

Pre-Cruise: We flew into JFK on Saturday, picked up an Uber right at baggage claim for $35 into Times Square. It was a "pool" ride so we picked up another passenger and ended up getting a pretty cool tour of Brooklyn. The Uber driver was great and talkative. I booked a room on the way to the airport at the Hilton Garden Inn on 42nd street about $240 for the night. Good hotel, larger room than expected and great location. VERY clean and modern also, so an excellent value. I was planning to pay much more. Breakfast was not included and was $22 for the buffet which did look wonderful. They had no problem with us sitting at the restaurant bar and having complimentary coffee while we worked on our iPads.

 

We ate that evening at a Thai place about 8 blocks away in the Theater District and it was very inexpensive, no wait, and pretty good. I'll have to look up the name. Cocktails, appetizers and entrees were less than $100.

 

Cruising out of Manhattan does tack on quite a bit to the total cost, but we wanted to do Bermuda and I love to visit NYC if given the opportunity.

 

Boarding: We took another Uber to the ship (we could have walked- it was a little over a mile). Arrived at 9:45 which must be the perfect arrival time. No chaos, very few passengers. Went right through security and then to the Haven greeters and they sent us to the "lounge" for check in. We waiting there for over an hour which I assumed we would. Tons of passengers were still getting off the ship and they were in line right outside of the room we were in. In my opinion, this ship gets into port very late and causes a backlog of guests trying to get off. I think we finally boarded about 11:30 or 12, I can't remember. We were taken into the Haven Lounge and given drinks and sliders as to be expected. I did go back out into the general boarding area to use the restroom but it did not seem chaotic as others have mentioned.

 

The Haven: Patrick was the concierge and seemed to have two assistants. We did not drive him crazy, but we hadn't made any dinner reservations, so we would make a quick call to him and voila, it was done. We are very last minute deciders on things, so this worked well. Let me clear something up now....if you value peace and quiet, additional space and lack of chaos, the Haven is certainly worth it. I can't begin to tell you how peaceful it was. And if you are staying on deck 16, everything is right there. The convenience was wonderful. There was always a cozy chair to sit in, a crew member to come by and spritz you if you were hot, or someone serving fruit or a small bite.

 

Ok....I'll pick this back up later.

[luckyinpa]

this was my first cruise and i see your 1st NCL. i'm glad i , too, was early (i sat in the car because i knew 930 was waaaay too early to go inside but NYC had no traffic that sunday) but they did say there was another seating section in the terminal but i never looked for it. i noticed the same disembarkation line issue but i guess with that many people you can expect it.

 

did you do priority disembark? it was just over 15 min from haven to our car on the dock and i have to say id miss that. though the customs lines for the non haven guests didnt appear toooo bad at 915.

 

as a newbie to cruising i have other tips but ill do that in my own thread of course.

 

i was fortunate enough to be invited into an OS and i must say i did enjoy the tour as i was in a spa haven suite. but dang did you people feel that roughness friday/saturday. i was standing in that OS saturday and barely could keep my balance.

[JillL]

following... any pictures? :)

[bwelborn]

So unfortunately, I am not a big picture taker while I'm on vacation. I'll make up for it in good info!

[bwelborn]

Specialty Dining: We had dinner in Teppanyaki, Moderno (twice) and Cagney's. I didn't want to do Teppanyaki because we have one of the best here at home and we eat there quite a bit. Honestly, I thought the food was mediocre at best, but the chef was so funny I had to check to see if my eye make up was running down my face. I was crying from laughing so hard. I likely would not go back if I were on Norwegian again though.

 

Moderno was probably our favorite. The meats were a bit hit and miss and depended upon what skewer they came from. My husband loved the salad bar with more unique options than your typical garden salad bar. The lamb chops were a bit hit and I am a sucker for anything wrapped in bacon. We did eat here twice-that's how much we enjoyed it.

 

Cagney's was great. I will certainly eat here again on future cruises. I did the larger filet and my husband had the ribeye. They were out of the tomahawk and my husband was a little disappointed about it. We eat at great steak places at home regularly, so no big deal. I thought they needed some serious work on their sides. The brussel sprouts tasted like they had simply been boiled and the creamed spinach was terrible. The steaks were fantastic though.

 

Overall, I loved the layout and open feeling of the specialty restaurants. The large open bar between Moderno and Cagneys was very inviting.

Edited October 24, 2016 by bwelborn

[newfimom]

Hi

 

We too were on your cruise in the Haven with another couple. We had a good time I just posted a review, not sure where it went.

 

Newfimom

[cincicruisers]

Great start. Looking forward to more.

[bwelborn]

Entertainment: We generally don't go to any of the shows on cruise ships. I'm sure we are likely missing out. We do usually go to whatever comedy show is offered and we went to Second City on night number two. If there was a low point of the cruise, this was below low. I can appreciate a good improvisational act, but this was pitiful. I thought I read here that the group was pretty good. Honestly, it was cringe worthy and the crowd laughter seemed very forced. We really missed having a comedy show or comedian in the evenings.

 

Beverage Package: We had the ultimate, unlimited whatever you call it. Sometimes they didn't take my card, sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't even want to see it when I tried to give it to waiter/bartender. I can't figure out how this is working for NCL? It seems to me they are losing revenue with the vast majority of people on board having this package as a promo. And normally, when I would purchase a drink on a cruise ship, I get the receipt and I usually leave a small additional tip. Not in this case since I don't get a slip to sign and I'm not going to carry around a wallet of cash. I feel like the bartenders and servers are missing out on some additional tip money. BUT, having the package as a promo was wonderful and I did enjoy it.

[bwelborn]

Internet: I had the free 1000 MB (I believe) and I was expecting the service to be horrible based upon what I read here. While it was not quite as fast as what I have on land, it was great. I had to check email probably 5-6 times a day and do a little bit of work. I never even used all of the data provided. The only time the Internet seemed to be down was on Saturday night when the wind and rain was horrendous.

[Gershep]

Enjoying your review

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[macfin]

Following

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review.

[luckyinpa]

Internet: I had the free 1000 MB (I believe) and I was expecting the service to be horrible based upon what I read here. While it was not quite as fast as what I have on land, it was great. I had to check email probably 5-6 times a day and do a little bit of work. I never even used all of the data provided. The only time the Internet seemed to be down was on Saturday night when the wind and rain was horrendous.

 

i agree with this assessment including the storm. it took a while to get used to going into chrome history to get back to the sign off page but i made sure i did it. i left 400 mb on the table but didnt have anything to download to burn it up. i had fun sending pics to friends since i had so much data

 

also dont forget on deck 8 they have a free photo screen to email pics of yourself to your friends. pretty good deal. did a few of these

[bwelborn]

Ok, I'm trying to get back to finish this review up.

 

This portion will be about the Haven in general and associated services. We met with our butler, Akhmad a little while after we were in the cabin. He was pleasant and pretty direct, no fluffy additional conversation. While I hadn't been in the Haven before, I knew what services to expect of the butler. I let him know that I had not made any formal requests prior to the trip and he cut me off a bit and said I will bring you set snacks everyday. If I didn't know any better, I would think that I couldn't ask anything else of him. This may be where some people are reporting that their butler didn't do anything for them.

 

By day two he had caught on to what we liked and disliked and he did a great job for us. We are pretty low maintenance, but we liked to have a heavy snack around 3 each day instead of eating lunch. We ordered room service for that. The cheese plate on the room service menu seems like the best kept secret, it was outstanding for a snack.

 

Our room steward Cecillio was so pleasant and nice. We are very neat and I'm sure we made his job much easier for the week. He gave my husband two cigars that a guest gave him last week because he didn't want them.

 

Let me first say that my service was great the entire trip and I am not complaining at all. I know that everyone on board is working ridiculously hard. I do think the level of service could be stepped up a bit in the Haven. The bartenders were efficient but not overly friendly. I think the courtyard wait staff was lacking-they always seemed to need one or two more servers. I also wish they had a small salad bar or light snacks that you would just pick up in the courtyard rather than just cookies and brownies. Sometimes I didn't want to get room service, just just wanted a tiny snack. And again, I miss a salad bar for lunch but one trip to the Garden Buffet and I decided against it.

 

The Haven restaurant had Edgar as the MD and Gretel as the hostess. Both are very eager to please passengers and did a great job. Servers were very efficient also. Again, I think the level of service could be stepped up. Many times we had finished a course and those dishes sat for 10 plus minutes in front of us. I mean, it's not a big deal to me, but if they are trying to push the Haven as top level service, they need to remove a course just as it's finished. This obviously means more wait staff.

 

I also loved the Spritzy Spritzy guy on the sun deck. He was probably the friendliest person in the Haven.

 

The concierge was Patrick and we used him to make dining reservations. No complaints there. He also got us off the ship immediately upon clearing the boat. We had a 10am flight from JFK and I didn't think we would make it (we did but got delayed 3 hours). Don't plan a 10 am flight if you are reading this.....

[17cruisesnsl]

Cecillio was our room steward in an H4 in June. He was excellent. My DM is in her 80's and enjoys sitting on the balcony or relaxing in the cabin, at least until the casino opens:).

He learned our schedule and noticed she would wait in the lounge until he finished the cabin - he would always walk to the lounge and signal to her that he had finished. It meant a lot to her and made the trip even more pleasant.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise

[easyboy]

Ok, I'm trying to get back to finish this review up.

 

Our room steward Cecillio was so pleasant and nice. We are very neat and I'm sure we made his job much easier for the week. He gave my husband two cigars that a guest gave him last week because he didn't want them.

 

The concierge was Patrick and we used him to make dining reservations. No complaints there. He also got us off the ship immediately upon clearing the boat. We had a 10am flight from JFK and I didn't think we would make it (we did but got delayed 3 hours). Don't plan a 10 am flight if you are reading this.....

You must have made your room steward's job easy when he gave a cigar to your DH.

There are always thread about morning flights. It's good you are sharing your experience.

[dexddd]

Were you in 102 or 702? We also had Cecillio back in early 2014 - nice guy. I'd agree that the Haven could have more variety in snacks and service. Did you have noise leak from the movable wall?

[luckyinpa]

i visited 16100 and was told 2 yr old was heard next door but my bet is without the movable wall you would hear a 2 yr old lol

[bwelborn]

We were in 702. I was expecting to hear noise from next door but only heard the TV one afternoon and the only time I heard my neighbors voices was upon arrival when they were talking with their butler. I actually wondered if anyone was staying in the suite because it was so quiet. We actually never heard anything from the surrounding suites...we had a very quiet corner of the ship. Of course that was until Saturday morning when it sounded like all of the glass windows were going to blow in on us.

[mom2tcdx2]

 

Beverage Package: We had the ultimate, unlimited whatever you call it. Sometimes they didn't take my card, sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't even want to see it when I tried to give it to waiter/bartender. I can't figure out how this is working for NCL? It seems to me they are losing revenue with the vast majority of people on board having this package as a promo. And normally, when I would purchase a drink on a cruise ship, I get the receipt and I usually leave a small additional tip. Not in this case since I don't get a slip to sign and I'm not going to carry around a wallet of cash. I feel like the bartenders and servers are missing out on some additional tip money. BUT, having the package as a promo was wonderful and I did enjoy it.

 

We ended up tipping $25 to each of the two guys in Prime Meridan. We pretty much hung out there every evening after dinner. In speaking with them they stated the tips they receive now are a lot less and they keep bringing up at staff meetings as they say they can't figure out how they are being paid any more either. One said they used to get around $500-600 each week in tips and now they are lucky if they get $100.

Edited October 27, 2016 by mom2tcdx2

[bwelborn]

That confirms my thoughts exactly.