Super Mega Awesome Breakaway - Review March 12-19

[Bulldogsoc]

It is now Monday and sadly it is back to work. Nobody is going to cry for someone back from a cruise, even if it I'd not live up to expectations. In my case, Norwegian knock it out of the park and so I really will not complain. What I will do is provide my review of our stay on the Breakawy during my daily train rides into TO and back this week. I know I enjoyed reading others before we left and maybe I can pass along some tips along the way.

 

First off.... It was Truly SUPER MEGA AWESOME. I looked it up in another window on the Urban Dictionary (credit)...

 

TOP DEFINITION

 

 

super mega awesome

A higher state of mega awesome-ness. Used to describe amazingly spiffy things. Can also be used sarcastically.

Like, oh my god, that was totally super mega awesome!

 

Jacob's mullet is super mega awesome!

Our trip was the former, not the later, but I will include a few stories that tap into that Sarcasm at times. Let's begin....

We have never been on an overnight cruise on anything bigger than a private sailing boat before. This was our first ever cruise.

We book a Haven Aft Cabin on the port side. We booked the Haven for the perks and bigger cabin. Even with air was cheaper than say Sandals in Negril or say a Paradisus Family Concierge level All Inclusive in Mexico or the DR. But most of all we booked it because of the huge terrace and NO "%€£*ing" Lines!

The Terminal

Our cab dropped us on the departure level. We took our bags off. Got out our baggage tags printed at home on our NOT SO super mega awesome printer. If you do that bring a stapler. I thought they would have one and they did but it did not work well so there was a slight delay. Others seemed to have fancy color peal and stick tags. We did not. Bring a stapler if you have our situation going on. They guy really wanted it back quickly so it was a bit of a comedy. But all good.

Ok... Tags on bags. Bags on carts, and we proceed into departures... Haven sign.... Zoom... Off to lounge area for breezing check in with tons of staff and a table of refreshments. Snap snap and pics done....

Oh... My train is pulling in. More later.

[JuneauWhatIMean]

Waiting with baited breath.........:p

[Doitforlove]

Glad you had an awesome trip. Well be sailing on Breakaway in a month! Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

[Bulldogsoc]

OK... Home now with some time to spare.

 

When you walk into that huge terminal there is a MASS of humanity lined up on the left side with more rope/belt sheep herding lines than I have ever seen outside of Disney World. We got to the terminal right around 11. The Haven lounge is about half way up the terminal on the right. There is 25x40 foot room with a chairs and 2-3 computer check in terminals staffed by some lovely ladies that quickly checked us in and had some nice chit chat and questing about the snow back home. There is a second roped off seating area for "overflow" Haven guests next door. We had enough time for a coffee with the DW and hot chocolate for the DD and DS. By 11:20 we got the green light to head out to the ramp for the 500 yard walk past the mass of people lined up. I must say that was a first for me... It is one thing to fly first class and get to board first in front of a few hundred strangers.... it is quite another when there are THOUSANDS. Did I mention I HATE lines!

 

OK... moving on. We go up the gang ramp (is that what they call it?) and are greeted by some music and dancing crew members. If memory serves, we walked into the forward elevator bank and then took an elevator up to 16 and were herded into the Haven... very swanky. Peter Max art on the walls... cushy under padding... lots of soft tones and white leather chairs. Lots of smiling staff in livery handing out drinks and proffering up mini sliders (or is there such a thing... are sliders mini by nature... not sure). Anyway, they had them. Swanky spot. DW is happy. Kids are Happy. I am Happy. People sat in the lounge and spilled out into the pool deck area. There are tables where you can have lunch and breakfast out there. The bar is very swank but more on that later. I had other plans...

 

I am a cigar guy. I like to collect them and share them and smoke them. However, I really only smoke them when on vacations like this or up at the hunt camp... what does this possibly have to do with this review... Well, I had read that there were only a few places to smoke. I read that you could smoke in the VIBE beach for the bargain sum of $79... perfect I said. I will be on first and will just stroll down the deck 6 and be the first in line. Well while I was waiving bye to the family upon boarding to head down to the central hub with guest services on deck six the crew asked me where I am going? I explained... she laughed and told me that I did not have to do that. Just mention it to concierge... Sure enough... So for all those people who for whatever reason want a VIBE pass and are staying in the HAVEN... you don't need to go to guest services or race down or anything... even if you are the last person on the ship and they are sold out, they will get you a pass. While all of this was going on I could not help but recall all those threads I had read about the people who felt the Haven guests should not be able to buy Vibe passes and those that felt the opposite (and many with passion on both sides of the equation). Well.... for those who did not think I should have been able to buy such a pass, I can tell you that fate/karma loomed and it turned out that you cannot smoke cigars in the VIBE! LOL. More on VIBE later.

 

OK...so people are getting their Virgin mixed drinks from trays... DW and kids say they are yummy... I see a wonderfully stocked bar looming like a Junior High Dance Floor at 8pm with nobody quite ready to be the first onto the floor or in this case... to put the mix masters to the test... "TWO Moscow Mules my good man!" Smile smile pour pour mix mix... Yum I say... DW...OMG that is awful (not a ginger drink fan... married 23 years... learned something new every day!)... No worries, I get two. Quickly remedied by some other fruity Vodka based libation whipped up by the smiling barman. Kids happy with their first Shirley temples. Now off to explore... The Haven has a bar, indoor lounge, say... 50 seat dinging room, pool with adult and family hot tubs with retractable roof and then there is a wrap around mezzanine deck above... You can then exit on deck 17 to a private deck with padded loungers facing starboard and the bow. The kids got a kick out of the biometric type door opener... you need to touch it for the sliding doors to open. I tried with objects other than skin and it did not open. It seems to need skin. Hell... I thought that was neat.

 

Ok... Mules done, let's grab some bloody Mary's (did not realized they had Clamato until day two.. more on that later) and off to our room.

 

This ship is Donald Trump HHUUUUGE. There are two main stair and elevator banks on this ship. The forward elevators have some that go up to deck 15 and some that go to 16. I did not notice until day 3.

 

We had the very back Portside Haven Aft Penthouse 11308. Not sure why they call it a penthouse other than marketing cuz 9-14 are all "penthouses." But again... I digress (get use to it... I do it a lot).

 

If you are staying in one of the Aft Haven rooms and are going back and forth (length of the ship), I have the following tip. If the decks are not busy (port day, cold, etc), then it is faster and nicer to walk on deck 15 past the pools to the aft stair/elevator bank. I found that walking on the outside on deck 16 was ok if there was nobody out there but you have to weave between the glass windbreaks every 40 feet and the loungers on either side are magnets to sandal clad toes... seriously... you will stub your toes at least once while on board and you will curse!!! The legs on the lounge chairs come out at the end past the edge of the lounging service and your eye is not expecting the leg to be there... Hear that NCL... pass that along when the next purchase order goes in for the new ships.

 

If it is busy on deck then simply take the elevator down to your deck and then walk the length down to your room. We really didn't mind the walking. It takes about 5 minutes or more depending on the electors.

 

Another tip... my DW figured out that the schools of "fish" in the hallway carpets are always "swimming" towards the front of the ship. There are also blue sold patches in the carpets you will see in the distance. These make the entrances to the forward and aft stair/elevator banks. in the forward elevator banks, you can also go down the centre of the ship and then it turns to starboard to link up with the main starboard hallway. If you want to access anything other than an forward cabin... DO NOT go past the forward blue hall carpets... it just loops around back to the other side. I did that a few times and it was like being in a maze. Again... the ship is huge.

Another tip, there are "you are hear" plaques on the walls showing the halls and stairs and elevators. They are shaped like the ship and are oriented as such so you can tell which way is aft and which is forward (when there are no fish on the carpet). I did not notice that for a day or two.

 

The Haven has entrances on 15 and 16 on the port side (the main haven entrance with all the amenities is on 16 while there is also an entrance to rooms on 15 with an inside staircase up to 16 once inside).

 

So down to the aft cabin we went. Our room was waiting along with our luggage and a smiling Mark Anthony... our Cabin Stewart who's name I share! Karma raised it's head again, but this time on the good side... we were even. Things going very well. Waiting for the hammer to drop. BUT No it just got better...

 

Jeepers Creepers... what a room! WHAT A DECK! I chose the port side so we could watch the skyline on our way out. Boom. Mission accomplished.

 

ok... gotta take Norma for a walk. First day of spring here is great but for those of us dog owners in the snow belt... boy does the "melt" ever reveal a lot of... well let's just say there will be a lot of stooping and scooping to do! Oh on that note... I will try and remember to tell the story about the "Brown" Diamonds they were marketing on board...

 

Back Later...

[bbryan5]

Awesome review so far, keep it going!

[Frogdogpal]

Looking forward to reading more. Any photos?

[SeekingKillerWhales!]

Gang plank?

 

Really enjoying the review!

 

Sent from my XT1650 using Forums mobile app

[Dart17]

Patiently waiting! Not really...we are in the afternoon penthouse in December on GA!

[Bulldogsoc]

Nothing like a 5:30 am train ride to enjoy fond memories of a week ago!

 

If someone can tell me how to upload pics, I will do my best to post them in the coming days.

 

Ok so More about the Haven Rooms. The Haven has rooms up front and connected to the Haven lounge and facilities and then there are two Aft Cabins Suites on the starboard and port corners of each deck. Between them there are regular Aft cabins but they have larger decks than the other cabins. The decks for the Aft Haven Cabins and the size of the Suites are the real draw here and are why we booked. If you don't like the commute to the front Haven and don't plan to use your deck then I would say book a suite up front. But if you plan to use your deck... then there is no substitute. The Deck is huge! Three lounger, a dining table and four chairs plus two other padded chairs with a accent table. Some decks are larger than others I Think 9 has the largest. They are very sheltered both from above for about 2/3 and on both sides. At 20+ knots you won't get any wind at all. All you need to do is stick your head around the corner to the bow and you will get a blast of wind. You will get more motion and water noise back there but it not bad. No noise from H2O Spice at night at all on deck 11. Also there are two set ups to the Aft Cabins. One has the master bath off the window, while our deck and one other has the master bedroom off the deck along with the living space and the master bath without any window.

 

As you enter the suite, there is an entrance area with a fold away coat rack on the wall. There are switches on the wall to signal the Cabin Steward (green for make up the roof. Red for do not disturb). I did not notice this until day three. There is a door the second three piece bath. Small but lots of storage. The shower is quite small. If you are bigger, you will want to use the master shower. It is smaller than the one in my RV. One note... if you are going to use that shower or have your kids use it, be mindful of the folding shower door... it scissors in the middle and is a finger crusher waiting to happen. You will know what I mean if you see it. Moving on... you then round the corner to the main living space. Nice little four seat dining table which you will enjoy piling your bag, clothes, dirty dishes and junk on. Perfect. There is a large but FIRM couch that the stewart will convert to a bed at night and back to the sofa in the day. Plenty big for two smaller kids or one adult. There is a coffee table, two end tables and lamps. There is a flat screen and DVD player with lots of console storage above and below.

 

Between the TV and the entrance to the bedroom door (opens in) there is a mini bar/coffee station with Lavazza coffee machine. There are expresso, Cappuccino and Late mugs, wine and other glassware. There is a cork screw and bar tool set. The top drawer has saucers, napkins, spoons and sugar packs.

 

Now I am a coffee lover. I have a commercial semi automatic espresso machine at home. The Lavazza machine is an automatic machine. Lavazza has the NCL contract for speciality coffees. It is on the menus in the speciality dining and at the cafe for a fee. The one in the room is awesome. It looks intimidating to the uninitiated but it is rather easy. It works off a tank at the back which your steward will keep filled. There are regular and decaf pods in the glass care above the machine. You pull out the center tab and put the pod in as directed on the screen. Close it and then pull down the little shelf on under the spouts to place your cup, or if you want you can keep it up and dispense directly into your own travel mug. You then select what you want. If you want a shot, press the single espresso button. Double shot the button with the two small cups. If you want to do an Americano then press the one with the arrow to start and then when you have the desired amount press again to stop. To use the steamer, put some milk or creamers into the larger Cafe Late cup and put 3/4 to an inch in it and then dip the steam spout into the milk and press the steam button to start and again to stop. I found that I could use a coffee pod under the a cup and it would keep the rod in the milk without the need to hold it but as soon as it starts to spatter and bubble, shut it off to avoid a mess. One or two practices and you will get the hang of it and will feel like a barista!. Grab one of the half dozen face clothes in the master (damp) on hand to clean off the steamer head and to wipe up. Nothing like having a Cappuccino (to two) on the deck before breakfast! My wife loved hearing that steamer every morning. We left our butler a note to clear out the mini bar and leave milk in the fridge. We always had a dozen or more pods on hand. Perfect for the morning and a pick me up in the afternoon.

 

Moving on... the mini fridge is just below. There is a door beside it that houses a little stainless door mounted trash can. Another tip on the mini bar... our bar tenders let us get two drinks at a time (UBP) and they would not open them if we asked them not to, so we basically filled the fridge with various beers from the bar that we walked back from the Haven on a daily basis to enjoy on the deck. I did not think they would allow you to take away unopened beer from the bars but it was not a problem. Another tip... I usually take a small yeti cooler on All Incl holidays and I keep it filled with ice and beer and water in the room as most on land resort fridges never get really cold. I left it at home this time. I would have taken it if I had known as I asked the butler to keep the ice bucket and wine bucket full of ice daily. I would have also taken a half dozen beer with me off the ship to enjoy at the beach or just took it out on the deck to hang out. If you are going in hot weather, that would be sweet!

 

On the other side of the door to the bedroom is a very large closet with hangers and shelves. Want more hangers, just ask. BTY, all the drawers and closets have a push in latch system which is standard on ships. The closets had lights internally that went one when the door was open or ajar. In this room you don't need worry about storage. We WAY overpack and there was TONS of space.

 

Now the master... oh boy... nice King bed with down duvet and high thread count sheets. Flat screen, DVD, safe and more storage under the tv. two night stands and lamps with drawers on each. Double closed with lots of storage. There is a small makeup stand with mirror and magnification mirror and stool. There are black out drapes and sheers. The door to the deck from our bedroom swung out. The one in the living area was a slider. Really like that set up. Could go in and out if the kids were sleeping.

 

We had a slight problem with the tv in the master. Was fixed quickly. We also overloaded the safe and got an error message on day 6. If you overload the safe and the stuff is pushing on it internally, the motor may shut off and go into error mode requiring some spiffy officer to come to the rescue (again, there is minutes). It can be avoiding if you put in on the door while entering the unlock code. Also if you overload the drawers below the TV, they will stick also.

 

The bathroom is very large. TONS of storage and towels. Tub, shower stall with multi head massage (great pressure) lovely. There is a soap disk tucked behind the shower head. It can be VERY hot, so put it on the hand sprayer first to lock in your temp on the temp dial on the first use and you are good. just make sure you have the door closed before turning on the massage jets. They are powerful and make a good mess if the door is open. Another tip... put a bath mat or towel down before getting in the shower as the design of the door will cause a large puddle when you open the door regardless of what you do. Also, there is no real spot in easy reach to hang a towel but I figured out on day 5 that if you open your bedroom door all the way so it is next to the bathroom entrance, you can hang it there as the shower door swings toward the toilet and it is therefore easy to grab. You can't hang it over the shower door as it is is tool close to the ceiling.

 

There is also a small build in close line up high in both showers to hang swim suits on. The bathroom has no door but a black out curtain instead.

 

There are limited channels on the TV's but a good selection of movies. There are lots of NCL info stations, bridge cam, and general information. You can pull up you account, make reservations and get a fair bit of information from the TV's. We brought Ipad Video connection cables for the tv's to play movies off the kids IPads. I just lifted them straight up off their brackets, installed the audio and video jacks and rehung the tv. They are not heavy. Just don't forget to take them with you. I almost did.

 

The King bed was very comfy.

 

OK... moving on. We got unpacked and headed back to the haven to have some lunch in their swanky dining room. Linen, napkin rings and all. Classy place. There are no reservations required and as long as you are not in a swim suit and flip flops you are good to go and will be treated the same as the couple in formal attire.

 

There is a hierarchy in this place. You will be greeted by one of the smiling female greeters overseen by the ever present and attentive Maitre D'. You will have a waiter (almost all men) and a server who will bring your bread and food. You can order mixed drinks and wine. There is a large wine list but alas I am many things but a wine (knowledge laden) person I am not, so I cannot comment. Red with steak, white with fish. The place is really quite nice. In the mornings there is a small self serve buffet off to the side with pastry, bread, cereals, fruit, smoked salmon, meats and cheeses. There is a different menus for breakfast lunch and dinner. Try the eggs benedict or the seafood benedict (very rich). They have all manner of chicken, beef, seafood, pasta, and the list goes on. There are usually only three tables buy the window. One lunch my DS and I said we would hang out at the bar and wait for a window for a leisurely lunch. Day two was the DW's BDay... we got a window, a small pastry with a happy birthday chocolate sign on it and rendition of happy birthday by the staff. Very nice.

 

You can also eat out by the pool. There always seemed to be steamer trays, coffee and pastry out there.

 

I got a few minutes until my train pulls in so a few comments on the Haven Bar... outstanding drinks. Outstanding. You will notice the difference. They know if you are a drinker or not and will adjust the pour accordingly. Fresh ingredients and they take their time (because they can), so feel free to order a complex cocktail and they will make it right. All Glass glassware unless you want plastic. They don't mind you taking the glass out the of the Haven or at least they never said boo to us. They would make the "special drink"for the kids which they loved. Won't tell us what was in it (hence it was "special".. just for them)... brilliant marketing... it was an "event", an "outing" a "pick-me up" for any semi bored child at the mere mention.. do you want to go for a special drink?.... Yah!

 

Ok.. pulling into Union Station. More later for anyone who cares. I know this board is fun distraction leading up to everyone's hard won vacation.

 

Until Later...

[amydandrea]

I'm loving this review ! I've experienced Breakaway several times but ever in the Haven so this is a teaser as well as a motivator to make it happen. Sounds glorious

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[flyguy909]

Yep.. keep em coming! My wife and I are on the BA in 3 weeks. Hoping for our Haven bid to be accepted.. so reading about the details with interest.

[tchrsbnz]

Awesome review! I have 7 months, 7 days, and 5 hours until my second adventure on the breakaway.......:D

[Bulldogsoc]

OK... Sorry for the delay. Still digging out the in basket and such. OK... I've talked about the physical plant of the Haven and our room... let's talk for a moment about the human side of things.

 

First off, as I mentioned earlier, this is a first cruise. I have nothing to compare NCL to. While I am a lawyer by trade I am really a business guy and since my MBA days I have always been fascinated with the business and marketing plans of companies. About half way through the cruise I started to ask myself how NCL positions themselves in the market.... and why conclusion is that they are pretty much a reflection of... well... a normal town. There were all colour and stripe of people on this ship. You had tons of families, both with young kids and teens. You had singles. College kids on break, Older couples both alone and in groups. You had people there that probably only saw their cabins when the Casinos closed in ports! and Others that rarely left the Vibe. All in all I think it was pretty remarkable that they managed to appeal to so many people all in one place.

 

My point is that if you love to people watch then you will enjoy your time on the Breakaway. The good news is that I never saw a fight or anyone really behaving badly the whole cruise. Sure there are the people that simply cannot be helped... no concept of a line. No concept of letting people exit an elevator before going on. No concept that maybe their only grandchild going wherever and doing whatever they want is not a giant photo OP. Again... not a huge deal. My point is that it appeared that most folks were getting along and clearly having a great time.

 

I cannot comment much on the shows. DW and DD went to the magic show once or twice but our kids were a few years away from more adult themed shows. We mostly ate late and were in bed by ten or eleven. I did walk around a few times later in the evening and it appeared everyone was having a grand old time. I saw lots of people dancing on the H2O Spice deck after 11 and the night club was starting to fill up. Lots of people in the Casino at night... Oh... yes, the Casino... I am not a gambler but it was clear that people seemed to love this place. On the issue of the Smoke... I am a cigar smoker but I really don't like cigaret smoke and that CASINO REAKS like a trailer with a shag carpeting and a thirty year two pack a day smoker. It truly is revolting. My kids would hold their breath walking through or ask to go up or down a deck... Now I never noticed it in any of the other restaurants... including the noodle bar right next door, but if you are walking on those carpets in the CASINO... and you are not a smoker... I dare you to stop, stoop and take a BIG OLD SniFF without some type of adverse physiological reaction. I agree with my 8 year old... gross. The good news is that unless you are really sensitive, you won't notice it in the adjoining restaurants.

 

Speaking of which, the noodle bar is really good. I think word go out. Our last night there was a line up 30-40 minutes before they opened. Really yummy. It is like going for Dim Sum. There is a little card that you list the quantity you want beside the various items... Dim Sum, Noodles from the Wok, Noodles in Broth, Fried Rice, Desserts... There are numerous items under each category... really really yummy and I am blessed with the best Dim Sum in Toronto all over the place. This was two thumbs up.

 

Let's talk about the Shopping... again this place is like a big Business School Case Study. They have some pretty good shopping on board. If you are a Watch guy like me, you will be impressed with the large selection of Automatic Swiss watches. They had all kinds of price points and some very good deals. They had an entry level Swiss watch brand on for 75% off, and not just the quarts models. I picked up three automatics and two quarts models that were (after the discount) between $150-$230 each. These are no Rolex or Tags but I was impressed.

 

They hold some type of shopping (marketing) seminar every day on various brands of jewelry or watches or port shopping tips daily. They also reply them on the tv channel in the room. They would hand out raffle tickets and give away a nice price which would bring people in to hang out and wait for the draw. It was fun. Once day they were selling bracelet and necklaces like the Pandora brand but obviously knock offs but you got a bracelet and necklace for $20 and if you bought three the fourth was free.... Mad house! Everyone loved it.

 

Right next to the shopping on deck 8 is the photo area where you can buy all manner of photos they take of you all over the ship from the restaurants to the rope coarse (walking the plank) to getting on the ship. You will see the photographers everywhere. You can log onto your tv, screens throughout the ship or go there and physically look up your binder number on your ID card and look at the photos that they printed off. They are $10-15 each for the smaller sizes and go up from there. They drop in price the more you buy and you can have them put on or bound in a plethora of books and frames and folders... I saw people checking out spending hundreds and hundreds on photos. It is fund to go down and see some GOOD and some Horrible photos of yourself.

 

Cigars... if you want to smoke cigars you don't have many options. There is a cigar room but quite literally it is a blue haze and is no bigger than living room in a modest subdivision home. Horrible! Just outside those doors from the whiskey bar on the deck there were a couple of seats where some guys were smoking them during the day and evening. You can also smoke them along wall next to the bar at the H2O bar. You are not supposed to smoke on your deck but many do. Honestly, after the first night in that tiny blue haze of a cigar lounge, I was cured for the week. LOL

 

The Vibe club... I honestly cannot recall if I mentioned this before or not... oh well. If you are a couple with no kids and not in the Haven (or even if in the Haven) I would buy it if you are sailing in the warmer months. I might skip it out of NYC from December to March, but if you get good weather it is really nice. On Sea days with nice weather the pool and other decks are a mass of humanity. Chaos. Just Chaos. I was never in the main pools or the four hot tubs... but they were packed (FYI... by mid day... the colour of the water in those main tubs was.... weeeellllll.... YUCK! But don't worry, everyone was having a good time and had so much booze in them they were good to go. LOL. Everyone having a good time. The Tubs in the Vibe were nice and clean and not crowded. The Vibe had Cabana's you could rent that are basically like an old VW Beatle convertible with a big bed in the centre. They had waist high doors that gave you some privacy. Five of them facing Starboard if I recall. I never saw anyone some in or out of them. There are lots of loungers with Terry cloth covers cushions. Bali beds with pillows. There were some Tub Chairs down behind the Cabanas and of course a big bar with dedicated attendants to fetch you drinks and bring around fruit skewers and such. There is a shelf with extra towels. On day three if was cloudy and they revarnished all of the wood bar stools.

 

UBP and Perks... with our Cabin we got the UPB, three specialty dinners and the internet. Nice perk. The UBP was great. I only paid an up charge for a Mojito which was $18... but it was well done. I booked three specialty restaurants on line before we left... Cagney's Tuesday, the Italian on Thursday and Le Bistro on Saturday. All were good. I sent the Lamb chops back at the Italian as it was just too tough, but as I told the waiter... the rest was really really good. It was funny... I told him dinner was great but the lamb was appalling. He smiled and said excellent. Niki laughed and said that I don't think is knows appalling. When I explained, he was most apologetic, and offered to get something else, but I told him no worries 7/8 dishes were excellent and no worries. But it has been a running joke for the past week... "Appalling" followed by a big smile and a nod!" I know I am terrible... but seriously... it was all really good and I told them as much. It is a toss up between Cagney's, Le Bistro and the Haven.... they were all really good. The Haven or Cagney's has the nicest ambiance. The Haven is more modern and Cagney's is a very Macho Chicago steak type joint.... all really really good in my opinion.

 

We really didn't use room service much. A few chicken fingers and cake for the kids a few times.

 

The Buffet is Chaos but clean and seemed good. I think I ate there once and watch the kids eat there two or three times. They have a crepe station which the kids liked. My DD LOVED the buffet and could not understand why anyone would want to go wait to get their food when they could go there. Cute. she'll learn. It really really really is chaos! They basically duplicate the buffet on each side of the ship with seating all around and out through the doors onto the deck if you want.

 

Alright... time for bed. I will write some more on the 5:30 train in the morning.

 

Later...

[BabysBday]

Loving your trip report! We were in the Haven on the BA earlier this month and I'm reliving our trip as I read your posts. I loved the Haven so much, we're trying to get a larger group to join us there on the Epic this fall.

 

Totally agree with you on getting the Vibe pass if you're not in the Haven (or the thermal suite pass for winter sailings out of NYC)... the hot tub situation on the BA pool deck might have been fine back when I was in college, but these days I have no desire to be crammed in with strangers. And I can only imagine what the water looked like! In contrast, we basically had the hot tubs all to ourselves in the Haven, which truly lived up to its name on this huge ship.

[Bulldogsoc]

O'Sheehans (sp?)

 

Ok... the Pub. If memory serves the pub is located on Deck 7 and overlooks the Atrium screen and stage where there are movies, games, demos and fun stuff happening all day. You have a big round opening with a small bar shelf with stools that completely surrounds the atrium below. Those stools are usually prime Realestate for things like the trivia or newlywed game with Dan Dan the CD. You can drink there but I learned that you can't order or get food served there. You have to be at a table with menu/napkins/etc.

 

The Pub has a sit down normal table and booth seating on the port side with a greeter station. You can order off a somewhat larger menu there. Try the corn beef and cabbage soup! Two thumbs up. You can also just go up and grab a table as they become available on the Starboard side. They are pub height tables. There are some pool tables and darts and arcade games not the starboard side. There is also bowling alley at $5 per player. It was fun but whenever we were there the string pin setting on at least one of the games would foul and you had to go find someone and it was just too much of a bother, but when working myself and the kids really enjoyed it even at $5 per person.

 

The pub food I had was good. Buffalo, Jerk, BBQ and a few other types of wings (6 good size) per order. Order as many as you like. Burgers we fine. Fish was fine. There is a bar there with some Belgian beer on tap and all manner of beer in the bottle including Molson Canadian if missing home. I stuck to Red Stripe. It is open 24 hours but I think after a certain time they just put out a late buffet. I went down one morning around 3am and there were vacuuming and there were some late night partiers CARB'ing up before bed. There were steam trays with Corn Beef Sandwiches, Burgers, Hot Dogs, fruit, apple pie and other stuff. The staff were vacuuming and cleaning up. It was help yourselves. Maybe they do that for 5-6 hours in the wee hours. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

 

We were there on St. Patricks Day and if you look on the walls with all the memorabilia you will see a massive collection of NYC historic SPD parade photos. Kind of neat. I like the Pub.

 

Atrium

 

Before I left, I real a lot about how the Atrium was just too small for the crowds.... our ship was full and yes it was crowded at peak times but I think NCL looks at it like a political handler setting up a room for a speech. You always want the room to look full or foolish and never empty. A full room says... hey this is a happening room and a happening room. Everyone who has a seat feels like they won the lottery and they are the overwhelming majority. The people left to stand, might wish they got a seat, but they are in the minority. I think this is the logic. it could never handle everyone on the ship but it does a pretty good job between the Pub and the seating on the Atrium level.

 

Problems or Complaints

 

I really don't have any complaints. Seriously. Here is the sum total of the list of things that were not super mega awesome at first instance:

Mater BRM TV remote not working- fixed in minutes, SAFE into safe/error mode - fixed in minutes, Tough Lamb in La C. Italian Restaurant - offered to replace it with anything immediately and handled great, My onboard card did not work in the VIBE card reader to enter - Anoop in Haven got the jr. concierge to not only re-write the card but to leave the Haven and go up and check that it actually worked before coming back and giving it to me (THAT is super mega awesome service) - Have you ever been at a resort where your card did not work and they staff actually rewrites the card and goes and checks it rather than face you again in 10 minutes if it doesn't? I haven't. I bought a watch that had a strap pin that did not quite work... they just gave me a whole new one. If I am not mistaken, that was the sum total of anything remotely not working. Two thumbs up.

 

Slides, Wall and Ropes Course

 

I don't think the Ropes Course was operations for the first few days because of the weather. The first time it opens the line will be long but it moves pretty quickly. If you really want to get on it, line up 30 before the listed opening time in the Freestyle Daily. The Kids need to be at least 48 inches and they play it by ear if someone needs to accompany the really young ones. Our 8 year old DD was fine but she had her older brother the monkey with her. We all did the ropes course. Note... you really should wear sneakers. We all had Keen closed toed web sandals on. The kids were fine, but I was told no once I got the front of the line as the kids sandals had enclosed heels and mine had an Achilles tendon strap only (not enclosed), but he let me go back to the room and get my sneakers and cut back at the front. If I had not brought my sneakers I would have been out of luck. Once up you can walk around as long as you want as there is not direct route like others we have been on, you can go many ways including several dead end routes. If you walk the plank a sensor will take your picture as you walk out over the starboard rear deck. The photo will be in your binder and on the system. My kids loved it. I am somewhat scared of heights and at 46 I did it. When you are done you connect to a short zip line that is staffed at either end to go across the road from starboard to port and then you walk down and off. Once you zip line across you have to get down and get back in line if you want to do more. It is not a fast zip line and some lighter people and people who don't get a bit of a momentum/take off may get stuck in the middle where they have to take a rope on another zip slip and physically pull you over to the other side. A little embarrassing.

 

The rock climbing is also popular. For my son the monkey it was 15 minutes in line and then 20 seconds to the top to ring the bell and down again. I had to laugh but if you have never climbed before it will be fun.

 

The water slides were open almost every day rain or shine from what I saw. I did the vertical drop a few times. It is over in like 4-5 seconds. I am not exaggerating. The floor drops out in your are zoom. You need to be 48 inches AND at least 100 pounds. My DS was a little disappointed. All he could picture was a 48" hundred pound kid which he did believed made sense. On reflection, maybe there was no height requirement for the drop slides, just a weight requirement. Maybe someone could chime in. Anyway, if it is sunny and warm there will be a short line for the regular slides. If the weather is not hot, there will be done. The water is heated. There will never be a line for the drop slides from what I saw.

 

More later...

[Dart17]

They have a crepe station which the kids liked. My DD LOVED the buffet and could not understand why anyone would want to go wait to get their food when they could go there. Cute. she'll learn. It really really really is chaos! They basically duplicate the buffet on each side of the ship with seating all around and out through the doors onto the deck if you want.

 

 

Loving your review!

 

 

Question~~Do you recall the hours of the crepe station? Do they run the same as the buffet hours? Our oldest son still talks about the crepes he devoured on the Star in 2011! He's looking forward to our December cruise! Thanks!

[lmintzer]

Loving your review--especially all of the details! Will be sailing on the Breakaway in July with my teen boys. We are booked in an aft balcony, but I keep eyeing the 11th floor corner H6 suites! Would be my first choice of anything on the ship (the 2 bedroom in the Haven proper sounds great too, but the aft location and views seem so fabulous). Can't wait to read more!