Breakaway Baltic Cruise - 22nd July 18- View from the Haven

[Markj]

There are some really great reviews of this cruise already so for future travellers there’s a load of great information and personal perspective of cruising the Baltics with NCL. We don’tcruise on a regular basis but have used CC.com for tips and ideas so I wanted to return the favour and do my own trip report on our cruise experience in theBaltic on the Breakaway.

 

Day 0 - Travel to Copenhagen

I’ll call it this so that the day numbers match the days actually on the ship. We are a couple in our 50’’sfrom the UK who enjoy travelling and exploring and this cruise gave us the chance to visit some places that are probably not worth a long weekend (we could fly to most in around 2 hours) but which are different and interesting intheir own right. I’ve been to Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki before but Deb had not and when I went it wasn’t in tourist mode!!

 

We flew London to Copenhagenon SAS, was around an hour and 50minutes and arrived into Copenhagen mid-afternoon.CPH airport then decided to mess round with all the bags and so whilst immigration was quick it took an hour to get the bags. Taxi from the airportwas 388 Danish Crowns – around £40 UK and took 25 minutes.

 

I’ve seen a number of posts about currency for the Baltic Cruise and I guess it can be a little complicated with different currencies and for us even the ship is different being in US $. So as I travel in Europe a fair bit and go to the US and Caribbean I took Euros and US$ with me and then used my credit card in Copenhagen and Stockholm. I have a credit card that doesn’t charge currency fees so it’s great for this kind of trip and I can also use it to get small amounts of cash from ATM’s ifneeded. So for info:

Copenhagen - Credit card.Everywhere takes them and for any value – taxis, shops, bars, restaurants

Warnemunde – Euros

Tallinn – Euros

St Petersburg – I had US$ to pay our tour but needn’t have bothered as using a Credit Card was fine with them and in SPB

Helsinki – Euros

Stockholm – Credit Card

Ship – has some US$ for tipping at the end (more on this later) and then paid my ship account with my credit card.

 

So back to CPH – we stayed atthe Radisson Royal which is right next to the Tivoli and near the main railway station. There are a number of hotels in CPH of course and there probably isn’t one that’s “ideal” – however it’s not a huge city and no-where is too far towalk. So bags dropped and a quick freshen up before heading out to the Tivoli for the evening. Had a walk through the city centre and a beer (of course – its Denmark!!) and then back to the Tivoli.

 

It’s a touch confusing how the Tiv works but basically you pay a small entrance fee – we went in around 6pm and there was no queue – sorry line – and it’s around £10. Then there a number of rides in the park (get a map as you enter) and they all require a number of pre-purchased tickets – ranging from 1 to 3. So you can buy these tickets from machines or you can buy a wristband for unlimited rides. This is around £30 so for us not worth the money. We didn’t realise all this and made the mistake of queuing up for the wooden roller coaster only to find when we were at the front of the queue that we needed a ticket – DOH! But – as luck would have it on this ride you can use a credit card at the barrier – otherwise it would have been a long walk back through a load of people!! Oh and the ride was great fun!!

 

Had a stroll around the park but didn’t go on anything else then had dinner at a restaurant overlooking a lake, a sailing ship (which is also a restaurant) and one of the craziest rides there which is a plane on a giant cantilever that tips you upside-down and then races around in a huge circle – not for me thank you – but you thrill seekers go ahead!!

 

The restaurant was lovely, we had a couple of beers, main courses and a dessert and whilst the food wasn’t the best ever it was good, the beer is brewed on site and the atmosphere and setting were great. Be aware though Copenhagen is an expensive city and of course a theme park in an expensive city is more expensive – the dinner was£100!!. Back to the hotel across the street afterwards.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Markj

[Markj]

Day 1 – Copenhagen and Embarkation

The Radisson did a fabulous buffet breakfast with all sorts of hot dishes, cold cuts, fish, cheeses, breadsand so on – if you were starving you could spend a nice long time here and fill up!!

 

Will mention the weather here. It was hot!! Europe this year has had a fabulous summer and in some areas an unseasonal heatwave. In the UK we sometimes use the expression “the weather is Baltic” to mean that it’s very cold – but this year it could mean “very hot”. In every port temps were 26-30 Celsius(77-86F) often a bit humid and other than in SPB and Stockholm where we had 5minutes of warm rain it was dry. I heard many people talking about packing wrongly and I guess all you can do is look at the 10 day forecast on line and then go with that. Usually long trousers and a long sleeved top for evenings and even a rain jacket are required for this cruise – but not this time.

 

Checked out around 9am and left our bags with the hotel and picked up the HoHo bus outside the hotel atS top 1 – very convenient. The tour would take around an hour and a half if you didn’t get off but this also included a boat tour and then we made a couple ofstops at Nyhavn and of course at the Little Mermaid. Now I have to say if you’ve never seen the Little Mermaid then of course you gotta see it – but it’s not exciting! Hahaha! It’s got a terrible backdrop and there is usually a scrum of people who have the need to cross a couple of rocks and actually stand next to it. Meaning your photo is likely to have strange people in the picture!! We even saw one guy slip and go up to his knees in the sea! It was funny though!!

 

Got back to the hotel around 1pm and then got a taxi out to the ocean terminal. You can do this as a part of the HoHo but the transfer point is at the Little Mermaid and it was really busy when we were there so moving around with bags would not be my idea of fun. Taxi was around £30 again – credit card of course!!

 

The Ocean Terminal at Copenhagen is divided into two low level buildings – one at each end of the ship – which I must say did look an amazing sight as we approached it. There are signs showing which building to go to by deck number. We were in a Haven cabin on deck 16 so that (and 15) are the building to the left or at the stern of the ship. There was no priority bag drop off area that we could see and if you have tags for your bags already simply go into the building and join the line. Then your main bags are put onto a belt and taken away from you. Be careful not to put any bag on here that has documents in or it will be going to the ship and you will have a struggle to get it back. You will fill in a health questionnaire and then show passports and give this in as you go through security like the airport.

 

There were no Haven signs or separate lounge so we asked an assistant who said Haven guests check in at the left hand side at agents 1-3. It would have been useful to have a Haven sign on the overhead displays! I recall in Seattle there is a separate check in and lounge. However – there was no line and we had checked in within 5 minutes and given our key cards. Just to the left of check in is a Haven “area” and one of the butlers directed us here where there is a small open buffet and beverages and we were asked to wait to be taken to the ship. After another 5 minutes we were escorted to the ship by a butler. We had a separate gangway and security desk and the Haven had its own lift (elevator) to go directly to deck 16.

 

Once at 16 the Haven is entered through its own key card accessed door and then a stroll down a corridor to the lounge and bar area. We were welcomed by everyone and the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. There is a concierge desk in the lounge area which is headed up by Virginia. She does an amazing job, nothing is too much trouble and more about her as we go through. She checked our room number and told us the room was ready – she suggested we might like to go to the room then come back to the Haven restaurant for some lunch! Good plan!!

 

Cabin 16702 is the Deluxe Owners Suite. There are two on board, both at the front above the bridge and ours was on the starboard or right side. It’s a fabulous cabin with a huge balcony and plenty of room – the lounge,bedroom, bathroom and dressing area are all great. We had originally booked16700 next door but were lucky enough to be able to upgrade and so we did. At night the cabin is so quiet as the bedroom is not next to anyone or anything.The dividing wall between ours and 16700 can actually come down to make a superbig cabin for a family too. There are fresh flowers in the room, two bathrooms,two TV’s, bar mix, M&M’s and you can have jelly beans too if you want onthe table. Every day you get a snack which can be cheese plates, canapes, fruitor sandwiches or all of them!! There’s a Nespresso Coffee machine and we asked for fresh milk too in the fridge! Literally everything you could want – oh and the shower and bath have clear windows so you can look out onto the ocean – or scare the seagulls!!

 

Our butler was Seka and she came and introduced herself. She was lovely and again couldn’t do enough to look after us. For example we like a cup of tea(very English) but have our own tea bags so would bring a flask of boiling water (kettles would be a good ideaNCL!!) whenever we wanted it. She said all the beverages in the room were included – so we had sodas, prosecco, Moet and as much water as the cupboard would fit and were also entitled to 3 bottles of spirits. So as we like gin we took that and asked to change the other 2 to Sauvignon blanc as we like a glass of wine too. As another tip as I like a beer – if you’re on the UBP then just ask at the bar in the lounge for a few bottles of beer to put in your fridge –saves going to the bar every time!!

 

I’m sure I will have forgotten some detail about the cabin but please feel free to ask anything.

 

Went to Lunch in the Haven restaurant. I’ve seen some comments about the fact that the menu doesn’t change but for us (and we ate here for breakfast lunch and dinner on various days)there was plenty of choice (and Deb doesn’t eat red meat) and the quality of the food was great – particularly the salad Nicoise and its tuna – delicious!!After lunch we explored the Haven – there’s the pool, jacuzzi and sauna area and then upstairs more sunbeds under the roof (which stayed shut – boo!!) and then out onto the Haven sun deck. I’ve read plenty of comments about kids running amok and filling the hot tubs but on this trip they appeared well behaved and I never had a problem with using any of the facilities or with rowdy or noisy behaviour.

 

Got a couple of mojitos from the Haven Lounge bar. There is a drinks menu but they can make pretty muchanything here – Kumar is a brilliant bar tender and also a really lovely guy.He always has time for you and got to know what you liked and then made suggestions for drinks you maybe hadn’t tried. He and the two ladies there werevery very good – and you could get drinks brought to the pool area or sun deck. A BBC in the jacuzzi was very nice!!

 

UBP – quick note about this.We are not big drinkers and so probably would not buy this package, however it was included in our deal and I have to say makes getting a drink on a cruise ship soooo much easier. No tipping, nothing to sign – in fact in the Haven bar there were times when I didn’t even use my room card. Elsewhere you give your card to the server and then they bring it back with your dinks – that’s it. On the occasion you go over the $15 limit you get a small surcharge and have to sign.

 

As a tip – you can order wine by the bottle but this will be charged to your card – however if you order wine by the glass (and it’s under $15 dollars there’s no charge) so as long as there is enough choice of wines by the glass, and for us there was , then you won’t need to pay for wine either.

 

The ship departed and we watched from our balcony with our cocktail as Breakaway pulled out of port and turned around before then turning left and sailing around the main island of Zealand on its way to Warnemunde.

 

Went for an explore of the ship around decks 6/7/8 where most of the restaurants and entertainment are .Saw Virginia in the Spiegel tent and asked about booking Escape the Big Top –she said to leave it with her. I have to say that whilst the ship has over 4000passengers on board it did not seem busy or crowded – I think NCL has done agood job planning the restaurants, bars and public areas to make this the way it is.

 

Then we went to the Welcome on Board show in the main theatre. This was free seating but Haven guests have a roped off area with good seats to the left of the theatre. These are kept until 15minutes before the show then opened up. I never saw them full so if you are not a Haven guest and haven’t got a reservation for a show head to the left and then grab a good seat 15mins before the show. There is a bar in here and waiter service too with glass holders in the seat arm rest – very convenient.Cruise Director Roberto introduced everyone and then there were short segments of Rock of Ages and Burn the floor and the unfunny comedian/magician!!

 

Dinner was in the Haven – cannot remember what we had but it was good but I do remember chocolate cake with ice cream -delicious. Drink at the bar then back to the room to relax and run through the various on board TV channels -there is interactive TV so you can book things and check details and account on here – and then the Daily arrives for the next day so a read through that and then a very very comfy bed!!

 

This has to be the smoothest cruise we have ever been on. Usually when you go to bed you can feel any slight movement (or of course rougher seas and movement) but on this cruise the whole way round the sea was as flat as a duck pond and so other than when we were docking and the bow thrusters were shaking the ship you wouldn’t have known you were at sea!!

Edited August 5, 2018 by Markj

[Markj]

Day 2 Warnemunde

We had decided not to go toBerlin – 3 hours each way on a train or bus is a bit pointless when we can flythere in 2 hours so we decided to take the Friends of Dave Tour which toursaround the North eastern German area and leaves and gets back at a sensibletime.

Breakfast was in the Havenand in fact every breakfast was here – the range, quality and service werefirst rate. You can of course have it in your cabin but we always think roomservice food arrives a bit cool. There’s a choice of tea and coffee and juice,a range of hot items and a very good cold buffet selection. To be honest withall the food on board some days it was just nice to have coffee and toast!!

Another big advantage of theHaven is disembarkation. If you are on a ship organised tour then you do notneed to go to the ship assembly point – usually theatre or Spiegel Tent – theconcierges will look after your tickets and make sure you leave the ship at theright time to get on your tour. So you sit in the lounge with a coffee orwhatever and wait. If you are on a private tour you can get off as soon or aslate as you like – and here’s the great perk – there’s a service lift whichgoes from floor 16 direct to floor 4 and the ships exit. You are escorted by acrew member and it cuts out all the lines and waiting and queuing up – I wouldalmost pay extra for the Haven for this benefit alone – and its particularlyuseful in SPB – but more on that later.

So we had a leisurelybreakfast and left the ship around 9am to meet the FOD tour which met at thePier 7 terminal next to our ship.

I did feel sorry for one ladythough who was joining the cruise at Warnemunde and had her luggage with her asembarkation had not started and there was no-where to leave it in the cruiseterminal. And as the first part of the tour was walking this was a potentialissue – however the guide, Christian, said there were lockers in the station nearbyand she managed to store her bags there. Result!

We chose the Friends of Dave Tour based onreviews from TA and from this forum - we were not disappointed. Communicationand advance notice about meeting was all excellent and then we got an email afew days before the tour to confirm.

 

Also as advertised the group was kept smaller than the number of seats on thebus so this made things comfortable. Everyone is given an audio receiver whichyou wear on a lanyard and a soft comfortable earpiece. Christian delivers hiscommentary using this so it’s easy to hear and allows you the chance to takephotos etc. whilst still listening - it works great!!

 

The tour starts with a walking tour of Warnemunde which is Christian's hometown - if the tour was every late and you missed your boat you can stay at hishouse (this has never happened in 4 years!!)

 

Then we took the bus to Wismar and another walking tour along with a trip tothe brewery for a delicious lunch and, of course, a beer. There’s a choice offood and beverage and Christian organizes this in advance.

 

Then another short bus trip to Schwerin and walk around the city and visit tothe castle before finishing off with coffee and cakes and back to the ship.

 

Everything is well organized and Christian is a perfect host - nothing is toomuch trouble for him - in fact on this trip the bus’s air conditioning brokeand rather than pushing on and sitting in a hot bus (it was 28 degrees this dayand scorching) Christian got the bus company to get another bus for the rideback to make sure we were in the cool.

 

It was an excellent trip with an excellent and informative host - cannot faultit!!!

Got back to the ship around 715pm – hadoriginally planned Le Bistro at 730 but Virginia at the concierge re-arrangedthis to 9pm. That’s another advantage of the Haven – you can pretty much dinewhen you want to, within reason.

Had a very delicious Raspberry and Guava Mojito– which became my favourite drink and then got ready for dinner.

I often see questions about dress code on board.I think NCL has it right – there are some restaurants were smart causal -shirtand long trousers is right and others where you can be casual with shorts. Iusually wore long trousers and a shirt each evening as it felt right for me butyou can choose restaurants where you can be in shorts.

There is a such a wide range of dining onBreakaway. Our preference is for good table service and a flexibility to eatwhen we wanted. In the Haven you could simply use the Haven restaurant forevery meal and they will gladly bring dishes from the speciality restaurantsfor you. However that doesn’t change the atmosphere or environment so we wentto most of the speciality restaurants with the exception of Teppanyaki as itsnot fir us – entertaining as it is for many!

Tonight was Le Bistro and we had a very pleasantdinner in here with some wine – the Dover Sole is particularly good! Then wepopped over to see Howl at the Moon for half an hour before heading to bed

[Markj]

Day 3 At Sea

At this point we hadn’t even explored the wholeship! So after breakfast we toured the upper decks and once again weresurprised at how well so many people are accommodated. The Garden Café Buffetis not for us but the food looked well done and it didn’t appear there weremany queues. The pool area and sun decks all have plenty of space and whilst Isaw a few “reserved” beds this didn’t seem to be too much of an issue – bearingin mind the wonderful weather I thought these areas always looked comfortable –although I did think a small table in-between the sun loungers would create alittle bit of space between them!!

 

Debbie had a manicure booked in the spa thismorning and said the whole spa area was lovely. She said it would definitely beworth booking a spa pass if we weren’t in the Haven to use the facilities everyday.

 

At noon we had our Escape the Big Top game –this is great fun but decidedly difficult. All attendees are sworn to secrecyby the Mystic Emperor Breakusawayus and so no spoilers from me. You are put ingroups of around 10 and then after being rendered invisible you need to find away to change the spell. I guess therewere around 12 teams and someone did manage to crack it in the end. It wasdefinitely a brain teaser though so afterwards some brain food was in order sowe went to Wasabi for some sushi and a nice cold beer.

 

The sushi was really good quality – have to sayall the fish we had on the cruise was of the highest order!! There are alsosome hot choices and non-fish for those of you who think sushi is just aboutfish!!

 

Then at 245 it was afternoon trivia in theAtrium. This gets really busy so my tip here is to grab a seat on the deckabove that overlooks the atrium and play from there. This was fun and thequestions were tricky!

 

So back to the cabin for a nice cup of tea – hotwater from Seka and our afternoon snack and a bit of R&R.

 

Dinner tonight was in Ocean Blue – and onceagain the fish was excellent followed by the Burn the Floor dance show whichtoo was very good. Once again we used the Haven reserved seating and had greatseats.

 

So even with a day at sea there is plenty to do– or of course you can do nothing – its Freestyle Cruising after all!!

[Markj]

Day 4 – Tallinn

Same routine for breakfast and getting off theship as for Germany as we had not planned to go on any organised tour andinstead because the ship is so close to the city decided to stroll into townand do our own tour. So armed with the pages from the Rick Steve’s book we didour own walking tour. This guide book is excellent for all things Baltic and Iwould recommend it to give you ideas, background and information about all theports we visited. It even helps ahead of planning to take excursions or not.

We followed the route and took in the mainsights of the old town stopping for a beer in the main square to have a restand watch the people go by. It was a very pleasant day and a lovely place tovisit. I guess Tallinn must now beprepared for the influx of tourists from cruise ships and that on days with noships in port it must feel pretty quiet!!

Back on board for a cup of tea and some snacksin the room, then cocktails and then that evening dinner was at Moderno. I dolike this type of food but its easy to get full really quick. They have a verygood and very well stocked cold buffet area and in reality you could just eatfrom this. But once you’ve been there they bring the meat on big skewers. Therewas filet minion, flank, lamb chops, chicken wrapped in bacon, chicken leg,loin of pork, and even roasted pineapple -plus sides of mashed potato, rice andvegetables! You have a card that’s green on one side and red on the other toshow the server if you’re still hungry – I could see some people eat a loadthen turn it to red – then after a few minutes turn back to green and have somemore! It was good and there was loads.

After this we went to Syd Normans Pour House andsay the house band with Shanti, Darren, Jeri, and the band who were great. Ilike rock music and usually cruise ships have such middle-of-the -road artistsand music – but on Breakaway there was a real mix of genres and especially agood dose of rock music!!

[Markj]

Day 5 St Petersburg

Probably the highlight for most people on thecruise for two reasons – one, its difficult to get into Russia and two it hasso many wonderful places to see.

The embarkation here is also different becausethere is strict immigration control and so there are big queues to enter Russiaon the first day. There are probably 30-40 immigration officers in separatebooths – but each one takes 3-5minutes with each passenger. You need yourpassport, ship room key and tour ticket. They do not say a word and you seethem look at you with what appear to be cold eyes and then they check its you andthe picture is correct and there’s a lot of stamping and then you get yourpassport back with a slip of paper in which you give back at the end of thefirst day when you board the ship.

So with all this queuing NCL has a process. Allpassengers on NCL tours have a number for their tour and you assemble anddisembark by number. We watched people getting off as soon as the ship wascleared at around 730pm.

Those passengers on private tours were requiredto go to guest services to get a ticket with A, B, C etc. on to determine theirorder of disembarkation. We heard these being called and for people to go tothe theatre by letter for disembarkation.

Being in the Haven you could depart with the NCLtour groups when called BUT if you were on a private tour you could get offwhenever you wanted. So as we were doing a tour with Best Guides we hadbreakfast as usual and then got off with the NCL tour groups and so ourexperience through immigration was around 30 minutes. We were required to meetthe tour at 830 and did exactly that.

We had researched SPB and the various tours andopted for the Best Guides “Best of the Best”. Over two days this took in a tourof SPB, ride on the metro, tour of Peterhof and its wonderful gardens,Catherine palace, Hermitage and Winter Palace, a boat trip, Church of theSpilled Blood and walking tour in the main shopping area. Our tour guide Irinawas very good and she certainly knew her stuff. The tour had 10 people o it ina bus that sat 16 so there was plenty of room and we all had headsets so wecould hear as we walk around. What was really good was the early admission theyhad to the Hermitage and the private entry to Catherine’s Palace. The Hermitagegets rammed once general admission starts and the queues at Catherine’s Palace are3 hours long for general admission. She was also very considerate for one passengerwho had difficulty walking and arrange short cuts and a wheelchair in theHermitage.

When you get back to the ship you need yourpassport to go through immigration and give back in the slip of paper you weregiven earlier. Interestingly although NCL recommends you take your passportwhenever you go ashore we only needed it for SPB -and of course you need yourroom key card for every port on and off.

That night chilled out with dinner in the Havenand then relaxed in the lounge and our room before an early night!! There’sRussian Folk dancing on the ship in the theatre but that wasn’t for us!!

[Markj]

Day 6 St Petersburg part 2

Breakfast again in the Haven then much mucheasier to get into Russia!! Passport and key card and tour ticket again andthis time even a smile from the officer! I actually wonder if you didn’t getoff on day one and then got off on day 2 whether they would go through the samesevere process as day one??

Met Irina and did the tour which I’ve describedabove – had lunch on both days too. Day one was a bit “weird” and day two wasvery pleasant!!

We definitely enjoyed SPB and I would like to goback in the off season and spend a bit more time -it was incredibly busy andunlike Moscow very tourist friendly with most signs written in roman alphabetand not just Cyrillic. It would be good to explore the city a bit more and trysome restaurants -but for the first time visitor this kind of tour is a mustand it gives you a wonderful fell for the place.

Once again getting back on board was verystraightforward although there was a slight queue at the bag search into theterminal.

This evening we went to Cagney’s for dinner andof course I had a very nice fillet steak. It’s definitely worth keeping an eyeout outside though because I Was amazed to look out the window and see a roadwith cars on it practically coming into the side of the ship. There’s actuallya very clever piece of land reclamation that comes out into the gulf and theship passes really close to it – it just seems so strange with the ship beingso big and the buildings and land being so close! A definite kodak moment.

We went to Syds after this and enjoyed the musicand the band once again – along with a couple of beers.

Also had a stroll of the shops and Casinoalthough I don’t play – I think there’s a really good selection of shops andsome people like to buy all sorts from them and the casino is really well runand whilst one area does allow smoking I really couldn’t notice it that much!!

[Markj]

Day 7 Helsinki

I’ve been to Helsinki before and havingconsulted the Rick Steve’s guide we didn’t think we wanted to do any of theship tours but that a HoHo was about right. However in the end I booked thisthrough NCL as the price was good. Helsinki does not have the old buildings orhistory of the other ports and Finland is a relatively new country beingdeclared independent in 1917.

Once again it was easy to get off from the Havenand we got on the Hoho bus that came right to the ship. It would appear thatall the HoHo busses that operate in the city’s where the ship docks add theship to their routes and Helsinki was no exception. Although we booked via theship you could just as easily got on the next bus that came along – or there isa tram – Number 9 – which is a short walk down the road away from the ship.

The total tour was around one and a half hours.We got off at the main square and decided to add on the harbour boat tour for€9 each. We walked down to the harbour and there was a busy market thereselling a range of things. The boat tour was very pleasant and gave a good feelfor the islands that form a big part of Helsinki harbour.

Having done this we walked through the park backinto town and found a lovely café for a delicious open sandwich and cake andCoffee. Got back on the bus I the main square and then stayed on it back to theship seeing a lunatic bungee jumper along the way!

Got back to the ship and snacks were waiting inthe cabin and it wasn’t long until Seka brought along the hot water for ourtea.

As we were back on board in good time we decideto see the Rock of Ages show at 630pm and then had dinner in La Cucina bookedfor 8pm. We got our usual seats in the Haven area and I have to say that whilstthe plot line in RoA is about as thin as a sheet of paper the songs are goodand the cast and band do a great job – especially as the performance sufferedfrom technical issues with headset microphones not working or failing. I knowpeople who perform in bands or in live shows and I know how frustrating it canbe – the lead character even managed an ad-lib to joke about it – so well doneto all of them for seeing it through

The show took longer than expected and so we gotto La Cucina 25 minutes late but they were good about it. We enjoyed dinnerhere and following the caprese salad I had a delicious steak. After dinner wewent to the Martini bar for a chocolate martini and a rum cake – both deliciousbefore heading across to Syd Normans for some more Shanti rock.

[Markj]

Day 8 Stockholm

It’s well documented that Breakaway would not bedocking in the harbour in Stockholm. Which is a shame because the harbour is inthe city and it would be a perfect port. However we arrived at Nynashamn ontime but were then slightly delayed because the concertina walkway that comesout alongside the ship had malfunctioned and the local dockers were using boatsthat were not powerful enough to pull it out – it was comical when the ropebroke!! So the Captain launched a tender to help and it was soon done. Thisdelayed some people disembarking however because we knew the ship would not bein Stockholm itself we had booked a tour with NCL doing a city tour andincluding the Vasa Museum and the Skyview at the Ericsson Globe.

We boarded the coach around 830 and then had anhours drive into Stockholm. The guide was very informative and gave some goodbackground information about Sweden and Stockholm. We arrived at the VasaMuseum around 10 and were ahead of the crowds mostly because when we came outlater it was very busy. It’s an amazing sight to see and interesting to hearwhy it sunk and how it was recovered. In the same area was the Viking Museumand the Abba Museum. The latter had a huge queue and looked absolutely rammed.

After this we went to Gamla Stan or the old cityand had a short walking tour and then some time to explore and get some lunch.I was in Stockholm for the Europa League Final last year which ManchesterUnited won and bizarrely we ended up in the same café I met my friends in thatday – we had a lovely salmon and prawn open sandwich, a mandarin roulade and acouple of beers. Also bought a Dala Horse as it’s a traditional Swedish gift.

Back on the bus and out to the Ericsson Globeand the Skyview which is a glass pod that goes up the outside of the dome andgives wonderful views across the city. After this we were back on the bus andthe return to the cruise terminal.

We enjoyed the tour but like Helsinki itsprobably not a place we would re-visit.

This evening we had booked Ocean Blue again –but as we had enjoyed the food in the Haven restaurant and really enjoyed theservice in there we went there instead – we had the sea bass and Lamb chops –both were excellent.

We then went to the martini bar again for thesame two cocktails and then to Syd’s to see Roxy and her colleagues. This wasanother great show with plenty of rock hits and a good chance to sing along

[Markj]

Day 9 Day at sea

After 5 days of touring this was actually a verygood way to spend the last day as there was no need to get up at a certain timeand allowed for a leisurely day. We had planned to have sushi for lunch but aswe didn’t get to breakfast until 930 we missed lunch – although we had oursnacks of course later! Haha!

 

We did afternoon Trivia at 12 noon then Picturetrivia 245 and used the Haven pool area and generally had a good day relaxing.Debbie got a new book from the library and picked up the daily paper trivia too– (do you think we like quizzes??) Afternoon snack came as usual and we hadsome beers from our fridge that I had gotten from the bar – simply use the UBPto get 3 or 4 bottles and the stock the fridge.

 

In the evening we returned to Le Bistro and bothhad the Dover Sole – mmmm – perfectly cooked and delicious. Following this wetook in Howl at the Moon for half an hour and then went to Syds for the finalnight of rock with Shanti – only this night there were three members of RoAjoining them and the show was the best yet!! They rightly returned for anencore and did a rousing version of Van Halen’s Jump – it was the perfect endto the evening.

[Markj]

Day 10 Disembarkation

They give you a choice of disembarking – you can leave your bags outside your room and then using coloured tags they will be picked up and then you can disembark between set times. Or you can keep your bags and disembark when you want. As Haven Guests we were able to keep our bags and then use the service lift to get off at 830am. We were not around when most people got off but it all seemed pretty well organised with bags laid out by tag colour

 

We had breakfast in the Haven and I had my last eggs benedict!!! Then we sorted out tips for the people who had given us a great service during the cruise. We had paid the advanced tips and charges but these people were great and we felt they deserved a little extra . So we gave tips to Seka our butler who really looked after us so well and for whom nothing was too much trouble; for Ritzel our cabin steward who kept everything tidy,got to know when we were out so she could clean and turn down and who made a different towel animal every day ; for Virginia and the concierge team – they handle any bookings and tours and account issues wonderfully and professionally– and finally Kumar the head barman in the Haven lounge bar – he was just such a lovely man. I wish I could have tipped everyone in the Haven - Roy the cabin steward who didn’t even look after us but was always so friendly when we saw him, the two other bar staff ladies who were great, the hostess in the Haven restaurant and all the staff in their including Elsie and Teddy - all great!!!

 

Then at 830 we departed – service elevator out and then easily got a taxi to the airport. I had read that taxis were sometimes hard to get but at 830 there were 20 there and seemed to be coming and going all morning. It took 30 minutes to get to the airport and cost around £50.Flight home was at 1205pm with a slight delay in leaving we were back at Heathrowat 230pm and home by 4pm! And a nice cup of tea! :D

Edited August 5, 2018 by Markj

[Markj]

A summary/ few thoughts/ other information

I have read many debates on this forum about the value of having a Haven cabin and being in the Haven. Yes we are fortunate to be able to afford a lovely cabin however the Haven truly is a haven. It’s a lovely quiet area of the ship that lets you get away from everyone else and even though of course there are other passengers in there too it comes across as calm and tranquil. Then there’s the facilities which we think are very good – pool area, sun deck, lounge, bar,restaurant, concierge and butlers – you could spend the whole cruise in here and only leave for port visits – although that would be a great shame because Breakaway has some fabulous bars, restaurants, entertainment and other public areas. I had a look in the Vibe and if you’re in the Haven you do not need to book this – but if you were not then it’s the next best thing. Or book into the Spa as mentioned above.

 

So for our next cruise we will definitely be back in the Haven

 

We had some laundry done during the cruise –there is a deal for a full bag at $20 dollars so whilst we only had 2 items this is a good deal for some people who are on longer vacations.

 

Wi-fi – we had a $150 package but I upgraded to unlimited standard wi-fi (there is a premium package too). I had heard that the service could be slow and patchy and whilst it wasn’t home broadband speed it held up pretty well and we only had one evening when it was down – but that was shipwide. My only issue with it is that you can only connect one device at atime – and you had to log off to allow another to connect. With 2 phones and a lap top this was a touch annoying – first world problems eh????

 

There are some things we didn’t do – however I’ve read some of the other excellent Trip Reports and I would think that by combining them all we’ve pretty much covered everything. However if you have a question then please ask away and I will answer if I can.

 

Thank you for reading – I hope you are still awake!!

 

Next Cruise – back to Alaska on the Bliss in acouple of years :D

Edited August 5, 2018 by Markj

[njkate]

Great review thanks for sharing. I am on this cruise 08/18 and can not wait, in a Haven 2 bedroom as my adult son and daughter are with me. They have wonderful spouses that didn’t have an issue with them joining me

[fabnfortysomething]

we were on same cruise and embarked Warnemunde

I'm doing my own review but interesting comparing our cruise experiences

 

we were also in Syd Normans most nights

[LTC]

A great review! Did this cruise a few years ago and your review brought back nice memories of it.

[casaortiz]

An excellent read... Thanks for taking the time to share your journey. We are on this cruise in a few weeks. Hope we have cooler weather! 🤞

[sharonann24]

A wonderful review and it mirrrored many of our experiences on the July 13 sailing. We had the Haven Spa suite and loved the thermal pool access, the Haven Restaurant and bar. Our usual bar tender was a lovely lady whose names escapes me at the moment but she was wonderful and so attentive! The maitre D’s were superb as was the wait staff. I personally loved the little breakfast buffet rather than ordering off the menu, since I am a WW member and opted for my lovely fruit cup, and then indulged in the typical European breakfast of a little bread, cheese and ham! When we were it in a specialty restaurant we had dinner in the Haven. although the menu was the same they did have a nightly special so one night I had a short rib ragout, and a baby back rib dinner which was wonderful. We used Alla Tours in SPB and Stockholm which was a great decision since it eliminated the whole shuttle issue in Stockholm. Tallin and Helsinki definitely doable on your own and I agree with the assessment of Helsinki, which was.my lease favorite port. Since we had a late afternoon flight back to the US we did one NCL tour in Copenhagen which dropped us at the airport. It was good and the guide was very knowledgeable, but not in depth. I would spend more time in Copenhagen if we were to do this again. We came in a day ahead and did Tivoli, and a walking tour, but none of the museums. But that is for the future!

[KittyloverCA]

oh you guys are fancy! ;) :)

 

Great review...some day!

[Markj]

Our first cruise was an inside cabin ( no window) with NCL going around Hawaii!!!

[KittyloverCA]

My first cruise was an inside cabin ( no window) with NCL going around Hawaii!!!

 

Now that would be a drag! Inside cabin in Hawaii!

[kenrod]

Thank you for your review Markj. It gives me something to look forward to when we do this cruise next week.

[njkate]

Thank you for your review Markj. It gives me something to look forward to when we do this cruise next week.

08/18?? If so we are on same cruise

[kenrod]

08/18?? If so we are on same cruise

 

That's great! Looking forward to the cruise. Hopefully we might bump into each other.

[pe4all]

Thank you for the great review. While we are not in Haven (got numerous offers to bid on an upgrade, but decided not to) we feel we are pretty prepared to handle pretty much anything that pops up on this cruise. (we have 2 adjoining balcony cabins) We are also doing BestGuides "Best of the Best" and are prepared to (hopefully) get group A tickets to get off in SPB when we get there. I just hope the rest of whoever is in our group knows to try to get group A! Quick question: how were the lunches with BestGuides? I got the impression they were included (paid for) with the purchase of the excursion. Is this true, or did you have to pay extra for your lunches? Just want to be prepared for our family of 4.

[fabnfortysomething]

Thank you for the great review. While we are not in Haven (got numerous offers to bid on an upgrade, but decided not to) we feel we are pretty prepared to handle pretty much anything that pops up on this cruise. (we have 2 adjoining balcony cabins) We are also doing BestGuides "Best of the Best" and are prepared to (hopefully) get group A tickets to get off in SPB when we get there. I just hope the rest of whoever is in our group knows to try to get group A! Quick question: how were the lunches with BestGuides? I got the impression they were included (paid for) with the purchase of the excursion. Is this true, or did you have to pay extra for your lunches? Just want to be prepared for our family of 4.

 

not person you were asking about lunches but was also on this cruise and a word of warning about letter A to get off in St Petersburg

 

no one checks what letter you actually have so its a scrum to get to the front with many passengers ignoring letters and recommended times to just turn up at theatre same time

once off ship Russian immigration can take another hour especially if you have groups putting one person across several lines and then merging them all into the one they think shortest-in this case ours!