Breakaway Western Caribbean questions

[RocketMan275]

11 hours ago, trouble1964 said:

I have a friend that did this itinerary in December. It was her first cruise. She said that it took about 3 hours from the time they arrived at the terminal until they were on the ship. I have NEVER had to wait that long on any line. Maybe it being her first cruise, she hadn't done the online registry?? I don't know because I didn't think to ask her. 

 

You can read our experience boarding at NOLA upthread.  Delays in boarding at NOLA have nothing to do with having previously registered.  NOLA is poorly designed to handle the thousands of passengers on large cruise ships.  The waiting area is minimal in size.  There is only one security point.  Passengers are forced to stand in long lines to clear security.  Once the very small waiting area is full, no one else is processed through security until all departing passengers have left the ship and the ship is cleared.  That doesn't happen until after 1100+.   

I can easily believe three hours to board the ship especially if she arrived at the port prior to 0900.  

 

[trouble1964]

On 1/1/2023 at 7:41 AM, RocketMan275 said:

You can read our experience boarding at NOLA upthread.  Delays in boarding at NOLA have nothing to do with having previously registered.  NOLA is poorly designed to handle the thousands of passengers on large cruise ships.  The waiting area is minimal in size.  There is only one security point.  Passengers are forced to stand in long lines to clear security.  Once the very small waiting area is full, no one else is processed through security until all departing passengers have left the ship and the ship is cleared.  That doesn't happen until after 1100+.   

I can easily believe three hours to board the ship especially if she arrived at the port prior to 0900.  

 

This is the first time I have been back to the site since prior to our cruise. 

We had bought the priority boarding package, and it was a waste of money. We were in line for over an hour. We had an assigned boarding time between 1 and 1:30, and I guess everyone else did too.  That was just the beginning of the issues we had. I can honestly say this was the worst cruise experience I have ever had, and Norwegian has lost our business. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by trouble1964
added info

[rjm11]

The boarding was the worst? Or the whole cruise? I'd be curious to hear what you thought of the rest of the cruise...

[RocketMan275]

8 hours ago, trouble1964 said:

This is the first time I have been back to the site since prior to our cruise. 

We had bought the priority boarding package, and it was a waste of money. We were in line for over an hour. We had an assigned boarding time between 1 and 1:30, and I guess everyone else did too.  That was just the beginning of the issues we had. I can honestly say this was the worst cruise experience I have ever had, and Norwegian has lost our business. 

NOLA port personnel run the boarding process not NCL.  If you want a better process, you will need to choose a port with a bigger and more modern terminal.  Or, you can choose to sail on carnival.  I would expect a better boarding process on Carnival since their ship at NOLA is significantly smaller with fewer passengers.  The question is whether switching for Carnival is worth giving up NCL.

[trouble1964]

1 hour ago, rjm11 said:

The boarding was the worst? Or the whole cruise? I'd be curious to hear what you thought of the rest of the cruise...

No, the boarding was just the start. When we got to the desk, they gave us revised port times. They cut Costa Maya down to about 5 hours or so, cancelled almost all the excursions there, and the other 3 were cut a few hours as well. The only one that didn't lose any time was Harvest Caye. How convenient that it is their private island, where you have to pay for food and drinks there, and no excursions such as visiting ruins. 

 

We weren't able to see any of the comedy or the magician show. We tried to make reservations thru the TV, as suggested, but it was full. One night we went to see if maybe there were some cancelations, but there were people holding seats for others (which they had been told they couldn't do). The game shows that we did see were in the atrium where there weren't any seats. There was a big screen that they were projecting them onto, but you couldn't even see it for the people standing up. 

 

There's a lot more, but it wasn't all bad. The staff was amazing, as always, and the food was good. I wrote a review, but apparently it has to be approved before publishing. 

 

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

 

Or, you can choose to sail on carnival. 

 

No, Carnival is not happening again. The majority of their guests are just a little too loud for us. Between the adults that don't hold back, and the children that run wild, it just wasn't a good fit for us. On our last Carnival cruise, there were some older kids running through the halls at nearly midnight. They didn't just run by the door, they ran by it multiple times. Some of the best sleep I get is on a ship (I guess it is the movement) and I'm usually out by 11 pm. At home, I stay up much later. The mattress isn't as comfortable as mine at home, but I can sleep like a baby on a ship---as long as it's not noisy. 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, trouble1964 said:

No, Carnival is not happening again. The majority of their guests are just a little too loud for us. Between the adults that don't hold back, and the children that run wild, it just wasn't a good fit for us. On our last Carnival cruise, there were some older kids running through the halls at nearly midnight. They didn't just run by the door, they ran by it multiple times. Some of the best sleep I get is on a ship (I guess it is the movement) and I'm usually out by 11 pm. At home, I stay up much later. The mattress isn't as comfortable as mine at home, but I can sleep like a baby on a ship---as long as it's not noisy. 

I understand your feelings about Carnival.  My wife would divorce me if I booked a cruise on Carnival.

Still, if you want to cruise from NOLA, your choices are NCL and Carnival.

We have another cruise booked on Breakaway from NOLA for this March.  It maybe our last from NOLA.  We intend to try a late arrival time to see how that works but you're correct, the embarkation at NOLA truly sucks.  Unfortunately, it's the port that is within a comfortable driving distance.  Wife doesn't like to fly.