Our " Getaway " to the Breakaway - NOLA 1/22/23 - live ?

[Molokai-Chuck]

Standing by for you Breakaway Journey!!

[JIMESOPUS]

One more comment about today and getting off the ship. There too many aboard that have the need to get off first, PAX were lining up well before the ship docked today. It seems that the excursion team have the people meeting outside the ship, on the BA in November all excursions were sent to the main theater, then they went off as a group, that isn't happening here and might be the reason for folks wanting off first. 

[JIMESOPUS]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Since I'm nosy, I looked at your cruise spreadsheet. I noticed "The Shrike" on the meet and greet page. Did they attend? I haven't seen this poster in several months and enjoyed their contributions. Thanks for entertaining the awkward, stalker type post.

I don't know, only 40 showed up out of 100 and most of them I have sailed with before

[JIMESOPUS]

Day 7 ... 2266 miles to New Orleans, watched the catwalk limbo today, spent some time in town, Boatyard was packed. Most of the day spent aboard out of the 90+f weather. Not to beat on a drum but I think I just heard a dial tone, upload success rate down to about 60%

[JIMESOPUS]

Catwalk limbo - after exiting the ship we had to walk to the terminal or wait for a bus, the catwalk was about 2 ft wide, this took 35 minutes to upload, thank god we have the drink package

[JIMESOPUS]

Welcome to Day #8, it's Sunday don't know what's open in St Johns today, arrival time is around noon. Laundry day, found this tip on the boards a while back. Insert a plastic bag inside those thin paper bags, able to get more in and with the tie nothing falls out. ( 1 jean, 2 shorts, 8 T shirts and 3 dress shirts ). Spotty showers forecast, Windy shows everything to the north of St John's right now.

[JIMESOPUS]

Day #8 recap !!! What about those Giants !! For those who are wondering, football can be found on channel #27 in your cabin and throughout the ship.

I think we finally got our account straighten out, will see in the next day or so if the issues are corrected.

Walked in town today, most of the good shops and restaurants where closed, as expected. Something political was going on, cars / trucks with red flags driving around, blowing horns and shouting.

Closed up the Atrium tonight, we are doing are best in rotating the liquor supply.

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Day #9 Recap .. Only ship docked, which seemed unusual. We got a few extra hrs today since DR was cancelled. Most folks got off early but slowly returned during the day, windy conditions throughout the day. SkyTram stopped several times because of this. North / East side of the Island worse, scattered showers too. We took a walk into Charlotte Amalie, great see our tax dollars at work, the old rundown side walk from the yacht club to the government buildings has been replaced. MLK parade thru the shopping district.

Barf Bags out last also an announcement by the Captain confirmed what was seen on Windy. Three sea days ahead, once I get my laundry back I'll start the " live " reporting. Returns seem to be slow, Carols laundry was gone for almost 2 days

Day #10 - calm seas, Windy has it smooth sailing the next 36 hrs -fingers crossed  

[JIMESOPUS]

Seems this semi-live report is becoming the morning update.

Unable to batch upload, one at a time

Officers, cabin 1078# ( lived in for 10 days ), morning healthy drink, Royal drive-by and outdoor Syd's ( our hangout )

Starting to get upload failures, that's all for now

[JIMESOPUS]

Yesterday was spent walking around and passing out candy, it's funny how they react but they are so thankful. Room is picked up, my suitcase ( my go bag ) is almost ready. Weather once again is almost perfect, sitting here this morning with the door open, sounds of waves crashing into the ship and simply enjoying every last minute. Still 64f but you can feel a slight cold breeze once and while.

 

Weather in NOLA looks to be raining on Sunday but Saturday should be a good travel day.

 

 

Welcome to DAY #12 

Edited January 19, 2023 by JIMESOPUS

[JIMESOPUS]

For some reason we couldn't get a " hot breakfast ", we settle on O'Sheehans for most of the days. Typical breakfast for us, Scramble Eggs for Carol and French Toast for me. The bacon every time was perfect. 

 

The second slot pull was a winner, we didn't informed the casino this time. Double the entry money, highest spin of $320 was Carol's, I guess we all now who is the professional gambler in this family, lol.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by JIMESOPUS

[mking8288]

@JIMESOPUS  That looks like OSH's classic breakfast, almost forgotten what they are like ... after a few months.  We are ready to take over coverage on the Getaway while you move to the Breakaway this weekend.  Happy, safe & healthy travel coming home and then dance the way to NOLA.  

 

How was services, quick & served nicely & hot (warm) ... we might just bypass the MDR for embarkation lunch & eat in O'Sheehan's for a change, avoiding the GA's buffet if we can, sailing sold out & full tomorrow.  

 

Regards 

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288O'Sheehans for us had the best service, in fact we got to know them throughout the cruise and they started to called us by our first names. Overall I believe there is a crew shortage, never seen bartenders going out and bussing tables and moping the floors, bartenders being moved around constantly to keep up the crowds. 

[JIMESOPUS]

Typical lunch during port days, we try to avoid the buffet most of the time but a late lunch on port days we are able to get a seat and avoid most of the " Karen's "

 

Surprise today from the GM

[JIMESOPUS]

Dinner and a show, Cagney's again was outstanding. Got lucky tonight that we had a window seat and was able to watch the show.

[Travelicious]

8 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

For some reason we couldn't get a " hot breakfast ", we settle on O'Sheehans for most of the days. Typical breakfast for us, Scramble Eggs for Carol and French Toast for me. The bacon every time was perfect. 

 

The second slot pull was a winner, we didn't informed the casino this time. Double the entry money, highest spin of $320 was Carol's, I guess we all now who is the professional gambler in this family, lol.

 

 

Enjoy that bacon on the Getaway.  It was only available days 1 and 2 on recent Breakaway cruise.  Hopefully supplied by now.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Travelicious

[cruiseny4life]

12 hours ago, Travelicious said:

Enjoy that bacon on the Getaway.  It was only available days 1 and 2 on recent Breakaway cruise.  Hopefully supplied by now.

I ordered "extra" bacon at breakfast several times on Getaway a couple weeks ago. I was surprised at how much they gave me! In a good way. I hope Norwegian isn't going the way of Carnival by rationing bacon. Eeeeeek!

 

12 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Dinner and a show, Cagney's again was outstanding. Got lucky tonight that we had a window seat and was able to watch the show.

 

 

I've never understood why someone would want to eat dinner and be so close to dancers. I'd rather not eat the dust and dirt kicked up by dancers...looks like you found a perfect vantage point to safely watch the show without any extra minerals added.

[JIMESOPUS]

Good Morning from the home office ... off the ship at 0715, traffic north on the Henry was heavy but south it was a standstill. After the GWB it was smooth sailing. Arrived home around 0930, still wearing my lanyard.. SW boarding pass printed, way back in the A line again. Weather in Albany for tomorrow looks good, boarding time 0530. Guess it's a 2 am wakeup call.

Carol has about 16hrs to turn it around.

Weather in New Orleans looks wet for Saturday and Sunday.

Getaway was great, crew fantastic ( over worked in some areas ) but something was amiss. I will follow up later today, right now it's back to chores 

[like2cruise]

You do awesome posts.  Hope the Wi-Fi allows you to post menus and Freestyle Daily Paper on the Breakaway...so helpful for those of us sailing shortly after you.  Thanks in advance!!  I will be reading your every word...especially about any itinerary changes that seemed to have been happening the last 5 weeks.  Safe Travels to New Orleans.  

[JIMESOPUS]

Quick Getaway review / observations

 

I used to work for a company that in recent years had the mantra " do more with less ". There was a definite crew shortage during our cruise, not sure if it's a ship problem, cruise line or the entire industry 

 

MDR - In the past the servers worked as a team of two, this past cruise there was only one server which ended up with food left staged in the " backroom", food was constantly lukewarm for us especially breakfast which is why we started eating at O'Sheehans. 

 

Moderno Steak house, did ever leave that place hungry? Well we did. We started getting the meat course before the sides ever arrived. The " best meat " for us was the bacon wrap chicken. It was an early seating, not packed but the pace of the gauchos was very slow to a point that we flipped the card.  

 

Entertainment 

Did you ever cruise with three comedians? We had Mike Burton ( fantastic ), Jay Black ( always checked his watch ) and Joe Larsen ( checked his notes all the time ). They were used to fill in the gaps of no entertainment. Several nights in the main theater or down in the Illusionarium and then finally Headliners. Once you seen an act expect a near repeat of the same material even the +18 show. 

Besides the two main shows Burn the Floor and the Million Dollar Quartet. The show downstairs Broadway Unplugged that was it, nothing else, not even a terrible magician or acrobatics.

Syd's - Well they reappeared on our cruise but there was only four show nights, opening night act, three Rumours shows ( one one night and two in the other night ) and then Prom night. This would be expected on a 7 day cruise but we are on a 12 day cruise. The captain every morning during his announcements mention social distancing which seemed funny to me, guess he never seen Syd's( packed like a subway car ) or the main theater (was completely full on some nights ) . For Syd's we sat outside and listen to the music, that started getting crowded but at least we where outside. 

 

Bars - Lack of servers, bartenders bussing tables, moping floors, restocking glassware and filling the ice bins. Those folks where hustling all night, the one thing that bother me was my tip was going into a bucket, if I feel that person provided me with great service then that person should get that tip.

 

My brain is starting to shut down so that's all for now. Checked flightaware and we are still on time.

It's up to you SW.

 

 

[JIMESOPUS]

One last check before we head out, weather in Albany looks great, connecting in Baltimore also looks good too ..  rain forecasted for NOLA this after, going to Mothers for lunch if the rain holds off.

 

[Mechman]

Enjoy the Breakaway!  Will be following this thread, as we are on it the following week for the Vlogger Extravaganza group cruise!

[JIMESOPUS]

So SW you were the only plane leaving this morning and you sat there for an extra 25 minutes, our 1 hr layover turn into a brisk walk, thanks.

Somewhere down there is @mking8288 and the Getaway. Finally a sunrise over the Atlantic at 35000 ft

Edited January 21, 2023 by JIMESOPUS

[JIMESOPUS]

Room was ready when we arrived, Harrah's ( free ) see post #36 and you will know why. Lunch / Dinner at Mothers, had to tear apart that PoBoy to eat it ( Ham was better than the roast beef ), walk around 

[JIMESOPUS]

Looking out the window this morning and found the BA, reminds me of Southampton Holiday Inn and seeing the Prima. 1100 am check in time slot, no hurry today. Planning on walking over, weather permitting.