Live from the Breakaway March 17-31, 2024

[YVRteacher]

@Always Cruising it was a wonderful experience! I wrote about it in post #250.

[YVRteacher]

Week 2 Day 7

Sea Day

Earlier in the week the Maître d at Ocean Blue stopped me as we were leaving to see if I wanted to meet with him regarding vegetarian meals. I said I was doing great, that the selections were plentiful and that I needed to get to Howl at the Moon on time. The next day he was also the Maître d in American Diner. He checked in with me again and I asked if I could have a veggie burger there.  When I asked last week the waiter just said no.  Mr. Maître d said of course and we arranged for the veggie burger to happen today. Oh, that was a good burger! Brioche buns make a difference.

I also ordered a side of plantain from the Lechón Asado.

All my friends ordered the chicken sandwich.

We have loved our meals in American Diner and today’s lunch was no exception.

 

We spent the afternoon sunning and holding down a variety of deck chairs and bar stools. 

 

 I have used two full bottles of sunscreen in the past 14 days, plus partial amounts of others

 

I’ve had such a great time on this ship and this itinerary and there is so much more to see and do in each of these ports that I’m doing it all again next year on the Getaway.  I booked the trip today through Cruise Next and none of the offers applied to a studio. I enquired about a solo balcony but it was double the price of a studio so I just booked two weeks in a studio. Cruise ship math at its best!

 

Our last supper was at Wasabi and sadly, our food was not made with love and care. Instead it was made with carelessness and missing ingredients. My Shojin roll was missing the lettuce, the asparagus and the avocado so I sent it back. The second time it was also missing ingredients and was doused in black sesame seeds so I didn’t really enjoy it. The drinks were great,

 

service was super slow and bumbling as has often been the case this week. We were there over an hour before any food arrived and I was super hungry and getting lightheaded from the drinks so asked for a basket of bread that they serve in Ocean Blue. They brought the bread (which we all shared) and one bread plate.

We were using one Latitudes meal voucher so we ordered 8 items.

 

When Cruise Critic friend showed a photo of his food from earlier in the week and compared it to what he received tonight, the waiter said the chefs were too busy to prepare a nice presentation. Cruise Critic friend had some onboard credit to spend to he ordered another 2 items but in the end those items were comped. Out of the 4 of us the other three did enjoy their food but mine wasn’t good. I ate it because I was hungry. I just asked Vancouver friends how their sushi was and they said it was lovely with delicious flavours.

 

 

 

 

 Even though my food wasn’t up to par I still had a great time with the four of us together. All my friends blended so well and we shared so many meals and conversations.

 

Our tableside entertainment was the family of children sitting on the waterfront for Wasabi. We admired their prowess with chopsticks and compared our own lives growing up where sushi wasn’t as readily available in Vancouver as it is now.  All the kids had octopus balls and only one landed on the deck.

 

We met at the sushi bar at 5:30 and didn’t finish until after 7:30 so it was straight to Headliners to secure seats for our last Howl at the Moon of the cruise.  Sigh. I will miss the Howlers and am already anticipating the next time I get to see them.

[YVRteacher]

It’s like Teens Gone Wild on this ship this week.

The best advice I have for coping with such an invasion is to avoid all places where teens might be: this includes stairs, stairwells, hallways, decks, pools and locations with food.

 

Today a teen group was having a flip competition on deck 11 and another pack was doing ding dong ditch on all floors. I watched as a frenzied teen barrelled down the hall so I stepped in front of him because I knew there was an older gentleman behind me carrying two full cups of coffee. I was a mere speed bump to the teen and the coffee carrying man turned to me in the aftermath of the ding dong ditching teen and said, “he must be on drugs.”

 

As Howler Jen says it was teenage soup in all the jacuzzis this week. A hot tub would look full and a hoard of teens would arrive, shimmy themselves in and the festivities would continue.

[YVRteacher]

The final Howl at the Moon for passengers was also the final show for these three talented musicians: they all disembark with us in New Orleans and a new trio boards.

 

The finale did not disappoint. 
Jen did Baby Got Back which was a stellar rendition.

You haven’t lived if you haven’t seen and heard Elisa doing I’m Just Ken from Barbie. Ryan Gosling by request.

In contrast, if I never hear another Neil Diamond song sung by a tribute guy, it’s okay. Jen and Elisa are both on the Getaway in Greece for three weeks in July. Get thee to Athens for some baklava and some shipboard piano shenanigans.

 

 

 

Saw this. Do you think he knows???

 

 

Time to pack. This is always the perfect time to take stock of what was used and needed and what wasn’t. 

 

Items I was glad I packed:

Beach cover up

Hair straightener 

My own shampoo and conditioner

My own bar of soap

Lots of sunscreen

Sunglasses

Great book

Water bottle

Lysol Wipes to clean the cabin

 

Items I packed but never used:

pants

two black tops

(I could have done without running shoes but I did appreciate them in New Orleans before the cruise)

 

Items I wish I had packed 

-light coloured sleeveless cotton tops

-an extra bathing suit

-flight pillow

 

Everything I Purchased

-spring jacket from Nordstroms

-summer dress from the Gap

-turmeric and white pepper from the Belize Spice Farm

-handmade circular trivet thingy from Belize for my basket wall (photo to come-it’s Pinterest worthy!)

-clay pot in Roatan

-hair band in Cozumel. This is for Iceland this summer and next summer. It’s so windy and I was wishing for something to keep the hair out of my face.

-more sunscreen (at Walgreens in New Orleans)

[Always Cruising]

44 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

@Always Cruising it was a wonderful experience! I wrote about it in post #250.

Just found the post - sounds like a fabulous evening!

[YVRteacher]

Final morning

(Written Sunday March 31)

 

It’s a sad day in March: we had to depart the Breakaway today.  Embarkation went exponentially smoother this week as compared to last week and there weren’t the mobs of grumpy, stubborn people blocking stairwells and elevator banks.

 

We all met for breakfast with a view of New Orleans in the outdoor seating area of the Garden Cafe.  It must have rained this morning because the decks were slick and the streets were wet. My skin feels silky smooth from all the humidity the last two weeks.  The Garden Cafe was not the madhouse you might expect. Plenty of food and plenty of seats were available. I had eggs and fruit and special juice. Special juice is half cranberry and half apple. It’s my secret recipe.

 

I didn’t need luggage tags to disembark and my friends had selected purple which was the last colour so we were able to spend more time with @fstuff1  When we got off the elevators on deck 7 Mariah, the GM’s secretary who organized our dinners with the officers, pulled us all out of line and sent us through the top-secret speedy priority disembarking exit.  The procedure in the terminal was a simple facial recognition scan then a few more steps to the taxi stand.  We don’t even need to show passports. We priced it out and the sensible decision was to share a taxi to the airport. I was expecting a long taxi line but there was a steady stream waiting and we hopped into a large black Suburban and were off. The taxi driver did not load or unload our luggage. I would not have tipped him but friend from home did.

 

It was sad saying goodbye to @fstuff1I’ll miss you, my friend, and look forward to our next cruise. (Cruise Critic friend stayed in New Orleans for a few days after the cruise and when I asked him what he did on Monday he said that the foursome with us three ladies wore him out so he needed a rest day😂😂😂) 

 

If you are a vegetarian and you may need food at the airport, figure that out before you get to MSY.  It was all ham and turkey and tuna and crawfish and various other items with eyes and a mother. No fruit, no veggie trays, no salads. 

 

Once on board the plane, the flight attendant kept announcing that the plane was “very full.” The plane is either full or not full. The woman next to me went through every single movie available giving her analysis: seen it, seen it, not good, seen it, don’t want to watch it, not interested, seen it, seen it. If I didn’t have 4.5 hours next to her I would have said shhhh in my teacher voice. I must be losing my touch because I just didn’t feel like complaining or getting into things on this trip.

 

Movie Selecting Woman also does not understand the International Rules for Middle Seat Occupancy and her bony antelope-like elbows keep venturing into my air space.

Wars have started for less than this.

 

I’m glad I didn’t spring for the ice bar on the Breakaway because we got the full frozen experience on the Delta flight from MSY to LAX. The air conditioning was blasting and people were digging through their luggage trying to find anything to provide warmth and cover. The guy behind me tried to crawl into a plastic bag at one point. Oh how I coveted one of those colourful quilted capes from the ice bar! Using all my survival training, I hunkered down and conserved energy to maintain bloodflow to the extremities.

 

Then the snack cart came along and I had free Sun Chips.

 

There is a tiny bit of turbulence so the beverage and snack service was suspended for all but first and comfort class for the remainder of the flight. Can you imagine if a cruise ship did that? “Oh, it’s a teeny tiny bit of a swell. No drinks for you.” A full on uprising would ensue and there would be 412 posts about it on CC.

 

Not good, Delta. Not good.  It was not for the flight attendants’ safety. No one was even lifted out of their seats and nothing was flying about. It was just wispy little clouds.

Edited April 6 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

Found 3 books to add to my TBR list at the fabulous bookstore at LAX. I don’t buy books. I use the library.

 

 

 

Leaving LAX

 

 

Arriving at YVR (that’s my user name. It’s our airport code plus the first two letters of my first name and the last letter of my last name.)

Home.

Where the wifi works, a bra is optional and emotional support ostrich brings a smile. Plus the bed is comfortable.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Breakaway

 

What’s Working Well

 

-highly present GM, assistant GM, CD and other senior officers 

-bartenders and bar waiters are outstanding

-drinks were all excellent. Zero complaints except for that smoky beach thing. That isn’t NCL’s fault. Smoked peach is apparently not my thing.

-quality of food (best I’ve ever had in NCL by far.)

-Howl at the Moon

-great food in the Garden Cafe and great organization for crowd flow. 

-treats in the Studio Lounge and espresso machine in the Studio Lounge are so appreciated 

 

What Needs Improvement

-stop reserving 25% of elevators for Haven guests on port days

-make sure food is presented cleanly and nicely (this is true fleet wide. I’ve noticed a huge decline in the presentation and plating)

-Shore Excursion staff are unfriendly, not flexible, not visible on the piers and not effective communicators. There also needs to be longer Shore Ex desk hours.

-way too much paper is delivered to the cabin 

-the wooden seats in Headliners are awful. Get padded seats.

-the massive chairs in the atrium are ridiculous and eliminate space for more reasonable-sized chairs

-have quiet signs and an expectation of quiet in the thermal spa like the other ships do

-get new mattresses for the beds in the Studio cabins. Mine was awful. Not a little awful but a lot awful. The whole bed including the frame needs to be thrown overboard.

-the entertainment was seriously lacking. Bring back production shows and Broadway shows. Showing a movie in the theatre is not acceptable evening entertainment and neither are comedians who put zero effort into preparing their sets. If you are going to bring Levity Comedy acts on board the quality needs to be there. 

 

[YVRteacher]

 

All is right with the world. The laundry tags still exist.

[GALSews]

 

Always a pleasure to follow your cruises. If I remember correctly, you are getting back to Vancouver from another cruise as we depart on the Jewel to head to Seward.

 

Wishing you safe travels and thanks again for letting us travel with you.

[YVRteacher]

@GALSews you do remember correctly! I hope you enjoy a fabulous experience in Alaska and a wonderful cruise on the Jewel.

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Showing a movie in the theatre is not acceptable evening entertainment and neither are comedians who put zero effort into preparing their sets. If you are going to bring Levity Comedy acts on board the quality needs to be there. 

 

While DS and I were more than happy to sit through the 3D showing of Guardians of the Galaxy in the theatre, I was also bummed about the comedy acts on Bliss doing the same jokes both sets. Like the EXACT same jokes. They weren't funny the first time, so what makes them think they will be better the second? Well, to be fair, DS howled like a 12 year old boy at them, despite watching them twice...

[ceilidh1]

You, my friend, have gifts waiting! Fresh from the Bliss - currently in my fridge. Starfish tea!!!!

[YVRteacher]

@ceilidh1 I love you!!!!!!!  
When is brunch?

[YVRteacher]

I have good news and bad news.

 

The bad news is that my lovely ficus did not survive my absence and my forgetting to water it in the weeks before I left. Sorry, ficus plant.

 

The good news is my dad fared much better than the ficus. When I called him my first day back and asked how he was doing he said “oh, I’m alive.”

 

We spent a wonderful day together yesterday doing errands, walking through the bird sanctuary and savouring a terrific meal and drinks at Brown’s. My dad was cheerful and talkative and this was one of his best days in a long time so that was pretty special. I took him to the equivalent of the DMV to renew his id card and we went to the drugstore to buy earplugs for our upcoming cruise on the Jewel. They blast the music in the theatre.

 

My Dragon Bowl at Brown’s

 

We shared dessert

 

 

[Ottawa Lynne]

On 3/25/2024 at 9:58 AM, YVRteacher said:

Any other people in Girl Guides/Girl Scouts who hear port and starboard and start humming Barges??

Yes!!! I so loved that song! What a great memory unlocked.