My View: Our End-of-Summer Breakaway

[APDMOM]

I am finally getting around to completing my trip report of our cruise on Norwegian Breakaway!  Returning to work this week has been a whirlwind, so I will try my best to post and complete this review within 1 week.  

 

I post Tips in Red so that skim-readers will be able to just grab what they need to plan their cruise vacation.

 

A bit about us:

We are a couple in our 50's with a young adult son who cruises with us.  This Breakaway cruise was number 46 for us.  We are not overly loyal to any cruise line, but NCL is our favorite to date, with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity being numbers 2 and 3 prior to this NCL cruise... DS would say RCL remains his number 1. 😄

 

When we cruise, we look at our favorite cruise lines, then price, then ship, then itinerary to make decisions about booking.  Most of our cruises are in the Caribbean, since we live in Florida.  

 

This cruise was the second week of a 'side-by-side'.  We tried Princess for the first time, with Enchanted Princess being our first experience on that cruise line.  My review was live from that ship and can be found here:

 

 

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 1 - Miami

[APDMOM]

A Bit of a Panic:

 

When I checked the app the day before and the morning of arrival, it still stated that I had 2 days until boarding.  I decided to log into my account on Safari to see what the deal was, just to find my profile telling me I had 'no cruises booked'. 😱 I decided not to enter my reservation number, because I became paranoid that ANY action on my part might make my cruise disappear.🫣 

 

 

On the way to the port, I grabbed DS's phone, with no cruise showing up on his either.  Then I had DH pull out his phone, and relief!!!

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Port Arrival and Boarding Timeline:

 

 

9:42 - First glimpse of the ship: 

 

10:20 - Parked in Garage (GPS got us lost a bit, then we had lots of traffic getting into the parking garage).

 

10:40 - Boarding Group 9 in hand, all checked in, ready to go!

 

 

TIP:  While waiting to board, we needed to use the restroom.  There are 2 single restrooms right by the area where you enter the waiting area.  There were two long lines waiting.  I noticed a sign on one of the doors indicating additional restrooms on the eastern side of the terminal.  So if you walk east (to the right of where you enter), there are 2 large restrooms. They were very clean, spacious, and practically empty!  As a bonus, you get to see this display of Norwegian Ships and history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:20 - Finally Boarding - wrinkles and all!  (Check-in was very fast, but the wait to get onto the ship was the longest in our recent 5 cruises between November 2023 and now)

 

 

[APDMOM]

A View of the ship from the terminal:

 

A View of the terminal from the ship:

 

A first view on the beautiful ship:

 

 

 

First Things on Boarding Day TIPS:

 

1. If you want to drop your carry-on luggage off at the Casino, they will keep it safely, with a tag, until the rooms are ready.

 

2. Go directly to your muster station first to get your seapass card scanned.

 

3. Open your app and make dining and show reservations.

 

Poor planning on my part:

This Over-planner, type AA cruiser really dropped the ball on research and planning for this ship.  I forgot to read my own tips from Escape, so we forgot to make our dining reservations immediately.  We could not get what we needed in the app, so we showed up at the dining reservations venue in Headliners to see if we could remedy that.  This was at 3:45 PM... no surprise, all reservations for Taste and Savor were full, so we just had to show up for dinner.  We did snag 2 reservations on the app - one for the first night for the 3 of us, and one for another night for only 2 of us... More about that later.

[shepherdqueen]

Thank you for this.  I am following along.  We're sailing her in September.

[phabric]

I enjoyed reading your other live thread on Princess.

Following along on NCL.

[Tyskie]

@APDMOM

Enjoyed your Princess review/comparison.

We've been on the BA multiple times and always enjoyed.

[Roscoe13]

1 hour ago, APDMOM said:

A View of the ship from the terminal:

 

A View of the terminal from the ship:

 

A first view on the beautiful ship:

 

 

 

First Things on Boarding Day TIPS:

 

1. If you want to drop your carry-on luggage off at the Casino, they will keep it safely, with a tag, until the rooms are ready.

 

2. Go directly to your muster station first to get your seapass card scanned.

 

3. Open your app and make dining and show reservations.

 

Poor planning on my part:

This Over-planner, type AA cruiser really dropped the ball on research and planning for this ship.  I forgot to read my own tips from Escape, so we forgot to make our dining reservations immediately.  We could not get what we needed in the app, so we showed up at the dining reservations venue in Headliners to see if we could remedy that.  This was at 3:45 PM... no surprise, all reservations for Taste and Savor were full, so we just had to show up for dinner.  We did snag 2 reservations on the app - one for the first night for the 3 of us, and one for another night for only 2 of us... More about that later.

RE:  Dropping bags in the casino, is this for anyone or just those with status on NCL?

[KKB]

@APDMOM Looking forward to following along again!

[APDMOM]

2 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

RE:  Dropping bags in the casino, is this for anyone or just those with status on NCL?

I believe it is for everyone - there was no checking of levels.

[APDMOM]

TIP: I will rate food as follows - of course based upon the opinion of our family members...

 

"Excellent" means I could eat it every day

"Very good" means I will definitely eat it again

"Good" means it was good enough for one time, and I may order it again if there is nothing more appealing

"Okay" means I liked it okay, but will not order it again

"No go" means it was not worth the calories and I most likely did not even finish the meal

 

Boarding Day Lunch:  O'Sheehan's

 

DS has been waiting for months to have a Rueben sandwich again, so we went to O'Sheehan's for our lunch:

 

Pretzel bites with cheese fondue: Excellent!

 

Blue Cheese Burger: Very Good!

 

Rueben Sandwich: Very Good! Fries were Excellent - the way we like them.

[APDMOM]

Welcome Aboard in the buffet, where we grabbed dessert:

 

[APDMOM]

Views of Miami while in port:

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Rooms Ready - around 2:20 PM

 

Our balcony: 9136

TIP:  Look at the deckplans when you book your balcony.  Some balconies are angled, therefore a bit larger than others. 

 

The Verdict on this balcony:

It was a great balcony overall, but you can hear the music from the shows late at night.  I cannot imagine how loud it is on deck 8 if we can hear it all the way on deck 9.  There were only late shows 2 nights of our cruise, and everything usually got quiet around 11:30.  It is a long walk from the elevators, but we enjoy this for the extra calories we can shed... my excuse to eat more desserts 😁

 

We were a bit disappointed that we did not have a lounger on the balcony, but we love the extra space... I immediately made a plan to ask for a lounger from our room steward.  I would gladly take 'no' for an answer, but would always wonder if I do not ask...more about that to come.

 

 

The double size on the right side, due to angle:

 

 

The view aft:

 

The view forward: 

 

 

The View below:

 

The View Above:  People abovecan see you when you are on the right side edge of the balcony, but not when you are on the left.  It allows for adequate privacy.

 

[APDMOM]

Inside Views:  Upon arrival and after the 3rd bed was prepared on a different day.  We messed it up a bit - the room steward did a much better job!  🙂 

 

 

TIP:  The hat is hanging on a magnetic hook that I had packed to create extra space.  Below the hat is our magnetic thermometer that always travels with us to monitor the temperature in the room - DH is OCD that way 😉

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Request:

Please report back if all pictures are posting and loading for you... I am having internet issues due T-Mobile updates in our area. From my views of loading pages pictures seem to not be posting... 😬

Edited August 3 by APDMOM
Clarify

[Roscoe13]

37 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

Request:

Please report back if all pictures are posting and loading for you... I am having internet issues due T-Mobile updates in our area. From my views of loading pages pictures seem to not be posting... 😬

All good with pictures. 

[APDMOM]

51 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

All good with pictures. 

Thank you!  Wanted to make sure I would not have to redo everything. 🙂

[APDMOM]

Storage and such:

 

 

Fridge has water - not free:

 

 

Two US and Two Euro plugs:

 

 

TIP: There are buttons inside the room to have the room made up, or to request not to be disturbed.  Below this is a slot to place a card to activate power and lights in the room.  You can use any card - we even just put a business card into the slot, and it worked.  Remember to remove the card when you leave so that the room steward can know when the room is empty.  The card also activates a small light above the door outside the room to indicate when you are 'home' (aka the card is in the slot).

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

TIP:  If your suitcases are not at the room when you arrive, walk down the hallway on your deck.  They line up all the suitcases in one area before delivery, and you can pick yours up to roll to your room. This is what we did, so we were unpacked and settled within 30 minutes after rooms were ready.

 

Bathroom of 9136:  I love that NCL has liquid soap by the sink.  So much better than the messy bar soap

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Dinner and sailaway:

Unfortunately, sail away was delayed, so we were at dinner when we left port.  We enjoyed dinner in Savor this first night.  (Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures.  I did not always remember to retake pictures in the MDR with the menu not hidden behind glass):

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Our Selections:

 

Shrimp Cake - Beyond Excellent!  This is one of the best appetizers I ever had - at sea or on land.

 

Cheese Ravioli: Very good (DS)

 

Greek Salad: Excellent (DH)

 

Shrimp Scampi: Excellent (DS)

 

Rotisserie Chicken: Good (DH)

 

Chicken Piccata - Very good

 

Warm Chocolate Lava Cake (Note the FREE gelato scoop!) - Excellent

 

Fresh Fruit (DH tries to stay away from "added" sugar. We joke that he is always in trouble and not allowed to have dessert.)

 

 

[APDMOM]

Sailaway Views at dinner:

 

 

 

Edited August 4 by APDMOM
Photo edit

[APDMOM]

After dinner entertainment:

We spent the evening walking around to find our favorite public entertainment.  We settled on listening to Matthew at Shakers bar.  He is an excellent musician - I was fascinated by how he used technology to harmonize and manipulate his own accompaniment.  

 

Tequila Tasting Fun: