dman72

Here we go again.

Anyone on the ship recently know if Norwegian changed the informational TV program that tells you all aboard time is 4:30?

As stated in an earlier thread, I was on the 8/23 sailing and it was still saying 4:30.

You aren't allowed to open the balconies. It has been discussed on a number of threads here on CC. NCL sites it is a fire hazard, which is BS, but bottom line is the stewards won't unlock the dividers...FYI

On the Breakaway a few weeks back, a deck below us had about 4 balconies in a row open...so not sure if they were breaking the rules or what.

Sounds like you are looking for bang for your buck. If that is the case then a Long Island Ice Tea is what you want. Its basically a glass of liquor. Slam 2 and call me in the morning.

 

6&8

 

 

EDIT: Demonyte beat me to it.

And considering that fact it doesn't taste half that bad, the true evil/danger of that concoction.

Never tried a Zombie but apparently that's an old school version of something similar.

Long Island Ice Tea usually has pretty good price-abv ratio. :D :D

Ding ding!!! Winner.

Breakaway goes down 3 or 4 notches on the AC..we never had it below 2 and it got chilly. Of course it's if 95 degrees out and you leave your balcony door open constantly, it might have to work harder.

 

Anything weird about NCL UDP (Drink package) we should know? seems the same as royals, 12 buck drinks and under included, for the most part.

 

Beer selection..... does NCL have a decent beer selection besides the typical piss beers (miller, bud, coors, heini, corona). NCL dipping thier toe in the craft beer business like Celebrity is????

 

Dinner - I know its freestlye looking forward to it. Do we need to book it all in advance? Is it hard to get seats? or can you just walk up? (we eat casual, probably wont eay at blu or any high dollar one, maybe the medium range pay places though).

 

Thanks, looking for some info from some NCL pro's....I know I can school a lot of people on Royal in's and out's...I feel like I am starting over looking at NCL :)

I wouldn't say they are a "craft beer" line yet, but they do have Sam Adams (still very good although the snobs will tell you it isn't because it isn't "cool") and Newcastle, so you don't have to drink crap..that's what I drank when it wasn't LI Iced teas on the UBP....very dangerous. :eek: There is really nothing weird about it. You pay the tip and anything over $11 (I think I had one glass of wine over $11).

We made reservations at the Main dining rooms for 5:30 every day..we have kids and I don't want to wait for tables.

They seat people as quickly as they can, but when 50 people show up at the same time..you are going to wait. We had issues with this on the Dawn a few years back and I think "freestyle" is a bit overrated in this area. Rotating dining rooms in Disney with the same waiters=MUCH better service and less waiting.

However, the upcharge restaurants...especially considering the UDP being offered free...you are going to want to get reservations as soon as possible, walk ups are often turned away.

On the other hand I hate having to pack a suit on a cruise to a tropical destination, so I like NCL in that regard.

are there very many options for chaise lounges in the shade? I think someone said by the kids pool but anywhere else on ship?

Not loungers. Chairs at tables outside the buffet and at the uptown grill, yes. The loungers are all taken by chair hogs by 5:30am. Most of what is available is after that is in the sun.

Can't you just book 2 rooms with 2 in each, or do you not get the UBP promo then?

Seems like with a family of 4 people, you are better off booking 2 adjoining rooms and opening up the balconies.

The biggest non suites are the mini suites, but as stated above, they are not much different to the balconies.

 

If you want the extra room then there aren't many options other than a suite.

 

Alternatively, look at other ships which have non haven suites. They still coat a lot more than the balconies/mini suites, but you can get some slightly better prices if you shop around.

That's pretty much what I thought. The mini-suite is basically just a bigger bathroom. The balcony rooms that go up in price all seem to be just bigger balconies on lower decks.

Do they have custom made crepe' station in the buffet area ??

 

Have you tried one? Strawberries, whip cream, chocolate sauce.

I was on the previous cruise, and yes they have it. It's good. They had a desert crepe in the main dining rooms one night, and it was bad..way too much of that Raspberry Liquor taste. The ones at the buffet are way better.

It seems like there is a huge jump from non-haven rooms to the haven.

I'd like to have a haven sized room but don't want to pay more in gratuities for services I won't use.

What are the biggest non-haven rooms on the breakaway?

The carpet in the Venetian used to be green. They should have stuck with that color. The Dawn used to sail to Bermuda from NY I was on it in 2010. I actually liked it better than the Manhattan room on the Breakaway for the simple fact that the windows were huge and it was light with a great view.

Half the windows in the Manhattan Room on the Breakaway have screens over them because of Burn the Floor and wanting the stage lights to work. I wish they would open and close them..too dark in there.

Reliving my cruise to Bermuda the prior week through you!! Wish I could have done back to backs.

This is a design flaw of having an open air club with pounding music. It's almost impossible to soundproof. Our room was deck 11 aft and I could hear the music cwith our balcony door open. With it closed, it was a non-issue. There was definitely vibration but I'm not sure if that was music or some issue with the ships propellers. The ship vibrated a lot with the side propellers were running during docking. It seemed to vibrate a lot intermittently at certain times during sailing

I've only been on 3 ships (Disney Magic, Norwegian Dawn, and Breakaway), so take what I say considering that.

I like most of the ships design. I thought there was a decent amount of storage space in the room and we had 4 people in there. If you take everything out of your bags and put them under the bed, you are in good shape.

My main issue is that the casino and the subsequent cigarette smoke dominates the area around the grand staircase..that should have been put in a separate closed in area.

The main pool is definitely too small for sea days...there is room underneath the slides they should have put in a lazy river or something.

The buffet is designed exactly as it is on other Norwegian ships (the Dawn for instance)...it's just much bigger. I have no issue with it, it was better than the buffet on the Disney Magic in every way.

Going on our first NCL cruise out of NYC in a number of years and need a little help...

 

 

1. Can we bring wine onboard with us?? If so, carry-on only?
   
2. Can you bring soda and/or bottled water onboard? If so, carry-on only?
   
3. Which restaurants on the Breakaway are free?
   
4. What type of products are available in the staterooms? shampoo? conditioner? body wash?
   
5. What are musts on the breakaway that you need to reserve in advance?
   
6. What are the not to miss shows onboard?
   
7. What else do I need to know about the Breakaway?
   

Thanks!

On the first four:

1)no

2)water only

3) Taste, Savor, Manhattan Room, O'Sheehans, Uptown Grill, Noodle Bar, Hot Dog Carts, Buffet. Moderno breakfast buffet only.

4) Soap and Shampoo only

Not worth it for a mini suite. Maybe a couple dollars a night per person max.

The pool areas on the Breakaway and Getaway are similar...on the Breakaway they were very crowded on sea days, not so much evenings at sea, and empty when docked. I found in general the pool areas very slippery...my sons wore water socks luckily...the one time I went up to do the free fall slide in bare feet (can't wear water socks on it) I almost blew out my Achilles slipping down the stairs on the way down, and I saw a woman go down very hard on the stairs. The surface overall is way too slick, needs much more grit.

Luckily my 3 year old is tall enough to go on everything, and once he went down the slides, that's all he cared about...but there were 6 year olds on our cruise that were barely over the minimum. The minimum is 40". If your child is under that height, they may be disappointed. The free fall slides on Breakaway have a weight minimum of 100Lbs also.

Apparently the other 4000 passengers got the message loud and clear.

I was one of those 4000.

We also noticed the inconsistencies in what NCL was telling people between their recorded messages and thought it should have been corrected.

So many litigious people out there. How about personal responsibility. Kind of like when a lady sued McDonald's and burned herself and won because the coffee is hot. Isn't coffee supposed to be hot? I bet the mother of the two knew when to arrive back just like the other 4000 people.

I'll restate it again: The cruise line has an information video running on their cabin TV service that specifically states that the all aboard time is 2 hours later than it actually is...you think this is a personal responsibility issue only? I'd say it's a serious oversight by NCL. That's not "litigious" nor does it have a friggin' thing to do with the McDonalds coffee incident. I'm frankly surprise more people weren't late considering this.

Anybody else think that the buffet food could be a few degrees hotter overall? I like the Eggs Benedict as well, but felt a bit concerned eating them lukewarm, which they usually were. Luckily no GI issues though, eating 2 of them every day.

They have a few of them in the aft of the ship, I believe deck 6 or 7, we got some good pictures in front of, and I think one was a beach another was a canoe on a river.

Wow!!!

 

If what you say is actually happening...and I don't think you would post if it weren't.....then ncl is totally responsible for any and all expenses for those left behind!!

 

On my jan ba 12 night I read the dailies word for word and saw that they stated that smoking WAS allowed on the balcony!!!

 

A newbie that does not live and breath cruise critic like we do would not know that smoking isn't allowed

 

Remember their are still pax who do not do any research and just go with a Ta suggestion

 

Well I showed guest services this and of course it took them 2 days to correct the dailies and they were blaming it on the ships printing person and they sent me a plate of apples and bananas as a thank you. Lol

 

Before anyone starts in on my post....yep I love cruising ncl...usually buy the FCC...but I'm also fairly intelligent and there is something wrong when a company makes a major change and doesnt remember to fix the time change everywhere it is listed

 

They know pax watch the ncl updates on cabin tv s ....so why isn't it updated there?

 

It amazes me how little forethought is put into important things

 

 

And yes...I know to check for all aboard time before I debark....but not everyone does....again newbies....who just don't understand to do this and just don't listen to the crew telling them 3 pm

 

I'm from NYC and I assure you that probably 50% of the Bermuda pax are on their " trip of a lifetime" and are clueless

 

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They were still running the Bermuda info clip that said 5pm AFTER we left Bermuda, so my wife noticed when we got on the ship, and I confirmed it myself. She said that the guys said 2:30 when we were getting off.

Other little detail things: Kids menus in taste and savor..2 days in a row..no menus printed on the paper. The usual coloring and mazes and stuff, but no menu, just a blank section. Manhattan room kids menus were fully printed on the same form.

This isn't as big a deal as the information clip, but the point is that they miss things on these cruises. As far as I'm concerned, that announcement makes NCL liable for those people left behind.

Appreciate all the tips here, especially dman72. Love the rapid fire, random stuff, it really helps us plan.

No problem

More random stuff:

I liked Rock of Ages....very low brow but fun. Way too raunchy for kids. Male lead was great, awesome singer, female lead okay, didn't like her voice but she looked good. Production value high.

Howl at the moon good and fun. Blues guy at Fat cats good but seemed to do the same songs every night, at least when I was there. Fire and Ice good. Second City game show/family segment was decent.

Burn the Floor in Manhattan Room during dinner was fun, my kids were actually into it, even the 3 year old.

Full pig with head on display at Buffet on Asian night scared my kids, but tasted good. :D

Italian food at buffet..meh.

washy washy team with guitar guy by buffet elevators...one young woman with a really good voice.

Pool area by slides very slick, including stairs. Saw one woman go down hard on her back. Wear water socks if you can. NCL needs to mix some sand into the gunite here...yes it will tear your feet up, but better than having someone crack their head open, imo.