peteukmcr

Shore Excursions

As 3 of the 4 ports we visited were new to us we decided on a couple of shore excursions.

Roatan, Honduras

Through NCL we booked a beach stay at the Turquoise Bay Beach Resort which was an approximate 45 ride north from the port. 

It was an all-inclusive package, so we relaxed under a palapa, taking advance of the welcome breeze and warm Caribbean Sea whilst being served cooling drinks from our dedicated server. 

Snacks were available immediately, followed by a nice lunch later in the afternoon.

Onboard Shopping

All shops are located on deck 8 and if you work from Shakers Martini bar towards the aft you will pass several outlets (The Beauty Shop for fragrances, Marketplace for sunscreen and other items for the pool or beach, Tides for fashion and jewellery, The Time Zone for watches, Tradewinds for boutique fashion brands, Treasures for fine jewellery and Sandbar for duty free liquor). 

NCL merchandise is available from outlets along the corridor between the shops.

At the end of the shops you will find the Photo Gallery where all photos taken will be stored in numbered folders and yours is indicated on your key card. Standard price for an 8x10 print is $24.95 but there are several options such as if you purchase 2 of those taken when boarding, these are available for $39. If you purchase 3 of the 8x10, you get a special folio frame. There are other offers available with packages, so check out what is available.

Internet Access

NCL do not appear to have super-fast internet access unlike some other lines but have several internet packages available. I purchased in advance of sailing, the unlimited social media wi-fi package, that as the name implies allows, access for 1 device for the length of the cruise to the popular social media sites. Sometimes access was at an acceptable speed, other times very slow and not available most days in the early evening for a couple of hours.

Disappointingly wi-fi is not available on Harvest Caye, even for a fee.

Activities

There were so many activities arranged that it was necessary to review the Freestyle daily closely to plan your day of you wish to take part.

A lot of the more popular activities would be highlighted in the Freestyle Daily such as Trivia held at various times of the day covering different topics to Bingo and Men’s ‘Sexy Legs’ competition on the main pool deck. 

There were various lectures held in various venues, culinary demonstrations, Ice carving, game shows, dance classes, ‘how to’ presentations, workshops and Q&A sessions following presentations (e.g. Ship technical presentation). There were the usual Art Auctions too.

There were various activities where a fee was charged such as painting classes.

As Breakaway has 5 water slides and a sports court there were many opportunities for enjoying yourself on the pool decks, together with the Ropes Course and ‘Walk the Plank’.

Other entertainment I omitted earlier included Comedy shows, Music renditions, Magic shows, Dance shows, ‘Howl at the Moon’, Hypnotists, Crew Talent shows, Cirque Dreams in the Spiegel Tent (fee applied for the dinner included) and the Breakaway Variety show.

Various activities were organised for ‘Friends of Bill W’, & LGBT+ etc throughout the sailing with the same time & location (where practical) suggested for the duration of the cruise.

Bars and Lounges

There are numerous places to enjoy a beverage (or two)!

Several have outside areas on the Waterfront on deck 8 in addition to their indoor space.

Shakers Martini Bar, Maltings Beer & Whiskey Bar and Syd Norman’s Pour House all have outdoor areas enjoyed by lots of people in the evening.

Prime Meridian on deck 8 is located at the entrance to Moderno and Cagney’s Steakhouse, O’Sheehan’s, Bar 21, Bliss Ultra Lounge on deck 7, The Atrium on deck 6 and Mix Bar in between Taste and Savor restaurants, also on deck 6.

Spice H2O has its own bar on deck 16, as does Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville at Sea.

Deck 15 has several bars including the Waves Pool Bars and the 2 in the Garden Café. 

Entertainment 

There are so many options it is difficult list them all, from the production shows in the Breakaway theatre for which reservations, although not mandatory, are recommended (Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor) to the entertainers at many of the lounges and bars around the ship in the evening. 

There are other shows performed in the Breakaway theatre, Headliners Comedy Club, The Atrium, or Syd Norman’s Pour House that don’t require reservations, but as the venues are relatively small for the number passengers onboard it’s necessary to get there early to make sure of getting a seat.

There are numerous ‘events’, weather permitting, in Spice H2O or the main pool deck. 

These range from 80’s & 90’s music parties to the famous NCL Glow party which was a great event with complimentary face painting before the start of the event. 

Every evening the Bliss Lounge hosts events too, turning into the main disco later until the early hours. 

All I would say is check the Freestyle Daily and the ‘At a glance’ sheet if you are given one at check in. 

As we’re not ‘show’ people we only saw ‘Rock of Ages’ and can recommend it, although not necessarily our ‘cup of tea’ it is a good production. 

Speciality Restaurants – all table service dinner

Cagney’s steakhouse (A la carte) – (Deck 8 aft with outdoor seating on The Waterfront)

Modern Churrascaria ($29.95) – (Deck 8 aft with outdoor seating on The Waterfront)

La Cucina Italian (A la carte) – (Deck 8 fwd with outdoor seating on The Waterfront)

Le Bistro French (A la carte) - (Deck 6 mid.)

Teppanyaki Japanese ($29.95) – (Deck 6 aft)

Wasabi sushi (A la carte) – (Deck 8 mid)

Ocean Blue (A la carte) – (Deck 8 mid with outdoor seating on The Waterfront)

The Raw Bar (A la carte) – (Deck 8 mid)

Casual Dining (A la Carte)

Atrium Café – (Deck 6 mid)

The Bake Shop – (Deck 8 mid)

Dolce Gelato – (Deck 8 on The Waterfront)

Dinner Show

Spiegel Tent circus/dining (set fee) - (Deck 6 fwd.)

As NCL is noted for its ‘freestyle’ dining concept, you can choose to dine whenever you wish during the restaurant opening hours for dinner. Breakfast and lunch are open seating in the table service venues. You can make reservations for dinner if you prefer, either online before you sail, or on the day. If you don’t, then you can just turn up and either wait in line or you will be given pager, so you can relax seated nearby, maybe enjoying a beverage. 

There are various ‘dining packages’ available and we had a 3-dinner package online included in our cruise fare using the ‘Free at Sea’ promotion. Once we had booked the cruise, we could make advance reservations at the speciality restaurants but not at our preferred times considering the lateness of our booking. 

I really appreciate how NCL allow this in advance whereas with certain other lines, even though you have purchased a ‘dining package’ you can’t make advance reservations online but only once onboard. I know this amount of planning isn’t for everyone, but I like to be organised, especially when there’s a special event to be celebrated.

However, after boarding I went the desks set up in Headliners Comedy Club for speciality restaurant bookings and changed our reservation at Cagney’s from the only time available online of 9:30pm to 8:45pm (citing Patrick’s birthday!) and La Cucina from the 9pm available online to our preferred time of 8:30pm. 

For those specialities that are priced a la carte, such as Cagney’s, we were allowed to choose 2 starters, 1 main, 2 sides and a dessert and this was covered by our dining package. For those with a set fee such as Teppanyaki, this was covered in total. 

We chose to eat in the following speciality restaurants. 

Cagney’s Steakhouse

Teppanyaki

Le Bistro 

We paid separately for Moderno on day 1 which costs a set fee of $29.95 per person plus 20% gratuity.

As food is very subjective, I’m not going to say which was best or worst in terms of food quality as that is down to personal taste. All were very enjoyable for what they provided, with service better than we found on Epic last year.

We still consider that the service and ambiance in Le Bistro was the best though. 

As for the complimentary venues, we tried them all, except the Garden Café for dinner. O’Sheehan’s is popular at lunch so pick your time wisely, and we got snacks there after the Glow party late at night! Except for our days Roatan and Cozumel and the last sea day, we took lunch in either O’Sheehan’s or the Garden Café. Lunch was included in our shore excursion in Roatan and we made our own arrangements in Cozumel eating ashore.

Savor for breakfast was great, never a wait (maybe we chose the right time) and service was fantastic. We only ate lunch there on the last sea day, but again no wait, and service impeccable. We ate in the Manhattan room twice for dinner and Taste once. Each time we received great service and the food was really good with a good choice of menu in our opinion.

We ate breakfast at Moderno one morning where are good buffet selection is set up and you can dine outside on the Waterfront. We did intend to have breakfast at Margaritaville at Sea which is a great outdoor spot one deck up from the Garden Café and less hectic as the main buffet, but never made it, although many others did.

Dining

OK, like a lot of NCL ships, Breakaway has so many places to eat that it can be confusing at first working out where all the venues are. 

Several are complimentary and then there are many speciality restaurants some of which are priced a la carte, others for a set fee.

Here’s the breakdown of the places where you can enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner or 24-hour snacks!

Complimentary dining

Buffets 

Garden Café – breakfast, lunch & dinner (Deck 15 aft.)

Margaritaville at Sea – breakfast (Deck 16 aft.)

Moderno – breakfast (Deck 8 aft)

Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville at Sea – breakfast (Deck 16 aft)
 

Table Service

O’Sheehan’s Irish Pub – breakfast, lunch, dinner and 24/7 snacks (Deck 7 mid)

Savor – breakfast, lunch & dinner (Deck 6 aft)

Taste – dinner (Deck 6 aft)

Manhattan Dining Room – dinner (Deck 7 aft)

Shanghai & Noodle bar – dinner (Deck 7 aft, reservations mandatory)

Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville at Sea – lunch (Deck 16 aft $14.95 cover charge)

Accommodation 

We made our way to our cabin on deck 11 which was a category BC balcony – 11294 close to the aft elevator lobby very handy for Moderno and Cagney’s Steakhouse on deck 8, The Manhattan Room on deck 7 and Taste and Savor on deck 6. 

Upon entry we had the bathroom to our left, with the master electric socket below the master light switches, that required you to slot your key card in to operate the power for the cabin and above, 2 switches used to indicate to our cabin attendant whether to ‘do not disturb’ or ‘make up’ our cabin. From the outside above the door you could see coloured lights that these switches illuminated to indicate your request.

The air conditioning control was to the right of the bathroom door above the light switch with a floor to ceiling mirror adjacent.

Around the corner from the bathroom was the closet which comprised of sliding doors concealing shelves, the in room safe and a hanging rail with hangers in abundance. The sofa to the left which doubled as a bed with large sliding drawers below that provided additional storage. A Pullman bed was above which could be used if there was a 4^thperson in the cabin. 

In my opinion, 4 people in that cabin would be challenging. 

Twin beds were next with a narrow shelving unit next to each and a magazine rack type of shelf above.  

Opposite was the vanity area with a desk containing a telephone, the coffee maker, a tray with cups, glasses tea, coffee and milk cartons. A large mirror located above with a shelf running the length of the mirror, containing 3 bottles of water for purchase. 

There was a cube like stool under the desk with a wooden top (so it could double as a coffee table). This could be removed so that the stool could be used for seating and this also had a hinged top to reveal more storage. A hairdryer could be found hooked under the desk too. Next to this behind a door was the mini bar, stocked with a selection of chargeable items.

The available electrical outlets are in a panel above the desk comprising of 2 x 110-volt US type and 2 x 220 volt European 2 pin type sockets, one of which the coffee maker was plugged into.

Our complimentary bottle of ‘Duc de Valmer’ sparkling wine provided as returning NCL guests awaited us too on the desk.

Next there was a flat screen TV with a magazine rack below and 2 cupboards below. 

Two pool towels had been provided one placed on each of the beds. 

Reading lights were provided above the shelves with individual switches. 

The bathroom was a good size and contained a large shower cubicle with a large shower head which provided a good spray. On the wall were 2 dispensers, 1 for body wash and the other containing conditioning shampoo. There were a couple of shelves for your own storage of cleansing products. 

Opposite is the counter area containing the wash hand basin with lots of shelving both at the side and above on the mirror with the cabinet below the basin giving more storage.

A complimentary soap bar, liquid hand wash dispenser and a couple of tubes of body lotion were provided. 

Floor to ceiling windows at the end of the cabin, one of which was the sliding door to the angled balcony. The furniture comprised of 2 upright chairs and a small table on what was a really good-sized balcony compared to the standard on the Breakaway class of ships which are tiny. 

Itinerary 

This was 7-night sailing with stops in Roatan Honduras, Harvest Caye Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel Mexico before returning to Miami on April 28^th. 

There were only 2 sea days on days 2 & 7. 

We also now had to consider new shore excursions for the ports we hadn’t visited previously and decided on one through NCL for Roatan, and one independently for Costa Maya and to do our own thing in the other ports of Harvest Caye and Cozumel.

I’ve split this review into sections dealing with embarkation, accommodation, dining, entertainment, activities, onboard shopping, internet access, shore excursions and disembarkation with a summary and conclusions at the end.

Embarkation 

We arrived into the USA 1 day before sailing, staying overnight in the Embassy Suites, Miami Airport.   

We checked out of the hotel just before 11am on Sunday, 21^stApril and took the 2^ndof the hotel shuttles (10:30 or 11:30) for the 15-minute ride to the port where NCL Breakaway was awaiting us at terminal B. The cost was $10 per person and payable in cash, but as ours was included in the room rate, we didn’t have to scrabble around for notes as some of our travelling companions had to do!  

Upon arrival we left ours bags with the porters loading cart after cart of numerous pieces of luggage to be taken onboard and delivered to people’s staterooms over the next few hours. 

We then entered the terminal building where our documents were checked, we, and our carry on were security scanned and then we completed the health questionnaire. As we were neither suite or Haven (‘ship within a ship’ accommodation) guests, nor higher level Latitudes members (NCL Loyalty program), we just joined a very short line for check in. 

After hardly no wait, we reached an agent, where our passports were checked, had our security photos taken, and swiftly received our key cards then we were on our way to boarding Breakaway. Painless, and one of the best embarkation processes experienced. So, arriving slightly later at the terminal around midday, we missed the early crush and will consider this in the future. 

As mentioned, the whole process took only around 30 minutes from our shuttle drop off to enjoying our first beverage (a Rebellious Fish) in Spice H2O on deck 16 aft as cabins wouldn’t be available until 1:30pm.

Of course, by now it was time for a spot of lunch for which I tried a burger from the Garden Café washed down with a beer (Peroni). Good complimentary burger, far superior to some other lines we’ve sailed on. 

Right on schedule there was an announcement that cabins were available at 1:30pm.

Background 

We’re Peter & Patrick from Manchester U.K. and this sailing was a replacement for the April 21stTransatlantic crossing of Oasis of the Seas which was scheduled to sail from Port Canaveral to Barcelona. However, this had to be cancelled following an accident on April 1stat the Freeport shipyard in the Bahamas where she was in wet dock.

So, with having a non-refundable one-way flight to Orlando on 20thApril we looked around for suitable alternatives as although we were to receive a full refund from Royal Caribbean for the cruise, we would receive nothing for the flights if we cancelled. Our vacation days could not be changed due to work commitments and so we had to travel between our current dates. Obviously, a Transatlantic crossing is fairly unique and so to be fair to Royal Caribbean, there wasn’t a suitable alternative they could offer us.

We chose this sailing for several reasons. For the ports which we hadn’t visited before (Roatan, Harvest Caye and Costa Maya), that there were still balcony cabins available and NCL had just started a new promotion for those booking in the UK – ‘Free at Sea’ where for £99 we could add 2 ‘perks’ for a balcony cabin (2 from the following - Premium Beverage Package, Speciality Dining, Shore Excursions Credit, Wi-Fi Package or Free Extra Guests). We chose the Premium Beverage Package and Speciality Dining which for our sailing allowed 3 dinners. We also received $100 onboard credit. Many other alternatives we considered (and there were a few) were either too expensive at such short notice (we were sailing on Easter weekend) or didn’t sail on dates that would fit with our scheduled vacation days.

Another consideration was Breakaway herself as we had sailed on her previously, albeit only for 1 night from Rotterdam to Southampton back in 2013 when she was launched, and always wanted to experience the unique outdoor space “The Waterfront” (more on that later) that we always considered would come into its own in the Caribbean.

However, I had 17 days before our flight to Orlando to rearrange much of our itinerary which meant cancelling a pre cruise airport hotel in Orlando, the one-way car rental from Orlando to Port Canaveral, a post cruise baggage collection service in Barcelona, booking a new pre cruise hotel in Miami and new one-way flights back from Florida to the UK. 

As we decided to travel to Miami directly from Orlando on the 20thApril after arriving from Manchester, UK I booked a one-way flight and a pre-cruise hotel close to the airport as it would be late evening when we arrived and we would have been travelling for over around 18 hours by the time we landed in Miami.

Once the cruise ended, we decided to stay on in Florida for a few days as the most economical one-way flight back to Manchester, UK was to leave from Orlando on 2ndMay via New York JFK.

So, we booked a 2-bed town house in the same resort (Encantada) that we used in April 2018 prior to our Oasis sailing at that time, located off US192 in Kissimmee. I also booked a new one-way car rental from Miami to be dropped off at Orlando airport on 2ndMay.

It was then necessary to make as many reservations as possible for complimentary and speciality dining together with entertainment which was a challenge considering most other guests had been able to do this many weeks before. Although not all our preferred dining times were available, especially for the speciality restaurants, I made reservations for times as close as possible, especially for day 2 as this was Patrick’s birthday and I wanted to eat in Cagney’s steakhouse as a celebration. 

7 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Interesting, obviously not an authority, but read on the Oasis drydock thread that per EU regulations, since taxes are not broke out, they would get an FCC for the full price.

If you are referring to sales tax, then yes, the FCC includes those. I was pointing out that port taxes were not part of the FCC. 

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I heard EU cruisers got taxes included in the FCC. 😉

No we didn’t. Cruise fare only, less any C&A balcony discount. Our cruise fare was £1455 plus taxes and pre paid grats. Our C&A discount was £137 so our FCC is for £1318. No taxes.

Although we have now (as of this morning) finally received all that we are due as a result of the cancellation of the Oasis TA, as someone being from the UK having to contact RCI overseas, I found that was a challenge.

The initial FCC were totally incorrect and had to be resent, but that wasn't a concern, just an annoyance, as we were not re-booking a replacement sailing with RCI (we have no flexibility in our vacation days at such short notice), these FCC's will be used for a later date (2021 possibly due to plans already in place with other cruise lines for 2019-20).

Obviously RCI cannot be held responsible for the time taken by financial institutions to credit people's form of payment, so they did their part in a timely manner in my opinion.

I feel justified in always dealing with RCI direct as others using a UK based TA have experienced delays in receiving their refund monies. Some still haven't been refunded at this time.

I also feel justified in using RCI shore excursions as again, these were refunded in full, whereas others may not be so fortunate when using outside companies.

Must admit having had 1 bad and another 'so so' experience at Cagney's on Epic, I'm hoping it will be better on Breakaway next week as we are celebrating a birthday.

On Epic, service was terrible, and the food just 'mmm'. We mentioned it to the door host and guest services and was assured the next visit would be better, but we just got a table with a sea view (not that you can see much at 9pm!) and although service was slightly better, it wasn't stellar.

Do they supply tea bags too? I'm a Brit and my first drink of the day is black breakfast tea. 😁

6 minutes ago, twangster said:

Couple points about the FCC.

 

1. it can be used to pay the cruise fare portion of another reservation but not the taxes and fees portion.  Taxes and fees have to be paid normally.

2. If a new cruise booking is less than the FCC amount, the remaining FCC balance can be applied to another cruise.

3.  You can apply the FCC towards existing bookings.  You don't have to make a "new" booking.  

4. A booking can only have one FCC applied to it.  It you have a booking and applied a previous FCC to that booking, you can't apply this FCC to that booking as well.  

5.  If you apply this FCC to a future booking and it pays for the cruise in full, then later there is a price drop, they will issue the price drop refund as more FCC.

6.  Keep detailed notes about the FCC, which booking it applied to, future upgrades or price drops, etc.  Six months from now you may not remember any of this.

Your point 2 is not my experience. Had a FCC and when applied to a cruise fare less than  the FCC amount, the remaining ‘credit’ was no longer available. 

32 minutes ago, Bobal said:

 

Pete, I've worked out it will be 10pm

So had I if it was eastern time zone.

20 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Nothing yet, maybe some info after the 5pm news conference.

Host Clarea, for those of us across the pond, do you know which time zone the 5pm announcement will be conducted in? If not the east coast it'll be extremely late for us here in the UK and even later for my European friends.

54 minutes ago, kontraxed said:

As used in cruising, I find the term "gratuity" to be a real joke. A gratuity is supposed to be, "something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service," (Merriam-Webster). While people obviously have the ability to cancel the cruise gratuity, it is otherwise not given voluntarily so why call it a gratuity? I wish the cruise lines would just raise the rates to cover the cost of the wages and let the passengers go back to rewarding specific individuals for service that is above and beyond - or not.

The thing is it's not been called a 'gratuity' on our invoices in the UK for many years, but an 'on board service charge'

7 hours ago, Banana Benders said:

The one that I find hard to believe and you see it every day in the lounges.

The drinks served have NO gratuity (18%) added because they are free for the 3 hr happy hour. So all the waiters are just working for wages (some Pinnacles think its a privilege to serve them). 

 

You see so many D, D+ and Pinnicles who treat the barman and woman with total disrespect.

 

Most of the upper member are more interested in one upping and the next time they can get photo's with Captain(Believe me he doesn't enjoy dining or posing with you)

 

I think people just forget how lucky we are to do what we do.

How much you tip doesn't matter, its all about respect.

So true and it’s amazing how quiet it can be on the last night of a cruise when we always ensure the staff get a tip. 

24 minutes ago, Katemusical said:

Hi.

I'm really confused. If my family picked My Time Dining for the Main Dining Room on our booking, why do I have to make reservations ahead of time. On NCL and Carnival, you just show up to your assigned dining room at the time you want. Sometimes you wait, sometimes not.

 

Didn't I pick the option to just go when we want? Please clarify for me.

 

But you can also make reservations in advance on NCL too. We did this onboard Epic so we didn't have to be given a pager by turning up when it was busy. We also always reserve in advance on RCI to ensure we get the time we want.

Very interesting as we were bombarded with emails to take part in the NCL upgrade program before our recent Epic sailing. Even as late as 7 days prior to sailing.

You had to receive the 'invite' to be able to bid (actually it was available on your 'cruise planner' not just by email) and were allowed to bid for up to 2 categories higher than your currently booked cabin.

We didn't participate because the only cabins available for upgrade from our balcony were 'mini-suites' and suites in the Haven and the 'dial' indicating whether a potential bid was a good one, didn't turn 'green' unless we bid at least $350 pp. 

You didn't get any additional promotions that may have been available for the cabin when purchased at full fare. You would not be guaranteed a particular cabin number. If your bid was successful your form of payment would be charged immediately before you are notified of your success in the bid and the amount paid is final and non-refundable.

13 hours ago, 20165 said:

Just got off Epic western Caribbean today and sound like a complete opposite from your experience. Probably the worst service we have every had on a cruise and we have been on quite a few.  I have to calm down and gather my thoughts before i write a review on this one...

Oh dear, sorry to read that. I wonder if there was a big change in the staff once Epic returned to the US?

19 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

You'll probably enjoy your Escape cruise a bit more. I look forward to your next review no matter what ship.

Yes, everyone we spoke to said we'd enjoy Escape more. Next up is another TA but on RCI Oasis of the Seas

8 hours ago, barb65 said:

Your review of the Epic is spot on. The Escape is our favorite NCL ship. Anxious to read your review after you sail the Escape to see how you compare the two. What we enjoy the most about the Escape are the spa thermal suite (extra charge) and the Waterfront on Deck 8.

Thanks. We have sailed very briefly on Breakaway and so look forward to Escape and the Waterfront too.

NCL Epic review.pdf

NCL Epic review.pdf