fourofakind

Maybe post on the next roll call for the Breakaway and see if anyone local would be willing to cash in your voucher for you. Another idea- a lot of times they organize slot pulls on the roll calls maybe you can ask someone to include you in the slot pull with the vouchers?

I'm just like you I love those flushable wipes. What I do is bring along those baby disposable bags (sold for diapers or even doggie clean up) and throw anything "personal" into them before tying the bag up and disposing of it in the trash. Great for feminine products, baby wipes etc.

The only other thing I would recommend bringing is a small travel bottle of wrinkle release since clothes can get quite wrinkled in the suitcase. I hate to iron normally and I'm definitely not gonna do it on vacation. A quick spritz and a wipe and off I go wrinkle free :)

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

I would avoid LaGuardia at all costs. That airport is a nightmare and us locals NEVER fly in/out of there, ever. JFK is much better and the one I would recommend if you have a choice.

If you can't get closed cans at the bar for your room I have seen pics of soda vending machines at the arcade on some NCL boats (don't know if they still have this or not as I don't use the arcade). Might be cheaper than the minibar option if your boat has that.

I will check with CAS too. The CAS hosts usually go out of their way to answer questions to a Sapphire card holder;) Thanks for this great tip!

 

You will love the Escape. We are booked on two more cruises on her before she leaves Miami in April. It's our favorite ship so far. Waiting for our Bliss cruise to see if she will be our new favorite:cool:

The only reason I found out was because of CAS they definitely do treat us good in the casino ;p I am only a few points away from a Ruby card so I'm going to try and tier up in February on one last Breakaway cruise before she leaves. Can't wait! The Escape looks amazing and I'm sure I will definitely LOVE it but the Bliss...WOW. My kids have been begging me to take them on the Bliss because of that race track, can't blame them it looks awesome! I hate to fly so it probably will never happen but I can dream :D

Have fun on your cruises and can't wait to read about your Bliss experience!!!

We have been Platinum our past four cruises and have been consistently told that Platinum priority is the yellow luggage tags, that only those in suites can be specially escorted for disembarkation.

Just to clarify I have never received an escort off the ship. I have seen suites and Havens being escorted off the ship but that's it. I have to fight my way through the crowds to get to the priority exit but once I get there I can exit pretty easily without waiting on that really long line.

If you walk into the casino and ask to sign up for a card you will just get the card. After a certain amount of points than you have earned the free drink card. If you book through CAS based on your player status from a land casino (or a free cruise comp from a land casino) you will automatically have a player card and free drink card waiting for you in your room when you board.

The basic free drink card is only well/house drinks (not at the good stuff) plus you get free bottled water, iced coffees and also energy drinks/cans with the card. After you move up a few levels you get a premium drink card and can get top shelf drinks as well as all the other ones.

Breakaway has it and my kids loved it! Some of the pieces were taller than my daughter so it was fun to watch her move them around. Made for some great pics.

I have used non refundable OBC to give a nice tip to the splash academy counselors so it does depend on what your looking to do with it. It can not be used for your daily $13.99 service charge.

We left the ship in NYC around 9:30 or so, walk off with ALL of our carryon bags in tow. Customs/passport check lines for left or right.

 

The far right was for handicap,etc so that stations was tied up. The porters were coming down the middle taking another station. So, the right side moved very slow and the left side did better.

 

Knowing what I know now, I should have grabbed a porter and given him $10-$20 to walk us almost to the front of the line. Crazy.

Exactly! The porters walk right down the middle and they have station #7 assigned to them. No wait ever as they need to get them back inside to help other passengers. If it's crowded I'll grab one and be outside in less than 5 minutes. And they will take you and your luggage up the elevator and to the waiting taxi area. I always give them a $20.00 and they have been very happy and appreciative, as am I :D

We are Platinum Plus and also I am Sapphire with CAS. We tried asking about this on the Escape earlier this year and just got a blank look from those 'directing traffic'. On the Escape they had us slowly winding through the Manhattan room with everyone else.

I will try asking Guest Services next time. Thanks for the tip:cool:

It's crazy right?! Nobody on the ship seems to know about this. On the Breakaway the walk off line circles around by O'Sheehan's and then through the casino. If you know to keep walking towards the Manhattan room and get out of that mess you literally walk right off. I am Platinum and also CAS Sapphire and had to talk to several people at guest services and then finally at the casino to get that info. The casino staff were very helpful with this too so definitely talk to them next time you sail and hopefully they will have the location for you.

Really excited about sailing on the Escape when she comes to NYC next year so if you find out that location please pass it on to me :p

I personally prefer the Breakaway over the Dawn but I'm a casino person and I also enjoy all the bells and whistles of the new ships. So many things the Breakaway has that the Dawn does not but it really depends on what you are looking for in a vacation. It's true it is much more crowded but after the first day everyone seems to scatter throughout the ship and it's easier to do what you want without much of a problem (except for the atrium stuff- get there early to get a seat or plan on standing). Dinner I have learned go early (by 6pm or else go late) and there is no wait and service is fast. To me it's worth the trade off to have so much more available on the Breakaway.

Good luck with whichever you choose they both are awesome!

Yup plenty of bottled beer.

Outside on the waterfront by Maltings they have Guinness cans...yummy! Take care of your bartender and they will leave it closed if you request it. I always grab one on the way back to the room so I can have a few there when I want to just relax in the room. Keep em cold in the fridge plenty of room.

Just thought I would post a quick tip for those that don't know they can get priority disembarkation even as a walk off. For whatever reason they list it as a perk but don't freely give out the information until you ask around and finally find the right person who knows (even many at the guest services desk had no idea and had to ask others).

Latitude members Gold and above as well as CAS Sapphire and above get priority disembarkation. I only know the Breakaway well not the other large ships but on the Breakaway you would head to the Manhattan room to disembark. The area is roped off and someone will be there checking cards. If you qualify for priority you will walk right off the ship and be very close to the area where you enter customs. No need to wait in the long walk off line. I have done this every cruise on the Breakaway and it saves a lot of time.

If you are on a different NCL ship ask guest services where priority disembarkation is and have them call someone to find out if they don't know!

Also, it took me a few times to learn if the lines are very long inside customs you can grab a porter (even if you walked off with your own luggage) and they will fast track you right to the front of customs no waiting in line (make sure to tip your porter well for this service). The lines are usually not too bad in NYC if you walk off early but on occasion I have been very happy to grab that porter ;)

Hope this help someone and happy cruising!!!! :cool:

Priority disembarkation is done separately even for walk offs. I have it because of my Sapphire CAS status and platinum gets it too (I am also platinum). I only know the Breakaway well not the other large ships but on the Breakaway you head to the Manhattan dining room where you will find priority walk off. It is roped off and you need to show your card in order to be given this access. You will walk right off the ship with no wait while the line for regular walk off is long.

Hope that helps someone and happy cruising :)

I would love to see a Starbucks on board. I tried their pay for coffee place and it just doesn't compare. I love my Starbucks espresso frapps and miss them dearly while cruising.

Some of the things my 6 year old really enjoyed on the Breakaway 2 weeks ago:

Miniature golf

Life size outdoor chess game

Ropes course and the spider mountain climb

BURN THE FLOOR- we did the show in the theater AND 2 dinners at the Manhattan club when Burn the Floor was performing. We got there early and had a table both times right next to the dance floor. The dancers were great and would wink or touch my daughters hair etc. She was mesmerized and felt incredibly special when a dancer winked at her!

Towel animal folding demonstration in the atrium (we didn't do it this past cruise but on several other Breakaway cruises) She begged me to purchase the $10.00 dvd so she could do them at home.

Splash Academy- especially the "late night" after hours academy. Most days she wanted to stay because they were doing gaga ball or something extra special not done during the day. This late night runs from 10:30 pm-1:30 am and cost $6.00 per hour or $10.00 per hour for 2 children.

The blue and yellow water slides. My daughter was petrified of the big water slides and for several cruises wouldn't go near them but this last cruise she decided to try after a friend of hers from splash academy was going down them. SHE LOVED THEM! Couldn't get enough and went down them non stop for hours. She said the blue and yellow ones are not scary at all.

Beauty and the Beast movie in the theater (the new one with Emma Watson). About half way through the cruise they did a movie night in the theater it was awesome. Free bags of popcorn made it even better (bring bottled water no beverages were given out but popcorn was unlimited).

Howl at the moon (9-11pm). The first two hours of the show children are welcome and the kids had fun requesting their favorite songs. A lot of fun hearing the songs from "frozen" etc. sung with dueling pianos. This one was a lot of fun for me too! Bring a couple of singles to give with your song requests and it will get done for sure ;)

Her all time favorite of course was the self serve ice cream machine in the buffet lol. Something magical about swirling your own ice cream into a cone. I kind of liked this one a lot myself ;)

One other thing to note is certain itineraries get all three credits in one port (7 day Bermuda cruise for instance out of NY). You will have 3 separate $50.00 credits that must be used on three separate shore excursions.

I only know this because in September I sailed to Bermuda and was given $150.00 in shore excursion credit for our 3 day Bermuda stay. I booked a shore excursion for two people (both of us were in the same cabin) totaling $160.00 but they only credited me $50.00 towards the excursion. It's $50.00 per excursion per cabin even though they show you have $150.00 in credit at that port. I lost out on the other $100.00 thinking I had already used it.

We have used two CruiseNext certificates for three CAS cruises now. Must be a Balcony or above and booked six months or more in advance. Then if you watch the promos, it's a super deal with something like a 'Tax-Free' sale where your aren't charged for port fees & gov taxes. We used it to cover the admin fee and the 18% gratuities for the UBP and SDP.

O man I never knew they had a tax free sale!!! That would be a great deal! I'll be watching hoping that pops up again :)

Is this overcrowding only an issue on the newer larger ships? I've never had experience with overcrowding and we've typically cruised over spring break or Thanksgiving week when there were lots of kids. BUT we've only done Dawn, Star, and the jewel class, not the larger ships. The only time we had to wait was the first night of a couple of the spring break ones- maybe a half hour for the drop off.

Unfortunately it is not overcrowding due to larger ships It is NCL not putting much effort/ counselors into their kids club anymore. My worst kids club experience was on the Gem which is a smaller ship (2,000 passengers). We hardly got into the kids club at all that week and the times we did it was 1 hour + to drop off. The worst is waiting a good 30 minutes to get in and then oops sorry club is full maybe someone will leave if you want to wait. Ugh.

After that experience I took a solo cruise on the Breakaway and visited their kids club. Well oiled machine with all brand new big shiny kids spaces, super friendly counselors. I spoke with the head of the program and explained my experience on the Gem and my hesitation to sail with the children anymore. I was told must be a spacing issue on the Gem and that the Breakaway has more than enough room to accommodate all the children and that they would never turn children away. Great! Starting sailing Breakaway exclusively with the kids and we had a great run for several cruises with excellent experiences in the kids club and never being turned away...up until last week. For the first time ever on the Breakaway we saw a note the first day that said on occasion our "complimentary" kids program may be unavailable due to occupancy/fire code issues. After speaking with the head counselor he told me they were sailing with 700 children this cruise and they would not be able to accommodate all of them. I said that's funny because on several prior cruises this year you had 1500+ kids on this boat and you managed to accommodate them all! You never turned even one child away you always opened another room with more counselors. He had no answer or response to me. NCL is not hiring enough counselors and their kids program is suffering!

I hate being down on the kids club because I LOVE NCL and when they don't turn the kids away it's always a great cruise for me and the children. I find cruises to be the perfect family vacation, I get to spend alot of time doing fun stuff with the kids (we swam with the dolphins last week, pools, beaches, shows etc) and I get some fun "adult" me time to enjoy while knowing my kids are also having some fun "kid" time.

If NCL doesn't get their act together in relation to the kids club I will definitely need to switch cruise lines :(

Some itineraries/dates they have a promo that you can use 2 cruise next rewards towards your cabin, even for CAS. I used 2 towards one in July :)

Kids academy is great! My kids frequently cruise with me and LOVE the kids program on NCL. That being said just beware there are times on the cruise when kids academy will be FULL and you will be turned away. This is a huge disappointment to the kids who are looking forward to a certain activity that day and also to meeting up with their friends already inside kids academy. It is also frustrating to the parents who may already have a show or dinner reservations booked that now need to be changed.

I have sailed often with NCL and it is just recently that they have been limiting the number of kids allowed (probably not enough counselors). They will tell you it's for fire safety reasons blah blah blah but after speaking with the head of the child program on the Gem I was told they max out at 20 kids per age group (3-5 years, 10-12 years etc) which is ridiculous considering they have hundreds of kids on most sailings. My Gem cruise was frustrating as we were turned away many times over the week and had to wait in line sometimes as long as an hour to get in and get a spot. After that we switched exclusively to the Breakaway because they had a better kids club program and did not limit the amount of children they would just open another room up. Unfortunately the Breakaway now has also started to limit the kids capacity too :( We just got back on Sunday from the Bahamas and my children were turned away 3 different times because they were full. Children are ages 6 and 11 and both were turned away those times. They have a large sign at the kids club on the first day that states their "complimentary" kids program may not be available at times due to capacity/ fire code issues. This was never the case previously so they are definitely making some changes to the program/ not hiring enough counselors.

That being said when the kids do get into the program it is great and they love it! The counselors are great and they usually have a fun schedule for the kids including sports court time and scheduled wii time which the older ones really enjoy. Aside from not knowing if you will get a spot that day the program is an A++

you must get some good pricing on the BA.....5 in like 15 months

I try to go as often as possible and I really love the Breakaway ;)

Hello. I did a Breakaway cruise this past February to Bahamas. Its was icy and cold when we boarded but by the second day the weather was warming up and the pools were packed after that. It turned out to be a really nice cruise and we all had a great time. If you are sailing with kids I would say Breakaway kids club is pretty good and they will have a great time (the Gem kids club is terrible they limit it to 20 kids). My kids just came off the Breakaway last week and the program was good except the Breakaway is now also starting to limit how many children are allowed in the program at one time so be prepared to get there early if they definitely want in. I don't know why but NCL is not putting much effort into the kids club lately. We have sailed the Breakaway many times and this last cruise was the first time that the kids club started turning kids away just like the Gem. It only happened 3x over the entire week but my children were disappointed those times. If you can live with maybe not getting a spot everyday in the kids club you will have a great time the Breakaway is awesome!

Was on the Breakaway last week as well...only saw Chip's up close show on Saturday, the guy is good. Not as good as David DaVinci.

 

and you say last week's dueling piano was good, good grief. Spent less than an hour all week (4 shows).

 

Last year on Breakaway, Ben Michaels, Jeff Taylor and Josh Hamilton were fantastic, probably only missed 1 hour of their 12 hours they played

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy them. I thought they were great. My all time favorite though was Sean Rainey. He was on my July 16th 2017 Breakaway cruise and I was in awe. Amazing musician!!! That guy is definitely going places. I was sad to see him gone when I went back in September.