Cool Breeze Cruiser

We purchased Nationwide Luxury Cruise insurance for our Escape January 2019 cruise. We had a change in itinerary from Dominica to Antigua prior to our cruise so we submitted a claim when we got back from our cruise & promptly received checks from Nationwide for $1250 pp. 

We purchased Nationwide Luxury Cruise insurance again for our Jade transatlantic April 2019. The departure port was changed from Manhattan to Brooklyn a few months ago. 

We called Insure My Trip & the representative we spoke to said she thinks change in departure port would qualify as change in itinerary. I know we can’t submit a claim until we get back from our cruise but has anyone made a claim for a change in the port of departure?

Breezes is our ‘go to’ place in Nassau. Their all inclusive day pass includes all food (beach bar & buffet) and alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks,  There is a rock climbing wall, flying trapeze, kayaks,  paddle boats, etc. The beach is gorgeous & there is a swim up bar at the pool.

We usually take the local bus there or it is a short cab ride.

Thanks so much for all the advice & JB you outdid yourself giving us so many in-depth options! Hopefully we will get time to research soon & come up with a plan.

We are doing an 8 day land trip before the cruise; 2 nights in Dublin, 2 nights in Belfast; 3 nights in Edinburgh & 2 nights in Copenhagen before our 14 day cruise that stops in Gothenburg, Southampton, Cobh & Azores before ending in NY so we have been doing a LOT of planning. I think all we still need to come up with a plan for is Southampton & Cobh/Cork.

Thanks again,

Juli

We will dock in Southampton at 9AM & have to be back onboard at 7:30PM Friday, October 5th.

We enjoy seeing the countryside, exploring the culture, etc more so than visiting museums & architecture.

We rarely if ever book ship excursions but since London is so far from Edinburgh we thought about booking NCL's Bus & Boat Tour but it is not showing availablity anymore.

We 'thought' we needed to see London but I am not sure we would enjoy spending most of the day on a bus anyway.

Do you have any suggestions for us? We are not really interested in Stonehenge.

Thanks,

Juli

Gothenburg has been a hard port to find info about so I thought I would share a few things I found.

I posted on Trip Advisor & here & on the Norwegian boards on Cruise Critic trying to come up with some ideas on what to do there.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2620382&highlight=Gothenburg

From the answers to my post on Cruise Critic it sounds like the ship will provide shuttles for a fee. Hope they do.

If anyone likes vintage cars this tour might be interesting. It is rated #4 of 29 tours in Gothenburg. They will do a weekday tour as long as there are at least three cars booked.

http://timetravelgbg.se/en

I emailed about a bike tour & a Segway tour. I received a response from Nils with the bike tour. He said the tour could start at 10AM. The tour takes about 2 hours, and the price is 300 sek per person.

http://www.goteborg.com/en/bike-tour-gothenburg/

We were also interested in visiting the Archipelago. The weather might be a little chilly for that though so we have decided to do the bike tour & wander around the city afterwards.

If you have any other suggestions please share.

Juli

We once waited an hour for the hop on hop off in Gothenburg , only to find it was the coach marked up Malmo that we had be sat beside , so if you decide to do it make sure they tell you what to expect ! We did a fun trip around the ' moat' on a boat , it wwas late September and we had to duck further and further down until the last but obe bridge when we had to get on the floor lol ( there was only about 6 inch clearance on the last bridge so they decided it wasnt wise to try ! ) I would highly recommend it , it was the highlight of our weekend there

The boat ride sounds fun! The Hop On Hop Off Bus is only running on Saturdays in October & we will be there on a Wednesday.

I found a couple of options for Gothenburg that sound interesting.

http://www.goteborg.com/en/bike-tour-gothenburg/

http://timetravelgbg.se/en

I think we are leaning towards the bike tour & wandering around the city afterwards.

Juli

Thanks for all the advice. There is so little info out there about Gothenburg.

I am happy to know there is a (pay) shuttle to the city. The city looks charming.

I emailed about a week ago about a Segway & a bike tour & received automated responses that I will hear back from them soon.

We would also be interested in the archipelago.

Juli

Has anyone been to Gothenburg, Sweden & have any experiences to share? And yes I have posted in numerous places.

We will be arriving in Gothenburg October 3rd via the NCL Breakaway from 8AM until 5PM. Any suggestion on things to do or tour guides?

We prefer scenery/activities/exploring the culture to museums & architecture.

The Hop On Hop Off Bus only runs on Saturdays in October.

Thanks for any information.

My husband & I will be arriving in Gothenburg October 3rd via the NCL Breakaway from 8AM until 5PM. Any suggestion on things to do or tour guides?

We prefer scenery/activities/exploring the culture to museums & architecture.

The Hop On Hop Off Bus only runs on Saturdays in October.

Thanks,

Juli

We get our t-shirts made at Custom Cruise. They are $15 each & there is no minimum order. You can design your own or choose one of their designs and Angela is great to work with.

They also have cabin door signs, lanyards, luggage tags, etc.

https://customcruisewear.com/

Our Grand Scenic Ocean View was our favorite! There is a reason they book as soon as they become available.

The tours in St. Lucia are great & the Pitons are amazing but it is a LONG day with a lot of time spent riding in a van. Only you know if your kids would enjoy that. It is also very hilly, winding roads & not the best thing for anyone with motion sickness.

Great review, and thanks for the heads up, I'll be avoiding Dino's show on my upcoming cruise as I would likely walk out too.

Please don't let me influence you. My opinion only so go & decide for yourself & walk out if you do not like it.

When we were on the Breakaway last year, the comedy was “sketch “ comedy or improvised comedy like “Who’s Line is it Anyway”. I think it was Second City comedy. Is it now stand up comedy instead?

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It was Second City when we cruised last year too. I 'think' NCL has recently changed from Improv (which we were not a big fan of) to stand up comedy. Unfortunately the comedians on our cruise were just NOT funny IMHO! Besides the host Orlando who we really enjoyed!

Juli

We had booked several of the 'late' comedy shows, starting at 11:00. We went to that one, and never went back. Lots of 'young' folks on this cruise (college kids on break) and they seemed to love the act. Myself, being a grumpy old guy, didn't find anything funny, especially using 4 letter words to get a laugh. We are far from prudes, but you need to be funny to get laughs.

Cheers

Len

We didn't book any of the Comedy Shows but it was not usually that crowded & we were always able to get in by going in the standby lane.

I agree we did not think the comedians were funny. I don't remember which comedian it was but he kept saying something like 'this is funny, why aren't you laughing?' And he would laugh. He was soooo lame!

I didn't see that many college age kids but I was surprised that there were a lot of school age kids with it a 14 day cruise. We cruised January 15, 2017 & I think they said there were only 87 kids onboard.

Thanks for your feedback.

I have a couple of questions please:

Would you happen to know the price of the Spa Pass?

Who was the cruise director?

What were the other shows besides Rock of Ages?

Thank you.

Sorry I don't know the price of the spa pass. Maybe someone else can chime in. We had the spa package last year with our Haven Spa Suite & only went to the spa twice in 14 days. It is a wonderful spa but we are not 'spa' people.

Alvin was the Cruise Director.

The other shows were the...

Welcome Aboard Show

Burn the Floor

Vocalist Leanne Jarvis

Magician Martin Brock

Levity Entertainment Group (repeating the same jokes they did in the Comedy Club but to their credit they were supposed to be replaced in Aruba but it surprises me that professional comedians 'only' have one 30 minute show?!?)

Hypnotist Brenda Kaye (who was very good especially her PG 13 show later in the cruise)

Rock of Ages

Vocalist Tetiana Maria

Juggler Jason Garfield

Carole King's Vocale Group

We did not go to the Cirque Dreams Show because we saw it last year but it was VERY good then. Amazing what they can do in such a small area!

Thanks for the review.Can't wait to cruise the breakaway on February 2nd.

Enjoy your cruise. If you see Carolyn (the hostess in the Savor) please give her a big hug from Juli, J.R., Lynn & Mitch. She is the BEST!

We were on the same sailing and you know what, we also walked out of the 'late' comedy show with Dino. Not that he was offensive, just not very funny. Orlando was much better.

Cheers

Len

Hope you had a wonderful time on our cruise too!

Overall we thought the comedians were ok to not good to horrible.

I don't remember if we went to the early or late show with Dino. Our 26 year old son is a Police Officer so we DEFINITELY did not appreciate his BASHING Police Officers!

Juli

Nice review. What did Dino say in his show that offended you?

I am not getting in to politics but Dino's comedy went from making fun to BASHING in no time & went on way to long (& I am not a big Trump fan).

And when he started BASHING (not joking about) Police Officers this mama bears claws came out & we walked out before I went after him! Same as I would have been if he BASHED our firemen, military, etc.

 

Did you inquire why the main pool was closed so often?

We did not but a lot of people were complaining about it. Some were chanting 'open the pool' & one man actually jumped in with the nets over the pool.

I am assuming NCL thought the waves were to high but it didn't seem that bad to us.

Juli

We were on the January 5th-19th Breakaway cruise. What an amazing & adventurous cruise!

We are from Tennessee so we don't get a lot of snow so we loved the 'beautiful blizzard' in NY. We did have to fly in a day earlier than we planned as all flights to NY from BNA were cancelled the next day. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Manhattan-Times Square North & it will be our new go-to hotel when cruising out of NY since the Affinia Dumont became condos. The Hampton is in a perfect location, the staff was great AND it was very reasonably priced with an AARP discount.

We cruised on the Breakaway last January & stayed in a Haven Spa Suite & had an INCREDIBLE experience. We booked an inside cabin (much to my husband's dismay) this cruise & upgraded to a balcony a few weeks before our cruise. The Haven is beyond amazing but we didn't miss it like I thought we would. Our balcony cabin was great & our Cabin Steward, Jackson, was a doll!

The Breakaway is not my 'favorite' ship. We prefer a mid-size ship & as others have reported the Breakaway's Atrium & pool areas can get very congested & it seems like there are a lot of smoking areas (although the smoke smell was not as bad on this cruise as it was last January). But obviously we booked it two January's in a row so it is not so bad! lol Any cruise is a great cruise!

Our cruise was delayed by a day because of the late arrival of the Breakaway due to Storm Grayson but NCL let us board Friday night so we got a free day. They also gave us a one day credit.

We were supposed to overnight in Aruba but ended up missing It altogether due to leaving a day late & then we had a medical emergency & someone had to be life flighted off the ship. NCL gave us 25% off a future cruise & port fees so we were HAPPY with NCL!

We had never been to Curaçao & it is a new favorite! We did the All West Beach Hopping Tour with Irie Tours. It was beautiful & our guide was amazing!

We have been to Barbados numerous times & I didn't think any catamaran could beat Calabaza Sailing but we booked with Calypso Sailing this time. It was a different experience but just as amazing as Calabaza! Nick, the owner is a hoot & the food & drinks were delish! Would HIGHLY recommend Calypso!

We went to Pigeon Island in St. Lucia (booked through A-plus Tours). We hiked & explored the old fort & enjoyed the beautiful beach. We lucked up because they were having a first annual rum/food festival there that day that was really fun.

We went to Jolly Beach in Antigua. It is one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. It soon became packed though because Disney cruises brought in bus loads of people. Everyone said it is usually not crowded, definitely a place to go back to. After the beach we did the Reef Rider boats. We were not as wowed by Reef Riders as we thought we would be & probably would not do it again.

We had near perfect weather except for the first & last sea day. We had 58 mph winds & 20 foot waves the last sea day. It was so cool. We loved seeing the wrath of the sea!

The staff was some of the friendliest & most accompanying of all of the cruises we have been on & we thought the Captain did an amazing job keeping us safe & updated on everything. Captain Matko was knowledgeable, articulate, witty, & down to earth. My husband filled out a hero card about him & said he was the best Captain we have had in 25 cruises.

Even with all the sea days we couldn't find enough time to do everything we wanted to do.

We thought the entertainment was great overall although we did not care for the Comedy Club at all. We are not easily offended & usually really enjoy it. Orlando, the host was very funny & likable though. We actually walked out during one of Dino Archie's shows & I don't remember ever leaving a show early. He about brought my claws out & I am usually a pretty easygoing person!

We saw Burn the Floor & Rock of Ages last year but enjoyed seeing them again. We LOVED the dueling piano bar & Fat Cats was great. We thought the magician & the hypnotist were really good.

The slides were closed for the duration of our cruise due to damage incurred during Storm Grayson but the ropes course opened towards the end of the cruise (except for the 'walk the plank'). The rock climbing wall was open quite a bit.

It was a bit disappointing that the main pool was closed quite often. The other pool & the kiddie pool were open but they kept the main pool roped off more than we would have liked.

We didn't really have a hard time finding four lounge chairs together around the pool area but never got there early enough to get chairs at Spice H2O.

The food in the Garden Cafe was a little hit or miss & could get very congested. We mostly ate at Savor, Taste, O'Sheehan's (O'Sheehan's was much better than last year) & the Noodle Bar & all were really good. The Noodle Bar had some of the best spring rolls we have ever had & the fried rice was incredible! Tip...On some days there is a small breakfast buffet set up at O'Sheehan's Bar which was never busy.

We rarely had a wait at any of the different bars we went to & with the UBP we tried out a lot of different drinks. The bartenders at O'Sheehan's Bar made the most gorgeous Mudslides! A work of art!!!

Can't wait to use our 25% off discount on a future cruise.

We went to the Haven lounge for drinks before dinner. Our bartender Stefano was amazing. He was like a mad scientist. He used so many different tools to make original drinks.Here he is making what we named "The Stefano" It was delicious!

 

We were on the January 15th cruise. I am really enjoying reliving our cruise through your review.

I agree Stefano made bartending an art form. We ended up spending a lot more time in the Haven lounge than I thought we would because he was so entertaining. I think I have more pics of him making unusual drinks than I do of anything else. ;p His Smoking Old Fashioned was the most unique drink I have ever tried & the hammock drink was a lot of fun.

He made our group a drink that was two ounces of Crown, 1 ounce of Benedictine & a splash of Averna. He never told us the name of it so we are calling it the Stefano too! :D

Well if Stefano is the guy with glasses, I think he sucks as a bartender. I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, and what I ended up getting tasted like crap. He obviously didn't know how to make it. The guy from the Philippines was much much better.

I agree Stefano did not make a great Long Island Iced Tea but all the other drinks he made for us were great!

I just got off the Breakaway on Sunday and can answer your hair dryer questions. I too brought my own and it is 1875 watts. I honestly can't remember if there were any outlets in the bathroom, I plugged mine in at the vanity. So you can get away with using your hair dryer at the vanity IF you have the tv and vanity light off and only have it on for a few minutes at a time. Otherwise you blow the fuse... not that I did that twice or anything. I would dry my hair as the last step to getting ready and I also towel-dried it. Then I would use the hairdryer in 1-2 minute increments til it was dry. Probably sounds like extra work to most people but I too love my hair dryer. When I did blow the fuse I just told them the fuse blew while using the hair dryer, didn't specify that it was my own. No questions asked and they sent someone up to fix it. Seemed like an easy fix although the first time we had to call twice and it took a while for someone to get to it. Once they got to it it was fixed in a matter of minutes. The first blown fuse was from having the TV and light on at the same time. The second was when I got a little cocky at the end of the cruise and thought I would just keep going since everything else was off... yeah that didn't work out so well. Since they didn't even question it I'm guessing it's something that happens often enough. I've always brought my own hair dryer and this is the first time I ever blew a fuse.. well if you don't count my own at my husband, but that's a story for another post :)

Glad I am not the only one who blew TWO fuses drying my hair! :eek:

It never occurred to me to turn off the TV & the light & it did knock the TV out but after I blew the fuses I used the other vanity plug & it didn't happen.

Sounds like we got lucky to get an upgrade to the Haven before the bidding process started.

We got an upsell email January 3rd for our January 15th 14 day Breakaway cruise. We were able to upgrade from a balcony cabin to a Haven Spa Suite for an extra $500pp. for the 14 days.

NCL definitely knows how to do the Haven! it was amazing!!!

Does anyone know how much a taxi would be from Havensight to Krum Bay?

Thanks

We recently did a full day tour/shore excursion with Roberto Alarcon. Two highlights of our tour were a visit to the Turtle Release centre and viewing the cliff divers, but what made the day so special was Roberto himself. From my first contact with him via email, he couldn't have been more attentive and despite having to deal with a horrendous day of traffic (due to the bike race noted above), he managed to deliver, as promised, a great tour. When I viewed all the photos Roberto had sent me, I was reminded of the wonderful time we all had. Roberto was waiting for us on arrival, spoke excellent English, had a nice air conditioned van and supplied refreshments and went out of his way to ensure each person in the group was well taken care of. I don't think any of us ever felt the least bit intimidated. Roberto is very proud of his city and I would highly recommend his services should you decide to go on a shore excursion in Acapulco. He will work with you to arrange whatever tour/sights you may wish to see. You can access reviews for him on Tripadvisor.

I second the recommendation for Roberto. We booked a private tour with him in October to celebrate our anniversary & he went above & beyond to make it special.

Juli

We used Roberto Alarcon who took us on safe tours of Acapulco - I'm sure he'd set up something for the day for you or you can contact him and see what he advises you to do.

Thanks for suggesting Roberto!

We booked a private tour with him in October to celebrate our anniversary & it was an absolutely AMAZING day!

Juli

My family and I just booked our first ever cruise :D

 

We are set to sail out of New Orleans, Nov 19th 2017 and visit Cozumel, Roatan, Harvest Caye and Costa Maya

 

I've been lurking on these boards for sometime now and my whole family (there are 9 of us) decided our next family vacation would be a cruise during Thanksgiving!!

 

None of us have ever cruised. There are 5 in my family (Me, my husband and our 3 kids 13,10,8), my In-laws and my sister-in-law/her husband.

 

I've researched the ship (which now I know is getting refurbished) and have researched the ports. I cannot decide what we are going to do in Costa Maya. Any ideas??

 

So far this is my plan:

 

Cozumel- Dolphinarius

Roatan- Little French Key :) (I'm most excited about this one)

Harvest Caye- possibly river tubing

Costa Maya- ???

Just be warned cruising is addictive! :D

We are driving down from Nashville & are booked on this cruise too. New Orleans is a great port to cruise from.

Juli