Breakaway 8-11 to 8-18

[momtojandj]

First , I want to thank everyone for all the comments and suggestions . I don't always post but am always reading.

 

This was my second cruise, first was 9 years ago on disney , my kids were 4 and 6 at the time. This cruise was myself, two sons 13 and 15. My husband was killed last year. When this was planned months ago, it sounded like a great idea, give us all something to focus on and look foward too, but as the reviews poured in , I was nervous . Did I make a mistake? Fears aside, I went into hoping for the best . Two of my good friends and their kids decided to leave hubby's home and join me, all the kids are BFF too.

 

So, since I don't remember what we did, which days.. We did a lot! Just some notes..

 

It is cold in most of the rooms, theatre etc.. Bring a sweatshirt , pants etc

 

 

I liked the food at taste and savor. Manhattan room, wasn't a fan of the loud music , but food was good. The buffet we tried Monday nite, seafood nite and was not impressed at all. That was the only food all week that I was disappointed in.

We decided, since boys were always at entourage and checking out the ship, we would try a few up charge places. I took advice of others on cruise critic and tried the sushi, noodle bar , ocean blue waterfront and then as a group we went to modernos. The sushi with shrimp and mango.. Amazing! Noodle bar was very good, but having it next to casino was not a plus. Ocean blue waterfront , lobster roll , had finally tried last day which was good because if I had it sooner, I would've eaten it each day, that good! Moderno , was a rave from all and since it was booked for first nite, they gave us 3 bottles of wine ( one for each cabin) . We had it saved in wine cellar and had a little each nite.

Entairtainment , was amazing as well.. Rock of ages.. All, including teens , loved it. Fire and ice, we went each nite they played. Also saw second city, burn the floor,howl at the moon , and Michael Finley , but that was so so.

The atrium did fill up fast, worst is we stood until a chair opened up. The elevators were only bad on occasion , and if was we took stairs. We didn't care to sit by pool, just wanted sun so we went up to h20 every day and never had an issue with chairs. Also for fireworks, went to h20, stood in back by screen.. Great view!

Never used the casino, and yes I could smell smoke , but never actually saw smoke. Didn't bother me except for when we went to noodle bar. I only felt the "crowds" on first day. Also we went to deck 8 waterfront for sail away.. Almost no one there.it was a great spot to watch as we sailed away.

Only glitch was Thursday in bermuda was rainy , so our excursion was cancelled and I thought they could've did a better job of adding things to do or even opening more places to eat.

After all was done, we were all sad to leave, I am now a huge fan of ncl and freestyle cruising . My friends and I all said it was a vacation to remember, loved almost everything about it, and the little things were just that and not worth stressing about. Looking at booking another ncl cruise for next summer , and therefore more planning and reading posts. ;)

[bonniboo1]

Thank you for posting. I will be on the Breakaway next Spring and I can't wait. I hope that you post more!

 

Bonni

[bmlovell]

Very brave of you to plan this trip with your boys you sound like a great mom ! Sorry for the loss of your husband . Sounds like you had a great time with so e good friends we sail with our kids sept 22 can't wait

[cherylroslyn]

First , I want to thank everyone for all the comments and suggestions . I don't always post but am always reading.

 

This was my second cruise, first was 9 years ago on disney , my kids were 4 and 6 at the time. This cruise was myself, two sons 13 and 15. My husband was killed last year. When this was planned months ago, it sounded like a great idea, give us all something to focus on and look foward too, but as the reviews poured in , I was nervous . Did I make a mistake? Fears aside, I went into hoping for the best . Two of my good friends and their kids decided to leave hubby's home and join me, all the kids are BFF too.

 

So, since I don't remember what we did, which days.. We did a lot! Just some notes..

 

It is cold in most of the rooms, theatre etc.. Bring a sweatshirt , pants etc

 

 

I liked the food at taste and savor. Manhattan room, wasn't a fan of the loud music , but food was good. The buffet we tried Monday nite, seafood nite and was not impressed at all. That was the only food all week that I was disappointed in.

We decided, since boys were always at entourage and checking out the ship, we would try a few up charge places. I took advice of others on cruise critic and tried the sushi, noodle bar , ocean blue waterfront and then as a group we went to modernos. The sushi with shrimp and mango.. Amazing! Noodle bar was very good, but having it next to casino was not a plus. Ocean blue waterfront , lobster roll , had finally tried last day which was good because if I had it sooner, I would've eaten it each day, that good! Moderno , was a rave from all and since it was booked for first nite, they gave us 3 bottles of wine ( one for each cabin) . We had it saved in wine cellar and had a little each nite.

Entairtainment , was amazing as well.. Rock of ages.. All, including teens , loved it. Fire and ice, we went each nite they played. Also saw second city, burn the floor,howl at the moon , and Michael Finley , but that was so so.

The atrium did fill up fast, worst is we stood until a chair opened up. The elevators were only bad on occasion , and if was we took stairs. We didn't care to sit by pool, just wanted sun so we went up to h20 every day and never had an issue with chairs. Also for fireworks, went to h20, stood in back by screen.. Great view!

Never used the casino, and yes I could smell smoke , but never actually saw smoke. Didn't bother me except for when we went to noodle bar. I only felt the "crowds" on first day. Also we went to deck 8 waterfront for sail away.. Almost no one there.it was a great spot to watch as we sailed away.

Only glitch was Thursday in bermuda was rainy , so our excursion was cancelled and I thought they could've did a better job of adding things to do or even opening more places to eat.

After all was done, we were all sad to leave, I am now a huge fan of ncl and freestyle cruising . My friends and I all said it was a vacation to remember, loved almost everything about it, and the little things were just that and not worth stressing about. Looking at booking another ncl cruise for next summer , and therefore more planning and reading posts. ;)

Sounds like a fantastic time was had by all. I am sorry for your loss. You did the right thing taking the kids away on such a wonderful trip and having something nice to focus on.

[bingo3]

Thank you for your review. I am so sorry for your loss and glad you were able to spend time with your sons and make great memories together!

debbie

[tikilover]

Do the balcony rooms have refrigerators in them?

 

Thank you!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[momtojandj]

Do the balcony rooms have refrigerators in them?

 

Thank you!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

They have a small one, which is the mini bar filled with stuff. I heard you can ask them to remove some stuff, not sure if its true or not. I never used it, and there wasn't any room in mine to squeeze waters in .

[momtojandj]

Thank you everyone for the kind words, I am very glad I took them. Breakaway turned out to be just what we needed.

[Demonyte]

They have a small one, which is the mini bar filled with stuff. I heard you can ask them to remove some stuff, not sure if its true or not. I never used it, and there wasn't any room in mine to squeeze waters in .

 

Yes, you can ask the cabin steward to remove the contents of mini bar completely, it's quite common and we have done that on all of our cruises. Even if we had no own sodas, we still use it to keep the water cool (also the chlorine starts to dissipate from water after time so the water is a bit better tasting than straight from the tap albeit that takes quite a long time to completely remove chlorine that way).

[cruisendave]

Thank you for posting. Our boys are close to the ages of yours, 11 and 13. We had a great cruise too. Sorry to hear about your loss, sounds like you have a great friend base.

[jessicak76]

Im going on the Breakaway soon- thank you for your post! It's nice to hear that you were able to "Breakaway" and enjoy yourself with your kids and friends! HUGS!

[1witchydiva]

So sorry about your loss.

I am so happy that you had a great time and began making memories with your boys and friends.

We loved the Breakaway too. You went with the same attitude as I did and we had a blast. Laughed off the small stuff. I don't have to cook or clean for seven days-- pretty close to paradise for me. :)