Breakaway 3/23 - Tales of a Freestyle Convert

[windjamming]

"Snow" - hell, OMG: it's April 15th in NY and we got freezing rain/ice pellets outside on the sidewalk! Yikes, my honey said let's pack & cruise - BA got some last minute bargain fares (resident rates) next month to Bermuda and nice OBC, going to ring the TA again tomorrow - so tempting. The advantages of being at / close to a homeport - :D

 

Re-living our cruise again & those Oxtails stew sounded great, we missed it b/c we ate somewhere else. Do we need any excuses to do another cruise? No, not at all.

 

On housekeeping, in the past - we usually see the Steward cleaning the staterooms with the help of an assistant, not this time in our sections on 3 different decks - for whatever reason? We knew from past NCL sailings that they are responsible for up to 20 cabins so didn't make a big fuzz about it.

 

P.S. We got even that afternoon inside the casino too, actually we're ahead by dinner time and called it quits, pocketing our "winnings" while still ahead.

 

Something is telling me that the Breakaway isn't going to make it to GSC tomorrow either ... weather. Forecast for Nassau for Thursday, thumbs down for T-Storm. Those "poor" Spring breakers ... ;)

 

Thanks for your encouragement, mking8288! It was so much fun reading your review. I felt it was a bonus cruise for me -- same cruise, different experience! Will try to get Day 5 out tonight.

 

Well, of course you have to sail the Bermuda itinerary -- for comparison purposes, of course! :)

 

Good to know about your casino winnings that day - coincidence ... or not?

 

Poor, poor Spring breakers - stuck on the Breakaway all day !! :D

Edited April 16, 2014 by windjamming

[meatball_nyc]

Loving the review so far! Thank you.

 

Looks like they did make GSC today :)

 

 

 

 

~Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

[cruisinsly]

Thanks cruisinsly! Life caught up with me, but I'll post Day 4 tonight.

 

 

 

 

lol, Life does that to me as well. Day 4 was awesome!!!

[Stillfloatin']

I'm enjoying the review. I especially like the capsulated roundup at the end of each day's full review. Nicely done.

[mking8288]

... It was so much fun reading your review. I felt it was a bonus cruise for me -- same cruise, different experience! Will try to get Day 5 out tonight ... Well, of course you have to sail the Bermuda itinerary -- for comparison purposes, of course! :)

 

Good to know about your casino winnings that day - coincidence ... or not?

 

Poor, poor Spring breakers - stuck on the Breakaway all day !! :D

 

As meatball_nyc said, it surely looked like they are tendering to GSC today - I wonder if they have 1,500 children or 1,800 children onboard this fit - all trying to find a sweet spot in the Kid's Pool. :eek:

 

Casino winnings, I think it was pure luck - machines were very tight on Day 2. Couldn't do much on the table so 1st. spin on those penny slots, it was "ding, ding, ding and more ding" By Saturday evening, let's just say we had a draw - almost breaking even and that's a win-win for us.

 

Did you joined in the bargain shopping frenzy on those last 2 Sea Days? I sworn that some folks had their hands full of those watch sets.

 

We enjoyed the noodles soup at the "Shanghai" counter, a short break next to the casino. O'Sheehan's Chinese Pot Pie was quite good but BIL sworn about tasting curry in the classic meatloaf, still like the Dawn's hot wings as being crispier - I only wished that they kept the chilled soup & rotate them daily in the MDR and in the buffet.

 

We did the (RCL) Explorer of the Seas to Bermuda's Dockyard, stayed overnight and surely do not mind going back for staying there for 2 nights, just to hangout on the Waterfront ... Mrs. M has unused vacation days in her 2014 pool so we shall see if she can get approved & start packing again in a couple of weeks (so, meatball_nyc - I will give another update before you from NCL ship's angle, LOL)

 

Let us know what we missed on Day 5, when you find time to resume writing.

[meatball_nyc]

Thank you, mking, once again. I'm jealous of all the many cruises you guys do!

P.S. Don't you mean O'Sheehan's Chicken Pot Pie ;) can't wait to try it.

 

Windjamming, Looking forward to the next installment of the review.

 

 

Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Edited April 16, 2014 by meatball_nyc

[windjamming]

I'm enjoying the review. I especially like the capsulated roundup at the end of each day's full review. Nicely done.

 

Aww thanks. I know sometimes I just want the summary before reading the details, so I thought it might be helpful for others, too! Appreciate the feedback!!

[windjamming]

Did you joined in the bargain shopping frenzy on those last 2 Sea Days? I sworn that some folks had their hands full of those watch sets.

 

Frenzy is right! I watched it from afar - there was no way I was getting near there. Would have thought they were giving them out for free!

 

Windjamming, Looking forward to the next installment of the review.

 

Posting in a few minutes. Thanks for continuing to follow, meatball_nyc!

[windjamming]

DAY 5 - NASSAU

 

On cruises, for me, the first 2 days always seem really long. Well, I suppose Day 1 is just busy with boarding and unpacking and muster, but Day 2 seems really long. Not in a bad way, but the day feels really full because of all the new things to see and new routines to learn. This happens even with ships I've sailed before, so I suppose it's the shift in schedule that makes the day seem longer.

 

By Day 4 I've usually got the routine down, and Day 5 is when the cruise starts zipping by. This cruise was no different, and today went by really fast!

 

After breakfast, we left the ship. Welcome to Nassau!

 

 

Our home for the week. Isn't she pretty?

 

 

We walked down Bay Street and saw this interesting tree in front of the Straw Market.

 

 

We walked around the Straw Market but didn't see anything we wanted. It's definitely worth a stroll, though, and some of the carvings were really fabulous.

 

Neat post office box:

 

 

We met these 2 police officers at the crosswalk. They were wonderful ambassadors for their country. I love their crisp uniforms!

 

 

The Tortuga Rum Cake store was on one of the side streets heading back to the ship, so we picked up some souvenirs for friends back home. I believe prices were about the same as on the ship (maybe a dollar cheaper), but there was a lot of variety and free samples - yum!

 

We had lunch on the ship and then just chilled out all afternoon. I stretched out on the lounger in the balcony for the first time and enjoyed the view:

 

 

We decided today was the perfect time to finally try O'Sheehan's for the first time, and it was a WINNER. I only wish I had more meals so I could sample more of the menu! We had the corned beef sandwich, fish and chips, and chicken fingers. It was delicious! If anyone has sailed the Radiance class on Royal Caribbean, we loved the old Seaview Cafe, which has since been renovated out (except on the Jewel) in favor of specialty restaurants. We missed the fried fare from the Seaview Cafe, so really loved O'Sheehan's!

 

Tonight we had reservations to see Rock of Ages at 7pm. Since the theater tends to fill up fast (and in the shows we'd seen, the theater was FULL, which I've never seen before), we figured we'd hang out in 678 Ocean Place so that when doors opened, we could get seats quickly.

 

Well, 6pm was way too early, so we went outside to check out any stragglers. All aboard was 5:30pm, and we had already heard 2 people getting paged more than once. When it looked like they weren't going to show up, they pulled up the gangway and started to get ready to leave. Finally we saw a man and a woman running towards the ship.

 

Now, perhaps because of our size, we were in the farthest berth from the customs house. So these 2 had a loooong way to run. A port golf cart went to pick them up halfway, and they were transported to the ship under the boos, catcalls and serenading of the entire starboard side of the ship!

 

With everyone onboard, we finally left. Later, at the Captain's Corner talk on the last day, someone asked about runner "protocol", and Captain Evans explained that the 2 in Nassau were lucky, as we were waiting for another ship to leave and thus were still docked. The Captain was diplomatic in not answering any questions about fines.

 

The runner show over, the doors to the theater finally opened, and we found our "usual" seats. (Note: In front of us was a family with 3 kids under the age of 10, and there were many kids in the audience.)

 

In short, I loved Rock of Ages! Sure it was a bit risqué for a family cruise, but to be fair, they do point this out in the dailies. I personally did not think it was any worse than what you might see in a movie theater or even on TV these days. The older couple sitting to my right left after the first 5 minutes, as did at least one other group. My parents weren't huge fans, either.

 

I thought it was great fun, because, as a child of the 80s, I had a ball with the songs. Yes, the plot's thin, but, whatever - they had to work with what they had. It's not like Mamma Mia's storyline is exactly Hitchcock. They put in little jokes here and there about Norwegian, which I thought was hilarious. Would I pay $100 to see it on Broadway? Probably not, but I was vaguely interested enough because of the music, so it was absolutely the perfect show for me. Even my parents admitted that despite it not being their cup of tea, it was still a great opportunity to see something they otherwise wouldn't go see.

 

After the show (I know, today is just whizzing by), it was time for fireworks. They had originally been planned for the previous night, but because we overnighted in Nassau, it was rescheduled for tonight. The rest of the ship headed to Spice H20, but we went to our secret place -- our port side balcony!

 

Of course, all of us with port side balconies were outside, and it was like a fun block party! The fireworks went on for about 5 minutes and were super! We couldn't hear the music, but I'll take being in my own private space any day. I've read some complaints that these fireworks are disappointing or nothing to write home about, and while it's true it's not exactly Disney or Macy's 4th of July, peeps, we're on a SHIP. In the middle of the water. On a cruise. In a balcony (or your space of choice). On a gorgeous evening. It's pretty good.

 

I had grand plans to go out again after the fireworks, but could you believe how exhausted I was from a day of eating, walking around the Bahamas, eating, lounging on the balcony, eating, watching a Broadway show for free, and enjoying fireworks?

 

The Short Version

 

* I loved Rock of Ages. If anyone reading this is trying to figure out if it's for them, go anyway. Worst case, leave after the first 5 minutes, but it's not as bad as some of the comments have implied. There's fun music, and if nothing else, it's a Broadway show for free.

 

* If you have a port side balcony, totally fine to see the fireworks!

 

* Tortuga Rum Cake store is on one of the side streets heading back to the ship. Yummy samples, and they sell rum-themed things other than cake too, like chocolates or coffee. Nice gift for the folks back home.

 

* O'Sheehan's rocks. The waiters here are really nice, comfort food's great, and atmosphere relaxing. This is probably the place I most wish I ate at more. We wanted to do the chicken fry and ribs nights but just never had time.

 

* You know how in the Daily, they always encourage you to do things soon before your cruise ends? It's true. By Day 5 the cruise is just zipping by, and I kept remembering things I still had to do or see.

[irishclover]

Glad you are having an awesome time. I have always wanted to see Rock of Ages. On the day you couldn't tender into GSC, did they do anything onboard to make it up to you guys? I know a long time ago we couldn't get into Cozumel and they had a crab feast near the pool which was fun

[kcr8]

Absolutely great review! My family and I are vacationing on the Breakaway this July. This review has helped a lot with our plans. Thanks for the great insight and details.

 

 

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[CruisinChills]

Loving this review as we are getting ready to board Breakaway in just a few days' time! Especially enjoyed the KSC excursion details, as we are signed up for this and I really haven't seen it written about elsewhere. This gives me an idea of how much there is to see (a lot) and how much time we have (not much) and how I'd better plan my time wisely.:)

[jdvmd]

Glad you had a great time!

[windjamming]

Glad you are having an awesome time. I have always wanted to see Rock of Ages. On the day you couldn't tender into GSC, did they do anything onboard to make it up to you guys? I know a long time ago we couldn't get into Cozumel and they had a crab feast near the pool which was fun

 

I don't think there was anything special like a buffet, but they did have a full slate of activities, as if it was a sea day. They really didn't skip a beat.

 

Absolutely great review! My family and I are vacationing on the Breakaway this July. This review has helped a lot with our plans. Thanks for the great insight and details.

 

Thanks kcr8! Have a great time on the Breakaway -- she's a beauty.

[windjamming]

Loving this review as we are getting ready to board Breakaway in just a few days' time! Especially enjoyed the KSC excursion details, as we are signed up for this and I really haven't seen it written about elsewhere. This gives me an idea of how much there is to see (a lot) and how much time we have (not much) and how I'd better plan my time wisely.:)

 

Thanks BBC, and I love your username! KSC was a fantastic experience - definitely more to see than there is time. Hopefully it won't be as crowded during your visit, though, and you'll get to see more than we did. The Imax movie is supposed to be really good. Have a great time next week!

 

Glad you had a great time!

 

Thanks! Definitely a great time!

[windjamming]

[b]DAY 6 - AT SEA[/b]

Today, we just spent the day really enjoying the ship. The first couple of days were about learning the layout, then we had a couple of days in port, and now - we were pros getting around the ship.

Nothing too exciting during the day, but what we did in the evening was totally the most unexpected fun.

To start, for dinner, we had reservations at Taste at 5:30. It was a great experience! I had the shrimp ceviche for an appetizer and the fried shrimp / beef short ribs combo for the entree. Our waiter team was superb from the moment we sat down. I have to admit, after our first night experience in the Manhattan Room, we were a little apprehensive about going back to a MDR. We shouldn't have been. Because we were early, we were able to be seated by the window and had simply a delightful meal.

Taste was one of the casual MDRs, and we saw people in everything from dress casual to t-shirts and shorts. It really is Freestyle. I loved that. On traditional dining cruises, it requires some effort to get cleaned up for dinner, and at times when we've been in port late, we've just skipped the MDR because we didn't have enough time to get ready. On Norwegian, it's fine to come in as is and still enjoy a nice dining experience. I like dressing up, but on vacation, I just want to relax, and this was perfect.

After dinner, we didn't have anything planned, so we thought we'd hang out in the Atrium 'balcony' area, across from O'Sheehan's. We had walked by there about a thousand times during the cruise but never stopped. So, we found 3 chairs and sat down. Carlo Nuschi, one of the ship entertainers, was playing the piano and singing classic standards. He was pretty good. A lady came up and did the hula, while Carlo improvised "I left my heart in … Honolulu".

By this point, a pretty good crowd had formed, and without a Daily on me, I didn't know what was happening. Turns out, we had unwittingly secured ourselves front row balcony seats to the Battle of the Sexes game show. It. Was. HILARIOUS. There were 2 teams of 6 men and 6 women, competing each other in physical challenges like scooting across the floor on a towel or passing an orange to each other without using their hands. The final challenge was to get as many people of your gender to fit onto a bed sheet spread out on the ground. Of course, all the kids in the audience were grabbed immediately and hoisted on shoulders. With this final challenge, the women came from behind to beat the guys by just a few points!

Game show over, we thought that was it for the Atrium. But wait, there was more!

It was Bandaoke night with the ship band, IMPAC! I'm not generally a big fan of karaoke, but this was a LOT of fun! There were some really good singers doing crowd favorites like Sweet Caroline (so good! so good! so good!), and then there were just some hilarious acts. 2 young guys came up doing YMCA, and absolutely lost their concentration and place in the song. The nice thing about having a band as backup was that the band would help out when the singers lost where they were or just had no idea what to sing. So you'd have these kids (and they were usually kids) come up and try to do Black Eyes Peas (Tonight is Gonna be a Good Night), falter a couple of lines in, and then hear the band singing and prompting the kids.

At one point, 3 young girls came up and tried to sing Livin on a Prayer. To give an idea of the ages of these girls, I'd say that the song is at least 10 years older than the oldest of the 3 girls. They didn't have a chance. They were not halfway there. They weren't gonna make it, I swear. They had each other, and it really wasn't … a lot. The band piped in, but - and you guessed it - the audience knew the words. I know I said earlier that it really wasn't entirely a NY crowd, but who knows, maybe it was Jersey night in the Atrium. Anyway, this Jersey girl approved, and it just shows, you never know when your knowledge of Bon Jovi lyrics may come in handy. (I'm also available for naming Turnpike rest areas.)

By the time Bandaoke ended, we had sat there for 3 hours for what we thought was a brief respite before moving onto something else. It was so much fun! If O'Sheehan's was where I wished I had more meals, the Atrium was where I wished I hung out more. There seemed to always be something going on, and it was just a real chill feeling. No pressure to drink or eat. Completely come and go as you wish. This is what I mean that the entertainment team really did a great job keeping people occupied but also with a lot of options.

Afterwards, Mom and I went up to the Garden Cafe, which was always open until 11:30. They had burgers and pizza and snack fare as well as desserts. Tonight we found out they had COOKIES. Chocolate chip, white chocolate and macadamia nut, and oatmeal raisin. SO good. I can't believe we learned this on the 2nd to last night!! We grabbed some cookies and headed back to the cabin, where we enjoyed our pre-bedtime snack while watching (quietly -- Dad was asleep) a movie before finally catching some zzz's.

Tomorrow would be our last full day on the ship!!

[b]The Short Version[/b]

* There is SO much to do on the Breakaway. If there's something you want to do, do it right away, because you will always find new things to do. It's like the ship of never ending wonders.

* We loved Taste. It's definitely more casual than the Manhattan Room, and the look was airier and more relaxed. We had reservations at 5:30 and sat by the window.

* Hang out in the Atrium. There's always something going on.

* Live music on the ship is great, and sometimes fellow passengers are part of the entertainment!

* COOKIES in the Garden Cafe after 9:30pm.

[English101]

Great review. Looking forward to hearing about last night! Great advice about not waiting to do something.

[Tiger55]

A wonderful review of a very great vacation. We were on the same sailing dates as you. Seems as you had a very positive experience as we did on this wonderful ship (except finding loose slots):)

[windjamming]

[quote name='English101']Great review. Looking forward to hearing about last night! Great advice about not waiting to do something.[/QUOTE]

Thanks English101! Have had it on my to do list to finish this review for weeks now ... Appreciate the extra boost! :)


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[windjamming]

[quote name='Tiger55']A wonderful review of a very great vacation. We were on the same sailing dates as you. Seems as you had a very positive experience as we did on this wonderful ship (except finding loose slots):)[/QUOTE]

Thanks Tiger55! Wasn't it a great week? Definitely a positive experience, so much so that we're looking for our next Norwegian cruise. Although we have sailed mostly RCI in the past, Freestyle really won me over!


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[Tiger55]

[quote name='windjamming']Thanks Tiger55! Wasn't it a great week? Definitely a positive experience, so much so that we're looking for our next Norwegian cruise. Although we have sailed mostly RCI in the past, Freestyle really won me over!


Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app[/QUOTE]


It was a great week, loved the Breakaway! Enjoyed the extra time in Nassau! It only felt crowded the day boarding the ship. Love Freestyle cruising, I'm loyal to NCL just for that reason. Not sure when or where my next one will be, but it can't come soon enough :)


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