MS Breakaway to Bermuda May 22-39

[rafinmd]

Thank you lauren0309, CTSandy and krazy4kruisin (I'll get back with you on your questions).

 

Up at 5:30 and on deck at 6:15, there was only the slightest sliver of the rising sun showing through the clouds. I was unsuccessful at hooking to Bermuda wifi in from the deck 8 waterfront but found a picnic table outside Bermuda Outfitters near the visitor center with a good signal and enough shade to see my laptop screen.

 

I had originally booked a Segway tour of the Dockyards for the last day here on the Breakaway, but it was cancelled for lack of interest. I was able to book that tour for the day the Anthem OTS is in Bermuda and instead booked a Glass Bottom Boat tour for today. That tour was not until early afternoon so I had the morning free.

 

I decided to have a quick look at the nearby village of Somerset, about 3 miles from the Dockyards. I had heard the advent of large ships was putting a strain on the bus system and saw evidence of it. My bus was standing room only from the time it left the dockyards, and there was a lot of pitching and lurching as we made our way down the road. We seemed to have passed up several people waiting for the bus as we were quite full. I really found little of interest in Somerset, and the ride back was much calmer. After the trip out I was concerned that the buses coming back might be full, but for my 11AM return we had fewer total people on the bus than were standing on the way out. I was rather relieved to be back at the dockyards in plenty of time.

 

My 1 ½ hour boat trip left at 1PM. We boarded the “Looking Glass” and sailed inside the sound formed by the islands, then passed under a bridge at Somerset to our viewing area. We went down to the lower level around 1:30 and first viewed the coral reefs. The crew explained that Bermuda’s coral is less colorful than in other areas because it is quite far north and the water gets too cold in the winter to support some of the more tropical forms of coral. Coral is a cross somewhere between a plant and an animal and has properties of both. The coral here gets special protection and is relatively healthy.

 

After viewing the coral for a while we moved on to the shipwreck of the HMS Vixen. The Vixen burned and was scuttled in the harbor about 1894, and is largely covered with coral, and I found it hard to make out any part of the ship with certainty. What was readily apparent was the ship’s bow which stuck about 8 feet above the water. We came back to the upper deck about 2 and sailed back along the outer shore of Bermuda, rounding the dockyard and pulling up to the pier exactly our all aboard time of 2:30.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/vixen.jpg

 

I was on board at 2:37 with a few people still walking up the pier about 2:45, but the lines were pulled in precisely at 3PM and we started our journey back to New York. There is pretty much one way into and out of Bermuda, following a twisting path which goes off shore and then approaches very close to St. George on the East end of the island before heading out to sea. Our last real look at Bermuda was Ft. St. Catherine about 4PM.

 

It sounded like the solos were pretty much doing their own thing tonight; in any case I had reservations for Burn the Floor at 7PM and headed down to the Taste dining room as soon as it opened. The steak frites and cherries jubilee were excellent and service was quick, about a 45 minute meal. I was also treated to a lovely table by the window.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/steakfrite.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/jubilee.jpg

 

Burn the Floor is pretty much a pure dance show and very high energy. As today’s parting shot, for those in North America this marks the start of Memorial Day weekend. Remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for out freedom and by all means observe the holiday safely.

 

Roy

[krazy4kruisin]

Thank you again. I commend you for having the nerve to cruise solo. If I ever have the opportunity I hope that I have the guts to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review and pictures just added to the enjoyment.

[rafinmd]

Thank you so much for the wonderful review. You had mentioned that you ate at Cagney's, was the the only speciality restuarant that you ate at? If you ate at others how would you rate them and how would you rate Cagney's vs the MDR? Did you feel that the dining package was worth the extra money?Did you do the Cirque Fanatasy or did you hear opinions of others? Did you have to make reservations to the shows or were they easy to get in? Thank you again.

 

Cagney’s was the only specialty restaurant I visited. I thought Cagneys was a step above the MDR but the MDR was fine and I enjoyed the steak frites there last night. I think the best part of Cagney’s would be getting a “waterfront” table; I’m not sure what the availability is. One thing to consider in a Studio cabin is that there’s a group dinner most evenings, usually in the MDR, and that to me would be a hindrance to taking the dining package.

 

I thought the shows were a weak point of the Breakaway. Reservations seemed to fill up very quickly, probably should be made from home. Burn the Floor was the only show I saw, and that was by reservation. I did ask Tiara about getting in standby and she thought it was relatively easy for the theater shows but very limited standby availability for the comedy shows at Headliners.

 

I have not heard any opinions about Cirque Fantasy; I’ll try to remember to ask at tonight’s get together or dinner.

 

Roy

[SteelMagnolia9]

Question: Is it expected that an additional gratuity be given to the solo hostess? Wondering what others have done in the past.

[rafinmd]

Most of Saturday morning was spent on the Behind the Scenes tour. We met at the Shore Excursion Desk at 9:30 but had some stragglers and didn’t get away until 9:45. As we arrived we were given a sheet with technical data on the ship. Our first stop was the Spiegel Tent where we started with a half hour slide show on the history of NCL. The room was set up for Wine Lovers the Musical and the array of glasses on the tables was spectacular. The stage manager then took us back to the dressing rooms for both the Spiegel Tent and the Breakaway Theater and explained how things work in the production shows and we saw the array of costumes ready for upcoming shows. Something I haven’t seen on other ships was that corridors around the stages were marked off limits to all but entertainers during the show times. A remark was made that at those times people can tell the Captain to get our of their space.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/handout.pdf

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/winelovers1.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/winelovers2.jpg

 

Our next stop was the main galley at the aft of deck 6. This is connected directly to the Taste and Savor restaurants and by escalator to the Manhattan Dining Room. Other restaurants have small galleys but most of the food throughout the ship is prepared there. The first thing we saw on entering was a poster displaying the standard plating setups for all the dishes served there with the idea of uniformity throughout the fleet. A photo was taken in the galley of each participant with a chef’s hat and large spatula of the type used to extract pizzas from an oven.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/plateing.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/maingalley.jpg

 

Our next stop was on deck 4 in the stores area. We got a chance to step into the below zero meat locker and to see the butchers in action. The manager explained that the ship always keeps a 2-day supply of produce and 7-day supply of meat in case of emergencies, and those stores are the first used on the next cruise.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/meatlocker.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/butcher.jpg

 

We headed down I95 (the central crew corridor running the length of the ship) and peeked into the crew mess. Some crew get privileges to dine in guest areas (at their own expense in the specialty restaurants) but most will dine in a large dining room on deck 4. Crew cabins are scattered throughout the ship.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/crewmess.jpg

 

We stopped at the environmental area where an officer explained how all the waste is treated. He said they were painting and we did not step into any of those areas.

 

Our final stop was the laundry on decks 2 and 3 where we saw huge and very efficient machines for handling vast volumes of laundry with automated pressing and folding and huge washing machines.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/pressing.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/washing.jpg

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/folding.jpg

 

The tour ended about 12:30 with presentation of the photos taken in the dining room. I have done a number of behind the scenes tours and this was probably the least satisfying. The reason given for not visiting the Bridge or Engine Control Rooms was the attacks in Paris and Brussels; that’s unfortunate as I have visited those areas on other ships as recently as January. I think it was also the most restrictive with regard to photography with cameras prohibited back stage and along all of I95.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I was out of bed at 5 and on deck about 5:20, just a few minutes past sunrise but still with a lovely display on the horizon. I walked 4 laps around deck 8. It’s a reasonably long lap but I didn’t find it a particularly good place to walk with a need to push a button and wait for doors to open on both sides of the ship at the front. Other issues were the need to go around several baffles in the walk and a pretty heavily used smoking area at the front starboard.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/dawn0528.jpg

 

I had a little morning free time and popped into the library to pick up the daily suduku. It’s a mid range library, much better than I’ve seen on RCI or Celebrity ships but nowhere near as good as HAL, Crystal, or Cunard.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/library.jpg

 

My Behind the Scenes tour is described in a separate post and ran about 9:30 to 12:30.

 

I am not a very efficient packer and spent most of the afternoon packing. The final Solos get-together in the Studio Lounge was quite well attended and Tiara ran 2 trivia quizzes. There were 12 at out final dinner together at 7:30 in Taste restaurant. Like most dinners with large parties this ran quite long; I broke away for final packing (cameras, dental stuff, etc) about 9:50. Tiara had gifts for everyone, t-shirts, keychain lights and pens, and a round of sad goodbyes.

 

My big bag (47 pounds) went out about 10:45 and I called it a night soon afterwards.

 

Today’s parting shot is a comment from Tiara at dinner. “Never burn bridges! You will be working with the same people again and again” Despite a huge ocean it really is a small world and positive relationships are a must.

 

Roy

 

I know there are some unanswered questions. I will answer them (and any new questions) either later today or tomorrow.

[SteelMagnolia9]

Thanks for the wonderful review (also your HAL review).

 

I am leaning towards the HAL cruise for 2017, due to location. Did you find the location of the Veendam docked in Hamilton easier to get to other places vs. The Dockyard? It seems being in Hamilton would be a plus.

[rafinmd]

Steelmagnolia9, I’ll hold off on a recommendation until I’ve sailed the Anthem OTS, but Veendam is both more my style and Hamilton is a great location. The 2 places where Dockyards is an advantage are of course the dockyards themselves (for activities around the National Museum, otherwise I fund it pretty much a tourist trap), and St George is slightly easier (by ferry) from Dockyards than from Hamilton (by bus). I think though Hamilon is the real gem and most of the rest of the island is more easily accessible from there.

 

With regard to additional gratuity for the Studio hostess, I don’t have a definitive answer, but I asked one of the NCL regulars and what we did was he took up a collection. Most people who chose to participate put in $10 or $20 and it was presented to her at our farewell dinner.

 

Lauren0309, I hope and expect you will have a wonderful time in September.

 

Krazy4cruisin, I did not encounter anyone who was at Wine Lovers but I posted pictures of the setup in the post about the All Access Tour. It looks spectacular for those who love wine. I got just a few comments on the Circue Dreams show but they were all ”fabulous” or “awesome”.

 

I cruise mostly solo, about 60 of 70 cruises. It’s probably not for everybody, but all the people in the studios and at the solo activities were very positive about their experience. This spring I was on the Crystal Symphony for 38 days. One of my tablemates was also traveling solo, and moved on to a Celebrity ship for another cruise, this one with her DH. There are almost as many types of solo cruisers as there are solo cruisers.

 

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

At 5AM the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was on our forward horizon with the Celebrity Summit a couple miles behind us. There was a haze on the horizon but a big pink sun was shining through the haze.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/dawn00529.jpg

 

We passed by the Statue of Liberty about 6 and made our way up the Hudson pulling in between the USS Bataan (visiting for New York’s Fleet Week) and the Gem a little before 7.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/bataan.jpg

 

We were allowed to select our own luggage tags with a corresponding estimate departure time. I had selected light blue, the first general color, expected to be called about 9:15. We were expected to be out of our cabins by 8:30, and I was hoping to find a comfortable place to relax free from crowds until the time to leave the ship came. I left my cell about 8:20 and as I walked down the hallway realized I had the perfect place, the Studio Lounge. It was quiet and never more than 3 people there. My departure was called quite early, 8:40 instead of 9:15. Lines moved slowly leaving the ship, from my location near the bow the line snaked back to the casino.

As I reached the end of the line a crew member said go to the aft line, it’s shorter. It turned out to be just as long and took several minutes to even start moving. Once off the ship the wisdom of the crew members words became apparent, I would have been off the ship faster leaving from the bow, but the entry to the terminal was by the aft entrance, and the line from the bow continued all the way outside the terminal to the aft entrance.

 

When I disembarked the Veendam in Boston a week earlier, I met with Customs and Immigration immediately after entering the terminal, by the time I picked up my luggage I was free to leave. In New York it’s still the old style procedure, lining up (5-10) minutes with all our luggage to meet passport control and customs, much more a hassle than in Boston.

 

I was out of the terminal about 9:20 and walked south 8 blocks to the crosstown 42 bus, then 4 long blocks to 8th avenue and another 8 (short) block walk to Penn Station. I dropped my bags at Club Acela about 10:15 and walked another 18 blocks south to the Church of the Villages on 13th Street. I walked into the 10:30 service about 10:45 but was able to experience most of it.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/villageumc.jpg

 

When the service ended I walked west to the Hudson, along the river front to Chelsea Piers, and then along the High Line park to the end, including a new section that goes North to 34th street. After a quick lunch I returned to Club Acela to wait for my 3PM train. The run to Baltimore Washington Airport rail station was about 2 ½ hours with dinner served just south of Philadelphia. It was just starting to drizzle as I disembarked the train at 5:30 and boarded the Airport Shuttle. The slight drizzle had become a shower when I walked in my door at 6 and became a downpour by 6:30 It appears to be the remnants of the storm that has hammered Charleston. Today’s parting shot is a wish for a quick recovery for Charleston for what appear to be pretty significant flooding.

 

Roy

[Gershep]

Thank you for all the information you posted.

[rafinmd]

Now that these 3 cruises are nearly over I am ready for some comparisons. These are my opinions reflecting my biases. First of all, my general philosophy is “any room on the best ship I can afford” so my opinions will be far different from many others’ preferences. The Breakaway was my first modern cruise on NCL while I have recently attained Diamond on RCI and 4-star on HAL, not absolutely top rewards program levels but quite substantial. I started modern cruising with HAL mainly because of the Prinsendam and in general it’s one of my favorite cruise lines while I started with Royal mainly because it has the best itineraries out of Baltimore. I would probably not have tried NCL except for curiosity about the studio cabins. I do have definite preferences but do not consider myself a cheerleader for any cruise line except possibly Crystal. And I must admit, some of our preferences may not stand up to cold hard logic. I see it in others like a table mate on the Breakaway who said something like “I’m glad I tried Cunard once, but would not go back because of the dress code and the dinners are too long.” This was said with a straight face by a lady in a very nice evening gown near the end of a dinner that I excused myself from after about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I’m sure I have my own illogical biases but of course I don’t see them.

 

Embarkation:

I’ll give that to HAL with one proviso. They seem to have a tendency to skimp on checkin personnel and I’ve seen long checkin lines. Not usually (and not in Boston for the Veendam) but probably about 25% of the time. On my Maasdam cruise I stood in line 55 minutes waiting for someone to take my ticket. The only staff presence in that time was the equivalent of Japanese subway “crammers” cajoling everybody to crowd together and keep the line from stretching down the stairs. As a 4-star mariner I now have priority embarkation and no longer need to experience that but I claim to follow a religious leader who said “As you’ve treated the least of my brethren you’ve treated me. Come on, HAL, you can do better.

Once actually on board HAL really shines. I boarded about the same time as the other 2 ships but went directly to my room, stowed my bags, and was soon in the dining room for a civilized lunch.

 

Checkin on the Breakaway started really early. The checkin line was short and I had completed the formalities by 10:30, but actual boarding didn’t begin until 11:30. The wait in the lounge was fairly comfortable; I was just glad I had my suduku book with me. After the suites boarding was in groups by order of arrival, I boarded a little before noon. Rooms were available to drop off bags at noon, but not ready for occupancy until later. Lunch was in the lido and not great but fairly civilized.

 

Checkin for the Anthem started later but was quick and I was on board soon after the formalities. Rooms, however are completely off limits until 1PM. Despite announcements for people in the WJ (lido) to leave, people were occupying tables with mounds of luggage waiting for 1PM. That’s fairly standard on RCI, but what was new was there were staff at the entrance to the WJ holding up long lines of people from going in until tables were vacated. I managed to get food only by promising to get it and take it elsewhere to eat, then putting my plate on my lap on a pool lounger. My verdict best Veendam, then Breakaway, and finally Anthem.

 

Roy

Edited June 9, 2016 by rafinmd

[rafinmd]

Dining is very subjective, both in cuisine and style. I do like fixed dining at a large table and the Veendam delivered what I like. On the Veendam I was at a table for 8 with 3 couples and one other solo and most were present the majority of the time. We developed a rapport with our waiter and had great dinners. Most of my breakfasts and lunches (as on all 3 ships) were in the lido with a good selection and I enjoyed eating either at tables by the pool or the aft deck.

 

I am not really a fan of Freestyle Dining. Even where I’ve had anytime dining I’ve usually been offered the choice of my own table or dining with others. That does not seem to be part of the NCL culture. I think that would be a real drag for me on most NCL ships, but being in a studio made a difference. Each evening there was a happy hour in the studio lounge, sometimes there was a full group dinner, and on occasion there wasn’t but a few people would get together and go somewhere. There are 3 complementary restaurants, all with the same menu, but one operates as a “supper” club and I found the shows distracting and they impeded conversation. I think over the week I dined 2 or 3 times on my own, once with a couple of others arranged at the last minute and 3 or 4 full group dinners. For the studio, I should probably rate the experience as different although equal to HAL; I just didn’t associate that as the typical NCL standard.

 

On the Grandeur of the Seas I had found the dining to be very nice, just a shade below what I experienced on the Veendam. I thought the idea of Dynamic Classic Dining was a good one so I was very disappointed in what was actually offered. As noted earlier in the blog I had a confirmation of early classic dining with an empty set of actual reservations. After chasing around embarkation day I got a 4 day supply of reservations, but only for one meal at a time. Those for whom Royal actually followed through on Classic sailed into their assigned tables while I stood in line waiting to be assigned a new table and a new waiters. At the end of the 4 days I had no reservations and the system told me I could not make reservations because I already had them. After 30 minutes with Guest Services and another visit to the dining room I finally had reservations but nobody on board showed any concern that I was not given what I was supposed to have. Anthem also had the only really bad food of the trio, a slice of French toast from the Solarium Bistro only slightly softer than a rock.

 

Bottom line HAL #1, Breakaway 2nd, and Anthem a distant last.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I had an Ocean View room on the Veendam, and it was very much what I expected. It was pleasant and to me having a full bath tub was a bonus, especially when I developed a sore toe walking in the rain in Boston and soaking the foot was a real help. There was ample work space at the desk, although the power was a bit of a challenge. There were 2 outlets (1 US and 1 Euro) but they were so close together I not use both the Euro outlet and my 3-way tap. I managed to get one other outlet from the TV power but I was generally feeling a bit short of outlets. The room was well serviced and there was fresh fruit every day. There was not a fridge but ice was provided twice a day.

 

My studio on the Breakaway was a unique experience. The room was tiny, and storage space was barely adequate. There was just an awkward and very small space for a single computer, there were a lot of outlets but no place to put anything to connect to them. The bath setup was a bit strange with commode, shower, and sink in separate spaces. It would have bothered me if I was sharing the room with a roommate, but worked fine for just me. Ice was provided twice a day. Power was available only when a card was in a slot by the door, when the card was removed EVERYTHING shut off immediately, no grace period to close the door before the lights went out.

 

I had booked a studio room on the Anthem but was upgraded to a regular balcony cabin. I did get a quick peek into a studio while it was being cleaned and it was a lot bigger than on the Breakaway, almost as big as a regular cabin. My cabin has a mini-fridge; it’s nearly packed with stuff for sale and I get very limited space there but it has been working. There is ample desk space, storage space, and power outlets, the only thing I would have preferred would be a tub rather than a shower. There’s a key slot for power but the electric outlets stay on and when the card is removed the lights stay on for several seconds allowing an orderly exit from the room. I found that on the Breakaway I often put a random card in the slot while out of the room but the less drastic cutoff on the Anthem kept me more honest about only using the card slot while in the room.

 

My bottom line on rooms is Anthem #1, then Veendam, and finally Breakaway.

 

Roy

[mking8288]

Hi, Roy - great writeups. We didn't get the chance to "connect" while on the BA that week, I decided to do the free Platinum BTS ship tour instead of the M&G at 11 on Day 2 - did you go ? How was it, perhaps you wanted to write about that ... I don't believe anyone else said anything.

 

Happy to know you figured out how to use iConicerge on the ship - what did you think of the WiFi internet connection on the BA ?

 

Now that I read about AOS being #3 - need to try her out as one of my niece like it better over NCL. Here's the Veendam in Hamilton back in 2012, I think - the LV Shop is gone/moved, I discovered last month as our friend was going to drop in & maybe shop - LOL.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64025118/1980-2000%27s%20Travel/BDA-12261.JPG

[rafinmd]

Hi, Roy - great writeups. We didn't get the chance to "connect" while on the BA that week, I decided to do the free Platinum BTS ship tour instead of the M&G at 11 on Day 2 - did you go ? How was it, perhaps you wanted to write about that ... I don't believe anyone else said anything.

 

Happy to know you figured out how to use iConicerge on the ship - what did you think of the WiFi internet connection on the BA ?

 

Now that I read about AOS being #3 - need to try her out as one of my niece like it better over NCL. Here's the Veendam in Hamilton back in 2012, I think - the LV Shop is gone/moved, I discovered last month as our friend was going to drop in & maybe shop - LOL.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64025118/1980-2000%27s%20Travel/BDA-12261.JPG

 

This is what I said about the M&G at the time and I don't really remember a lot more about it now. The venue was long tables and not very supportive of actual mingling, and a lot of the talk there was was about planning for the slot pull.

 

was also a Cruise Critic Meet and Greet in La Cucina, probably about 30 guests and 8 or so ships personnel, and we were given a list of ship’s personnel to call to nip any problems in the bud. Coffee and snacks were served.

 

http://solocabinchallenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/meetgreet1.jpg

 

Roy

[Maraprince]

Dining is very subjective, both in cuisine and style. I do like fixed dining at a large table and the Veendam delivered what I like. On the Veendam I was at a table for 8 with 3 couples and one other solo and most were present the majority of the time. We developed a rapport with our waiter and had great dinners. Most of my breakfasts and lunches (as on all 3 ships) were in the lido with a good selection and I enjoyed eating either at tables by the pool or the aft deck.

 

I am not really a fan of Freestyle Dining. Even where I’ve had anytime dining I’ve usually been offered the choice of my own table or dining with others. That does not seem to be part of the NCL culture. I think that would be a real drag for me on most NCL ships, but being in a studio made a difference. Each evening there was a happy hour in the studio lounge, sometimes there was a full group dinner, and on occasion there wasn’t but a few people would get together and go somewhere. There are 3 complementary restaurants, all with the same menu, but one operates as a “supper” club and I found the shows distracting and they impeded conversation. I think over the week I dined 2 or 3 times on my own, once with a couple of others arranged at the last minute and 3 or 4 full group dinners. For the studio, I should probably rate the experience as different although equal to HAL; I just didn’t associate that as the typical NCL standard.

 

On the Grandeur of the Seas I had found the dining to be very nice, just a shade below what I experienced on the Veendam. I thought the idea of Dynamic Classic Dining was a good one so I was very disappointed in what was actually offered. As noted earlier in the blog I had a confirmation of early classic dining with an empty set of actual reservations. After chasing around embarkation day I got a 4 day supply of reservations, but only for one meal at a time. Those for whom Royal actually followed through on Classic sailed into their assigned tables while I stood in line waiting to be assigned a new table and a new waiters. At the end of the 4 days I had no reservations and the system told me I could not make reservations because I already had them. After 30 minutes with Guest Services and another visit to the dining room I finally had reservations but nobody on board showed any concern that I was not given what I was supposed to have. Anthem also had the only really bad food of the trio, a slice of French toast from the Solarium Bistro only slightly softer than a rock.

 

Bottom line HAL #1, Breakaway 2nd, and Anthem a distant last.

 

Roy

 

As my cousin and I discovered on the Gem, we are not Freestyle dining fans either. However, since we share a cabin the Studio option would not work for us. But, it seems interesting that NCL would have daily get togethers for solo travelers as a way to meet others and share dinner. We certainly wish that was the case for other singles not in a Studio cabin. Currently, we are holding a reservation on the 11/27 sailing on the Breakaway. Both of us have some concerns regarding dining alone once again since NCL does not seem to promote sharing of tables. Also, some passengers seem very against dining with anyone other that those they are sharing a cabin with.

 

MARAPRINCE

[rafinmd]

As my cousin and I discovered on the Gem, we are not Freestyle dining fans either. However, since we share a cabin the Studio option would not work for us. But, it seems interesting that NCL would have daily get togethers for solo travelers as a way to meet others and share dinner. We certainly wish that was the case for other singles not in a Studio cabin. Currently, we are holding a reservation on the 11/27 sailing on the Breakaway. Both of us have some concerns regarding dining alone once again since NCL does not seem to promote sharing of tables. Also, some passengers seem very against dining with anyone other that those they are sharing a cabin with.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

The Studio lounge is NORMALLY only available to Studio occupants but every day it's open to all solos for the happy happy hour 5-6. The trick can be finding the right door to get in. For us it was directly across the hall from 11166 or 11168. You could also look into booking 2 studio cabins, it might not be much more expensive than sharing a regular cabin. If you don't find the right entrance ask at guest relations for the name of the Studio hostess and ask that they give you a call. One option or the other should work.

 

Roy

[Maraprince]

The Studio lounge is NORMALLY only available to Studio occupants but every day it's open to all solos for the happy happy hour 5-6. The trick can be finding the right door to get in. For us it was directly across the hall from 11166 or 11168. You could also look into booking 2 studio cabins, it might not be much more expensive than sharing a regular cabin. If you don't find the right entrance ask at guest relations for the name of the Studio hostess and ask that they give you a call. One option or the other should work.

 

Roy

 

Unfortunately, Studio cabins are sold out for 11/27 sailing.

 

MARAPRINCE

[rafinmd]

Unfortunately, Studio cabins are sold out for 11/27 sailing.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

Unfortunate, but about hahf of the people at our dinners were from regular cabins.

 

Roy

[Maraprince]

Unfortunate, but about hahf of the people at our dinners were from regular cabins.

 

Roy

 

 

Good to know. If we do make it to our 11/27 Breakaway sailing I am going to push my cousin(s) to go to at least one of the nightly sessions and see if we can meet one or more people we could share dinner with.

 

MARAPRINCE

[rafinmd]

This is probably the one where I will get the most disagreement.

 

Until recently, I thought the entertainment on HAL’s R and S class ships was pretty limited. They are now using a new entertainment company and I think the quality of the shows and especially the dancers has improved. Entertainment is of course subjective and the Veendam had fewer choices than the other ships but I thought the quality of the shows in the Showroom and the guy in the piano bar were very good. I also appreciated the fact that you could just walk into any of the entertainment and never had to worry about reservations.

 

The Breakaway has some very nice shows but almost all of them require reservations and they all seem to get sold out very quickly. I was able to get into only 1 production show, Burn the Floor. It was nice but I thought overly long. Most of the other shows including the comedy club required reservations and by the time I tried to book stuff about day 2 there was nothing available.

 

That was largely true on the Anthem as well, but there was more flexibility than on the Breakaway. The 2 main production shows as well as some of the shows in Two70 required reservations but they seemed easier to come by. There were also a couple of headline entertainers who briefly joined the ship; I thought the comedian was very good, the singer not so much to my taste.

 

One thing all 3 ships had was some form of piano bar. I thought Jeff on the Veendam was excellent, I did not really watch Matt on the Anthem much, partially because he had the Schooner Bar packed and jumping and I didn’t find a seat. I stopped by the Piano Bar on the Breakaway several times when the guy was scheduled to be playing but all I ever saw was an empty piano.

 

My bottom line on entertainment: (1) Veendam, (2) Anthem, (3) Breakaway

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I find it hard to do true comparisons of internet but I’ll give you my impressions. My strategy was a bit different on the 3 ships. On both the Veendam and Breakaway I had extended visits to Bermuda. In both cases I purchased 72-hour wifi passes in Bermuda and used the ship’s internet mostly while at sea. On the Veendam internet is sold by the minute, and it was fairly pricey. The speed was low but not the lowest I’ve seen, and performance was slowish but stable. I was able to complete my blog entries and personal email and business with about ½ hour usage per day.

 

On the Breakaway my internet came as part of a promotion. They are different from most cruise lines that internet is priced by megabyte rather than by minute. I had to choose from several optional “perks” of booking and came as 300mb of data. I had no idea on embarkation of what 300mb really meant in terms of what I could do. It lasted for my entire cruise and I had quite a few megabytes left over when I disembarked. The wifi packages in Bermuda were pretty much dirt cheap, $15 for 72 hours which easily covered my 3 port days on the Breakaway and were a perfect fit for my 72-hour visit over 4 days on the Veendam. I was able to access the internet from the lifeboat deck on both ships (better on the Veendam in Hamilton) but did most of my work then off the ship. After returning home I analyzed my usage and found I averaged about 1.2mb per minute, giving the equivalent of about 250 minutes, which would have been enough for 7 days without the wifi card. I thought the wifi performance was roughly the same as on the Veendam.

 

The best ship’s internet was on the Anthem. They had a pre-embarkation sale which was about $9 per day for the cheapest plan. That plan was fast enough that I was able to watch several webcam sailaways from the ship and download updates for my Ipads. The only slight negative was that it used a code delivered to my stateroom, so I would have liked to but was unable to use the internet until the rooms were opened up at 1PM. I’m not sure how well the technology RCI is using would work with HAL’s worldwide itineraries.

 

My bottom line (1) Anthem, (2) Breakaway (since it was free), and (3) Veendam.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

There are a couple of components to disembarkation, the ship procedures, and the port procedures. Royal and NCL, respectively, are the only lines of the 3 using the Bayonne and Manhattan terminals regularly, but all 3 sail from Boston, including the Dawn to Bermuda.

 

All 3 ships started the process with self assist disembarkation.

 

On the Breakaway there was little or no pre-departure organization of the disembarkation process. At about day 5 luggage tags were set out by Guest Relations with a chart of what time each color was expected to be called. You simply picked up the tags corresponding to the time you wanted to leave, with no need to notify anybody about what you picked. I know NCL offered airport transfers and I’m sure there were special tags for the transfer people but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. Somehow the system seemed to work reasonably well although the lines at customs were pretty long. We were supposed to be out of our cabins by 8:30 although the first color was not expected to be called until 9:15. I think that would have been a pain if I’d been in a regular cabin, but the studio lounge was a great place to wait. As it was, we were called at 8:40, not 9:15. It was about 40 minutes from my tag being called to exiting customs.

 

On the Anthem we filled out a questionnaire asking for our preferred departure time. That questionnaire seemed to be totally ignored as I requested 8:15 and was given 9:45. After a visit to Guest Relations I was reassigned to 8:15 (the person in front of me was assigned a time 1 ½ hours EARLIER than requested so it seems like the times assigned must have been pretty random. For embarkation morning the instructions were silent about when we needed to be our of our cabins, but we needed to be at one of the departure lounges 15 minutes early. My 8:15 color was called at 8:00 and things moved quite quickly from there. I was driving out of the parking garage at 8:35 after stowing my bags in my truck and returning to the terminal for a last minute toilet break so I estimate I was past customs about 15 minutes after my tag was called.

 

On the Veendam we were given a survey around day 2. For those using transfers, the HAL form (and only HAL form) collected information about flight times with the times coordinated with flight departure times. Otherwise, we were given a choice of independent departure times, and I got the time requested. HAL policy is clear that the stateroom is yours to keep until your departure time is called. (HAL works some real magic here when this is combined with having the rooms ready on embarkation; I believe they assign some personnel other than the usual room stewards to turning around the room) My tag was called at 8:46, the beginning of my window of 8:45 to 9:00. From there departure was a true breeze. One thing that is very nice about Boston (I assume for all cruise lines) is that we meet with CPB immediately on entering the terminal BEFORE we claim our luggage, a lot easier than lining up for the agents with all our stuff. I was waiting at the Silver Line bus stop 10 minutes after my tag was called. Amazing!

 

My rating here (1) Veendam/Boston by a mile, (2) Anthem, and (3) Breakaway. One more part to come, overall conclusions.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I’ll take the ships in the order I sailed them. Holland America is one of my go-to cruise lines and I’ve been on the Veendam and it’s close sisters for over a hundred days so far. It’s definitely a smaller ship which will appeal to some people and not to others; it appeals to me. The choices in activities and entertainment are more limited on the bigger ships but I consider what they offer to be quite good. The activities run more to cooking demonstrations than to belly-flop contests and the like, and there isn’t really much in the way of night life. That all works for me, less so for others. I knew pretty much what to expect on the Veendam with only 2 surprises, one not very welcome and the other not very surprising. The not welcome one was pizza. There’s a new pizza oven on the back lido deck. They had about 6 varies of pizza, each with about 6-8 different toppings. I asked for a plain cheese pizza and was told it essentially was not available. I think a step backwards. The one not so surprising was the Location Guide. Each HAL ship has a location guide, their destination expert. They work for the entertainment department rather than shore excursions and are generally good to excellent sources on information on the ports of call. They give port talks, have desk hours for individual questions, and are stationed on the gangway on each port day to answer any last-minute questions. While the location guides are generally good to excellent, Jeremy was outstanding. Not really a big surprise but not something I could have assumed either. The Veendam of course has no solo cabins and what solo activities there are are somewhat hit or miss. I had a table of 6 at dinner with 2 couples and one other solo and we were a good mix and enjoyed our time together.

 

The Breakaway was my first modern NCL cruise. I concluded I’m not really an NCL person, not really a Freestyle devotee, and found the need for show reservations a hassle. I actually found that I had less opportunity to make spontaneous plans on the Breakaway than I have on any recent ship. I would probably not sail again on an NCL ship except for the ones with studio cabins. There were 2 significant positives. I really enjoyed the Night Out concept where there was a special night with encouragement to be well dressed without putting an obligation on everybody. I enjoy getting dressed for dinner occasionally but do not enjoy dining with the empty chairs of tablemates put off by a dress code. The other real positive was the studio. For one thing, while other ships have a few solo cabins that quickly sell out and demand premium prices, the Breakaway has about 60 which seems to pretty well match the demand and keeps the prices reasonable. The other bonus is the studio lounge where 60 people in a common location fosters a sense of community that you do not see in other ships. NCL does studios right. NCL will never be my first choice in a cruise but the studios add value both from price and experience perspectives and I will be eager to return from time to time.

 

While I enjoyed my time on the Anthem I would have enjoyed my time on just about any other ship just as much. There are supposedly 16 solo cabins on the Anthem but 4 are also sold as part of family suites so it’s really just a dozen full time solo cabins. They are nice but I don’t think the nicer cabin makes up for the amenities of the Studio lounge. RCI is primarily my go to cruise line for cruises out of my home port of Baltimore. I love both the Vision and Radiance class ships. My last RCI cruise was Transatlantic on the Allure of the Seas. The ship was not my cup of tea but I always had the feeling of being on a well run ship. Sadly, I did not get that impression on the Anthem. The biggest issue was the dining snafu and the unwillingness of anyone on board to follow through. Add to that the lack of coordination of departure times with those requested and digital signs throughout the ship that failed to respond appropriately to user input (they have worked well on all my previous RCI ships) and I did not come away feeling positive. It seems the Captain was somewhat aloof; the only time I saw him was his back in the next room when I was on the All Access tour. Being around is not really the Captain’s job, but he is responsible for everything and it does not sit well for him being out of touch when things are not going well. I heard a lot of negative comments from fellow passengers.

 

I really have no incentive to return to the Anthem when my price for a solo cabin was double what I paid for a Studio on the Breakaway and more than I am paying for occupancy of a double cabin for 9 days on the Grandeur. I expect to continue to sail the Vision and Radiance class ships but when they go away I probably will as well.

 

My bottom line is the Veendam number 1. Some of the things that appeal to me may not appeal to others, but spending days in Hamilton is a big plus, and will largely be a thing of the past once the Veendam is gone. Number 2 would be the Breakaway. I tend to cruise for the things I like. While there’s quite a bit that wasn’t a good fit for me, the studio experience was a huge plus that I can’t get anywhere else. I will choose those experiences judiciously, but definitely expect them to be part of my cruising future. Anthem was a distant last, some frills that were nice but mediocre basics. Both of my other Bermuda ships, as well as any other RCI ship I’ve sailed in the past strike me as better choices.

 

Except for questions this concludes my reports here. My next solo cabin voyage will be the Koningsdam in February. Next up overall is the Northwest Passage on Crystal Serenity in August that I’ll be reporting on the Crystal Forum of Cruise Critic and at http://aroundamericabitbybit.wordpress.com.

 

Roy

[josumello]

Thank u so much for your very fair review. It was a pleasure to read. I look forward to your upcoming cruises.

 

 

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