Belated Bermuda Breakaway Review

[thatjoeguy]

Sorry for the (much) delayed review. I'll try and put everything (that I remember) into one post, but let me know if you have any questions.

 

Deciding on the trip: Living in the midwest, we normally cruise in the winter, but since we were expecting our first kid in October (meaning no winter '17 cruise) and had several friends performing on the Breakaway, we decided to add on a second, spring cruise to May of 2016. Previous NCL cruises included the Escape in winter '16, Getaway in winter '15, and Epic in winter '14, as well as several of the smaller ships before that. Outside of NCL, DH and I have done two Princess trips, and I've also cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. Overall, we prefer NCL for the freestyle dining and the entertainment.

 

Booking: Back in February, we booked a guaranty MX through our warehouse club travel agency. We ended up with a family mini-suite, which would be fantastic on our future cruises, but less than ideal for us on this trip. (Husband is 6'7, and the tub decreases the shower ceiling height even further.) We chose the dining and beverage packages when we booked.

 

Before the trip: We both love NYC, so we headed out a few days early to see a few shows and visit the Met. Since we were staying in the middle of Manhattan, we Ubered to the cruise port the morning of the trip, which was quite a bit easier than the usual Miami boarding. We were there early enough to grab Vibe passes for the trip, which is always a perk.

 

Sailaway: Leaving New York, we split our time between Vibe and the front of the ship for our best sailaway ever. Sailing along the Hudson river gave an amazing photos of the New York skyline and some fantastic views of Ellis island and the Statue of Liberty.

 

Food: With the dining package, we ate at Cagney's, Le Bistro, and La Cucina. While I'm not a huge fan of steak houses, the food was best at Cagney's, and good at Le Bistro and La Cucina. The only downside of any of the dinners was remarkably loud and drunk foursome next to us at Le Bistro. They were obnoxious enough that our server moved us to a new table across the restaurant without our asking. They also comped our desserts, which didn't matter to us with the dining package, but was a nice gesture.

We did breakfast at the buffet most days, or on the balcony. We also ate dinner in the buffet a few nights, so that we had more time for the evening entertainment after a full day in Bermuda.

For lunch on the sea days, the Breakaway has (complementary) themed buffets at Moderno, which was a great hidden gem on the trip. My husband ate there all three sea days with some friends, while I skipped the first to sleep late.

 

Entertainment: We used our fourth dinner for the Cirque Dreams and Dinner show. Having seen the dinner show on the Getaway, Epic, and Escape, we expected good but forgettable food at the dinner show, which is what we got. The show itself was a lot of fun, as I've come to expect from the NCL dinner shows.

We saw both Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor in the theater. While we always make a point to attend the musicals, which are always great for the space, this was the first time we've seen the dance show in the theater. We normally make a point to see them perform in the dining room, and skip the theater show to spend time somewhere else on the ship, but the show was fantastic.

We spent a lot of time at Howl at the Moon (fantastic) and Second City (also good). I also went to several of the late night deck parties, which were pretty standard for an NCL trip, the "glow" party being my favorite. I also had a few very late nights in Bliss, which I like as a standalone location rather than the more open bar on the Escape.

 

Bermuda: This was the first cruise where we stayed in one port for longer than a day, which was a nice change of pace. We enjoyed not feeling that we had to rush to see everything in 8 hours.

The first day, we took the water taxi into Hamilton with some friends. After stopping at a cafe for a bit, we explored the town and the fort, then headed back a bit early (again via water taxi) since our friends had to perform that night.

Day two, we took the bus to the beach (Horseshoe Bay). The beach was fantastic. We climbed up to the top of the rocks near the cove, then I went off for some great swimming and mediocre snorkeling. After that, we took the bus from the beach to the botanical gardens in Hamilton, walked through town a bit more, and then took the water taxi back to the ship.

Day three, since we were leaving early, we stayed near the port, and spent some time at Snorkel Park, which had better snorkeling than I expected, and much better than I found the day before.

 

Miscellaneous: As stated above, we snagged Vibe passes for this trip, which is where we spent most of the day on our sea days. We had previously had in 2015 on the Getaway, but missed out on our Escape trip earlier this year. To me, the extra cost is definitely worth it make always have a padded lounger (especially if you're looking to sit together) and easy access to a bar with no line. I went through quite a few Mango Meltdowns there.

I also attended the LGBT mixer at Shakers, which had great service, though I do like it when the mixers are held in a more out-of-the-way location. During the dueling piano shows, I found it faster in many cases to run up to Shakers for a drink rather than wait for the Fat Cats bartender.

 

Between the ability to do pre-vacation in NYC and the multi day stop at Bermuda, we're looking forward to doing this itinerary again, once the little one is old enough for the kids program. Next time, I'd like to check out the crystal caves and take advantage of Harbor nights.

 

Any questions, let me know!

[chris694]

Very nice review... Thank-you! :)

[lovedestiny]

Thanks for the review! Did you notice crowds waiting for the Dinner Cirque show? People said get there 30 mins before, does it really matter? I know you have to pick your own seat

[thatjoeguy]

Thanks for the review! Did you notice crowds waiting for the Dinner Cirque show? People said get there 30 mins before, does it really matter? I know you have to pick your own seat

 

We arrived about 10 minutes before the show started (were running later than we wanted) and there was a line when we arrived. I believe that everyone was sat by the hostess, with those arriving earlier getting better seats.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[pegdave]

Sorry for the (much) delayed review. I'll try and put everything (that I remember) into one post, but let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

Deciding on the trip: Living in the midwest, we normally cruise in the winter, but since we were expecting our first kid in October (meaning no winter '17 cruise) and had several friends performing on the Breakaway, we decided to add on a second, spring cruise to May of 2016. Previous NCL cruises included the Escape in winter '16, Getaway in winter '15, and Epic in winter '14, as well as several of the smaller ships before that. Outside of NCL, DH and I have done two Princess trips, and I've also cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. Overall, we prefer NCL for the freestyle dining and the entertainment.

 

 

 

Booking: Back in February, we booked a guaranty MX through our warehouse club travel agency. We ended up with a family mini-suite, which would be fantastic on our future cruises, but less than ideal for us on this trip. (Husband is 6'7, and the tub decreases the shower ceiling height even further.) We chose the dining and beverage packages when we booked.

 

 

 

Before the trip: We both love NYC, so we headed out a few days early to see a few shows and visit the Met. Since we were staying in the middle of Manhattan, we Ubered to the cruise port the morning of the trip, which was quite a bit easier than the usual Miami boarding. We were there early enough to grab Vibe passes for the trip, which is always a perk.

 

 

 

Sailaway: Leaving New York, we split our time between Vibe and the front of the ship for our best sailaway ever. Sailing along the Hudson river gave an amazing photos of the New York skyline and some fantastic views of Ellis island and the Statue of Liberty.

 

 

 

Food: With the dining package, we ate at Cagney's, Le Bistro, and La Cucina. While I'm not a huge fan of steak houses, the food was best at Cagney's, and good at Le Bistro and La Cucina. The only downside of any of the dinners was remarkably loud and drunk foursome next to us at Le Bistro. They were obnoxious enough that our server moved us to a new table across the restaurant without our asking. They also comped our desserts, which didn't matter to us with the dining package, but was a nice gesture.

 

We did breakfast at the buffet most days, or on the balcony. We also ate dinner in the buffet a few nights, so that we had more time for the evening entertainment after a full day in Bermuda.

 

For lunch on the sea days, the Breakaway has (complementary) themed buffets at Moderno, which was a great hidden gem on the trip. My husband ate there all three sea days with some friends, while I skipped the first to sleep late.

 

 

 

Entertainment: We used our fourth dinner for the Cirque Dreams and Dinner show. Having seen the dinner show on the Getaway, Epic, and Escape, we expected good but forgettable food at the dinner show, which is what we got. The show itself was a lot of fun, as I've come to expect from the NCL dinner shows.

 

We saw both Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor in the theater. While we always make a point to attend the musicals, which are always great for the space, this was the first time we've seen the dance show in the theater. We normally make a point to see them perform in the dining room, and skip the theater show to spend time somewhere else on the ship, but the show was fantastic.

 

We spent a lot of time at Howl at the Moon (fantastic) and Second City (also good). I also went to several of the late night deck parties, which were pretty standard for an NCL trip, the "glow" party being my favorite. I also had a few very late nights in Bliss, which I like as a standalone location rather than the more open bar on the Escape.

 

 

 

Bermuda: This was the first cruise where we stayed in one port for longer than a day, which was a nice change of pace. We enjoyed not feeling that we had to rush to see everything in 8 hours.

 

The first day, we took the water taxi into Hamilton with some friends. After stopping at a cafe for a bit, we explored the town and the fort, then headed back a bit early (again via water taxi) since our friends had to perform that night.

 

Day two, we took the bus to the beach (Horseshoe Bay). The beach was fantastic. We climbed up to the top of the rocks near the cove, then I went off for some great swimming and mediocre snorkeling. After that, we took the bus from the beach to the botanical gardens in Hamilton, walked through town a bit more, and then took the water taxi back to the ship.

 

Day three, since we were leaving early, we stayed near the port, and spent some time at Snorkel Park, which had better snorkeling than I expected, and much better than I found the day before.

 

 

 

Miscellaneous: As stated above, we snagged Vibe passes for this trip, which is where we spent most of the day on our sea days. We had previously had in 2015 on the Getaway, but missed out on our Escape trip earlier this year. To me, the extra cost is definitely worth it make always have a padded lounger (especially if you're looking to sit together) and easy access to a bar with no line. I went through quite a few Mango Meltdowns there.

 

I also attended the LGBT mixer at Shakers, which had great service, though I do like it when the mixers are held in a more out-of-the-way location. During the dueling piano shows, I found it faster in many cases to run up to Shakers for a drink rather than wait for the Fat Cats bartender.

 

 

 

Between the ability to do pre-vacation in NYC and the multi day stop at Bermuda, we're looking forward to doing this itinerary again, once the little one is old enough for the kids program. Next time, I'd like to check out the crystal caves and take advantage of Harbor nights.

 

 

 

Any questions, let me

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[easyboy]

Thanks for your review.

[ncklhaus]

Thanks for sharing your review. Better late than never. :D

And congrats on the little one.