Breakaway Review 10/30-11/6

[smart_alec]

As far as I'm concerned, the more perspectives the better.

 

Concierge App - There have been mixed reviews, but I thought it was great. You always had access to what was happening on the ship. We paid the $9.99 for me and my wife to be able to communicate with each other and it was worth every penny. Like I said earlier, I like to get up early and experience the ship and she likes to sleep in. Previously, I would have to check back in the room every hour or so to she if she was awake, but this time she would text me when she was ready and we could figure out where to meet. You can also keep an eye on your tab there (though sometimes it was disjointed in telling you where the charges came from. It would say you were charged $30 at the Atrium Cafe, but you were really charged $30 somewhere else and it just came up Atrium Cafe for some reason, it eventually would resolved itself, but it could lead to a lot of confustion). You could make some restaurant reservations and book shore excursions through the app. It's a great start, but it didn't have anyway to view your reservations which seems like a no brainer. You could in theory view restaurant menu's but it was very clunky to accomplish.

 

Next post I will get into Port Canaveral and Nassau.

 

Again, any questions, please ask.

 

Thanks for the tip about being able to communicate via iConcierge. I used the app but never noticed that option. Do you remember how you got to it? Not sure if it's available on every ship - we were on Getaway. Also, was it $9.99 per day or for the entire trip? And the final question - was it per device?

 

I also liked the app overall but one thing that was missing is the ability to book entertainment via the app. Couldn't do that via the app or iTV, had to use touch screens or Guest Services for that. But restaurant and show excursion booking worked great.

 

Thank you for the review! I'm looking at the Breakaway for the next cruise, so I'm enjoying reading yours. Please keep it coming!

[Heckah]

Thanks for the tip about being able to communicate via iConcierge. I used the app but never noticed that option. Do you remember how you got to it? Not sure if it's available on every ship - we were on Getaway. Also, was it $9.99 per day or for the entire trip? And the final question - was it per device?

 

I also liked the app overall but one thing that was missing is the ability to book entertainment via the app. Couldn't do that via the app or iTV, had to use touch screens or Guest Services for that. But restaurant and show excursion booking worked great.

 

Thank you for the review! I'm looking at the Breakaway for the next cruise, so I'm enjoying reading yours. Please keep it coming!

 

It's $9.99 per device for the entire trip, so our total was $19.98, it was definitely worth it for me.

 

There are certainly opportunities to optimize the app. Booking entertainment was one, descriptions for the events on the app were minimal at best, seeing menus on the app wasn't good, and there should be a way to see the stuff you booked.

[smart_alec]

It's $9.99 per device for the entire trip, so our total was $19.98, it was definitely worth it for me.

 

There are certainly opportunities to optimize the app. Booking entertainment was one, descriptions for the events on the app were minimal at best, seeing menus on the app wasn't good, and there should be a way to see the stuff you booked.

 

Thanks! And totally agree with your comments about the app.

 

Do you by chance remember how you got to the option to purchase the communications? I thought I explored the app pretty thoroughly, but I don't remember noticing that option.

[Heckah]

NASSAU - We arrived around 1pm Wednesday for our overnight in Nassau. Couple of quick notes, the casino and the shops did open that night. I don't know the exact time, but I want to say it was around 8. DD8 and I were supposed to parasail at GSC so I got off the ship around 2 to see if I could find parasailing in Nassau. The walk from the ship to civilization was long. We were docked as far away as possible. I'm not sure if this was because there were 3 other ships in port, but my hunch is it's because of the size of the Breakaway.

 

Once you reach civilization, you want to make sure your voice is working well because you will say "no thanks" about 418 times. I was like Jack Bauer picking these guys off with a quick "no thanks." They approached from the front, back and all sides, my head was on a swivel shooting down their cabs and hair braiding advances. On another note, if you need a cab to get anywhere you will have no problem finding one.

 

I got there and wasn't able to find parasailing, but I didn't look that hard as it would've required me to walk all the back to the ship, get my daughter from Splash Academy and going all the way back to civilization. I also wasn't able to communicate with my wife. So I walked all the way back to the ship just to find out she wanted to shop so all the way back to civilization. It's a great place to find cheap T-shirts, shot glasses, we also bought some alcohol to bring back to some friends, and back to the ship we went. We didn't stay long because we had to get back to the ship and get our kids from Splash Academy for our reservation at Cagney's. Our kids told us they would prefer to stay with Splash Academy for dinner (that was pretty much the theme of the trip).

 

The next day we were up early for our Dolphin Encounter Excursion. We got off the ship and waited in the line for Blue Lagoon. All the Blue Lagoon excursions were lumped into the same group and eventually we began the long walk to the end of the pier to get on the boats to head to Blue Lagoon. The boat ride was fun, playing line dances and being interactive on the microphone. It was about a 30 minute boat ride when we arrived at Blue Lagoon. My wife and I have swam with the Dolphin twice, this was just the encounter, which was a little bit cheaper considering I had no idea if DD5 was going to be into it at all. It began with an info session about dolphins and about environmental concerns wild Dolphins face, after that we were free to get changed if needed and we moved on the actual encounter. So we were led to a platform where the session began with all the families getting into the water for a family photo with the Dolphin, each family got to pick one person to get the kiss for the picture. We were then split into three groups and each group got to go into the water with the dolphin where everyone got a chance to pet, hug, kiss, feed and dance with the dolphin. It was great, the kids absolutely loved it. We were then led to the picture place to buy some photos. We bought all of the pictures for $117 and we got them all on a flash drive. They don't print any pictures there so you have to not lose the flash drive. Boats left to go back to the ship at 1pm, 2pm and 4pm, we were able to catch the 1pm boat, which left around 1:30 and were in the buffet for lunch around 2:30pm. The total cost for the 4 of us was $615 for the excursion.

[Heckah]

Thanks! And totally agree with your comments about the app.

 

Do you by chance remember how you got to the option to purchase the communications? I thought I explored the app pretty thoroughly, but I don't remember noticing that option.

 

I don't remember specifically, but I remember it wasn't that hard to find. I think you just go into the message portion of the app and that's where you buy it.

[esm54687]

I just found the Welcome Aboard flyer

 

Here's what is open Embarkation day

Garden Cafe

Savor and Taste open at noon

Moderno opens at noon

O'Sheehan's

Margaritaville

Is Margaritaville complimentary for lunch that first day or SDP required.

 

Amazing info!!! Thank you

 

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[NH Cruisers]

Is Margaritaville complimentary for lunch that first day or SDP required.

 

Amazing info!!! Thank you.

 

sent using Forums mobile app

 

You can do A La Carte or the SDP. It would be a waste to do the SDP though, the food isn't crazy expensive to begin with. The special drinks there are not available anywhere else on the ship. I would not think lunch was complimentary at Margaritaville the first day, we ate elsewhere.

[esm54687]

You can do A La Carte or the SDP. It would be a waste to do the SDP though, the food isn't crazy expensive to begin with. The special drinks there are not available anywhere else on the ship. I would not think lunch was complimentary at Margaritaville the first day, we ate elsewhere.

agreed..... but they offer the complimentary breakfast so worth asking especially since everything else is complimentary Day 1 lunch....... good marketing hook to make you come back and pay later

 

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Edited November 8, 2016 by esm54687

[luckyinpa]

 

Once you reach civilization, you want to make sure your voice is working well because you will say "no thanks" about 418 times. I was like Jack Bauer picking these guys off with a quick "no thanks." They approached from the front, back and all sides, my head was on a swivel shooting down their cabs and hair braiding advances. On another note, if you need a cab to get anywhere you will have no problem finding one.

.

 

love jack bauer references!

 

does anyone know for sure about the reason BA is so far away . just curious. wont affect my decision to step on land .

[codered]

I was on the same cruise. Nice job on the review(s). I agree on many points and enjoy hearing your perspective.

 

 

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[Heckah]

ENTERTAINMENT - We saw Second City Scriptless, it was OK. Howl at the Moon, we stayed for 30 minutes, we meant to get back but never did. We were there before 11pm so it was family friendly. Martini's, we loved the piano player there. He did a Billy Joel, Elton John night which was great, and whenever he was doing a Billy Joel song, we would stop and get a drink. He was very good and always ready to do an audience request.

 

We got a nice lay of the land the first night when our roll call did a pub crawl. We were very fortunate to have a couple on the second part of a B2B because after the third bar my sense of direction was gone...=)

But it was a great way to get to know the ship on the first night.

 

Rock of Ages, it was very good. I thought the most talented people were in smaller roles. I enjoyed it though.

 

CASINO - I don't know if I liked that it encompassed the middle of the 7th floor and you had to walk through it to get from one end to the other. Also, my game is Let it Ride and they only had one table in the non-smoking section. There were usually 4 blackjack tables at a time in the smoking side that had nobody sitting at them. I believe they had six blackjack tables all together on the smoking side and at least one on the non smoking side. I didn't play poker, the rake is kind of high. The majority of the dealers were very personable and fun.

 

ROPES COURSE - Right after we passed the Statue of Liberty, DD8 and I headed to the ropes course. They put us in the harnesses and we were off, I got to the first platform and waited for my daughter to join me but she tapped out. It was strange because she will go on any rollercoaster she can, she was pumped for parasailing but she wasn't feeling the rope course. So I turned around and continued on the course and heard a commotion behind me, I turned around and the Verrazano bridge was right in my face. That was pretty cool. Only half the course was open at the time, so I came back a few days later to walk the plank and do the zipline. Let me tell you, I don't care who you are, you're legs will shake as you walk the plank. It was great.

 

My kids also did the rock climbing wall. They had an easy, medium and hard climb, my daughters weren't all that successful, but as DD5 was making her way up, the NCL employee at the bottom started pulling on the rope to get her up the wall, she made it all the way to the top and the crowd cheered for her, it was one of the highlights of her trip.

 

DISEMBARKATION - We somehow got priority disembarking. We were in the Breakaway Theater around 8:45 and were led right off the ship. Led right off the ship into the line. We slowly moved our way to an escalator after an hour, this brought us to the luggage. We found a porter and he led us right to through an express customs line and to a cab. There could certainly be more staff helping out on the disembarkation process. I don't know if it was as bad as getting off other ships, but it felt a lot longer with two kids, who were pretty crabby at that point. We were back to our hotel and in the car around 10:30, so I guess not too bad.

 

Overall, it was a great trip. DD8 said she would rather cruise than go to Disney, while DD5 would still prefer Disney "but it's close." Good, because I bought two CruiseNext certificates, so we will be back

 

I think that's it. If there is anything else you want to know, please ask. I have all the dailies, but it's like 50 pages worth so maybe I'll get around to posting.

[boopsahoy]

ENTERTAINMENT - We saw Second City Scriptless, it was OK. Howl at the Moon, we stayed for 30 minutes, we meant to get back but never did. We were there before 11pm so it was family friendly. Martini's, we loved the piano player there. He did a Billy Joel, Elton John night which was great, and whenever he was doing a Billy Joel song, we would stop and get a drink. He was very good and always ready to do an audience request.

 

We got a nice lay of the land the first night when our roll call did a pub crawl. We were very fortunate to have a couple on the second part of a B2B because after the third bar my sense of direction was gone...=)

But it was a great way to get to know the ship on the first night.

 

Rock of Ages, it was very good. I thought the most talented people were in smaller roles. I enjoyed it though.

 

CASINO - I don't know if I liked that it encompassed the middle of the 7th floor and you had to walk through it to get from one end to the other. Also, my game is Let it Ride and they only had one table in the non-smoking section. There were usually 4 blackjack tables at a time in the smoking side that had nobody sitting at them. I believe they had six blackjack tables all together on the smoking side and at least one on the non smoking side. I didn't play poker, the rake is kind of high. The majority of the dealers were very personable and fun.

 

ROPES COURSE - Right after we passed the Statue of Liberty, DD8 and I headed to the ropes course. They put us in the harnesses and we were off, I got to the first platform and waited for my daughter to join me but she tapped out. It was strange because she will go on any rollercoaster she can, she was pumped for parasailing but she wasn't feeling the rope course. So I turned around and continued on the course and heard a commotion behind me, I turned around and the Verrazano bridge was right in my face. That was pretty cool. Only half the course was open at the time, so I came back a few days later to walk the plank and do the zipline. Let me tell you, I don't care who you are, you're legs will shake as you walk the plank. It was great.

 

My kids also did the rock climbing wall. They had an easy, medium and hard climb, my daughters weren't all that successful, but as DD5 was making her way up, the NCL employee at the bottom started pulling on the rope to get her up the wall, she made it all the way to the top and the crowd cheered for her, it was one of the highlights of her trip.

 

DISEMBARKATION - We somehow got priority disembarking. We were in the Breakaway Theater around 8:45 and were led right off the ship. Led right off the ship into the line. We slowly moved our way to an escalator after an hour, this brought us to the luggage. We found a porter and he led us right to through an express customs line and to a cab. There could certainly be more staff helping out on the disembarkation process. I don't know if it was as bad as getting off other ships, but it felt a lot longer with two kids, who were pretty crabby at that point. We were back to our hotel and in the car around 10:30, so I guess not too bad.

 

Overall, it was a great trip. DD8 said she would rather cruise than go to Disney, while DD5 would still prefer Disney "but it's close." Good, because I bought two CruiseNext certificates, so we will be back

 

I think that's it. If there is anything else you want to know, please ask. I have all the dailies, but it's like 50 pages worth so maybe I'll get around to posting.

 

Thanks for the informative review. We always go on the Gem in winter and Carnival in summer but I booked BA for the summer for a change of pace. I want to make sure dh wont hate it! Sounds like it was a fun trip.:D

[lovedestiny]

So on the first day a number of places were open to eat for lunch (besides the buffet) but they were all paid - none were complimentary right? Just trying to find out b/c I'll avoid there if I can.

[Heckah]

So on the first day a number of places were open to eat for lunch (besides the buffet) but they were all paid - none were complimentary right? Just trying to find out b/c I'll avoid there if I can.

 

Only Margaritaville would be a charge, all others would be complimentary

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[luckyinpa]

is margaritaville open even in the cold weather?

[smart_alec]

Thank you for the TR! Great and informative!

 

If you do get around to posting Dailies, that would be awesome. I'd love to compare Breakaway to the Getaway. But thank you regardless! :)

 

$117 for the dolphin pictures - ouch... Things like that make me pretty mad. Might have to skip that one in favor of the ones where you can actually take the pictures yourself.

[babs135]

Can I clarify something please? Is Margaritaville free for breakfast?

[Heckah]

Can I clarify something please? Is Margaritaville free for breakfast?

 

Yes, it's a scaled down version of the Garden Cafe breakfast

[brookie848]

love jack bauer references!

 

does anyone know for sure about the reason BA is so far away . just curious. wont affect my decision to step on land .

 

Both times I've been in Nassau (on the Escape and the Epic), we've docked at the last pier. That might just be NCL's "spot" or it might be due to the size of the ships.

[Heckah]

 

$117 for the dolphin pictures - ouch... Things like that make me pretty mad. Might have to skip that one in favor of the ones where you can actually take the pictures yourself.

 

It was a beating. But they got some priceless candid shots of DD8 interacting with the dolphin. Probably not $117 priceless, but what can you do.

[Phil80041]

2 random drinking questions.

1-does margaritaville serve Landshark? My preferred beach beer and that'll be the main daytime drinking spot if it does.

2-do any of the bars have bloody mary menu's? I like a good one with breakfast sometimes but have been spoiled here in my town with a few bars that are experimenting with more than just the basics...

[jkelly8646]

The Gem had something better than the Bloody Mary. The Bloody Caesar is a spicy version of the BM.

Edited November 10, 2016 by jkelly8646

[easyboy]

Thank you for the review.

[Heckah]

I figured out how to get photo's up here....Here's the welcome aboard page. I don't have a daily for day 1