Spring BREAKAWAY Live! 3/10/19

[Gatorj]

Ok, I realize I didn’t answer the porter question. Our taxi couldn’t actually get us to the drop off area because there was 200 yards of taxis backed up going nowhere. So we walked the last bit and then when we got there we didn’t see any porters. An officer working the area called a porter over who dragged us back through the line of taxis to the porter area (which we had already passed by because there was nobody there). Once that was done it was easy-peasy.

[Gatorj]

 
Very cool! So bright and cheery.

Yeh. Until you figure out how to control the mood lights. And I realize the Kid is staying there. Alone.

If you have a daughter, you know.

Would it be creepy to sleep in the hall outside her cabin? With a shotgun?

[blarko]

2 hours ago, Gatorj said:

Yeh. Until you figure out how to control the mood lights. And I realize the Kid is staying there. Alone.

If you have a daughter, you know.

Would it be creepy to sleep in the hall outside her cabin? With a shotgun?

 

I do have a daughter, so yes, I know 😬

[purpleally]

3 hours ago, Gatorj said:

The kid goes to MSU. We’re in Springy often.

Go Green!  Back to back basketball champions!

[Gatorj]

Howl at the moon. Music hasn’t started. Kid spills drink on dad and breaks glass. If you’re here, now you know. We’re a handful.

Clean up on aisle 3.

In all fairness I may have knocked drink out of Kid’s hand trying to take this photo.

[luvcruzing]

2 hours ago, purpleally said:

Go Green!  Back to back basketball champions!

Pretty sure he meant Missouri State University.

[Gatorj]

Pretty sure he meant Missouri State University.

This.

I’m a GATOR. If my Kid went to the Michigan version of MSU, she would be on her own spring break with all the other Big Ten losers. Just kidding.

Oh yeh, Go Gators.

[Gatorj]

And if you didn’t mean Michigan State, forgive me. I don’t follow basketball.

That is all.

[purpleally]

Oops, forgive me.  I bleed green and wear my Sparty heart on my sleeve.  Now, back to our regular scheduled program.....

[BigNance]

Following your highly entertaining Live report!!

[Gatorj]

So, a little about yesterday. We had lunch in Savor and had very good and timely service. DW has tuna salad, which she said was very good. I have the chicken nachos (where’s the chicken? Oh yeh, it’s under a chip), and then had the cheesesteak. It was ok as well. Sadly I have the same thing on day one just about every time. In and out of lunch, including DS who just had to hold everyone up with a dessert order, in about an hour.

Spent the afternoon exploring.

Oh, funny story. As soon as we got on the ship, we went to the Atrium to get our phones all synced up and the app working. DS says “I have to use the restroom”. Without even looking up from our phones, 3 of us pointed over towards the Shore Excursion desk and said “it’s through there”. We all looked at each other and wondered whether we have a problem. Cruise-a-Holics maybe. Now, we’ve never been on this ship, but we’ve done all the other “away” and away-plus ships. If you know one, you know them all.

Ok, back to the story.

After muster, we all went to unpack and get dressed for the rest of the day. Back to the Atrium for a while, then off to dinner. We dined in Taste and it was actually one of the better experiences we’ve had lately on NCL in the main dining rooms. Our waiter and assistant were immediately at our table with bread, water, wine orders, and were quite efficient throughout. The apps were served quickly (Ricotta ravioli was exceptional - I could have had that for a main), the Caesar salad was meh, and the Chicken Piccata was outstanding. Chicken was tender and juicy, and the rigatoni served with it was cooked perfectly. Kudos to our wait staff last night. We would sit in their section again.

After dinner it was back to Atrium for a bit before Howl at the Moon. Turns out 2 of the performers were on the Escape 2 years ago same time we were. We have pictures to prove it. Unfortunately it’s because I was on the dang piano. No, we will not be posting those.

How at the Moon was good, not great. The energy just wasn’t in the room.

Syd Norman’s however was outstanding. We’ll start there tonight. A couple runs through the casino for some roulette (2 plays, 2 wins), scoop and run, and then off to O’Sheehans for my obligatory night night chicken wings. Unfortunately, service at night here is terrible. It must be where they train new folks. IF you get water, it will not be refilled. IF a server notices your table, you will get to order. IF you get your food, you won’t see the server again. Final IF - IF the Assistant Madre’d was observant, they would notice all of this.

I understand it can’t all be rainbows and unicorns, but I find that level of service not acceptable.

Night one in the books and we’re up and ready to go again.

I leave you with a parting suggestion; order the soup:

[Gatorj]

Day 2 Dailies.

[MNTwinsMom]

Thanks for taking us along!

[MNTwinsMom]

Thanks for taking us along!

[James_Elmore]

enjoying thanks for the dailies also!

[Gatorj]

So, I do have a little vent, so if you don’t appreciate what I have to say, skip this section and move along.

There were 12 people at the meet and greet. 12. NCL has a very nice food and beverage setup and there were 9 officers. It was embarrassing. I know we had 30-40 on the meet and greet signup, so....if you’re not going to show, don’t sign up.

Hopping off the soap box now.

[Laszlo]

18 minutes ago, Gatorj said:

So, I do have a little vent, so if you don’t appreciate what I have to say, skip this section and move along.

There were 12 people at the meet and greet. 12. NCL has a very nice food and beverage setup and there were 9 officers. It was embarrassing. I know we had 30-40 on the meet and greet signup, so....if you’re not going to show, don’t sign up.

Hopping off the soap box now.

 

 

Wow, if you had 30-40 signed up and ONLY 12 showed up......thats very lame

[MINILvr]

23 hours ago, Gatorj said:

Mini suite cabin deck 11.

How is staying on Deck 11?  We have a balcony cabin on Deck 11 in a few weeks.
I considered putting in a bid for a mini-suite, but wasn't sure if it was worth it or not.

[RedRover96]

The ONLY difference is in the size of the bathroom, huge sink & large shower.  The cabin area & balcony are the same size. We were in a mini-suite on Escape and really enjoyed the larger bath, this time we decided to give the aft balcony a try in Breakaway.

[Gatorj]

The main benefit of the mini suite is a slightly larger cabin, but a much larger shower. To be honest, for us, the biggest benefit is location. Just a few doors from the stairs. If you can get a cheap bid in, then it might be worth it.

The balcony overlooks the lifeboats, so no view straight down into the water.

[Gatorj]

So, gave Osheehans another try for lunch, because I like the food. The wait for water, food, etc is still excruciatingly long, but the food was good.

Shepard’s Pie and Chicken Fajitas.

[Gatorj]

A note about the passenger make up on this cruise.

There is certainly a ton of kids. But they have been quite well behaved and not the out of control kids cruise experience we’ve had out of New York or Miami.

There is also a HUGE number of first timers and first time NCL. Easily more than we’ve ever seen. As you can imagine, the questions asked are epic. If you’ve ever heard some of the cruise directors tell their “craziest questions asked” jokes, I can tell you most of them are true. I’ve heard some good ones already.

There doesn’t seem to be a huge college-age crowd. Must be in Padre where the Kid was thinking about going. Glad she’s here.

Side note, it’s true the bar staff are overworked and it takes a while to get a drink. If you approach the situation thinking you deserve service the minute you walk up to a bar, you’re on the wrong ship. Or type of vacation. Relax!

And I know there is a line of thinking that says “I have the drink package, and I paid that ridiculous fee”. Guess what? That gratuity you paid pays the base salary for these folks - and they work 12-14 hour days.

Flip them $1, $2, $5 every once in a while. They appreciate it and DO remember who does and doesn’t.

[AdoraBelle]

Side note, it’s true the bar staff are overworked 

Sounds like a management problem, not a customer problem.

[Gatorj]

Side note, it’s true the bar staff are overworked 

Sounds like a management problem, not a customer problem.

It’s both, but customers expressing frustration AT the bar staff doesn’t help.

[Krisco]

18 hours ago, purpleally said:

Go Green!  Back to back basketball champions!

I thought the same thing when they said MSU, but I think they are talking Missouri and Not Michigan State... but hey Go Green Go White, Champs!