Mitsugirly BREAKAWAYs for a summer cruise: Review/Pictorial

[LeesaB]

Those pictures!  Do you rep for Olympus?  LOL  Maybe you should as I'm now seriously considering getting one.

 

Do you know anything about snuba in the area?  My kids have asked if we could do that on our next cruise and I've been looking into it, but am having trouble finding specific vendor information for West Bay beach.  (We love to snorkel, but are not divers)

[jenseib]

You always have the best underwater pictures.  I hope the camera Sakari was using fixes itself.

I was have some issues with my Olympus on my last cruise in Jan and I probably need to get a new one and keep this one as a spare but I just hate chucking out money for one right now.

[Arzeena]

On 8/15/2019 at 11:19 AM, mitsugirly said:

Sorry it will be awhile before I continue. Fell at gas station and broke leg in both fib and fib and ankle yesterday and have been in the hospital. Surgery today to get plates screws and who knows what else. I’m going to be down for several months so once I get moving around I’ll get going. 

Very sorry to hear this. Get better soon. Will keep you in my thoughts.

[purplephenom]

.I was expecting a picture of your injury, but I almost screamed at work when I actually saw it.  I had to fake cough to play it off.  Hope you have a have a relatively easy recovery. 

 

Great review, your diving pictures look awesome.  I really had one of my best snorkeling days there, and this is just really making me want to try diving. 

[deladane]

Yay!  So excited I found your newest review!!  Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.  I can't wait to see what you did each day in port since this is almost the same itinerary as we did in March 🤩

[zencruisers]

Great pictures and video as usual. 

[mitsugirly]

5 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

There is nothing like Roatan diving or just snorkeling. We are not divers but love snorkeling there. AS for your review and pics so far, you know everyone loves reading them. Have you thought about going pro? 

Sorry there have been some downside when it comes to the ship and crew. We are going to take the Breakaway again in Oct because it worked the best for what we wanted on the upcoming vacation but the Breakaway isn't our favorite ship and mainly because we have not had the best service.

Now keep improving that leg and stop hurting so much. Take care. 

 

What do you mean "going pro"?

 

Yea, that was our problem...only the BA worked for when we had to go. 😞

 

3 hours ago, Jenner9 said:

Awesome pics! Please tell me more about your husband's goggles. My hubs also has ear problems and cannot get water in them.

 

They are goggles that are supposed to be for sensitive ears, to keep water out and prevent infections, and they help equalize the ears for those that have issues with that. Sakari's dive instructor told him about them.

 

 

 

 

His problem is that he doesn't have ear drums, therefore if he tries to equalize his ears, it does nothing but allows water to flow freely in and he ends up with an infection and so much pain. So, he CAN'T equalize his ears. These help cover them and he has absolutely no problems then. He loves them and it has made his diving experience great now with no problems.

 

 

3 hours ago, LeesaB said:

Those pictures!  Do you rep for Olympus?  LOL  Maybe you should as I'm now seriously considering getting one.

 

Do you know anything about snuba in the area?  My kids have asked if we could do that on our next cruise and I've been looking into it, but am having trouble finding specific vendor information for West Bay beach.  (We love to snorkel, but are not divers)

 

 

Haha, I should huh?

 

I did a search and it says they do snuba in the area but I'm not sure which vendors do it. I did read one of them that said to contact your cruiseline so maybe it's only offered with them? I also seen that it said it's usually only done in 2-10' of water and sometimes up to 20'. Discover Scuba would get you down to 40' at least. Maybe consider that?

 

There's just nothing like being right down there close to everything. It's just so awesome.

 

3 hours ago, jenseib said:

You always have the best underwater pictures.  I hope the camera Sakari was using fixes itself.

I was have some issues with my Olympus on my last cruise in Jan and I probably need to get a new one and keep this one as a spare but I just hate chucking out money for one right now.

 

 

Aww thanks. The camera I let Sakari use (my backup) won't even come on anymore so I guess it's toast. I'll have to invest in another one before our next time I suppose. Sakari has her own that we gave her a few years ago for Christmas, but the last time she went to camp with the school, she broke the screen. I've been afraid that it will leak and therefore we don't take it in the water anymore and only use it for land.

 

 

3 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Very sorry to hear this. Get better soon. Will keep you in my thoughts.

 

Thanks so much!

 

1 hour ago, purplephenom said:

.I was expecting a picture of your injury, but I almost screamed at work when I actually saw it.  I had to fake cough to play it off.  Hope you have a have a relatively easy recovery. 

 

Great review, your diving pictures look awesome.  I really had one of my best snorkeling days there, and this is just really making me want to try diving. 

 

 

LOL at the fake cough.

 

Thanks for the comments and you really should try diving. It's just amazing and such a different experience than snorkeling.

 

45 minutes ago, deladane said:

Yay!  So excited I found your newest review!!  Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.  I can't wait to see what you did each day in port since this is almost the same itinerary as we did in March 🤩

 

Glad you found me too. I hope you enjoy the review.

 

7 minutes ago, zencruisers said:

Great pictures and video as usual. 

 

Thanks so much!

[SenatorsFan]

Awesome underwater pictures as usual, Kim! I'm enjoying your review and hope you are taking enough time to rest and heal.

Heather

[mitsugirly]

So during my conversation with the dive company (via email prior to arrival), the dive shop is located on West Bay at the Grand Roatan Resort. We were told that after the dive, they would take us to a place on down the beach called Beachers, which provides chairs and umbrellas free of charge, but there wasn't a reef directly in front of it. Being the water/snorkel freak I am, I decided that I just wanted to return to the Grand Roatan/dive shop site and spend the rest of the day. Now even though the dive shop is located at Grand Roatan, the resort will NOT allow you to use any of the facilities, pool, loungers or private beach area in front of the resort. 😕  But, of course, you can go to their outdoor restaurant and spend more of your money with them. 😉

 

 

It was ok though...so we headed over to the restaurant after our dive.

 

 

 

 

 

Their menu:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this was our view:

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered the Grand Club Sandwich and fries and it was ok and filling.

 

 

 

Sakari ordered the kids chicken tender meal

 

 

 

 

 

The hubby ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries and said it was really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After lunch, we headed out to the beach.

 

 

 

 

This is known as the "Iguana Wall" at the end of the beach. However, I didn't see any iguana's there that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there are always an abundance amount of sergeant majors and surgeon fish in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finally achieved my over under photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I spotted a mermaid

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone on here always talks about what a nice beach West Bay is. For me personally, I don't find it anything fantastic myself. The beach itself is very narrow and not much room between the water and the beach clubs. It gives you very little room to put out a towel or whatever. The beach clubs have things roped off and to me, that makes the place not so appealing. I always like the wide stretch of beaches with natural shade like palm trees you can sit under and this place is taken up by beach clubs. Vendors will hassle you over and over all day and even come back to ask you again to purchase their products, go on a tour, or braid your hair. It's never ending. I have also seen (in the past) the vendors come out into the water while you are swimming to try to get you to buy items. It's just ridiculous. Also, it's a very popular beach, which means it's very crowded. So, unless you are coming here for the snorkeling or diving, I personally would never come here for a beach day myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biggest fish I seen here today...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see they have water toys on the water now

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BigNance]

Your dive pics are beautiful!  I am greatly enjoying your pictorial review.  I hope your recovery goes quickly, since you are doing all this reviewing for us!

[mitsugirly]

We had picked 3pm as our pick up time with our driver. They did inform us that they would also be picking up another couple at a different location as well, which we really didn't have a problem with.

 

However, it was 3:15 and the driver had not shown up. The dive shop called them and they said they were on their way. At 3:30pm still nothing so they called again and said they were almost there. We still had plenty of time to get back to the ship, so we weren't worried about that but when I have to pack up my things and cut my swimming time down, I kinda expect to be picked up when told. We sat around at the dive shop talking to our instructor...getting her history and how she came to Roatan, how long she had lived here and so on. It was a great conversation and we enjoyed our time with her.

 

When the driver arrived, it wasn't even our driver nor did they have another couple with them...thank goodness because the driver drove a small like compact car that wouldn't have fit another person in it. He also didn't speak much English so it made for an interesting trip on the way back.

 

 

These signs are becoming very popular in each port. I missed this one as we drove by...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to port and shopping for my favorite thing...

 

 

 

 

 

Of course I told Sakari I wanted to take her picture and I will always get a tongue stuck out.

 

 

 

 

So I did what I could to make her smile/laugh...tickle her, make fart noises...you get the idea

 

 

 

 

So my final straw was to tell her we were not going back to the ship for her to swim in the pool until I get an actual smile...

 

 

 

 

And back to the ship we went.

 

 

 

 

 

[newmexicoNita]

1 hour ago, SenatorsFan said:

Awesome underwater pictures as usual, Kim! I'm enjoying your review and hope you are taking enough time to rest and heal.

Heather

Kim, you do such a great job of writing and take pics, there should be someway you could sell them to someone or some paper or something. love to experience life through your reviews. 

BTW I was having an MRI this morning and I thought about you: some lady was in the area in a wheel chair with the biggest boot I have ever see on her foot and leg. It made we think about what you are going through and the temps here are close to 100%. The first really hot weather we have had all summer. 

[mitsugirly]

We all know what happened as soon as we returned...

 

 

 

Sakari hung out with a group of kids...one, named Hector, that resembled my grandson Brayden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is was so hot and humid out that we decided to retreat to the adult area and check out the waterfall. Sakari was in good hands with all her friends and the dad of one of them that was always there.

 

 

 

 

Of course we found that the water that streams along the back wall was no longer working and was somewhat disappointed that yet another thing didn't work properly on the cruise. There were a LOT of tiles missing in these areas as well. You could see some places where the tiles had come off and they decided to just fill the holes with grout instead of replacing the tiles.

 

It was time for some adulting...

 

 

 

 

We watched a diver out at the port for a long time. I wondered what he was doing and figured it had something to do with whatever work they are doing at the port.

 

 

 

 

Then we pulled out...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Once we sailed away, we went back to get Sakari from the pool and go down to get human clothes on and do something that didn't involve more water.

 

Then we headed to the buffet to see that tonight's theme was Italian.

 

 

 

I will say that what I had that night was pretty good. The mushroom meatloaf was awesome, you can't go wrong with the yummy pretzel bread, the mash potatoes were so yummy, and you can't go wrong with bread. The rice, that wasn't the greatest...even with tons of soy sauce on it to add flavor. Once again, I didn't have too much of an appetite and didn't eat much.

 

 

 

 

I did locate some cheesecake though...I don't care for chocolate so I ate around it and it was good.

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the theater for the show. Thank goodness they finally had a night that didn't involve song and dance routines. It was comedian night with magic tricks and we had seen this guy before. He was pretty good and Sakari enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

We knew for sure that we had to be up early the next day since we would be arriving in port at 8am. So after the show, we headed back to the room to pack our beach bags for the next day and we headed to bed.

[mitsugirly]

2 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Awesome underwater pictures as usual, Kim! I'm enjoying your review and hope you are taking enough time to rest and heal.

Heather

 

Thanks Heather. I'm resting here and there. You know it's so hard for me to stay still but when it catches up to me, I go lay down...which I'm about to do.

 

27 minutes ago, BigNance said:

Your dive pics are beautiful!  I am greatly enjoying your pictorial review.  I hope your recovery goes quickly, since you are doing all this reviewing for us!

 

Thank you so much and glad you are enjoying the review.

 

 

8 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

Kim, you do such a great job of writing and take pics, there should be someway you could sell them to someone or some paper or something. love to experience life through your reviews. 

BTW I was having an MRI this morning and I thought about you: some lady was in the area in a wheel chair with the biggest boot I have ever see on her foot and leg. It made we think about what you are going through and the temps here are close to 100%. The first really hot weather we have had all summer. 

 

Thanks. I appreciate it. I wish I could make money doing something that I love like this.

 

It's been pretty hot and humid here too. I guess the only good thing to be down is having to stay inside in the a/c in this heat. LOL

[CelticMCO]

Always wonderful reviews best of CC.  I too have done the gas hose step-over move; never again.  One of my Harley riding friends had the same ankle injury you have (about ten years ago); here's how he did his:  He decided it would be a good idea (do not do this past 40) to roller blade with his kids and put one roller blade on his right foot and then stood up and lifted his left foot in the air to attempt to put on the left one; bad idea.  Well his right foot collapsed and separated his ankle from his leg just like yours.  I had never heard of this injury before this you have my sympathy.   Be patient it is a long recovery but you will be as good as new! 

[robnmo]

This is a great review. Thank you. We will be on the Breakaway on Sunday. First cruise for me and the kids. My wife and Mother-in-law have been on a bunch. Good luck in the recovery.

[jeanneful]

Sakari looks so much like actress Ali McGraw when Ali was younger!!

[dporter]

following

[Jasonmom]

 

Loved the pictures of your scuba adventure.  Also wanted to thank you for picture coming into port because I wasn't sure what was there. 

 

Hoping every day is better for you.

 

 

[Suna]

Always love finding your trip reviews. Amazing photos! Your daughter is very brave snorkeling ... how old is she?

 

Holy yikes on your foot _ you really did a great number on it. Hope the pain is getting less and less.

[FitchburgWIFamily]

On 8/17/2019 at 1:20 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

This was not a very good cruise (other than the ports). I would go as far as saying it was the worse cruise experience I have had to date...for many reasons.

 

They no longer give you pool towels in your room. They have adopted the system that you have to go to the pool deck to check them out. They write your room number down on a paper and how many towels you have and then write it down again when you return them. It was ridiculous honestly. Anyone could walk up there and say any room number and check out towels. They didn't ask for a key card or anything. If you didn't catch them before they closed in the evening, you didn't have clean and dry towels for port the next day. Ugh! I hate this system. Also, when we returned from port and had our wet towels in the room, the room steward would take them. How do I know they are being "crossed off the list of checked out towels?"

 

 

My husband teases me about worrying about "cruise-world" problems.  Like I tease people who complain about "first-world" problems like whining that Costco stopped carrying their brand of cucumber infused Vodka in the 2.5 liter bottle and only has it in a 1.75 liter size.  (but I digress)

 

And worrying about any cruise-world problem when you are sitting there with enough metal in your leg to mean you'll never get to go through airport security again trying to manage pain I don't want to imagine let alone manage seems superficial on my part at best.

 

But...well...ACK!  I can't help myself...I need to worry about this new towel policy NOW 3 months before my cruise.   We are NCL loyalists who just dipped our toes into Royal Carribean with a Cuba cruise on one of their smallest ships, but one of the things I hated was the towel checkout process on that ship.

 

Tell me NCL has not eliminated the towel exchange at port?  Tell me I can still get rid of my 90 lb wet sandy stinky monstrosity and replace it with a nicely cleaned rolled up wonder before I get on the gangway?

 

And is there any bright side to this new process?  If people use pool towels to hog loungers, and people are billed for non-returned pool towels...does the new check out to the room policy have any impact on the chair hogs?  Couldn't I just take their chair and their towels and deprive them of the credit for turning it in?

 

P.S.  Of course I wish you the speediest of recoveries and a belated but heartfelt thank you for all the information you provided over the years.  You sailed on the Star or the Dawn (probably both) just before one of our first family cruises and my kids would ask to look at your pictorial review almost daily while they planned in their heads their days on board.  "Find the picture of the giant chess board mom!"   You also gave excellent information about various ports and as I snorkel, I always comb through  your information to find the perfect snorkel from the beach location.  Thank you.

 

 

[Pat.D]

14 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

I have always heard that Anthony Key was an amazing dive. Some day I hope to try it.

 

I recommend it, they're fun.  From your beautiful pictures I'm guessing you found a pretty good dive center, the DM brought you to some nice sites close to the limits of DSD dives.  Really enjoying your review! 

 

14 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

No, we are not certified. We do the Discover each time we cruise. Yea, they had a PADI shop on our last RC on the Freedom. We just have no interest in getting certified at this time. I'm not even sure the hubby can get certified with his ears, which would make it pointless for us.

 

I know what you mean, I did many DSD dives before I finally bit the bullet and got certified again (I was certified in my early 20's but couldn't afford to dive so I did not dive for 25+ years and let my cert lapse).  I am pretty sure your husband's ear issue is unlikely to be a problem with that special mask. 

 

Main reason I went for my cert again was that I wanted slightly more adventurous dives like visiting wrecks and sharks.  Link is to a dive in Nassau last March sailing the Bliss.  Saw a ton a sharks (and they were not baby sharks doo doo doo doo! 😉 lol!)