Our Family Breakaway - April 17-24

[tripleboom]

Disembarkation Day

 

Yup. That about sums it up.

 

 

 

We slept in about as late as we could, and then made our way to the buffet. Enjoyed our last chocolate croissants, made-to-order omelets, and mocha French toast for a while, and then prepared to disembark.

 

We had left almost all of our bags out the previous night, but kept one small roller for the sake of packing pajamas, toiletries, etc. Navigating the hallways with one suitcase is a far better option than trying to do so with all your luggage in tow, so if you don't have an early flight, I'd always recommend getting as many bags out of your room the night before. 

 

By the time they called our color group for disembarkation, we were able to head to deck #7 and walk right out onto the promenade deck. After about 10-12 minutes in line we were off the ship and headed toward customs.  Because this was the last sailing out of New Orleans, there was a good number of the crew that were disembarking the vessel in addition to the guests. So while customs was probably a little more crowded than it had been in past months, it was still very easy to walk off, locate our luggage, and clear customs with zero hassles.

 

Because we had such a late flight home, we had decided that we could drop our bags with an airport courier service, and then retrieve them from the airport later, thus freeing us up to enjoy our day in New Orleans relatively unencumbered.  Shortly after passing through customs, you head down a long hallway which will eventually lead to the exits to the streets, Uber service, etc., but before you get that far there's a counter for "Advance Check In." The staff there quickly tagged our bags, provided us our retrieval stubs, and we were on our way.  Prices vary depending on bag count, with one bag costing $25, 2-4 bags costing $45, and each additional bag beyond 4 costing another $10 each.

 

Now that we were light five bags, we walked out of the terminal. The Uber/Lyft area was a bit of a disaster area the last time we made this trip, and it didn't look like much had changed this go around either. Fortunately, our intended destination was only about a 12 minute walk away.

 

Connor is our little history buff, so when I told him that we would have time after the cruise to visit the National World War II museum, he was more than a little excited. Toward the end of the cruise he had remarked on the fact that he was kind of excited to get off the ship so he could get to the museum!

 

 

 

If you have the opportunity to visit while you're there, this is an absolute must. You can easily make a very full day of the visit.  With the impressive display of aircraft in one building, and the immersive walk through the Pacific and European theater areas it is the single most impressive museum I've ever been to (though admittedly the Smithsonian is still on my to-do list).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our day at the museum, we took an Uber over to the airport, retrieved our bags from the courier service (they had a little stand set up just inside the arrivals level doors, not the departures level doors.  After two flights on United (connecting through Denver), we arrived back home just a little before midnight and closed the book on a wonderful family vacation.

 

Thanks to all of you that stuck it out with me through this review! I wish it hadn't taken me about a month to complete, but such is the life of a dad with an active family. 🙂

 

Until next time!  I hope everyone enjoys their upcoming vacations!

[Travelicious]

Thanks for sharing.  Enjoyable as always.

[AKR2011]

Thanks once again for a great review! We used the same service to enjoy New Orleans after our cruise in 2016. Such an easy way to enjoy the city without paying for an extra overnight.

[tripleboom]

14 hours ago, Travelicious said:

Thanks for sharing.  Enjoyable as always.

 

Thanks for following along!

[wil e coyote]

@tripleboom, thanks for this great review! We are sailing on the Breakaway in a couple of weeks on this same itinerary from Miami - so I feel like you gave us a sneak peek of what to expect.

Love your positive attitude and all the photos. 

[helene109]

Wow fantastic review! We are on our first NCL and Breakaway in August! Just off of Carnival on Sunday! What type of cabin did you have? Any other tips? Thanks again!

[tripleboom]

46 minutes ago, helene109 said:

Wow fantastic review! We are on our first NCL and Breakaway in August! Just off of Carnival on Sunday! What type of cabin did you have? Any other tips? Thanks again!

 

Glad you enjoyed it! We were in a B6 category balcony. Those are larger balconies further forward on the ship. We LOVED having the extra space out there, particularly to be able to have the lounge chairs present. Here's a video I took of the same class of cabin back in 2019:

 

 

As for some of my favorite tips?

 

1. Always do Taste or Savor for lunch of embarkation day. The buffet is a mad house, and the relaxed pace and good food in Taste or Savor are such a welcome chance to catch your breath after the craziness of boarding day.
2. Buy some magnetic hooks on Amazon. Because the walls and ceilings are magnetic, it makes for a great way to hang wet swimsuits, belts, hats etc. Anything you can do to declutter the relatively small room the better.
3. Don't forget that the drawers under the couch do pull out. If there are linens stored there, your steward should be able to remove them if they're unneeded, or find somewhere else to store them if they'll be needed later.  NCL has done a great job with storage in these cabins, but we still need every nook and cranny for our family of four to make it work!
4. If you go to the buffet, grab your food and then head ALLLLLL the way to the back of the ship. The views are great, it's much easier to find seating, and the proximity to the aft beverage station makes like easier when compared to the crowded stations mid-buffet.
5. If you have multiple electronics to charge (we had three phones, my GoPro, portable chargers, and a point & shoot camera), get either a power strip (surge protectors are banned, so be mindful of that) or a USB charging tower. Again, being able to skip a clunky power strip in favor of something smaller on the cabin desk is a big win for de-cluttering.  
6. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by tripleboom

[helene109]

So helpful! Thanks we have a Club Balcony Suite adjoining with friends trying to decide if we want a Club Balcony suite larger balcony. 

[Irene225]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:16 PM, tripleboom said:

 

After our day at the museum, we took an Uber over to the airport, retrieved our bags from the courier service (they had a little stand set up just inside the arrivals level doors, not the departures level doors. 

 

Thank you for a great review! It's refreshing to see someone be so positive and make the best of things - I really appreciate it!  Do you mind sharing the luggage service you used?  Thank you!

[tripleboom]

  

11 minutes ago, Irene225 said:

 

Thank you for a great review! It's refreshing to see someone be so positive and make the best of things - I really appreciate it!  Do you mind sharing the luggage service you used?  Thank you!

 

 

When we arrived back in port, we proceeded to the customs hall, located our luggage, were cleared by the customs officer, and then proceeded out into the hallway that is just inside from the Julia Street pick up/drop off area. About 50 yards past the customs officer we saw the desk for "Advance Check-In" luggage service where they had about a half-dozen staff members set to tag your bags. We then pre-paid for our luggage to be delivered to MSY, where we were able to pick it up at the baggage claim level later that evening.

 

The fee is $25 for the first piece of luggage, $45 for 2-4 pieces of luggage, and $10 for each additional piece of luggage after 4.  $55 lighter (plus tip) and five bags lighter we were then free to go catch our Uber to head to the WWII Museum. A great way to kill time until our late flight!

Edited July 12, 2022 by tripleboom

[Irene225]

On 7/12/2022 at 9:02 AM, tripleboom said:

  

 

 

When we arrived back in port, we proceeded to the customs hall, located our luggage, were cleared by the customs officer, and then proceeded out into the hallway that is just inside from the Julia Street pick up/drop off area. About 50 yards past the customs officer we saw the desk for "Advance Check-In" luggage service where they had about a half-dozen staff members set to tag your bags. We then pre-paid for our luggage to be delivered to MSY, where we were able to pick it up at the baggage claim level later that evening.

 

The fee is $25 for the first piece of luggage, $45 for 2-4 pieces of luggage, and $10 for each additional piece of luggage after 4.  $55 lighter (plus tip) and five bags lighter we were then free to go catch our Uber to head to the WWII Museum. A great way to kill time until our late flight!

Thank you!  So it's operated by the port? Or is there a separate name of the business that they contract with? I'm actually interested in it for a different reason in NOLA so trying to track down who actually performs the service.  Thanks again!

[tripleboom]

3 hours ago, Irene225 said:

Thank you!  So it's operated by the port? Or is there a separate name of the business that they contract with? I'm actually interested in it for a different reason in NOLA so trying to track down who actually performs the service.  Thanks again!

 

Advance Check-In is the name of the luggage service. While their desk is inside of the terminal building, they do not appear to have a direct affiliation with the port authority.  You can find more info here: https://www.advancecheckin.com/

[Irene225]

5 hours ago, tripleboom said:

 

Advance Check-In is the name of the luggage service. While their desk is inside of the terminal building, they do not appear to have a direct affiliation with the port authority.  You can find more info here: https://www.advancecheckin.com/

Thank you!!!

[Cheesegirl23]

Thank you so much for your review! I'll be doing this same itinerary in march, so very helpful!!!

[rbxlady]

We are cruising on the Getaway in October with our two sons, who are 9 and 11 and relatively responsible like yours, so I really appreciated your detailed review without Splash Academy (which supposedly will be available for our kids, but you never know). I am also grateful for your insight on how to do specialty dining for just the two of you!