NCL Breakaway - Live from!

[nikkiw60]

Finally 2 weeks from today (15th January) we will be boarding the Breakaway out of New Orleans!
Background story!
We started cruising in 2016 ( we are from U.K.) on MSC Divina since then we ( or should I say I?) have become hooked!
We did a status match to the top tier which was then Black from a hotel status so I started my research on Cruise Critic and went on board as a seasoned cruiser! 
Since then we have been on 8 MSC cruises and have further 3 booked…

Now let’s get on to how we discovered NCL and how the cruise in 2 weeks time got booked!

if you are not bored yet… if you are stop reading now!
With friends we had booked a Californian road trip and just by chance we saw a 5 night reposition cruise on NCL Bliss which we thought would be a good start to a road trip, Flight to Seattle stayed over night got train to Vancouver stayed overnight then Bliss back down to Los Angeles, with stops in Victoria and San Francisco. Then car back to San Francisco via Solvang, Monterey, and Paso Robles.
Whilst on board we purchased some future cruise vouchers…. 2 plus 2 free…

So we were booked for April 2020 for a milestone birthday on MSC Bellissima in Asia.. which was then cancelled in January due to a big virus in China… so determined to still be away for my birthday we quickly used 2 of our vouchers and booked either the Getaway or Breakaway for the same week out of New Orleans and prepaid the entire trip…

You can guess the rest of this chapter…

Anyway as previously stated we are finally ( hopefully) boarding in a couple of weeks time.

And back to the heading of my topic, usually on MSC I do a Live From, I will have the WiFi package and plan on boring anyone who can be bothered to read my thread with my morning musings, menus, food photos, dailies etc.

I will answer any questions live or as live as I can whilst on board..

Hopefully some of you will enjoy our journey with us!
And I will start posting soon.
 

[fethiyeden]

Looking forward to reading your review. I live in Turkey but am originally from West Yorkshire.

We are on the cruise after yours, so will be gleaning information.

 

[nikkiw60]

One thing not to expect is anything about trivia stuff or the games.

I detest these with a passion!

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, nikkiw60 said:

One thing not to expect is anything about trivia stuff or the games.

We sailed Breakaway last March and the embarkation process was the worst we've experienced.  We arrived at the port around 945 and waited standing in long lines for about an hour and a half.  We're on Breakaway again this March and would like to avoid long waits at the pier.  We would appreciate any feedback from your experience.  Things like when did you arrive at the pier, how long did you wait to board, etc.

[Lionkingrichard]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

We sailed Breakaway last March and the embarkation process was the worst we've experienced.  We arrived at the port around 945 and waited standing in long lines for about an hour and a half.  We're on Breakaway again this March and would like to avoid long waits at the pier.  We would appreciate any feedback from your experience.  Things like when did you arrive at the pier, how long did you wait to board, etc.

Show up after 1pm and no lines!

 

One cruise was late for fog. One was late for a family that slept in(drunk). They were a sight! LOL

 

There are lots of reason you may have to wait.

[MyAuntFanny]

Howdy! We'll be on same cruise, but we're  newbies.  Hope to see you there! If you're interested in a pub crawl on the 1st at sea day there's a group meeting up at O'Sheehans at 10am.

[RocketMan275]

55 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Show up after 1pm and no lines!

 

One cruise was late for fog. One was late for a family that slept in(drunk). They were a sight! LOL

 

There are lots of reason you may have to wait.

Passengers on cruises that have not experienced late arrivals at the port have reported long lines.

What good does it do to arrive at the port before 0900 if no one boards until after 1100?

On our next cruise, we intend to arrive at the port around 1130.  We will check our bags and if the lines are long, we will go upstairs to the Riverwalk to kill some time.  Grab a beignet or something. Then return down stairs and hopefully the lines will be gone.  We don't do entertainment and we have our specialty dinning booked so there is no reason to stand in line for a couple of hours.

[Luvmypups]

3 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

We sailed Breakaway last March and the embarkation process was the worst we've experienced.  We arrived at the port around 945 and waited standing in long lines for about an hour and a half.  We're on Breakaway again this March and would like to avoid long waits at the pier.  We would appreciate any feedback from your experience.  Things like when did you arrive at the pier, how long did you wait to board, etc.

We’ve sailed a good bit and NOLA has one of the poorest ports for cruising out of - the only one we found worse was Tampa.  I think it has to do with the lack of space to handle the large number of people and having to show your cruise documents multiple times.  It can be hit or miss on what time to arrive but we seem to have better luck eating an early lunch….around 11am and then heading to the port….so usually 12 or later.  

 

@nikkiw60looking forward to sailing along with you - we are schedule to board breakaway March 12th.  Safe travels and happy sailing!

[RocketMan275]

28 minutes ago, Luvmypups said:

We’ve sailed a good bit and NOLA has one of the poorest ports for cruising out of - the only one we found worse was Tampa.  I think it has to do with the lack of space to handle the large number of people and having to show your cruise documents multiple times.  It can be hit or miss on what time to arrive but we seem to have better luck eating an early lunch….around 11am and then heading to the port….so usually 12 or later.  

We have a very nice room reserved near the port.  We plan on staying there until we are booted out.  We have parking at the Fulton Garage which is close to the port as well.  It's a short shuttle ride to the port.  We plan on arriving there slightly before 12.  We'll drop our bags with the porters and check out the lines.  If they're short, we'll check in.  Otherwise, we will surf the mall upstairs, maybe have a beignet, and then go back downstairs to check in.  We've already booked our dining and we don't do entertainment (interfers with our bed time), so those aren't an issue.  I'm sure there will still be a place for lunch.

[wolft927]

Just now, RocketMan275 said:

We have a very nice room reserved near the port.  We plan on staying there until we are booted out.  We have parking at the Fulton Garage which is close to the port as well.  It's a short shuttle ride to the port.  We plan on arriving there slightly before 12.  We'll drop our bags with the porters and check out the lines.  If they're short, we'll check in.  Otherwise, we will surf the mall upstairs, maybe have a beignet, and then go back downstairs to check in.  We've already booked our dining and we don't do entertainment (interfers with our bed time), so those aren't an issue.  I'm sure there will still be a place for lunch.

Wife and I have cruises out of New Orleans many times. Stayed at Hampton inn parked at Fulton garage and walked to the terminal. Lines in New Orleans get out of control pretty quick, once past security it goes pretty quick as long as no boarding delays like crew immigration inspection 

[nikkiw60]

1 hour ago, MyAuntFanny said:

Howdy! We'll be on same cruise, but we're  newbies.  Hope to see you there! If you're interested in a pub crawl on the 1st at sea day there's a group meeting up at O'Sheehans at 10am.

We are in the FB group for this cruise. We will see what our friends who are travelling with us want to do! 

[nikkiw60]

6 minutes ago, wolft927 said:

Wife and I have cruises out of New Orleans many times. Stayed at Hampton inn parked at Fulton garage and walked to the terminal. Lines in New Orleans get out of control pretty quick, once past security it goes pretty quick as long as no boarding delays like crew immigration inspection 

We had forgotten about the mall! Also four research was from 2020!

[linbobky]

The breakaway is a real nice ship. right now on the ship they have 2 great entertainment acts. they are Jamai a great ndatalent and the Rock away Duo. a wonderful duo. if you see them, tell them bob and linda from kentucky says Hi.

[MyAuntFanny]

On 1/1/2023 at 12:21 PM, nikkiw60 said:

We are in the FB group for this cruise. We will see what our friends who are travelling with us want to do! 

i learned about the pub ceawl in a FB group😆 We're probably chatting over there, and don't recognize our real names.  See you soon!

[RocketMan275]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:15 AM, wolft927 said:

Wife and I have cruises out of New Orleans many times. Stayed at Hampton inn parked at Fulton garage and walked to the terminal. Lines in New Orleans get out of control pretty quick, once past security it goes pretty quick as long as no boarding delays like crew immigration inspection 

I looked at the Hampton Inn but the price was excessive for my weekend.  Just checked again and the Hampton is $860 for a 1 King standard room.  My suite at the Hyatt is less than that.  That price is way out of line for nomal times at the Hampton.  There's something going on that weekend and all the prices are outrageous if there are rooms available.  That would be for 4-5March.

[www3traveler]

18 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

I looked at the Hampton Inn but the price was excessive for my weekend.  Just checked again and the Hampton is $860 for a 1 King standard room.  My suite at the Hyatt is less than that.  That price is way out of line for nomal times at the Hampton.  There's something going on that weekend and all the prices are outrageous if there are rooms available.  That would be for 4-5March.

NCAA Conference Basketball Tournament

[RocketMan275]

8 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

NCAA Conference Basketball Tournament

No.  Not in NOLA that weekend.

[nhgal2013]

Anyone on the  Breakaway sailing New Orleans to the western Caribbean…

 

could you please give me a quick rundown of the days and the times that the two main entertainment attractions are? SIX etc 

 

thank you in advance I have a little over 700 members in my group for the cruise critic meeting  and we’re all getting hungry. We sail on February 5.th!!

[like2cruise]

I hope you are having a great cruise?  Could you please post any menus from the MDR.  Would also love to hear about the Muster Drill for your sailing...I have heard rumors they are going back to the pre-covid drills...please say it isn't so :)!

[nikkiw60]

11 hours ago, nhgal2013 said:

Anyone on the  Breakaway sailing New Orleans to the western Caribbean…

 

could you please give me a quick rundown of the days and the times that the two main entertainment attractions are? SIX etc 

 

thank you in advance I have a little over 700 members in my group for the cruise critic meeting  and we’re all getting hungry. We sail on February 5.th!!

We did not get chance to see SIX as was only on the first 3 nights of the cruise. I will check the daily later and post this.

[nikkiw60]

8 hours ago, like2cruise said:

I hope you are having a great cruise?  Could you please post any menus from the MDR.  Would also love to hear about the Muster Drill for your sailing...I have heard rumors they are going back to the pre-covid drills...please say it isn't so :)!

The muster drill was one big shambles! We were told to go to the muster station at 3pm, ours was the main atrium it was absolutely crowded, we stood there till about 3.30 they then did the muster which seemed to take forever but was about 15 minutes! It was so bad that at the end people cheered and gave a round of applause! I don’t have all the menus but will post what I have. Also the queue to embark at New Orleans took over an hour. The ship departed just over an hour late at 5pm.

Also if you have booked any private tours at any of the ports we were given a note At embarkation the we would now be arriving 

in Costa Maya at 1.30pm and Cozumel at 10.30am. I think this has happened a lot recently.

 

[nikkiw60]

12 hours ago, nhgal2013 said:

Anyone on the  Breakaway sailing New Orleans to the western Caribbean…

 

could you please give me a quick rundown of the days and the times that the two main entertainment attractions are? SIX etc 

 

thank you in advance I have a little over 700 members in my group for the cruise critic meeting  and we’re all getting hungry. We sail on February 5.th!!

just checked and SIX is on at 7.30 and again at 10pm.

[like2cruise]

6 hours ago, nikkiw60 said:

The muster drill was one big shambles! We were told to go to the muster station at 3pm, ours was the main atrium it was absolutely crowded, we stood there till about 3.30 they then did the muster which seemed to take forever but was about 15 minutes! It was so bad that at the end people cheered and gave a round of applause! I don’t have all the menus but will post what I have. Also the queue to embark at New Orleans took over an hour. The ship departed just over an hour late at 5pm.

Also if you have booked any private tours at any of the ports we were given a note At embarkation the we would now be arriving 

in Costa Maya at 1.30pm and Cozumel at 10.30am. I think this has happened a lot recently.

 

Thank you kindly for the information.  All 4 of our cruises last year were the video muster drills and they were fabulous (none of those cruises were with NCL).  This info helps us to have time to adjust our mindset :)!  We will look forward to any dining room menus that you can provide.  We have a private tour scheduled in Costa Maya and did here from them today warning that the Breakaway has not arrive on time in the last 5 weeks. What time did you actually arrive to Costa Maya?  Thanks again for taking the time to respond!!