Breaking Away from NOLA 1-22-23

[Panhandle Couple]

like2cruise

Sorry, that is 6 selections every night.  The only 1 we noticed more than once was the Hake fish, and that was maybe 5 nights apart. But we also had 2 specialty dinners, so didn't look at MDR those nights.

 

One veggie dish I had was eggplant parmesan.  It seemed like it was fresh cut and breaded.  I think I could tell a frozen version of it. 

 

[Panhandle Couple]

Specialty Dining

 

1 night at Cagney's.  Our third cruise with eating there.  Same, good overall quality. Both had the 8 oz filet.  Their sides are maybe slipping a little.  I don't like the way they are served in separate bowls.  I know that means they have been sitting around under heat lamps, and ours were on the not so hot side.  But the desserts were good, especially the OMG Cheesecake.  My wife's first bite became "OMG!" it was very good.  I had the 7 layer chocolate cake, which was OK, but the OMG is the dessert pick of the cruise.

 

1 night at Moderno.  Our 2nd cruise with eating there. The previous was a year ago on the Dawn, and the floor space is about 1/3 of that on the Breakaway, and a much smaller salad bar.  This venue was much better, the salad bar had lots of options, and the meat was served nice and hot.  I was impressed that the chicken drum stick was very tasty, but the nicest surprise was the backed pineapple.  Delicious.  Desserts were good, I had banana tart with caramelized  topping and my wife had the tres leche cake.  We left bloated.  It was a lot of very good food.

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Staff said that during "spring break" (not certain which week, but either 2nd or 3rd week in March it will be 4700.  If you are sailing those weeks, be prepared.

 

Muster.  Yes, back to the old drills, abiding by international Safety at Sea standards.  Locations were on decks 6 and 7.  With people complaining and not paying attention, if there is any real emergency, good luck.  The crew can only herd cats so far.  Cats have to cooperate at some point.

 

Excellent summary.  Thank you very much.

RE: spring break.  Many, if not most, colleges have spring break the week of 5 March.  Biggest impact on NOLA/Breakaway is that hotels for the night of 4 March are filling up and the costs are outrageous.  For example, the Hampton Inn Convention Center, the one closest to the port, 12 Feb rents for $178.  The night of 4 March, it's over $800 (fees, tax, extra).

 

BTW, not all cruise lines are going with the old style muster.  Carnival, for example, has no plans to return to the old muster.  Evidently, the emuster also abides by the International Safety at Sea standards.  

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/cruise-ship-muster-drill-changes-reasons/

[Panhandle Couple]

Rocketman

 

We are sailing on the Escape on 4 March from Canaveral, and didn't see a large price increase on hotel rooms.  That said, we did see large amounts of college kids in the French Quarter on Saturday night, and leaving on busses Sunday morning.  

 

I'm not trying to recreate the thread on muster here (which some may have skipped or not seen).  Just pointing out it happened, and that 90% of the people weren't paying attention.  Hopefully the event will help train new crew members (seems to be many fleet wide) for what to do.  For passengers, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Panhandle Couple]

Updating with more info.

 

I forgot the question about casino minimums.  We don't gamble, but you have to walk through the casino at least twice a day is seems to get anywhere.  The tables that I saw the minimum was $10, although they weren't blackjack tables.

 

Entertainment.

 

Burn The Floor.

My wife really enjoyed it.  Lots and lots of fast action dancing (only 1 slow dance) and some very good vocals.  The female singer was excellent.  The back up back (all female) was also good.  Their variation on several classic rock songs (band and singers) was memorable.  Why sing the song the same way thousands of times?  They didn't.  And for me, it worked.  I recommend it.

 

Six.

We saw this when it started on the Bliss in 2019.  Had no idea what it was, and there were movie style character posters and cardboard cutouts around the ship.  Back then I thought it was sort of quirky, at best.   How it made it Broadway....who knows.  Obviously not the original cast we saw in 2019.

That being said, my wife really liked it.

There is lots of singing and dancing.  

And funky costumes.

And a few witty lines.

And the same backup band.

But the whole concept is far fetched.  (no spoiler hints here)

The real problem is, none of the songs are memorable.  None will leave you humming it to yourself the next day.  

My recommendation is go and see it, judge for yourself.

 

Syd Normans Pour House band.

Many have said this is the one to see.  They play a classic rock show, then the Rumors LP, then "Prom Night".  Rumors is the most popular and I have seen several good reviews of it.

The problem....

The Pour house is a small venue, you have to line up well before opening to get a seat.

Hint: if you are in the line past the elevators, you probably won't get a seat once inside.  This is because they allow pre-seating for Haven cruisers.  Not stated anywhere, but 10 minutes before doors open, they come in from the deck side.  It depends on how many of them choose to attend that will leave open seats for everyone else.

The good news, Syd's has an outside bar that has speakers with the show from inside.  You can look through the windows and door to catch parts of the band.  So without getting a seat I did hear them, as we preferred that bar.

While they were good, we (and our friends) thought that the reviews were a little overstated.  But they were much better than most Cruise bands.  And cheers for them for tackling Rumors.

Again, go and see for yourself. 

 

The poolside band was good.  Their reggae set was good.  The other sets did standard covers well, which is what is needed for poolside parties. 

 

We didn't notice many other music options.  There was a single guy we caught 2 songs at dinner before he shut down.  It was our late dinner after a show. He was playing somewhere else later that night.

 

We didn't realize (but should have) to get reservations for the comedians in the small club.  We did see then together in the theater show.  I guess I'm getting old.  Some of the jokes were funny, but not all out laughing for my part.  My wife and our friends thought they were funnier than I did, however.

 

Howl at the Moon.  We stopped in one night for a few songs.  It really isn't "dueling pianos" as they cooperate on songs, and have a drummer to help out.  Unfortunately, people pay tips to hear them sing (or mangle) standard pop/rock songs from 80's through today.    But the guys are funny and at least 1/2 of the crowd was having a good time.  The other half tended to come and go, so you should be able to find seats after the first night.