NCL Breakaway March 3-10 from New Orleans semi-live

[boffoboffo]

Got in line to get off the ship around 7. The line started moving at 7:12. Had to walk the length of the ship to exit aft out of the Manhattan Room. Then had to walk the length of the ship again to the gangway forward. Then through the maze to get to customs. Then decided the wait for the shuttle bus was going to be too long so we walked to the parking garage. Finally made it to the car at 8:09. Currently on I-10 heading west to I-55. 

[boffoboffo]

Welcome to Mississippi. 
 

[boffoboffo]

A very uneventful drive today. Aside from Memphis I-55 really doesn’t go through anything. 

Tennesee welcomed us for all of 15 minutes but it did have more to see than the rest of the drive combined. 

Two things to see in Memphis. 

Hey! We were sailing on that river this morning. 

The whole reason we came this way on the drive home. Our first time in Arkansas and the 46th state we’ve been to. Only Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii to go. Time for one of those 16 day Alaska and Hawaii cruises out of Seattle, I guess?

After an hour and one minute we made it to our fifth and final state of the day. 

Since it was recommended a few weeks ago I figured I’d better include this sign. Current plan is to eat there since it’s a couple minutes down the road, unless it’s too busy. 

[boffoboffo]

On 2/24/2024 at 7:40 AM, Panhandle Couple said:

Lambert's Cafe. Sikeston Missouri.

Home of the Throwed Rolls.

Arrive hungry.

All three of us say thank you for the suggestion. You didn’t warn us to arrive thirsty with the size of their drink cups.

The parking lot was quite full and there was a decent sized line to get in but we got seated within 10 minutes.

They have a couple license plates on the walls. 

I guess this picture doesn’t properly convey the size of these cups. After a week without pop while on the ship a huge Dr Pepper really hit the spot. 

Steaming hot roll that was almost a meal on its own. 

Roast beef. 

Chicken pot pie. 
 

I’d highly recommend this place for sure. 

[AKR2011]

Finally catching back up here. Like you, I never miss that Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake! I heard rumors recently that it was gone, and I am happy to see that you found it. Yum!

[ColetoBuzz]

As a native of the Texas Gulf Coast / Central Texas area, I urge you to stop at a Buc-ee's. Get a bag of Beaver nuggets and don't forget to visit the restrooms.

I had been in small Buc-ee's in the area before. like in Gonzales, but never in a store like the Luling Buc-ee's store once it opened.

My first time there I hit the restroom and thought, "Dayum! How many janitors do they have here"?, as one long wall was nothing but "closets".

I soon realized those were toilet stalls . . . with thick, heavy doors . . . in a men's room. We men usually don't need much, but this was crazy.

Don't attempt a gas up if you're there on a weekend. It'll take too long. Stop for the restrooms . . . and the nuggets.

 

[PaperSniper4]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:53 AM, boffoboffo said:

Our destination is in sight. 

This is our second straight cruise where the clocks changed for daylight savings on our last night and I am not a fan. Turns out we got up an hour earlier than we were planning to. At least the ship is quiet and nearly impossible to get around since all the stairwells on 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are roped off. I guess they’re trying to do a better job than they do in NYC of keeping people from lining up early. 

Very irritating that the purser's office insisted the time would not change at 0200 on arrival day. I asked several at the desk the night before; none simply responded "Yes, we are sailing from from ET  to CT but there is a DST change resulting in clocks not needing to be reset". I wish cruises on similar itineraries would simply stick with the departing port's time zone; forget about local time, stick with the ship's time.I found it irritating to change the clocks by only an hour so many times on a 7 days cruise.

[boffoboffo]

Getting ready to head back on the road for our last longer day of driving. Stopping in Toledo, OH which is roughly 8 hours away plus an hour when we get back to the eastern time zone. 

[boffoboffo]

Didn’t take too long and we’ve moved on to Illinois. 

And you get there by crossing the river we were cruising on yesterday morning. 

The last time we’ll see the Mississippi River on this trip. 

[boffoboffo]

Into Indiana and our final time zone change back to our native eastern time zone. 

And after taking suggestions of places to stop along the way from others I decided to go with a place that only I mentioned and made fun of. 

We’re back into White Castle country. No more of those cheap imitation Krystals that I’d never heard of until this trip. 

Oops. I think we took a severe wrong turn somewhere. 
 

Another ideal day for driving with nothing but blue sky. Woke up with some frost on the car and right on 0° but we’re up to 12° now. 

Edited March 11 by boffoboffo

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, boffoboffo said:

 

We’re back into White Castle country. No more of those cheap imitation Krystals that I’d never heard of until this trip. 
 

Oops. I think we took a severe wrong turn somewhere. 
 

Another ideal day for driving with nothing but blue sky. Woke up with some frost on the car and right on 0° but we’re up to 12° now. 

How dare you! Krystal's is the only good slider kinda burger. I just can't tolerate White Castle...but my grandma brought me up on Krystal's whenever we took a road trip down south to her motherland. So, I suppose I'm a wee bit biased...and really don't enjoy sliders anyway. Like, I need an actual amount of beef in my mouth to feel like I've had a meal. 

[boffoboffo]

Just checked my email and our post cruise survey is already there. Guess that’ll give me something to do in our motel tonight. Our latitudes reward points were also added to our account this morning. Only 20 short of platinum now. 

[boffoboffo]

24 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

How dare you! Krystal's is the only good slider kinda burger. I just can't tolerate White Castle...but my grandma brought me up on Krystal's whenever we took a road trip down south to her motherland. So, I suppose I'm a wee bit biased...and really don't enjoy sliders anyway. Like, I need an actual amount of beef in my mouth to feel like I've had a meal. 

Unfollow. 1 star. Worst cruise semi-live ever?

[boffoboffo]

The majestic skyline and airport of Indianapolis. 

[cruiseny4life]

22 minutes ago, boffoboffo said:

Unfollow. 1 star. Worst cruise semi-live ever?

Hahahaha!! I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of losing a follower. 

 

Besides, I would have missed the beautiful Indianapolis skyline if I did that. 

 

But really, have enjoyed your review and speedy travels to your home in the Great White North! 

[boffoboffo]

I’m sure I recall mentioning out road trip on Route 66 a few years ago. On the way we stopped in Uranus, Missouri as it’s one of the tourist trap stops along the way. Well we passed the sign on I-69 and it brought back some memories of that trip. 

Seemed confusing that there would be a billboard for a tourist trap built entirely around a single joke that is a 5 1/2 hour drive away and not worth driving more than 11 minutes out of the way to visit. Investigated further and found out they had opened Uranus #2 in Indiana and it was only 10 minutes away. 

If you’ve ever been there you know I’m required to say “Welcome to Uranus” here. 

It’s not as big or fancy as the original and still just a tourist trap based on a single joke but my wife got some fudge packed in Uranus. 

Finally made it to Ohio where we’ve stopped for the night. Only about four hours left to drive tomorrow to get home. 

[AKR2011]

I took a road trip a couple years ago and stopped at Uranus. Not a ton to see, but yes, the fudge was delicious! We enjoyed exploring the Rte. 66 bus there.

[boffoboffo]

16 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Hahahaha!! I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of losing a follower. 

 

Besides, I would have missed the beautiful Indianapolis skyline if I did that. 

 

But really, have enjoyed your review and speedy travels to your home in the Great White North! 

My last couple of cruises out of NYC I followed a couple of these live/semi-live for cruises sailing shortly before mine to get an idea what to expect. I remember your name and @JIMESOPUS a lot from those, so I was happy to see both of you show up here. It made it feel like I was kind of returning the favour. 

[boffoboffo]

Filled out our cruise survey last night, so that’s all taken care of. We’re spending the night right off I-75 so for the first time on the way home we’ll be backtracking the same route we took on the way. About an hour from the Canadian border. I’m sure there will be a final couple pictures to post along the way to finish this up. Then I’m sure I’ll do some kind of post cruise summary going over the positives and negatives and any other final thoughts to close this out. 

[boffoboffo]

The other side of daylight savings. It’s 8am and the sun is just now coming up. 

In the second of an oops, I started this too late in the trip series here’s the captivating skyline of Toledo, Ohio. 

Guess you didn’t miss much as we didn’t really go through many big cities this trip. 

The final state before Canada. Quick count comes up with 11 different states we drove through on the trip. 

[FredZiffle]

On 3/10/2024 at 11:26 PM, ColetoBuzz said:

As a native of the Texas Gulf Coast / Central Texas area, I urge you to stop at a Buc-ee's. Get a bag of Beaver nuggets and don't forget to visit the restrooms.

I had been in small Buc-ee's in the area before. like in Gonzales, but never in a store like the Luling Buc-ee's store once it opened.

My first time there I hit the restroom and thought, "Dayum! How many janitors do they have here"?, as one long wall was nothing but "closets".

I soon realized those were toilet stalls . . . with thick, heavy doors . . . in a men's room. We men usually don't need much, but this was crazy.

Don't attempt a gas up if you're there on a weekend. It'll take too long. Stop for the restrooms . . . and the nuggets.

 

After reading all these posts about Buc-ee's, we decided to stop on our way from Atlanta to NO.  Impressive place, and I agree that the bathrooms are second to none.  But, gas at their 50 or so pumps was higher than neighboring stations, so I wondered why they were doing so much business.  No breaks on food prices either, although the options did look interesting.  I just wasn't willing to spend $8 on a BBQ sandwich that had been sitting under a warmer for God knows how long.  Given that there had to be at least a hundred of those sandwiches out at 10 in the morning, I guess someone is buying them.

[boffoboffo]

Detroit skyline. 

Apparently this sign seems to imply I’m not allowed to return to the US again. 

At 11 CAD$ each way this bridge doesn’t provide good value. 

I’m guessing the new bridge isn’t being built to give you a cheaper alternative. Or it’s being built to stay like this in case they decide to film “Speed 2:Like Everyone Else We’re Pretending the One on the Cruise Ship Didn’t Happen”.

Thanks Google Maps. 

Back to our home and native land. Well not for my wife, I guess since she’s actually an American citizen. 
 

Only a couple hours to go. 

[chewsifer1220]

21 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

How dare you! Krystal's is the only good slider kinda burger. I just can't tolerate White Castle...but my grandma brought me up on Krystal's whenever we took a road trip down south to her motherland. So, I suppose I'm a wee bit biased...and really don't enjoy sliders anyway. Like, I need an actual amount of beef in my mouth to feel like I've had a meal. 

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who prefers Krystals over WC. When I lived in Memphis (about 20 years ago 😗) I lived 2 minutes from Krystals and ate there often. I miss the chili cheese pups lol Now I live 2 minutes from a WC and haven't ate there in months 😂 Although I think my insides might appreciate that fact lol

[boffoboffo]

And we are now home safe. Well, my mom still has an hour to drive to get to her place but it’ll certainly be less blizzardy than it was when she came here nearly two weeks ago. Another beautiful day for driving.

 

Our cats have also survived although they’re all in the mood to hide at the moment. 

I think they’re ashamed because they only managed to knock about 50% of the contents of our apartment on to the floor while we were away. 
 

So sometime over the next couple days I’ll post my final thoughts, presumably in one long, rambling post because that’s what I promised way back at the beginning.

 

Otherwise I’d like to thank everyone for following along. I think I enjoyed doing it for the most part and it seems to have been useful to at least a couple others so it doesn’t seem like it was a total waste of my time. 

[cruiseny4life]

54 minutes ago, boffoboffo said:

And we are now home safe. Well, my mom still has an hour to drive to get to her place but it’ll certainly be less blizzardy than it was when she came here nearly two weeks ago. Another beautiful day for driving.

 

Our cats have also survived although they’re all in the mood to hide at the moment. 

I think they’re ashamed because they only managed to knock about 50% of the contents of our apartment on to the floor while we were away. 
 

So sometime over the next couple days I’ll post my final thoughts, presumably in one long, rambling post because that’s what I promised way back at the beginning.

 

Otherwise I’d like to thank everyone for following along. I think I enjoyed doing it for the most part and it seems to have been useful to at least a couple others so it doesn’t seem like it was a total waste of my time. 

Aww...your cats will hopefully get over their anger and decide to say hi soon! 

 

And you certainly did not waste your time! I thoroughly enjoyed following along. I need something to do during my long work days, so I thank you for taking the time to tell us all about Breakaway and your travels in the Caribbean!