Hi all! I just got off of the Breakaway 10/11, and am writing my third review of a NCL cruise. I have been on 9 total now, 3 NCL, 6 CCL, and have been a solo cruiser for the last few. However, this time, I had company.
Disclaimer: I tend to have a somewhat dry sense of humor and try to be factual about my experience. This may irritate some people, and to them I say this review may not be for you. This is solely based on my opinion and obviously it is not the same experience that all of the other 4099 people encountered. Some may disagree with my praise or criticism-it is, again, my experience, and I am (not) sorry if it displeases others. I do ramble a bit, but I enjoy reading detailed reviews, so I want to return the favor and also catalog the memory for myself in the future. I do include the secondhand details of some of the experiences that others in my group had, but I do not claim their views for anything other than to report additional events that occurred on this cruise. Finally, I do tend to use initials when referring to my friends or fellow cruisers.
Background: I was planning a fall cruise and the Breakaway to Bermuda has been on my radar since the ship debuted shortly after my initial Epic cruise. While I was comparing cruises, I had a conversation with two of my friends, one who was a coworker, and the other was a former coworker. We loosely discussed how it would be fun to take a girls cruise. Well, talk led to more talk, and the two of us who still work together inquired into the possibility of taking the same week off. When we got the go ahead, my third friend looked into childcare options, and soon it was official- we were going on a girls getaway week to Bermuda!
Prices started out pretty low for October, and even though I was hooked by balconies after my last cruise(on the other line), we got a good rate for three of us in an inside cabin. It had the third guest free promotion at the time. We also had our choice between the Wifi, shore excursion, UBP, and UDP. At this time, we ended up choosing the shore excursion, as we figured it was the fairest( three people, three credits). Also, my two friends were pretty light drinkers(not that I am heavy, but I can have a few Drinks of the Day onboard), so the UBP didn’t seem to interest them.
Now, while we are all laid back people to a degree, I haven’t had multiple successful solo cruises and international trips by just winging it. Thus, I began my research and planning, reading multiple reviews, Bermuda travel sites, and Tripadvisor ratings. I started a private Facebook page for the three of us to share my info when my friends began to get annoyed with my cruise planning creeping into a majority of our conversations. Still, they told me time again that they appreciated me taking on the planning role, and said that their job was to “support the planner.”
A few weeks after booking the cruise, my friend C mentioned the possibility of her friend V, who lives in Florida, coming along. L and I were ok with it, although I said four women in an inside was pushing it. I threw the idea of upgrading our cabin for four of us if the price was decent, although I knew V was checking into studio cabins as well. Luckily, my PCC said that the price of a balcony cabin would only be an extra $100 (above V paying the same price that the three of us each had paid). C and I decided to split that cost, as it was her friend and I was willing to spend $50 for a balcony-we didn’t want to make L pay more. I attempted to get a bump out balcony, but was told that these rooms only accommodated threeL so we ended up with a balcony on the 12th floor I believe. Also, after some more negotiating, V and I convinced the other two to trade in the shore excursion package for the UBP, and we offered to pay for an excursion for them in exchange, to which they agreed.
So after a few more weeks of planning, cruise critic chatting, and preparation, I happened to look at the NCL website and noticed that prices had dropped even further- to the point where now a mini suite was the same rate as the balcony price that we had paid. A quick phone call to Joan later, and we were now booked in 9808, a category MB minisuite. Yay!!
Fast forward to two weeks to D-day, and the cruise critic board starting buzzing with word of calls/emails from the Upgrade Fairy. Sure enough, I got an email, offering a Haven suite for an extra $500pp. I was ready to jump on it, but when I called the Upgrade Fairy Hotline, I was told that the Haven suites left would only accommodate three people.
All was still well-after all, we had climbed the ladder to a minisuite, and had the UBP-I was content!
The final 2-3 weeks prior to cruise day were grueling for me-we were short a couple of nurses, and I had inherited the workload of one of them, so I was pretty exhausted by the time the week ended.
I did find the Facebook group and spent much time chatting with fellow passengers on there and on our roll call. It was mainly the typical pre-cruise chatter until the final week when we learned about a guy named Joaquin that wanted to horn in on the cruise. Unfortunately, while this passenger was unwelcome by all, he succeeded in dominating pretty much every topic that week. Suddenly, people began to divide into different categories-those who tried to predict weather outcomes for the week, those who tried to predict when and where the ship would be diverted, and those who tried to redirect the conversation back to the actual cruise. But Joaquin would not go away quietly.
Finally Sunday arrived. I woke up (pathetically) early, as I still wanted to get to the port early to secure Vibe passes for my group. Yes, Joaquin laughed at my plans by turning the weather down to a sunny but chilly 63 degrees that day. Anyway, I did some last minute prep around the apt, bid my cats adieu, and e-hailed a taxi as I began my 5 flight descent with two overpacked bags. Of course, this would be the one day that a New York cabbie would be early, and he called when I was only at the third floor.
Luckily, he was patient and waited, and soon I was sprawled in the backseat trying to explain where I was going-apparently he was the only New York cabbie that had no idea where Pier 88 was. He tried to explain that the West Side Highway was closed due to a bike marathon( message board topic the week prior to Joaquin). I kept telling him that I knew this, and tried to explain different routes to get there. Finally, he ended up weaving his way to Columbus Ave where he had the magic traffic light touch, and we made it from 110th to 47th in under ten minutes.
As we turned onto 12th, we encountered a sea of debarking passengers and luggage frantically trying to grab a cab, and I was expelled from the cab a block south of the pier in order for my cabbie to secure his next ride.It was after I began hauling my two whales that I realized that I forgot my jacket at home. Oh well.
As soon as I crossed the street, I found the porter desk and several empty packing carts. I was able to part with my whales in seconds and headed inside the terminal. It was here that I found a large roped off area right by the old fashioned security machines( pre-9/11 airport security style) and began to walk towards it. As I reached the security machines, a security guard jumped in front of me. “Where do you think you are going?” he barked.
I showed him by e-docs and explained that I was attempting to check in. “Nope, that ship doesn’t open the lines until 11,” he stated.
“But my check in time is 9:30,” I explained. Yes, I knew this check in time thing was likely irrelevant, but I also knew that people could check in well before 11. I also knew that I was (pathetically) early at 8:45,but, hey-Vibe passes. And I didn’t see the point in hanging around my apt all morning.
“Listen ma’am, I don’t are what your paper says, I’m telling you, you can’t go anywhere UNTIL 11!” He tapped his terminal security badge with a sense of self inflated importance.
I then inquired as to what I was supposed to do. “Go talk to the lady with the blue scarf and sit down,” he snapped.
So I sauntered over to the much friendlier lady in the blue scarf, who smiled, welcomed me to the terminal, and laughed at the boarding time guidelines. “Those are so ridiculous, no one needs to be here at those times,” she aid. “Have a seat in one of the chairs,and you’ll be called up to get in line in about an hour.”
OK, then. At least I vaguely recalled being corralled into a chair the last time that I went on the Epic, so at least I was in familiar territory. Also, there were about 50 or so other early birds, so I had company.
I checked the Facebook page,and after some chatter, found a roll call member on the other side of the room. I went over to say hi and talk for a few minutes until the room began to fill up, and I grew concerned for my chair,being held by a couple sitting next to me. I went back and sat down for a few minutes, chatting with them. It was their first cruise ever, so we discussed that until Blue Scarf Lady walked by and told everyone to pull out their passports and e-docs.
The woman next to me frantically looked through her purse and realized that she had packed them in her checked luggage. Oh, no! As she ran outside to plead her life to find her suitcase, the Facebook group admin (J) spotted me and said hi. She was also by a small group of roll call people, so I talked with them for a few minutes until Blue Scarf Lady waved me back to my seat. Luckily, by this time, the woman had returned with her e-docs. She was lucky-the terminal still wasn’t that crowded, so they found her bag pretty easily.
Then Blue Scarf Lady ushered us into the roped lines, and I was near the front,followed by the couple and a small group of roll call people sitting a few chairs down. J and her group were about ten people behind us, but we all trotted through the lines up to the machines, where another security guard checked our passports and waved for me to go ahead. Just as I was approaching the machine, I saw someone fly across the room from my left and yell, “STOP!”
It was the self inflated guard from earlier. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?” he bellowed, glaring at me.
I pointed to the other guard, and gave him an innocent, wide eyed “He told me to go ahead.”
“You CAN’T GO UP THERE YET! I TOLD YOU THAT BEFORE!!!” Now he had his hands on his hips.
I looked at the other guard in confusion. He shrugged, and motioned for me to go to the machine. The cluster of people behind me stood there, frozen, probably not wanting to antagonize the other guard even more.
I repeated to the self inflated guard that I was being told to continue on. Then he turned towards the friendly guard and said’ WHY are you letting them go,I’m telling you its NOT TIME YET!”
Friendly Guard tried to debate with him for a minute,but AH Guard (I’ll let you decipher that one) continued to screech, so Friendly sighed and waved me back. I slunk back to the line, stating to the others that I was not going to make a move untl that guard was gone. I explained that it was the second time he had yelled at me that morning.
Friendly huffed. “Well, I’ll tell you this, sweetheart, he’s only going to yell at me once. I’m not putting up with his attitude TODAY.”
The cluster and I laughed. The lines behind us were filling up, and I could see that people were confused as to why we were standing there, staring at 5 empty security machines, but that was the situation.
In the meantime, I kept looking at Facebook and CC, and since I had updated that I was in the terminal, I had requests for “more pics please, so I took some random crowd shots.
About 15 minutes later, Friendly Guard got the go ahead, and we flew through security and into the check in lines. I was lucky to get to the check in line with the first group of people, but alas, had a trainee, so it took a bit longer as her preceptor had to coach her through EVERY step. Finally, I was on my way to the next lounge, when I realized-
I had no group boarding number!!!!
TRAGEDY!!! (Just kidding, not really). But since I had arrived super early, I was needing that early group number. I traipsed back to my trainee and asked for my boarding number, but she looked so flustered and directed to another woman, who directed me to another woman, who gave me
Number 21.
Houston, we have a problem.
I very politely inquired about this, as I was one of the first ones to check in, and the woman gave me a cold stare and told me that 21 was the first group to board. I accepted her challenge for the staredown, and we continued for a minute until she told me that the first 20 numbers were for Haven and Platinum peeps. OK, then.
So I took my measly 21, trying to convince myself that Vibe probably wouldn’t have been a good investment this week anyway, and wandered over to another guard who directed me to an empty expanse of benches where the peons with numbers 21 and higher were to sit. I was going to relax and read(or catch up on posting) when I saw J and her husband T, and four other Facebook/roll call peeps, so I snuck out of my holding pen to chat with them. We hung out for a bit, talking about the cruise, the boards, the ship,etc (J and T had been on 25 Norwegian cruises!) and found out that two of the other members, S and JM, were in the cabin next door to my group. Also there was A and her daughter, Little A, celebrating A’s birthday.
As we were sitting there, someone was passing around flyers, but Facebook announces faster than flyers, so we were already aware of this:
Leaving at 2am seemed to be a good compromise if it meant avoiding bad weather and still going to Bermuda. I knew it killed any sailaway party, although we all tried to convince ourselves that we would all either wake up or be awake to toast the early morning ride down the Hudson.
In the meantime, T very generously offered to sneak all 7 of us in their group 1 boarding, to which I offered a free drink off my UBP packageJ Of course, we all had it(I’m not really sure that many people DIDN’T take this option when all was said and done). Instead, T and I agreed that he would be first in the Vibe line. We all had a good chat about Vibe then, and hoped that we would get good use out of it that week. In this area, they have a snack cart selling bagels, soda,water, coffee and a few other things, and they were making a decent profit during this time.
I also found a table for the spa, and managed to adopt a spa pass for the week. I was planning to skip it initially, but as the temps declined over the last week, and the rain potential increased, I figured it would be worthwhile to have a back up option to Vibe. Plus, the access to an extra shower would probably come in handy with sharing a bathroom with three other girls.
Finally, they began to announce that it was boarding time, and we were on it. J and the A’s strolled n, but T, S, and JM bolted up the gangway-now that was my kind of action. Earlier in the terminal, T and I had talked about his knee injury, so I was amazed at the speed with which he made it onto the boat-I was almost out of breath keeping up with him, BUT we made it from the terminal to the back of the guest services line in under 3 minutes.
(Hope your knee is doing well this week,TJ )
The guest services people, clearly not idiots, began handing out tags with Vibe numbers on them so that people would know whether or not it was worth standing in line. I held my breath when I asked for four, but she peeled them off without question.
(And yes, I let T get his first).
BTW, as we were in group 1, and had moved around several other group 1 members on the gangway, we were some of the last 30 people to secure Vibe passes.
A few minutes later, and I was the proud owner of this:
Little A was sitting on one of the circle couches and called me over, so I sat with her and talked for a few minutes, until A came running over frantically, not realizing that Little A had wandered off.Once she had recovered, the seven of us decided that food and drink were in order, so we headed to Savor .
With Vibe now secured, I was able to really look around Deck 6 and snap my first photos of the Breakaway.
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