Breakaway Dailies Fl/Bahamas Oct 5-12, 2014 (Full Sized Pictures)

Day One NYC

Day One, NYC, Continued

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We arrived at the NYC pier 88 around 10:10am. A porter quickly took our bags and we went right to security and breezed right through. There were only a few people ahead of us in the check in line. Within 5 minutes we were checked in, key cards in hand. And yes, the Soda stickers, Ultimate Beverage Package stickers, and Ultimate Beverage Package Stickers were already on them.

We had purchased a lot of onboard credit so we didn't have to put a credit card on file. Or so we thought. (I'll explain shortly)

We sat and waited, chatting with other guests. I had brought a hole puncher with me, so I punched holes I'm our key cards and put them on lanyards. Some other guests saw this and I happily punched holes in their cards as well. I even had extra lanyards with me so I gave out a few of those as well.

We boarded the ship around 11:30 in boarding group 5 and went down to Guest Services. Yep. Vibe baby!!

After getting our Vibe passes and pink wristbands, we dropped our carry on bags in our friends room. Our room wasn't ready yet, but our friends were on a back to back so theirs was. They suggested we go to the Main Dining Room Taste for lunch. This would be the only time we go there but it was delicious. I don't have pictures, but we had the Scallops Gratin (prepared like Escargot), Calamari, hubby had a burger, kiddo had chicken fingers and fries, and I had a salad.

After lunch we got our first drinks. I had a Bloody Mary which was the best I've ever had. They use the mixer Zing Zhang (I found it at Walmart last week and it brings me back to the ship ;) )

Then we heard the announcement that our room was ready, so we got our bags from our friends room and went to ours. We were in 8130, an M6, mini-suite with a large balcony. Oh My Goodness. The balcony is incredible!

More to come shortly. I'm uploading more pictures.

So when we went to our room, my key card wouldn't work. My husbands did and my daughters did. Our room steward suggested we go to Guest Services and have them reprogram the card. Off we went to Guest Services again. But first, let's stop for another drink. :o Hmm, now none of our cards work to get drinks either. Turns out that without having a credit card on file or a cash deposit, your cards don't work. Even with $2200 of pre-purchased OBC, you need another form of payment. The OBC doesn't show on your account until sometime in the evening of the first night. It was a quick fix and nothing was ever charged to our credit card.

We explored a little and then went to Maltings and Maltings on the Waterfront for sail away.

This was one of the things I was really looking forward to. The video was taken from Maltings on the water front, deck 8. What a view!! Click on the thumbnail to see the video. We really had beautiful day for a sail away.

Our daughter at sail away....

Oh, I forgot . Before we were able to get the key cards fixed, and before sailing away, we went to our muster station. They've got this system where a crew member has a hand held scanner and they scan your key card to check you in that you were there. It must have had something to do with the issue with our account not being activated, but my husbands card wouldn't scan! Ugh. Somehow, the crewmember was able to get him checked in. It was a really quick and easy process. It was done in about 15 minutes.

Also before we set sail, we decided to go explore for a bit and get Melissa registered for the Kids Club "Splash Academy". She loved it! More on that later in the week.

We went up to Vibe to check it out. What a great decision it was to get the passes.

Here is a quick video of going into Vibe :D (it was maybe the 2nd or 3rd day, I don't really recall when I decided to video it)

We were going to have dinner in the Manhattan room at 5:30 but we were still pretty full from lunch and we were going to the Cirque Dreams show at 8:15, so we called down to the Reservation desk and cancelled the Manhattan room reservations. Our bags had arrived in our room so we stayed there for a while and unpacked. People have said that there isn't a lot of storage I'm the rooms, but I completely disagree. We had more than enough room. We over packed too! We had 6 suitcases for 3 people. All of the cases fit under the bed, with some nested inside each other.

Here are some assorted pictures of the room. I don't have any of the bathroom, but the shower was fabulous. There was no tub.

this is great, JoAnn!! Thanks for sharing!!:)

After unpacking, we wandered around for a while trying to orient ourselves with the layout of the ship. At around 8:00pm, we went to the Spiegel Tent and were put in line to go to the show. There were about 25-30 people ahead of us in line. We were right outside of the library area. Our daughter thought it was really cool that they have many different Rockette's costumes on display in there. By the time the line started moving and they were bringing us into the dining room, the line was quite long, extending into the Atrium!

We were seated right up close to the stage. The performers were really incredible at their crafts and they seemed to go out of their way to make my daughter happy. They would wink at her, pinch her cheeks, blow her kisses, and really made her happy. If the performance wasn't so incredible, we could have spent the entire time just watching her reactions. The food was also really good! But it was too hard to eat and watch the show at the same time. I have a few pictures from before the show. I also have a quickie video of the venue, and you can hear the music from before the show, but it is still uploading. I'll add it later.

From outside the Spiegel Tent (a bit blurry)

We were right in front of the stage(again blurry)

After the show, they allow you to take pictures with some of the performers. I can't find those photos. By this time it was after 10:00pm and we were really tired. It had been a long day. So back to the room to get ready for bed. Melissa tried the pull down bed for about 10 minutes before she decided that she would rather be on the couch bed instead. I was very happy about that because I was afraid of her falling, even though there is a rail. She's a roller. :eek:

this is great, JoAnn!! Thanks for sharing!!:)

You're welcome! I had previously posted a thread with a link to the dailies, day by day. And when I finally figured out how to post pictures like this I was just going to repost the dailies this way. But as I'm posting them, I am thinking I should add my thoughts. Before I know it, I guess its a review. If only I could change the title of the post. :D

I see you are sailing soon. I'll try and finish before you go. But, just so you know, we LOVED the ship! Get a cabaña at GSC if you can, we did. It's worth every penny. More coming on that.

Go to Teppanyaki. We loved it so much and regret not going more than once. I've got lots of videos from there. My husband keeps saying "If only Teppanyaki delivered, I could really go for that calamari right now." LOL. I just booked us for the Breakaway Cruise to Nowhere next December for a 50th birthday present/anniversary surprise for him. We'll do Teppanyaki for sure then and maybe Ocean Blue As well. A 2 nighter will hold us over until we can do another family cruise on the Breakaway in 2016.

That look like a fun trip - Thanks for posting it!! Yes, that balcony does look awesome!!:D

I think I am missing the map of Port Canaveral.

We slept in until around 8:30ish and then decided to go for breakfast at the Uptown Grill. The food there was fantastic. Bacon, eggs, egg sandwiches, etc. But my favorite thing there was the hash browns. Yummy goodness!

After breakfast we went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at 11:00am in La Cucina. What a fantastic turnout! I don't have pictures of the members but I did get pictures of the senior officers.

After the Meet and Greet, we went to the pool for a bit, then my husband was in the Texas Hold Em tournament. I brought Melissa to kids club and I went to Vibe.

The pool area was fun, but the children's pool was CLOSED for renovations. What??!! Why were we not notified? Ack! And some of the water slides would be closed for service throughout the cruise. The children's pool wouldn't reopen until the last sea day. They did allow children in the adult pool.

This is a picture of the finished pool. It used to be 6 feet deep, but now its 3 and 4 feet deep with a divider wall. I just wish I had known about the closing. I would have changed to a different week.

We had reservations for Teppanyaki at 6:30 so around 4:30ish we went back to our room to shower, change and relax. When we got there we saw we had been invited to the Captains VIP reception in the Haven at 6:15. We called the reservation desk and were able to change our reservation to 7:30.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think the Haven is all that special. I don't need Butler and Concierge service. Granted, I've never had a Butler, but I have had concierge. Plus the Haven rooms seem a bit small for the money. At least on the Breakaway class ships. The Jewel class ships are a completely different story.

Some Haven pictures.

The Captains reception was nice. They had a man in the upper level playing the guitar for some atmosphere. Servers were milling around with trays of finger foods and glasses of champagne and wine. We spoke with some of the guests and the Captain and some senior officers.

A quick video of the reception.

Off to Teppanyaki. What a fantastic meal!!

We met such wonderful people we would see and hang out with at times throughout the cruise. I really wish we had gone there again.

I love the photo bomb by Pediatrician Dr. Amy in this picture!

The chef was fantastic!

The view out of the window at Teppanyaki.

So I'm not really sure what was going on, but during dinner Melissa needed to go to the rest room. As we were leaving the restaurant people in full Haz Mat suits were coming in and headed to the table that was just two tables away. They didn't make a commotion or announce anything and we never did find out what had happened. This was the week before the Carnival Magic ship had the Ebola scare. Their reaction to whatever happened makes me think that they are better prepared for this type of thing than we are in the States. :eek:

After a fabulous dinner, it was back to Maltings for a night cap where we had the first of many evenings listening to "Guitar Melodies with Angel". We created many a party there!

Then back to the room where we found this guy.

Day 3, Port Canaveral, continued