A lurker's first recap: NCL Breakaway Live (Haven) - July 16-23, 2017

BTW the easiest thing to do is take the photo with your phone then click on the + button then the rectangle with mountains seen in the photo below to select the photo you just took (iPhone). If you take the photo and post using the camera button seen below, your photo will not be saved to your phone. Learned that the hard way. I had to go back through my review and save the photos.

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Ok this is a test!!

One thing you'll find throughout my review is that my husband and I have very different styles.

I think these picture of our pre-cruise laundry sum it up :)

HIM:

ME:

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Following! You can tell who is active military!

Ok this is a test!!

 

One thing you'll find throughout my review is that my husband and I have very different styles.

 

I think these picture of our pre-cruise laundry sum it up :)

 

HIM:

 

 

ME:

 

 

 

 

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Nice pics! You did it!!

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Following! You can tell who is active military!

Right? The funny part is that I'm much more of a planner in general, but that is job related. He goes with the flow. I must plan too much to care about laundry ;)

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Nice pics! You did it!!

 

 

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HBCcruiser FTW!!

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I have decided this cruise will be my minimalist packing cruise. I am in NYC for 5 days (work) before we sail out and I want to get all 12 days in a carry on. Off to research Haven laundry!

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Correction.

 

You are a New Yorker who moved. Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker (if born in NYC...like Michael Jordan). :cool:

Uh - not to derail what will no doubt be an awesome review, but MJ is a Tar Heel ;) #ceilingroofGOAT

Carry on :cool:

I have decided this cruise will be my minimalist packing cruise. I am in NYC for 5 days (work) before we sail out and I want to get all 12 days in a carry on. Off to research Haven laundry!

 

 

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Thursday in the Haven they offered a special- fill the laundry bag and get things washed and folded for around $20! I packed very light and this worked out great.

Our butler had our laundry returned the same afternoon! Awesome!

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Thursday in the Haven they offered a special- fill the laundry bag and get things washed and folded for around $20! I packed very light and this worked out great.

 

 

Our butler had our laundry returned the same afternoon! Awesome!

 

 

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Is that a Tumi backpack? I have the same one.

I love the idea of laundry but not sure if I can wait until Thursday! Might have to suck it up and pay full price. We are getting very close to platinum and free laundry.

Almost done booking excursions!

We are:

-Day pass at Elbow Beach on Wed (I need to do a site inspection so we turned it into a day. Yes Reid, I found a way to work on this trip. :eye roll:

- shipwreck and reef snorkel on Thurs

- Fri will be St George's but haven't booked anything yet.

Since I leave for NY on Monday, tomorrow is packing day!

Uh - not to derail what will no doubt be an awesome review, but MJ is a Tar Heel ;) #ceilingroofGOAT

 

 

 

Carry on :cool:

Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn and famously refers to himself as a NYer, even though he BARELY lived there. Inside NY joke, I guess! :)

But who can't claim that man!?! NY, NC, Chicago, fans of every endorsable product known to man....

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Is that a Tumi backpack? I have the same one.

 

I love the idea of laundry but not sure if I can wait until Thursday! Might have to suck it up and pay full price. We are getting very close to platinum and free laundry.

 

 

 

Almost done booking excursions!

We are:

 

-Day pass at Elbow Beach on Wed (I need to do a site inspection so we turned it into a day. Yes Reid, I found a way to work on this trip. :eye roll:

 

- shipwreck and reef snorkel on Thurs

 

- Fri will be St George's but haven't booked anything yet.

 

Since I leave for NY on Monday, tomorrow is packing day!

Yes, Tumi. Love all the pockets! Sounds like a great itinerary. Enjoy your cruise!!

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Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn and famously refers to himself as a NYer, even though he BARELY lived there. Inside NY joke, I guess! :)

 

But who can't claim that man!?! NY, NC, Chicago, fans of every endorsable product known to man....

 

 

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Fair enough :D

Fair enough :D

Lol. Yes!

-----

Today is my packing day!

My entire cruise career, I have fought one slippery slope: the lanyard. I've always thought it was silly and definitely thought I was to cool for one.

With all respect to those older than me, I felt It put me in an age group I wasn't ready to own yet, sort of like the day you find a long chin hair or realize spanx are now a regular part of your life.

However, on our last cruise, I escorted a group from Mr. RBFs Air Force base. Carnival gave us lanyards as an amenity and holy sh*t is that thing useful.

I am now firmly Team Lanyard. Since I come from the school of "go big or go home," this sparkling beauty will be delivered before 8pm today!

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Leaving the Westin and heading to port. Here we go!!

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Leaving the Westin and heading to port. Here we go!!

 

 

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Enjoy your cruise!!

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Hi- I've been slow to check in for 2 reasons:

1. The internet blows

2. I have the flu. Worst timing ever. I've spent today huddled up in our room pounding emegenC and zinc. Hoping this is the worst of this and tomorrow is a new day.

BLERG.

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Hi- I've been slow to check in for 2 reasons:

 

1. The internet blows

2. I have the flu. Worst timing ever. I've spent today huddled up in our room pounding emegenC and zinc. Hoping this is the worst of this and tomorrow is a new day.

 

BLERG.

 

 

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Ugh!! Feel better! Yes, I did a LIVE review from the BA in June and it was really hard with the internet issues. Major frustration! Hang in there and enjoy your cruise as much as you can.

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Hope you are feeling better and can enjoy the cruise!

Feel better! Can't wait to hear more.

Following. Can't wait to hear more.

Really enjoyed your writing style and your first installments from your review. Hope you were able to rally from your illness and enjoyed the rest of your cruise.

Phyllis

I'm ALIVE!

Thanks for your patience - this trip clearly did not turn out the way I planned it!

I will hit some highlights today and get into the full recap over the week. I took notes on my phone as we went, so my brain fog from the $136 I spent on cold medicine onboard isn't too bad

Apologies for the delay. My flu turned out to be a double ear infection and a terrible sinus infection. I will spare you the details except to say that it also turned into an EYE infection! I should have gone to the doctor onboard and I didn't. Lesson learned!

This trip started off a little rocky. I was already in NY for work and my travel companions were supposed to meet me on Friday night. Delta and the weather had other plans. Their flight was canceled, so I spent the first night of our vacation at the Westin eating room service steak, rebooking their flights and transfers and watching that terrible Snatched movie with Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer. Oh and a face mask.

Yes, I have no shame.

Since Delta couldn't rebook my friends and husband until the following night, they missed their entire day in NYC. I FELT AWFUL! These are friends who had never been NY before and now their only impression of the city is Times Square. That must be remedied in the future.

I spent Saturday having brunch with friends and shopping. They finally arrived around 8pm on Saturday night (minus ONE suitcase, thanks again Delta) and I whisked them away to my favorite restaurant in Little Italy which I will not post here because I want to keep it a secret!!! When I lived in NY, we went there for every special occasion, including when Mr RBF and I got engaged. If you ask nicely I will tell you :)

Oh and when we were waiting for he subway, this kid dropped his pants and peed. God I miss NY.

The rest of Saturday night was spent roaming around the hotel and visiting the Westin bartenders. Someone needs to make sure they are doing their job

Next up- embarkation day!

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Embarkation Day!

I didn't properly introduce our group

This trip was originally booked for Mr RBF and myself. About a month before sailing, we convinced our friends S and E and our neighbors/friends D/M to sail with us. Our neighbor is a recently retired med evac helicopter pilot - this was kind of a retirement celebration for them.

E is a CC lurker so if you're reading this, Hi E!!

I forgot to mention: when I was waiting for everyone to arrive, I walked to the movies and saw The Big Sick. Highly recommend if you have not seen!

Back to embarkation day: M's missing bag arrived around 6am (thanks Delta) and they were up early for breakfast. We walked to Juniors- an easy standby if you're in the Theater District - and had some eggs. After that, it was time to board!

S&E wanted to sleep in so M/D came with us. We are in our late 30s and they are in their late 50s ... not remotely old enough to be our parents. However, the woman at the Haven check in decided they WERE our parents and let them come in the Haven with us. I'm certain this is not allowed and I'm not going to get her in trouble, but thank you!!

Because of my job, I force my husband into awkward pictures like this:

Haven Check In area

Don't believe me? Here he is at Costco last year modeling what you CANNOT wear in the Caribbean

Anyway, here's a fruit bowl in the Haven area

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Embarkation continued...

We arrived at the Haven area around 11am, waited about 6 minutes and boarded almost immediately. Seriously, I didn't even have time to finish my coffee.

This is when the sniffles started. I made a mental decision to ignore feeling sick and enjoy the trip as much as possible. I do not recommend a week of drinking and debauchery with a head cold, but I was going to enjoy this trip dangit! Before leaving NY, I walked to Walgreens and got Zicam and EmergenC, which held me over for a couple of days.

Waiting for S/E to board - we beat them onboard by a good 90 min. The NYC triathlon was happening on Sunday Am and traffic to the pier was nuts.

The kids enjoyed their beers and explores the ship while I left to do my work videos and FB lives. If you havent figured out my job yet, use your imagination because I can't talk about it here! LOL

I did a great video of our cabin but I'm not allowed to link to it here because it's on my business page. I will move that to a personal page later and post a link.

We are in a Haven Spa Balcony. The cabin is great- the extra space is definitely nice and I love the faux wood floors vs the carpet. The true king bed is phenomenal. E swears that our balcony chairs were more comfortable than their standard balcony chairs but she drinks a lot so who knows.

E and S boarded and we explored the ship. Here's a good shot of the six of us under the Verrazano bridge leaving NY

RUMOR ALERT: Later In the cruise, E and I met a cute couple at the martini bar (Hi Lois!) who told us that the ship had to divert under the bridge because there was - wait for it- someone trying to jump off the bridge. We apparently shifted to the other side to avoid this person landing on our ship. I have no idea if this is true, I am off to research.

Oh and here's some more fruit

Mmm. I love Wardorf salad

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