!!! BREAKAWAY !!! To Bermuda ^_^ Our Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!

You're very welcome, glad you continue to enjoy :)

 

Thank you Bill, glad to know that most everyone is liking the videos.

I am really proud of them, I think they help the review come together very well.

 

Thank you :)

Just want to add that I loved watching all 5 of your videos also! Great review, awesome photos and videos. Thank You! :)

Oh and I almost forgot to ask, do you use a lens filter? They claim to improve image clarity but I don't see how it can make much of a difference.

Well, to be honest the only reason I have a filter on the Zeiss lens is to protect the lens. I really don't like filters as they make night photography a nightmare, but I just leave it there to protect the lens.

I am obviously way behind in reading your amazing review, but I noticed the date you were in NYC and how crowded you said it was. I took my mom to see Wicked for her birthday on the day you embarked. The weather was atrocious that day, and even with the rain, we both kept saying we'd never seen Manhattan so crowded outside of the holiday season! I hope you get another chance to visit New York when it's not so crowded and you can take your time :) And, please, if you ever want to venture east to Long Island, allow me to repay your kindness and give you a travel guide :D Thanks for the awesome review...you have me so excited for my Bermuda cruise (and I won't even be on the Breakaway lol).

I been to NY several times with good weather and I absolutely love it. Thank you for the offer on Long Island, I might to take you up for it one day. Glad you're loving the view, thanks for reading it.

 

 

Loved the videos, I watched them all at once, Gambee does sound like a latin young man.

Thank you :)

Gambee, will you get into tipping at some point? I'm especially interested in the specialties/O'Sheehans.

That is a good point, I will get into it next.

I'm looking forward to your Breeze review!! I've sailed with Carnival 2 times. I was in high school cruising with my family. It was my first cruise and was a new ship. The 2nd carnival was with my husband and was an older ship. it was also AFTER we sailed NCL on a newer ship. So that second Carnival experience wasn't as good.

 

I can't get enough of your reviews! I truly feel like I'm on the ship with you!! The videos are great! You're right, you can feel the energy! It's making my wait for my cruise feel longer! But I can keep coming back to the review for more!!!

We will see about the Breeze, I am really curious about the Breeze.

I have to add my love of your photos and videos. My sister and I watched the videos together yesterday and, though we didn't think it was possible, we are even more excited for our cruise. Thank you!

 

You're welcome and thank you :)

First off...I totally agree that you should make cruising and reviewing your job ( and I would happily agree to be your gopher ;) ) That said we are a group of 8 leaving on the 7/14 sailing. We are planning on later dinners as opposed to early , so hopefully will have minimal waits at the MDR's. As of now we have reservations for Cagney's and Moderno. One question I have ( really more than one but you have answered most of them as I read ).. when is "formal" night...was thinking Monday or Tuesday. Thanks again and look forward to reading the rest .

I am not really sure, it is either monday or tuesday, you might want to go back and check the dailies. Sorry but I completely forgot when it was.

Just want to add that I loved watching all 5 of your videos also! Great review, awesome photos and videos. Thank You! :)

Thank you :)

I vote for whichever ship he is reviewing at the time.......:p

 

Gwen :)

I think I'm with you! He really sells it....whatever IT is! Lol I know I'll be wanting to go on the carnival ship once he posts that review!

The 17, 8 day eastern caribb.

Ahh...we will wave as we get off and you get on! ;)

DH and I did the 8 day in February - going back with the family for the 6-day in August! :D

One of the all-time best reviews on CC. Wow! With the photo's, the commentary, and the video's, that is as close to being on board as one can get. :cool:

NCL should reward you somehow, for all the interest you have brought to this ship. A free cruise? Well maybe at least an upgrade on your next...:D

And Cruise Critics should also reward you--what, close to 200,000 'hits' already, and counting? Perhaps some CC logowear...;)

I am sure you will forever have a big following on these boards....

Once again, well done, Gambee, and thanks for this heroic effort!:)

I don't want to break in on this wonderful review, but this is the suite we are thinking of booking. How did you like the balcony? Any pics? And when docked in Bermuda, did the balcony get a lot of sun?

 

I really don't sit in the sun & am trying to figure out which S6 balconies are the most shaded. Thanks.

 

And Gambee...since I've never been to Bermuda yet...you have made me very anxious to finally get there. Wonderful pictures & commentary. Thank you for all the great information.

Even though deck 14 has the second smallest balcony ( still a great size ) they are completely covered and might be a good choice for you. I have an S6 on 14 booked for the Getaway transatlantic in January not to stay out of the sun but to be more protected from the mid winter Atlantic weather.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

I just got through your review and WOW! Very entertaining and the pictures and video are awesome. I'm thinking of booking the inaugural crossing on the GETAWAY in January (Southampton to Miami), so your review and pics really provided all the insight I needed. It's too bad you had a couple snafus with customer service onboard, but thankfully nothing too major. Overall the ship looks like a winner and I'm glad you enjoyed cruise. I know putting together this kind of review with extensive photos is very time consuming and exhaustive (and rewarding too), so thank you for taking the time out of your vacation and life for doing so. I certainly appreciate it as I'm sure so many others on CC do as well.

Ernie

One of the all-time best reviews on CC. Wow! With the photo's, the commentary, and the video's, that is as close to being on board as one can get. :cool:

NCL should reward you somehow, for all the interest you have brought to this ship. A free cruise? Well maybe at least an upgrade on your next...:D

 

And Cruise Critics should also reward you--what, close to 200,000 'hits' already, and counting? Perhaps some CC logowear...;)

 

I am sure you will forever have a big following on these boards....

 

Once again, well done, Gambee, and thanks for this heroic effort!:)

A free cruise would be amazing :D, lol.

Thank you for kind words, this has been a great journey, but let it be said that I am exhausted. There is a lot of work required to make these reviews. I am very happy that the review will help many in their planning.

Ahh...we will wave as we get off and you get on!

DH and I did the 8 day in February - going back with the family for the 6-day in August!

I hope you have a great cruise :)

I just got through your review and WOW! Very entertaining and the pictures and video are awesome. I'm thinking of booking the inaugural crossing on the GETAWAY in January (Southampton to Miami), so your review and pics really provided all the insight I needed. It's too bad you had a couple snafus with customer service onboard, but thankfully nothing too major. Overall the ship looks like a winner and I'm glad you enjoyed cruise. I know putting together this kind of review with extensive photos is very time consuming and exhaustive (and rewarding too), so thank you for taking the time out of your vacation and life for doing so. I certainly appreciate it as I'm sure so many others on CC do as well.

 

Ernie

Thank you Ernie :).

Tipping

Ok so let me start with tipping since it was brought up by another member. If you know me, you know that I tend to over tip pretty much everywhere. However this trip was a special one, I never made it to the MDR for dinner. So I ended up tipping a lot more. I usually just tipped 20% on the bill for the specialty restaurants.

Here is something very interesting, while RCCL and X claim that they include the extra gratuities in the cover charge. NCL does not, I approached two servers and asked them if any tip was included in the cover charge of the food. They both told me no, that other than the daily tip that you pay they do not get anything more from the cover of the food that NCL charges. Then again I thought the prices of NCL are slightly lower than the ones in X and RCCL, so I guess you can count the little extra into the tipping area.

I also tipped more in Teppa as we tipped the chef independently from the server, and I actually think we way over tipped there. But we had an amazing time, it was well deserved money.

But again, tipping is a personal thing. I was talking to a European couple, and they refused to tip more. They said that they were paying so much in tips already, and there was no way that would give more. I think the topic came because I was talking to the server and he saw my extra tip.

But I think this concept works great for me, I loved the bar food so much that I think my next times on NCL I will spend most of my dinners eating in wasabi, the noodle bar and the raw bar. I absolutely love all the eating options that NCL offers, I think this is possibly one of the biggest selling points of NCL in my book. But I can see how this is not for all.

I also heard people leave a few bucks in Oshehaan's, but the one time I was there I had no cash on me.

Please understand that this is how I choose to tip, I am by no means telling you to tip like that.

Anyway lets keep on going with the story, this day was a very lazy day. I really did not anything other than eat and spend time in the jacuzzi.

After I got back to the room, and found mom getting ready. I did the same and we decided to head out for breakfast in Oshehaan's, I think this was the first time that we actually made it there.

May i remind you that the ship was rocking pretty good by now.

So we got to Oshehaan's and sat down. The server was in such a hurry, and we had no idea what we wanted. We told him to give us a few minutes, soon enough we decided and he came back. But again he was in such a hurry that he got most of the order wrong, he brought us 3 breakfast platters and two of the were wrong. But in all honestly I was not going to complain, I just ate some and left. Mom was not feeling very good, so she did not eat that much at all.

He brought two of these, both wrong, we never ordered that. Why did he bring 3 breakfasts? anyway...

And this one, you might noticed that the food was all the same for all venues. It is not like you're getting anything different because you come here vs the buffet or MDR. The only one different was the Uptown Grill.

So yeah, we ate very fast and left.

I took these on the way to the room.

This bar is right by the casino,

Hello Gambee...have you thought of taking an Atlantis or RSVP cruise? Your review of one of them would be very interesting. I did the Atlantis Eastern Caribbean cruise on Independence of the Seas this past February, and it was amazing. I also did an RSVP Caribbean cruise in 2012, but Atlantis is significantly better.

Hello Gambee...have you thought of taking an Atlantis or RSVP cruise? Your review of one of them would be very interesting. I did the Atlantis Eastern Caribbean cruise on Independence of the Seas this past February, and it was amazing. I also did an RSVP Caribbean cruise in 2012, but Atlantis is significantly better.

Not really, their prices are just ridiculous. I really can't justify that price just to be in an all gay cruise, I am sure I would a great time, but at this time I can't.

They have a drag cruise this year aboard MSC Divina, that might be an interesting trip. But I don't think ill bite.

Gambee,

We have your cabin in August 2014. We are eagerly waiting for your photos/videos of it, especially the balcony. Thank you so much!

Jay

Gambee,

We have your cabin in August 2014. We are eagerly waiting for your photos/videos of it, especially the balcony. Thank you so much!

Jay

Sorry no video, but lots of pics. Coming up soon.

Once by the room I took pictures of the lights that indicate the steward, if the room is occupied or not.

Do not disturb.

Please make up the room.

Mom then deiced to relax in the bed a little, I think her biggest mistake was that she lost of her seaband bracelets. Good thing I found an extra band, but I was a bit too late. She was already sick by then.

She told me to go do my thing, and she would just relax for a bit in bed. I really did not want to do much, I was petrified of getting sick, and my mom has a better tolerance that I have for sea sickness.

I decided to play it safe and go to the jacuzzi. One thing that I have noticed is that Jacuzzis help me alleviate nausea, I think it is because of the bubbles. So I changed and headed up stairs. I felt really bad that my mom was sick, I just hated seeing her that way, but there was nothing I could do. I gave her all the medicine before I left.

Once I got up there, I found out that the place was empty! and it was freezing and windy as hell.

My jacuzzi calling my name, that day that jacuzzi was entirely mine.

You could also really feel the movement of the ship up there, I mean the ship was rocking A LOT!!!

I made my way towards the Jacuzzi. They turn off the waterfall when it is windy, so you don't have water flaying everywhere.

I took my towel off and got into the water really fast, it was sooooo cold. The first thing I noticed was how dirty the jacuzzi was, and I was possibly the first person to use them that day. They really need to pick up on the maintenance! Also notice the different levels of the water from the movement of the ship.

So dirty!

I also noticed that adding to the movement of the ship, we were also permanently inclined starboard side. Maybe it was the wind?

I took a video trying to show the movement and weather, but that is always hard to do.

Here is another not so good video.