*Photo Blog* Ben the Bendy Man's Bermuda-ful Breakaway Adventure, Sept 21, 2014

 

Dress-Up Night Bathrobe Challenge - Art Gallery

 

Good artwork choice, ladies. I have the identical piece hanging in my bedroom.

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Good artwork choice, ladies. I have the identical piece hanging in my bedroom.

 

 

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Happy Thanksgiving,

Thank you, we liked it! Are you planning to do the scavenger hunt on the Escape TA? I think it will be a blast. We have an aft ph as well for the TA on deck 9. I can not wait for the Escape!! :D

Cherie

I was curious how did you set up your slot pull?

great review-looking forward to meeting Ben on the escape 3 night from Hamburg to Southampton next year-unfortunately cant manage the transatlantic!

Ben Bendy Man,

Can you ask your man servant, typist, and M&G Host EXTRAORDINAIRE a few questions for me?

I was thinking about organizing a photo scavenger hunt for our upcoming BA cruise. Could he post a list of the scavenger hunt challenges? How did he run this exactly? Was it time sensitive or just a list to do at will? Did he determine a winner in some way? Did he follow up with a prize for first person to complete or person who did most, etc.? I know...Lots of questions here... just trying to figure it all out :p Thanks for your help :) He was certainly the creme-de-la-creme of M&G hosts... it is quite apparent. I hope to be able to accomplish even 1/10th of what your man servant accomplished. Any tips or suggestions are most appreciated :).

PS... I am THOROUGHLY enjoying this review. Thanks for taking us all along for the ride!

That was so much fun! I can not wait for the Escape scavenger hunt!

I think it's the start of a Ben Bendyman tradition - An Atrium Bathrobe Bonanza and Conga line into Howl at the Moon. :p

The towel monkey in a high chair with the peeled banana = priceless!

LOL - The Le Bistro staff were awesome to play along! :D

Good artwork choice, ladies. I have the identical piece hanging in my bedroom.

Love those pictures!

great review-looking forward to meeting Ben on the escape 3 night from Hamburg to Southampton next year-unfortunately cant manage the transatlantic!

Looking forward to meeting you too! I hope we'll plan a Hamburg pre-cruise meet-up or something on board. Maybe a cocktail hour in the evening... 4-ish.

I was curious how did you set up your slot pull?

NCL provides a venue and refreshments for the Meet & Greet. However, all other activities are organized by roll call volunteers. For our Slot Pull, I asked everyone to meet at Bar 21 (Casino's non-smoking bar) where I collected all the money, then fed of it into the slot machine at once, then have folks each take turns on the machine (playing the maximum bet in order to try and win the jackpot) while keeping track of who's played and tallying the win amounts using a sign-up sheet. The number of turns per player depends on the amount you collect and the max bet of machine. At the end of the round (after everyone has taken turns), we either divide up the winnings evenly, or decide to continue playing until we win or the money is exhausted, or do something else like put the money into the lottery. If you contact the Casino Host ahead of time, they will usually donate something for the top winners (t-shirt or wine), once the Gem provided rum punch (depends on the group size and the casino host).

Ben Bendy Man,

Can you ask your man servant, typist, and M&G Host EXTRAORDINAIRE a few questions for me?

I was thinking about organizing a photo scavenger hunt for our upcoming BA cruise. Could he post a list of the scavenger hunt challenges? How did he run this exactly? Was it time sensitive or just a list to do at will? Did he determine a winner in some way? Did he follow up with a prize for first person to complete or person who did most, etc.? I know...Lots of questions here... just trying to figure it all out Thanks for your help He was certainly the creme-de-la-creme of M&G hosts... it is quite apparent. I hope to be able to accomplish even 1/10th of what your man servant accomplished. Any tips or suggestions are most appreciated .

PS... I am THOROUGHLY enjoying this review. Thanks for taking us all along for the ride!

Thanks! Ben's thoroughly thrilled that your enjoying his (mis)adventures. Thank you for the compliments. Ben's manservant planned too many events and was overwhelmed. He'll be taking a different approach on the Escape Maiden TA although this time he's got many cruise friends in addition to Cherie who have already volunteered to help out (or whom be "volunteered) :p.

I think it depends on what type of Scavenger Hunt you're interested in which can have tasks that range from pure "find and photograph" to more challenging ones. Cherie and Ben :D organized the Scavenger Hunt very last minute but we wanted it to be more fun than just go take photographs. The challenges were of varying difficulty and including typical find/photograph X Y Z on the ship, to some more difficult ones already mentioned above as well as "Eat a buffalo wing without your hands", "Have two players eat a Sabrette hot dog at both ends", "Take a picture with the Glow Man", "Hug the Hotel Director", and "Renact the Chess Scene from Harry Potter on the giant chess board" to be completed over a span of several days in teams of four. Unfortunately, our tasks may have been a bit too challenging. :p or people simply were more focused on enjoying the sailaway party where we had planned to do the judging. So we never got to the judging or prizes but it was a blast doing it anyway. Ben will do better next time :p.

On our Escape Maiden Transatlatic, I believe the organizers will do the Scavenger Hunt all in one day 10 AM and concluding it with a judging and group awards dinner that same evening.

NCL provides a venue and refreshments for the Meet & Greet. However, all other activities are organized by roll call volunteers. For our Slot Pull, I asked everyone to meet at Bar 21 (Casino's non-smoking bar) where I collected all the money, then fed of it into the slot machine at once, then have folks each take turns on the machine (playing the maximum bet in order to try and win the jackpot) while keeping track of who's played and tallying the win amounts using a sign-up sheet. The number of turns per player depends on the amount you collect and the max bet of machine. At the end of the round (after everyone has taken turns), we either divide up the winnings evenly, or decide to continue playing until we win or the money is exhausted, or do something else like put the money into the lottery. If you contact the Casino Host ahead of time, they will usually donate something for the top winners (t-shirt or wine), once the Gem provided rum punch (depends on the group size and the casino host).

I was curious how did you set up your slot pull?

I've been lucky enough to attend one run by each of you! :)

Mark, the main difference with Ben/Kyle's was the machine selected and the side jackpot. Kyle did $20 per person with $10 going into a side jackpot to split among the top 3 spinner totals. Each player plays $10 using the max bet on a 1/5/25 cent progressive slot machine to be chosen on board. The player who has the largest winning pulls also wins half of the side jackpot. 2nd and 3rd place share the remaining half. At the end of our 4?? spins each, we did not immediately cash out and divide the money like we did with yours on the 2013 Allure. We chose to keep spinning and after that took a while longer, we chose to cash out and instead of dividing the $$, put it into the Paradise lotto later that night.

My DD was the big winner on the side pot!:D:D

Kyle, Mark did the more common $15 into the Wheel machine with 5 spins each on the max bet $3. If I recall, there was some roll call objection to a higher $ amount to play in the planning stages. We came out ahead and the amount that didn't divide evenly into whole dollars among the participants was donated to RCCL's Wishes at Sea benefiting Make A Wish. I would like to see NCL align with a charity, so we could donate slot pull excess!:cool:

Kim

EDIT: I forgot to say that both ways worked for me and were a ton of fun!

I've hosted many Slot Pulls and tweaked my own set of rules over time to make the play more lively and fun. Below are my rules. I may also tweak them at the last minute based on the size of the group. I also randomly pick the order of the players and discourage the use of anyone's Players Card.

I've had one good but mostly poor experiences with the $1 slot machines. So far, the 1 or 2 cent slots are the most fun, particularly the ones in the pictures with a video touchscreen where you can win free plays.

Ben Bendyman's Slot Pull Rules

Updated 7/18/2014 - The slot pull rules have been updated to make the slot play action more lively and to add more guaranteed winners.

Slot Pull $20 (10/10)

The organizer will collect $20 cash per player at the casino:

• $10 per person of it goes into the slot machine all at once

• $10 per person of it goes into a prize side jackpot guaranteed to pay out

Each player plays $10 using the max bet on a 1/5/25 cent progressive slot machine or similar (to be chosen on board). After the last player finishes, we divide the slot machine winnings evenly among all of the players. The player who has the largest total winning pulls also wins 50% of the side jackpot. The second and third place win 25% each of the side jackpot. No new players may join after the first player begins.

Optional: At the end of one round of play, players may vote unanimously to cash out and end play; or continue play; or end play and use the funds towards another purpose e.g. lottery pool.

Whoohooooo!!!!!

Love the thumbnail picture. Thanks for the chuckle!

Tuesday afternoon, September 23

Behind the Scenes of "Ocean Blue by Geoffrey Zakarian"

Ben let his exhausted minion sleep in late after a full day of activities. Before he knew it, it was time his very own special private tour. Months prior to this vacation, our bright bubbly bendable was a little apprehensive about sailing the Breakaway for the third time (forth if you include sister ship Getaway), fearing that he wouldn't have anything new and unique to blog about to his modest flexible fandom. So in desperation, our B(endy)-list celebrity took a deep breath and wrote to Norwegian headquarters to plead for a special tour of Ocean Blue. To his surprise and delight, Ben's request was granted.

When he arrived at Ocean Blue, our inquisitive imp was shocked when, by sheer luck and timing, Consultant/Executive Chef Patrick Robertson introduced himself - A 25 year friend and associate of Geoffrey Zakarian who was asked by the Iron Chef to consult, train, and supervise Ocean Blue's operations for a time before moving to the Getaway.

Ben's started a different thread dedicated to this portion of his adventure with pictures of the Ocean Blue galley and his amazing dining experience at both Ocean Blue and The Raw Bar.

Ocean Blue and The Raw Bar photo blog here:

*Exclusive* Ben Bendyman's Behind the Scenes of "Ocean Blue by Geoffrey Zakarian"

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2114249

Ocean Blue - Consultant/Executive Chef Patrick Robertson and Sous Chef Ben

It's great to be caught up! I was away this weekend in Lancaster, PA and didn't get onto the boards until now.

The Haven looks amazing! Beautiful suites and nice perks.

We love Le Bistro. Looking forward to having dinner there just the 2 of us again on our July cruise. The food and service are just impeccable. We went there on the Jewel and can't wait to go back on the Breakaway. Question about the entree...I had seen on their online menu that the seafood on the puff pastry includes fennel. I cannot stand fennel, I have a serious aversion to it. Do you think they would be able to prepare that dish without the fennel, or is the seafood mixture cooked together already? It looks like a delicious entree, both in description and the picture you posted, except for the fennel in the description. Oh well, if they cannot omit it, I could always go with the duck entree again which is divine.

Can't wait to read more!

The first time I dined at this restaurant a year ago, I thought it was expensive for the quality as my meal was just okay. When I dined at Ocean Blue this past September I was blown away by the value, quality, taste and service. A lot of changes have occurred for the better.

The first time I dined at this restaurant a year ago, I thought it was expensive for the quality as my meal was just okay. When I dined at Ocean Blue this past September I was blown away by the value, quality, taste and service. A lot of changes have occurred for the better.

Agree. And I think a lot has changed for all their seafood restaurants Ocean Blue, The Raw Bar and Wasabi. One year ago September, I led a food crawl through Wasabi and Ocean Blue's waterfront restaurant which at the time only had a smattering of lunch time patrons. This year, they were both packed! I was caught off guard and it was only through the graciousness of Chef Robertson's unexpected intervention that the event was such a success. He directed his own wait staff to serve us and allow us to be seated inside Ocean Blue dining room (pictures forthcoming after I'm done with the Ocean Blue review).

Agree. And I think a lot has changed for all their seafood restaurants Ocean Blue, The Raw Bar and Wasabi. One year ago September, I led a food crawl through Wasabi and Ocean Blue's waterfront restaurant which at the time only had a smattering of lunch time patrons. This year, they were both packed! I was caught off guard and it was only through the graciousness of Chef Robertson's unexpected intervention that the event was such a success. He directed his own wait staff to serve us and allow us to be seated inside Ocean Blue dining room (pictures forthcoming after I'm done with the Ocean Blue review).

The food crawl was excellent!!! Everything was delish, and it was so wonderful to have Chef Robertson treat us to such an amazing experience.

Love the Ocean Blue review.

Donna

I've been lucky enough to attend one run by each of you! :)

 

Mark, the main difference with Ben/Kyle's was the machine selected and the side jackpot. Kyle did $20 per person with $10 going into a side jackpot to split among the top 3 spinner totals. Each player plays $10 using the max bet on a 1/5/25 cent progressive slot machine to be chosen on board. The player who has the largest winning pulls also wins half of the side jackpot. 2nd and 3rd place share the remaining half. At the end of our 4?? spins each, we did not immediately cash out and divide the money like we did with yours on the 2013 Allure. We chose to keep spinning and after that took a while longer, we chose to cash out and instead of dividing the $$, put it into the Paradise lotto later that night.

 

My DD was the big winner on the side pot!:D:D

 

Kyle, Mark did the more common $15 into the Wheel machine with 5 spins each on the max bet $3. If I recall, there was some roll call objection to a higher $ amount to play in the planning stages. We came out ahead and the amount that didn't divide evenly into whole dollars among the participants was donated to RCCL's Wishes at Sea benefiting Make A Wish. I would like to see NCL align with a charity, so we could donate slot pull excess!:cool:

 

Kim

 

EDIT: I forgot to say that both ways worked for me and were a ton of fun!

Kim what a small world, that's what I love about Cruisecritic you never know when you'll run into past cruisemates. Sorry to hijack the thread I'll shut up.

I've hosted many Slot Pulls and tweaked my own set of rules over time to make the play more lively and fun. Below are my rules. I may also tweak them at the last minute based on the size of the group. I also randomly pick the order of the players and discourage the use of anyone's Players Card.

 

I've had one good but mostly poor experiences with the $1 slot machines. So far, the 1 or 2 cent slots are the most fun, particularly the ones in the pictures with a video touchscreen where you can win free plays.

 

Ben Bendyman's Slot Pull Rules

 

Updated 7/18/2014 - The slot pull rules have been updated to make the slot play action more lively and to add more guaranteed winners.

 

Slot Pull $20 (10/10)

The organizer will collect $20 cash per player at the casino:

• $10 per person of it goes into the slot machine all at once

• $10 per person of it goes into a prize side jackpot guaranteed to pay out

Each player plays $10 using the max bet on a 1/5/25 cent progressive slot machine or similar (to be chosen on board). After the last player finishes, we divide the slot machine winnings evenly among all of the players. The player who has the largest total winning pulls also wins 50% of the side jackpot. The second and third place win 25% each of the side jackpot. No new players may join after the first player begins.

 

Optional: At the end of one round of play, players may vote unanimously to cash out and end play; or continue play; or end play and use the funds towards another purpose e.g. lottery pool.

i like your side jackpot component and will incorporate in any future slot pulls I organize. All I have to do is find a friend like Ben to help keep track of everyone's winnings.

Looking forward to the rest

Looking forward to the rest

Kyle and Ben are on the Jade this week, however I am sure Ben will be back soon after to continue the story. :)

Awesome photo's, thanks for posting.

Ben is the pliable elastic canary colored figure you see posted in the pictures. Ben is a highly experienced cruiser who has traveled the Caribbean, the East Coast USA and Europe. His adventurers are documented by Kyle as he is Ben's butler, photographer, manservant, and typist. Kyle is also responsible for keeping an eye on Ben because of Ben's propensity to find himself in precarious situations and quite possibly committing petty theft.

 

Of course, both Ben and Kyle were on the ship, and Ben wrote the review. Kyle typed it as he always facilitates Ben's written communication. It is hard for Ben to type without opposable thumbs.

 

Ben and Kyle have written outstanding reviews loaded with pictures,tips and information to aid other travelers. You can find these reviews in Kylenyc's signature. :)

OMG! You are too much! I almost spit out my Patron while reading this. We just got off of the Breakaway a week ago and I find the only way to beat the Post Cruise Depression is to continue some of the fun things we learned to do on the cruise. Lick the salt, drink Patron, suck the lime. :D Repeat.:eek:

OMG! You are too much! I almost spit out my Patron while reading this. We just got off of the Breakaway a week ago and I find the only way to beat the Post Cruise Depression is to continue some of the fun things we learned to do on the cruise. Lick the salt, drink Patron, suck the lime. :D Repeat.:eek:

And plan another cruise of course! ;)

Looking forward to the rest

Looking forward to the rest

Will catch up as soon a Ben returns from the Jade (Venice to the Greek Isles) :) Tried to finish thise blog before leaving but not enough time. Sorry!

Will catch up as soon a Ben returns from the Jade (Venice to the Greek Isles) :) Tried to finish thise blog before leaving but not enough time. Sorry!

Kyle, Enjoy your cruise!

I have been following your live FB Jade blog and it is outstanding! :D

Thank you for taking the time out of your cruise to share with us on top of the many activities you are facilitating with your roll call.

Yup, you rock.

Cherie