bphawk64

Thanks for such an awesome review! I have been debating on booking the Sunshine in January and your review has convinced me. And yes...those kids are adorable and they look super happy.

We will be traveling in from Minneapolis so not much difference in travel costs. We will need to book a pre-cruise hotel, get to the port, etc. The cruise on the Magic out of PC is the much more expensive cruise but the higher possibility of warmer weather is why we are leaning that way.

Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning towards just sucking it up and paying the extra money for the Magic out of Port Canaveral. Sure is difficult is balk on what looks like a great cruise at almost $1k less due to the port though...

I have read that about possible fog in Galveston but it seems there are quite a fe ships sailing there in January so I question how big of an issue it would be. My bigger concern is how far south you need to get before it starts turning more tropical since that itinerary has three at sea days.

I've been going back and forth on this for a while so and thought I would get advice from everyone here. I have narrowed our options to the Breeze out of Galveston to Roatan/Cozumel/Belize or the Magic out of Port Canaveral to Grand Turk/Amber Cove/San Juan/ St. Thomas. 3 sea days on the Breeze and 2 on the Magic. Port itineraries suit us ok with a preference to the Magic but..I'm looking at almost $1k difference in price which is alot of spa time for the gals! My biggest hesitancy with the Breeze is simply the weather in Galveston in January. Any thoughts?

I have not been on the Escape but we have opted for the Carnival Magic after being on the NCL Getaway. Don't get me wrong as we really enjoyed the Getaway but there were a few things that just didn't quite cut it. The shows were really good but the good ones sell out fast, especially the comedians. The Illusinarium (Magic Show) was also really good but cost us an additional $140 and the food was not very good with zero options for older kids. And all the options about the pools being to small is dead on and to make it worse they allow people to put the chairs inside the pool area which makes it even smaller. It's really best to not plan on swimming in the pools on the Breakaway Class ships unless it's a port day or you're in one of the pool games. The waterslides however were great! I also agree that service isn't as good because of so many people having the beverage package and not tipping the wait staff or bartenders. I beat that issue by carrying some cash to tip the bartenders which resulted in better service. However the Getaway had the best buffet I've experienced on a cruise ship.

It seems the majority prefers the Breeze but after doing some research I'm starting to wonder about the winter weather in these two ports. It seems Galveston's weather is terrible in the winter and we wouldn't even be able to enjoy the pools, slides, etc for the sea days. Any thoughts on this? Maybe I need to look at changing dates although I was in New Orleans for New Years once and the weather was pretty decent.

Thanks Guys...I didn't think about the trip down the Mississippi being after dark in January. Thanks for pointing that out! At this point I'm leaning towards the Breeze as the price is almost exactly the same and the ship seems slightly nicer to me.

I am looking at booking the Dream out of New Orleans or the Breeze out of Galveston in Jan, 2017. Same itinerary, same price and can't decide which ship. Only difference is two seas to begin on the Dream and two to end on the Breeze. I like the idea of the Breeze being newer and having a few extras like Guys Burgers, Thrill Theatre, Hub internet App, etc but the idea of sailing down the Mississippi sounds pretty cool too. We are a family of four with 21 & 13 yr old kids and are we may drive to the port depending on airfare prices. This will be my DH & kids first Carnival cruise after being on Caribbean Princess & the NCL Getaway (they much preferred the Getaway) Anybody been on both or sailed out of both ports?

We spent our day on Roatan doing a private island tour with Victor Bodden Tours and it was one of the highlights of our cruise. "Big Al" was our driver and it seemed more like we were driving around with a friend of ours than a hired guide. Al was very knowledgeable about most everything on the island, was super friendly and went out of his way to make sure we did and saw everything we wanted to. My family is originally from Honduras and he even brought us to a local store where they could purchase some of the Honduran items they miss while living in the USA. Overall just a great guy and great tour.

As far as the tour itself...We did a pretty decent tour of the island itself and went to a few places where we could purchase souveniers and take pictures. After that we went to Victor Bodden's office where we did the zip-lines which were fantastic and very well run. The guides made sure we all were having fun and that everything was safe plus they appeared to be having fun as well. the zip-lines were a $45pp add-on but money well spent. We also saw the monkeys, birds, etc that they have there which were was pretty cool and also were included in the price. After we finished up at the office I went to buy some sodas and water in the gift shop and Victor Bodden's staff came out with a cake and were singing happy birthday to me in spanish which made me feel as if I were back visiting Denia's family in Honduras. The cake was delicious and huge so we invited the zip-line and monkey guides to join us as well as anyone in the vicinity. This was a nice extra from the staff here and was really appreciated. After that we went to the West End/West bay area and spent about 1 1/2 hours or so on the beach. The water was nice and the beach wasn't to busy as most of the cruisers had already moved on from the beach. Although we didn't use them it appeared there were opportunities to do all the typical beach things from jets skis, kayaks, boats, etc. It did cost $10pp to access the beach and beach club so maybe getting there with a bit more available time would have been better.

I can't say enough good things about this tour and the staff at Victor Bodden's Tours. Everything was fantastic right from the ease of finding them at the pier to the tour itself, the guides and of course the island itself. Roatan is a very interesting place where you can find expensive vacation homes not far from locals who still live as they have for decades. We appreciated our guide Al's willingness to show us both as we were very interested in this due to some of my familiy members being Honduran. Simply A++ tour and the next time in roatan we will be booking with them again.

One thing that also should be noted is that there was never a time when we even worried for a minute about getting back to the ship late. I am an avid cruiser and can't remember the last time I booked an excursion directly through the ship as I'm not willing to pay 2-3x the price for the same or inferior tour just because the cruiseline tells me that an outside tour group may not get us back on time. All reputable tour groups make their living by giving better value AND returning you on time and Victor bodden is no different. Sometimes you can book a tour with an independent tour group and find yourself on a tour with people who purchased via the cruiseship and paid double or more for their excursion. Save your money and book with these guys!

We also are on the May 8th Getaway sailing and were assigned our cabin last week. They gave us a Family Mini-Suite on Deck 12. Not a bad location although our son with us us is 13yrs old and won't be using the Splash Academy. They did put us in the cabin furthest from there and it appears to be in a great location so it's probably well worth the $600-700 savings.

I also had booked the shows Burn The Floor and Legally Blonde on the May 8th sailing and both were cancelled. I spoke to NCL today and they told me that both shows are indeed cancelled and the are switching shows from the Escape to the Getaway and vice versa. She did not know when they would be available to book for our sailing but I can say I'm a little less than thrilled about NCL doing this with no notice to anyone. I have a latin stepdaughter who is a dancer and was really looking forward to seeing Burn the floor. I will be even less impressed if the rumors are true and they don't start the new shows until the May 15th sailing and our sailing basically goes with one show (The ilusinarium) that costs over $30pp extra. This is our first time trying NCL and they're really impressing us from the start, lol.

I'm curious on your thoughts about Mini-Suite 8134. I'm also booked in this room and booked it as I was thinking the small angled part of the balcony would be nice for viewing aft as well as viewing the fireworks. That said, I'm a little concerned that this may result in loss of balcony space and/or privacy. Any thoughts?

BTW...the bed should be by the balcony in this cabin. Looking at the deck plans if the indentation goes into the room the bed is by the balcony and if it goes out (making the middle of the room appear bigger) the bed is in the middle by the closet.

We're just off a Princess ship and decided to give Norwegian a try. Got what I think is an awesome deal on the Getaway with the four of us in a Mini-Suite for approx $800 each including taxes, fees, tips, etc plus we have the dining plan included for all four of us...not bad IMO! Really looking forward to our first ever voyage on Norwegian!