cruisin07family

Horseshoe bay- not sure about conflicting reports. This was easy as pie to do and no need for a $45 taxi ride. You can buy bus tickets/ passes at a little desk inside the terminal before you even exit the building from the ship. There is a woman at a desk that says Info. She sells them right there.

 

The conflicting reports started the week before our trip to Bermuda on 8/17. The latest passengers were reporting that the "special" bus was no more and that the #7 bus was for locals only. Bermuda transportation was introducing a new shuttle for the southern beaches which was separate from the bus/ferry system and therefore required a different ticket purchase which I think were $16 roundtrip. There were also reports of passengers waiting nearly 2 hrs for these shuttles so we opted for a cab. If you went earlier in the summer, you probably didn't experience this scenario.

First time on the Breakaway and to Bermuda.

Here is the list of my questions:

...

On the first night was there a "Welcome abroad show"? Do you

Remember the time of the show?

Yes, first night, 7:30 and 9:30pm

 

Is there a cost to have lunch at Cagney's?

 

Does the Breakaway have an Indian food station?

yes, there were several Indian dishes in the buffet but I didn't try any of them so I cannot speak to whether they were good.

 

Once in Bermuda I am going to purchase the bus/ferry

Ticket but I'm afraid of not knowing where the attractions

Are and how to get there

 

To save time, you can buy your 1 or 2-day bus/ferry passes onboard at the Shore Excursion desk.

 

 

Horseshoe Bay I heard I can get there by bus but there

Is a long hill to it. Other then walking the hill . Is there another

Way. Like a service bus if so how much is it?

 

With the implementation of the new shuttle service and conflicting reports about being able to take bus #7 to HSB, we opted to take a cab. $42 with tip for 3 of us.

 

There is a street fair on a Wednesday night. Where is it held?

How do I get there? And what is there to see and do?

 

I know it's in Hamilton and you take the bus but we didn't attend. Apparently it's set up with vendors and a parade of sorts. It didn't sound all that appealing to us.

 

This is lots of questions but I'm new to this. I will appreciate

any replies

I hope this helps somewhat.

All posts and morality lessons aside, let me say that we did not purchase the UBP and neither did my boys (18 & 21). The boys however, met a tons of guys who did and they bought drinks alllllll the time for them on the Breakaway. My boys hardly ever bought any drinks. Also, you can buy shots, beers, and multiple mixed drinks and no bartender questions who they are for. Just stating my experience.

How'd you do that? Emails of complaint? I would rather be in PC from 10-10 on the Breakaway when we go in Nov. Noon arrival stinks! I wanna hit Disney but the limited hours make it almost worthless.

The little wink icon is typically used to indicate a joke. But thanks for the lesson.

LIKE - we need a FB like icon, lol.....

The bare minimum would be a 7 day cruise to nowhere. :D It never ceases to amaze me that the same ones that want a super cheap cruise (during hurricane season) complain because the itinerary is changed due to a {{{GASP}}}} hurricane. Try reading your contract to see what it says once in a while. :rolleyes:

I believe your definition of super cheap is extremely different than ours. :rolleyes: Basic cruise fare for our two cabins was $4700 (last week so definitely in "hurricane season". I suppose if we were millionaires, that might be considered super cheap, lol. The same cruise on the Gem to FL-Bahamas would've cost at least $1000 less. That is all I'm saying. NOT that NCL "owes" the passengers anything, but if they understandably feel disappointed or that they overpaid for what they received, I understand why. A little bit of OBC would've gone a long way in perception and keeping passengers a bit happy.

I get what ma40 is saying. We actually did price out both the BA and the Gem for this summer's cruise. The Gem was a full $1000 less for our two cabins. Yes, part of the price difference is a newer, bigger ship with tons more activities, restaurants, etc. but also the itinerary of Bermuda is just more desirable than FL-Bahamas so we paid the premium rates and enjoyed our cruise last week very much. I would have been disappointed to have missed Bermuda and probably have felt like we overpaid but I wouldn't have expected NCL to refund any of our costs. I would have appreciated some OBC though just as a gesture.

I don't know if I'd say NCL will likely lose money on this sailing. The passengers are spending more time onboard and have more time to spend money in pay venues, like the restaurants and the casino.

Le Bistro, hands down the best!! We also like Cagney's but the value of LB at $20 is much better than Cagney's at $30.

That's a shame for those Breakaway cruisers. We had never seen Bermuda before and enjoyed our visit last week. I hope Bermuda doesn't get hit too hard.

There were at least 6 people put off the ship in Bermuda for fighting. NCL has a zero tolerance and I'm personally glad because there is just no reason to engage in physical altercations. The fights I heard about were over seating and that is just nuts! The fight in the atrium on the last sea day was between two elderly gentlemen (by appearance, probably 70's) again over seating, good grief.

Nearly everyone my dh and I met were from NY or NJ. Everyone we talked to was friendly and about having fun. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say most of the cruisers were from the surrounding area. We only witnessed one woman that was rude and she was pretty obnoxious to a H2O bartender/waiter who informed her that her son (who was clearly under 10) couldn't be in the hot tub as it was an adult-only area. After at least 5 minutes of arguing about how this was her vacation and she could be wherever she wanted, she got out of the hot tub and stormed off with her son. I'm surprised the people lying nearby didn't clap when they left - I knew I wanted to. Unfortunately, there are rude people from everywhere and out of 4000 guests, you're bound to see a few.

So is there any reason to purchase a multi-day pass for the ferry & buses now if we can't actually use the buses? We had planned to get the 2-day passes so we could ferry to St. George the first day (Wednesday) and then use the buses the following day for the 5 south beaches and possibly Hamilton. If we must use the beach shuttle then I guess we won't use the 2nd day pass at all? Also, are the taxi costs per ride, per person or roundtrip? We are a family of 5 so no cost-sharing for a taxi I'm guessing.

Well our IX GTY was assigned yesterday sometime before dinner time cuz I checked mid-afternoon and nothing and then around 7:30pm there was a cabin number. So the cabin assigned is a I1 on Deck 9 and we're fine with that. We were hoping that it would be on the same deck as our balcony (12) but that's not a big deal and the boys are pleased to have some distance from their parents anyway.

Good luck to all those still waiting!

Nope, no cabin assigned yet. We may be the rare few who get assigned at the pier, lol!

Well, why not just wait... it's nothing you can control, so don't worry until that number of days creeps down to 10!

LOL, or 6!....still no cabin here....

Hi Claire! I remember you from our Epic cruise. Perhaps you remember, we are the ones whose son had just been hired by NCL. He is now on the Breakaway and we're cruising with him next week! I'm sorry to hear that Howl on the BA wasn't as fun as on the Epic. I loved Drew, Kin and Brad. I follow them on Facebook so I know they aren't on NCL now but maybe we'll have a livelier crowd next week.

Enjoying your review so far and waiting to see how you spent your three days in Bermuda.

Carla & Mark

When those cruisers get off, I will be getting on....

1 MORE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone ease my mind, lol. I am paid in full, prepaid daily fees and some reservations and still have no cabin assignment for our cruise in 10 days and most categories show as sold out now. There is a website that shows only 3% vacancy. They don't oversell cabins right? I will get a cabin.... I have to ask here because I'm driving my hubby crazy!

16. Did you take off the DSC? no!!!! DH wanted to but they said we couldnt! he is going to be PISSED!

Regarding this one, why? Why did you want to (because restaurants were disappointing)? What do you mean by they wouldn't let you? There seems to be a big group posting here that believe they absolutely can take off the DSC so I'm curious as to why you were told no.

53 days left and nothing posted as far as cabin number goes this morning, although, I don't know what made me think they would be assigning them overnight. :(

Good luck - my cruise is in 12 days (!!!!) and still no cabin number. I wish I knew when as well. I check three times a day since I have no idea if it happens overnight or at some point during the day. I don't want to print our e-docs and luggage tags when they say GTY and Deck 0 respectively, lol.

Also, no wonder why it didn't take much to get tipsy! Vodka, rum, brandy, etc??? Geeze?

To quote Facebook: LIKE! :)

Not that I'm a huge Carnival fan, but on the one cruise I did with them, they were handing out these yummy concoctions called Fun Ships during sail away. I was hooked on them the entire time!! I should find the recipe and have an NCL bartender make them for me on the sly!! Lol

My only cruise on Carnival in 2007 introduced me to the "Fun Ship" drink. I loved it so much I made them at home the rest of that year! Here's the recipe I got from CCL:

"The Fun Ship"

1oz Vodka

1 1/2oz Bacardi Light Rum

1/4oz DeKuyper Apricot Brandy

1/4oz Amaretto

6oz fruit punch

Blend all together, pour over ice and garnish with a cherry

Delicious and quite a punch too, lol!

We booked an IX GTY for our sons but we booked a specific balcony cabin for us. Does anyone know if I call NCL and ask for the reservations to be linked if they will take our cabin location into any consideration when assigning our sons? The "boys" are 21 and 18 so they don't need to be near us, lol, but it would be easier. Just a thought. We are cruising in 13 days so hopefully they'll be assigned soon....

Well, like I said this is our first time so we're thinking the first day (which is Wednesday on Breakaway), we will ferry to St. George and walk to Tobacco Bay, then bus to Hamilton, explore and end at Swizzle Inn. The next day bus to Horseshoe Bay and the 3rd day we would explore Snorkel Park and maybe rent jetskis. I think the boys want high energy while dh & I enjoy snorkeling and low key activities.

What did you do with your three days in Bermuda? We're still weighing our options as we've never been before. Definitely plan to see Horseshoe Bay even though I know about the crowds and we want to get a rum swizzle at the Swizzle Inn but otherwise, totally open to suggestions. Our sons, 21 & 18, may or may not be with us (they enjoy sleeping in a lot).

Someone here was claiming DSC is salary ... I was explaining to her that its a tip. That's all!

 

BTW its not commission ... commission is earned on a sale, the cruise staff does no sales ... DSC is a tip!

DSC stands for Daily Service Charge. It's a service that you are paying for. If you deduct your DSC, I think the room steward should deduct your cabin from his/her rounds.