Jayhawk

2 hours ago, wilsonhold said:

Did you notice if the dinner theatre production velvet played in the spiegel tent and what nights? It originally showed up as a breakaway entertainment option on our breakaway sailing this coming may. But now it seems to be gone. 

Yes, they did have it, however, it was a paid show. We did not go...looks like on our cruise it was days 2, 4,5, and 7.

14 hours ago, psmoove said:

Yes, we zipped in Roatan and it was so much fun!  The rain was coming down but that actually made the experience unique.  We had rain jackets and ponchos, and didn't get too wet.   Oh wow, I didn't think snorkeling would be great in that weather but I guess I was wrong.  To be honest, after the zip line we were cold and wet and wanted to just get back to the ship.  

 

I considered rideshare but when I pulled up the app, it said that it would take at least 30 minutes for pickup, so I scuttled it.  Although it would have been at least 50% cheaper than a taxi.  My parents had the airport transfer and while that was somewhat more organized, my mom said no one was checking for tickets and theoretically anyone could have gotten on.  

 

 

You know you are right! No one ever checked our name or a ticket!! But it took forever.

13 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Thank you for your response.

 

It would appear that arrival time at the port did not affect the amount of time spent waiting to board.

Your parents arrived around 0900 (earliest checking time) and waited two hours to board at 1100.

You arrived at 1Pm and waited until 2:45 to board.   Almost two hours waiting time.

Yes, I realize your parents got to board a couple of hours before you did.  I would prefer a shorter wait period over an earlier boardin.

No matter how early you get there, you aren't going to get on board before 11:30. The rooms just aren't ready.  Our friend's boarding time was 10 and ours was 11:30. They supposedly got there just before 10. According to texts, they were through security/check-in by 10:30 and in boarding group 9, but they didn't board until closer to noon - so about 2 hours start to finish.  We got there at 11:20 and were sitting in the waiting area by 11:50, and in boarding group 29, which got on right about 12:30.  So even less than I thought.  I think 11:30 was a sweet spot. Just under 30 minutes of "standing" and 40 minutes of sitting waiting for your number to be called. 

Thanks for the review!  Question - you zipped in Honduras? Our driver was talking about that but we thought it was too rainy. As a side note, some friends that went to Daniel's DID snorkel there and said it actually wasn't that bad.

While I did think they managed that many people well and lines generally weren't bad, it did take a bit more work for the restaurants. You definitely couldn't walk up "freestyle" and expect to be served in under an hour most nights during prime time.

Did you consider an uber or lyft as you left? Wondering if that would have been better than the taxi stand? My app showed 2-3 minute waits....but we had already done the transfers.

11 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Can’t you turn off the automatic setting for time?  I can on my older iPhone and iPad.

You know, I've never tried...that's possible.

9 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I’m just harboring a guess here that they might sprout legs, and secondly, until recent refurbishments, there was a plug near the bed.  We put a cell phone by the bed and use it at night if need be.

 

You may be right on sprouting legs. We didn't have an outlet by the bed. I did keep my watch by the bed (unplugged) but since it synched with my phone, about half the time it didn't have the right time given the time change. At one point, on the last day, we had 4 phones and 4 watches between us, and only 1 of the 8 actually had the correct time 🙂 .

12 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Thank you. 

I didn't see a large area with seating.  The only seating I saw was  just to the left of the security line and in front of the checkin desks.  It was about the size of  your typical waiting area at an airline departure gate.  When we were there last, the secuirity line was a couple of blocks long and didn't even start to move until almost 1100.  We're going to hang at the hotel until they kick us out at 1100. 

 

I've read the stories of the breakins at the Whale Lot, that's the one across the street from the Julia Street Terminal with the large Whale mural.  I've booked my parking at the Fulton Street Garage.  About a ten minute shuttle ride.  It has 24 hour security and 64 surveillance cameras.  It's a fully enclosed, multi-level parking garage.  These stories of breakins are nothing new.  I first heard of them several months ago which is why I booked Fulton.

Sounds like you've done your research and are making a good choice on parking. We aren't local so I don't know the difference in the lots.

Yes, the waiting room was really huge. I want to say the rows had about 20 people each, and no idea how many of them there were, but well over 20.  It was like 2 blocks long, seemed like. There had to be space for up to 1000 people in the waiting area. I am in your camp, I have NO regrets showing up at 11:15 or so. I think we waited a bit less time than our friends that got there much earlier. 

1 hour ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Actually, there is a digital clock on your cabin telephone, but the numbers are tiny.  Also you can turn on the TV and use the ship info channel for time and temperature.   Not as convenient as having a clock, but it is available.

Someone did tell me that halfway through the ship. But in an indoor cabin with the phone not close to the bed and no backlight, it wasn't very helpful in the mornings 🙂 .  Didn't think about the TV! Still a clock by the bed with some lighting and the correct time would have been nice 🙂 .

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

We sailed Breakaway last March and the embarkation process was the worst we've experienced. We arrived at the port around 945 and waited standing in long lines for about an hour and a half. We're on Breakaway again this March and would like to avoid long waits at the pier. The problem seemed to be an exceptionally long line to clear security.  We would appreciate details on your boarding experience.  How long were the lines?  How quickly did you clear security? Were you able to check-in as soon as  you cleared security?  Any other details?

They don't let you board until around 11:30 I think....so even if you go early you are just sitting and waiting. There's a giant area for sitting. Standing in the lines for security and check-in itself was less than 1/2 hour start to finish (maybe 10 minutes between the two in a continuous line) and they moved pretty quickly for both us and our friends that arrived just before 10.  The remaining 45 minutes was just sitting in a large room - they were calling group 2 at the point we hit the room and I think we were in group 28 or something like that. Getting off the ship was much worse, longer lines with no place to sit that went on forever. My guess is it depends which week you are going and how crowded it is. 

Also, I forgot to mention, the people on the cruise before us had their cars broken into in the lots they left them, so make sure to vet that if you are driving. (There's articles about it you can google).

3 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Thank you for the review, short - concise and with key highlights.  Done nicely.

 

How were the crew onboard and any comments on the major production shows, if you watched them.  4 sharing an Inside statement, wow - that's truly tight quarters on the *away class ships and you managed it.  

 

(as for) Things I wish NCL would change:

* Hand sanitizer at each dining table.  I'm not a germaphobe but the concept of maybe 5 %of people washing their hands before walking through a buffet and the rest just touching serving utensils one after the other with no cleaning mechanism on the table is a joke. 

 

That's really dancing with norovirus lurking onboard ... which will probably return anytime without notice or warning, on top of the coughing going around.  With 4,800 onboard, that's holiday sailing pre-Covid at 120% capacity.   

Happy New Year 2023 & much obliged for sharing.  

 

All the major shows were amazing - I commented a bit on SIX above....my daughter was really looking forward to it. We saw it both nights. I saw SIX on Broadway in November and honestly, it was about the same caliber. I expect some of these women will be on Broadway themselves! I thought Burn the Floor was equally amazing. The shows on this ship really set it apart from other cruises.

Several people on our FB thread said they tested positive for COVID or RSV after coming home. My husband has a stuffy nose as of yesterday, thankfully no other issues and none of the rest of us have gotten sick. 

Caveats: We joined friends for this Christmas cruise, two other couples and their college age kids.  We were the late adds and by the time we signed up for what was ultimately a sold out cruise, rooms were pretty pricey.  We did a four person inside cabin.... which we had done most of our lives when the kids were little, but not the last several cruises. So it was tight quarters on a crowded ship, but a blessing to get that extra time with the adult kids.

We didn't upgrade to specialty dining or the drink packages either, so I can't answer questions there. We choose cruises based on ports and timing generally, and this one was an exception. Also, five of our seven days were rainy and cool which impacted a lot of our on and off ship activities.

New Orleans, Dec 20-23:

We arrived in New Orleans three days before our cruise to spend some time in the city. Very grateful too as there was a snowstorm back at home in Kansas! We did a “haunted” carriage ride around the city the first night, then the second day, a friend of my daughter's who goes to LSU showed us around the city. We met him for mass at St. Louis, had lunch in the French quarter, took the St. Charles trolley to the Garden district, and then came back to relax. On Thursday, we got up and went on a cemetery tour at St. Louis cemetery #1, and then did more shopping including stopping at Café DuMonde for beignets.

Friday morning we headed to the port and BOY was it cold – 24ﾟwith a 10ﾟwind chill! That’s even cold by Kansas standards!

Friday/Saturday, Dec 23/24:

We woke up and took an Uber from Homestead suites directly to the ship port. We arrived around 11:15 am, and boarding went pretty fast, just over an hour all-in. Since we had waited so long to get tickets for the cruise we wound up in a 4 person inside cabins with essentially 2 bunk beds It had been a long time since we’ve done that it was much tougher with for adults. We explored the ship during the day and had a nice dinner at Taste. The next day we just kind of enjoyed ourselves on the ship, but it’s still very chilly only about 50ﾟand rainy so didn’t spend much time outside. It was Christmas Eve, so we watched mass and dressed up for formal dinner at Manhattan, then also hit the piano bar. I was disappointed NCL didn’t have any type of Christmas service… although they did have visits with Santa the next morning. 

Sunday, Dec 25, Costa Maya, Mexico

On Christmas day, if I could have found a Catholic Church with known services, we would have done that. There was supposedly one by the Krazy Krab, but since we didn't dock until 11 am and I couldn't get a mass time confirmed, we gave up on that. Instead, we went on a tour with Native Choice with one of the couples. It was a bit different than our excursion 4 years ago on our cruise that was supposed to go to Cuba but wound up in Costa Maya.  They added a location a bit closer to the port, but it was still a decent walk to reach them. We still visited a local family and had some local food and made our own tamales and tortillas again, but it was a much bigger production with many more people and two sets of visitors at that location. Afterward, we went to the 7-color lagoon instead of the ruins like last time…but with the coolness and rain, didn't get in the water. Headed back to the port just before the ship took off. Dinner again at Manhattan with three famines and adult kids and watched the Christmas Spectacular which truly was…Spectacular!

Monday, Dec 26, Belize (Harvest Caye)

It was the fourth rainy, cloudy, cool weather, and it is getting old.  I am reminded of why I don't like private islands. We just aren't a sit at the beach family, get too bored.  There was a little butterfly sanctuary and Chris took an overpriced single zipline but there wasn't much more here in 70ﾟ drizzling weather.  We only were off the ship about 2 hours.  Lines were too long for dinner and we had 7:30 Burn the Floor tickets so we just went to the buffet and it was actually pretty good.  Burn the Floor....wow not enough words, it was amazing!! Don't miss that amazing dance show.

Tuesday, Dec 27, Roatan, Honduras

Another rainy cool day which messed with our plans once again. We hired a private driver from Rony's named Rolando, who was great. We started the day by meeting with some local children and we had bought them school supplies, and enjoyed the visit.  Then we went to Daniel's and got to hold sloths and play with monkeys. It was still raining at that point and so we canceled any plans to try to go parasailing or horseback riding. Instead, Rolando took us over to the East side of the island and we drove around Punta Gorda and saw a few local places there. Then we went on the last-minute mangroves boat tour which was very interesting. The girls were getting pretty tired at this point so we decided to head back to the ship. That night we went to Taste for dinner and the comedy club, Jon (can’t remember his last name) was really good. 

Wednesday, Dec 28, Cozumel, Mexico

Finally we have nice weather! I was not sure I remembered what the sun looked like as it had been about a week since we’d seen it. We booked an Intro Scuba Diving with a place called Cozumel DSD (buyer beware: This was a vendor I did NOT choose based on reading CC, and I learned a lesson). First issue was they said to meet outside the port.... but neglected to tell us there were 3 ports! So we had to get a taxi.  Once we arrived, it still took an hour to get in the water, and once we did, they really rushed us. My husband and younger daughter weren't comfortable and didn't go in anymore from the shallow section. I did dive with my older daughter and the other family, but it really was a mixed experience. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant called Sunrise Grill for a late lunch and then got massages (four 30 minute massages for $100)! Back on board we headed to the musical Six very early for front row seats at 7:30 and it was amazing!! My younger daughter had been waiting all week for that show – we booked both nights of tickets the moment we boarded. We met two of the queens Moms after the show, and they actually arranged for the cast to sign her shirt! Dining options were mostly shut down....we tried to get into the Noodle Bar for the third time without luck and hit the buffet before closed. 

Thursday, Dec 29, at sea

Slept in today and it was leisurely at sea. We hung out in the sun when we could find a chair... did I mention there were 4800 guests on the ship? Older daughter did the ropes course and hung with friends and Sabrina and I talked with one of the Six performers and sat in the sun. We had dinner at Savor in a big group.

We saw Six a second time. 🙂

Friday, December 30, 2022

We bought the transfers to the airport as we were a bit worried about ubers….we knew that folks were coming in from K-state for the Sugar Bowl the next day! Disembarkation went on but took a long time….it was over 2 hours from the time our number was called to arriving at the airport. In retrospect an uber would have been faster and cheaper but we didn’t know that. I think they just wanted us off the ship! But we were thankful to get on a flight as Southwest had been imploding the previous days and cancelling 80%+ of their flights.

Overall, it was a great trip, with the exception of the weather.

Things I wish NCL would change:

* Hand sanitizer at each dining table.  I'm not a germaphobe but the concept of maybe 5 %of people washing their hands before walking through a buffet and the rest just touching serving utensils one after the other with no cleaning mechanism on the table is a joke. 

* Digital clocks in the indoor cabins.  With four time changes in the Breakaways itinerary, we were never sure of the real time and our phones and watches were often wrong. 

There you go...hope this is helpful to future cruisers!

7 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

I am sure you can but don't worry about it.  Just do it on your cabin TV when they let you into your room. No issue at all if you do it early.  

 

Hugely bad idea.  The Specialty Dining Reservations are super hard to get on a fully booked ship.  That is the priority not the show.  Do what I do and book your Dining reservations at 06:00 PM for a 07:30 PM show or 07:00 PM for a 10 PM show.  Six is Second and third night; Burn the Floor is the 6 & 7th night.  

 

Yes

 

Our ship was completely full.  The ice bar was next to the Martini Bar.  A waste of money.  Every ship has an oldies night.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Thanks so much! Last question... are there formal nights anymore? Or at least nights where most people dress up and they have photos around the ship? Not sure if the Christmas version is different with the Christmas eve day on ship as a bit more formal too...

1 hour ago, nyc12345 said:

Thanks for the information.  Did you book the shows when you board the ship?  If so, where did you book them?

And can you do it through the App, and if so, can you do it will waiting to board? I saw Six on Broadway last month and it's amazing, my 18 year old is obsessed and we are holding off on dinner reservations to make sure we get in. We're on that completely sold out ship over Christmas. 

If you get the unlimited internet package, you can still sign on with different devices, but not at the same time, correct?

BTW, how full was your ship? And someone said there was an Ice Bar? Also...was there a 70s/80s night? (Asking for the college students!)

8 hours ago, rjack22 said:

I have a reservation with them in February so I hope they are still there!

I heard back! Must have gone to spam the first few times...whew.

We are cruising on the Breakaway in December, but I don't see a parasailing excursion? Does that mean they are sold out?

On 10/7/2022 at 10:11 PM, saffy22 said:

We took the ferry, and just wandered around the town- bought some real cheap beers and had cheap massages. I also love to look in Supermarkets in every country I go to. Just to see how the locals live.

What year was it and how do you take it/find out more info? I've been told that maybe the ship will have info but there are no excursions and the only articles I find are before covid...

6 hours ago, theump said:

Back a few years My wife and I were on the Majesty and ported in Costa Maya on Christmas Day.  The port was lively and we were suppose to go to Mahahual but it was raining off and on.  Not sure about church in Costa Maya itself but we had a midnight service Christmas eve on the ship.  Was interesting since the ship was rocking some and people trying to walk up and take Communion was channeling.  So you might want to check your compass or with the crew to see if they are having a midnight mass.

 

The Ump

John  

Thanks so much! That would be quite lovely!!

On 5/26/2022 at 9:15 PM, Smokeyham said:

Thanks for that recommendation.  We are going to Ensenada this fall and looking for something different from the ship-provided tours,  so this seems like a great option.  

 

My girlfriend has not driven an ATV before.  Is this something that would be safe/suitable for a new rider?

I missed this so probably too late, but yes, we took our teenagers on it...it was great!

18 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

There is a small church in Mahahual on the  west side of the soccer field.  Iglesia Catolica. I believe though they have a traveling priest conduct services.  Not sure about Christmas.  Maybe Christmas Eve.

We are on NCL Breakaway. I did see that church (77976 Mahahual, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Iglesia Católica de Mahahual), right by Krazy Lobster, but I can't find anything on it online (email, phone, service times, etc?)

17 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

Google and duck duck go are your friends.

 

https://www.goseabelize.com/placencia-snorkel-tours

 

https://www.desertdivers.com/the-perfect-snorkeling-spots-in-placencia-belize/

Right but how do you get to Placenia? I don't see any NCL excursions to leave Harvest Caye that aren't through the ship. Someone mentioned a ferry but I can't find that either?

Does anyone have information on how to take the ferry? Seems like there is nothing to do at Harvest Caye outside of ship excursions or just hanging out at the pool and buying food? 

Following, same questions....

On 10/4/2022 at 1:58 PM, crewsweeper said:

Some good snorkeling excursions out of Placencia.  Be a bit wary of river/ cave tubing or Mayan ruins excursions from non-ship excursions as these are a fair distance from Harvest Caye.  Doable but depends on your ship's time in port and length of excursion.

Any idea where we can go for those excursions or how to find out more? 

On 2/3/2022 at 11:40 AM, smithley said:

Back from our cruise last week and wanted to report on this excursion.  We booked through RCCL to minimize hassle in case of cruise cancellations, etc.  We were very pleased with the Aimoar Adventours company that ran the excursion and with our guides, Hector and Yocelyn.  Nice transport for the ~90 minute ride - they only had 10 people in a vehicle for 16 so come extra distance between folks.  The rafts were very sturdy and outfitted with life jackets and held only 4 people.  As advertised, a chill float down the river and then a stop in the lagoon for swimming.  Water was only chest deep and you could reach down and get some of the sand to some quick Mayan-style exfoliation.  Float back and then a light lunch before the drive back.  I think that any excursion from Costa Maya is going to require a long bus ride, but it was nice to do it in comfort with interesting narration from our guide.  Tip:  bring an extra towel or two for the ride back because you might get a bit chilly in the vehicle if you're still damp from swimming.

Can you book this privately?

On 6/21/2022 at 1:56 PM, JT1962 said:

I would highly recommend Native Choice Tours. Very professional and informative. 
 

You mention wanting relaxation. I would suggest looking at the Mayan Extreme Tour with Native Choice. There is nothing “extreme” about it, but it combines the Chachobben Ruins Tour with a stop for lunch and relaxing on the Bacalar Lagoon. They had kayaks, paddle boards, loungers, etc. that you could use for about an hour after lunch.

We did a tour three years ago and loved it that was the ruins and lunch with a family.  I'm curious though, I've reached out to them three times in the last two weeks to book a trip for December, but haven't heard back?