isaiahsnana

Be aware that this review will make you want to purchase a new camera. After reading it, I talked my daughter (who needed a new camera for our cruise anyway!) into buying a Sony camera with the illustrator mode. We have some really great pix with it from our Alaskan cruise!

The review that led me to start this thread stated that the 22 June departure of the Breakaway was the first without the lobster tails; ;you were probably on the 15 June departure I would suppose.

 

The Breakaway currently is running round trip between its home port in NYC and Bermuda on a 7 day cycle and somehow I doubt there would be a problem stocking up on lobster tails in New York.

 

Again I think the stupid policy is being phased in as ships deplete their supplies of lobster tails and it does seem this is a fleet wide thing; I would be very surprised if it weren't. Like I could get it that the Star, running Baltic cruises every 9 days round trip from Copenhagen might have difficulties stocking up but not the Breakaway. At least that's what common sense tells me.

We were on the June 15 sailing on the Pearl to Alaska and there were no lobster tails in MDR or buffet, were told that the Seafood mix pie included the lobster. However, none of any descriptive size could be found in it. I hadn't sailed NCL in 13 years and won't again. The food was mediocre at best, the only "good" meal I had was lunch at the Garden Buffet one day that was Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. I only have two recent cruises on Carnival Magic to compare it to and there is no comparison, the entire cruise experience (except for the price of alcoholic beverages) goes hand's down to Carnival.

Subscribing to bring this back to the top for more questions and answers!

Just off the Pearl last week and no lobster on any night in any free venue, there were bits of it served in a seafood mixed dish at the buffet but you would be hard pressed to find any recognizable lobster in it.

We were on the same cruise with you: my daughter, three grandsons and a good friend.

Because there was a large group on board from John Deere, there were several evenings that they dominated one or the other dining room forcing groups to go to the other dining room which was often already crowded. We wound up eating most meals in the buffet which is very different from how I usually cruise.

My big problem with the dining room menus was that of the "every day menu" items 4 of them were some sort of lasagna every night so you really had very few actual choices. Our best meals were our lunch selections in the buffet - wished for some of those choices at night.

Our kids enjoyed the kids club. My oldest grandson, who turned 10 on the sail away day, was allowed to choose whether to go into 6-9 or 10-13 and he chose the younger group. He was told he could try both and I was very surprised as I had heard they were very firm about ages. We had one "guppy" and really liked the planned activities for his (under 3) age group.

Just off the Pearl a week ago and really enjoyed the Guppy area for my 16 month old grandson. The area that is pictured with the small pool is enclosed, but outside and was very cold most of the trip, right inside the door from that area (on the back side of the older children's area) is a play room with mats on the floor and all sorts of age appropriate toys for the little ones to play with. At scheduled times, some of the youth directors present activities for the little ones - we participated in the painting as well as the storytelling and coloring activity (it was The Hungry Caterpillar book and coloring sheets), both of these utilized specially formulated paints and crayons made from food products that were gluten free. The counselors all have cute names - really enjoyed our time with "Onion Ring" - she was a big help. We played in that area several times a day with the available toys and usually there were one or two others there with a parent or grandparent. My older grandsons enjoyed the other parts of the kids club and while they didn't go all the time, liked the activities and participated in the circus finale.

Sailing sunday on the Pearl with three kids and haven't received the email! Maybe Alaska is a different story!

Is this service available on the Pearl yet? I heard it was coming to the Pearl this summer.

With her being on limited income, you also need to consider if her budget can stretch if the combination of her bank and Carnival causes the holds on her account to sit for a week or more after she returns home. If that happens she could find twice what she spent held out of her account until the holds expire.

 

If it were me I'd leave it on my credit card and have her transfer funds to me when we got home.

I agree with this solution! My daughter and I will be leaving tomorrow for a 12 day trip which includes a 7 day cruise to Alaska and that is what we are doing. Another solution would be for her to deposit enough cash on the account to cover any expenses for the first 4 days if she knows her check will cover all her automatic bills and the holds that may be instituted after that.

Thanks for the power strip and storing it away during the day tip.

The back of my scooter has a storage pocket, when I unplug the scooter in the morning, I put the strip in the back pocket of the scooter so it is always with me. Works great.

At some point, the cruise lines will book all the cabins. I use a handicapped cabin as I travel with a mobility scooter and book about a year in advance to be able to choose my location. The lines leave handicapped rooms open as long as they can and then have to book them to fill the ship whether the folks need the accessibility of the cabin or not.

On day 2, you arrive in the beautiful Alaska waters with snow capped mountains on both sides of you and lots of wildlife to see, I watched sea otters playing alongside the ship, sea lions on land and floating objects, we always take decks of cards and play in between the unfolding beauty of that trip. Can you tell I am headed there in 5 days!!? It is a repeat trip for me, taking my grandsons, daughter and traveling with a good friend.:)

I use wheelchair at embark and debark and always have crew to assist me. I do, however, arrange for this in advance and when debarking I wait my turn as they are helping a lot of folks in wheelchairs - not everyone can be first!! She is just cranky!

Fantastic review! Great style and so entertaining! Thank you for my morning's laugh.

My daughter and 10 y/o grandson are doing the Grizzly Bear zip line next week when we are on the NCL Pearl. She had to find one that had a light weight limit for the grandson. We will report back on that one, booked thru NCL.

Ziplining is on my daughter's bucket list, so we are doing the train trip early in the day with all three grandsons, then daughter is taking the oldest grandson (10 y/o) on the afternoon grizzly bear zip! So it is possible to do both on the same day.

YOur post wound up on the Alaska board, sadly the Carnival Magic does not sail from Galveston to Alaska. The Miracle, however, does. July will be a mixed bag in Alaska. Temps during the day will be usually in the 70's, out on the deck the breeze could be very cool when the ship is moving. In port you should be quite comfortable in a t-shirt with long sleeves or a two layer process so you can remove some when going inside. We are leaving in 6 DAYS on NCL Pearl and we can't wait!! Been on this cruise before and loved it.

How late are the hot tubs open? We will be on the Pearl next week.

Wow! This raises a concern for me in 10 days! I am taking my daughter and grandsons on the Pearl to Alaska and was planning on buying the soda card for my 10 y/o grandson once on board. The others are too young to drink soda or to roam around on their own and get a soda and daughter and I drink tea! Will I be able to buy him the card or should I get him some sodas to have on board? I am anxious for him to have some small independent activities on the ship and I think this would be a good start.

Be aware, too, that the longer you wait there will be less and less side-by-side rooms to choose from.

There is also an add on to the soda package for juices that I believe is an additional $4. We did that for our DD(3) on our last cruise.

 

Was that $4 per day or for the length of the cruise, I have one soda drinker and one juice drinker among my grandsons that will be going with me to Alaska on the Pearl in 12 DAYS!!!:D

Going to be on the Pearl in 12 days with my three grandsons, can't wait for the rest of your review!! Tell me about the Splash Academy! I have a 10y/o (birthday on the cruise), a 4 y/o and a 16 month old as well as my daughter and a good friend!

Thank you so much for doing this review! We will be on the Pearl in two weeks and can't wait to show my grandsons everything I loved on this trip before! Glad to know how easily it went with your son as we will have a 16 month old boy with us!

Can you tell me the hours the Spa Facilities are open for use of the spa pass, especially, what time do they close in the evening?

Booked regular balcony cabins on the Magic, first cruise got $450 total OBC and on second cruise on the Magic (thanks to the Triumph problems) got price drops/OBC for the cabin of $1150. I always checked a couple of times a day, from the time I booked the cruise which for one was almost a year and for the other 6 months, takes only about 2 minutes! I would always be willing to invest 5 minutes a day to save that much money!!