Kenlorz

Thanks for the review! It's nice to see another positive review on the boards :). I see that Second City was sold out and you were able to reserve it ahead of time. Strangely, Second City is not (and has never been) available to pre-book for our May cruise on BA. Did you hear anything on board regarding Second City reservations?

Could someone please post the newest Freestyle Dailies when they return this month? The last ones posted from Bermuda are from last summer. I would love to see what's changed since then. I know others would greatly appreciate it as well. Thank you GREATLY in advance :):):):)

Also wondering about the bar menus...

Are they the same standard menu throughout the bars? Or have they brought back the menus with pictures of the fun foo-foo drinks?

Yeah!!! A Positive review!! We will be boarding her in 6 weeks. I would LOVE more details if you're up to it. Bring on the details...even the most minor is exciting to read when you're counting the days :)

Thank you kindly for the extensive and informative review! Your last entry intrigued me. You mentioned possible enhanced forthcoming specialty dining menus? Hadn't heard this before. Was this something you heard on board? Can you elaborate?

Thanks for the review. Was Moderno's open for breakfast every day? Our cabin is on deck 8, so we're thinking this is a better option than schleping all the way up to deck 15 to the buffet. Did they have an omelet station? Or waffles? Thanks! Anything you can review about the Moderno breakfast buffet would be helpful since there is so little written about it. :)

I don't remember the hours but they stayed open later than the garden cafe till 1100 am. They had the same stuff in the buffet, eggs bread bacon sausage etc they had an omelet station on the other side in the cagneys side

Is the Cagney's side open, too? Or do you just go over there for an omelette?

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. It's looking like a great option for us.

Hi All, heading out on the Breakaway in a few weeks. We will be staying on deck 8, so Moderno's breakfast buffet is intriguing due to it's nearby location. Can someone tell me the hours they serve breakfast and what foods are available on the buffet?

CRAP!!!! I hate being right :mad:. Sure enough, I just logged into MYNCL and this is what it says under dining options for purchasing the UDP:

Ultimate Dining Package

Norwegian's Ultimate Dining Package allows you to dine in a specialty restaurant every night of your cruise, all for one set price based on the number of days. Experience our exciting Italian, Asian, Brazilian, French and signature steakhouse restaurants (varies by ship). Plus, enjoy 25% off the cover charge for all entertainment based and a la carte dining.

Read Terms & Conditions and FAQs.

Each person in your reservation wishing to take advantage of the Ultimate Dining Package must be added to cart separately.

Price: $140.42

Now, I purchased the UDP when it was still $119 and booked our all of our reservations and the Cirque show is still showing as CONFIRMED on our summary. I hope that means I'm grandfathered in for the "first day free". I did take screenshots of the old description that stated that the Cirque show was free on the first day and I will print those off and bring them with me. I don't know how far that will get me.

My question is... how about those who have UDP as a perk, but haven't yet had the opportunity to book their entertainment/restaurants, will they now have to pay the Cirque fee minus a 25% discount?

Editing to say: While the description no longer states you can do the Cirque show on the first night for free, the updated T&C does state you can, so MAYBE they haven't taken it away?:

Q. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE?

A. With the Ultimate Dining Package, you can dine in any specialty restaurant every night of your cruise, including our exciting Italian, Asian, Brazilian, French and signature steakhouse restaurants. On Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Epic the Ultimate Dining Package will also include dining at Spiegeltent/Illusionarium on the first sailing day only. Plus, you can enjoy 20% off the cover charge for dinner at Ocean Blue and all a la carte priced restaurants (not included in Ultimate Dining Package).

At what point of the check in proess do you get your boarding group number? I'm used to the Allure process where they sit you in seats in the order you arrive. It is very organized and they board you a row of seats at a time. Sounds like this port is VERY different in their processes... including a lack of seats for the waiting.

Could someone provide a link to their reply? Tried searching, cannot find...

It wasn't much...

Here it is in it's entirety.

Norwegian Cruise Line: "As of March 20, 2015, Norwegian Cruise Line will include an 18% gratuity on all specialty and entertainment dining. This gratuity has been added as a convenience for our guests, and is in-line with current tipping practices at land-based restaurants."

What was the time change with ROA and BTF? Would just like a heads up for what our times could possibly change to. TIA! Enjoy!

Again...just curious... it seems some say "no" to extra tipping of the server yet "yes" to extra tipping of the bartender. Both are getting 18% upfront. Why the bartender and not the server? The server will spend up to 2 hours for the $5 tip, but the bartender spends about 2 minutes for the extra $1 tip. Not saying either option is right or wrong. Just trying to understand the reason behind why 18% is the limit in one area, but not the other.

For the past year I have been avidly devouring the NCL boards getting well researched for our upcoming cruise. One thing I have always noticed was the overwhelming willingness of people on this board to add on an extra tip for their bartender or their specialty restaurant server. With the auto gratuities now being 18% for both of these areas, I am curious who still plans to add on an extra tip? Maybe you fall into the "these are included perks for us, so we don't mind adding on a little extra" category or perhaps you fall into the "NO! 18% is enough" category.

Again... just curious where the opinion of the masses now lies.

Don't know if anyone posted this yet or not... but it the 18% gratuity is now built into the price of the UDP, although it is not reflected yet in the terms & conditions. Former price = $119 New price = $142 Difference = 18%

IIRC = if I remember correctly

Reservations are back today... must have been some sort of glitch. However, since it seems to be the new norm for multiple sailings that the shows will be on a first come first serve basis, I'm not sure what use these returning ressies hold for me :p;)

To be fair, Cirque and Illusionarium are not specialty restaurants, so there is no reason to expect them to be included in the UDP at all. It is a nice additional perk that NCL currently offers UDP holders for the first night, but if they take it away, I think I would have more of a "nice while it lasted" attitude about it. Maybe they could replace it with a discount on dinner shows, valid throughout the cruise (along the lines of the 20% discount for à la carte dining).

I do see your point that it is technically an entertainment and not a specialty restaurant. But it being included in the UDP and stating so on their website is directly what lead me to purchase it (we chose UBP, so yes we bought the package). We saw the $39 savings and it is what swayed us in that direction, so if it is now not included (which again is purely speculation on what MIGHT occur next), I for one would be upset.

Breakaway doing away with their reservation system is not new news, but perhaps the following is, so decided to post.

We are cruising BA on May 31. We had previously booked all of our entertainment, including the Cirque Jungle Dreams show, which is supposed to be included on the first night with the UDP (which we purchased).

As of today, all of our previously booked entertainment is now gone from our vacation summary, including the CJD show. We have received no notification from NCL of these changes. Also, there are now only two excursions available to book for our sailing.

These things, coupled with the newest update from a cc member currently onboard BA stating that they are now charging 18% gratuities in the specialty restaurants has lead me to some speculations.

1. I'm curious if the CJD show will still be included in the UDP on the first night as it previously was or if this will be another opportunity for NCL to gain a dollar. They've cancelled the reservations, so I'm suspicious.

2. I'm also curious if the mysteriously vanishing excursion options are an indication of a price increase coming there as well.

While the above listed increases/exclusions are purely speculative on my part, I did want to post so that others who have upcoming BA cruises can watch their accounts for unannounced changes to avoid unwanted suprises upon boarding.

Just got off Breakaway today... I received the "letter" in our cabin.. Showtimes were switched around.. and reservations were all cancelled.

Can you (or anyone who was on a sailing since this change has been made) please tell us what the new showtimes were? I have prepaid and pre-made all of our dining reservations for 7:00 every night so we could easily make the 9:30 show times. I need a heads up if this is going to now be a problem so I can make adjustments accordingly.

One of our roll call members have parents on board the GA right now. They have reported that they hit a whale and that's what caused the damage. Hope they all get underway quickly!

Edited to add: I see from another thread that perhaps it wasn't a whale, but a sailboat they hit! Either way, they sure hit something :/ looks like they are about to finally be on their way :)

You just ask the bartender/waiter, they'll find out and tell you.

You are correct... but how annoying that would have to be for the poor overworked bar staff. Case in point:

Scenario A (old multi-page, descriptive & extensive menus)

PAX: "I'll take this interesting looking Dirty Banana. It's listed as $8.50, so that is included in my UBP? Correct?"

BARTENDER: "Yes, I'll be right back with that."

Scenario B (new 2 page menu)

PAX: "I don't see the type of drink I want on this menu. Can you recommend something frozen and fruity?"

BARTENDER: "How about a ______"

PAX: "What's in that?

BARTENDER: "A, B & C"

PAX: "No, that doesn't sound up my alley... Can you recommend something else?"

(REPEAT ABOVE STEPS)

PAX: No, not that either... On second thought, just give me a ___________. But since I don't know the price of that, could you check and let know if that's included?

BARTENDER: Of course, be right back.

BARTENDER: I checked, it's not.

BARTENDER: Oh, forget about it... just give me a beer."

*** I realize this won't be the average scenrio, but it is certainly a potentially real scenario. As a former server, I just think this new system puts more pressure on the bartenders to know more drinks by heart and to know more prices by heart or have to do a LOT of back and forth with the customers and inhibiting their ability to serve quickly and effeciently.

"A test for this cruise only" is a joke. It will be implemented. Not really a bad idea, IMO. How may people have reservations and don't show?

I agree the idea overall is a good one. And I think it would work great on a ship that has a reasonable sized theater for the size of the ship. I just have some real concerns about the BA class ships with an 800 seat theater for a 4,000 pax ship. I think the theater's too small on this particular class of ship to have a FCFS system. Before, it may have been frustrating for true freestylers (those with no reservations) to show up shortly before a show and hope for a seat. While those with reservations could show up a short time before the show and know they were guaranteed a seat. Now, if this is implemented, every single pax on the ship has to hope for the chance for a seat and no one has a guarantee to get one. I hope my hesitations are wrong, but based on this poster stating that the theater opened 45 minutes before the show and the seats were filled in 10 minutes, I think people will line up earlier and earlier to try to get a good seat. How could this benefit Freestylers or Planners in the long run? Hope I'm just being a nervous nelly with no need for concerns... but now I must admit to be concerned about our May cruise.

Thanks Karen for getting to the bottom of the reservations posting. I hope that this "Test Run" doesn't indicate a future change to this way of attending shows. I much prefer the reservations option. I'm guessing the test has something to do with the amount of people who complain that the need for reservations is counterintuitive to the "Freestyle" concept. I'd be interested to know the results of this trial run.

WOW is right about the shows!!! And since I'm an Uber Planner and already have all my shows reserved, it's not making me happy to know that it might now be first come, first serve and my reservations a moot point. If this is the new norm, it just seems like chaos waiting to happen on the Breakaway class ships. It will force people to line up earlier and earlier to get a seat in the small theaters. Time will tell, hopefully I'm wrong, but now a tad bit concerned.