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I saw it on the Breakaway, and had it on the Dawn (in the 16-oz bottles). I would be shocked if it wasn't available on the Getaway.

I honestly can't think of any reason not to book the balcony, if pricing is about the same. The rooms are usually bigger, and having your own private outdoor space is a huge advantage, especially if the ship is crowded.

The doors do lock. As long as the child isn't allowed unsupervised on a balcony, I would think it'd be fine.

Maybe give them the "I'm gonna have fun, and you're gonna have fun" speech from National Lampoon's Vacation. :D

I think that once they actually see Bermuda, their minds may change. It may not sound particularly interesting to a 15 year old, but there's plenty for them to enjoy. I wish I could have gone there when I was their age.

On an 8 night cruise with my wife and I we will probably have 3 large suitcases, where is there room to keep these?

There should be room under the bed or in the closet. My wife and I stored ours (both regular carry-on sized suitcases) under the bed and had plenty of room. Under the bed should accommodate larger items as well -- as long as you're not bringing steamer trunks, I'm sure you'll be fine. :)

Is it advised to bring a power strip of some sort?

It depends on how many devices you'll be charging daily. We just brought our two phones and a camera, and we found that a power strip wasn't necessary. The phones were in airplane mode most of the time, or switched off altogether -- so they didn't need to be charged much at all.

You can score yourself two additional outlets for a total of four by bringing US -> European adapters, as long as your devices support 220V (the iPad certainly does, and every cell phone I've ever seen does as well).

Here are the outlets (borrowed from a Breakaway review here on CC):

Do the pools and waterfront close down at any point of the night? We were thinking it would be fun to watch movies on the deck chairs on a shared iPad at 2am and enjoy the night air and ocean sounds

They might stack up the deck chairs after hours, to avoid the wind blowing them around, but I'm sure they won't mind you unstacking a couple for a little while.

I see the breakaway is pretty casual, if we aren't planning on something like ocean blue am I ok in jeans and a golf shirt for meals? Planning on bringing 1 nice pair of slacks

Jeans and a golf shirt will be fine for meals. I think the requirement is "long pants" after 5 PM in the dining rooms. Ocean Blue may have a fancier requirement, but in the MDRs you'll be fine.

What is laundry like? Hoping to cut down a bit on a bag by washing some things like underwear and undershirts at some point

We've never used the laundry service; it's always been too pricey for my liking. If you have a balcony (and not too much shame), you can always bring a bar of laundry soap, wash clothes in the sink, and leave them to dry on the balcony (with something on top of them to keep them from flying away). We've only had to do that on the Epic in Europe, when we were away for more than a week. On the Breakaway, we just brought enough undies to last us the whole trip. Pretty manageable on a 7-day cruise.

How cold is it at night on a cruise in late April to Bermuda?

We went in August, so cold wasn't an issue. Bermuda's forecast looks like lows in the mid 60s in the coming week. It may be cool while you're at sea. I would bring a jacket.

If my wife wants a massage, should going to the spa to schedule it be the first thing we do when we board?

If she want a spa pass, then that may be a good idea. If she just wants a massage during the course of the week, I can't imagine that it'll be so crowded in late April that she won't be able to schedule one.

What is boarding a cruise like? Boarding starts at noon and I believe we need to be on by 2pm for our 4pm cruise?

It's not unlike boarding an airplane -- you show up at the terminal, go through a metal / booze detector, show your passports, check in at the desk, then are assigned a boarding group. Boarding begins at noon, and goes by boarding group.

We've always shown up at around 11, got onboard by around 12:30, and headed to the dining room to get lunch (the buffet is open, but everybody and their grandma is there on the first day—avoid). Your staterooms probably won't be ready if you board around noon, but ours were ready by around 1:30, as we were finishing lunch.

I wouldn't show up at 2 PM — get there early, get onboard, and get your vacation started as soon as they'll let you on the ship. :D

How long does it take to get our stuff once on the ship?

Except for our first cruise, we've always carried our stuff on (we travel light, with only had one suitcase apiece). If you go the carry-on route, you can drop your bags at a bag drop once you're onboard, go get some lunch, and come back to pick the bags up when your rooms are ready.

If you check your bags in, you'll probably get them in the late afternoon / early evening.

Do you put cash on an account to spend or just give a credit card? Do they take Amex?

You can do either. If you want a cash account, you have to go to the guest services desk once onboard and set that up. I've always just handed over my Amex at check-in, and let any charges get billed there.

Credit card is the easier option. I believe your stateroom TV can show you all the charges on your onboard account. Nice and easy.

I know wifi and phone are super expensive, but are there any places in Bermuda to get free wifi for a bit? Or cheap at least?

We have never felt it was worth it to use the ship's Wi-Fi — getting disconnected was part of the appeal of a cruise, really, and the charges are pretty steep.

The Bermuda Museum of Natural History has a Wi-Fi hotspot that gives you 20 minutes free per device per day. We were able to get signal from there on the Waterfront while docked, on the side of the ship facing port.

Thanks all!

Enjoy — you'll have a blast! Especially if this is your first cruise. You are in for a treat. :D

I definitely noticed that the pool was salt water, but that's because I was immersed in it. The slides are pretty fast, and you aren't ever fully submerged in water, so I didn't even really notice whether they were salt water or not. If your kids are anything like me, they'll be more preoccupied with the rides than the salination content of the water on the rides. :

I loved the slides, but I'm an adult. My younger cousins were on the Breakaway (I think they're 16 and 14), though, and they loved the slides too.

Oh wow, I would say your friend is definitely mistaken. We saw people of all ages on our Breakaway cruise to Bermuda. It's not just old people, not by a long shot. There are lots of couples, families, and some older folks too—but it seemed to me to be a healthy mix.

You'll have a great time! We went once to Bermuda and got hooked!

The transportation pass is the way to go. You can rent a moped, but the roads are very winding and narrow, and you have to drive on the left as well. I let the buses and ferries do the driving for me. :)

NCL will generally be glad to take some more money for you to move you into a higher cabin category—so, for instance, if you decided to pay the difference between your category and a midship oceanview, they'll let you do that.

Unfortunately, though, with a guarantee cabin, that's about all you'll be able to do. Whenever you book a guarantee, you have to be OK with getting placed in any cabin at or above your cabin category. If you have specific needs—like being midship—guarantees aren't your best option. We booked a guarantee obstructed OV on deck 8 one time and got upgraded to a porthole cabin all the way forward. Oh wel.

Check the current prices for your sailing and see if you can bump up to a higher category.

You won't get any money back if the price drops after final payment, but you can definitely get a paid upgrade. For example, if you paid $x for an ocean view, and after final payment the price of a balcony drops to $x + $50, you can call in and request to pay the $50 and get a balcony.

We had a mid-ship inside cabin on the Star (4589) and it was very quiet, and almost no perceptible motion.

On the Dawn, we had 4500, all the way forward. The motion wasn't bad—you could definitely feel it more though—but you could hear the waves crashing against the hull, and there was a crew door that could be heard. The porthole was kind of small too. It wouldn't be my first choice of cabin, but even that wasn't bad. We still had a great time.

Midship on the Star, deck 4, should be great. Have fun!

When would I know it has flat lined? And I can ask for a upgrade?

I don't think there will be a definite way of knowing whether it has flat-lined or not, but you can definitely request an upgrade for the difference in what you paid vs. your desired category. I've always had luck asking to pay to upgrade to a higher category once the prices drop, even after final payment—NCL gets more of your money, you get a better room, everyone's happy.

Keep watching prices, and call in to request an upgrade if they drop. The important thing is to check every day.

There is a shower clothesline, but I'll second that clothes take a long time to dry there. We had better luck leaving clothes on the balcony.

Thanks for the replies. We're definitely on the go. The room is more of a sleep/shower spot. We like to relax some, but we'll be out and about most of the time. So I think we'll be leaning toward the Getaway.

If that's the case, then definitely Getaway!

I've been on the Dawn; although I haven't cruised the Getaway, I've been on the Breakaway.

There's a lot to do on the Breakaway-class ships, but there's also a good deal more people as well. The Breakaway only really felt crowded on a couple sea days, and on those days, we were very glad to have a balcony cabin to retreat to; it was great to have that private outdoor area, where we could get some sun or read a book without having to hunt for a chair.

Granted, we went in August, so in November it probably won't be nearly as crowded. Still, with 5 people, I think I'd want the bigger room over the bigger ship. There's plenty to do on the Dawn.

I'm so glad you guys posted this.

I am close enough for car service but think its cheaper and much more convenient to take the train to Penn-walk up get a cab and voila. Then coming home, same thing, don't have to worry about calling the car service [who is either circling the area or parked somewhere] as who knows when I'll be off the ship. No stress.

The train is absolutely the best way to get to New York. No traffic, and it's much easier than driving—1 hour 25 minutes from downtown Philly to downtown NYC. A quick cab ride to the pier, and you're done! We'll still consider taking it if Amtrak has a sale, and the train winds up being cheaper—but at the moment, for four people x 80 roundtrip, it's going to wind up being more expensive than parking at the pier.

The coupons available on that site change throughout the year, so keep checking.

My wife and I are in Philadelphia, and we usually take Amtrak when we cruise out of NYC, but this year, we're probably going to drive, because my sister-in-law and her husband are coming with us. For 4 people, it's going to be more cost effective and easy to just drive.

For 2 people, I would definitely recommend Amtrak, if you live on the Northeast Corridor.

We're from the Philly area. When we cruise out of NYC or Boston, we always arrive the same day. NYC is only a 2 hour drive; we've taken Amtrak in the past, figuring that we could always drive if our train got canceled. Even when we went out of Boston, we still drove up that day—we were on the road by 5 AM and at the pier by 11:30.

In contrast, when we cruised from Barcelona, we arrived several days beforehand, to explore the city and to have that buffer time.

For me, if I'm flying Newark to Miami during a time of year where there's nice weather, I wouldn't worry about arriving the same day. It's a short flight, a 10 AM arrival gives you plenty of time, and there are many flights from Newark to Miami in case yours has an unforeseen issue. I'm sure it'll be fine. Get travel insurance if you're really concerned.

It sounds like a studio might be your best bet.

Do you think being on Deck 10, slightly aft, we would notice the ship motion? That is definitely a concern for me after our last cruise.

 

Thank you so much for all the replies so far though!

You'll be on a big ship, and Deck 10 is fairly low, so the motion should be minimal. I would absolutely go with the balcony!

Every time we've cruised out of NYC, we've been onboard by around 12:30, just in time for lunch in the MDR.

This August we're planning to get to the pier between 10:30 and 11:00. We'll be driving and parking at the pier; I heard that around 11 is the best time to get there, because if you arrive earlier, there may be limited parking due to people getting off the ship.

Unless the rates have changed, I believe it's $35 for a 3-day pass, and $25 for a 2-day pass. The passes allow for unlimited travel on the buses throughout the island, as well as the ferries to Hamilton and St. George. Definitely worth it!

You can buy the pass as soon as you get off the ship, in the Heritage Wharf building at the information desk. There should be signs to guide you.

The bus marked "SPECIAL" goes directly from the dockyard to the main beaches along the south shore (like Horseshoe Bay). It's very easy to get around on the island.

The Bermudian dollar is locked 1:1 with the US dollar, so there is no exchange rate, and US dollars are accepted everywhere. The only caveat is that if you use a large bill to buy a small item (like using a $20 bill to buy a pack of gum) you may get change back in Bermudian dollars, which won't be accepted back in the US.

Have fun!

There is a curtain, but if it's still an issue, you can always step out on the balcony as well. Worked for us!

We usually board around noon, drop our bags at the bag drop (the location of which depends on the ship, but it's usually somewhere near the atrium), and head to the MDR for lunch.

3 times out of the 4 that we've cruised, they announced during lunch that our staterooms were ready. We finished lunch, collected our bags, and then headed to our staterooms. Nice and easy!

I've gone out of NYC twice before (once on the Breakaway, once on the Star), but this summer we'll be driving and parking at the pier. Does the parking fill up? If I get there at 10:45, will there be space?

Deck 8 balconies are located forward of the waterfront on the Breakaway. The category BC and BD balconies are over the Deck 7 promenade area, so you can't look directly down to the water. The B6 large balconies do go right to the edge of the ship, so you can look directly down.

This picture should show it; the B6s are all the way at the front, starting where the angled balconies are located.