dcollette
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Posts posted by dcollette
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Thank you for sharing your review, great so far! Sorry to hear about rude people, it is really awful how some people behave. You have to wonder how they would feel if that was their relative in the chair.
It sounds like you managed to enjoy your trip, regardless of the little hiccups and unavoidable rude folks. Can't wait to hear more!
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On Breakaway, there were mango, strawberry kiwi, and I think raspberry flavored waters available, lemonade, (which my kids said was good) iced tea (you sweeten it yourself) along with coffee, tea, hot chocolate and during breakfast there was the availability of orange and apple juices. White and chocolate milk are available in the buffet in the little cartons like the kids see at school. We had a number of them in our fridge for use in our room.
There are a good number of free options, and I even started combining the mango water with the iced tea for a nice change up.
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My nephew did really want to go. However, I do put a small part of the blame on him. He thought he had to deal with the actual CAS PCC who he booked through.
Harriet
Harriet,
It is very unfortunate that this whole thing happened. Perhaps he thought of it like a "regular" TA, where you have to keep dealing with the same person. I'm not a CAS member, but I understand the reasoning why you would need to contact a CAS PCC, but I'm sure any CAS PCC would have been able to assist him.
I have a "regular" PCC who is absolutely terrific, and we usually have a much easier time communicating via email for the most part. I have sung his praises to upper management, as these folks really are the first point of contact and can (sometimes) make or break the deal when booking a cruise. I think it is abhorrent that he did not receive a call back, and I used to have an awful PCC like that who never got back to me either.
If I were in your shoes, I do feel I would make it known how rude the CAS PCC was to your family and saying that s/he was "too busy" is a very lame excuse. The company is out to make money, and that PCC did not do their job. If they cannot handle their workload, they should get someone to assist them if they cannot get back to people due to schedules or whatever. From a business perspective, if I had an employee costing me money like that, they would need to find employment elsewhere.
Debbie
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Don't forget about Manhattan room, too. I don't have my dailies in front of me, but I believe they open at 5:30 for dinner and remain open until about 9, but I can't recall for certain. I'm sure someone can help clarify. I'm not sure how late you can show up to be seated. We dined earlier, so I'm not sure how they work it later on. I only know the later you go, the busier it seemed on our sailing.
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You will not be disappointed! As a previous poster mentioned, there are tons of places to sit on the pool deck and other free areas that have both shade and a view of the ocean. Many areas of the waterfront have both shade and a great view! I can't recall the exact location, but there are some very comfy padded sofa type loungers on the waterfront somewhere that will give you the best of both worlds. Your balcony during certain times of day will be fine, depending on where you are. Have no fear, you will find lots of places. And you won't have to pay for shade and an ocean view if you don't want to. I do not believe Spice has many shady areas, so that will probably be a no go for you.
Stay safe and enjoy!!
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Yes, this is one of my pet peeves. Many other places, even land based resorts now, offer all of your photos on flash drives. The most sad thing to me is the sheer waste of money and supplies that NCL endures by printing all those pictures out for you to look at and then throwing them away on the last night. Makes me very upset. With the new system they have, they really should only print photos once people purchase them instead of wasting all the money on the paper and ink to just throw them all away. I honestly believe that more people would purchase all their photos on a drive (or have like packages if you didn't want to spend the money to get them all) instead of the current policy of only getting the ones you paid for put onto the drive.
Just for a point of reference, Disney World has a package where you pay around $150 for all the photos they take of you during your stay and put them on a drive for you (and I believe you can access them via the web as well). Considering what I spent on the pictures I did purchase, I would have gladly spent a little more to get all the photos, as it was difficult to choose only a few.
Again, if you have a large group, perhaps the drive is worthwhile, but until or unless NCL changes the way they do the photos, I don't see me purchasing any on our future cruises.
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Ok, so I haven't been on Getaway, but her sister, breakaway. Let me first say this: deck is even more important than fore or aft. The higher up you are on these modern day ships the more movement you are apt to feel. The lower the deck, the better if you have a tendency towards sea sickness. We were pretty much mid ship (a little more aft than mid) in a BA on deck 13. I do not get sea sick, but I could definitely feel movement from day 1 and we didn't have rough seas at all. It is just the gentle rolling of the ship due to it's high center of gravity.
My son gets very sea sick and they stayed on deck 5, forward I believe, and he didn't have any issues at all.
You should be prepared just in case. I think you will completely enjoy your trip, but if you feel a bit off they can bring you some green apples to help make you feel a bit better. I'm not sure how soon with a guarantee they let you know what deck you're on, but that may be more important than whether you are more forward on the ship.
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Hi all, can anyone tell me who recently sailed which dining room is open for lunch on embarkation day..Also, I just read a wonderful pictorial review posted about a year ago which stated the dining rooms were closed for lunch, is this still true or do they now serve lunch in the dining rooms if so, which ones are open?TIA
On Breakaway, both when we sailed in November and when my son sailed last month, Taste was open for lunch. We only waited a short while to be seated and everything was fantastic. I don't think I would have the patience to brave the buffet for lunch! I don't know about other ships, so not positive if this is only done on newer ships or not.
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I'm not from Oregon, however I do travel with my family. If I see my steward on the first day (which we usually do at some point) I give them part of an extra tip (beyond the DSC) for two reasons: one, I usually ask for them to empty the fridge and perhaps some other small requests and two, I have children travelling with me and I personally know what it is like to have to clean up after all of them. We are not messy per se, but with four people in a room, all the beds need to be made up and turned down and there are bound to be crumbs or some such nonsense on the floor from all of us coming and going. We tip additionally at the end based upon the level of service. I don't expect perfection, but whenever I have asked for something to be done or fixed, our stewards have always managed to get things done in the blink of an eye. Of course, I believe that is the way all the stewards perform their duties regardless of tipping.
We have also waited until the end of the cruise, and not seen any difference in service. Either you get an exceptional steward or not. They always seem to appreciate any extra they receive, no matter when they receive it. Our last room steward was simply ok, not fantastic, but she did everything we asked and it was always done promptly. I was satisfied
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Manhattan room is not what I would consider "formal" They strongly discourage shorts and tank tops, but you can still wear jeans and such if you like. Most people choose to dress a bit more than they would in Taste and Savor, but there is by no means a "formal" requirement in there.
I think having a formal option for those that so choose it is a good idea, whether NCL chooses to do that or not, doesn't affect me either way. We did dress up the one night the kids chose to go to Manhattan room. That's why we like NCL, you can do whatever you feel the need to do. We didn't feel out of place by dressing up nor did we get the feeling those who didn't dress "up" were out of place either.
I think RCI is trying to be competitive with its new ships. My daughter and I were just discussing how the one dining room with a set table on Royal was very blah and just not a good idea. Many choose to go to the buffet for that reason alone. If you get stuck near a rowdy table, you are stuck for the duration of the cruise that way. Not the best plan IMHO.
I did look at the Oasis, since it will be home ported in NJ, however, the cost for an inside (even with that really cool virtual balcony idea) is higher than a balcony on NCL, so I opted not to try it out. Maybe if they lower the price we will try, especially since they are trying out this new dining idea. I think that is the hope, people will be more tempted with the new options.
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We were on in November as well and loved every minute of it! Wish we could do it again this year, but financially I cannot. It is really fun to have another cruise booked, even if it is a year and a half away! We love this ship, and I wasn't sure if we would or not. I'm glad we tried it because it is amazing. You would really be hard pressed to find more options than what this ship has to offer.
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Ok, so I can only speak through my son and (very soon to be) daughter in law who were on about a month ago. They had a fantastic waterfront dinner at Cuchina. They ordered the pizza as an appetizer, and it was huge (by the way, if you order it, apparently you cannot take the rest back to your room) but they had an amazing dinner. We did not get to try it on our November cruise, but it is definitely on our to-do list for next year when we cruise.
Personally, I say if you want to --go for it! The atmosphere looked wonderful and the aromas when we walked by were enticing.
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Thank you for the post. I'll be sailing on her this May. Any particular reason why you can't start your Roll Call? :D Since your cruise is so far away you may have to feed it from time to time so it doesn't run away. ;) (I.e., fall off the first page and into oblivion.) Have a great cruise!
Oh, I think you will absolutely love the ship. I wasn't sure if we would like such an enormous ship, but even a week really isn't enough time to do everything we wanted to do! My oldest son and his fiance decided to sail on her about a month ago, and they absolutely loved it as well.
I guess I could start the roll call, never done that before. :eek: I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few that actually books this far out. I did manage to get some additional onboard credit when I looked into the current rates and promotions, so that was a good thing!
Enjoy your May cruise!!
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We loved this ship and had a wonderful time. This time we are booked on the Bermuda itinerary and the whole family is going. It will be so nice to have even my adult children along on this trip. It is far away, but we are already excited! Unfortunately, there isn't a roll call for our sailing started yet. Guess we're just too early.
Happy sailing everyone!
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We no longer have credit cards and wanted to pay with cash this cruise.
NCL's site states you need $100 per person, per day in cash.
We rarely spend $50-$100 on a 7 day cruise, let alone $1400.
We planned on putting in our $188 for the DSC and maybe an extra $112 for everything else.
Will they deny us boarding if we do that?
Thanks for any firsthand experience.
Bill
We were on Breakaway in November, and I had prepaid my gratuities (you don't have to) so upon checkin, they told me I would have to go to guest services to put down the cash. It didn't take long, and I did not put anywhere near what they "recommend" for four people. As long as you cover the DSC for everyone for the duration of the cruise up front, the rest is up to you. As a matter of fact, we didn't even spend all the money I put on our account (even with a couple of trips to the shops and purchasing some of the photos) so I even managed to get a check in the mail shortly after we returned home.
Rest assured, you will be fine!
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While my documents are nearly that old (yet) I have my license in my married name, so obviously my birth certificate is not. I brought my marriage license but was never asked for it.
As others noted, you don't need your social security card and if her birth certificate is misspelled, it may not be an issue since it is an older document and (at least in my case) they never even asked to see my marriage certificate. (I did bring it with me).
I only showed my license and birth certificate. My married name was on my travel docs from NCL
Hope this helps!
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Hi - I am enjoying your review! Question - Do you happen to know if there is a age restriction for the water slides for a child to go on without an adult? My daughter is 8 and I would love for her to be able to go on the slides without me while I'm lounging on the deck watching. :)
No, there aren't age restrictions per se, but they have height requirements. And children under 14, I believe are supposed to have a parent in the pool area. You don't have to go on the slides with her, no, I think the blue slide had a 42" height, which my little guy was a bit too short and disappointed. Next time he will be tall enough for sure!
I can't recall the height requirements of the other slides, and the ones where the floor drops out you have to weigh at least like 100lbs so you don't get stuck. But she would be able to do the others.
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This RCCL ship was docked next to us in Nassau. Let me tell you they were jealous of all the goodies we were getting upon return to the ship. That really is such a nice touch. Cool cloths, jello, beverages, ice pop things. Really that little something extra
Nov 21 royal carribean navigator of the seas by deborah.collette, on Flickr
I have no idea what this ship is used for, looks military type to me. We saw this on our walk away from the ship.
Nov 21 bahamas boat by deborah.collette, on Flickr
Ok, so this is a pic of my kids being totally silly. However, I will say these beautiful pictures are all over the place (by the stairs, generally) and they really make great places to take some photos. The dress on the left is the one I purchased in the market. Overpriced, but hey she loved it and it really is pretty
Nov 21 kids in front of deck 13 pic by deborah.collette, on Flickr
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Day 5
The Bahamas. Ok, so I was assured that the splash academy would be open when we docked. Not true. They do not open until 9am, so we missed our planned excursion, so I had to pay for another one later on. Not my first choice of excursion, or I would’ve booked it in the beginning. Note to others: if you book a snorkeling excursion you can take small children with you—they say you need to stay on the boat with them—however on the Athol Island excursion they will let even small children go in the water snorkeling (even though it says ages 6 and up). My 3 yr old went out with us, wore the mask and snorkel—but he was too scared to put his face in the water. Odd, right? The fish were literally right around him, if he had only looked down he would’ve been so excited! But, alas, we couldn’t convince him to do so. Well, I made the ridiculous mistake of forgetting my underwater video camera for this one, or I would have some amazing shots for you.
Shopping in the Bahamas is a nightmare. The best place, to me is right in the building you have to pass through when exiting and entering the ship. They have a variety of shops, good souvenir stuff, reasonable prices and most places take credit cards. Feels very safe in there. When you leave, well that’s different. People bombard you will taxi offers, hair braiding (heaven help you if you have longer hair, they can be relentless) and others. If you politely tell them no thank you, they don’t always leave you alone. I then took to just ignoring them all. Not even acknowledging them—only way to walk around. Made the huge mistake of going to the straw market. I had read this was not the best place to go, but figured we could at least haggle there. UGH. What a dumpy kind of place with very pushy (to put it nicely) people. You have to be firm. I walked away from more than one and even told one lady she was rude. Very run of the mill stuff, but DD2 did get a very nice dress. DS got one of those very common (and simple) walking turtles. He was thrilled, but they did have them cheaper in the building. Whatever.
So, we arrived and were able to see Atlantis from our balcony:
Nov 21 atlantis in distance by deborah.collette, on Flickr
I'm pretty certain this is frowned upon, but we did it anyway:
Nov 21 bahamas birds by deborah.collette, on Flickr
And a closer view:
Nov 21 feeding birds from balcony by deborah.collette, on Flickr
Probably wouldn’t bother getting off the ship here again, other than to walk through the building to buy a few trinkets. We did manage to get some cute angel ornaments made from shells in there that were priced very reasonable. Asked the lady to make us a package type deal, as we bought several items and she did. Took a few dollars off most things. We also bought these cute necklaces made from fish scales. This lady was the sweetest ever, the farthest from pushy you could imagine. She gave DS a small bag of sea shells (no charge). She has some very pretty things. Amazing. Should’ve taken more photos of what she had.
Back to the ship, they had cold towels, punch, music and jello waiting for us. There were two carnival ships in port, the splendor and the pride as well as the navigator of the seas. Most of them were busy taking pictures of the Breakaway (we called it ship envy). She is a sight
This night we decided to chance the Manhattan room, as every night there was the most insane lines for this venue. Well, we went early, like right after they open (530). We got right in (totally by surprise) guess most folks were up top for sailaway. Well, the live band was playing, they are good—and when we pulled away from the dock, the room shook like crazy!! They didn’t miss a beat, though. No pun intended. As luck would have it (and we had no way of knowing) burn the floor performed that night in the Manhattan room! We were so excited. They literally were dancing right next to our table. Couldn’t be more pleased. Food was pretty good. Hard to concentrate on food when those amazing dancers are everywhere. Great night. This was also the night for fireworks, which they do at around 915. Well, during the M&G Dan said it was about 8 minutes, it really was less than 6. We went up to deck 16, right under where the NCL sign is. There were quite a few folks out there, but not terrible. Well, right before it started, it began to rain a bit. You would’ve thought the people on the ship were made of the same stuff as the wicked witch of the west. They were all going to melt. Ha ha. So we stayed out, as we are not afraid of getting rained on. So, we ended up with a perfect spot aft right by the rail on the port side (where they shoot the fireworks from). DD2 was on our port balcony deck 13 and saw many of the fireworks from there—FYI. I thought the display was pretty good. Some of them seemed to fire earlier than anticipated, rather close to the ship. It was very windy as well, so it must have been a logistical nightmare for them. After fireworks were over, we did not stay for the party. Hit our every night snackfest at the buffet and went back to the room.
Nov 21 Manhattan room bright dancers by deborah.collette, on Flickr
Nov 21 Manhattan room appetizer by deborah.collette, on Flickr
Nov 21 Manhattan room Catie's fried chicken by deborah.collette, on Flickr
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Ok, so it was tough to get pictures of these, as my scanner is not working right now.
Week at a glance by deborah.collette, on Flickr
Breakaway week by deborah.collette, on Flickr
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Ok, so the dailies do not say when burn the floor performs in the Manhattan room. We went on Thursday evening as the ship was leaving port. I'm not sure if they perform the same nights in there on each sailing, so that's the best I can tell you.
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Ok, so my little guy has food allergies, which I notified NCL of ahead of time. I received an email prior to sailing that said we should meet up with a person whose title I cannot recall at the moment. Once on board, there was a letter in the stateroom addressed to my son (too funny) but it said to simply let the Maitre d know when we went to dinner and his needs would be well taken care of. I thought this was wonderful. Now, he has specific foods which he cannot have. So, of course one night off the kids menu, he decided he wanted the pb&j, but I was hesitant, as I did not know which kind of jelly/preserves they might use. I asked the waitress and she informed me they use strawberry, of which he is allergic. When I informed her he was allergic, and was ready to order him something else, she let me know that they could substitute apple jelly instead. Very good to know! I know what to stay away from for him, and generally do not make any special requests if I can help it. There was another night he wanted pasta (guess what, the kid can't have tomato sauce, either) and I asked if it was possible to get it with just butter and parmesan (sp?) cheese and they happily obliged. Said they do it all the time. So, if you happen to be travelling with someone who has allergies, they are very quick to accommodate and do not make you feel like you are putting them out of their way.
My younger daughter and I did the ropes course. We did this on Friday, at sea. As others have suggested, don't wait till the last minute to do the ropes course, in case if parts are closed due to high winds. This was the case for us. While we could not go out on the plank (major bummer) I will tell you I could get right to that platform before you get out there. It is very intimidating, and I'm not afraid of heights. I am the person who goes on the tallest, scariest roller coasters in the park-- but that plank definitely gives you something to think about. The ropes course is challenging, but it's very fun. There are several "paths" you can choose, some easier than others. I always felt safe, no matter what. Once up there, it seemed like there was more to it than when looking from the ground. The little zip line that goes in front of the rock wall was pretty cool. Just make sure you get a good head start so you don't get stuck. We saw a few people get stuck, and while it may be funny to watch, I would be completely embarrassed if that were me.
I do have more to post along with photos, which I will honestly attempt to do later tonight. I forgot to check the dailies for the burn the floor in the manhattan room, and I need to get the pics posted of the week at a glance, those were requested. I haven't forgotten.
I wish I could say more about the kids club, but my teens didn't go at all and the little guy went once and didn't want to go again. This is not the fault of NCL, that is how he is. He doesn't do change very well. All four of my other children have absolutely loved the kids programs. They apparently did a puppet show when he was there and he couldn't stop talking about it. The staff member that met me when I picked him up said he sat in the young man's lap the whole time. That was nice that they let him do what made him feel comfortable. He brought in one of his "blankies" with him, something for familiarity, but I guess that wasn't enough for him. That's ok, he didn't want to go back so we used it as a tool--if you don't behave, you have to go back. Needless to say, he behaved very well the rest of the week!
We did not get to the rock wall (bummer, totally wanted to try that) because we just ran out of time. Also, didn't get to the spider web/slide thing that I know the little guy would've loved--it is open for VERY limited times and we just never caught it at the right time. I did notice that for the trampoline/jumping thing next to it (I have a photo somewhere) there is a weight limit that I don't recall seeing from other photos. I don't believe you can see the sign for it in the pic I took, I want to say it was like 120lbs.
I am not a drinker, and I will say that I thought the drink of the day choices were kind of blah. Nothing really appealed to me. I remember some better choices when we sailed the Dawn. Oh well, no biggie. I ordered one drink (which I ended up getting charged twice for) and it was ok. I tried something new and didn't really like it. It seemed plenty strong enough for me, but then again, like I said--I really don't drink. Should've just opted for a glass of wine. Live and learn. I was able to get the double charge taken care of with no issues. I wasn't sure if they would actually believe me, but the lady must have put my card through twice in a row. They did not give me any issues at Guest Services about this, they just took it right off my account. Easy peasy. I guess it's a good thing I was checking our account on a fairly regular basis.
We did spend about an hour or so in the arcade, which I was a little reluctant to do. If you can avoid it, please do! Yikes. Games are at least a dollar in most cases. There may have been some that were 50 cents, but I think they were mostly $1 and up. I played this silly game that was like the price is right wheel, and if you land on this particular spot, you get 1000 tickets and since I happen to have a knack for these, I tried it and won the 1000 tickets. So, when I went to use the machine to turn in the tickets so the kids could pick a prize, it only gave me like 965 tickets, not the 1000 it said. There was not an employee around, so I let it go. Well we ended up spending close to $30 in an hour-- that was with four of us playing games at the same time. Just an FYI to those who may have kids that might go in there. We did have fun, but it didn't seem worth it to me. Whatever, we were on vacation.
Unfortunately, I cannot help much with the night life on board. There were plenty of things going on, I can tell you that. Everyone that I ran into late at night when I would go up to the buffet to bring back our evening snacks (second dinner) always seemed to be having a good time. They do have the much smaller rock lobster tails in the buffet one night. We just happened to be up there late getting our hobbit second dinner and saw the crazy line. DD1 and I were making this particular run. Well, it was like 10pm or so, and we got into the insanely long line (they only had them on one side of the buffet at this time) to try to get some. We managed to get there before they ran out, but they were split lobster tails and you could only get one per person (so I offered to share mine with DD2) they ran out about 3 people after us. One lady kept trying to get more for the "other people" with her, and the staff member politely explained they could only give one per person in line, as this was the last tray. Not sure what the situation earlier was like. They tasted amazing, I will say that. I believe they were grilled, but they were yummy. I really miss the surf & turf the first night in the dining rooms and really wish they would bring it back. Oh, and if you're like me and love crepes, well you better have all the patience in the world (and maybe an adult beverage would help) because the line for that EVERY night was crazy. To the point where I never even got one. So disappointed. They had them premade when we were on the dawn at breakfast a couple of times and I loved that. These ones are made to order right in front of you, which is cool, but I think they can only do two at a time and many people get more than one. They only ever had one station open for this, so I never waited for one. I'm sure they were great.
They always seemed to have some sort of fruit compote for dessert in the buffet, and that was pretty much my go to dessert. Some of the desserts we tried were pretty bland, some ok. The hard ice cream at the buffet was pretty good, with a decent selection. The kids didn't hit the soft serve as much as I thought they would. There are several soft serve "stations" pretty much located on the "corners" of the buffet. The buffet is huge, and be sure to walk the whole thing--there are some items that they only seem to put on one side and not the other. Oh, and the yummy waffle fries are only in Uptown grill--they never have them at the garden cafe. It's worth the walk upstairs to try them. Really, and I'm not even a big potato fan! They also did have sweet potato fries (the regular kind) in the garden cafe, which I like.
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Sorry I just replied without my reply!!!
Thank you dcollette for such a thorough review of your cruise.
I enjoyed reading it very much
Great tips and info that will surely used by us this summer.
I'm like you about sleeping, so I will be using our balcony ALOT.
Thanks for the tips on the lights, having both doors open and the hair conditioner!
I plan on taking some battery powered tea lights to use as nightlights in the bathroom now :)
Glad you enjoyed the Breakaway as much as you did and thank you again for sharing you and your family's adventures with us !
Happy Cruising!
~Robin
Norwegian Breakaway July 2014
Carnival Miracle 2010
Carnival Legend 2006
Robin,
Some of the little things may seem silly, but they are simply things you don't really think about. I was all prepared by what others had said to bring our own shampoo and conditioner--which I promptly forgot to pack! Wow, brilliant, right? I took a shower that morning and forgot to put them in when I was done. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised that we didn't need them. I only brought soap for the little guy who in addition to having food allergies, his skin is very sensitive to soaps, so I brought some of his from home.
There will be more posted this evening, even though it is almost done. If anyone has areas they might want to see, let me know and I will look through what I have. I may post some of our silly ones, just so you all can get a laugh. This is really an amazing ship that makes it super easy to enjoy.
Debbie
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Yes, there are a few places like this that are (thankfully) not near any of the outdoor bar areas where people are allowed to smoke. These loungers/chairs were super comfy and would be a nice place to just sit and watch the ocean or read a book. I think if I sat there too long, I would end up taking a nap!
UDP with Children
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
First off, how old are your kids? If they are ordering off the specialty menu, yes they are regularly half priced. If they order something off the kids menu (ages 12 and under) there is no charge. I haven't heard about them offering a different price for kids, so maybe they are not offering it and you would just be charged if the kids order off the specialty menu. I would call and ask if there isn't anyone here that has direct experience with this.