Breakaway begins the Baltics Review

Iceangell2335 - we stopped at multiple places on best of Berlin for photo stops or exploring including about an hour for a traditional German meal which was really good. The Checkpoint Charlie stop was a little short to get through the other things around there but at same time it was very touristy so happy to leave when we did. There was some time for shopping as well. I said on the train ride back that that day was worth the whole trip. I learned so much & it was so interesting. If you’ve never been to Berlin before like us, it was absolutely worth the long day & not too much time on bus.

There's so much in Berlin! This is why we planned two days in Berlin before the cruise as well as two after (plus Hamburg, Lubeck, and Schwerin). :halo: Sailing out on July 23rd!!

Notes21, question?? This is a very port intensive cruise that people are paying $$$$ to go. How was the atmosphere on the ship? People enjoying but not like a Carnival party boat to the Bahamas?

Don't want to be stumbling over drunks everywhere

We get on in Copenhagen Tuesday week!

Hell yeah, Tuesday for me as well.

Booked Berlin and St Petersburg with SPB tours. Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm will be DIY. Ship price for tours was stupid expensive, even with $50/off perk.

Thank you so very much for your time and efforts in getting the word out. Wife, two grand-daughters and myself are on the 25 June - 4 July cruise and we had so many questions and you hit the nail on the head. We are very glad you had a good time.

Thank you so very much for your time and efforts in getting the word out. Wife, two grand-daughters and myself are on the 25 June - 4 July cruise and we had so many questions and you hit the nail on the head. We are very glad you had a good time.

Lpops, I’m on the same cruise as you with my 26 year old daughter. We booked all NCL excursions. Spending a night at the Marriott before and after the cruise. We are from Texas.

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JenJohnCourt - If you do an NCL excursion to Berlin, they have an entire train rented; so, we did the train. Only 1 stop on the way in to Berlin to let some people off who were seeing the concentration camp, and no stops on the way back. They provided some snacks and drinks both ways. It was a good experience. Have fun on your cruise. The balcony is so nice to see the ports and things. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Hi Notes,

I am interested in the Best of Berlin tour that you did....I can't find it on the NCL website. We have booked the Berlin on your own tour but wish I had more info on the one you took. Tour bus met you at the train station? What kinds of snacks and drinks did you get on the train and were there others to purchase (beer for example) for the return trip? lol Thanks for all the insight you have given us!

Hi Notes,

I am interested in the Best of Berlin tour that you did....I can't find it on the NCL website. We have booked the Berlin on your own tour but wish I had more info on the one you took. Tour bus met you at the train station? What kinds of snacks and drinks did you get on the train and were there others to purchase (beer for example) for the return trip? lol Thanks for all the insight you have given us!

While I haven't taken our Baltic cruise yet - I can tell you there were 2 "Best of Berlin" excursions listed for our cruise. One was the "Best of Berlin" and the other was the "Exclusive Best of Berlin." We chose the "Exclusive" one, as there will be a maximum of 16 on that excursion, while the other can go up to 50, as per the NCL rep I spoke with. We all board the train that NCL rents out for the day, and once we hit Berlin the tours are broken up into whichever tour was booked.

It was the Best of Berlin mentioned by pe4all. I personally wouldn't pay the extra money for the exclusive, b/c their bus was at all the same places as ours every time. It was significantly more money & their crowds really weren't any different than ours. There is a guide that goes with you on the train & helps you get to the bus outside fo the train station. On the way to Berlin, they provided waters, cookies, and fruit. On the way back, they offered pretzel sticks and water...possibly some fruit as well and also had soft drinks and alcohol for sale.

Thanks Pe4all and notes21....wondering where the tour took you and how hard it would be for us to do it on our own. Since this is a train hired by NCL, would the drinks be included on the train if you have the drink package?

The drinks on the train are not covered by any beverage package as it is a separate entity that is selling them. The description on NCL tells all or many of the places that you go. It goes to brandenburg gate, a memorial for the book burnings by ****s, checkpoint charlie, the berlin wall monument, memorial for murdered jews of europe, Charlottenburg palace, and a shopping stop. There were also more places that we saw from bus during the tour, etc.

Hi Notes,

I am interested in the Best of Berlin tour that you did....I can't find it on the NCL website. We have booked the Berlin on your own tour but wish I had more info on the one you took. Tour bus met you at the train station? What kinds of snacks and drinks did you get on the train and were there others to purchase (beer for example) for the return trip? lol Thanks for all the insight you have given us!

The reason you don't see the Best of Berlin tour in your MyNCL is because you already booked a tour. Once you book a tour, no other tours are shown to you for that particular port.

But you can see them here: https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/search?destination=Europe+Cruises&port=WAR&sort=searchFeatured&sortOrder=desc&perPage=48&referrer=www.ncl.com

The reason you don't see the Best of Berlin tour in your MyNCL is because you already booked a tour. Once you book a tour, no other tours are shown to you for that particular port.

 

But you can see them here: https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/search?destination=Europe+Cruises&port=WAR&sort=searchFeatured&sortOrder=desc&perPage=48&referrer=www.ncl.com

Thank you bluesea, didn't realize this. I assume I can change excursion if I wish? I would need to call NCL I suppose. Thanks for the link!

Thank you for your review! It gave me something to look forward to for our cruise to the Baltics the August.

I have to start by saying that overall, I loved this cruise. The ports are so interesting, and well worth the time in each one.

 

I cruised this time with my parents, and we got to Copenhagen 2 days ahead. During that time, we went to Tivoli, and did the grand day trip around Copenhagen with Hamlet Tours. Both were very enjoyable! We stayed at Scandic Copenhagen through NCL as we had booked the cruise as a distinctive voyage. The transfer process to the port was smooth, but embarkation told a long time. They were using 2 terminals (one for odd floors, one for even), but there were some computer glitches and long waits that I think were primarily from it being the first NCL cruise back of the season. The nice thing was that the rooms were all ready by the time that we got on the ship.

 

This was my first time on Breakaway, but it was obvious that many of the carpets were new. Otherwise, I don't really know what was new or not. There were still only 4 outlets above the desk (2-240 needing European plugs/adaptors and 2-110). We were worried about storage space when we initially saw our room, a large balcony, but it worked out well. The room was fine for us, and we loved the balcony as always though it was a bit chilly on it some of the time. Our steward was always friendly and greeted us by name which I didn't realize until back on NCL that I had missed on my most recent Carnival cruise.

 

Food -- We ate at the main dining rooms, O'Sheehan's, Cagney's, Le Bistro, and Cirque Dreams show/dinner. As I'd heard, the Manhattan room was nice, but just a bit too noisy for us which is ironic since we are all music teachers. We preferred Taste/Savor for the atmosphere though the food was good in all three. Cagney's was very good again as was Le Bistro. I was looking forward to the cones appetizer in Le Bistro and didn't realize that it was not on the larger ships, but the other food more than made up for it. (Sorry, I can't remember exactly what I had other than the french onion soup at the moment). I had read enough reviews to know that the Cirque dreams dinner was not necessarily going to be my favorite, though the steak was very good, but the show itself was very enjoyable. I've seen other Cirque Dreams and Cirque du Soleil shows, and was not left feeling like this was any lower in quality for the size of the venue.

 

We ate at O'Sheehan's a lot for lunch b/c after walking around on a tour it was nice to be waited on, etc. and the dining rooms were often either not open on port days or closed earlier than we got back on tours. I loved the size of the O'Sheehan's on this ship compared to the smaller ships I've been on before.

 

 

Shore Excursions -- Having distinctive voyages, silver discount, and my mom worrying about being left, we chose to do all ship shore excursions. The actual tours were wonderful, and we enjoyed each of them. We did Best of Berlin, Highlights of Tallin, 2 Days & an Evening in St Petersburg, Discover Helsinki, Beautiful Stockholm & Vasa, and then the City & Harbor tour (ending at the hotel) today when we left the ship. The process for getting people their stickers and to their buses was some of the most unorganized that I have ever seen. I don't know if that was b/c of the size of the ship, first time doing this cruise, or what, but as a former band director used to organizing groups of people, it drove me crazy until I just said -- I will not let this bother me. It did seem to get better as the week went on.

 

I was a bit frustrated at the fact that I had to go twice to the shore excursion desk & stand in line for quite a while before getting my 10% silver discount applied. In some locations, it wouldn't have been worth it, but 10% of the cost of some of these tours was significant. It did get fixed the 2nd time though thankfully. For going to Stockholm, it is a significant bus ride, and I get extremely car sick along with taking medicine that makes nausea worse even on a good day. The 2nd shore ex desk visit I was told that a seat would be reserved near the front of the bus, but when I got down to the bus, there was no paper and people had already filled the first half of the bus. There were a frustrating few minutes, but the NCL staff did get it fixed though it meant switching buses. I was very thankful that they worked on it, and I'm also very thankful for a couple on the other/now our bus who volunteered to move back. It made a huge difference in me being able to have an enjoyable day in Stockholm rather than being sick the whole time.

 

Entertainment - - I already mentioned Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy which was enjoyable. We watched some game shows in the atrium & yes, others are correct that the space should have been made bigger. We also watched Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages. I had only seen the movie version of Rock of Ages and felt ho hum about it, and really didn't like the Broadway version though the performers did a good job in their execution of it. It just wasn't my thing. We never got to the comedian or howl at the moon, though we had hoped to. Some of that was conflicting with our reservations, and the other was just the full itinerary and jet lag.

 

This was my first time on a ship as large as the Breakaway, and the cruise as a whole was very good. I do think I prefer the slightly smaller ships that have the more traditional, different entertainment every night without a reservation over having to make reservations in advance and only having a couple of things playing for multiple nights in a row. Would I turn down a cruise on a large ship if it had an itinerary I was interested in? Absolutely not! For the right ports, I would definitely sail the Breakaway or a sister ship again.

 

Sorry this review doesn't have pictures and isn't more detailed, but I was still having to teach my 5 online classes throughout the cruise. My only true week off is Christmas to New Years, but thankfully the online teaching allows me to work from anywhere in the world & helps pay for trips like this, lol. Oh, speaking of that, the internet: I got the unlimited wifi plan, and the service was very good most of the time. Of course, it was a bit slower than home and a couple of days had some spottiness, but overall, I felt it worked as well as I could expect.

 

Hope this maybe helps someone who is looking forward to this cruise. I know I searched for reviews and read as much as possible; so, I wanted to give back a little :)

Thanks for your review. I will be on the Breakaway in a few months and want to know the time of the evening shows so I can make dinner reservations. Would you happen to have that information?

Thanks for your review. I will be on the Breakaway in a few months and want to know the time of the evening shows so I can make dinner reservations. Would you happen to have that information?

If you go to my NCL and look at the shows, the dates and times are listed

I don’t remember show times & didn’t bring home the dailies due to luggage weight but you should be able to see them on ncl.com as njkate mentioned

For those on this cruise, did NCL provide a free shuttle from Nynashamn to Stockholm for you? Did anyone use the Hop-on Hop-off bus that picks you up in Nynashamn?

I heard it was a disaster and they didn’t provide anything. I’d make other arangements

For those on this cruise, did NCL provide a free shuttle from Nynashamn to Stockholm for you? Did anyone use the Hop-on Hop-off bus that picks you up in Nynashamn?

Hello all, I am on the Breakaway on the 8th June/18 - embarking at Warnemunde... any others on this date /cruise? I would be interested in knowing how to book with some of the private group -- also method payment ... any info would be great.

Thanks

Toronto, Canada

You probably want to find your roll call as that is where most people on your cruise sailing will be talking, etc

For Germany, I strongly recommend booking Friends of Dave tour. The train ride to Berlin consume so much time I don't think it's worth it. We just did Friends of Dave (Google it) and absolutely loved it. You see the smaller quaint towns that are really impressive. The guide was incredible too.

For Germany, I strongly recommend booking Friends of Dave tour. The train ride to Berlin consume so much time I don't think it's worth it. We just did Friends of Dave (Google it) and absolutely loved it. You see the smaller quaint towns that are really impressive. The guide was incredible too.

Great to hear, Mikeyd!

We are doing "Friends of Dave" tour in August. It is pricey but I've heard many good things about it. We are going to Berlin for 3 days pre-cruise so we don't have to do the train trip to Berlin while in port.