Breakaway - March 2nd - Deluxe Owners Suite review

[socrdad]

Never! I'm looking forward to my next cruise on the Gem in about 55 days. :D:D

 

Ginger,

Glad to hear you have another cruise in 55 days!! I guess if the Gem can survive Hurricane Sandy there is not much that will cause it problems. It sounds as safe as anywhere else to be:D. ENJOY YOUR CRUISE!!!!!!!!

[socrdad]

Many thanks for such a detailed and helpful review! It is really appreciated!

 

Your idea of arranging your own dinner before the show seems like a good one. Can you explain a little bit about the logistics; i.e. if it is a dinner/show, how does one show up just in time for the show, and skip the dinner? Or do you mean you ate before hand and just told the waiter at the show that you don't want dinner?

 

blueline7,

Great question as I really did not explain it very well. When you show up for the show you are seated and then your server comes around to take orders. We just told the server that we would not be eating dinner but we would be eating dessert. The dinner is brought out to you during the show. There were a lot of complaints, on CC, that people had a hard time eating and watching the show. They would look down to cut there steak and miss something during the show. With eating before the show, at a specialty restaurant with the Unlimited Dining Package (UDP), we did not spend any extra money, had a better dinner than we would have had at the show and never missed a portion of the show. It was GREAT!

 

Here we are with a couple of the performers, they were awesome!

 

 

Thanks for following the review, I appreciate it:).

[socrdad]

It took me a couple tries to get on the slides, too! The rain would always come at EXACTLY the wrong time. When I finally did, I was glad... the freefall slides were incredible. Just a weird, terrifying sensation to have the bottom drop out from under you! Also kinda weird when they close you in and then lock it! I did each of the freefall's twice, and then one or two of the other slides. I didn't really spend long on them... I just wanted to say that I'd done them! I never actually got on the ropes course... honestly, it kinda terrified me!

 

Richard/Tralfie

 

Richard,

Me missing the slides and the ropes course was the biggest disappointment for me during the cruise. I figure if that is my biggest complaint it can't be too bad:D. I was like you and I just wanted to do them so I could say I did it. It was not a major part of our plans and it is not a big deal that I did not get to do them. I am sure there will be other trips on either the Breakaway or Getaway in our future:).

[dexddd]

Tymike,

Glad you had a great time in the suite, I can't imagine someone having a bad time in it. The side door onto the balcony that you mention is actually on the balcony and splits the balcony into two areas. The divider is just to the right of the bedroom door to the balcony. I have not seen a picture of it on the Breakaway yet but here is a picture that you can partially see the location on the Getaway.

This picture was taken by AttilaTheFun so I hope I am not violating some cc rules by posting his picture, sorry if I am. With the divider closed there is no way to get on the side of the balcony from the room, you need to go thru the divider to get there. It baffles me as to why they put it there and not on the side of the balcony to block the wind so the side balcony could be used while sailing. I guess they would have a problem getting a divider strong enough to hold up to the wind at the front of the ship. Dexddd was told it had something to do with keeping the furniture from going over to the side or over the side, he could not quite understand Cecillio when he was explaining it to him.

 

Thanks for reading along, I am glad you are enjoying it. It certainly has been a lot of fun reliving the cruise while I am writing about it:D.

 

Yes, the new door on the balcony is where you show it on that GA picture. If you were to use the bedroom door it is right there to the right.

 

The first day we were in the room for about 20 minutes and had checked out the balcony and we didn't lock the second lock. Cecillio came in pretty quickly and mentioned something about having to lock the second lock or the door would swing open as he went out to the balcony to lock the 2nd lock. It was almost like there was a sensor on it (never saw one) that he knew so quickly that it wasn't locked or he found out in those first couple weeks of it being on the ship that it is an issue so he lets people know asap.

 

Wind will catch it and based on our experience whichever way you opened it it would want to swing open - the winds would just catch it from either direction even in port. However, when you open the door towards the side of the ship, there is a sort of strip of metal that goes along the length of the door (from top to bottom) close to the hinges so the door would only seem to open about a foot at the front side. We always held onto it since we were a bit concerned it would catch the wind and bend that metal or otherwise cause and issue.

 

If you open the door towards the living room, it would catch air and want to swing all the way back - there wasn't any latch to hold it that I ever saw, so basically any time you went from one side to the other, you had to hold it with two hands, go past the door, and then close it and lock both locks. The top lock was slanted such that it would freely push past the stop if it got enough wind so you always had to turn the 2nd lock. Even for myself I was thinking it was a safety hazard to try to operate and not sure why they added it.

 

I have a couple pictures if I could ever figure out how to post them full size on here.

 

I was told the door was added to stop the furniture from going over to the side or over the side - I didn't quite get the gist.

 

No, the furniture was never tied up. It was mostly kept in the far left - closest to the OS unless we pulled some out. Was it always tied up for you?

 

The one thing I hadn't realized with all of the pictures is the amount of storage space. Basically anything brown in the room with a silver strip was some sort of drawer or cabinet for storage.

 

One other odd thing we had on the first night/morning was from one of what I called the "drains of last resort" - the silver drains between the bathroom and the adjoining areas. The one closest to the bedroom as we were swaying from side to side in some waves you could hear some water swoosh in the drain and then it would have this sound like a flapper opening and closing. It was actually a bit loud that first night and we really didn't have it happen again.

Edited April 15, 2014 by dexddd

[socrdad]

Yes, the new door on the balcony is where you show it on that GA picture. If you were to use the bedroom door it is right there to the right.

 

The first day we were in the room for about 20 minutes and had checked out the balcony and we didn't lock the second lock. Cecillio came in pretty quickly and mentioned something about having to lock the second lock or the door would swing open as he went out to the balcony to lock the 2nd lock. It was almost like there was a sensor on it (never saw one) that he knew so quickly that it wasn't locked or he found out in those first couple weeks of it being on the ship that it is an issue so he lets people know asap.

 

Wind will catch it and based on our experience whichever way you opened it it would want to swing open - the winds would just catch it from either direction even in port. However, when you open the door towards the side of the ship, there is a sort of strip of metal that goes along the length of the door (from top to bottom) close to the hinges so the door would only seem to open about a foot at the front side. We always held onto it since we were a bit concerned it would catch the wind and bend that metal or otherwise cause and issue.

 

If you open the door towards the living room, it would catch air and want to swing all the way back - there wasn't any latch to hold it that I ever saw, so basically any time you went from one side to the other, you had to hold it with two hands, go past the door, and then close it and lock both locks. The top lock was slanted such that it would freely push past the stop if it got enough wind so you always had to turn the 2nd lock. Even for myself I was thinking it was a safety hazard to try to operate and not sure why they added it.

 

I have a couple pictures if I could ever figure out how to post them full size on here.

 

I was told the door was added to stop the furniture from going over to the side or over the side - I didn't quite get the gist.

 

No, the furniture was never tied up. It was mostly kept in the far left - closest to the OS unless we pulled some out. Was it always tied up for you?

 

The one thing I hadn't realized with all of the pictures is the amount of storage space. Basically anything brown in the room with a silver strip was some sort of drawer or cabinet for storage.

 

One other odd thing we had on the first night/morning was from one of what I called the "drains of last resort" - the silver drains between the bathroom and the adjoining areas. The one closest to the bedroom as we were swaying from side to side in some waves you could hear some water swoosh in the drain and then it would have this sound like a flapper opening and closing. It was actually a bit loud that first night and we really didn't have it happen again.

 

dexddd, Thanks for the first hand description of the balcony door. It really sounds like a major pain. Our furniture was tied up to the rail in the same location that it was stored for you (front corner by the Owners Suite). It was tied up every time we sailed and then untied in port. When we were in the Owners Suite on the Pearl the furniture in the front balcony was tied up for sea days also. We just figured it was like that for all forward facing balconies. They must have had some issues with someone forgetting to tie it up and then losing some over the side or it was an accident waiting to happen with it moving around from the wind.

 

For pictures I loaded them into photobucket (free account) and then copied the photo as each photo then has its own url. I by no means am an expert, I had to search on cc to find out how it was done.

 

We never heard any drain noises at any time. We did notice a sewage smell when we were docked and it was definitely the most potent when we first got in the room the first day. We were a bit concerned but the smell seemed to come and go and we did not notice it when we were at sea.

 

There really is a huge amount of storage. We did not use more than 20% of the storage and I thought we brought a lot of stuff.

 

Again, thanks for the information!!!

[PathfinderEss]

Melodie, Thanks for reading along. I hope someday I can catch up to you and your 51 cruises:D. What has been your favorite cruise?

Our favorite had to be the 30 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. Would go back in a heart beat.

[dexddd]

Our favorite had to be the 30 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. Would go back in a heart beat.

 

We don't have anywhere near 51 but our favorite was Tahiti on Paul Gauguin last year. We did the 11 day - they have mostly 7 days but traveling that far we were going to do longer than 7 days.

 

By far a fabulous experience both from the islands and scenery to the crew, ship and food. When you really look at their pricing it is reasonable considering it includes airfare, all grats, all drinks, transfers to/from ship, and a pre and post hotel day room - that is changing a bit I understand based on what time your flights come/go.

[socrdad]

Our favorite had to be the 30 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. Would go back in a heart beat.

 

Melodie, Now that sounds like an incredible cruise!!!!!

[socrdad]

We don't have anywhere near 51 but our favorite was Tahiti on Paul Gauguin last year. We did the 11 day - they have mostly 7 days but traveling that far we were going to do longer than 7 days.

 

By far a fabulous experience both from the islands and scenery to the crew, ship and food. When you really look at their pricing it is reasonable considering it includes airfare, all grats, all drinks, transfers to/from ship, and a pre and post hotel day room - that is changing a bit I understand based on what time your flights come/go.

 

dexddd, Just checked out their website and it looks like a fabulous ship! As you mention the pricing was fairly reasonable considering all you get. Looks like a pretty intimate experience with the size of the ship and the amount of passengers (332 or 88) depending on which ship. How was the entertainment?

[dexddd]

dexddd, Just checked out their website and it looks like a fabulous ship! As you mention the pricing was fairly reasonable considering all you get. Looks like a pretty intimate experience with the size of the ship and the amount of passengers (332 or 88) depending on which ship. How was the entertainment?

 

30 days would have been great like Melodie did for that route - I'm thinking that might have been on Oceania as they have some longer trips to that region. Order a brochure or they may have a downloadable version. We were on the M/S Paul Gauguin but the other ship is fairly new to the fleet (of 2 ships) within the past couple years. Their customer service pre-cruise was fantastic the couple times I called - they really know their product. They also have webinars once in awhile.

 

I'll comment about the entertainment in a bit. If you go to the Paul Gauguin section here on CC there are several repeaters who are active on that board. There isn't much traffic on it but everyone there is very nice.

 

Two people have some great picture reviews - Member "familygoboston" and a guy named Alan. I can't recall his screen name but he is from Denver and we were supposed to go last June on the trip with him but we moved to August since our DD was going to Canada with her friends. It is a very relaxed environment in all ways other than the flight there and back. Alan did the 11 day like we did in August. They also have trips this year to and back from Australia but I don't see any in 2015.

Edited April 16, 2014 by dexddd

[socrdad]

30 days would have been great like Melodie did for that route - I'm thinking that might have been on Oceania as they have some longer trips to that region. Order a brochure or they may have a downloadable version. We were on the M/S Paul Gauguin but the other ship is fairly new to the fleet (of 2 ships) within the past couple years. Their customer service pre-cruise was fantastic the couple times I called - they really know their product. They also have webinars once in awhile.

 

I'll comment about the entertainment in a bit. If you go to the Paul Gauguin section here on CC there are several repeaters who are active on that board. There isn't much traffic on it but everyone there is very nice.

 

Two people have some great picture reviews - Member "familygoboston" and a guy named Alan. I can't recall his screen name but he is from Denver and we were supposed to go last June on the trip with him but we moved to August since our DD was going to Canada with her friends. It is a very relaxed environment in all ways other than the flight there and back. Alan did the 11 day like we did in August. They also have trips this year to and back from Australia but I don't see any in 2015.

 

dexddd, Thanks for the information. Looks like they have some very interesting itineraries. How did you like the smaller ships? Did you feel like there was still enough to do to keep you busy or did you seem to have a lot of down time? Not that down time is bad at all, we love down time, just wanted to get the vibe of the ship. Thanks!

[tymike]

Thank you for the information about the new door on the balcony! I'm so surprised because we never had a problem going to or from Bermuda with furniture moving etc.

 

I'm sorry it was a pain!

 

Thanks again!

[dexddd]

dexddd, Thanks for the information. Looks like they have some very interesting itineraries. How did you like the smaller ships? Did you feel like there was still enough to do to keep you busy or did you seem to have a lot of down time? Not that down time is bad at all, we love down time, just wanted to get the vibe of the ship. Thanks!

 

Here is the best picture review plus loads of info on the ship including the dailies which talk about the entertainment. I'll give some of our experiences as well.

 

Plenty to keep us busy and really liked the ship. Reminded me of the old Princess Love Boats which I was on in the 80's. It is actually very close in size but carries about 1/2 the people as I recall.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1729992

[socrdad]

Here is the best picture review plus loads of info on the ship including the dailies which talk about the entertainment. I'll give some of our experiences as well.

 

Plenty to keep us busy and really liked the ship. Reminded me of the old Princess Love Boats which I was on in the 80's. It is actually very close in size but carries about 1/2 the people as I recall.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1729992

 

dexddd, Thanks for the link! They wrote a great review and the pictures were fantastic! The ship looks very nice and there certainly are some beautiful ports. Something to think about as next year will be our 30th anniversary:D and we are looking for a special trip.

 

My DW does run into sea sickness problems at times and I like the fact that there is not a lot of time spent sailing. Looking forward to hearing about some of your experiences. Thanks again:)

[socrdad]

Well looks like I will have time for another chapter in the review........

 

Day 6

We are down to the last 2 days. I have already reviewed part of our Saturday as Saturday morning was the morning of our big storm and damage. I will copy my earlier post to put it in the proper time frame.

 

The red stains on the carpet were actually M&M's (peanut and regular) that mixed with wine from the mess that happened from the night of the storm. We were going to address this when we got to that night on our cruise review but I will post it a bit early.

 

For those of you that did not hear about our storm night, it happened on Friday night. We woke up in our room about 4:30am as the boat was really rocking and rolling. About 5am we heard a crash in the bathroom and we had our soap dish slide off the counter and hit the floor. We turned on the tv to watch the navigation channel and the channel was saying we were in 43.5 foot waves. We were enjoying the ride and laughing about it, it was kind of fun. At 5:30am there was a major crash in the living room. We went out to investigate and there was a huge mess as most of the items on our counter came crashing down. Even the wine glasses on the upper glass shelves flipped over the glass barrier that were there to stop that from happening.

 

Here is a picture of the bar area with a lot of the stuff that came crashing down. If you look in the upper corner of the blue bar you will see the wine glasses that came crashing down. This picture was taken at the start of our cruise so there were lots of personal items along with 3 additional bottles of wine that were on the counter when they came crashing down.

 

To give you some reference, here is a picture of waves from our balcony that were at 10.5 feet. This is on the 16th floor so things tend to look smaller than they really are.

 

Here are some pictures of the waves about 15 minutes after the crash in the living room. I would have taken more (I really wish I would have taken a video) but I was getting a bit queasy looking out the front balcony.

 

 

Here is the damage that happened in the living room. This is after I cleaned it up a bit. I finally gave up trying to clean it up and called the butler. The person that answered asked if we had damage because they were calling in all butlers and all cabin stewards as many cabins had damage. Our butler said of his 10 cabins, 7 of them had damage.

Yes if you look close you will see a pair of thong underwear. It was the pair of underwear that my DW had caught at the Rock of Ages show that night.

 

Here are the M&M stains on the carpet after everything was cleaned up.

 

 

The captain came on over the intercom system (in the rooms) at about 6am to announce that there had been some reports of damage and he wanted to calm people's nerves over the storm. He said there was a low pressure system that was lingering longer than forecasted and we would be exiting it in the next few hours. He said at that time we were in 30 foot seas and they would continue to decrease in size. He said the ship was holding up very well. The butler and room steward showed up and cleaned everything up. It was definitely an eventful experience.

 

 

After the crash in the living room my DW got up to take a look at the damage and the smell of the wine put her in an immediate sickness so it was back in bed for her with a trash can near by. She continued to be sick for most of the day. We really just took it easy and laid in bed watching movies. We ordered in lunch, really our only meal we had delivered to the room. I order a specialty pizza (the $5.00 anytime, anywhere pizza) and my DW ordered in some crackers. The pizza was just ok as it was delivered just barely warm.

 

My DW started feeling better by evening and we decided we would head to our final dinner of the cruise. There is no better place than Cagney's to top off a memorable cruise. I again ordered the filet mignon and it was back to the superb tasting dish that I had encountered on our first dinner at Cagney's. My wife also had the filet and it was superb also.

 

As we were finishing up dinner, Richard/Tralfie showed up. We were very thankful that he stopped by as we were able to wish him a belated birthday (since we forgot when we saw him on his birthday the night before). He said he had a great birthday and had won $1,000 in the casino the night before. That would be our last visit with Richard, what a great guy!

 

After dinner we needed to pick out our professional pictures that we had taken of us throughout the cruise. There were a total of 53 pictures that we had taken. They offered two packages that we could purchase - 10 pictures for $119 or 20 pictures for $199. We wanted to purchase all the pictures and I offered them $300 for all 53 pictures or we would just take the 20 picture package. They would not go with the offer and said if we wanted to buy all of the pictures we would have to pay for an additional 20 pictures and then pay for an additional 10 pictures plus the 3 individual pictures. I really think they should come up with an additional unlimited photo package as I think they could make some additional money (it cost them an additional $100 they could have gotten from us). If nothing else, they should offer some additional options for pictures over 20 with discounted pricing.

 

We also had to visit customer service as I noticed an error on our bill. They had charged me for a dinner at Cagney's but credited back the lobster charge. When the unlimited dining package is purchased they still charge the specialty restaurant fee on the bill but then they credit it back. In our case they just credited the wrong part of dinner. There was a very short line for the customer service counter. The representative was very pleasant and took care of the error in a flash. The only problem was IMPAC was having their final concert in the atrium which is right next to the customer service counter. We literally had to yell at the customer service rep to be heard and he needed to yell back. Really not the best setup but I guess they only have that problem when bands are playing. It was fun watching the other guests yelling back and forth and the phrase "WHAT DID YOU SAY" was being used a lot. I know there have been a lot of complaints about the customer service reps but we did not encounter that at all. There was even a group that actually high fived their customer service rep when they left.

 

Overall it was a very low key day, very relaxing for me. I felt bad for my DW and her sea sickness. It must not have been too bad as she still wants to cruise again, hurray!!!!

 

Coming down the home stretch and I apologize with the amount of time this is taking to post. Work just keeps getting in the way but I should be able to get this completed very soon.

[meatball_nyc]

Sorry to hear that your wife felt so sick. That stinks. Of course that nasty storm and damage didn't help!

Looking forward to reading the rest :)

 

 

 

~Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

[socrdad]

Sorry to hear that your wife felt so sick. That stinks. Of course that nasty storm and damage didn't help!

Looking forward to reading the rest :)

 

 

~Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

 

 

Robin, My DW is a trooper. We have not found the ideal remedy yet for sea sickness with her. We both take 2 non-drowsy Dramamine starting a day or two before the cruise and then 2 each day on the cruise. It certainly helps her a lot as she would not make it an hour without them. There just always seems to be a day or two during the cruise that she gets effected and gets sick. Of course huge waves certainly do not help the situation! She still loves to cruise and these are just minor setbacks for her:).

[dexddd]

dexddd, Thanks for the link! They wrote a great review and the pictures were fantastic! The ship looks very nice and there certainly are some beautiful ports. Something to think about as next year will be our 30th anniversary:D and we are looking for a special trip.

 

My DW does run into sea sickness problems at times and I like the fact that there is not a lot of time spent sailing. Looking forward to hearing about some of your experiences. Thanks again:)

 

Been a bit behind. The reviews and dailies in the link give a pretty good idea of the shows - mostly local geared entertainment or at times locals coming on board to do a show.

 

We did the 11 day which is a bit different as they tend to bring on some guest speakers from the islands who have cultural lectures during the sea day afternoons. We went to these and found them great. Didn't go to all the night shows but after a couple crew suggesting we go to the crew show we did and it was by far the best, even better than most regular shows on ships. It was well scripted and not just one person doing a trick then the next playing the piano, it was a true show.

 

Sorry for hijacking your thread, so if you want to drop me an email, use my CC screen name at hotmail.com.

[socrdad]

Been a bit behind. The reviews and dailies in the link give a pretty good idea of the shows - mostly local geared entertainment or at times locals coming on board to do a show.

 

We did the 11 day which is a bit different as they tend to bring on some guest speakers from the islands who have cultural lectures during the sea day afternoons. We went to these and found them great. Didn't go to all the night shows but after a couple crew suggesting we go to the crew show we did and it was by far the best, even better than most regular shows on ships. It was well scripted and not just one person doing a trick then the next playing the piano, it was a true show.

 

Sorry for hijacking your thread, so if you want to drop me an email, use my CC screen name at hotmail.com.

 

dexddd, Thanks again for the information. I certainly do not consider this hijacking the thread. I find it interesting and hopefully others do as well. Definitely something that we will consider for a cruise in the future. I appreciate all your input and time you have spent corresponding. I have found that writing reviews take a lot more time than I thought they would. It is difficult to clear a block of time to get things posted other than the weekends:(. Thanks a bunch!!!!!

[meatball_nyc]

Robin, My DW is a trooper. We have not found the ideal remedy yet for sea sickness with her. We both take 2 non-drowsy Dramamine starting a day or two before the cruise and then 2 each day on the cruise. It certainly helps her a lot as she would not make it an hour without them. There just always seems to be a day or two during the cruise that she gets effected and gets sick. Of course huge waves certainly do not help the situation! She still loves to cruise and these are just minor setbacks for her:).

 

 

Glad to hear what a trooper she is.

Kudos to her.

Having never experienced sea sickness, I cannot comment. I do, however, experience car sickness (as a passenger). It's just not fun at all. Still, I cannot imagine going through that storm on a ship at sea. I have pics from the BA's maiden TA showing some rough seas. Let's see if I can find it.

 

 

 

Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[TravelJoe]

We loved the balcony when we were sailing into port and while we were in port. It was very windy on most days while we were sailing so we did not use it much at all while at sea. I wish they would have put a removable divider between the front of the balcony and the side of the balcony to block the wind while at sea. You would then be able to use the portion of the balcony on the side of the ship while sailing.

 

I think combining the DOS, OS and PH would be fantastic. It would really open up the DOS and OS as they would combine the living rooms of both into a large living area. They can also combine the balconies of both to make an enormous balcony. The PH would still seem like a separated suite as there is just a door between the PH and DOS, the balconies do not combine at all. It would certainly be a great suite complex to have all 3.

 

Great writeup and thread! We're sailing in July and have both the DOS and OS booked, and (after much frustration) was able to find someone that agreed that the wall can be removed for the cruise and will have it opened up when we arrive. Will post some pics of the combined area afterwards. Don't have a PH booked as it's not large enough for the other family members, so we're stuck with a 2-bedroom Family suite down the hall

[socrdad]

Glad to hear what a trooper she is.

Kudos to her.

Having never experienced sea sickness, I cannot comment. I do, however, experience car sickness (as a passenger). It's just not fun at all. Still, I cannot imagine going through that storm on a ship at sea. I have pics from the BA's maiden TA showing some rough seas. Let's see if I can find it.

 

[ATTACH]310462[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]310463[/ATTACH]

 

 

Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

 

Robin, My DW gets car sick too. She is usually ok as long as she is driving or in the front passenger seat. Although, if it is a winding road all bets are off. If she is in the back seat it is a lost cause no matter what kind of road we are on.

 

Thanks for showing the pictures. I love the one with the water flying out of the pool:eek:. I really wish our storm would have been during daylight hours. I would have liked to have seen the waves better. The limited visibility due to the darkness gave it a very eerie look and feel.

 

July will be here before you know it. I am anxious to hear all about your trip when you get back:).

[dexddd]

Great writeup and thread! We're sailing in July and have both the DOS and OS booked, and (after much frustration) was able to find someone that agreed that the wall can be removed for the cruise and will have it opened up when we arrive. Will post some pics of the combined area afterwards. Don't have a PH booked as it's not large enough for the other family members, so we're stuck with a 2-bedroom Family suite down the hall

 

Have a nice trip. We did ask the butlers and stewards about the wall and how often it actually is opened when the rooms are booked together. They said it doesn't happen very often which didn't surprise me much. If you see the larger white chair with ottoman in the DOS, there is a part of the wall that opens (like a door) and the panels get stored in there from what I could tell.

Edited April 25, 2014 by dexddd

[socrdad]

Great writeup and thread! We're sailing in July and have both the DOS and OS booked, and (after much frustration) was able to find someone that agreed that the wall can be removed for the cruise and will have it opened up when we arrive. Will post some pics of the combined area afterwards. Don't have a PH booked as it's not large enough for the other family members, so we're stuck with a 2-bedroom Family suite down the hall

 

TravelJoe, What a great trip that is going to be. Combining both rooms should turn it into a phenomenal mega suite!!! I think Bermuda is the perfect destination for the DOS and OS. Three continuous days in port that you will be able to take full advantage of the balcony. I loved that balcony while in port:D. It should be even better being able to combine both balconies.

 

I really don't think having the 2 bedroom family suite down the hall is a problem at all. The PH suite is really off by itself anyways as there is just a connecting door instead of the front door. Not much of a difference in my mind and they get a bigger room. Have a fantastic trip and I hope to hear how it went when you get back.

[socrdad]

Well onward we go to the final day.........

 

Day 7

I woke up early to catch the last bit of us cruising up the Hudson River to dock. The New York skyline is very beautiful during the early morning hours and at dawn.

 

 

It was a beautiful morning.

 

We were in no hurry to get off the ship as our flight out of JFK was not until 4:20pm. We would have been happy being the last ones off the ship but decided they would probably need extra time to clean our room from the earlier storm damage. The carpet was still stained and there were glass shards still in the carpet. We were out of our room about 8:40am.

 

Let me back track a little bit. ........ One of our objectives on this cruise was to see as many different room categories as possible. We will be cruising on the Getaway or Breakaway again and we may never have another chance of staying in the Deluxe Owners Suite on a future cruise. I had thrown out the suggestion of having a cabin crawl on our CC roll call but there did not seem to be any interest. This was our first cruise knowing about and joining CC. As much as I wanted to do a cabin crawl, I certainly did not want to be in charge of it as I have never participated in one.

 

As most CC members do, I researched everything I could find from the moment this trip was planned. Sixteen months of reading everything from the time the ship was being built to her maiden voyage. One of the highlights was the now famous CC "gambee" ultimate review of the Breakaway. Reading his review and seeing his pictures really got us more excited for our cruise. It just so happened that we had a CC member on our cruise that was staying in the famous gambee room - Richard/Tralfie. After we had dinner with Richard at Teppanyaki on Thurday, Richard was nice enough to give us a tour of his room, we were thrilled!! It was so nice of Richard to allow us into his room to tour it, we are forever greatful:). The room was great and the balcony was huge. We peaked around the corner at the Haven Aft Facing Penthouse, the balcony was ginormous:eek:. The ship was sailing and there was no wind, the balcony can be used while we are sailing. We have never sailed while staying in the back of the ship but we are thinking our next cruise we may have to give it a try:D.

 

We were out of the room early but we certainly were not ready to get off the ship. We did not want to eat breakfast as we figured we would have a lot of time at the airport and eating would kill out some of the time. We decided we would have our own cabin crawl and set out to look at as many different cabins as possible. It is really an easy way and time to see the different cabins as the cabin doors are open and it is easy to see if a room has been cleaned or not. We only entered dirty rooms as we did not want to go in any room that had already been cleaned. In the Haven area we saw the Owners Suite, 2 Bedroom Family Villa and Courtyard Penthouse. We then headed to the back of the ship where we saw another Aft-Facing Large Balcony and the Haven Aft-Facing Penthouse with Large Balcony. We also saw a regular balcony room and a handicapped balcony room. We had a great time sneaking around.

 

We were back up to the Haven about 10am to get escorted off by Ruth. We were off the ship in no time. We were waiting in the line on the dock for quite a while before we notice that they had a different line for Haven guests, silly us. Once we got in the Haven line, which had no people in it, getting to customs was a breeze. Getting through customs went very fast and we found our luggage immediately. We were crossing the crosswalk to the taxi line when a person came up and asked if we were needing a taxi and grabbed a bunch of our luggage and off we went. He was a very interesting individual from India that had been in New York for about 10 years. We had a great conversation with him, he was awesome! His father had come over to the US and sponsored all of his children and his entire family was living in New York. There were five grown children and three of the five grown children had spouses and children. All family members were living together in their father's home. Six families and 18 people living together under one roof:eek:. This may be common in New York but it does not happen in Montana.

 

Our flight home was non-eventful and as much as we tried, we could not get bumped off our flight to extend our vacation just a little. We were back at home by midnight. It was a wonderful trip and one we will forever remember.

 

I will finish this up later with some final thoughts and either confirming or refuting some of the most common complaints. Thanks for reading along!