Breakaway to Bermuda 9/21/2014 - Basic Review that is a bit long...

[kblac708]

This is my first time posting a review in this section of cruise critic. I am going to try and write this as clearly as I can. I wish I was like others who I met that kept a strict travel journal, next time I know better. :) I traveled with my cousin who has not been on a cruise in a few years unlike me who seems to book them at every turn. This was my sixth NCL cruise and I have more already booked. I apologize for not having pictures...I just spent an hour trying to add them and then gave up.

 

Planning for the trip:

 

After booking, I immediately went to the CC Roll Call and let out a yelp when I realized I would be travelling with Ben the Bendyman and his ever faithful human kylenyc. Instantly this cruise became even better! Along with loving the roll call, I started researching things I wanted to do while in port. I had never been to Bermuda before and wanted to hit some highlights while there (more on what we did later.)

 

Sunday Day 1 – Leaving NYC

 

Living in Queens is great when traveling from the west side of the city unless there is a huge march/protest/demonstration going on that cuts the quickest routes, from East to West, completely out. Watching the news Saturday evening and learning that 100,000 people were going to be marching through the direct route to the start of my vacation. Unacceptable. With a bit of panic, a text was sent to my cousin saying we are leaving early.

 

Luckily, we just missed the start of the March and made it to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal at around noon. From the time we got out of the cab, dropped our luggage, checked in at the CAS lines, took a picture, and walked on board, maybe 20 minutes had passed if that. Needless to say getting on the ship was a breeze and I worried for nothing.

 

I am not a fan of the buffet on the first day so we headed straight to Savor for lunch. The food was good. I had the popcorn shrimp and the scallops, whose name I forget, are made like escargot. Both were really good. Of course after stressing myself out over traffic that never happened I had to have my first cocktail of the vacation. I love the Bloody Mary mix NCL uses.

 

After lunch we went straight to our balcony room, 11260, which was ready for us to drop our carry-ons. I was excited for this room because of the extended bump out balcony. Another chair could easily fit there. Waiting for us was a bottle of Prosecco (Thanks Mom and Dad!) and the promise of a good week.

 

Knowing that the muster drill was coming, we gathered the items we actually needed and headed towards Bliss where we had to muster. It was a standard muster drill. I wanted it to be over, because I was ready to actually see NYC as we left from up top. On my previous cruises from NYC, there was always something else happening and we never made it to the sail away. This time, the incentive for going, besides sailing under the Verrazano, was participating in the pre-meet and greet meet up. With Mardi Gras beads on we headed towards the pool and met some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to sail with.

 

For dinner we chose to eat at O’Sheehan’s and then hit up the Casino (well, I hit the casino, my cousin went to see what shows and happenings were going on.) After calling it an early night, we decided to rest up for all the activities the next day.

 

Monday, Day 2 – Sea Day

 

I love having room service in the morning. It is the best thing even if there are not a lot of choices. Today was the day of our meet and greet. I had tried explaining to my cousin the scope of what the Roll Call had planned for this cruise. Again, kylenyc and nalagh really went above and beyond with everything. I had heard at last count there were over 150 people there. Amazing. The door prize give away was a hoot. It felt like everyone walked away with something. The cabin crawl was fun as was our group slot pull later in the day.

 

That evening, after a nice dinner in the Manhattan room, we went to see Burn the Floor. I was on the fence if I really cared about seeing them but it was something to do. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I would like to thank Dancing with the Stars for my ballroom and Latin dancing knowledge. I kept waiting for the British voiceover to announce “Dancing the samba…”:D

 

Tuesday, Day 3 – Sea Day

 

From what I recall, this was a laid back day for us. My cousin hit up the camera demonstration along with a fellow new CC friend and said it was informative. I know we ate at Taste/Savor again for lunch.

 

We also ate in Cagney’s for dinner. I had a free dinner for two with a bottle of wine from the Casino. (Also I’m not putting this in for everyday but assume that I spent time in the casino everyday…)

 

All the food was great. We both had the filet which was cooked perfectly. The shrimp in the shrimp cocktail were huge. I can’t think of anything negative in regards to the meal.

 

Wednesday, Day 4 – Bermuda (Finally!)

 

I was excited as we pulled into port. I was glad to see land and to go to a place I have never been. First thing off the ship, we bought a two day transportation pass.

 

The transportation in Bermuda is fantastic. The ferry is every half hour to Hamilton. Busses run every fifteen minutes. This was great. We took the ferry to Hamilton and hopped the number 11 bus to the Swizzle Inn. The plan was to go to the Crystal Caves and then have a swizzle or four after…

 

The Crystal Caves are beautiful but you really only need to do one which we found out the hard way. Our guide for the Crystal Cave was engaging and seemed like he loved doing what he does. It was 83 steps down into the cave but the steps are broken up. It is beautiful. The Fantasy Cave is pretty too but is 88 steps straight down with no breaks. These stairs are STEEP. And as the gentleman in front of us noted, if one of us falls down we all go down like dominoes. Both caves are similar but Crystal is definitely the only one that I would walk down to see again.

 

The Swizzle Inn was low key and at that point we just wanted a cold drink. The food was surprisingly good as well and worth the price. The $10 dollar small bites aren’t that small. We shared a flatbread pizza, which came with a salad, from that menu as well as a junior nachos that came from the larger menu.

 

We took the bus back to Hamilton and walked around a bit before taking a bus, not the ferry, back to the dockyard. It was longer, but we wanted to see where our stop the next day would be.

 

Thursday, Day 5 - Bermuda

 

Today we went to the Coco Reef Resort. For $59 per person, you are basically given the run of the resort (beach and pool), given a towel and you also receive a two course meal with either a glass of wine, beer or soft drink. Coco Reef is part of Elbow Beach. This was the highlight of Bermuda for me. I loved being in the ocean and sitting in the pool overlooking the ocean.

 

This resort is just a ferry and bus or just bus ride away from the Royal Navy Dockyard.

 

Back on the ship, we had dinner at La Cucina. I know this specialty gets some mixed reviews but I have never had a bad meal there. I had the spaghetti carbonara which was excellent.

 

Friday, Day 6 – Bermuda and Sail Away

 

We decided to stay and visit the areas around the dockyard today. After a bit of souvenir shopping in the Clock Tower Mall we went to the Frog and Onion for lunch. Lunch prices were comparable to most Manhattan touristy places. The fried pickles were awesome and I got a souvenir glass with my beer.

 

Back on the ship we were treated to a sail away party on FedRetired’s aft balcony hosted by Nalagh. Again, cannot say thanks enough for this event. It was fantastic spending more time with all these great people we had met on this cruise.

 

After the party, we went to Savor for dinner and then on to Rock of Ages. RoA is one of my favorite Broadway shows. This cast should be applauded after this performance. The narrator injured his leg within the first 10 minutes of the performance. I was sure he was not coming back. You could tell he was in pain when he fell to the stage. After waiting for 15 minutes, he was rolled back onstage in a wheel chair. As he stood to continue the performance he was given a rousing standing ovation by the audience. The cast was able to pick up where they left off, and if you had never seen this play, you would have never known the changes the cast made in regards to staging. Props to this cast with their dedication and ad-libbing talents.

 

Saturday, Day 7 – At Sea

 

Today was an exciting day at sea as we were meeting up with our fellow roll call people for different activities. Well I had planned to do all the activities, but more on that later…

 

First up was the Waterfront Food Crawl. Kylenyc graciously organized a tasting at the various food places along the waterfront. We shared sushi, dumplings and a lobster roll. The food was all good but the lobster roll was definitely a highlight.

 

I was supposed to attend the Martini tasting with the rest of the group but the casino beckoned and I ended up wasting several hours there instead. From what I was told by my cousin and from what I could hear at the table I was sitting at, it was a great time.

 

After the martini tasting, everyone was going to the Svedka Ice Bar. Again, that darn Texas Hold’em table had me trapped in the casino. :eek: It sounded like a blast though and I will definitely hit that up on next year’s cruise.

 

Sunday, Day 8 – Back home :-(

 

The ship sailed a bit late into port but once docked everyone seemed to be getting off the ship fine with one issue. The elevators that we used left us off in the middle of the line of people getting off. We did not mean to cut the line but there was nowhere else to go. A long red velvet rope was separating us from getting to the back of the line. I do fault NCL for this one. On the Getaway in March, we encountered the same issue but there was NCL personnel standing at the elevators, directing anyone who got off the side blocked by the rope around to the end of the line.

 

Overall…

 

Overall this was a great trip where I met fantastic people. They were so fantastic that I booked the same time next year by myself because some are going on this cruise again.

[kba1988]

I'm with you so far! Great review 👍👍

 

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

[Scott2.0]

Great review, thanks for posting. I was on the same sailing. The RoA injury was crazy, huh? Really impressive how after a short intermission they picked up right where they left off. I agree, the cast was awesome and their subtle ad-libs made the show.

[meatball_nyc]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you guys had a great trip :)

I know we will be back on Breakaway to Bermuda next year, too.

Cheers!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[Nalagh]

Great review! I think this was one of my favorite cruises ever because of the wonderful people on the roll call! :D

[JuneauMe]

Great review!!!! It was a fantastic cruise!!! I didn't get to the Frog & Onion, so we will hit it on the next cruise if you are up for a drink ;)

The sail away party was so cool, we had to treat ourselves to an aft balcony.

It's not a penthouse like Fedretired & I'm nowhere near as organized as Nalagh, but we can gran a few cocktails & "pretend" it's cool, LOL!!!

Can't wait to go again

Donna