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Breakaway Feb 14-21 2016 Review: DOS H2 (16102)

eagle92

By eagle92,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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xcell

xcell

Posted
Posted (edited)

Don't the pools have a chair/lounger in the middle? Any pics?

 

Oh and when you get to the disembarkation part of your review. ..could you let me know if they escorted haven guest off the ship to speed up the process? Thanks...can't wait to read and see the rest of your review. ..

 

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Edited by xcell
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dexddd

dexddd

Posted
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Can't wait for the rest of your review. I'm trying to hold my h4 upgrade from a balcony from my wife and kids. But alas, once we do the check in they will figure it out....

 

Quick question...the mini fridge....are items free to use in that? Or charged expense?

 

Did your kids like the haven's pool...I saw pictures and it looks like you can pretty much do nothing in it....

 

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Can't say what they will have in the H4 - maybe someone else can. In the H2 there wasn't any small bottles of booze or candy or things like that. In that room you get unlimited in room bottled water and soda plus 3 bottles of booze. Anything (other than supposedly one bottle of water and the suite sparkling wine) would be charged in a H4.

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SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

Posted
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It's only the Owner's Suites, Deluxe Owner's Suites and Garden Villas that get their fridge replenished of sodas, juices and water which are complimentary. They also get 3 bottles of liquor and 6 for the Garden Villa.

 

Great review! I was in the starboard DOS on Breakaway a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

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huyzee

huyzee

Posted
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Can't wait for the rest of your review. I'm trying to hold my h4 upgrade from a balcony from my wife and kids. But alas, once we do the check in they will figure it out....

 

Also plan on surprising my GF. Going to tell her that I got a perk from Cruise Critic to be able to check in with Haven guests. Then maybe have a note in my passport for the person to check us to not say anything about the haven or our room and that it's a surprise, and to have the butler not mention anything either. If we have to listen to the announcements from our concierge, I'll just tell her none of that applies to us and to play along until we can leave to go to our balcony room :rolleyes:

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hansolosmom

hansolosmom

Posted
Posted

Looks great eagle!

I like the attitude with the kids, when ours were little they'd spend most of their time with us. We spent a lot of time together at the pools on cruises. Sad to say they have reached that agewhere they don't want to spend as much time with us anymore, so enjoy it while you can.

 

Looks like to was a great time

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hansolosmom

hansolosmom

Posted
Posted
Don't the pools have a chair/lounger in the middle? Any pics?

 

Oh and when you get to the disembarkation part of your review. ..could you let me know if they escorted haven guest off the ship to speed up the process? Thanks...can't wait to read and see the rest of your review. ..

 

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

I'm sure eagle will get to it, but if you look at nklhaus' review she has pictures of the pool area.(or you can always Google pictures) There's one pool that has a couple loungers in it, It's a few inches deep and the loungers don't move. Then there's another pool, it's not very big and it's 3 or 4 ft deep.

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eagle92

eagle92

Posted
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Posted
Don't the pools have a chair/lounger in the middle? Any pics?

 

Oh and when you get to the disembarkation part of your review. ..could you let me know if they escorted haven guest off the ship to speed up the process? Thanks...can't wait to read and see the rest of your review. ..

 

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

Yes - they do - pics are coming I promise. :-) Just going to take me a couple of days as I go thru the entire review.

 

And disembarkation was a breeze...from the time we were escorted from the Haven Lounge to the time we were across the street two blocks down near the Intrepid, with baggage checked and left outside the night before, was a total of 15 minutes.

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eagle92

eagle92

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We got up pretty early in the morning and decided we would spend the day both at the Haven pool (it was too cold and too windy to do anything else outside, not to mention all of the outdoor facilities were closed anyway) and explore the ship.

 

We went to the Haven restaurant for breakfast and would end up there every morning for breakfast.

 

The food there was excellent and we tried most of the things on the menu.

 

Each morning I would have either the seafood eggs benedict (my favorite which I had almost every morning), traditional eggs benedict (had once), salmon frittata (had once), and the steak and eggs (had once).

 

My wife had the three egg omelette or the seafood eggs benedict.

 

Kids always had the French toast or the waffle which we would spread with nutella.

 

There was also a breakfast bar where we would have cereal, fresh fruit, toast, milk, etc.

 

After we were pretty much famished we made our way back to the room to change and hit the Haven courtyard for some rest and relaxation...

 

Key Takeaway

 

The Haven restaurant, we found, to be much better in quality than the standard fare at the other restaurants...there was never a problem with getting seating, even on disembarkation day when it was pretty much completely full. We would have breakfast here every morning then head out for the day from here.

Edited by eagle92
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ecbs23

ecbs23

Posted
Posted

How far in advance are the cabin upsells usually available? Right now I am in a mid-ship balcony but am interested in an upgrade to the Haven if I can get a decent deal. My cruise isn't until September.

 

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

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eagle92

eagle92

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Posted
How far in advance are the cabin upsells usually available? Right now I am in a mid-ship balcony but am interested in an upgrade to the Haven if I can get a decent deal. My cruise isn't until September.

 

 

 

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

 

 

I proactively called at 17 days out. Based on everything I've read you could start calling at about 3-4 weeks, but the better deals will be in the 1-3 week range. Obviously your mileage will vary.

 

 

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lauren0309

lauren0309

Posted
Posted

I'm enjoying your review so far. I will be on the Breakaway in September. It will be my first time going on a cruise out of New York and first time on NCL.

 

Just wondering, do I need to reserve shows online before I board the ship? If so, when am I supposed to do that? Same thing for restaurant reservations also?

 

Looking forward to reading more of your review and seeing the pics.

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eagle92

eagle92

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I'm enjoying your review so far. I will be on the Breakaway in September. It will be my first time going on a cruise out of New York and first time on NCL.

 

Just wondering, do I need to reserve shows online before I board the ship? If so, when am I supposed to do that? Same thing for restaurant reservations also?

 

Looking forward to reading more of your review and seeing the pics.

 

I booked 90% of the stuff in advance. Probably needed now more so than in the past given that the Specialty Dining Package is getting offered pretty much across the board so you have a lot more people with those packages than in the past.

 

You can always adjust when you get on board but better to at least have something so that you are not stuck with times that don't work for you.

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eagle92

eagle92

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Lazy Day at The Haven Sanctuary.

 

This is where we would spend most of our days. Protected from the elements we were able to lounge all day and enjoy some real rest and relaxation.

 

There is also a sauna (behind the right hot tub) and a small spa room (behind the left hot tub) that is dedicated to Haven guests so that they can get spa treatments here without having to leave the Haven. Here is the spa prices menu. (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49246189&postcount=35).

 

They also always have coffee, tea, water, snacks like cookies, banana bread, M&Ms, gummy bears, etc. Also a limited menu of wraps, burgers, etc that we enjoyed poolside as well as drinks from the bar.

 

One of my kids is one of those who is a bit of a picky eater and they would accommodate our request for chicken tenders as well.

 

One note is that the second deck was always a little warmer than the lower deck.

 

Also, given the wind the sun deck was almost never open or it was too cold to really use. Even with that and the Haven being sold out we never had a problem getting a lounger or loungers.

 

Just a note that in these pictures the Hot Tubs are closed, but they were opened up by late morning.

 

As I said and will say again...it was worth. every. single. penny. :-)

 

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Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited by eagle92
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  • 2 weeks later...
LALAFRANCE

LALAFRANCE

Posted
Posted
Sorry folks. Work week got hold of me. Will be adding more this weekend.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

Thanks for the great pics. I noticed that there were tables in the pool area, can you get lunch there?

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