Boarding experience - NY to Bermuda on Breakaway

[Beebosmom]

We're leaving on 5/21 from NY to Bermuda on the Breakaway. Would love to hear anyone's experience at the pier. Does the "arrival time" slot you select on the NCL check-in page get you an earlier boarding position? What time do they actually let you board the ship? How big is the waiting area (enough chairs?) Is it worth getting there early vs. just before ship boarding. Thanks!

[Barb Nahoumi]

We didn't board the Breakaway in NYC, but the Gem. Our taxi got us there at 11:00, and about 40-45 minutes later, we were having lunch in the MDR. It was a good experience.

[DebQ5]

I can only tell you our experience in July 2016. We had an early boarding time (can't remember what time but one of the earliest), but arrived even earlier. There were only a few people in the terminal. We were on a quest for VIBE tickets and wanted to do everything we could to maximize our chances. There were 6 of us, and we split up and spoke to every employee we could find (nicely of course!) to see how things might go. At one point we were allowed to start a line to go through security. We were quite excited about this, as we were first in line. Our group got split up going through security.

 

Immediately after security we proceeded to the check in line. Here is where we were handed our boarding numbers. My group of 3 got boarding #5, which I was pretty happy with knowing that Suites and CAS board first, but our 2nd group of 3 (right behind us but in a different line) got boarding group 17. We knew that we all had to be present to get VIBE tickets so this worried us. Here's where we got a bit aggressive and the 2nd group approached the person handing out the tickets in our line (twice) and eventually got a #5 boarding ticket.

 

At this point we were shepherded to a seating area that corresponded to our boarding ticket. They try really hard to keep the middel area clear, but of course, people are milling around trying to figure out what is happening. I don't remember the exact time, but I feel like we saw the suites/CAS areas boarding around 11:00 or so... Now everyone starts to get antsy and the milling about increases, as do the attempts to usher people back to the seating areas.

 

Once again, we became a bit more aggressive with one of our party heading towards the far end of the terminal to see what was happening there. She called us to say that the people there said we could board right then. Although this seemed odd, off we went to join her, and sure enough we were ushered through to where they scan your cards. At this point, we got held up as the scanners weren't working, and I want to say they started calling some boarding numbers in the main part of the terminal, but we were on our way pretty quickly when they fixed the scanning issue.

 

I knew exactly where the Vibe passes were sold, so we basically ran (walked really fast, tried not to be pushy) to that spot and I believe we got numbers in the 40's... phew!

 

If you're not trying to get Vibe passes or aren't in a huge hurry I wouldn't worry about just waiting for your boarding number to be called. It all goes pretty smoothly.

[Doitforlove]

I can only tell you our experience in July 2016. We had an early boarding time (can't remember what time but one of the earliest), but arrived even earlier. There were only a few people in the terminal. We were on a quest for VIBE tickets and wanted to do everything we could to maximize our chances. There were 6 of us, and we split up and spoke to every employee we could find (nicely of course!) to see how things might go. At one point we were allowed to start a line to go through security. We were quite excited about this, as we were first in line. Our group got split up going through security.

 

Immediately after security we proceeded to the check in line. Here is where we were handed our boarding numbers. My group of 3 got boarding #5, which I was pretty happy with knowing that Suites and CAS board first, but our 2nd group of 3 (right behind us but in a different line) got boarding group 17. We knew that we all had to be present to get VIBE tickets so this worried us. Here's where we got a bit aggressive and the 2nd group approached the person handing out the tickets in our line (twice) and eventually got a #5 boarding ticket.

 

At this point we were shepherded to a seating area that corresponded to our boarding ticket. They try really hard to keep the middel area clear, but of course, people are milling around trying to figure out what is happening. I don't remember the exact time, but I feel like we saw the suites/CAS areas boarding around 11:00 or so... Now everyone starts to get antsy and the milling about increases, as do the attempts to usher people back to the seating areas.

 

Once again, we became a bit more aggressive with one of our party heading towards the far end of the terminal to see what was happening there. She called us to say that the people there said we could board right then. Although this seemed odd, off we went to join her, and sure enough we were ushered through to where they scan your cards. At this point, we got held up as the scanners weren't working, and I want to say they started calling some boarding numbers in the main part of the terminal, but we were on our way pretty quickly when they fixed the scanning issue.

 

I knew exactly where the Vibe passes were sold, so we basically ran (walked really fast, tried not to be pushy) to that spot and I believe we got numbers in the 40's... phew!

 

If you're not trying to get Vibe passes or aren't in a huge hurry I wouldn't worry about just waiting for your boarding number to be called. It all goes pretty smoothly.

 

What a way to start vacation. Too much stress for me to get VIBE! Wish they allowed you to pre book it to save from aggravation of worrying during embarkation.

[DebQ5]

What a way to start vacation. Too much stress for me to get VIBE! Wish they allowed you to pre book it to save from aggravation of worrying during embarkation.

 

As much as I don't want to advertise the greatness of the VIBE, so that it doesn't become incredibly popular, it was SO worth it. It's like child birth (maybe not quite that bad), you forget all about it when you hold that baby (frozen mudslide while sitting on a lounge chair watching New York go by while you look up to see all the crowds around the railings. :)

[Doitforlove]

As much as I don't want to advertise the greatness of the VIBE, so that it doesn't become incredibly popular, it was SO worth it. It's like child birth (maybe not quite that bad), you forget all about it when you hold that baby (frozen mudslide while sitting on a lounge chair watching New York go by while you look up to see all the crowds around the railings. :)

 

I believe that! :') We opted for spa passes - if only there was a bar!!