My Breakaway Bermy Cruise - Sharing a wonderful trip!

[LrgPizza]

I’m not much of a writer, but here are some of my notes, thoughts, and just a handful of pictures from my June cruise on the Breakaway to Bermuda. We are a family of 3: Me, my husband, and our 14-year-old son. This was our 6th NCL cruise, our first time going to Bermuda, and our first time on Breakaway. With NCL, we have previously sailed Spirit, Getaway, Epic, and twice on Escape. We booked over a year ago and had the UBP included and extra passenger sail free. We were in an angled balcony cabin, which is our usual. I will break this apart into separate sections/headings.

 

Travel & embarkation

 

We flew into La Guardia the morning before the cruise. We used Dial 7 car & limo service. For $45 total, the 3 of us and our 4 suitcases were driven to our hotel. We stayed at the Manhattan Times Square. This hotel is a great location, and it was an easy walk to the ship the next day pulling our bags behind us.

 

We arrived at the port at 9:00am on Sunday, and were about 20th in line waiting for security to open. There was a separate area for large groups, and a separate line for CAS. Shortly thereafter a group who had booked something called “My Time” magically appeared out of nowhere and these 150 to 200 people were moved ahead of us in the line. When they finally opened, we went through security and were given boarding group 6. We were on the ship by 11:30 AM. We ran to guest services and received passes 34 and 35 for Vibe.

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by LrgPizza

[LrgPizza]

Dining

 

For the first time ever, we elected not to eat in any specialty restaurants this cruise. We didn’t want to deal with reservations, and we were tired of feeling like we were missing out on the great MDR menus. We had dinner in the Manhattan room 6 of 7 nights. Service was impeccable, and we never had a bad meal. I think it’s safe to say our specialty dining days are over, unless perhaps we choose it again as a promo. (If we do, we would likely use it for lunches instead of dinners at places like Margaritaville, Wasabi Sushi, and/or Pincho Tapas, depending on the ship.) The longest we had to wait for a table was 15 minutes, and that was the last night of the cruise when we requested a table near the dance floor to watch the Burn The Floor dancers at 9PM. (We got it after arriving at 8PM to make our request.)

 

The one night we didn’t have dinner at Manhattan Room we dined at Shanghai Noodle Bar. This was our only bad experience. The food was fine, albeit a bit bland for my taste. My husband was given a glass of water as we waited to place our order, and the server said he’d immediately return with mine. He never did. Two other times during the meal I asked for water and was never brought any. Also, my husband and I each selected 2 menu items. He was served his before me, and although he tried hard to take his time, he was completely done eating before my food even arrived. As they finally served my entrée, they cleared his bowls.

 

We tend to not like to waste our time eating, so we had breakfast and lunch in the buffet every single day. We never had difficulty finding seating, and we were thrilled with the choices. At breakfast, I usually got an omelet. Like usual, the omelet stations at the back of the buffet never had a line, even when the lines at the front had 8+ people. (I shouldn’t post that, because I never want it to change!) We did head up to Margaritaville once for breakfast, but when I saw no omelet stations, I went back downstairs. As others have mentioned, smoked salmon is gone from the buffet, but if you simply ask, they gladly provide you with as much as you want.

 

Entourage Teen Club

 

When the club opened at 8:00 PM the first night of the cruise, our son waved us good-bye and said, “See ya in Bermuda!” That would have made him very happy, but we required him to have at least 2 meals a day with us. I’m not exaggerating when I say he spends every single minute in Entourage that he can. He even made sure to only visit the ropes course during times the club was closed so that he didn’t miss anything. He absolutely loves the free time, the scheduled activities, the staff, the friends he makes, etc. I learned on this cruise that Entourage has many activities that get the kids out of the club moving around the ship, such as contests that resemble large hide-n-seek type games. The next time you see what appears to be a group of unsupervised kids roaming around or hustling throughout the ship, you might consider that they may be participating in an organized activity through the teen club and not merely being troublemakers. Who knew?!

 

I was a bit surprised that there seems to be a push to get boys and girls to couple up. I mean, this can happen on its own without them having to push it, right? For example, during the getting-to-know-you activity the first night, they went around the room one by one telling the kids to give the following 4 facts about themselves: Name, age, where they are from, and if they are single. Seriously? They also did a game show that was like the tv show The Dating Game. As the mom of a 14 year old boy, I truly had no issues, and he thought it was a lot of fun. Moms of 13 year old girls might not want their kids playing a dating game with 17 year old boys though. It just seems weird that the ship would push this.

Edited June 14, 2017 by LrgPizza

[LrgPizza]

Vibe Beach Club

 

Since our son likes to ditch us, we choose to spend our time in Vibe. We had previously done Vibe on Escape, and are happy we did it again, despite some differences. The hot tubs on Breakaway are covered, but the one on Escape is not. We did prefer the big cantilevered hot tub on Escape over the two small ones on Breakaway because of the amazing view it allows. Also on Breakaway there are the private clamshells that get in the way of any forward view from the hot tubs or from the lounge chairs behind them. I’m glad Escape did away with these.

 

You won’t necessarily avoid chair hogs in Vibe. There were people dropping off personal items to save chairs in the morning and not returning until much later. In addition to lounge chairs, there are also large sun beds. (These did not exist in Vibe on Escape). Some people would save a couple lounge chairs but also save the sun bed in front of them. When this happened, you would sometimes arrive in Vibe to find every lounger and sun bed in use. There should be plenty for all 70 guests, but that’s not always the case. One afternoon we arrived and simply hung at the bar as there were no available loungers or sun beds. However, most the time we had no problems finding a place to plant ourselves.

 

There is food available for delivery to you in Vibe. This is one of the few places on the ship you can still get lobster.

 

Leon is the head bartender at Vibe, and while he was friendly and a good bartender, he appeared to let his assistant Reinzi do most of the work. Service overall was great. Any second you didn’t have a drink in hand the bartenders or server were asking you what you needed. At one point, some guests who didn’t belong tried to sneak in and Leon was all over it, checking his master list and kicking them out.

 

At the beginning of the week there was a very loud group who would cuss at the bartenders, yell and cuss at each other, and try as hard as they could to disrupt everyone. They took a large Bluetooth speaker and set it atop the hot tub to blast their music for everyone. It was the most presumptuous thing I’ve ever seen. Whereas they considered themselves the life of the party (their words, not mine), everyone else was talking about how rude they were. By the end of the week they realized they weren’t the only people there, and had toned it down and seemed to get along with everyone.

 

 

[LrgPizza]

Bermuda!

 

We loved, loved, loved Bermuda. We’ve already booked another cruise to return in order to see more of this beautiful place. We were there during the America’s Cup semi-finals. We paid for general admission to the America’s Cup Village on Wednesday. Racing ended up being canceled that day due to high winds, but they let us return the next day on the same tickets. Wednesday evening we attended Harbour Nights in Hamilton and got to see the Gombey dancers and do a little shopping of local arts and foods. We purchased some amazing habanero jam from the “Bermuda Jam Factory” that actually came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. LOL! (By the way, it’s delicious and I recommend it, regardless where it’s made.)

 

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

Thursday we awoke bright and early and headed to Horseshoe Bay. We spent just a short time there at the beach before walking the beach path towards Warwick. We stopped in several amazing coves along the way. Unlike Horseshoe Bay which was pretty crowded, most of these small beaches were completely deserted. I think one beach had 2 people on it, and that was it. I definitely know where we will set up camp next time! We walked back to Horseshoe and hopped a minibus back to the ship at around noon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

I lost track of how many different coves we encountered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

On Thursday afternoon we returned to the America’s Cup Village where we had a prime viewing spot to watch the finish line. We stayed for 5 of the 6 races. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, and we are so thrilled to have had this opportunity.

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

On Friday we did a snorkeling excursion with Native Son II catamaran. We booked directly through the company’s website prior to our cruise and saved $20 per person over the rate charged by NCL. We were on the same catamaran with the NCL excursion. We went to a cove where we could snorkel in some caves and jump off large rocks. It was very nice, but not many fish to see if that’s what is important to you. They made rum swizzles on the boat, and we swizzled and guzzled to our hearts’ content.

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

Entertainment & nightlife

 

We attended theater performances of Burn the Floor and also Rock of Ages, and we loved both! I had previously seen Burn the Floor on Getaway, and I believe this one is different, although I couldn’t swear to it. Regardless, I love this show. The talent of the singers and the energy of the dancers is mind-boggling. Don’t sit in the first couple theater rows or sweat flying off the dancers might hit you. (True story).

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Rock of Ages. The music & actors were great, and the story was much funnier than I’d expected. While the show is playing, you can find a character from the show (the rocker Stacee Jaxx) wandering and stumbling up and down the ship’s forward stairs, completely in character and costume, with a bottle in his hand, interacting with cruisers. It’s hilarious! If you encounter him be sure to talk to him. Those sitting in the theater have no idea this is going on during times he leaves the stage. We just happened to stumble upon him one night, and then looked for him again subsequent evenings. This show is definitely raunchy and for older kids and adults. I wouldn’t want to explain to my son about a man getting fellated by a llama. (Did you miss that? Up in the corner of the stage?)

 

We stopped in to Howl at The Moon for a short time all 4 nights they played. The performers this cruise were Billy somebody, Cal from Calgary (who was great), and Rhonda Hughes. We’ve been on previous cruises where the players got so stupid drunk they could hardly perform. Apparently NCL has cracked down on this, as no drinks were ever on the piano, and one of the performers declined a shot stating that they aren’t allowed to drink during the show. This did not stop Rhonda from apparently getting drunk or stoned one day while in Bermuda. We ran into her off the ship, and that evening she was so completely wasted she could barely hold her head up, slurring her words, etc. She was a disaster, and the Billy dude made it obvious he was not happy about it. As on previous cruises, the last night of the cruise turned into a big jam session in Howl with musicians from other shows joining the piano players. I’ve seen this happen a lot, and if you love music, I recommend stopping in the last night to see something special.

 

Regarding comedy, we hate Second City. Despite this, we decided to give it a shot. We lasted about 10 minutes, before leaving. I really wish they would ditch Second City in lieu of the national renowned and touring stand-up comics from Levity comedy that NCL provides on Getaway and Escape.

 

Where I noticed the biggest difference between Breakaway and our beloved Escape was the nightlife. I hate to say that there were a couple evenings when we were somewhat bored. These were the times that I missed the District Brewhouse, which always was another option for upbeat, rocking live music. While there are piano players scattered around the ship, the music always seemed to cater to the older crowd (sorry!) and not-so-much the party crowd. We also missed the District Brewhouse in the mid-afternoon when looking for somewhere for drinks. The entire cruise we never found the outside bar at Shakers to be open, and there are only 5 bar stools there anyway. The outside bar at Maltings was open, but it’s so overwhelmingly smoky that even someone like me who usually isn’t bothered was bothered. We usually settled on the inside bar at Maltings. They make a mean Honey Lemonade with Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Whiskey. Later in the evening, this was a good spot to sit and watch the NBA championship series on one of 2 TVs at the bar. We also enjoyed having drinks at the Mixx bar. The bartender, Robert LaBilles, recognized us from when he previously worked at Vibe on Escape! He is one of the nicest guys and is quick with a good drink recommendation if you are stumped.

 

We didn’t attend any deck parties. We stopped by the Glow party for a minute to see if it was different than we remembered, but no. It still consists of the cruise director screaming in a microphone, “Everybody dance! Let’s party! We are on the Breakaway! Get up and dance!” etc. over and over again while lights flash and people jump around. I’ll never understand the appeal of this, but it was packed so clearly it’s a hit.

 

We found a spot to stand and watch the Ultimate Dance Clash contest in the Atrium which is one of my favorites, and it didn’t disappoint. I highly recommend this if you are lucky enough to get a spot where you can view it, either in the Atrium or the upper level balcony which is part of O’Sheehan’s.

[LrgPizza]

Disembarkation

 

We got up early to sit on the balcony and watch the sail in to New York. It was a beautiful morning!

 

We received priority disembarkation. We met in the theater and were walked right off the ship. At that point, we merged with the regular line waiting to locate our bags and proceed through customs. From the point we left the ship until we were standing on the curb was about 30 minutes.

 

We took an Uber for $11 to Schwartz luggage storage on 37th Street. We dropped our suitcases there for $10/bag. We then walked back right back to where the ship was docked in order to tour the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space museum. After that, we had lunch and wandered around midtown and Times Square for the next few hours. Eventually we made our way back to luggage storage to claim our suitcases. We dragged them a few short blocks to the Port Authority bus terminal where we hopped on the Newark Airport Express bus to Newark airport for our flight home ($17 for each adult, $11 for our son – student rate). Our entire day went so smoothly that we will plan it the same in the future. I highly recommend Schwartz for storing luggage, and I would definitely take the bus again if flying out of Newark.

 

This was another amazing cruise. The staff were always smiling, happy, and eager to please. The food was great. The weather cooperated. I really have no complaints and I can’t wait to go again!

 

 

[SailBadtheSinner]

Thanks for a great review; wish there were more pics.

 

SBtS

[LrgPizza]

Thanks for a great review; wish there were more pics.

 

SBtS

Thanks! I took over 350 pictures, but it's such a PITA uploading them to Photobucket and posting them that I cut it short. LOL!

 

By the way, the info you provided on the Bermuda forum was invaluable to me in planning this trip. I appreciate it so much. Thank you.

[Gershep]

Enjoyed your review. We love Bermuda and the Breakaway.

[easyboy]

Those were great photo shots! Thanks for sharing.

[sharonann24]

Thanks so much for such a solid review. We just booked this cruise two days ago and will be on the July 16 sailing. This is also our first NCL cruise, having sailed previously on Princess, RC and Holland America. I appreciate the dining and show information, and booked a few dinners, since it was part of the package. We (husband and I) are traveling solo and enjoy sightseeing, the beaches and the whole cruise experience. I am also loving the fact that since we are from Connecticut that we can drive straight to the pier and avoid flying this time. Quick question for dining attire. I know NCL is casual, but do men generally wear slacks in the evening in the restaurants? I am still researching this.

[LrgPizza]

Quick question for dining attire. I know NCL is casual, but do men generally wear slacks in the evening in the restaurants? I am still researching this.

 

Le Bistro and Ocean Blue are the only restaurants that require slacks on men at dinner. I didn't really pay attention to what people were wearing, but my husband wore nice khaki shorts and a polo to dinner each evening and said he never felt or looked out of place.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[JayS]

 

Travel & embarkation

 

 

 

Shortly thereafter a group who had booked something called “My Time” magically appeared out of nowhere and these 150 to 200 people were moved ahead of us in the line.

 

 

 

 

 

MY TA was able to put me in this "MY TIME" group on 2 Breakaway and one Getaway cruise. As you stated I received priority boarding on the Breakaway In NY. In Miami for the Getaway when I mentioned MY TIME the clerks did not know what I was talking about. I boarded with the rest of the regular passengers.

 

There are supposedly other benefits but they are not known by the staff. :(

[LrgPizza]

MY TA was able to put me in this "MY TIME" group on 2 Breakaway and one Getaway cruise. As you stated I received priority boarding on the Breakaway In NY. In Miami for the Getaway when I mentioned MY TIME the clerks did not know what I was talking about. I boarded with the rest of the regular passengers.

 

There are supposedly other benefits but they are not known by the staff. :(

We always sail out of Miami, and I'd never heard of it. We will look into it for our NYC sailing next year.

[njhorseman]

We always sail out of Miami, and I'd never heard of it. We will look into it for our NYC sailing next year.

 

Unless the program has changed it's solely for clients of a specific large travel agency. If you haven't booked through that agency you're not entitled to the program's benefits, which really don't amount to anything much anyway.

[krs10s]

You said you took a mini bus BACK to the ship- how did you get to Horseshoe Bay, and then did you just walk along the coastline to take your beautiful photo's and see these secluded coves? Thanks in advance for sharing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LrgPizza]

You said you took a mini bus BACK to the ship- how did you get to Horseshoe Bay, and then did you just walk along the coastline to take your beautiful photo's and see these secluded coves? Thanks in advance for sharing.

We also took a minibus to Horseshoe Bay. You can't reach all the coves by walking right along the coastline. In some places, you have to follow a beach path (can't miss it) that is back a bit from the water. As you walk along, you'll find access places to reach the coves. We entered one cove, and were able to reach 2 others, but then were trapped and had to backtrack in order to access the main path and continue on our way.

[LrgPizza]

Unless the program has changed it's solely for clients of a specific large travel agency. If you haven't booked through that agency you're not entitled to the program's benefits, which really don't amount to anything much anyway.

I see. Thanks for the info!

[amygutman]

Thank you so much for the wonderful review - great photos and great tips.

I can't believe I went on 3 cruises before I discovered this awesome community on cruisecritic - fellow travelers like you have been invaluable in making our vacation so special.

4 days until our own cruise to paradise....Amy

[BirdTravels]

Thank you for the review, Pizza

[riclop]

Thanks fore sharing.