Just off the Breakaway....

[Mrmas]

Today I returned to NYC off the Breakaway following a 9 day cruise with my wife, son (16) and daughter (21) This was our second time on the BA, and our third trip to the Bahamas, the first time being on the Dawn in 2005, remember the rogue wave? I was on that ship. After being on board this ship twice I feel I can give a fairly honest review.

 

Arrival and Embarkation - this was quick and painless. Arrived in NYC via the LIRR to Penn station and grabbed a cab to the west side cruise terminal. Took a bit longer than usual as the west side hwy was backed up. Waited about 20 minutes once we arrived before checking in. We boarded about 12:30pm. After checking out the cabins we headed to the garden cafe for lunch. As expected, it was getting busy pretty quickly.

 

Cabins - we had two cabins, on Deck 11, midship, a balcony mini suite for me and my wife I starboard side and an inside cabin for my kids located across the hall from ours. The mini suite was the perfect size with plenty of room to move about. The Balcony was a bit smaller than what I remembered from 4 years ago but it served it's purpose. The inside cabin was just big enough for the kids. Our cabin steward Yogesh was great and always kept the cabins neat and clean and also respected our privacy.

 

Layout of ship - the layout of the ship was just as I remembered it from 4 years ago with no noticeable changes. The fact that our cabins were mid ship made it easy to access stairs and elevators. The decor was also the same. We often used the stairs as the elevators were usually crowded especially during peak hours. The stairs certainly helped with digesting the food. It took us a couple of days to figure out our bearings and knowing which direction we had to go to get to the various spots on the ship. I credit my wife for figuring out to follow the fishies in the hallway carpet to go forward or go against the fishies to head aft.

 

Food - speaking of food, the Garden Cafe fare was mediocre. Went there for breakfast once and lunch about 5 out of 9 days. We often hit Taste for breakfast. Both Taste and Savor had the same menus. The Manhattan room, the main dining room was often crowded and noisy but we had made reservations about 60 days before the trip which worked out great. The food was good. We ate at 3 specialty restaurants having prepurchased the dining package. Moderno is the Brazilian rotisserie and it was good. Cagneys steak house was also very good, although I expected my porterhouse to be thicker. We saved the best for our last night... Le Bistro. The escargot was delicious as were the veal medallions perfectly prepared. Wasabi sushi was great for lunch, but that was an extra cost. We ate at the noodle bar one night and it too was good. Osheehans had great wings, nachos and burgers for lunch. Overall the food and presentation was excellent in all the restaurants as was the service, with the exception of the Garden Cafe where it was often difficult too find an open table.

 

Drinks - we had the ultimate drinking package which did not include top shelf liquor or bottled water. I'm not a big drinker but I like my single malt every so often.

 

Casino - we don't gamble so all I can say is that it was Smokey.

 

Entertainment - we saw Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages. Pretty much the same skits from 4 years ago. The music from Rock of Ages brought back lots of childhood memories. The comedians were Phil Philosoul and Scott Henry. Never heard of either of them but they were funny and we saw both their PG13 and R rated shows twice. You need reservations if you want to see them in Headliners club. They also do a show in the theater. I just liked the feel of headliners as a real comedy club. The magician Dizzy was ok and entertaining, but nothing special. Mainly card tricks and rope tricks. The hypnotist was good. We saw her comedy act where she hypnotized 15 people. That was funny. There were musicians on the ship who were so-so and played a variety of songs. Nothing special. There were game shows every night in the Atrium. My biggest gripe was that there were lots of passengers in this area and few seats that were constantly taken by the same people. It was a competition trying to get 4 seats together and we often gave up and just stood there. Guest services, the excursion desk and the internet cafe along with the photographer was in this area which made it even more crowded.

 

I should add that this ship was so big that we missed the bowling alley and arcade the whole trip and only walked past it as we disembarked in NYC. I did play chess with my son alot on starboard side deck 8 forward. This was an outdoor set with 2 foot tall pieces.

 

Ports of call - at Port Canaveral we went to the Orlando Eye along with the Seaquarium, not to be confused with Sea world, and Madam Tousseaus wax museum. We ate at uncle julios in the courtyard. We enjoyed this excursion. In Miami, we did the South Beach Art Deco tour and shopping. This was not worth the money in my opinion. We headed to great stirrup cay but did not tender as the waves were too high and the operation was cancelled. Had we gone we would have done the kayak tour. We were immediately credited for this cost. Instead we headed directly to Nassau early arriving around 1 pm on Wednesday and stayed overnight until Thursday evening. Nothing special about Nassau. Just the straw market and souvenir shops. The next day we did the Blue Lagoon beach day which involved a 30 min ferry ride from the pier. The beach was nice, water was crystal clear and warm but it got crowded very quickly. We were given lunch vouchers and were served either a single hamburger, hot dog or BBQ chicken with sides and a drink. We took a 2:15pm ferry back to the ship and spent the rest of the day on the ship just vegging.

 

Weather - leaving NYC in mid February can be hit or miss. When We arrived on the ship on Friday it was drizzling. The first day Saturday was a bit chilly to sit out on Deck but on Sunday the temperatures soared into the 70s which was enough for people to crowd the decks. The return trip on Saturday was chilly in the morning and thick fog all day long into the night. The fog horn on the ship was blaring every few minutes which was initially annoying especially when one is trying to read but eventually we got used to it and understood the reasons for it. The weather in Florida and the Bahamas was perfect and the seas were calm except for Thursday evening as we departed Nassau and headed into a storm which rocked the ship for a few hours. Even on Saturday with the thick fog, the waves were calm.

 

Disembarkation - we did the self assist and carried all our luggage ourselves. It was quick and painless too.

 

Overall we had a nice time on this trip but we will probably not do this same itinerary again. Our goal was to spend time as a family and we did just that. The ship was in very good shape despite it getting caught in the winter storm in January. There were no signs of any flooding or damages anywhere that I saw.

 

I hope this review gives others some insight on what to expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[BirdTravels]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review your cruise.

[Keith1010]

Thani you for the excellent trip report.

 

Keith

[dexddd]

Saw the webcam a couple days back and the thick fog during the day.

[geegee1]

Saw the webcam a couple days back and the thick fog during the day.

 

That was on Saturday, the last leg of our trip. The captain was blowing the horn a lot.

[Mid43]

Nice review thank you.

Do you recall ballpark how much the cab fare was from Penn to the cruise terminal?

I believe you also have to go across the street when you return to pick up a cab back to Penn correct?

 

Thanks.

[jrsegrl]

Lately we have been having the cab drop us across the street also since we travel light.

 

We plan on $15 each way for the cab. The fare itself is between 8.50 and 12 depending on traffic and the rest is tip. 2/2 cruise was a Friday with a lot of traffic so fare came to 13.80 and husband gave him 20 - which is way high but he was nice. trip back 2/16 to Penn was about 12 for the fare.

[Mrmas]

Nice review thank you.

Do you recall ballpark how much the cab fare was from Penn to the cruise terminal?

I believe you also have to go across the street when you return to pick up a cab back to Penn correct?

 

Thanks.

It was $20 from Penn to across the terminal due to traffic. The return from the terminal to Penn was $10 with a tip.

 

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