NCL Breakaway Baltic Cruise Review July 13, 2018

[nycfa]

Also on the island was a submarine you could tour:

 

IMG_1694 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_1696 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

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View looking towards the museum from the sub

 

IMG_1692 by Sis, on Flickr

 

At this point its getting busy and we are hot and tired so we made our way back to the ferry dock. I checked the schedule I had taken a snap shot of and we hustled back to make the 12:20 ferry:

 

Untitled by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

We made our way back to the ship easily and here is my PSA......BRING BAND AIDS. This trip involved blisters :')

 

Me applying first aid upon our return before heading to buffet for lunch:

 

Untitled by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

And here is my second PSA.....Please Please Please.....do NOT throw food at the Seagulls on Sail Away.

 

First: It's bad for the birds. It's not good food for them.

 

Second: Guess where all that food ends up?

 

IMG_1712 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

Yup, all over my balcony. We actually were getting HIT with it as we stood out there. It's rude. They even commented how they were hitting people but it didn't stop them. Ugh! Seriously people??? :rolleyes:

[njkate]

And here is my second PSA.....Please Please Please.....do NOT throw food at the Seagulls on Sail Away.

 

First: It's bad for the birds. It's not good food for them.

 

Second: Guess where all that food ends up?

 

IMG_1712 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

Yup, all over my balcony. We actually were getting HIT with it as we stood out there. It's rude. They even commented how they were hitting people but it didn't stop them. Ugh! Seriously people??? :rolleyes:

UGH the downside of cruising, there are bound to be jerks on board

[nycfa]

Stockholm, Sweden

 

When I booked the cruise we were docking in Stockholm but later on NCL changed all the bookings to Nynashamn. Anyone booking before the change was offered "free" transportation into Stockholm to tour on your own.

 

After seeing so many of the Getaway cruises end up in Nynashamn last season I decided to play it safe and book a tour who would come and get me regardless of where we ended up in Sweden. :')

 

I did receive a letter in stateroom saying we qualified for the free transportation and to check in with guest services as space was limited. Since we booked a tour thru TJ Travel we did not follow up on the NCL offered transportation.

 

Nynashamn was once a tender only port but they put in retractable floating docks for cruise ships (Thought some do still use tenders as we saw when we returned later in the day with what I believe was a P&O ship).

 

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Departure time for our tour was 9:00 am so we were off the ship by 8:30 to meet the tour Our guides name was Christie and soon we boarded a coach bus for the 50 min ride to Stockholm. The bus was nowhere full especially in the back where each of us took a row to ourselves and there were still empty rows left

 

IMG_1717 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

Soon we arrived and stopped at city hall for a photo stop

 

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Our Guide

 

IMG_1721 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

We did receive headsets for this tour however no one in my family cared much for the earpieces. They didn't seem to fit the ear well and made the guide difficult to hear at times. My kids ended up using their own headphones which they said helped somewhat but another issue was the guide's microphone seems to keep falling away from her mouth when she spoke which also added to the difficultly hearing. Not the end of the world but just made following along with the history and such difficult at times.

[nycfa]

We then made our way to the Vasa Museum. Honestly the lines here are crazy and if you aren't with a tour group it has to be a long wait to get in!!

 

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Family Vasa Photo :')

 

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The lines to get in as we were leaving:

 

IMG_1734 by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

Next we made our way to Gamla Stan aka Old Town. Our guide walked us around a bit then left us in the main square with some free time to grab something to eat or shop before continuing the tour of Gamla Stan

 

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Grabbing a bite to eat and I somehow got my headphones stuck in the strap of my purse (13 year old to rescue again! :*)

 

IMG_1739 by Sis, on Flickr

 

Lots of ships in port makes for a busy Gamla Stan:

 

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A little shopping:

 

IMG_1744 by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

Filling up the water bottle before meeting up the Guide again for further walking tour thru Gamla Stan then meeting up with our bus.

 

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One last photo stop on the bus before heading back to port. Selfie with someone taking a selfie

 

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Heading back to the bus for the ride home. Our guide stayed in Stockholm.

 

 

IMG_1766 by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

Breakaway docked at Nynashamn with the floating dock next to it:

 

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Our favorite towel animal of the trip!

 

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Another late sunset:

 

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[nycfa]

Last Sea Day

 

Everyone slept in but me of course! I was up around 7 and went for coffee and relaxing at the Garden Cafe. It was a bit breezy and cool but as the day went on it warmed up nicely!

 

The kids missed breakfast but made an early lunch then we headed to the Captain and Officers Q&A

 

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The kids went off afterwards to do their own thing while my husband gave the ropes course a try

 

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My husband actually went out and took this photo twice....he realized he gave the guy the wrong room number :') So he went back to do it again. Needless to say we had to buy it!

 

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[nycfa]

After my husband finished the course we went back to the room and found the kids and talked the 13 yr old into trying. I decided to be brave and give it a try myself. :o

 

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At the first beam and to my right being straight down to the ocean I kinda wondered what the heck I was thinking doing this

 

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Beams were easier then anything that was a rope:

 

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[nycfa]

It was also pretty windy....check out my hair!

 

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About half way thru my daughter was "done" so we made our way back to the start to go back down. We are happy here cause the stairs down are right there now. :')

 

Untitled by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

This is MUCH needed Sea Day of relaxing after a cruise like this....other then the ropes course we were pretty much people of leisure. I also worked on finishing up packing to have our bags outside our door by 11 pm.

 

Around 9 pm ish we pass under the Big Belts Bridge which connects the Danish Islands of Zealand and Funen. Use to only be ferry service. If you have ever set sail out of NYC it is like the Danish Version of the Verrazano Bridge.

 

IMG_1927 by Sis, on Flickr

 

 

IMG_1928 by Sis, on Flickr

 

IMG_1929 by Sis, on Flickr

[nycfa]

Too soon our cruise was coming to an end!

 

After much research and internal debated I decided to purchase the NCL Cruise Transfers to the Airport prior to departing on our cruise. Taxis are sometimes an issue at the port. Some reports say there are plenty of them....some reports say up to an hour wait. I decided skip the stress and just take the NCL bus and call it a day! It was $25 per person so $100 for the 4 of us and its about a 45 min drive to the airport.

 

We had received a letter and our bag tags (Brown 2) the night before stating we would be called to get off the ship around 8 am.

 

Before 11 pm we put out all the luggage minus our backpacks and anything we needed in the morning (Don't forget to leave out clothes! :'))

 

One of the nice things with the NCL transfer you don't have to collect your baggage at the pier. It's taken direct to a the airport and placed in a large white tent where they drop you off, you collect it and make the short walk over to the terminal. Luggage carts are available there and lots of folks to help direct you.

 

FYI regardless of how you get to the airport or hotel or where ever you are doing there is NO CUSTOM in Copenhagen when the ship arrives back into port. Yup you just walk right off!

 

In the morning after breakfast at the Garden Cafe we went back to our stateroom to wait for the call for Brown 2 which came around 7:30 am. We made our way off the ship with the sad final ding as security swiped our key card. :(

 

We walked out to the buses to the airport which they just fill as pax arrive and once it's full the send it on its way to the airport. We were the last 4 pax on our bus so we left as soon as we sat down.

 

It was a Sunday morning so traffic was quite light and we arrived at the airport quickly.

 

We made our way over to Terminal 2 where you could check in at a Kiosk if you hadn't already done so. We asked and found out where the Delta check in would be and what time it would open....3 hrs prior to departure which was at 1:30 pm so 10:30 pm. We had 2 hrs to kill.

 

We went out the side entrance in the shade with our luggage (the check in terminal was warm and crowded). We made a little camp and hooked up to the Airport Wifi and waited..

 

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[storkrn891]

I am loving your fantastic review. You have confirmed that I chose right with TJ tours. I AGONIZED for weeks as to which tour would be the best. Now for a few quick questions. Most important, did you go to the ABBA museum in Stockholm?!! I'm on the fence regarding a hop-on-hop-off tour in Stockholm now after reading about the long lines to get into the museums. How far away is the port from Stockholm? Did you need any currency in any of the ports? (I've read that SPB doesn't take CC).

[nycfa]

About 10:20 am we saw the Delta Check In had been set up so we made our way over and managed to be one of the first in line. After answering security questions and showing our passports to the personal in line we made our way to the luggage drop.

 

We checked in our bags and made our way to security. Security was busy and it took awhile to get thru, Shoes can stay on but liquids and electronics must be pulled out separately.

 

Now depending on where you are flying to you may or may not have to go thru passport control. Flying back to the states we did have to go thru passport control which involved another line which again was quiet long!

 

So watch your time so you don't have to run to the gate if the lines are long at passport control.

 

Soon we made our way to our gate and boarded the plane:

 

Real Looks of Sadness to go home :')

 

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Our Ride:

 

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Our Goofy Family Shot on Board:;)

 

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[nycfa]

I am loving your fantastic review. You have confirmed that I chose right with TJ tours. I AGONIZED for weeks as to which tour would be the best. Now for a few quick questions. Most important, did you go to the ABBA museum in Stockholm?!! I'm on the fence regarding a hop-on-hop-off tour in Stockholm now after reading about the long lines to get into the museums. How far away is the port from Stockholm? Did you need any currency in any of the ports? (I've read that SPB doesn't take CC).

 

 

We had a great time with TJ and highly recommend them!

 

ABBA Museum: No we did not. It was not included in the tour we took

 

HOHO Bus in Stockholm: One did come to the port to collect pax as I saw it BUT it's a 50 min ride to Stockholm plus the lines were super line everywhere we went Honestly with out a tour getting into museums is going to be a challenge. The tour groups had a separate entrance.

 

Currency: I used a credit card (Visa) everywhere. The only place us used local currency was Berlin for our lunch. SPB took CC everywhere we went. My husband did buy a soda at a stand outside Catherines Palace and they took his american dollar no problem.

[sns1009]

Loved your review! Thank you!

[Clay Clayton]

Thanks for all the details on your cruise. We leave on 9/8 for BA’s 9/14 departure. Now that you’re back home what are your thoughts on what to do? What not to do? Things you wished you’d taken or things you wished you hadn’t. In other words advice for Us future Breakaway Baltic Cruisers!

 

Thanks again!

 

 

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[Moulshree]

Does the ship sail past the little islands i.e Stockholm archipelago even when it docks in nynashamn port. Really hope it goes past those islands it will be lovely to watch. Have booked for next year. The ship is supposed to dock in Stockholm but it seems it does not mostly. Thanks in advance

[morry2121]

Great review nycfa! Thank you for taking the time. One question...where did you go to get the non NCL tour disembarkation tickets for SPB? Guest services? Thanks!

[storkrn891]

Great review nycfa! Thank you for taking the time. One question...where did you go to get the non NCL tour disembarkation tickets for SPB? Guest services? Thanks!

Check out "shore excursions" on tripadvisor...there are a bunch of different types and they will tell you if they cover they cover the visa.

[Mia63]

Thanks for a super review. Were on the 27th August sailing and can't wait. We're also staying at the wake up in Copenhagen and your photos confirmed my fears on how small it is and that the bed is up against the wall! Hate that. Will have to suck it up for one night I guess!

[morry2121]

Check out "shore excursions" on tripadvisor...there are a bunch of different types and they will tell you if they cover they cover the visa.

 

I have our Visas, I am referring to getting off the ship after the NCL excursions leave.

[fabnfortysomething]

Great review nycfa! Thank you for taking the time. One question...where did you go to get the non NCL tour disembarkation tickets for SPB? Guest services? Thanks!

 

 

 

Not OP but just got off Breakaway today

Guest services or box office will provide you with disembark letters which are coded on keycard however no one checked and from the lines forming to get into theatre never mind being seated Nd then led out row by row that took an hour

Then another hour to get through immigration

After 9.30 it was to be open disembark where didn’t have to pass through theatre and if had to do it again I would do that option and leave ship once the scrum was over

Second day was easy

 

 

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