Breakaway 08/18/18 Fantastic cruise

[njkate]

Just off Breakaway and we had an awesome time.

 

I was lucky enough to win an upgrade bid to a 2 bedroom Haven which worked well for my son, daughter and I.

The ship was full so it was nice to have quiet Haven bar and restaurant at times.

That said I would never pay market value for a Haven suite, I only bid what it would cost to book my son his own balcony cabin as a single.

Our cabin steward Rodrigo was awesome!! We tipped him well for his services.

We really never saw the butler, Seeka, she would drop those snacks off and for the most part we found better snacks at buffet which we would go get and bring back to cabin.

We used the night butler 3 times for room service, the third time the last night so we would see him to tip him.

The day butler Seeka all though we never used her, delivering the snacks is part of her job, she never checked in on us and she left a bad taste. I had put some cash aside for her BUT because on the last night she magically came to our cabin to remove dishes, she had NEVER done that the entire cruise but left dishes for cabin steward and again the morning of disembarkation she came again to remove dishes, she was clearly and blatantly sniffing for a tip, it just left me shaking my head so she got zero, nothing, butler shame me all you want she did not even warrant a $50 tip.

 

Berlin was fascinating, I was really surprised at all the graffiti, I thought NYC was bad.

We booked through NCL, thankfully, as train broke down and we returned to ship two hours late, our guide was great and he was aware of train issues so he did several loops around Berlin stopping for photo ops keeping us on air conditioned bus, rather then us standing on a hot train platform and it was hot in Berlin that day. Of course every tour group has that one token ass and this one did as well. Obnoxious, pompous lawyer from Florida, many of us just wanted to throat punch him as he never shut up, then when waiting for train was grilling the poor guide on who owned the train, who maintained them yada yada. Rumor on ship was he was looking to get a class action to sue, what a joke, breakdowns are beyond anyone's control and happen all the time. It was strange we ended up with an OBC of $18 each, don't know if it was because of this or what but an OBC always is nice.

More to follow

[PelicanBill]

Thanks for the report!

 

Can you remember, or look in your papers, and tell me if the Internet services available on the ship were in the new packaging of Unlimited Social Media, Unlimited Regular Plan, Unlimited Streaming, and mini-plans for 100 and 250 minutes? Or something else?

 

Thanks!

[njkate]

St Petersburg, what a beautiful city. I booked through SPB tours and we unfortunately got a disorganized ding a ling as our tour guide. What they substituted for Catherines Palace, all though interesting was a huge let down.

I don't think her and the driver got on well, they had a few arguments on directions to where at one point he backed up off a freeway ramp back onto the freeway. She had us 45 minutes late to our evening tour.

The evening out like a local was great as was the guide.

Russian immigration for some reason asked my son what he did for a living and when he answered law enforcement they grilled him both getting off ship and getting back on. So between that and the guide we stayed on board second day, none of us wanted to deal with that or the guide for another day, all though she went off on a tirade about Putin and may be on her way to Siberia about now.

I plan on letting SPB tours know and request half refund, doubt I'll get it but will ask.

[njkate]

Thanks for the report!

 

Can you remember, or look in your papers, and tell me if the Internet services available on the ship were in the new packaging of Unlimited Social Media, Unlimited Regular Plan, Unlimited Streaming, and mini-plans for 100 and 250 minutes? Or something else?

 

Thanks!

It was the perk offered, 250 minutes free that we took, didn't look into the other plans. We all took the cell plans mobile passport and had no issue unless at sea.

[njkate]

Before I forget my daughter won at bingo a free cruise for two but before anyone gets excited it amounted to 5 days or less holiday times and spring break times are blacked out as well as the Bliss. It's for an inside cabin max amount pp is $600. taxes, port charges, gratuities not included. So basically it is a $600 credit pp for two as you would be hard pressed to find something below 600 pp, you can but we are not interested in a 4 day booze cruise to the Bahamas.

Edited August 29, 2018 by njkate

[fabnfortysomething]

St Petersburg, what a beautiful city. I booked through SPB tours and we unfortunately got a disorganized ding a ling as our tour guide. What they substituted for Catherines Palace, all though interesting was a huge let down.

I don't think her and the driver got on well, they had a few arguments on directions to where at one point he backed up off a freeway ramp back onto the freeway. She had us 45 minutes late to our evening tour.

The evening out like a local was great as was the guide.

Russian immigration for some reason asked my son what he did for a living and when he answered law enforcement they grilled him both getting off ship and getting back on. So between that and the guide we stayed on board second day, none of us wanted to deal with that or the guide for another day, all though she went off on a tirade about Putin and may be on her way to Siberia about now.

I plan on letting SPB tours know and request half refund, doubt I'll get it but will ask.

 

its a shame you experienced a poor tour guide-we did our second Baltics cruise last month and had great guides and drivers both times

 

SPB seem to be the only tour operator substituting Catherines Palace and I'm not sure why

private/ships tours use a separate entrance to the general public one which looked a nightmare for the lines

A good tour guide will be able to manoeuvre a small party around the crowds

what was the substitute?

 

immigration officials can be very daunting and my husband did choose to stay on board second day but that was because he has difficulty walking and he had overdone it

the rest of our small party of 5 headed back out second day and had a very active day and end of it had a hug with our guide Lisa

 

definitely let SPB know your dis satisfaction with the guide as that will reflect on their reputation

[njkate]

its a shame you experienced a poor tour guide-we did our second Baltics cruise last month and had great guides and drivers both times

 

SPB seem to be the only tour operator substituting Catherines Palace and I'm not sure why

private/ships tours use a separate entrance to the general public one which looked a nightmare for the lines

A good tour guide will be able to manoeuvre a small party around the crowds

what was the substitute?

 

immigration officials can be very daunting and my husband did choose to stay on board second day but that was because he has difficulty walking and he had overdone it

the rest of our small party of 5 headed back out second day and had a very active day and end of it had a hug with our guide Lisa

 

definitely let SPB know your dis satisfaction with the guide as that will reflect on their reputation

Thanks, I will let them know also stating the evening tour guide and the one we had in Helsinki were both great.