Just off Breakaway, ask away!

[YankeesFan4Life]

Had a terrific week on the Breakaway from 8/11-8/18 Western Caribbean. 

 

Favorite things -  SID NORMAN'S POUR HOUSE!!!!!!  SHAKER'S BAR (Cursama was our favorite bartender!)

 

Staff was so nice and accommodating, restaurants were great, food was terrific, drinks were spot on!

 

We did practically everything we could have on the ship, saw Rock of Ages, TERRIFIC! Saw Burn the Floor, FANTASTIC!  Saw Wine Lovers the Musical, AWESOME!  Saw Velvet, ehhhhh fell asleep and walked out...

 

The pool situation was interesting.  First sea day was completely packed with 21-30 year old party goers, getting sloshed poolside, wearing very skimpy bathing suits and putting on quite the show....Thought I was on Carnival at first.  Pool was VERY small for the 4000+ on board, which kept me from going to the pool more than 2 times. Spent a few minutes in Spice H2O to get some quiet time in a hot tub, but still saw some kids floating around there with their parents.

 

Entourage teen club was amazing, according to my 15 1/2 year old son, who made a TON of friends!  They did a lot of great activities together, and pretty organized.  The one complaint my son had was that they had a 59 person max, and if he went outside to use the bathroom and someone else went in, he had to wait to go back in.  However, they had a bathroom inside, but for STAFF ONLY....

 

Didn't get to the waterslides or rope course, but looked like a lot of fun.  

 

Entertainment in the Atrium was always fun to stop and watch for a few minutes, while waiting 5 minutes or so at the Atrium Bar for a drink (awesome bloody mary's btw).  

 

Ate at Le Bistro, Ocean Blue and Cagney's and MDR's rest of nights.  Food was terrific!  I highly suggest the hot dog at O'Sheehan's!!  

 

If you want to eat at the Noodle Bar, make reservations the first day, we made that mistake and was not able to go at all...

 

Any other questions....shoot!

 

 

[GeriatricNurse]

Children/kids are NOT allowed in/at SpiceH2O, with or without their parents and this should have reported to someone!  SpiceH2O is an ADULTS ONLY venue!

[YankeesFan4Life]

3 minutes ago, GeriatricNurse said:

Children/kids are NOT allowed in/at SpiceH2O, with or without their parents and this should have reported to someone!  SpiceH2O is an ADULTS ONLY venue!

I agree, but there was nobody there to patrol this...at least at the time

[Kalum]

1 hour ago, GeriatricNurse said:

Children/kids are NOT allowed in/at SpiceH2O, with or without their parents and this should have reported to someone!  SpiceH2O is an ADULTS ONLY venue!

As long as their are 2 or more hot tubs on the Main Pool deck...one for kids too and one adult only and the adults using the kids one and the adults is almost empty...I have no problem if one is using SpiceH2O with kids

Edited August 19, 2019 by Kalum

[rudi_mentle]

2 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

Thanks YankeesFan4Life - sounds like you had a great vacation.   How was Embarkation process?  What time did you arrive and what time were you on ship? And same for Debarkation process, what time did you queue up and what time were you off the ship and on your way?  TIA.

 

[PelicanBill]

What kind of headliner entertainment did you have (shows other than Burn the Floor, Rock of Ages, Howl at the Moon and Syd's) ?

 

Did you find the ship crowded in places other than the pool (buffet, entertainment venues, Atrium, Bars)

[YankeesFan4Life]

1 hour ago, PelicanBill said:

What kind of headliner entertainment did you have (shows other than Burn the Floor, Rock of Ages, Howl at the Moon and Syd's) ?

 

Did you find the ship crowded in places other than the pool (buffet, entertainment venues, Atrium, Bars)

There weren't any other headliner type shows that I was aware of.  I heard of a magician on board, and of course comedians at Headliners (BOOK EARLY, we didn't get to see any).  There were always entertaining shows at the Atrium, some bands at night, some other singers etc. 

 

Regarding crowding, the Atrium got a little crowded when there were shows there, and of course the 2 main pool bars got a little crowded, especially on sea days. And the pool was very crowded.  Besides that, there were always places to go that weren't too crowded.  We almost always found a couple seats at every bar we went to, and the Waterfront was always a great place to hang out and chill.  Elevators got a little crowded after the shows let out, but other than that, never really had an issue with overcrowding, given there were close to 5000 people on board.  If there was another main pool, even side by side like we had on the RCL Adventure of the Seas, it would have been a lot better and spread out.

[Two Wheels Only]

3 hours ago, Kalum said:

As long as their are 2 or more hot tubs on the Main Pool deck...one for kids too and one adult only and the adults using the kids one and the adults is almost empty...I have no problem if one is using SpiceH2O with kids

 

That doesn't make sense. There is no "kids only" hot tub. An adult can use any hot tub. If all hot tubs are full, it still isn't right for minors to enter an adult-only area and use the hot tub that is there.

[* Angela *]

Hey YankeesFan4Life!  What excursions did you take while you were on the Breakaway?  My friend and are taking the same cruise in October and can't wait!

[AK Dreaming]

Was the water feature working in Spice?

[YankeesFan4Life]

4 hours ago, * Angela * said:

Hey YankeesFan4Life!  What excursions did you take while you were on the Breakaway?  My friend and are taking the same cruise in October and can't wait!

In Roatan, we booked a private tour with Rony's Tours. Brian was our tour guide, and he was AMAZING!  Even went as far as to open up his wifi hotspot on his phone so my son could text his girlfriend back home!!!  Took us to amazing places, including the chocolate factory at West Bay, a couple shopping villages, some great photo op sights, a monkey/sloth conservatory and we even were able to set it up to donate school supplies to underprivileged children.  Very inexpensive and worth EVERY penny!  Even took us to a local spot and we actually ate Iguana!!!

 

In Costa Maya, we booked Maya Chan Beach Resort.  American's own it, its was beyond PERFECT!  All the water sports (kayaks, snorkel gear, paddle boards etc) were included.  Also have a nice fresh water pool.  All food and alcohol included! Read their reviews, all 5 star and MANY repeat customers!!!

 

Cozumel, we booked Fishing with Pedro, a private fishing charter on a 20' boat.  He took us to swim with stingrays and then went fishing.  Fantastic day!!!

 

Hope that was helpful!

[BullyLvr]

How was the sea grass at Maya Chan?  When we went in February, it was terrible. Going again in November and hoping for nicer beach time. Maya Chan itself was wonderful food, drinks and service, for sure. 

[Shoppie124]

How crazy was the main decks?

[jbethel11]

You must be 16 years or older to use a hot tub on NCL, do not know why that wasn't enforced. @Two Wheels Only @Geriatric Nurse @Kalum @YankeesFan4Life

[Two Wheels Only]

5 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

You must be 16 years or older to use a hot tub on NCL, do not know why that wasn't enforced. @Two Wheels Only @Geriatric Nurse @Kalum @YankeesFan4Life

 

Not all hot tubs are adult-only....

 

Children under 16 require adult supervision at all times while using the hot tub. - LINK

 

During the day Spice H2O is adult-only including the hot tub.

[jbethel11]

2 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Not all hot tubs are adult-only....

 

Children under 16 require adult supervision at all times while using the hot tub. - LINK

 

During the day Spice H2O is adult-only including the hot tub.

Yes, you are right about the Spice H20. Adults only at all times during the day.

[lexxfield]

Is Shanghai's Noodle Bar open for lunch?

[newmexicoNita]

16 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

That doesn't make sense. There is no "kids only" hot tub. An adult can use any hot tub. If all hot tubs are full, it still isn't right for minors to enter an adult-only area and use the hot tub that is there.

You are right. We will be on the Breakaway in Oct. I think we will have some kids as a few schools throughout the country have no school the week of Oct 13th due to fall break, but I don't expect a lot of them or I hope there are not. The only time we have sailed the Breakaway 1/2 the ship was kids and they did pretty much what they wanted, adults only areas or not. It seems the parents don't care so why should the kids abide by the rules? 

[newmexicoNita]

11 hours ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

In Roatan, we booked a private tour with Rony's Tours. Brian was our tour guide, and he was AMAZING!  Even went as far as to open up his wifi hotspot on his phone so my son could text his girlfriend back home!!!  Took us to amazing places, including the chocolate factory at West Bay, a couple shopping villages, some great photo op sights, a monkey/sloth conservatory and we even were able to set it up to donate school supplies to underprivileged children.  Very inexpensive and worth EVERY penny!  Even took us to a local spot and we actually ate Iguana!!!

 

In Costa Maya, we booked Maya Chan Beach Resort.  American's own it, its was beyond PERFECT!  All the water sports (kayaks, snorkel gear, paddle boards etc) were included.  Also have a nice fresh water pool.  All food and alcohol included! Read their reviews, all 5 star and MANY repeat customers!!!

 

Cozumel, we booked Fishing with Pedro, a private fishing charter on a 20' boat.  He took us to swim with stingrays and then went fishing.  Fantastic day!!!

 

Hope that was helpful!

We did Rony's as well on our last cruise that went to Roatan. They are probably the nicest people ever to work with and have a darn good tour for the money. I would highly recommend them. I feel the same about Maya Chan. Also great people and good tour. 

[rudi_mentle]

YankeeFan4Life, sounds like you had a great cruise!  You probably missed my questions because i screwed up the quote. Was originally going to quote you, then decided i hate when others quote a longer post when it adds no value. So I cut it down to couple sentences, then decided it made no sense and cut it all but was left with my post looking like your quote... I digress as i just created a long post that added no value... the questions i had -

How was Embarkation process? What time did you arrive and what time were you on ship? And same for Debarkation process, what time did you queue up and what time were you off the ship and on your way?  TIA.

[YankeesFan4Life]

10 hours ago, BullyLvr said:

How was the sea grass at Maya Chan?  When we went in February, it was terrible. Going again in November and hoping for nicer beach time. Maya Chan itself was wonderful food, drinks and service, for sure. 

 

The sea grass was there, but not terrible.  David told us originally that it had improved.  The smell was minimal and didn't bother us at all.  

 

On a different note, I NEVER said there were kids IN THE HOT TUB in Spice H20....They were walking around there with their parents, and I was only in there for about an hour for the whole week.  Please people, don't take it as if the kids club had an excursion to Spice H20, or if Entourage had a party there...Blown WAY out of proportion.

[YankeesFan4Life]

10 hours ago, rudi_mentle said:

How was Embarkation process? What time did you arrive and what time were you on ship? And same for Debarkation process, what time did you queue up and what time were you off the ship and on your way?  TIA.

 

We got to the port about 10:00 and got on the ship around 11:30.  It seemed like that was the height of check-in.  Not a terrible process.  Left our bags outside with the porters (insisting on tips, btw), walked into the terminal got on a line with approx 40-50 people, waiting for what must've been at least 50 terminals open to check in, so that actually went quick.  We checked in, got our key cards, then had to wait in the waiting room.  They had just called boarding group 4, and we were group 7, so that took about a half our, herding people to one escalator.  We got on the ship on I think deck 7, and then had to walk all the way to the left (I think aft) to the aft elevators.  That walk seemed like it took forever.  From there, we were on the ship, ready to rock and roll.  Keep in mind, that while in port, you need to pay taxes on your drinks until about 5:00pm when you get into international waters.

 

Debarkation was a little more hectic.  We had transfers, so they gave us red tags, and had to be off the ship at 8:20am.  We were told to go down to deck 7, and US and Canadians with passports were to go deck 7 forward.  We walked down the stairs from deck 12 to deck 8. They roped off the stairs down to 7, so we then had to wait with the rest of everyone else to get the elevator 1 level down.  Do yourself a favor, take the elevator from whatever deck you're on to deck 7!!!  We were then herded in line through the casino, then around the casino into O'Sheehan's, then off the ship from there.  The US CBP were face scanning for passport holders, easy as can be.  Went down to the baggage claim, and ALL the bags were lined up by color!  Then it was a line outside.  We took the big bus to the airport and we were off, back to Jersey! 😞

[Jasonmom]

Thanks for doing this.

[davy jones]

On 8/20/2019 at 6:31 AM, lexxfield said:

Is Shanghai's Noodle Bar open for lunch?

It is open for lunch on sea days.  You will need a reservation for lunch.  It fills up quickly.

[danak13]

So glad to hear you had a nice trip on the Breakaway.  I feel like there are a lot of negative reviews out there which is worrying me for our Nov cruise.  So how crowded was it really?  We are not big pool people so less worried about those crowds-more concerned about an overall feel.