PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE BREAKAWAY

[funji1]

We have not cruised NCL in almost 20 years but decided to book last minute for December.  (We have cruised many other cruiselines in that time)

 What is the earliest time we can arrive at Port Canaveral ?  We are scheduled for a 10 am shuttle from our car parked in Cocoa.

Is the MDR food that bad that we should upgrade and pay for specialty dining?

Are there nightly shows in the main theater in addition to Six and Burn the Floor?

We are hoping to find a few bars with live music besides Howl with the moon.  Is that possible?

Thanks in advance for all your help !!   I LOVE CC and all the advice.

[kpjb]

Going on the Breakaway next week for the first time, so responding as per experience on the Getaway...

 

MDR food is fine.  Others will tell you different, I've never had anything that has been bad, but if you don't like it they'll take it back and bring you something else.  The menu rotates daily, so you don't need to repeat dishes.  There's plenty variety.

 

There will be a couple.  A comedy show with all the ship's comedians, a variety show with kids, and some game shows, IIRC.

 

Yes.  There will be bands playing daily near the Atrium bar and also in Syd Norman's Pour house and at times near the pool.

 

First time out of Canaveral for us too, so I'm no help on that one.

 

[HuliHuli]

38 minutes ago, funji1 said:

What is the earliest time we can arrive at Port Canaveral ? 

You may arrive at Port Canaveral anytime you wish, but you may not check-in until your selected/assigned check-in time from your on-line check-in process.  Look again at your reservation on NCL.com and download your "edocs" to confirm that time.

[funji1]

 Thanks for your feedback HuliHuli and KPJB !   I usually think that people who have a positive experience are less likely to post than those who did not enjoy themselves.   But, everyone has different opinions.

I would love to hear your report on the Breakaway after your cruise KPJB !

[ready2cruzagain]

1 hour ago, HuliHuli said:

You may arrive at Port Canaveral anytime you wish, but you may not check-in until your selected/assigned check-in time from your on-line check-in process.  Look again at your reservation on NCL.com and download your "edocs" to confirm that time.

 

Hmmm, we don't have a specified check in time...it says Open, so I assume we can go when we want. 

[cruisinmeme]

Did you make any reservations for shows or dinning.  We sailed the breakaway 

June 2 out of miami. With all the negative we have heard , it was all positive for us. We found the dining room food to be great, cabin steward was great and even had towel animals.  

We had not sailed the big ships so the dining reservation thing was new to us.  We used the app and made reservations.  We did not go to any shows so that wasn’t an issue. We are sailing December 8th and march 8th (both on getaway) and i have Akkad reservations made for both cruises.

[funji1]

1 hour ago, cruisinmeme said:

Did you make any reservations for shows or dinning.  We sailed the breakaway 

June 2 out of miami. 

Thanks Cruisinmeme!  It is good to her a postive review.  We have reservations for the two main show, Six and Burn the Floor .

Having been cruising for over 40 years, needing reservations for the shows is new to me.  The third show must be reserved once we are on board.   We have dinner reservations for 2 of the 3 complimentary restaurants and then will decide for the rest of the cruise.  I find it hard to have to pay the rather large surcharge for the Specialty restaurants on top of the cost of the cruise. Just my opinion.

[esm54687]

4 hours ago, HuliHuli said:

You may arrive at Port Canaveral anytime you wish, but you may not check-in until your selected/assigned check-in time from your on-line check-in process.  Look again at your reservation on NCL.com and download your "edocs" to confirm that time.

Just confirming that NCL is now enforcing the "check in times" ?!?  It's been on NCL documents for a couple years now but not enforced. Carnival on the other hand absolutely strictly enforces it

[C cruise]

I have always had a time for check-in on my edocs.... I booked all my dinners ahead of time - and the dinner show Velvet also... I have watched lots of youtube reviews of the breakaway and everyone says the MDR food is really good. I did book speciality restaurants because I liked them on other NCL ships I sailed on previously.. 

[esm54687]

2 hours ago, C cruise said:

I have always had a time for check-in on my edocs.... I booked all my dinners ahead of time - and the dinner show Velvet also... I have watched lots of youtube reviews of the breakaway and everyone says the MDR food is really good. I did book speciality restaurants because I liked them on other NCL ships I sailed on previously.. 

as I mentioned in the post previous to yours..... NCL has had check in times on eDocs for a couple years but its not enforced. 

 

Has this changed? Did they enforce it on your trip? 

[ready2cruzagain]

6 hours ago, esm54687 said:

as I mentioned in the post previous to yours..... NCL has had check in times on eDocs for a couple years but its not enforced. 

 

Has this changed? Did they enforce it on your trip? 

 

Mine doesn't have specific times on my edocs.  It says boarding time: OPEN So I am going to assume this means whenever I want

[esm54687]

1 hour ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Mine doesn't have specific times on my edocs.  It says boarding time: OPEN So I am going to assume this means whenever I want

"open" is actually a time frame....... it means you may arrive at any time. 

 

HOWEVER..... like I have mentioned twice..... NCL does not enforce the check in times. So even if you had 1:00pm you could arrive at 10:00am without issue.

 

and it probably doesn't say "boarding time" because that can change based on ship arrival, terminal operations, etc....... it most likely says "check-in".    boarding and check-in are 2 very different things. 

[Red-Sol]

14 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Hmmm, we don't have a specified check in time...it says Open, so I assume we can go when we want. 

 

In my experiences NCL has never enforced check-in times even if you make them. If you are platinum or higher I don't believe you even have an option to make them. Unless they suddenly have started to enforce those times I wouldn't worry about it at all. 

[funji1]

Thanks once again for your input.  Over the years we have arrived at the port around 10-11 am .  We check in and  get our boarding group number (or not) and then just wait until they start boarding.  It has always been very organized regardless of the cruiseline.   A few times someone has thrown a beachball around and everyone joins in and the party vibe kicks in.   At 72 and 76, we participate in whatever occurs.   I cannot wait to feel the thrill of cruising again in 21 days!

[Greek Boss]

I was just on the Breakaway for the 2nd time on November 3-10 out of Miami. It was a great time. Yes we all had the Specialty Dining Package however there was nothing wrong with the MDR. In the Manhattan Room for dinner they actually had a band playing relaxing music while everyone enjoyed dinner. Just to note that you won't be limited to the Manhattan Room for sit down "semi-fancy" dinners. Taste and Savor are the other "main" dining venues for dinner and they are just as good. The Specialty Dining is great don't get me wrong, but we really only used it because it was included as one of our promotions. As good as it was, it wasn't necessarily something I would go out of my way to purchase if it wasn't part of the free at sea promotion. The entertainment and everything else on the ship was terrific. You are going to have a wonderful time.

[funji1]

GREEK BOSS, thank you for your response.  I feel better getting info from someone who has been on the Breakaway recently.  Many posts about the negative views of a cruise can make you wonder if you booked the right cruise. We have been cruising for at leats 35 years and are cruise ship savvy.  We have dinner reservation at Manhattan and Taste the nights before the main theater shows.     I feel more positive with all these responses !!
Thank you !

[Greek Boss]

6 minutes ago, funji1 said:

GREEK BOSS, thank you for your response.  I feel better getting info from someone who has been on the Breakaway recently.  Many posts about the negative views of a cruise can make you wonder if you booked the right cruise. We have been cruising for at leats 35 years and are cruise ship savvy.  We have dinner reservation at Manhattan and Taste the nights before the main theater shows.     I feel more positive with all these responses !!
Thank you !

No problem! You will have a great trip. I have learned that people are more inclined to write reviews when they had a bad time as opposed to a good one. Let us know how your trip goes!

[kpjb]

Re: check in times, I have always been given an "arrive at" time.  Even if it's not enforced, most people don't know that and it should spread the crowds out a bit on these large ships.

 

However, this Breakaway cruise out of Canaveral I was not given any time frame.  Not sure if that's a Canaveral thing, or what.  Hoping it's not a cluster when we get there.

 

[drvmywifecrzy]

Just off the Breakaway.  Everything was wonderful.  No check in times.  Easy on board in Port Canaveral.  Service was great.  Better in specialty dining.  Plenty to do and money to be won in the casino 

[cmecruise1962]

• Thanks for all the positivity!!  Leaving on Saturday...4 more sleeps!

[kmayoros]

2 hours ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

Just off the Breakaway.  Everything was wonderful.  No check in times.  Easy on board in Port Canaveral.  Service was great.  Better in specialty dining.  Plenty to do and money to be won in the casino 

 

Were there any theme nights?  I think I saw a white night / glow party but anything else we should pack for?

[cliffd64]

9 hours ago, kmayoros said:

 

Were there any theme nights?  I think I saw a white night / glow party but anything else we should pack for?

 

Just off Breakaway...  There was a Glow Party with face andf t-shirt painting, but no other "theme" nights as far as dressing would go.  There is a Caribbean night, and a Latina Night, and 80's night in the Spice H20  that I recall, but not much emphasis on people dressing up outside of what was provided from the crew...  Spice H20 has a party theme on most nights... 

[Niffernay]

5 hours ago, cliffd64 said:

 

Just off Breakaway...  Any chance you know if Leo (solo entertainer) is still on the Breakaway?  We're going in January and really hoping he's still there.  Thanks.

 

[hammermw]

On 11/22/2019 at 3:29 PM, funji1 said:

We have not cruised NCL in almost 20 years but decided to book last minute for December.  (We have cruised many other cruiselines in that time)

 What is the earliest time we can arrive at Port Canaveral ?  We are scheduled for a 10 am shuttle from our car parked in Cocoa.

Is the MDR food that bad that we should upgrade and pay for specialty dining?

Are there nightly shows in the main theater in addition to Six and Burn the Floor?

We are hoping to find a few bars with live music besides Howl with the moon.  Is that possible?

Thanks in advance for all your help !!   I LOVE CC and all the advice.

Just got off of the ship last Saturday. Plan on posting a mini-review, but life has gotten in the way. We did not eat in the MDR so can't answer that question. I will say we loved all of the specialty restaurants that we went to. We went to Teppnyaki, Moderno, Cagney's and La Cucina. Had to roll me out of each of them. We also had dinner at O'Sheahan's one night. I was nervous because of all of the bad reviews I had read about the service, but we had great service. Were in and out in under an hour.

 

There were comedians and a magician in the theater on a couple of nights.

 

The band at Syd Norman's was outstanding. Well, there were two. One was outstanding. The other not so much. The only problem is you need to get there early if you want a seat. They usually had karaoke before the band so we would go watch the karaoke to make sure we had a seat for the band. I feel like they were the best entertainment on the ship.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions while it's fresh in my mind.

[Smong]

On 11/22/2019 at 5:43 PM, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Hmmm, we don't have a specified check in time...it says Open, so I assume we can go when we want. 

Are you in the Haven? We were just in a suite on the Dawn and also had open as our check in time. I thought that was for suite/Haven since they don’t have an actual check in time.