Live-NCL Breakaway 10/30-11/06/2022-New England/Canada-Club Balcony Suite

[dcipjr]

OK, we're in! I just booked—it's a sweetheart of a deal on an itinerary that we haven't done before.

 

We'll probably do OnPoint as well, since their prices are a bit better than eMed, and we've got extra tests left over. Don't forget, you can apply for reimbursement through your insurance provider if you need additional tests. Proctored tests (for us) were only covered up to $15 per test.

[cruiseny4life]

I'm so close to getting "sick" from work so I can go on this cruise. Just sent the price breakdown to the husband...I don't think he's going to let me. And yes, @graphicguy, I know I just got off a ship Monday. I neeeeeed to go back. 🙂

[graphicguy]

19 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

OK, we're in! I just booked—it's a sweetheart of a deal on an itinerary that we haven't done before.

 

We'll probably do OnPoint as well, since their prices are a bit better than eMed, and we've got extra tests left over. Don't forget, you can apply for reimbursement through your insurance provider if you need additional tests. Proctored tests (for us) were only covered up to $15 per test.

Just booked ONPOINT for 10/28.  I've used them before.  Easy-peezy.  I think it was $15-$16 or thereabouts.

 

I have one COVID test left from the ones sent out via CDC.  Got to check to see the expiry date, though.  Thinking of going to Walgreens to buy another one to "pre-test" before my ONPOINT proctored test.  

[JamieLogical]

29 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Got one more free US provided COVID test left.  Just scheduled my ONPOINT supervised test (onpoint-testing.com).

 

I checked out OnPoint and their instructions say to make sure the test box is unopened.... I only have an open box of a 5-pack of tests left (4 tests remaining), so I don't think I can use that? By the time I spend the cash for a new box of tests and pay for the proctoring, I might as well do eMed....

[graphicguy]

7 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm so close to getting "sick" from work so I can go on this cruise. Just sent the price breakdown to the husband...I don't think he's going to let me. And yes, @graphicguy, I know I just got off a ship Monday. I neeeeeed to go back. 🙂

Sounds like it's going to be a CC kind of cruise.  Might want to book.... 😉

[graphicguy]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I checked out OnPoint and their instructions say to make sure the test box is unopened.... I only have an open box of a 5-pack of tests left (4 tests remaining), so I don't think I can use that? By the time I spend the cash for a new box of tests and pay for the proctoring, I might as well do eMed....

My last box has 4 tests in it.  It's unopened.  But, as you say, they require the box to be opened once the proctored test starts. Not sure how diligent they are about that, as the other time I used them, I opened the box on camera.

 

As you say, better safe than sorry.  I've already paid for ONPOINT.  So, them's the folks I'm using.

[Red-Sol]

19 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Pulled the trigger on this cruise just now.  Not live yet, but will provide pics upon embarkation.

 

Once again doing this solo.  Nice being retired.

 

Going to have to fly into one of the NYC airports.  Just not sure which one, yet.  Working on that currently.

 

Had $420 in FCC left over from a price drop.  The fare itself was a little under $900, all in (including "all for free").  So, subtracting the FCC, fare was right around $450 out of pocket.  But, my TA is picking up the gratuities.  Using my AMEX Platinum, they consider the Club Balcony Suite a "real" suite (albeit, not the Haven).  So, they're giving me $200 OBC plus dinner at LeBistro (and some sort of bottle of wine with dinner).  NCL is giving me another $75 OBC (which might be for being Sapphire Latitudes).  And, another $100 OBC for being an NCL stockholder.

 

Sapphire Latitudes gives me 2 fee specialty dinners.  "4 for Free" gives me two more Specialty dinners.  

 

All-in-all, I'm eating at Specialty Restaurants 5 of the 7 nites.  That works.

 

Pretty good deal!

 

Love end of season cruises.  You take a bit of a chance on the weather being cooler, but get a great fare in return.

You are so close to cracking the code...(where they actually pay you to cruise 😃) Will love following along and all I can say about this is:

[graphicguy]

3 minutes ago, Red-Sol said:

You are so close to cracking the code...(where they actually pay you to cruise 😃) Will love following along and all I can say about this is:

If only.

 

LOL!

 

Probably shouldn't have retired.  The deals are out there.  It is now my life's mission to find them. 😉

 

 

[graphicguy]

Hmmm....

 

$209 to get a Vibe Pass

$300 for a Thermal Spa pass

$1,100 (poor bid) to upgrade to a Haven Courtyard Suite

 

[detroitlions]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I wouldn't say "back to the dark side", as that sounds kind of permanent. I am just making a very brief stop on the dark side. 😋

I was curious why you stopped sailing NCL? I know my wife did a cruise with out me some years ago on Celebrity and did not like it she said the ship shut down between 9 and 10 pm and it was mostly old folks. I will not do another Carnival trip I am platinum on Carnival and NCL. The dining on Carnival I hated. and some of there rules I did not like either.

[dcipjr]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Hmmm....

 

$209 to get a Vibe Pass

$300 for a Thermal Spa pass

$1,100 (poor bid) to upgrade to a Haven Courtyard Suite

 

We were in the Haven on the Getaway on our most recent cruise (Bahamas & FL, Bermuda rudely canceled by Hurricane Earl). It was absolutely lovely as always...but for this one I think we'll sit out the bidding game.

 

We're looking for the cheapest cruise possible this time around, and I think we've found it! Maybe we'll upgrade to a club balcony if the prices drop further, but to be honest I don't think they can go much lower.

[JIMESOPUS]

Welcome aboard !!!

[JamieLogical]

44 minutes ago, detroitlions said:

I was curious why you stopped sailing NCL? I know my wife did a cruise with out me some years ago on Celebrity and did not like it she said the ship shut down between 9 and 10 pm and it was mostly old folks. I will not do another Carnival trip I am platinum on Carnival and NCL. The dining on Carnival I hated. and some of there rules I did not like either.

 

I don't want to hijack the thread, but the straw that broke the camel's back for me was when we booked the Joy out of Montego Bay as part of NCL's "Return to Sea" where they swore up and down that these cruises would 100% be happening and would not be yet another COVID cancelation (of which we had many!) and then Alaska opened up and they canceled the sailings on the Joy to move the entire crew to the Encore and offered us zero compensation.

 

We used up our FCC and a couple of CruiseNexts for a B2B to Bermuda on the Breakaway last Sept/Oct and that was supposed to be my last NCL sailing. For those sailings, I got another example of NCL's poor customer service. The price on the second leg of the B2B dropped by something like $190 per person for my husband and I and we called up expecting 25% of the difference as OBC as we had received for price drops in the past. We were told they would not give us OBC, because the total would be less than $50 per person. The price then dropped even further to where 25% would have been more than $50 and they said they wouldn't give us OBC because we were inside of 15 days from sailing. Meanwhile, I was booked on a Celebrity cruise for the following month. That one, I was sailing solo and the price dropped right around $400 (I was in the Retreat). I called them up and they gave me 110% of the price drop as OBC! Talk about night and day! ~$400 price drop on NCL = no OBC. $400 price drop on Celebrity = $440 OBC.

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by JamieLogical

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't want to hijack the thread, but the straw that broke the camel's back for me was when we booked the Joy out of Montego Bay as part of NCL's "Return to Sea" where they swore up and down that these cruises would 100% be happening and would not be yet another COVID cancelation (of which we had many!) and then Alaska opened up and they canceled the sailings on the Joy to move the entire crew to the Encore and offered us zero compensation.

 

We used up our FCC and a couple of CruiseNexts for a B2B to Bermuda on the Breakaway last Sept/Oct and that was supposed to be my last NCL sailing. For those sailings, I got another example of NCL's poor customer service. The price on the second leg of the B2B dropped by something like $190 per person for my husband and I and we called up expecting 25% of the difference as OBC as we had received for price drops in the past. We were told they would not give us OBC, because the total would be less than $50 per person. The price then dropped even further to where 25% would have been more than $50 and they said they wouldn't give us OBC because we were inside of 15 days from sailing. Meanwhile, I was booked on a Celebrity cruise for the following month. That one, I was sailing solo and the price dropped right around $400 (I was in the Retreat). I called them up and they gave me 110% of the price drop as OBC! Talk about night and day! ~$400 price drop on NCL = no OBC. $400 price drop on Celebrity = $440 OBC.

 

Thanks, Jamie...I think this is a good summation of the kind of craziness NCL was putting us through at the restart.  Had the same experience as you, which resulted in me sailing Celebrity last year.  Loved the line.  Will sail them again.  

 

Right now, they're kind of pricey.

 

And, I had NCL FCC sitting in my account.  Love NCL ships, service, food, entertainment.  Shoreside Customer Service and policies?  Not so much.

 

 

[reeinaz]

14 hours ago, dcipjr said:

We are eyeing this cruise as well...we just got back from a glorious 9 days on the Getaway, but I still have an excess of vacation time left over, and the price is so, so right.

Were you on the Bermuda cruise that didn’t go to Bermuda? I was also. I’m on this one too. I booked a while ago and am getting the runaround with upgrading now that the prices are so low (no single supplement). My original price was pretty good and I get double points, so I’m trying to not be so annoyed by it. 

[dcipjr]

7 hours ago, reeinaz said:

Were you on the Bermuda cruise that didn’t go to Bermuda? I was also. I’m on this one too.

 

I was! We just got off that cruise and promptly booked the Canada / NE cruise.

 

My daughter starts kindergarten next year, so the realization that we’ll be bound by school schedules is setting in. So we’re trying to cruise off-peak as much as we can until then, and take advantage of the great deals to be had.

[graphicguy]

I know I’ll catch grief for this, but here goes.  I have a wedding I have to attend (Nephew/Godson) on 10/29.  So, flying in embarkation day.  Get all of the “guffaws” out of the way now, people! 😉

 

Anyway, here’s the drill….

 

1.  Direct flights only

2.  Earliest flight of the day

3.  Must have a back up flight that will get me to the pier on time

4.  Carry one only so I don’t have to wait around at baggage claim….no chance the airlines lose my bag

 

 

Just booked…..

 

Delta to LaGuardia…leaves Cincinnati at 8:00 a.m., arrives in NY at 10: a.m.  

 

Booked SUPER SHUTTLE for a ride to the pier…..arrive 11:30-ish!!!!

[graphicguy]

This itinerary is port intensive.  So, going to forego any VIBE or SPA bookings this trip.  Plus, I kind of want to see how cheaply I can actually do this trip given I’ve splurged on the last few cruises I’ve taken.

[graphicguy]

Just checked....looks like this cruise is selling out fast.  Only Balconies left, and we're still over a month from sailing.

[JamieLogical]

17 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Just checked....looks like this cruise is selling out fast.  Only Balconies left, and we're still over a month from sailing.

 

Not surprising with with the cheap fare!

[HuliHuli]

On 9/16/2022 at 11:21 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

I checked out OnPoint and their instructions say to make sure the test box is unopened.... I only have an open box of a 5-pack of tests left (4 tests remaining), so I don't think I can use that? By the time I spend the cash for a new box of tests and pay for the proctoring, I might as well do eMed....

Hey @JamieLogical- I thought you quit sailing on NCL.  Are you back now?

[JamieLogical]

10 minutes ago, HuliHuli said:

Hey @JamieLogical- I thought you quit sailing on NCL.  Are you back now?

 

No. My brother and his girlfriend booked this sailing and with my $500 of unspent CruiseFirst and the fact this sailing was soooo cheap, I decided to join them. I don't plan to sail NCL again after this, but I guess you can never say never. My next sailing is with Princess (Panama Canal) and after that, we plan to stick with Celebrity for the most part as I am now almost Elite with them.

[graphicguy]

@JamieLogical  Was thinking back to the last time I used ONPOINT.  I had boxes of COVID tests with multiples in it, too.  

 

While I had opened the box to look at its contents, I didn’t tear the box and didn’t use any of them until I scheduled ONPOINT.  They saw me open the end of the box, but didn’t seem to care/mind that the little adhesive on the box flap was already “unsealed”.  

 

I get using eMed.  But, I used a coupon for ONPOINT and I think the total cost of their proctoring service was somewhere around $15-$16.  So, price was right.  And, I already know NCL accepts the results from them.  Plus, I could use the COVID tests I already own.

 

Just an FYI!

[graphicguy]

Checked this a.m. again, looks like this cruise is officially sold out.  Never seen that before this far in advance of sailing.

[goldmom]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Checked this a.m. again, looks like this cruise is officially sold out.  Never seen that before this far in advance of sailing.

Guess everyone wanted to sail with you!  You started a booking frenzy.  LOL