Big Apple to Big Easy on the Breakaway Nov28-Dec12 2023 Live

[lepidoptera]

Know the fashion is to start cruise lives early, but I am starting cruise day sitting in the cruise terminal. I love reading them so much I figured I would do one on my cruise. Plus I haven’t heard much on the board about Breakaway recently. If anyone on the sailing wants to chime it with their experiences, that is super welcome!

 

My original plan was to start this thread on my birthday, and then Thanksgiving. But I had Covid at the end of October. Recovered, decided to order a new bedroom set. All that laying around with Covid convinced me I needed a new mattress. Then when I went back to work I got sick again. I’ve recovered from all that illness, but in addition to getting everything ready for the cruise I had to reorganize my bedroom and my spare room. Plus super busy at work. Since I booked the cruise I got a promotion at work, which gives me a ton of year end work. 

 

I am a fairly experienced cruiser on NCL, I’ve actually cruised on them every year since 2017 (including 2020 and 2021). In addition I have done a few on RCL and have another repositioning cruise booked for next year on Celebrity. All but my first cruise on NCL have been solo. In fact a large part of the reason this cruise jumped out at me when I was looking for things last year was it was similar to my first ever solo cruise. That cruise was also on the Breakaway to the Caribbean (Eastern not Southern and Western like this one) however it was round trip NYC. We ended up getting back into NYC super, super late. I got off the ship around midnight. I swore then I would never sail back into NYC again. This sailing from NYC to NOLA allows me to keep my vow and have a long sailing (my favorite) to some new Islands. 

 

Check in was very easy. It took me about 15 minutes from the time I got out of my Uber to be check in looking for a seat. I got to at about 10:45. My check in time was 11:30-12:00 (I swear I did have an earlier check in time originally, but there were all sorts of IT issues with generating my edocs. When they got the link to work the 1 time it did, the check in time was later than what I was planning) but they were not checking times. So ultimately the time didn’t matter. 

 

Currently I am hanging in the terminal. Boarding is delayed “while they do a drill.” I am pretty sure they are having a Coast Guard inspection. My first time sailing on the Breakaway was also right after the transatlantic and there was a Coast Guard inspection, same thing after my TA last year on RCL Jewel of the Seas. Terminal is starting to get full. I am going to put away my Ipad. 

 

[lepidoptera]

And now they have stopped check-in for now. They did say they are having a Coast Guard inspection. I am glad I got in the terminal, hopefully people aren’t waiting outside. 

[www3traveler]

Would not be surprised if they are having a US Public Health Inspection as well.  Very common when returning to the US from the European summer season.

 

Errol Bailey from Jamaica is onboard as the Hotel General Manager.  A true "Gentleman".

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Would not be surprised if they are having a US Public Health Inspection as well.  Very common when returning to the US from the European summer season.

True, but a USPH inspection would not cause delays, or take crew from passenger service, except for a few senior staff.

[www3traveler]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

True, but a USPH inspection would not cause delays, or take crew from passenger service, except for a few senior staff.

Happy Holidays Chief to you and your family.  As always, I pray that all is as well as possible for you and all of your family members.

 

Mandy

[DCGuy64]

21 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Would not be surprised if they are having a US Public Health Inspection as well.  Very common when returning to the US from the European summer season.

 

Errol Bailey from Jamaica is onboard as the Hotel General Manager.  A true "Gentleman".

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Indeed, he IS a gentleman! He was the Hotel GM on our Breakaway cruise (Nov 2-12). He introduced himself at our Cruise Critic M&M, and he gave me his business card. I called him about a minor issue and got his voicemail. He called me back within 3 minutes and apologized for missing my call. Wow. I encourage you to get to know him. He and his assistant Mariah were wonderful to us on the cruise.

[atlanta1234]

NCL disaster once again for boarding. We are OUTSIDE in Freezing weather in a line of 2000 people. Waiting for NCL to repair Cruise Ship WiFi so we can check in 😩. Not the way we wanted to start our journey. 

[www3traveler]

55 minutes ago, atlanta1234 said:

NCL disaster once again for boarding. We are OUTSIDE in Freezing weather in a line of 2000 people. Waiting for NCL to repair Cruise Ship WiFi so we can check in 😩. Not the way we wanted to start our journey. 

Sorry but most of your delay is NOT CAUSED by NCL, but the United States Coast-- full inspection and crew drill.  Done when ships return to the US from the European Season (or on the West Coast-- Far East/ Asian Seasons).

[Sand and Seas]

Yikes!  I feel sorry for those stuck outside.  Hopefully everything will resolve soon and you all will be on your way to warmer weather 😎

[lepidoptera]

Atlanta, I hope you are onboard now. There were announcements in the terminal after they closed the check-in about having Wi-Fi issues. 

 

All public areas, are slammed. But they just announced cabins are readyish. 

[atlanta1234]

58 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

Atlanta, I hope you are onboard now. There were announcements in the terminal after they closed the check-in about having Wi-Fi issues. 

 

All public areas, are slammed. But they just announced cabins are readyish. 

Onboard now and enjoying the ship. 1 1/2 hrs checkin and security but luckily we got inside the terminal before the snowflakes flew. 😀. 

[lepidoptera]

4 minutes ago, atlanta1234 said:

Onboard now and enjoying the ship. 1 1/2 hrs checkin and security but luckily we got inside the terminal before the snowflakes flew. 😀. 

Oooph. That is a long time waiting. Glad you are aboard now. 

[atlanta1234]

2 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Sorry but most of your delay is NOT CAUSED by NCL, but the United States Coast-- full inspection and crew drill.  Done when ships return to the US from the European Season (or on the West Coast-- Far East/ Asian Seasons).

Not sure about any drill but we were told it was a NCL Breakaway WiFi issue. If the coast guard schedules these drills for all returning vessels as you mentioned then NCL should work this unto the embarkation schedule and not have guests waiting while this takes place. 

[lepidoptera]

I’m in my cabin now. I unpacked my backpack but haven’t received my bag yet. 
 

The late embarkation, cold weather and cabins not being ready made it incredibly difficult to navigate the ship. All the inside public areas that I went to were slammed. 
 

Although I always eat in the MDR for embarkation lunch, it was jammed packed and no one could move. The hostess said there was a 45 minute wait. I ended up at the Buffett. That was also very busy and I ended up eating outside. Best food was the Beef stirfry. The Mac and cheese was bad, maybe would have been palatable if it was warmer. By the time I found somewhere to sit in the cold, it was closer to ice cream. 

[lepidoptera]

Errol sounds wonderful. Hopefully I will meet him at the M&G tomorrow. 

[lepidoptera]

Had a busy evening. Went to the solo meet up there were 47 solos there. Met some nice people. I did not go to dinner with them, I am consciously trying to shift my dinner later. Due to my work schedule changing I am starting and ending work later and having difficulty switching my body clock for dinner and bedtime.

 

After the meeting went and played welcome aboard trivia, did pretty well 13/20. While we were playing the ship started moving about 2 hours later than scheduled. I went up stairs to watch and take some pictures of the ship sailing under the bridge.

 

On my way back down, I decided to check and see if my bag had been delivered. It had so I unpacked pretty quickly. Not loving the set up of the closet. I feel like the bar in the closet is too low, my maxi dresses are pooled on the ground. Also it is kind of frustrating since you can either access the hanging or the shelves but not really both. I think I will try and get a picture of it in the light before the cruise is over.

 

Since I pack pretty light and unpack quick, there was still time to make the 19:30 show in the theatre. It was a singer, and the daily made it sound like he would be singing a variety of songs. But it was 1 or 2 musical theater songs, and everything else was pretty much a Micheal Buble cover. Or a cover of Micheal Buble covering another artist. Spell check isn’t liking how I spelled Buble, but I don’t care enough to look up the spelling. Not my cup of tea and I don’t think I was alone. A woman across the aisle walked out and left her sleeping husband behind.

 

Then I hit Taste for dinner. No wait for dinner, and I got a table for my e-reader and I right by one of the windows. Went pretty quickly took just about an hour. I ordered the crab wonton, the bruschetta (one of my top 2 favorite dinner apps on NCL) and none of the rotating mains sounded good to me, so I ended up with the rotisserie chicken. Loved the bruschetta, liked the chicken-had a ton of gravy. Did not enjoy or finish the wontons. I forgot to take a picture of the menu for dessert, as soon as I saw there was Lava cake I knew what I was getting. Forgive the lighting on the pictures, the table had very poor lighting.

[lepidoptera]

 

[lepidoptera]

[lepidoptera]

Slept well, but woke up a few times. Decided to get up a little bit before 8. I’m not a huge breakfast person. Had oatmeal with some berries and bacon. 
 

Afterwards I went to the Meet in Greer in Cagney’s. Had a very nice time chatting with several people. Bill and his team of helpers did a very good job running it. There was a large batch of officers attending including Errol. Apparently the precipitating event for the delays yesterday was an IT issue on the government’s side delaying the full crew immigration check. 

[DCGuy64]

8 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

Slept well, but woke up a few times. Decided to get up a little bit before 8. I’m not a huge breakfast person. Had oatmeal with some berries and bacon. 
 

Afterwards I went to the Meet in Greer in Cagney’s. Had a very nice time chatting with several people. Bill and his team of helpers did a very good job running it. There was a large batch of officers attending including Errol. Apparently the precipitating event for the delays yesterday was an IT issue on the government’s side delaying the full crew immigration check. 

Looks yummy! I love oatmeal. I noted your comment about not being a huge breakfast person. It made me chuckle. People often use that phrase to mean (obviously) that the speaker isn't especially excited about or into a particular thing. The one that always cracks me up around the holidays is when someone says "I'm not a huge Christmas person," because it always makes me picture an enormous Santa Claus. 🎅🤣

[lepidoptera]

Did some knitting in Shakers bar. Managed to finish a repeat of my chart. Now off to lunch in the MDR. 

[lepidoptera]

59 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Looks yummy! I love oatmeal. I noted your comment about not being a huge breakfast person. It made me chuckle. People often use that phrase to mean (obviously) that the speaker isn't especially excited about or into a particular thing. The one that always cracks me up around the holidays is when someone says "I'm not a huge Christmas person," because it always makes me picture an enormous Santa Claus. 🎅🤣

That’s funny about the Santa Clause, I will think of that in the future. I am a huge Christmas person, but am not decorating this year what with being in this cruise. Not sure when I will be able to get my shopping done or my baking.

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

That’s funny about the Santa Clause, I will think of that in the future. I am a huge Christmas person, but am not decorating this year what with being in this cruise. Not sure when I will be able to get my shopping done or my baking.

That was us last December: we got off a TA on December 16 and I had only 9 days to prepare. I think I ended up buying our tree literally on Christmas Eve!

[lepidoptera]

Lunch was yummy. There was a small line to get in. While waiting a lady in front of me was insistent that the menu they had posted was breakfast. Readers, this is “all breakfast” to her:

[lepidoptera]

I had the scallops (lovely as usual), Ceaser salad and the Monte Cristo. I’ve had better Monte Cristo on NCL but over all enjoyed it. Finished with the chocolate orange cheesecake.

Afterwards I spent about 2.5 hours in the thermal suite. Lots of saving of loungers. After I was done in the saunas and tubs I got a longer for the last hour and the whole time I was there the only occupants of the loungers around me were towels and books 😂. No photos of the spa this time went, phone was in the locker. 
 

Since I forgot my conditioner, I rinsed off in the Spa and planned to take a real shower back in the cabin. But when I got there my steward had just started servicing my room. Ended up just getting dry shoes and taking off for a while and reading my book. 
 

Just got back to the cabin a bit ago and had to charge my phone. Decided not to shower, since didn’t want to go to dinner with wet hair. Have reservations at La Cucina. Plan to get a drink before dinner.