Cruise to Nassau/Florida

October 20 - 27, 2013

(Norwegian Breakaway: Cabin DB 10290 H/C)

Port of Calls

Photos

October 19th Drive down Ramsay, NJ

We started around 8:30AM this morning and when we got to the border we were stuck there for almost an hour, could not believe all the people that were going to the US today.  We had a very nice day for travelling, mostly sunny.  We are now at our hotel resting and looking forward to boarding the Breakaway in the morning and meeting up with our friends.

October 20th New York City

We left the hotel around 10AM and we were at the port about 40 min later.  When we were parking, we met our friends Vicki and Bob.  It is a long walk from the parking lot at the terminal to the terminal.  We left our suitcase with the porter and proceeded to check-in.  We were able to check-in faster as they had a line for the handicap.  Once that was done, we boarded the ship.  We did not need a ticket but most needed to wait until their number was called.

Vicki and I made our reservations that needed to be done then we all when to the Savor which is a complimentary dining and we are served at our table.  We still had our carry-ons so this was a great choice for us instead of trying to tackle the buffet.  Our rooms were ready at 1:30pm.

Since our sailaway was scheduled at 3pm, our muster drill was at 2:30pm.  Our station was in the Manhattan Dining Room.  It was like a zoo in there.  You just hope, in a real emergency, you would be taken care of.  We did not need our life jackets, so someone showed us how to wear it then we were sent on our way.  Let me tell you, the elevators were super busy it took awhile for us to be able to get on the elevator.

I was having my friends over to our stateroom for sailaway, we have an handicap accessible, which on Norwegian are double the size of a regular stateroom of the same category.  We gathered in our stateroom, we had not seen most of our friends since last year.  There was Kathy & Pete, Bette & Frank, Vicki & Bob and us.  It was nice to see each other, chat and watch sailaway.  Vicki then invited us all to her stateroom, which was an accessible AFT balcony.  This way we could see both sides of the Hudson River.  Today was a clear sunny day so my photos are nice and clear.

We met Kathy & Pete, Bette & Frank for dinner at the Manhattan dining room at 6:30pm, we had a good time chatting with our friends.  We all enjoyed our meal in the Manhattan dining room, we had good service.

Showtime: Welcome Aboard Showtime which will give us a little idea of the entertainment that is on this ship.

The entertainment & specialty restaurant have to be reserved ahead of time we were able to do most of it before the cruise.  We added a couple more once on board.  Most of our reservations will be with Vicki & Bob.

October 21st at Sea

We woke up this morning to a beautiful day, seas are some calm we can hardly feel the ship moving.  We ordered room service for breakfast.  We have a few activities organized through our Cruise Critic Roll Call.

At 11am, our roll call met at Cagney's Steakhouse for our Meet & Greet.

At 1pm, our roll call had a Cabin Crawl this is where some of the people on the roll call open their cabins so we can get to see different type of cabins.  We have offered ours so they can see what an accessible stateroom looks like.

At 3pm, our roll call had a Slot Pull, where each participant puts in $15 for 5 pulls.  Any winnings are shared by the group.  Well did ok we walk off with $17 each.  One of our members won $500 so that helped our group.  It is a lot of fun, lots of cheering.  I also won $60 for the group.  The prize was a bottle of sparkling wine for the top 3.  I was the second winner.

We took a break and sat out on our balcony for awhile.  It was very beautiful out, cloudy but nice and warm.  It was still a smooth sailing.

We had reservations at 6pm for Teppanyaki (Japanese) and the price for this specialty restaurant was $25pp.  We went there with Vicki and Bob, the chef was funny while cooking our meal in front of us.

Our show reservations tonight are for "Burn the Floor" which is in the Breakaway Theater.  This show last an hour of non stop dancing.  It is like watching the pros on Dancing with the Stars.

October 22nd Orlando Beaches - Port Canaveral, FL

Today we woke up to a beautiful party cloudy day 26C/79F.  We had lunch at the Uptown Grill.

My son picked us up around 1:30pm to spend the day with him at his new home.  We were going to go out for supper at the Olive Garden but it was getting late so he drove us back to the ship.  We will be staying with him in January and February pre and post cruise.

The terminal is a very long walk so be prepared if you ever drop by here.

We decided to have supper at the Manhattan Dining Room.  It was just the two of us.

After dinner we came back to our room to watch the sailaway from our balcony.  We left the port about 9:20pm.  It is pretty seeing the buildings on the shore all lit up.  We stayed on our balcony for awhile it was so nice and comfortable.

October 23rd Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

Today was a beach day we go woken up at 8:15am calling the first people to the tenders it was announced in the staterooms.  After that you could get the announcements on channel 22 which is the view from the bridge.

It is very warm here today, 28C/83F.  There was a shower I could see it from my balcony going to hit the island.  It was a quick one.

We had lunch in the Garden Café Buffet. 

After lunch I left Norman to wander the ship while I took the tender over to the Great Stirrup Cay to take some photos.  Very nice layout, lots of lounge chairs but mostly in the sun.  Not too much shade there.  I ventured over to the Island Buffet to see how it was, looked very good.  There are lots of picnic tables under a roof so it is cooler and you are protected from the sun while you are eating.

Second City "Totally At Sea" was a comedy spiced up with a bit of cruising humour.  A comedy revue that blends together classic Second City sketches with material specifically written by and about folks that are spending their weeks aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.  It was held in the Headliners.

We had reservations at Le Bistro ($20pp) and we will be dining with Vicki & Bob.

At 10pm the ship holds a Fireworks Display of the AFT of the ship.  We watched it from Vicki's balcony but we could have watched it from our balcony since we are on the Port Side.

At 11pm we went to Late Night Comedy Magic with Michael Finney, this act is for adults only.  This comedian is very funny and I thought it was clean for an adult show.  Lots of innuendos...

All the shows and specialty restaurants need to have reservations you can do it from home, before you leave, or once on the ship.  The shows are all free except for the ones that serve a meal like the Cirque.  Also the Dysfunktional Family Reunion is $20pp.

This ship is almost full with 4,200 passengers including 200 children and a crew of 1600+.

October 24th Nassau, Bahamas

The day started out overcast but soon turned to rain.  The temperature today was 27C/80F.  We ordered room service for breakfast as we were meeting Vicki & Bob at 9:30pm to go over to Atlantis.

Vicki had organized transportation to the Atlantis and back with Courteous Transfers & Tours who has wheelchair accessible vans.  We were able to get both scooters and Bob and I in the van.  Gerard, our driver, took us over to Atlantis and he was picking us up at 3pm for our return trip back to the ship.

When we got to the Atlantis, we bought a day pas ($45pp) so we could visit the aquarium and digs.  We had a guide that brought us through both areas and explains all what we were seeing.  This took well over an hour to see all.  We then went to the Marina area, pass through the casino, were there are lots of boutiques and places to eat.  We ate at Johnny Rockets.  We did some browsing in the stores on our way back to meet Gerard at 3pm.  It was a very nice day, I figure Bob and I walked for about 5 hours non-stop.

Tonight we are dining with Vicki & Bob at Moderno ($20pp) which is a Brazilian style cuisine.

Our show this evening is Rock of Ages, in the Breakaway Theater.  It is featuring the biggest rock hit of the 80's including songs by Journey, Poison, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and more.  Staged by the original Tony nominated creative team, this was our chance to experience the raunchy rock event of the year.  It lasted 105 minutes.

October 25th At Sea

Today it is sunny with 26C/79F temperatures.  We slept in late this morning and missed breakfast.

We had lunch at the Savor restaurant which was one of the complementary.  Service was a little slow, so you can't be in a hurry.

We went back to meet to Vicki & Bob's stateroom to meet another couple from our Roll call and Jay, we had a pleasant visit.

Tonight is Cirque Dreams and Dinner Jungle Fantasy which was an exotic new twist under their colourful big top Spiegel Tent.  We took an imaginative journey through a mystical jungle with breathtaking butterflies, balancing giraffes and the king of the jungle.  The show goes on through out our dinner.  Since there is a dinner served, the charges are $39.99pp.  We had an appetizer, surf and turf, and for desert a sampling of 4 kinds of deserts. It is a great show, it is amazing what these performers can do with there bodies and on a moving ship.

Our cruise has been very smooth we hardly know we are on a ship.

October 26th At Sea

It was getting cooler as we are approaching NYC.  There are no clouds in the sky today.  The temperature must be about 20C/71F

Today we have a dinner and show at noon called Dysfunktional Family Reunion which is a hilarious interactive comedy filled with audience participation and no shortage of laughter about cruising with family.  Since there is a lunch the cost is $20pp.  It is held in the Spiegel Tent.  Vicki and Bob joined us for this show.  Our lunch we had a choice of chicken of salmon for the entrée.

At 2:30pm there was International Crew Talent Show where the crew perform their hidden talents for us.  Always a fun show as the crew tries hard to please us.

At 6:30pm we ate at Cagney's Steakhouse.  This is another specialty restaurant and the cost is $30pp.  Vicki, Bob and Zay joined us for dinner.  We have a great time and the food out of this world.

At 9:30pm was a Tribute to Tina Turner with Fire and Ice.  This was a high energy musical tribute to Tina Turner.  The signer Rosie was so energetic, she was jumping and dancing and all over the audience while signing, she was amazing.

October 27th New York City

We were off the ship around 8:45am.  Vicki got a porter to bring all our suitcases to our respective vehicles.  We were parked next to each other.  It was a big help.  The porter also loaded the suitcases in the van.

We had a good drive home, no traffic and dry roads.  We crossed at one of our small boarders so do delay.

Our Final Thoughts

We had a great cruise, great weather even though it rained when we started out in Nassau, by time we reached the Atlantis the rain had stopped.

The food, entertainment was great.  I would recommend that you see as many shows as you can, they are all great.  For dining, the specialty restaurants we were well treated, good service.

The only negative was the smoking in the casino which is on most of deck 7.  You have to pass through it from the Main Dining Room to the Breakaway Theatre.  It spans pass the atrium, so you can smell the smoke even on deck 6 or 8.  The smell in is the carpet.  This could be a reason that we do not return to NCL if they allow smoking in the casino.  I don't know if this is a fleet wide policy as this is the second time we cruise with NCL.

Also, in the Breakaway theatre, there was 4 rows (2 on each side) marked for handicap but many able bodies took up those seats, especially the nights that were very popular.  No Breakaway employee was there to monitor the situation, that put a damper on those evenings.

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