Back inside Norwegian Breakaway. Inside fat cats, the crew was holding some kind of event.
This by the chandelier, it leads to the Norwegian Breakaway Martini bar.
We never made it to the Norwegian Breakaway ice bar, but from talking to people I gathered a few notes. It is smaller than the Epic one, it did not feel finished. It felt much like a big freezer. Others said that the best way to enjoy it is to go with a big fun group, it will maximize your chances at having a good time. I believe you can stay there for 45 minutes, but most last about 20 minutes. We wanted to do it, but then night that we were supposed to meet our CC friends there, I completely missed their message on the phone.
And some cute fake orchid
.
Since it was time for the meet and greet we started heading that way.
And here is the entrance to the two restaurants. The funny thing is that I don’t think I got more pictures of those two restaurants. However, in my video tour/review on day 7 I go in there and a nice video of the area.
OK lets, Gambee’s first meet and greet. Let me start by saying that I was a nervous wreck, I don’t usually do very well in big group gatherings. So I really did not know what to expect. I walked in and wrote my name down and my moms as well. Immediately I spotted Slice and her husband, that helped me relax a little. While I was in line, fishbait said hi and she said that I looked nothing like she imagined me like. At some point she thought I was a girl
, that got a good laugh of me
.
I decided to make a dash for the table that Slice was sitting at and then I met EbonyHeart. Please correct me if I am confusing screen names, like I said my memory with names is horrible, and I was so nervous that I did not take one note during that time.
We started talking a little and Xena approached me to say hi, all very nice folks. She asked me to sign up for the Heaven tour and get a name tag, I did neither as once again I was too nervous to even get up of that chair. Please don’t laugh at me, but I really can’t remember the last time that I was in a group like that. I do it at times at work, but I know everyone so the experience is much different.
By the way, a big shootout to Xenagurl for all the work you put into our roll call, thank you =).
If I remember correctly the officers were walking around the tables saying “Hi”, but not much beyond that. The turnout must of been around 30-40, I think but not entirely sure. Soon after Julie started talking, she did not talk to much. But the overall feeling of her speech was simple. NCL really appreciates CC, and she really wanted it to make it a point to tell NCL if anything is going not as expected so they can fix it then and make the experience better. She was very specific about us allowing them to fix it, before coming here and blasting NCL away with bad reviews. After her little speech she introduced the officers and that was it. The officers did not talk or stay there much longer.
Then Julie started walking around the tables. So let me be a little delicate with this, I had no intentions in talking to her much more than a simple hello. But having her demonstrate such concern for how our cruise was going, I decided to approach her and talk to her about Blue and my issues with customer service. Trust me when I tell that it took a lot from me stand up and introduce myself to her. Not so much because it is her, but by standing up I become almost like the center of attention. It was a good thing that most everyone was busy talking about other things in their own groups.
Anyway, she was very approachable, I explained her my situation and how frustrated I was about it. She looked concerned the entire time and very open, she is very easy to talk to, and I like that. The problem is that I did not like her response one bit, basically she referred me to another person and maybe they could fix the problem. I believe she gave me the number of the restaurant manager. So some of you might be saying, well she did the right thing and referred you to the person that might be able to fix it. But this is the thing, I was sick and tired of dealing with this issue. The issue was dead to me until she started saying “let me know, and we will fix it for you” in her speech. That was the only reason that I decided to actually bring it up, I was hoping that she would be the last person that I had to talk to, in order to get this issue resolved. Instead I got told to keep on trying, that way when I got more “no, sorry sir” I got more frustrated. So let it be said that at the time I was not happy with her at all. And no, I did not try to contact anyone else about that issue ever again. If anything I tried to forget about the entire ordeal.
That said, I think Julie is the best cruise director I’ve ever seen. The funny thing is that my two favorite cruise directors are Julia and Candy, and they are both from NCL. So NCL must be doing a great job selecting their CDs.
The amount of energy that Julie radiated was just incredible, in addition to that, you should of seen her dancing just before sail away in Bermuda. Oh, wait a minute, I have a video of that, you will get to see her .
So in conclusion, I thought the meet was just ok. I think I was to nervous to really appreciate anything and in addition to that my encounter with Julie was blahhhhhh at best.
After the meet and greet we had planned a cabin crawl, I think there were maybe about 15-20 of us going around several cabins. The bad news is that I failed to get a lot of pictures. Taking pictures in cabin crawls is a little hard. The overall tour was fun, we got to talk to a few CC member all very nice.
First we stopped by the S7. It was a nice room, but I think I like the S6 much much more. Although I am not even sure at the price difference. Overall it felt much more compact than the S6, but I bet that is due to the tinny hull balcony. Other than that the bathroom looked nice, and it had all the same things as the S6 had, like that fancy coffee maker and a nice big TV.
The bad news? I have almost no good pictures of this suite :-/, sorry
Then we went to a Norwegian Breakaway mini suite. My honest opinion is that these rooms should not be labeled like that, maybe deluxe balcony sounds better. It felt about the same as our room, with the difference of the bathroom, which was really nice. They also reported that the water pressure on their shower was amazing. That is a welcomed change after the dripping water that comes out of my shower,
Norwegian Breakaway Lifeboats blocking the view.
Oh, the first room of the tour was a balcony, I did not take any pics f that one because it was the same as mine, without the huge balcony.
Now this room is a balcony where the hump starts, so the slanted balcony is larger.
I did not like that placement, just horrible. You can barely get in the closet. They said that putting everything into the closet was a bit of a struggle.
Then we did an ocean view room.
And I also managed to get you folks a picture of a Norwegian Breakaway handicap ocean view room. Not the best picture, but it will do. They were huge.
Accessible OV stateroom on the Breakaway
The other room in the tour was my room, but for the tour of that one you will have to wait until day 6 or 7. Can’t remember right now when it was. But I have a full tour for you, no worries.
It is a shame that I missed the last room (studio) and the lunch with CC members. A couple wanted to see our room, since they had missed it, so we went and showed it to them.
After all that I was actually a little tired, Gambee had been exposed to an incredible amount of stress in those hours. The good news is that I don’t think I will ever miss a meet and greet from now on, well or so I think. Who knows, overall it was a great time and I met a lot of wonderful people. Fun times.
So mom and I then headed to the Norwegian Breakaway sushi bar to have lunch. I had been dying to try out a roll that had sweet shrimp in it. I think I found the menu online a few months ahead of time and my mouth watered when thought of that roll. By the way, I love sweet shrimp!
I always had my travel mug with me, and you know what it had inside. This system worked great for me. I spend a total of $160 in liquor in this cruise, that is be the way the same amount that I spent on my 3 day cruise last year. By buying a bottle you know that you’re not being served weak overpriced drinks. I think I will do this from now on. On the Allure, I think I spend close to $400 in drinks, if you include the wine package.
So back to the Norwegian Breakaway wasabi bar, the service was very good and prompt. Actually when I sat down I ask the people next me if it was fast service, and they said yes. I was so hungry, and I just wanted to eat fast.
I ordered the sweet shrimp roll, which by the way was NOT sweet shrimp! it was just steamed shrimp, had I known this I would had ordered the scallop roll. That was a true disappointment. I also ordered hamachi sushi and octopus sashimi. Overall the food was great, I just wished they did not advertised a product like that. No I never said anything, I rarely complain about food.
Here is another angle
Mom ordered Yakitori, super tasty! The squid ones were mine.
I remember having a little discussion with my neighbor over the tips. It all started because I asked the server if any tip was included in the price of the food, and just like I though it wasn’t . And they only add 15% to the drink order, as you all know I always tip extra. The couple next to me, started going at it, that they already tip daily, and they want more, blah blah blah. I simply said its personal, you tip as you like.
Since I did not eat all the roll, I was still a little hungry, so we decided to try blue takeout.
We sat down while we waited.
We ordered one portion of toast, it was ok. I am not a fan of olives other than in my drinks.
And the tostada was absolutely FABULOUS!!!! OMG SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!! Getting hungry now,lol.
Then we went to the room and got changed to go to the jacuzzi in H2O. We stayed there for some time and had a good time talking with the few people that were there. We actually met a young couple that had wayyyyyyyy to much to drink, but they were awesome! and an Irish young lady that I met later on another day. And another couple, this was her cruise celebrating that she was cancer free. It was a very intense moment when she revealed that, we all felt very proud and happy for her. There is something about the joy of life and knowing that you can beat these horrible deceases. It was actually really funny, because when she told us the story, the drunk young lady went there from across the jacuzzi and gave like a 5 minute hug. For some reason this was a very special for all of us in that jacuzzi. I get teary eyed as I type this…
I took a few pictures out there.
After sometime the couple was running low on drinks so they went to the bar to get a drink. Soon after we all decided to leave, I wanted to try the water slides and rope course. Remember for the water slides you have to remove all your jewelry and loose objects. So we went down to the room to do so and change. Also, you need shoes that cover your toes for the rope course.
