As submitted to Cruise critics, so this doesn't talk about Harrahs or gambling much--
Breakaway has a strange system to try to save on electricity. In the room next to the door is a slot to put your room key in. The electric and lights in room and AC won't run unless there is a card in the slot. Due to complaints, dummy cards are showing up, possibly you can get one if you ask at the front desk. A slot club card works perfectly as a dummy card to leave when u leave room. But some stewards are still removing dummy cards, sometimes leaving them, sometimes confiscating them, so don't put an important card in the slot. Our handicapped room had a dummy card when we arrived, perhaps because they realized u would need it to charge scooters or open the electric door, it stayed in the whole time.
More complaints over time may make the ship stop using this system.
There is no letter explaining this when u enter the room.
Also, your balcony door must be closed and in the locked position or the AC won't work. Again, no note of explanation. We thought our AC was broken until we asked housekeeping.
Handicapped rooms and bathrooms have electric doors, which is useful. Make sure to use them, don't just pull the door open or shut or you could break the lock. Wait for door to close and make sure it is fully closed. Door also closes automatically after button is pushed to open door.
In public handicapped bathrooms, after making sure door actually closes all the way (many don't), press button to turn on red light to lock door. I saw several people using these who didn't know how to lock door, and they were revealed when door opened by pushing button on outside. Turn off red light to unlock, then press button to open door.
NCL needs a letter of explanation for these items left in every room.
----HANDICAPPED people on scooters and wheelchairs will find corridors by cabins EXTREMELY narrow, worse than on any ship. When cleaning carts are in the hallways, which they are for hours, you literally cannot get by them with a scooter or wheelchair. Even people walking may have to walk sidewise to squeeze by. Housekeeping staff will gladly move them out of the way, but it is annoying for u and them. Whoever designed this was an idiot! If there ever was an emergency with carts in the hall, ther would be a problem for handicappers and able bodied. There are also large bags of dirty bedding in the hall. The carts and bags are also very heavy, you probably cannot push them out if the way yourself if you are sitting in a scooter or wheelchair. I was totally stuck twice with no stewards in sight, and had to yell out HELP HELP and it was slow to come. The least NCL could do is warn you when u book a handicapped room.
I thoug NCL should leave a letter explaining features of handicapped rooms and also apologize for the inconvenience of the bad hallway design.
The good news was that people onboard were extremely polite and I had no trouble getting on or off elevators with scooter or on and off ship. If u need a wheelchair for embarkation and debarkation contact cruise staff before getting to entry.
Scooters and chairs must go into rooms. Handicapped rooms are fine. But they probably won't fit in regular rooms. A friend had scooter in regular room and tried to park by elevator to charge and crewmen kept taking it away to a storage facility on another floor. This was EXTREMELY inconvenient. They tried to say it was a safety issue, but the safety part was those darn cleaning carts in the hall!
We had aft cabin which was very large and had large balcony. Scooting to it around some narrow odd corners was tricky but doable. No couch in it, but did have nice lounge chair inside. Balcony had 2 loungers and 3 chairs, table, plenty of room for a wheelchair, apparently much larger than most balconies on ship. Also wheelchair ramp to balcony.
Some parts of ship were strange obstacle course for scooter-bound, you could ride around the outside decks, but doorways might have chairs blocking or lounge chairs blocking, which could be moved unless u were totally immobile. It became a fun challenge to get by some of the corners and chairs.
Scooting into a show was good because u always had a seat, even when show was full. breakaway Theater handicapped entrance was on 7th floor, leaving u at top of theater with not many seats. Arrive early. A hidden handicapped entrance was on 6th floor, near library and down a long corridor with heavy door at end and little signage. Even front desk did not know of it, but it was on 6th floor map near elevator. I didn't see anyone using it. I'd already seen shows when I found it, so just saw it did exist. Not sure how much chair parking space there is if u try it. No NCL personnel at that door.
Bringing electrical strip helpful if charging a scooter or anything else on any vessel.
Also u could not get to 17th floor at all with wheelchair, except maybe on one end in hidden crew elevator if u asked for assistance in advance of going. No access at all to 18.
---
I FROZE in many parts of ship. I get cold easily and some parts of ship had to be well under 72 degrees, maybe in 60s. I wore a sweater over long sleeved blouse and had to buy a sweatshirt to put on too -- 3 layers helped but still cold in some restaurants and corridors. My husband likes cold, so was happy, as was a friend. But I overheard comments by other travelers who also were frozen. If u get cold in restaurants, bring winter clothes for inside this vessel. I've been on other NCL vessels I thought were too cold, but this was ridiculous.
One crew member said they did this to kill germs. If so, NCL is deluded. You can't kill or slow down probably bacteria unless u get below 32 F (freezing). At 65 degrees u just freeze the passengers.
If u agree with me, please complain to front desk. I complained and they claimed one ever complained. I grabbed two random women walking by and asked them in front of desk if ship was too cold, and sure enough ine was wearing a sweater over summer wear and agreed. I noticed after that some of the worse areas got slightly better, so I was able to wear two layers instead of 3!
--
Overall ship was very nice, but had some peculiarities. I loved BREAK THE FLOOR dance show. Best show I've seen in 22 or so cruises. Dancers extremely good and professional. They also show up in Manhattan Room for odd 1/2 show -- but u pretty much need to be in there in the front earing to see them properly. Some people not into musicals so much did t like it as well as I did,but it was really great. Rock of Ages was really ADULT, more than I expected from comments here. Story extremely silly, but music and performers very good. Second City good, but isn't NCL overdoing it with them on all ships doing same sort of stuff? I love improv but they did many shows on this cruise, Slam Allen Blues show absolutely terrific if u love music. Fire and Ice a decent duo. Pianist extremely good and does good music trivia too.
NCL continues to get cheaper with food quality declining, even in specialty restaurants. Food good but choices fewer than ever in main dining rooms, menu seemed the same to me in Taste/Savor and Manhattan rooms, Freestyle Cruising is anything but anymore if u don't eat st buffet. Plan to make reservations even for free dining.
Speaking of reservations, specialty and shows book up fast. Book online prior to trip if possible. Once onboard use Norweigan Conceigre app now on iPad/pod/phone, also in your stateroom, or on some screens around ship to avoid long lines to make reservations first day of trip, We booked all our stuff before or using app on first day for whole week, even free sits own dinners at Manhattan. Very easy to use Norweigan Conceigre app if working. P.S. I do not like having to book all my show tix in advance.
Seemed like main shows were not as available on some ships. Some shows not running on some days. Comedy magician very good, but only on last two days. Very few early shows. Why not have afternoon performances on sea days? Odd. second city does about 3-4 different shows, if u book before cruise u don't know which one u are booking. Also they don't let u go twice to same show, which was annoying because I loved the Break the Floor show enough to see it twice.
I had no problem with smokiness of casino this trip. Much better than the Epic, also arrangement of slots much better to prevent blocking of main aisle by onlookers than Epic. (note, we hated Epic)
Rooms had lots of closet space, big bathrooms. Handicapped shower worked well -- no water leaking out of shower. Strangely handicapped bathroom had no shelves, but regular room bathrooms had large amount of shelf space..
Lifejackets were hidden under bed -- no sign or anyone telling us this. Might be hard to reach if u were handicapped. Drill was silly, not very safetly conscious since they said don't bring jackets, and u could hardly hear instructions, which were perfunctory. Pray for no emergencies on this ship.
Ship does have library, card room, some quiet places to sit and lounge. Waterfront area very nice to walk around or sit, unless there is cold or bad weather. Some events in Atrium we're packed, like Deal or No Deal (which was actually an opportunity to sell u a gambling card with bad odds) -- these should have been in BreakWay Theater during sea day, which would have given people more to do on sea days. Most "activities" we're actually opportunities for ship to try to sell u something -- foot workshop to sell u arch supports u probably don't need, facial workshop to sell u spa products, watch informtionals to sell watches. More activities during day really needed, especially for those that have cruised before, which actually is a large number of people. NCL seems to love getting u back on their ships again, but couldn't they provide some more stuff for those who do so (like why so many 2nd city shows, and Howling st Moon piano on several ships, and so many 'let's sell u stuff seminars" without other stuff going on)?
Movies on big s screen in Atrium very nice -- the screen and picture quality very good, but sometimes loud.
Gambling slots very 'tight', no one hitting jackpots, rake on poker bad, video poker bad pay tables, Bingo payouts truly awful, again, NCL being cheap.
Service slow in main dining room, and specialty restaurants, generally declining, with few servers stopping to give u their names or where they are from, like on other ships. More "pay" shops for food than ever. Why pay for gelato or sweets or sushi, but some people do. Best pay outlet -- noodle bar apparently. Now NCL has an UNlimited Beverage Packsge, I believe $49 per day or thereabouts. Good deal if u drink a lot. Covers soda, juices, wine under $8 a glass (no bottles), most mixed drinks and shots except premium. by the way I loved the Tutti Fruiti Smoothie, with or without booze.
One good thing, the ship was good t apologizing for problems, sending out cheap wine and chocolate covered strawberries or refunds, we had problem with aft room hearing Spice H2o parties even though we were on 12th floor and it was 15. First couple of nights were bearable but not too bad but then big party was bad, so I complained, they phoned to say DJ would turn down sound next nig, but he didn't, I complained again and got $200 room credit. Friend had bugs in room on aft 11th(they also could hear base from Spice but didn't complain). They got wine and exterminator and apology. Also had problem with a NCL tour when driver took a walker and left it behind (it was found and returned next day -- annoying but not fatal). They discounted 1/3 of price for 2 people who were involved. Crew seemed eager to fix problems that were fixable (except temperature).
Good things in Bermuda of note -- Horseshoe Bay, tour of island, aquarium, caves.
Shopping on ship -- best bargain watches as usual. Bottled liquor prices continue to go up, making bargains not as easy to find as in past. We bought two bottles single malt scotch, but at home comparison shopped on Internet and found them overpriced. Cigarettes very cheap still. Prices of alcoholic drinks continue to go up. Soda and that Unlimited Beverage Package don't include canned soda or bottled water. Best bet is have your own bottle and fill with water or juice at buffet.
I have forgotten to mention the buffet, which continues to decline in quality I think from other cruise lines. Desert selections are the worst, except for ice cream. Food in 24 hr cafe is very good though. Free dinner selections are mostly the same night after night, and no more cold soup on the menu. Thought the salmon not as good as on other NCL ships. Room service menu also seemed to have fewer choices, and what is with the $5 pizza delivery charge anyway when they have it on the buffet for lunch.
Though I'm listing a lot of complaints, I did like the Breakaway a lot more than the Epic. But NCL definitely could provide more programming during the day that isn't just a sales pitch, could think about handicapped passengers when designing ships, could check the temperatures in public areas to keep them at "room temperature" which is at least 72 degrees, and think more about passengers who have been on more than one NCL voyage.
Also, I personally do not like the two class system which is developing on NCL with the Haven rooms. These people do pay more, sometimes a LOT more, but actually seem to be getting more of what everyone used to get -- better service, better food in the Haven dining room, and more lounge chairs to Lou ge around their own less crowded pool. The majority of NCL passengers are not Haven members, and now we are becoming truly second class citizens. Also Haven members are getting new perks such as front row seats at shows, first entry into shows including ones like the Cirque. Annoying.
Final comment, the Cirque show -- not as good as the one on Epic I thought, but costumes spectacular, major problem was the tables which are perpendicular to stage. If u are in the last couple seats at some tables. Such as I was, u have to crane your neck and have obstructed view. The show's cost is now $39.95 for everyone, no two tier price structure. I think the best seats probably are the ones in booths in the back since they are up slightly, unless u get the first seats at the table. The view ai had was so annoying and obstructed I did not enjoy the show at all, and asked for a refund, which surprisingly they gave without hesitation (they really take complaints seriously). A little boy behind me probably couldn't see very much at all! You can pay $20 extra for the best seats in the house, but this all seemed a bit pricey for 1 hour show, probably worth it unless u already had seen Epic show though. Still the layout of seats was a major design flaw. Why didn't they build the stage higher? Also, we were among the first five people in line, arriving nearly an hour early to get good seats, only to discover when we got inside that a whole bunch of people had been let in even earlier through some hidden entrance because they were Haven members or knew someone or in suites or whatever. Two class system again, even when we were paying for a specialty show. I found surf and turf (shrimp and steak) meal decidedly mediocrem though others loved the steak. It also was extremely annoying to try to watch show and eat. We had arrived early as I said, and brought wine. Yet waitress didn't serve it or drinks until show had started, and kept interrupting show for me by asking to taste wine, how was food, pass a plate to someone. They should serve all the food except desert prior to show, or forget the food entirely in my opinion.
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