Showing posts with label New Orleans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Orleans. Show all posts

Friday, January 11, 2019

Breakaway from the Holiday- Disembarkation

Disembarkation- The Fun is OVER... For Now!
Sunday, November 25, 2018
New Orleans, LA

This is always the saddest, and usually most frustrating, part of our cruises as it is the day we say goodbye to the ship. This day was not as frustrating as previous NCL disembarkation, but it still proved to be a LONG day back to God's Country... TEXAS!

Morning
We sat the alarm for 6:30AM (BOOOO) and got dressed rather quickly. The horns had been blowing all night as it was VERY foggy on the Mississippi River. We chose to do the Regular disembarkation this time and opted out of the "SELF ASSIST" option.


This was us the night before and the morning of disembarkation!
TIP- Don't over pack! 
TIP- Most cruise lines do a "self assist" option where each passengers carries off ALL of their own luggage. This group is usually called to get off the ship first and in our experience, this is a GREAT option. Well most of the time... The last time we sailed on Norwegian in March 2018, we noticed over half the ship, literally, using this option. With this history, we decided to do the regular disembarkation which allowed us to get off according to our COLOR GROUP. TIP- I LOVE the way NCL does this large group disembarkation. NCL allows you to CHOOSE when you get off the ship by having you go to Guest Services on the next to last day of your cruise and choose a group time you want to disembark. If you want to get off early, choose the early group and if you want to get off later, choose a later color. This is SO MUCH BETTER than Royal Caribbean or Carnival that have these large groups get off by DECK. I swear we get group 30 out of 30 on EACH AND EVERY Carnival cruise. This was is MUCH BETTER! However, if you are wanting a certain time or group, be sure to check GS on the 6th (or next to last) day of the cruise. Some of the groups GO FAST!


We chose to be in the earliest group of the regular disembarkation groups. According to the projected disembarkation time, we were supposed to be called to get off the ship around 9AM. But at 7AM as we were making our way to breakfast, we heard the CD start calling for the "self assist" passengers, approximately 45 minutes earlier than expected. We knew this meant the Norwegian Breakaway was ahead of schedule and we would be called shortly.


Not really sure what happened here because it was not like this the night before.
I am thinking someone had a little too much drink package! 


We ate breakfast in the Savor MDR for the first time on the cruise. This was a mistake as the service was VERY slow. We knew to avoid the buffet on disembarkation day due to all of the luggage of the "self assist" passengers but the service was so bad, we would have been better off in the buffet.


The MDR Breakfast Menu
(It is the same everyday, except for the daily specials)

Our breakfast was tasty and delicious but was so slow, we missed the calling of our green group at 8:15AM, roughly 45 earlier than expected (WAY TO GO NCL). We finished breakfast and hurried back to our room to get our belongings and then made our way to deck 7 for the long line of people getting off the ship. We weaved in and out of the casino before walking out on the promenade deck to get off the ship. We stood in line about 25 minutes from start to finish and overall, was not a bad disembarkation at all. We were off the NCL Breakaway around 8:45AM.

The kids still had smiles on their face despite leaving the ship! 

A view of our balcony from the gangway! 

Once off the ship, we made our way to get our luggage, which was the fastest EVER of about 3 minutes. Then flew through customs to get to the terminal exit to wait for our taxi. Since we stayed at Comfort Suites Harvey, we had a promotional deal that provided a taxi back to the hotel upon our return. We waited about 15 minutes for the taxi and were back at the hotel and on the road back to Texas around 9:50AM.

Afternoon and Evening
The drive home was frustrating, as usual, and we once again said "NEVER AGAIN" will we sail out of New Orleans, but we always seem to find great deals so we will see if this proves to be true! The typical 7 hour drive took nearly 10 hours and it was dark before we even got back to our house. The kids did REALLY well on the trip to and from New Orleans and were VERY proud of them.


These poor kiddos were SO tired! 


Home SWEET Home!
Thank you Jesus we are back in God's Country! 


We got back to our house in The Woodlands, TX around 6PM and quickly unloaded all of our stuff and went picked up our fur babies, Abbey and Oxford, who had been staying with our amazing dog sitter. BOY... Were they glad to see us!

Overall, it was a GREAT cruise and a pretty decent disembarkation day. It is always sad to say goodbye to the ship and the cruise but always good to be home. Now it is time to get through the next 4 weeks before Christmas break... I think I can, I think I can!

Our Thoughts OVERALL
This cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway was FANTASTIC and just what we expected and then some. The kids LOVED the ship and had a GREAT time on board and ashore. Chris and I LOVED many things about NCL such as: the drink package, the food quality and entertainment. 

However, there are a few things that were eye opening to us during this cruise:
1- I personally do not think NCL knows how to do a "mega-ship". The layout of this ship was not conducive to nearly 5K passengers and while we never "felt" crowded, we could certainly FEEL the other 4762 guests.

2- I HATE the way NCL does the Splash Academy (kids club). This was not parent or user friendly to say the least. The schedule did not flow very well and the hours of operation did not match the entertainment and dining venues times. Furthermore, the workers were never happy and always seemed a little aggravated, as did ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE and passengers I talked to about this venue. I can honestly say that unless there is a CRAZY GOOD deal, we will more than likely not sail NCL again with kids. They pretty much lost me as a PARENT customer. Chris and I would sail NCL again in a heartbeat WITHOUT kids. 

3- I had read that the ships out of New York had crew members that are not as friendly or hard working as those out of other major ports and this proved to be true on this cruise. (The Breakaway came from New York just 3 weeks prior to arriving in New Orleans.) We found about 2 crew members total who acted like they really wanted to be there and would do anything for me. Most of the other crew members we had dealings with were short, seemed aggravated and quite frankly RUDE compared to other cruise liens we have sailed. 

4- Since NCL has added the Ultimate Beverage Package as a perk to bookings, the bar service has continuously gone down hill. As a guest you do not even have to sign when you get a drink, thus the bar staff does not work for tips as much. Our bar service was APPALLING and the worst we have EVER had on a cruise. The drinks were also poorly made. We left thinking "Thank goodness we did not PAY $900+ for the drink package".

Chris and I have a cruise in March 2019 on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston for Spring Break and a few more planned after that. We have been very fortunate to cruise 3+ times a year and we hope to be able to continue to do this as our time (and finances) allow. We also have some very exciting land trips planned for California and Las Vegas this coming year! As usual, we will share our experiences with y'all. I love reliving our travels and sharing our experiences and thoughts with other cruise and travel enthusiasts. I truly hope our blog has helped someone plan their next cruise or adventure!

 Once again, we owe all of these experiences to God and the mercy He has bestowed upon us! We also appreciate our family members who continuously help take care of our children while we cruise the open seas! 

In addition, I want to thank YOU! You all who continuously follow along day by day of our cruises and share comments and questions. I like blogging about the cruises almost as much as the cruise itself. 

Thanks again for following along! I appreciate you! 


Follow us on YouTube at Kellie Davis- Cruise Like a Davis. I have videos and tips and tricks from most of our recent cruises.

Next Up…

RC Liberty of the Seas- March 2019
Carnival Dream- 2019

Until then… Keep Calm and Cruise on!

God is good… ALL the time!

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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Breakaway from the Holiday- New Orleans

Waiting for Sailaway
New Orleans, LA
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Disclaimer
In November 2018 Chris and I took our 2 kids, Natalie (9) and Luke (6) on  a 7 day
Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Norwegian Breakaway sailing out of New Orleans, LA.
This gorgeous floating hotel took us to the following destinations:
Cozumel, Mexico
Belize City, Belize
Harvest Caye, Belize (NCL’s Private Island in Belize)
Costa Maya, Mexico
The Norwegian Breakaway... Our home away from home for the next 7 days!


I have been on 14 other cruises prior to this one and Chris has been on 13 (thanks to the Girls Cruise);
9 with Carnival, 3 with Royal Caribbean, 1 with Norwegian and 1 with Princess.  This blog will include an overall
review of the Norwegian Breakaway, daily entries of our 7 days aboard, a "Foodies" blog highlighting all of the
food options available on the NCL Breakaway, a post linking all of the Freestyle Dailies as well as an extensive
photo review of the ship. Thank you SO MUCH to all my followers... without you the blog would not be as
popular as it is today! Be sure to stay tuned as the posts come through over the next few days and weeks.
(I am a teacher and it is a busy time of year so bear with me, please).
Morning
Luke and I woke up early around 5:45AM and decided to track the ship coming to port on our Cruise Mapper Ap. TIP- If you are a cruiser, GET THIS AP! We LOVE it! Natalie and Chris eventually woke up and we all got ready for our embarkation day aboard the Norwegian Breakaway. As we were getting ready, we could not find Luke’s 2nd tennis shoe. We looked and looked, destroying the room as we went, with no luck. After about 20 minutes of looking, I decided to go to the Walmart down the street and get him a new pair while they ate breakfast. I made it back just in time for our taxi to take us to the port. TIP- We knew there was a convention in town and the Saints game was early afternoon so we planned to get there early. Be sure to check activities and events as the port area can get REALLY busy at times.


The kids were SO EXCITED! It's been too long since the last one.
The kids last cruise... Carnival Breeze July 2017

I think I am a little excited as well! 

The Taxi was a bit tight... We all had to hold a bag!

We made it to the port around 9AM, dropped off our luggage and then made our way inside the terminal. Since it was so early, we were literally the first people there for our outbound voyage. It was very crowded from all of the passengers debarking the ship. We waited for a while and I made friends with some of the security guards. This worked well in our favor as around 9:30AM a line started to form to check-in. We remained in our comfortable positions and when it was time to check in, the very nice Security guard came and got us and let us be #1-4 to check in to the ship. TIP- Once again, it pays off to be nice to the people around you. She could have easily let us join the line that was forming but since I had talked to her and made friends with her while we were waiting, she remembered me and allowed us to come to the front of the line. Bottom line... BE NICE!
Our 1st look at the Breakaway! We were all GIDDY with excitement.

We went through security and were literally the first 4 people checked in to the NCL Breakaway at 9:50AM. Obviously, we were in boarding group 1 and we waited towards the very back of the terminal as one of the workers told us. It was an odd placement for GROUP 1 but we sat and waited patiently. Then around 10:55AM the first announcement was made. I noticed the herd of people start to move to the gangway line, so we too made our way to the embarkation line. We heard the first “DING” at 11:02AM. This was not our best embarkation time but it turned out to be VERY fast.


We were so early, we got to see the Coast Guard get on board to inspect the ship! 


Family Boarding Selfie Time! 


We are almost to the ship! 

The kids held hands so they would both get on board at the same time! 
We received an email from NCL on Thursday about the ship being “sold out” and lots of kids on this particular voyage. They advised us to get our kids registered for the Splash Academy Kids Club as soon as we could as there would be lines. HAHA… Little did we know! TIP- Carnival allows guests to Pre-Register their children as part of the online check-in. After going through the process, I think NCL needs to adopt this policy as well. In fact, the Splash Academy was our biggest complaint of the entire trip… BUT, more on that later.


Even at 11:15AM, the line was starting to form to get kids checked in. “Midnight”, a worker in the Kids club, had me stand to the side and helped me personally as the others were taking a tour. I am not sure what I did to deserve this but it was nice. She gave me the SEALS event newsletter for the trip. TIP- As I was researching the NCL kids club events of the week, I learned that the kids club is closed from 5-7PM on SEADAYS, as well as additional times throughout SEADAYS. I made our Specialty Restaurant reservations online ahead of time based off of this theory. “Midnight” explained to me that while we would be at Costa Maya on Day 6 from 7AM to 2PM, the Splash Academy treats that like a SEADAY and the kids club is closed from 5-7PM, right in the middle of our reservation time for Le Bistro. This was very aggravating to me and I knew I had to make my way to Guest Services to fix our reservation as soon as I could. TIP- She also explained to me that NCL has a LIMIT for the kids club of 60 kids age 3-6, 55 ages 6-9 and 55 for 10-12. I read this information and listened to her but I did not completely comprehend what that meant until later in the cruise. Stay tuned for that HOT MESS!


As soon as the kids were checked in to the Splash Academy, I went to the Headliners Comedy club to confirm and change our reservations at the specialty restaurants. TIP- The larger NCL ships have a separate location for dining reservations, unlike at Guest Services that the smaller ships have. The line was not too long but grew quickly as I waited in line. I spoke to the Maitre D and the only time available at Le Bistro for that evening was at 8:45PM. That is typically not our style but I switched reservation times anyway. TIP- Be sure to book any specialty dining ahead of time if you want a specific time. These fill up FAST. Also, remember that if leaving a port before 3PM, the Splash Academy will treat the day like a SEADAY and close from 5-7PM.


Afternoon
I met Chris and kids at O’Sheehan’s Pub and Grill on Deck 7 for lunch. The line was already fairly deep for 12PM but we got a table quickly. The service on the other hand… It was terribly slow! We decided to get several of the items on the shortened menu, just to see what the kids would like and what we would be ordering as the cruise progressed. The food was very good and the kids liked almost everything we ordered.


The kids approved of O'Sheehans and we ready for this week on board the NCL Breakaway!

Natalie LOVED this Caesar salad! 
The staterooms were not ready just yet so we decided to explore 678 Ocean Place on decks 6, 7 and 8. This included the casino, atrium lobby, Tradewind Shops and the Shakers Martini Bar. We explored and then found a spot to rest on the Waterfront outside on deck 8. This was similar to the Promenade on most other ships we have been on. This was a gorgeous place to sit and watch the sunset or even enjoy a specialty dining meal at Cagney’s or Moderno.


The kids LOVED this ship!
(I think Luke was already tired of me taking pictures)

It's going to be a GREAT week! 

After the lunch, we played a round of mini golf as a family. The NCL Breakaway has a 9 hole mini golf course on deck 17 mid-ship. It is a funny little course with lots of props and the kids loved it. Luke practically played a game 3-4 times a DAY. Chris won our family game but we will have a rematch!


We all enjoyed the mini-golf course. Check it out next time you're on the Breakaway!

The staterooms were ready around 1:30PM and we made our way to our room to change into swimsuits to enjoy the splash pad area and water slides. We had a "Family Balcony" cabin on Deck 12. TIP- Norwegian offers an AMAZING upgrade program. It is bid based and you can bid on an upgrade. We were lucky enough to win our upgrade bid of $110 per person (1st 2 guests ONLY) from a "Family Oceanview" to a "Family Balcony". Let me just say that this was $220 WELL SPENT!


Our home for the next 7 Days! Stateroom 12728!

 We spent over an hour in the pools, hot tubs and AquaPark (kids pool) area before the bars shut down and we knew it was time to dry off for the Muster Drill. TIP- NCL has proven to close the bars VERY EARLY for muster drills. On both of our NCL sailings, the drill wasn't until 3:45 but the bars closed at 2:30PM.


The kids LOVED this pool! 
NCL offered life jackets for any kids who wanted them and they did not have to be checked out like on other cruise lines. 

This is a win for our family!
We dried off and changed clothes before going to O’Sheehan’s for our Muster Drill. It was there that we saw the receptionist from Chris’s school. I swear, we ALWAYS see people we know on a cruise! After the muster drill we went back to the room to unpack and get ready for sail away. Our balcony cabin was on the starboard side of the ship but we knew that meant we would need to watch the sail away from the port side to see the New Orleans sights as we sailed down the river. HUGE TIP- Book a PORT side cabin if you want to see NOLA from your balcony. In fact, most of the time, the best Sail Away experiences for our ports we visited was from the PORT side of the ship. Keep in mind this varies from port to port but ALWAYS book a PORT balcony when sailing from New Orleans if you want to see the city.


We went to the Waterfront on Deck 8 to watch the sail away from the PORT side of the ship. We got a few drinks from the Shakers bar, but waited for over 20 minutes for drinks. This was the start of our terribly slow bar service. We sat down with our drinks near Cagney’s and we waited and waited for the sail-away with no luck. It was already after 5PM and we decided to take the kids to the Ropes Course as they were getting bored.


We were able to watch a beautiful sunset over New Orleans prior to sailaway. 


The kids loved NOLA! 
When we got to the Ropes Course line it was about 30 people deep to get a harness. The wait time was about 20 minutes or so. By the time we got to the front of the line, the Norwegian Breakaway set sail for Cozumel, Mexico at 5:35PM. This was nearly 2 hours after the planned departure time of 4PM.


Finally... We are setting sail! We never learned why there was such a delay but we loved the watching the sunset. 


I love you Chris Davis! Cruising through life together... ONE PORT AT A TIME! 

Evening
The kids got to the ropes course and as expected, Luke was terrified. He had been talking about this ropes course for nearly a year and finally had grown enough to meet the 48” height requirement but his fear of heights took over. He climbed the stairs and within minutes was screaming bloody murder. He moved out on to a traverse and Natalie was behind him trying to help him but he would have NONE of that. He stayed up there trying to take a step forward, all while screaming louder than Christmas, and the AMAZING Sports Deck workers would try to help him and encourage him. In fact, Shayla even came up there with her own harness to try to help him but he was done. He came down and did the “Kiddie Ropes Course” which was below and only 4 feet off the ground while Natalie tackled her own fears and did the entire ropes course, including the zipline. TIP- Be sure to pack TENNIS SHOES for the Ropes Course and a jacket if during the winter, the wind makes it VERY CHILLY! The line to the Ropes Course is usually 50+ people deep on most days but on Day #1 it is half that so do it on embarkation day if possible. The Ropes Course opens at 5PM on Embarkation day. I will give more information and tips about the Ropes Course soon so stay tuned.


They are both ready for the Ropes Course! 


Way to go Natalie Grace! We are proud of you!

She LOVED this zipline! 


We are proud of you too, Luke. 

Even after being TERRIFIED on the BIG COURSE... He came to the Kids Course and owned it like a BOSS! Way to go #LuketheDuke

As soon as we got done with the ropes course we went down 1 deck for the kids to explore more. Natalie ended up climbing the rock wall and Luke ran multiple laps around the jogging track. Luke made a home of the jogging track on this trip and we calculated that he ran over 5 miles while on-board.


We are loving this ship already! 

SHE DID IT! She got up the Rock Wall!

Way to go Nattie! 

After we played our hearts out we made our way to the Taste Main Dining Room on Deck 6 for dinner. It was about 7:45PM and we had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table. TIP- The Breakaway has 3 Main Dining Rooms (MDR); Taste and Savor are casual and on Deck 6 aft. The Manhattan Room is more formal and is on Deck 7 Aft. The Manhattan Room has a very strict dress code and shorts are not allowed after 5PM. Taste and Savor have a cruise casual dress code and pretty much anything, except swimsuits, goes. All 3 MDR serve the exact same menu and all 3 have tablecloths on the tables at all times.


It's time for DINNER!


Cheese pizza was his regular order!

After 10 minutes of being at our table, a waiter came and told us that the regular waiter for our section was out and he would be our waiter. Needless to say, the service was not good at all. This was our slowest and worst dinner experience of the cruise. The food was phenomenal but the service was sub-par to say the least.


We were all VERY tired from the “Vacation before the Vacation” but we meandered around the ship a little bit more after dinner before going to our room. Of course, we stopped at the Garden Cafe to get an ice cream cone before retiring back to our room around 11PM. We spent a LONG time on the balcony looking at the last parts of the Mississippi River with the kids. After a little bit they were too tired to stay up and fell asleep. Chris and I waited to watch the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico meet before falling asleep around 12:30AM.


We were all so tired! 


Goodbye Mississippi River... Hello Gulf of Mexico!

It was a GREAT 1st Day on-board the Norwegian Breakaway and we were very excited to see what the next week would entail for us.


Here is a RECAP of our 1st day on board the NCL Breakaway!

Be sure to check back for the daily posts of our trip. Each day we will include more tips and tricks about the Norwegian Breakaway and cruising NCL. We will also compare NCL with Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines throughout the blog.

Once again, thank you so much for following along!

Next up... Sea Day #1 on the Breakaway!

God is good… ALL the time!
Click on a link to see our past cruising adventures:
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas- 2018 



 

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