After the long wait (we booked our cruise, November 2012), my Husband and I flew from Phoenix to Newark on Friday 6/7, I am from New York so we wanted to have some time to visit with family and friends. We booked 2 nights at the beginning of our cruise and one night at the end of our cruise at the Holiday Inn located at 57th and 9th in Midtown Manhattan. It was the absolute perfect place to stay, so convenient to everything and only a few minutes from the cruise terminal. The rooms will be fully renovated in January 2014 and for us it was the perfect place to stay. On the morning of our cruise, we took a cab to the cruise terminal, I believe it cost less than $10 including the tip.

We arrived at approximately 11:30 a.m. Upon our arrival we walked toward the entrance and there inside the terminal was our beautiful ship. It was surreal to stand in front of the Breakaway for both of us. We had been watching the ship come and go from both the New York Harbor and the Bermuda Port by video for the weeks leading up to our departure so being in person with the ship was like meeting a celebrity. Anyway, a porter met us and took our luggage and then directed us to where we needed to go. They broke up the check in by floor level and since we were on level 10 in room 10808 (mini-suite), we were told we needed to walk to the back of the terminal. Upon arriving there was a line, but it really moved quickly and got longer behind us as we stood there. Arriving at the time we did, was a good thing. We met a nice couple who had cruised on NCL before and told us how great it was. Both my husband and I have been on Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean and this was our first NCL cruise. Soon it was our turn to get checked in, give the credit card we would be using for the cruise and to take our pictures for our ship cards. We were both so excited we could not be happier. Once we received our cards we were off to get checked into the ship. First we took a professional picture of us in front of a picture of the Breakaway and then we checked in with our cards for the first time and walked up to the ship. We were greeted by many NCL staff and then we entered the ship, all we both could say, was how absolutely stunning the ship is. The ship is the biggest and most beautiful ship we have ever been on. Everything was done in such a classy and really beautiful way. We took the elevator to our room. We were staying in a mini-suite and had seen some photos on line, so had an idea of what the room would look like. The mini-suite was cozy, not like the Junior Suite we had on RCL more like a balcony room. The balcony was not huge but fit 2 chairs and a small table, it was sufficient for my husband and I. The bed was extremely comfortable and if you took a nap during the day, the black out drapes were great. There is a small sofa couch with drawers built in underneath, the closet is not very big but it fit both of our clothes for the week and there is a safe and several shelves which we were able to use too. There is a desk with a mirror above it, a hairdryer tucked underneath the desk and a small stool of which you can open and store more stuff inside. There is a nice flat screen tv in the room too. The bathroom was very nice, the double sink was really good and the shower was excellent. We met our Room Steward Manny right away, he was from Nicaragua and since I speak Spanish I spoke to him in Spanish and he liked that. We decided to leave our room and explore the ship. First stop was the spa. I signed up for a deep tissue massage for 6/10 and my husband decided to try the acupuncture after speaking to the acupuncturist. We then visited the shopping area, which was very impressive. After walking around a bit more we decided to have lunch in the Garden Buffet. The buffet is aesthetically very nice and we never seemed to have a problem finding a table. In fact, most of the time the tables were near the window, which was nice. The food at the buffet was fair, but plentiful. There are a few sections that repeat itself if you walk around and that is good. There is a beverage station as well as wine dispensers in the buffet area. The desserts were ok, nothing special until our last day when we found a white cake with whipped cream and fruit that was really delicious. The people serving the food were not very helpful as I am a Pescetarian and it seemed that just getting their attention was difficult and when I did, no one seemed to know things. It was at times frustrating. The people in the dining room were very nice and at times were walking around either serving coffee or other things to the guests. My husband and I both thought it was a nice touch. After having lunch we explored the ship a little more and went back to our room expecting our luggage to arrive, but it still did not. At this point it was getting close to departure so we decided to get our sailing away drinks and return to our balcony. When we got back to our room still no luggage but did not worry too much about it and enjoyed sailing out of the beautiful New York Harbor with drinks in hand. It was so much fun seeing the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano bridge so close. By the time we were completely out of port we still had not received our luggage so we went to look for our room steward who said he would find it for us. Surely enough a few minutes later my husbands bag arrived and a few minutes after that mine did too. We had booked a visit to the Ice Bar at 6:30. It is $20 per person and they give you a cape with a hood and gloves to wear inside. It is very, very cold as one can imagine and they will give you 2 drinks per person in ice glasses. The Ice Bar is ok, not too exciting and because it was so cold, we ended up leaving pretty quickly. They were nice enough to put our drinks in to go glasses, which we appreciated. We both freshened up for dinner and decided to dine in the Manhattan Room, but were not able to since my husband was in shorts. So we chose to eat at the Taste restaurant. We waited with a pager for a few minutes at the bar and then were promptly seated. Our waiter was not much of a waiter to speak of. It took 20 minutes and my husband getting up to even get a drink order. Once the drink orders were placed and served we placed our dinner orders. Soon a basket of cold and not very good bread arrived. The bread basket pretty much was the same throughout the cruise, cold and almost stale. Anyway, our food arrived and it was nothing to speak of, just ok. We were very disappointed as we diet heavily before a cruise so we can enjoy the cuisine and here we were being served nothing special. The most interesting thing about this dining experience was that when we ordered a decaf coffee and a cup of tea at the end of the meal, we were told there would be a charge. Thus began the nickel and diming experience of NCL. We were absolutely shocked. This meal was included and the fact they would charge us for something so trivial as a coffee and tea was shocking. After dinner we decided to give Fat Cats a try and got to hear the amazing Slam Allen Blues Band, which we really enjoyed. We then gave the Howling at the Moon, Dueling pianos a try. It was AWFUL!! Not funny and the singing was horrible. Would not recommend wasting your time at this venue. Surprisingly, there was nothing else going on at this time and so we just decided to go to bed. On our first day at sea we decided to order a continental breakfast delivered to our room. It was our 10 year of knowing each other anniversary so we thought it would be nice to have breakfast delivered to our room. The breakfast basically consisted of some coffee, tea and a few cinnamon rolls and croissants. Nothing special but it was nice to dine on our balcony. Unfortunately we requested the delivery between 7:30-8:00 a.m. and they delivered everything at 6:40 a.m. After getting ready for the day, we went down to Guest Services to purchase 2 ferry/bus passes for our time in Bermuda. We got the 2 day passes and paid $25 each. It is great that NCL offers this, as it saved us time when we arrived in Bermuda. Soon, it was time for my Deep Tissue Massage and for my husbands Acupuncture treatments. The front desk agent brought me to a very comfortable and peaceful area to wait for my massage therapist. Soon Joanne arrived and took me to my treatment room. She was very nice and gave me a very good massage. I met my husband back in the room when it was over and he really enjoyed the Acupuncture treatment, so much so, that he bought a few more to do over the week. We then decided to try O Sheehan s for lunch. The food was o.k. but filling. It was a little bit of a chilly, wet day so we stayed inside for most of the day, getting used to the ship. We had a 6:30 p.m. reservation for Cagney s so we got ready for dinner, took a few photos and then went to dinner. Our waiter was very nice and the food was once again o.k. We had reservations for Burn the Floor after dinner. The dancers are very talented but the show was not very exciting. After Burn the Floor we went to the Adult Karaoke to watch. Although it was supposed to be Adult Karaoke, there were kids running around and dancing. This became a common theme throughout our cruise, kids running around and screaming, even when it was an adult only venue. With nothing else to do, we decided to go to bed. The next day at sea we had breakfast at the Garden Cafe. The food was o.k. It seems like the eggs are powdered which is fine but after a few days, they seem less so. The French toast was pretty good, but the fried potatoes and sticky buns stole the show. My husband had another Acupuncture treatment so I went down to Fat Cats to attend a trivia game. There was a very small turnout, only 5 of us but it was fun. Gustav was the host and he was extremely nice and funny too. A couple won the trivia and were nice enough to give out some of their winnings to myself and the other couple attending. When my husband returned from his treatment, we went down to the pool. We were able to find 2 chairs near the ping pong tables, so the relaxation was limited but nice while it lasted. I had seen in the Freestyle Daily that there was going to be a $10 sale at Tradewinds and decided to go down and give it a try. Well, it was all the same $10 things you see at the airport and certainly was not a deal. I was very disappointed but as with the rest of our trip, NCL, was not interested in giving too much away on this cruise. Our next stop was an Origami folding class, there was probably about 10 people who attended. We learned to make boxes, and it was something to pass the time. Next stop was the towel folding show, which was fun and interesting to watch. It is amazing how many animals are made out of towels, too bad our room steward only made them for us 3 out of the 6 nights we were at sea. (as tacky as they are, I look forward to them and was just another disappointment on this ship) Our next stop was the art auction, here we had fun as neither of us ever attended an art auction. We ended up purchasing a Fathers Day gift for my father and a print for our home. The Art people are very nice and accommodating. We had reservations for La Cucina and soon had to great ready to make our dinner. La Cucina has a nice ambiance to it. We were promptly seated by a nice window and our server was extremely nice. This was the only night on the cruise where we were served fresh bread and it was delicious. My husband had the Chicken Parmigiana and loved it. I just had a pasta with a pesto sauce. Mine was good but not overly exciting. After dinner we played a few games at the casino and then over to Rock of Ages. We were completely impressed by this show. The actors were great and the show was a huge success. Once again children were in the auditorium and it is definitely not a show for children. In fact, a child in our row was escorted out by her mother soon after the show began. This was a good thing but of course disrupted us while we were trying to enjoy it. Anyway, Rock of Ages is a definite go see.

On Wednesday, we finally made it to Bermuda, so excited! It is such a beautiful place. I had been to Bermuda as a child and going back was great. The water is stunning and the whole feeling there is great. We decided to have a quick breakfast on the ship and then to take the ferry to St. Georges. The ferry was packed and a nice couple sat with us. We took the orange line and it took about 40 minutes to get to St. Georges from the port. Once we were off of the ship we stopped in the Heritage Museum and paid $5 each to see the museum and a short video, it was very interesting. We then walked around St. Georges a bit. It is a very quaint town with many shops and pretty things to see. We then went to Wahoos for lunch which ended up being perfect timing as there was a huge downpour. My husband had the Fish and Chips which he did not particularly care for and I had the Wahoo bites which were amazing. We ended up sharing a coconut and vanilla gelato to pass the time for the rain to stop and it was amazing. Highly recommend stopping at Wahoos for the gelato. We had reservations for high tea at Sweet P.s for 2:00 p.m. and so we visited the perfumery (in the same building) and then went to Sweet P.s. The Owner was extremely nice and the high tea was lovely and highly recommended. After our high tea we found Crystal, she is a horse and carriage driver who took us on the most wonderful carriage ride all over St. Georges. We learned so much from her and got to see so many beautiful things. If you want to set up a private tour, her prices are very reasonable and her email is: cmp-70@hotmail.com, the name of the carriage ride is Bronco Stables. After the carriage ride it was time for us to leave as the last ferry left the docks at 5:15 p.m. It started to rain again but fortunately they have a covered area to wait for the ferry. The ferry was packed but we were able to find a seat and enjoyed a peaceful ride back to the ship. Tonight we decided to dine in the Manhattan Room. We really liked the Manhattan Room for the ambiance but the food was once again nothing great. However for the rest of our trip this ended up being our go to place because of the extra added entertainment that was provided. Tonight was the Newlywed Game and Julie, our cruise director did a great job of hosting it. It was hysterical and we enjoyed it very much. Shortly after that, was the Dancing with the Breakaway Stars show which we also very much enjoyed. Read more