This is the third time on the Breakaway and my fourth time to Bermuda. I have been on 13 cruises with seven of them on NCL. I like NCL even with their problems. This trip was different though. I had a major medical emergency last summer and I had to have both feet amputated just above the ankle. I have a wheelchair and this is my very first time traveling as a handicapped passenger. The majority of this review will be about that although I will make reference to regular cruise features both good and bad.

This trip was an almost an 'out of the blue' trip. My partner (Susan) and I decided that we needed a cruise to relax from the horrors of hospitals and rehab. I am happy at the moment in a wonderful Independent living facility but I was more concerned about Susan and all of the stresses that she was under. Susan started checking availability and we were offered one of four accessible rooms the week of July 24. One was an inside, one an outside and two were balconies. We never had a balcony before so we grinned and bared it and got the most expensive of the two. It was an aft facing balcony, 11914. This trip was about $1000 each more than we usually pay. But on 3 weeks notice, what the heck. We needed the vacation. We were told by the NCL agent that he would take care of all the accessibility issues and that there would be an accessibility officer on board. Well, neither of these things were quite true. I was contacted by the NCL Accessibility department through a letter and then advised to call them direct. All they knew was that I was in an accessible room. They had no idea what my problems were. This was soon corrected in a questionnaire that I had to send back. The major things I requested was a raised toilet seat and assistance in boarding and unboarding. I also found out about a company called the Special Needs Group at Sea. (Through the NCL site.) I was able to rent a scooter for the week for $255. I never had a scooter before. My doctor said go for it and I did. That was THE BEST thing on the whole cruise because I got my independence back. I used it about 75% of the time. A manual pushed wheelchair works some of the time, but the Breakaway is huge and there were many traffic hazards for the pushed wheelchair.

A friend took us to the dock where I transferred to my manual wheelchair using my transfer board. Porters were right there to take our baggage and weren't even looking for a tip. We got through security with bags through the machine (including my transfer board) and I was wand checked in the wheelchair. We got to registration about 1:15 pm. I am a Gold member and a handicap passenger so we were all checked in in under ten minutes. Okay, heading for the gangway now. Fairly steep and switchbacks. Where was the crew to help me on board? No place to be seen. One crew member was going towards the terminal but offered no help. Susan pushed me the best she could and it was a job getting me up the hill. Of course we were slowing down everyone behind us. Also, there are expansion joints on the gangway and each time we reached one of those, she had to turn me around so I could go over it backwards. A family coming up behind us offered to help. Thank you Anthony if you are reading this!! A strong teenager is always better than a 60 year old woman pushing a 200 pound guy. We were welcomed aboard as usual then headed for the cabin. Read more