Love this! Excited to read the rest but I'm not sure I can get behind you skipping the food and wine festival at Epcot! We are considering going again next year, it's been too long since we've been!
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Love this! Excited to read the rest but I'm not sure I can get behind you skipping the food and wine festival at Epcot! We are considering going again next year, it's been too long since we've been!
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Slot wins @
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The balcony had 2 loungers and two straight back chairs with a nice size table. It was rather crowded with all that furniture but sure was nice to have our own loungers.
We had champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and a box of Godiva chocolates waiting for us because we are platinum cruisers. We had the all you can drink plan, so we immediately gave our champagne to the honeymooners in the state room beneath us.
Our luggage arrived promptly and we were able to get totally unpacked before the lifeboat drill. There was tons of storage space and drawers and Nooks & crannies we never even used. Our Muster Station was in O'Sheehans so that was very convenient and done in a flash once all the asshole stragglers blessed us with their presence.
From there it was time to hit up the casino party. It was a pleasure to meet the executive casino host, Christine Bika, who is the sister of our favorite concierge of all time, Adrian. Cruising frequently on NCL is really like coming back to hang out with friends.
Then it was time for a quick stop at the Mojito bar.
I chose the pineapple coconut Mojito (to go) & it was very enjoyable. The bartenders were amazing as the bar was mobbed and they were pumping out Mojito's unbelievably fast. After that we wanted around a bit as we sailed away and then headed for the casino as soon as it opened.
I should clarify here, that my husband does not gamble. And our friends from Michigan never gamble either. So my time in the casino would be spent with Carol and Lammie. I will also lose track of time in the casino because I was there much too often.
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Love that balcony. The times we have had balconies we have not been fortunate enough to have one big enough for loungers. And that pineapple coconut mojito looks wonderful. I am on a diet right now still losing weight from our cruise, but remind me in a couple of weeks in Couchatta and we will drink one together.
I was pleased with the selection of slots in the casino, and pleasantly surprised to find 7/5 DDB at the quarter level, and lots of other video poker options. They had a number of Wonder 4's, Wonder 4 Special Edition, and Wonder 4 Stars. A number of Aruze games, IGT, WMS Super Multi Progressives, Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire Cat, BierHaus, White Orchid, bunches of Konagi's including the ones where you can change games, tons more random things, lots of different Quick Hits at the penny, quarter, dollar and $5 level. It was a really good selection and only got busy in the evenings.
It's $5 a point, or $10 on vp. I think you earn free drinks at 2500 points, but I could be wrong. When you book through Casino at Sea (NCL's casino) or CET you get a card for free drinks in the casino. It included well drinks and beer & wine and more importantly bottled water, which is pretty pricey onboard. Just like land casinos they have different tier levels that include more perks, but I rarely reach that threshold in time for it to be in effect for my next cruise. But I always get at least a 20% discount off my cruises, and often qualify for a comped cruise. I have been pretty happy in general with their casino program.
I wild say the casino is a little more than half non-smoking (in and around the corridors) and the rest smoking in the areas along the side of the ship.
First night I finished a little ahead and had a couple hits. We (Frank, Carol & Lammie) had dinner in O'Sheehans (are you sensing a theme here?) because it was prime rib night there and we actually lost track of time so chose the simple optionI do not recall what happened the rest of the evening
. So tender!
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Sunday and Monday were both days at sea, so we were able to really relax and get settled in. The ship is 145,000 tons which is pretty large even by today’s standards, so there was plenty of exploring to do.
They have a much better than average buffet (called the Garden Cafe) which is open from about 6am until well after the dinner hour. They have omelet stations in the morning along with pretty much every other breakfast food you can think of, plenty of choices at lunch including good salad ingredients, a made to order caesar salad station, soups, sandwiches, grill foods, pizza, many hot dishes, and then for dinner they have all of the above plus a carving station and between about 6 and 8pm my personal favorite, a crepe station!!!
Besides O’Sheehan’s Pub, they have 3 main dining rooms, Flamingo Grill and a Noodle Bar all at no extra charge. For a fee between $15 and $35 pp they have several other restaurants including LaCucina (Italian), Le Bistro (french), Cagney’s (steak house), Moderno’s (Brazilian), A Teppanyaki place and a seafood place. There is a Carlos bakery & gelato for a fee, and a coffee place. I am sure I am forgetting something. I enjoy doing a couple of uncharge restaurants, but honestly find the food to be good to very good at all of the no charge places.
They have a ropes course, a climbing wall, crazy water slides and even a plank to walk. The pool deck is probably a bit too small for the number of people, but I am not a pool person so no biggie to me. My favorite place during the day was up on deck 16 in H20 where they have a couple of good sized hot tubs and a really nice water fall feature. There is a bar with a couple of fabulous bartenders and a nice smoking area. Other than the casino, I spent most of my time up here.
My favorite place was the waterfall.
Ok, it's all a blur now. We went to the Grammy Experience one night. The performer was Carolyn Malachi, A very accomplished Grammy nominated R&B singer. She was very good but the venue is a bit small. But the cocktails were good!
I forget what it was called but it was gin & lime and all sorts of goodness!
We also enjoyed Howling at the Moon, the Dueling Pianos. It wasn't the best trio ever, but they were quite good. One of the guys, Leon, adopted our group and had breakfast with us every morning. I think he was homesick!
Le Fizz. Wicked amazing yumminess
We enjoyed Burn the Floor, a Latin Dance extravaganza and walked out of Legally Blonde. It was a screechy musical although out Michigan friends loved it, so maybe it didn't suck - HHH
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I hate that Breakaway doesn't have a waterfall feature in their Spice H20 area. :/ It looks so amazing. The entire cruise looks fun. I'd also rather have Grammy Experience than Second city. :/(that's the two differences right?)
The Breakaway still has Fat Cats Jazz & Blues Club I believe, which was phenomenal!Originally Posted by SoCalRob
Taking a break. Will add more tomorrow
Chris, this is so worth the wait! You are doing a fabulous job on your TR! Sure seems like you worked that unlimited beverage package. HHH! And OMG, that prime rib looked like one of the best cuts I have ever seen. Really enjoying this and looking forward to the rest.
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