FINAL FINAL

Watch "NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY BERMUDA INAUGURAL" on YouTube

Norwegian Breakaway Inaugural - All Good Things Must End

Sorry, I have been swamped since I got home and never got around to finalizing this series.

So, last day - bummer.  Got up early and New York was back.  Got a few things done with the improved cell reception.  Wandered around saying goodbye to friends and fellow passengers, as well as the wonderful staff and crew.

Then to breakfast at Savor with a couple friends.  The main dining room being open for breakfast on debarkation day is oh, so civilized and nice.  And a lot of people are not aware it's open.  They are all banging into each others carry-on luggage in the buffet and fighting for seats, as I am breaking fast with Eggs Benedict and good company.

But even that delay couldn't prevent the inevitable, and I had to finally drag my carcass off the ship.  Thankfully I had the gold tag Priority debark, so I could just jump off when I felt like it.  So, off the ship, grab my luggage, thru Customs and out on the street haling a cab in about 29 minutes.

I had a lunch date with a friend over on 10th and 50th (Hell's Kitchen-ish).  It was raining.  I got there 20 minutes early, and the place we were meeting was closed, so I did my best to stay dry, and waited for her.  She showed up and our place was still not open, but we spied another sports bar across the street that was open, so we headed over there.  Had a croissant and gabbed.  Then we went to the original location (123 Burgers Shots and Beer).  My charger had died the night before, so I left her there nursing a beer and babysitting my luggage and ran to Rite-Aid to buy a new one.  Then back for some more chat and some chicken wings.  The bartender was a nice young lady, and she recommended the peanut butter wings.  Not bad, actually...though I prefered the spicy garlic.  I had thought to just call a car service from the bar, but, amazingly, every single one in Manhattan was unavailable until after 6pm (I had a 7pm flight).  So, I finally just took my leave, grabbed a cab and got to EWR in time to hang out in the American Airlines lounge for an hour or so.  In an incredibly cool and timely coincidence I had been given a free day pass, from Klout.com, just two days before I started this trip.  Ever so much nicer than sitting in the terminal with hoi polloi.  Hot coffee, fresh fruit, a club soda and free wifi! 

The storms that ravaged Oklahoma on Monday were already building Sunday night, so our plane was an hour late getting to EWR, and we took a trip all the way into Canada to avoid them heading West, so when all was said and done we arrived back to LAX at 1am instead of the original 10:30pm.  I finally arrived home at about 3am and hit the sack.

And thus ends one of the best 10 days I can remember.  I can't wait to do it again!

Now, I'm going to ask one more favor of you all - Check out my YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/daveholmantravel .  And, while you're here, click a link on an ad or two.  Hook a brother up.  I need coffee money!

Oh, and one more time:  If you are ready to book a cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway, or any Norwegian Cruise Line ship, CALL ME!  760.265.3687
Or if Norwegian isn't your cup of tea, I handle every other cruise line.  And if cruises don't do it for you, I have all inclusives all over the world.  Or Air/Hotel packages.  Whatever your travel needs, HOLMAN TRAVEL can help you make your dream vacation a reality! 

thanks

Norwegian Breakaway Inaugural (playlist)

Uploaded videos (playlist)

Breakaway Bermuda Inaugural, Final Sea Day

Up early, and over to  a final 9am session with the travel agents.  This included perhaps the most embarassing  Q&A session I have ever had the burden of sitting thru.  Some of the people who call themselves travel agents are idiots.  Most of them are not really travel agents at all, but idiots who, for a few dollars, join greedy shyster host agencies, in order to get cheap personal travel.  That's the only thing that can explain what I saw.  "Travel Agents", honest to God, right in front of me and the rest of the world, referring to the MUSTARD DRILL.  You know, that's a joke amongst me and my friends, referring to certain K-Mart Kruisers.  But I actually heard it, live, in person.  And a lady who didn't know the purpose of those plastic things between you and the food in the buffet (on ships or the Golden Corral).  Yeah, lady...that's a sneeze guard...it's not there to piss you off, and get between you and your food...really...

Anyway, so amongst everything else I spent a part of the rest of my day tracking down some of the fabulous employees who had given up a part of their day to help us learn something, only to be disparaged, attacked, and had their time wasted by the uber-ignorant.

After that we were free to wander around the rest of the day.  My wanderings included a trip to O'Sheehans for lunch, another attempt at both the Slot Tournament and the Blackjack Tournament.  Both wasted efforts.  And then a bit of a lie-down, as the whole week was catching up to me and making me feel old before my time.

Met a couple colleagues at Moderno, the Churrascaria.  Lately, my favorite Norwegian alternative dining choice, though, after this week, I think Cagney's has regained the top spot.  That 18oz ribeye was kind of wonderful.  On the other hand, Moderno has a dozen different kinds of meat, all wonderful, and I am sure I had more than 18oz altogether.  Plus, it's only $20 instead of $30 at Cagneys.  Imma have to get back to you on which is my favorite...

Anyway, so, yeah -  Great salad bar, with such goodies as genoa salami and sopressata, and bleu and Stilton cheese, and kalamata olives and marinated palm hearts and mushrooms and asparagus...oh, and a little lettuce and dressing and such, so it qualifies as a salad bar.  It's really more of a deli line...

And then on to the meats!!!  Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, chicken legs marinated in lime juice, sausage from Spain flavored with parmesan, chorizo from portugal.  Beef ribs sliced thin, pork ribs served whole, double lamb chops, sirloin and filet mignon with different seasonings.  I know I am missing something.  Oh, and grilled pineapple in between to freshen your palate and allow you to savor each meat as it comes along.  And with sides of white rice, black beans, garlic mashed potatos and fried sweet bananas.

My and my friend waddled out after a Papaya Cream desert and ran into another friend who had just come from La Cucina and complained of feeling fat.  She got zero sympathy from us.

So, the three of us waddled up to the balcony for a post-prandial smoke and gab session, until karaoke.  Tonites karaoke was marginally better than the previous night, but it didn't matter.  I wasn't going to the casino again for both financial and crowd avoidance reasons.

After karaoke it was time for The Quest.  Rain forced it from the Spice area to the Atrium.  Which also made it impossible to keep the sub18 crowd away, so some of the edgier challenges were modified or replaced by (sightly) more family friendly ones.  But it didn't matter, cuz my teammates were on fire!  Having done a few of these in the past, we had all the things we thought we might need already out on the table, shoes untied, shirts untucked and ready to come off, etc.  Oh, and the odd bra laying about, just in case.  That sort of thing.  Of course we won, and I am the proud owner of yet one more LED light/keychain!  WooHoo!  Yay, ME!

After Quest it was up to O'Sheehans for a late coffee and then frankly, time to pack and go to bed.  So I did.

And that's all for now!

Breakaway Bermuda Inaugural...It's Over.

I started the day with every intention of doing a great post on my last day aboard the Norwegian Breakaway... but we all know where good intentions lead.

So, I am at the airport now, and will be home at midnite, and have had a really rough day, but I totally swear I will get the last day and debarking day done, TOMORROW!

LATER