Breakaway Day 7

This was our last full day on board the ship.  The last Park West auction included a variety of artists. Some members of the group requested that pieces which were shown but not sold earlier in the week be brought back out.  In particular, one very large work by Lebo that the auctioneer has been trying to get someone to buy all week finally sold.  I was surprised - it is a very good painting with lots of symbolism,  but it is way to big for most homes.  I think it would look great on the walls of a hotel lobby or the entrance to a corporate office with 20 ft walls!

Anyone who bought anything during the week got an appointment to arrange payment during the afternoon.  The evening cocktail hour was pushed back to 7PM to allow time for all that, and group dinners after that.  We ate at La Cucina again, as expected.

Sunrise view of NYC

After dinner we packed our bags (reserving clothes for the morning of course)  and put them out in the hall.  The ship will arrive back in NYC in the morning.  This has been a very different cruise for us, but still very enjoyable.  Although I have enjoyed going to art auctions on previous cruises, there were never this many and never so many original paintings to see.  The regular auctions are usually mostly on limited edition prints.  We also got to see some artists we hadn't seen before.

 Postscript: It took us 12+ hours from the time we left our cabin until we got home on Sunday.  We got off the ship on schedule but had to wait over an hour for the bus to arrive to take us to the airport.  It did give us a chance to get a great picture of the ship.  If we ever do it again, we'll take a taxi instead.  However, that was just annoying, not critical to us, since our flight wasn't until 2:30PM.  LaGuardia's Delta gates have the most amazing wi-fi setup we have seen anywhere.  The gate area is filled with counters with high chairs and ipads connected to the terminal wi-fi connection.  There are also plugs next to each ipad so you can charge your own devices.  There are only a few non-tech seats along the edges of each gate area.  We were well entertained while we waited for our flight.

The Peter Max art on the bow of the Breakaway

Once we got to Orlando, we found the Villages Airport van quick enough. It was a full van, with 9 passengers and 4 people having to wait for the next one to pull up.  Once we got to the Villages, it took an hour to get to our house because we had to weave through and stop so many times to let people off at their houses.  From now on, I think we will try to use the other Villages Transportation service when we can they don't operate after midnight and don't pick people up at their houses, but having only one pick up and drop off location would probably get us home faster.

Breakaway Day 6

This morning Fanch walked by as we were having breakfast at the buffet and said hello to us.  It isn't every day that a famous artist recognizes you and says hi!

We had an auction scheduled from 10am - noon. This one concentrated on Fanch's art, but also included a section for other artists. You will never see original Fanch art in the standard cruise ship auctions. They only bring them out for VIP events. There were some fantastic pieces shown.

After the auction our group had an optional snorkeling tour. We passed on this since we don't snorkel and didn't think sitting out on a boat in the hot sun for a few hours would be good for us. Instead, we had lunch and went for a walk around the area again.

At tonight's cocktail hour they brought out art by Agam and Nano. Neither are within our tastes. We did have a chance to have our photo taken with Fanch again and for Lebo to autograph the photos we had taken with him the other day.

We had dinner on our own in the Italian Restaurant, "La  Cucina". We'll probably eat there again tomorrow with the group, but it was easy to get into tonight and the food was good.

They shot fireworks off the back of the ship at around 11pm, but they could only be seen from the deck or the port side. Our room is on the starboard side and we were both too tired to go out.

Breakaway Day 5

We thought about taking the ferry to Hamilton today, but decided it would just be more stores, and we didn't need to do any shopping. Instead, we walked around the Dockyard area again. This time we turned right off the pier instead of left, following footprints painted on the sidewalk. The footprints eventually lead to a mini-golf park, and it was too hot and humid for that. However, along the way we explored a local artists' workshop with a central shop area and smaller rooms off the sides for individual artists to work and showcase their art.

The real find was just beyond the mini-golf. There was a glass factory and rum cake shop just up the street. The master artist there started demonstrations of his craft shortly after we arrived. We watched him turn a blob of molten glass into a fish on a stand. Later, we walked down to the Clock Tower Mall for a nice cream, then decided to go back and get a small rum cake. He was doing another demo on the glass-works side of the building and he amazed the crowd by turning what we thought was going to be a vase into a beautiful glass dish.  We left with a small glass sailboat, a little Christmas ornament, an earring/pendant set, and a small rum cake.

Tonight's cocktail party was all about Fanch Ledan. A dozen of his paintings were displayed around the room and the man himself was introduced and interviewed on stage by Jordan. Afterwards we split up into the usual groups for dinner. Our group was sent to Cagney's Steakhouse. We were very pleasantly surprised when Park West's Ullia sat at the center of our table and Fanch Ledan sat across from her, right next to me! I got to talk to him throughout the dinner and found him to be a very pleasant, down to earth, gentleman. We talked a little about art, but more about his other activities like sky diving and sailing. When the ship photographer came around, I asked if he would be in the picture with Ray and I and he readily agreed.  This was definitely the highlight of our cruise.

Now we have pictures of us with all 3 artists.  The once with Lebo came out great and we will ask him to sign them tomorrow night. The one with Peter Max were taken by his personal photographer and will be sent to us. I'm hoping to get tonight's photo with Fanch before tomorrow's cocktail party so we can get that signed too. (I have the signed copy, the one above was the original.)

This was an excellent day!!!

Breakaway Day 4

We arrived in Bermuda this morning. The ship docked at the Naval Dockyard, along with the Celebrity Summit. This is the only place in Bermuda that can accommodate the large ships.

The last time we came to Bermuda we were on a smaller ship that was able to dock in Hamilton and St George's. There isn't nearly as much to do on this side. We saw the old fort and Naval Museum last time so we didn't feel an urge to do that again. We also took the bus around the island and a tour from St. George's last time. Today we decided go out late in the morning to just walk around and see what is here. We found a section of the old dockyard building that has been made into the Clocktower Mall and browsed the tourist shops in there. We had a lunch of fish and chips at the Bone Fish Restaurant near the ship(Not the Bone Fish Grill chain back home), then went back on board. 

Since this ship is so large, you have to make a reservation for the shows. We reserved for the main show - a full production of the play "Rock of Ages". It was advertised as an adult show, so I was very surprised at how many parents brought children. Before the show the announcer said (in comedic tones) that anyone under 15 should go to the back of the theater and take their bad parents with them. No one left.

The play was very good and very risque. The singers had excellent voices. I remembered shortly into it that we had seen the movie adaptation of this starring Tom Cruise. Adaptations of plays don't always translate well. As a movie I thought it was weak, but as a play it was great fun.

Since we had a full lunch and no group dinner scheduled for tonight, we just went for a gelato after the play and then went to check on the photos taken so far around the ship. We bought the ones we had taken with Lebo so we can get him to sign them at the next cocktail party.

Breakaway Day 3

This morning's art auction was a very long one. We were there from 10:30am until almost 2pm.  Most of the art on display were Lebo's, but there were also quite a few original pieces by Itzchak Tarkay, Erte' and some other artists I was not able to recognize.  A good number of paintings were sold today, with a few actually having several bidders, like a real auction!

After a quick lunch we took a walk around the ship and then I left Ray in our room to go off on my own. Lebo had scheduled a painting demonstration on the main atrium for 3pm and I wanted to see it. I was very lucky to find a seat at the center of the railing overlooking the atrium from one floor above. I brought my video camera and was able to record the whole thing with one minute of battery left! I won't be able to make this video public on YouTube because I'm sure there would be copyright infringements, but at least I have it to show privately.

Lebo was at our cocktail party again tonight, and was available to have his picture taken with those who want it.  After that, we have dinner on our own tonight. We had a reservation for the sea food restaurant, "Ocean Blue". It's the one specialty restaurant that the group is not scheduled to go to.

Ray & Lois with David LeBatard (LEBO) and his horoscope tiles

Breakaway Day 2

We had breakfast at the buffet this morning. Not as much variety as we found on some other ships, but the food was good and there were enough choices for us. They had very good, buttery croissants, so Ray was happy. We took a little walk around the ship after breakfast and went back to our balcony to read and enjoy the sea breeze.

As part of the deal for getting a free cruise, we are expected to attend a private art auction every morning. It is a great opportunity to see some of the finest works Park West has to offer. Today's auction showcased a lot of original works by Peter Max, with some hard to find mixed media and serigraphs thrown in. There were also some pieces by Renaissance masters such as Rembrandt, Goya, and Chagall on display. The surprise of the day was that Peter Max has now taken up acrylic sculpture. They showed 4 pieces, each one styled after one of Peter's iconic figures - an angel, 2 hearts, a vase of flowers, and the umbrella man. Each was painted on the back so it showed through the acrylic.

After the auction we had lunch, wandered through the shops, then went back to our room for a quiet afternoon of reading and embroidery. I am trying my hand at red work. We had a lesson in this style of embroidery at Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts a week ago. I traced a pattern onto cloth before we left and brought the project along as something light and small to work on.

I did go back down to the shops at 3pm to attend a jewelry presentation and prize drawing. I won a t-shirt that says "Happy Wife, Happy Life" and a lanyard with the jewelry distributor's name on it.

At the cocktail hour we were introduced to a new up and coming artist, David LeBatard, better known as Lebo. He is well known in South Florida and was chosen to paint the bow of the Breakaway's sister ship, the Getaway.

Dinner for our group tonight was at "Moderno", a Brazilian steak house. This was very different, as we didn't have to order anything. The meal began with salad bar. We each had a little card next to our plate that was red on one side and green on the other. When we were finished with salad and ready for the meal we were to turn the card over to green to signal the waiters. They came around with skewers full of meat, each one different, asking if we wanted each one. Of course we had to try a little of each. There were ribs, 2 kinds of sausage, lamb, several cuts of steak and I don't remember what else. After all the meat had come around once they brought out rice, mashed potatoes, fried bananas, and something I couldn't identify. They continued yo come around offering more of the meats until we all had turned our cards back over to red. Then they offered our choice of 3 desserts. Needless to say, we went away very, very full. This trip is not going to be good for our diets!

Boarding day for the Breakaway

This morning we had breakfast at the Marriott, then relaxed until it was time to bring our luggage down. As you can see, our 32nd floor room had a great view of Times Square.  This would be a great place to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve. 

Around 11am we boarded the 2 buses waiting to take us to the ship. Traffic was much lighter this morning, as expected for a Sunday. The check-in process was fairly quick and we were in our room by noon.

As the buses approached the ship we got a brief look at the Peter Max art on the bow. It is very impressive.  I'm hoping we get a chance to take a good photo of it in Bermuda.

Stock Photo of the Breakaway, courtesy of NCL

The NCL Breakaway is a huge ship but it doesn't seem to be as confusing as the Royal Caribbean ship we sailed on in January.  Our room is small compared to what we usually get on other lines, but it is quite adequate. The balcony only has enough room for 2 chairs and a small table, no lounge. Inside the room all the cabinets, closet doors, and lower section of the walls are covered in a wood-grain plastic; counters appear to be Formica. Not luxurious, but functional. The room does have lots of good storage designed in. There are 2 large drawers under the couch and a reasonable size closet. The closet is on Ray's side of the bed and it is so close that he can't turn around in that space.

NCL had a small Buffet lunch set up in one of the restaurants. It took a little effort to find it, but we managed to get a light lunch before our first scheduled event. This was one of the things we were looking forward to - a chance to meet Peter Max. His schedule was tight so he came on board just for a few hours. Our group had a private room where we had cocktails while our Park West host interviewed Mr. Max. He is getting up there in age (like us!) and tends to repeat himself a bit, but he still paints every day. He is the last living artist of the group that made pop art famous and put New York on the map as a place for artists to congregate. We were awed to be in his presence and honored to have our photo taken with him.

After the Peter Max interview we had a little free time before the safety drill. The exit route map on our door actually directed us the long way around to our designated gathering spot. With 4,000 people on the ship, it was a little chaotic, but we found our spot and even found a place to sit once we got there. It was a quick briefing and we were back in our rooms to watch the sail-away in no time.

We enjoyed the voyage down the Hudson River and took lots of pictures. Our room is on the starboard side so we had a great view of NJ, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and Staten Island on the way out. As the river turned we even got a great view back towards NYC and the new World Trade Center Tower. I took a few shots showing both the Statue of Liberty and the Tower. It was a wide shot and I hope it comes out. We didn't bring a computer for this trip, only iPads, so we can't offload any photos until we get home.
 

Park West hosted a cocktail party for us at 6:15pm and gave us stickers to show they paid for unlimited access to the specialty restaurants for us for the week. We will go to 4 of the restaurants with the group and have 3 nights on our own. Since the group is too large for any one restaurant to accommodate us, they have divided us into 4 groups. Each group will have a chance to experience each of the 4 restaurants.

Tonight our group got to go to the Japanese restaurant - Teppanyaki. I have never been able to get Ray into a Japanese restaurant in the 35 years we have been married, so I was excited and he was a bit anxious. It was a wonderful meal however. The chef was very entertaining, the company was good and the food was great. Ray came out saying he really enjoyed it. He said his steak and shrimp were delicious, as was a scallop he tasted from another person's meal. I had great chicken and shrimp. It was all served along with fried rice, fried vegetables, and good wine. For desert there was a choice of fruit or green tea cake and ice cream. We both had the cake and ice cream, and enjoyed it.  All together, the meal was a great ending to our first day on board.

Introduction and a Welcome to NYC Party

Even though we said we were going to cut back on travel once we retired,  2014 is not the cut-back year yet. Somehow we managed to schedule 5 trips this year.  In January we took a one week Caribbean  cruise  for our 35th wedding anniversary. In May we drove north to spend a week in Pennsylvania, taking care of the graves at 7 cemeteries I have family in, visiting old friends, and then extended the trip to celebrate our newest great-niece's christening in NJ.

During that last trip, I got a email from Park West, offering us a free cruise to Bermuda.  We had the week open and it sounded like fun, so what the heck.   We only had to get to NYC to do it. So I booked 2 seats on Delta from Orlando to LaGuardia and here we are. (I'll talk about the other 2 trips as they happen - I like leaving you all guessing.)

A view of Manhattan from the airplane on the way into LaGuardia

The  adventure began Saturday morning. The Villages Airport Van picked us up at 8:30AM. We made several stops around the Villages picking up additional passengers until the van was full with 8 travelers and the driver.  Our Delta flight from Orlando to La Guardia in NYC was smooth and uneventful.   We had reserved a car to pick us up and bring us into Manhattan and the driver showed up quickly after we called to say we had our bags. He had a little trouble fitting our 2 large suitcases into the trunk, but he and Ray finally squeezed them in.  They just don't make trunks large enough anymore!  There was a lot of traffic in in the city, but the driver was skilled at getting around. Since we had a flat fee, it was to his advantage to get us to our hotel as quickly as possible so he could go on to pick up another fare.

Unlike most hotels, the reception desk for the Marriott Marquis is on the 8th floor of the building.
Check in was easy though and we were soon comfortably in our room on the 32nd floor.  It would be a great location for New Year's Eve - we have a direct view from our room to the building the ball drops from in Times Square.  We went back down to the 3rd floor to check in with our Park West hosts and get our itinerary fir the week, then went back upstairs to rest prior to the evening's activities.

A welcome cocktail party was scheduled for 7pm and dinner at Carmine's Italian restaurant at 8pm.  There are 40 couples in the group . With activities planned together for the week, we will have a chance to meet many of them. Tonight we met Paul and Susan during the cocktail party and went on to meet Joe, Mary, Michael, Harriet, David, Kathy, Roman and Vicki at diner.

Dinner was great - an 8 course Italian feast at Carmine's!  We had salad, a basket of breads, calamari, pasta in white sauce with sausage, pasta in red sauce, shrimp in red sauce with stewed tomatoes, lemon chicken, spinach, a tray of desserts, and coffee.  They kept bottles of the house red and white wines coming through the meal.  Conversation was lively as well. I can already see we may make a few new friends on this trip.