UnaPalomita

I've sailed on the Breakaway three times and the last time was a 14-day cruise right after Thanksgiving last year. That ship has gone downhill fast. I took it on the shake down Trans-Atlantic to NYC and had an ok time. Nothing to scream about one way or the other. When I took the ship to Bermuda a year later, the ship was amazing and the service was amazing and the food was too! The last time in November into December 2016, good service was exceedingly difficult to find. The stateroom shorted out my electric shaver and blew out the outlet with no compensation from NCL. The in-cabin outlet sparked when I plugged in my re-chargeable battery for my camera. The cabin steward wanted to talk but never do his job and constantly forgot things. Dining room service was hideously slow forcing long waits for those who didn't get there early enough. Food was mediocre at best and the new menus were so salt laden you had to drink a ton of water for the rest of the night to quench your thirst. Good luck OP on your sailing. I hope you encounter better!

He did! We did the 14 day out of New York City, it was an amazing time :) Our review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2457471

We're getting ready to book our 7th cruise on an -away class ship. We love the ships. People who will wait in line for 10 minutes at McDonalds for a burger will come out with flaming, anonymous complaints about the Breakaway who has a 10 minute wait for a white tablecloth, sit down dinner.

 

People who will wait in line for an hour at Dinsneyworld for a ride will complain about a 10 minute wait for a water slide.

 

You come on here flaming the ship having never been on her.

 

We always have a great time on the -away class ships. ANd you will too.

If you read the threads he actually loved the ship! It's just that a lot of the reviews for the breakaway on here are bad. Also on their facebook. But it's one of those things where it's the longer cruise 14+ is a different climate than the 5 or 7 day cruises IMO.

This thread is getting very deep with semantics. Bribe vs tip, tomato, to-mah-to.

Do what feels right and enjoy your vacation OP!!

I usually ask for only one special thing from our steward all cruise: a light blanket, as the quilts are too hot for me. I hand him/her $5 at that time when he/she brings it. When we leave a bag of laundry, I place a $5 bill on top of it - usually do 2 loads a cruise. (I love coming home with clean/folded clothes!) Otherwise, we don't bother him/her, or tip extra at the end unless they do something extra ordinary.

Is the room steward responsible for folding the laundry? I wasn't sure...

Thanks for posting! Can't wait for our trip, even if the Breakaway will be at full capacity 🙈

You're welcome :) I think even if it's a full ship it'll be a lot of fun!

When do you sail? What's your itinerary?

I am keeping my eye on a Bermuda trip during hurricane season, hoping prices drop real low. One of my husband's co workers found an inside cabin one time for something crazy like $200. :D

Great review, loved reading it.

Thanks! It's a great ship :) Lots of fun times.

Good review. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! :) It was a good time.

On the Breakaway the hot dog vendor is usually by the pool in the afternoon :) The guy was very friendly. I even had one!

I did miss all the poolside BBQs like they do on the Gem/Jewel. That paella!

Someone posted this menu recently, the coffee you make in the room is better than room service.

Still free on the breakaway for continental! Wish I was back on the balcony :)

We did the Epic over Christmas and my 3 year old son loved Splash Academy he wanted to be there all the time. They had a little talent show at the end of the week that was a lot of fun. Great activities for the kids.

Just wanted to add that if you go at a time where there is a really low kid count they do not do the parades or the show. My son was only one of ten kids in the 3 to 5 age range on the Breakaway in January. However, he was really spoiled by the "teachers" as he called them :) He never wanted to leave!

I think I read that the kids club is on the 5th floor on the Escape? On the Gem it was higher up and it was levels 12/13 on the Breakaway.

On the Breakaway we had the last 6 UDP before that was phased out. We did Moderno, Cagneys, Ocean Blue, the Sushi Bar, and the Raw Bar twice :) I am not a big steak/beef person so I wouldn't personally ever choose to do Cagney's (but husband loved it so I guess I have to go back lol). Raw Bar to me was the best one! Definitely worth it if you enjoy seafood :) I did like it better than Ocean Blue too. Moderno we decided was our least favorite of the bunch. Not that it was bad, just not as amazing as the others.

 

I hear that the Escape has that food republic place and a tapas bar?

Forgot to post a picture of the Raw bar platter:

On the Breakaway we had the last 6 UDP before that was phased out. We did Moderno, Cagneys, Ocean Blue, the Sushi Bar, and the Raw Bar twice :) I am not a big steak/beef person so I wouldn't personally ever choose to do Cagney's (but husband loved it so I guess I have to go back lol). Raw Bar to me was the best one! Definitely worth it if you enjoy seafood :) I did like it better than Ocean Blue too. Moderno we decided was our least favorite of the bunch. Not that it was bad, just not as amazing as the others.

I hear that the Escape has that food republic place and a tapas bar?

We have always checked our luggage. A few cruises back SIX pieces of luggage "went missing" - not ours and not NCL. We got a flyer every day in our room with drawings and a description of each of them. I don't know if the poor guys ever got their luggage because we were still getting the flyers 4 days into the cruise. Since then we keep with us a case that is larger than a carry-on but fits the guidelines for the scanner. It has absolutely not been a problem. Our next cruise is 2 weeks with another week in Europe so we're going to do the same thing just for the peace of mind that we won't be wearing one outfit for 3 weeks!!!

Oh no! When we check in at the NYC cruise terminal, I feel like we kind of have to tip the porters that take your luggage on the curbside there just so your stuff actually makes it to the ship. Crazy, I know. :p

Same thing on our trip, there was a black garment bag that disappeared on embarkation and they sent around a flier to all the staterooms. Not a good feeling when something disappears :(

We were not crazy about our first trip on the Breakaway two years ago. We sailed its sister ship the Getaway last year and had an amazing time. We're giving the Breakaway another chance because we received an amazing price. I think the biggest draw back is the mix of people on the ship. Going out of NY it's mostly northeasterners and we're not exactly the easiest to please. Many people from NY, NJ, and CT make being rude a full time job and it showed the last time we were on.

lol "being rude a full time job" I am going to steal that one! :D

We had a LOT of Europeans on our trip. Lots of Canadians too.

Had an encounter in the pool area where someone thought it was okay to move my son's stuff to a chair she stole from the outside buffet area. Not cool :eek:

You can absolutely drop your luggage off at the pier and then head in another direction. If the weather is good, the High Line is a nice place to explore. If you are looking for a bite to eat, you can take a ride over to Chelsea Market - it's where the old Nabisco factory used to be and where the Food Network studio resides. While you won't see the studio, you can walk through the market and grab breakfast at one of the many shops/restaurants in there.

Was going to suggest the same! Just make sure you have enough time! Chelsea Market is a lot of fun :) Why not make a weekend of it? Come in the night before and stay at Yotel:

http://www.yotel.com/en/

It's annoying but we bought bottled water in port, some vendors even sell on the street for a $1. In Puerto Rico we popped into CVS and bought some there.

I guess it's understandable that they want to make $$ but I wish they had better water to offer for purchase. I only ever saw Aquafina, which I think is just from a public water source, which translates to tap? I'd buy a bottle of Fiji or Evian instead if they offered!

I suggest you talk with your doctor and do some research rather than relying on strangers on a message board. No one can say with any accuracy that "you'll be fine." Talk to your doctor.

Strongly agree :( For me it's not worth the risk. We were talking about getting pregnant a second time. I asked my OBGYN and he said to wait three months AFTER my cruise to become pregnant and even though I was/still am taking birth control to use lots of bug spray when in the islands. You doctor might feel differently!

The weird thing about zika is that you could never get a bug bite, but your husband could and then the virus is transmitted sexually. Anyway, good luck!

Yes a lot of people book last minute! Previously we would call the upsell number and get an upgrade offer that way. I am interested in seeing how this bid system works out :) crossing my fingers for you!

Great review and pics, thank you! I have to ask though...what is the French pharmacy thing?

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed :)

I was looking for fancy french lingerie stores on Martinique but couldn't find anything online, I wanted something like Princesse Tam Tam you'd find in Montreal or Paris. Anyway, I found this link from Gwyneth Paltrow:

http://goop.com/the-french-pharmacy/

It's a list of products you can find in France. We walked around randomly and popped into a couple of pharmacies in Fort de France and found two of the items on the list :) But beware, the line to pay was really long and it's nowhere as fast as CVS or whatever at home!

Tip what you can :) I think the room steward would appreciate anything honestly.

We don't make unreasonable requests from them or leave our room looking like a high school party lol That being said, I think my husband did $10 to $15 first day and then $20ish at the end of the trip. If it's a longer trip I think the tip should be slightly more. I think there is no wrong answer for this one!

No it is not but it's very crowded and uncomfortable seating, everyone is on top of everyone.

I haven't been on any of the 5 or 7 day sailings, but on our 14 day sailing this past January the pool area really wasn't that crowded.

HOWEVER it seemed like every lounge chair was reserved by a guest with their towels! We did see the deck hands going around putting red stickers with the time. After an hour? Or is it a half hour they were removing the items and freeing up the chairs!

Yup. They told us my 15 year old daughter could not be in the main pool. That is one thing I really hated on the Breakaway. The kids pool is a small 100% splash zone and a teenager has no pool they can reasonably use.

She can use the pool on the opposite end, it's near the kids splash area. It's a divided big pool in between the big slides. My five year old was in there having a good time! I think it's 5+ feet deep? Here is a picture:

There is a separate mini pool for kids in the kids splash area, we saw floating poop in there at one point. So gross! Making it a point never to go in the baby pools from here on out lol :eek: And yes we notified the deck hands and the cleaned it out and closed it for a bit.

Nice photos!

Thank you! Hoping to post a link to my husband's videos too :) He still hasn't uploaded anything though lol

We loved theScrew Spa. I found it online and got a bunch of cruise critic members to go with us on our cruise. One of the best excursions we all had.

Yes! :) I am surprised it is not more popular with the cruising crowd!

The strip at Frigate's Bay on St. Kitt's. The ocean was rough here, but less rough at the far left of the beach:

The Sulphur springs on Dominica, this place was paradise on Earth!!!

Drinks at Screws Spa on Dominica:

Screws Spa is just beautiful!

Saw so many rainbows when the ship was in port on Dominica: