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Just off Breakaway 11/19 very brief overview


ofhs93
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Let me start by saying this was our 5th cruise and our second with NCL (last one being 14 years ago on the Dawn)

Let me also preface that our last cruise was 5 years ago with RCCL when our oldest boys were 8 and 6.

 

Our overall experience this past week was honestly just bleh....

 

1. we couldn't tender to GSC due to rough seas (not really anyone's fault but a $19 per passenger refund really doesn't come close to covering the disappointment) My wife and children had been planning for months for a tremendous private style beach day...this was a letdown...we made it up in Nassau but that cost me an extra $275 that wasn't exactly planned on clear.png?emoji-wink-1685

 

2. everything and I mean everything came with a line involved...no matter what you were trying to do there was a line...we have never had that experience in the past...maybe this is cruising on all lines in 2017...I don't know...I just know that our RCCL cruises have never had that.

 

3. the food was hit and miss in my mind...the buffet was ehh (i try to avoid that place anyway) osheehans was really a disappointment...main dining room for dinner was hit and miss...not up to RCCL previous experiences overall...and the fact that the lunch menu never changes was baffling to me honestly.

 

4. service was decent but attention to detail was lacking...I think a lot of that may be due to a few different issues...mainly stemming from the freestyle dining and the fact that there are so many surcharge restaurants....its pretty clear from our experience that the service in the surcharge locations was superior to the main dining rooms....as was the food. This would seem to point to the main dining areas being used as training areas in a sense for the surcharge dining locations....that's not been an issue on other cruse lines we have been on.

 

5. with all of the *amazing* activities available on deck for kids ect....it's a serious chore to try to actually experience them....the hours that they are open are extremely limited...and with 4000 other passengers on board you can imagine the length of the lines when these thing finally are made available....not fun.

 

6. the kids program...hmmm...this is up and down...the line to simply check them in and out can take 15-30min at times (no im not exaggerating)...the kids had fun for the most part...but...unlike our last cruise...our youngest 5 and middle 11 at times balked about wanting to go....never had that in the past...i believe the lines and a level of overcrowding may have contributed to that.

 

7. entertainment: overall...this was a REAL disappointment....My wife and I really enjoy going to the local comedy club and both enjoy improv...NCL advertises the Second City comedy group constantly everywhere...but that group was not on the ship...they had 3 other comedians that...honestly...were rather lacking and did no improv act of any kind...now if they didnt advertise Second City all over the place (including on THIS sailing) then we wouldn't have been so disappointed...but....our local comedy club in PA has a better lineup on a weekly basis to be honest. On the other hand the Rock of Ages show was a huge hit...I went into it not expecting a whole lot (espesially since we had seen the comedy act and heard some reviews about it being just too raunchy) but my wife and I both enjoyed it very much...in fact it was probably more comedic than the comedians. NOT kid friendly...but very good. They also had a magictian that I would say was also very good as a whole....mixed comedy in as well. For us the rest of the entertainment options were very lackluster and also overcrowded. Part of this is due to the design of the ship...which honestly is pretty terrible considering its size.

 

8. Ship public spaces/design. This is a real weakness of the Breakaway....dont get me wrong...there are lots of places to see...but the layout is just not intuituve and the public areas are very undersized for the number of passengers this ship carries...it gives the ship a clausterphobic feeling...its a huge vessel but it feels small because nothing flows and there are few open spaces. Its by far the largest ship we have been on but it felt like the smallest...which is strange....again...I believe the number of extra pay restaurant options *greatly* contributes to this issue....those locations take up so much space and are so numerous that they effectivly eat up a tremendous amount of space and turn into dead space for the majority of the day.

 

9. I certainly get many peoples "nickle and diming" complaints....it didnt really effect us so much because we were prepared for it and were not really effected...but the constant upselling and attempts to get people to buy into other things while attending unrelated events was a bit annoying.

 

We did not have a terrible time....but we could have had a better time and HAVE had better times on smaller and older ships on a different line....bottom line...we wont be back to NCL from what we experienced on this cruise. We will go back to RCCL next time as they have not failed us...and to be honest...NCL is really 0-2.

 

 

If anyone has any specific questions regarding the Breakaway ect I woud be happy to answer those that I can.

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Too bad your experience did not live up to your expectations. Thanks for your feedback.

 

 

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All in all..not terrible...just didn't live up to what NCL advertises itself....the Second City thing and missing GSC were 2 big misses...one out of their control...the other not so much. What felt like overcrowding causing the lines everywhere was also disappointing....Thankfully we have had good cruising experiences elsewhere...My mother went on this one as well...this was her 1st cruise and for her it wasn't the greatest either...I'm trying to convince her to give it one more try with RCCL before giving up on cruising altogether.

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All in all..not terrible...just didn't live up to what NCL advertises itself....the Second City thing and missing GSC were 2 big misses...one out of their control...the other not so much. What felt like overcrowding causing the lines everywhere was also disappointing....Thankfully we have had good cruising experiences elsewhere...My mother went on this one as well...this was her 1st cruise and for her it wasn't the greatest either...I'm trying to convince her to give it one more try with RCCL before giving up on cruising altogether.

 

 

 

That’s right. Convince your mother to try another. For sure, the next is always better. It’s how my grandkids got to love cruising with my family.

 

 

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i sailed on the breakaway twice and my main issue is the lack of lounges for entertainment . the atrium is a horrible place to hold events, it gets very crowded very early and its impossible to get seats. you also get the all of the noises from o'sheehan's

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I agree with your assessment of this cruise. We found most of the same things. Our daughter loved the kids club and we went at least once a day but the line to get in and out was insane. It did seem like there were a ton of kids on this cruise, way more than I had expected. I think part of this might have been the Gem cancellation as ours ended up being fully booked.

 

The service in the restaurants and bars surprised us the most. It was not bad service, but it just was not personal at all. On our previous cruise on the Allure of the Seas 2 and 4 years ago we were able to get to know our waiters and some of the bar staff. On this cruise it seemed like they were just there to do a job. Part of this is the freestyle since you can go anytime you want wherever you want you do not carry the same waitstaff the entire week. We did the my time dining on RCCL and even with that we were sat in the same section most nights. Even in the bars it didn't seem like the bartenders were all that interested in carrying a conversation and we were at O'Sheehan's quite often.

 

The flow of the ship was weird. I did not like how they had a bunch of the glass partitions in the middle of walkways on the waterfront and the pool/sundeck. It made walking through difficult. I understand it is to cut down on wind but it really made traversing the ship hard. I was also surprised by the smoking section on the pool deck being on the same side as the kids splash park and the hot tubs the kids could use. While it was somewhat enclosed it still seeped into those areas. No clue why they would not have put it on the adult side of the ship as that is the side that smoking is allowed on the waterfront.

 

We still had a good time and would probably go on NCL again. I am hoping that the service part of the experience was just the breakaway. We will probably try the Escape next and maybe try another RCCL ship to get an accurate comparison.

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I have to say that the Breakaway was a HUGE disappointment to us as well this year! We travel exclusively NCL and our first time on the Breakaway was in October 17 and I was very disappointed. Very unorganized, LONG lines everywhere, mediocre food and service, just not a very pleasant experience at all. I've heard from others that it's this particular ship... I certainly hope so as we are already booked and paid for the Escape in 2018.

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Thank you for your review. I just booked the Bliss.

 

Very apprehensive as you've basically described everything I worried about Freestyle Cruising as being true. But, we like new big ships and the Bliss is the only new one in Alaska. I'll see about preparing myself and adjusting expectations down as much as possible. I mainly do Princess and Disney and like the traditional style of cruising (eat almost exclusively in the MDRs, waiters no what I want and have it at the table before I arrive, entertainment flows right after dinner with no need to prebook anything, little to no upselling, etc).

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I'm reading all this negativity and have to say we've cruised on the BA twice and found it to be our favorite ship. We sailed both times in July so I'm thinking maybe it's different when the activities are indoors more. In fact our cruise experiences were so different than yours that I thought I was reading about another ship with another cruiseline. Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise but I can't wait to sail on the BA again next summer.

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...I mainly do Princess and Disney and like the traditional style of cruising (eat almost exclusively in the MDRs, waiters no what I want and have it at the table before I arrive, entertainment flows right after dinner with no need to prebook anything, little to no upselling, etc).

 

Then you will probably be very disappointed in your cruise.

Happy cruising!!!

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I agree with your assessment of this cruise. We found most of the same things. Our daughter loved the kids club and we went at least once a day but the line to get in and out was insane. It did seem like there were a ton of kids on this cruise, way more than I had expected. I think part of this might have been the Gem cancellation as ours ended up being fully booked.

 

The service in the restaurants and bars surprised us the most. It was not bad service, but it just was not personal at all. On our previous cruise on the Allure of the Seas 2 and 4 years ago we were able to get to know our waiters and some of the bar staff. On this cruise it seemed like they were just there to do a job. Part of this is the freestyle since you can go anytime you want wherever you want you do not carry the same waitstaff the entire week. We did the my time dining on RCCL and even with that we were sat in the same section most nights. Even in the bars it didn't seem like the bartenders were all that interested in carrying a conversation and we were at O'Sheehan's quite often.

 

The flow of the ship was weird. I did not like how they had a bunch of the glass partitions in the middle of walkways on the waterfront and the pool/sundeck. It made walking through difficult. I understand it is to cut down on wind but it really made traversing the ship hard. I was also surprised by the smoking section on the pool deck being on the same side as the kids splash park and the hot tubs the kids could use. While it was somewhat enclosed it still seeped into those areas. No clue why they would not have put it on the adult side of the ship as that is the side that smoking is allowed on the waterfront.

 

We still had a good time and would probably go on NCL again. I am hoping that the service part of the experience was just the breakaway. We will probably try the Escape next and maybe try another RCCL ship to get an accurate comparison.

 

I appreciate that I wasn't the only one that saw some flaws lol...It was also nice meeting your family Belly....even if you ARE a Pat's fan ;)

 

 

Our next cruise will almost definitely be with RCCL unless one of the other lines comes up with some unbeatable deal that makes it worth trying out. Sailing from NYC or Baltimore really is tremendously more convenient for us...so that automatically cancels out some of the other lines that simply don't sailfrom those ports.

 

I can see the appeal for some people when it comes to NCL....but the lines...yikes...and the lack of individual treatment....those were dissapointing. Our cabin steward was great and we made sure to put in a vacation hero card for him and also gave him a little extra tip at the end of the trip...but outside of that it just wasn't special in any way....again...not terrible...but not memorable either...which has not been the case with RCCL and Disney. I want to also remind folks...this is our 1st cruise in 5 years...so maybe this type of thing is the norm these days on all lines...I don't know from personal experience....but I *do* recall our 1st NCL cruise way back also not being up to RCCL standards as well....*shrug*

 

Different strokes for different folks :)

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I think I heard that the Secind City contract finished literally last week and wasn’t being renewed? TBH most of the feedback I’ve heard was that it was never that good, and people often left, but can’t talk from personal experience... that’s just the main feedback I’ve seen from research I’ve done.

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Sailed on the Breakaway many times and we must agree. The pools and public areas are way too small for the amount of passengers onboard. The crew on the smaller ships are definitely more personable.

We recently tried MSC Divina and loved it. That ship never felt crowded and never any lines

Safe sailing

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I think I heard that the Secind City contract finished literally last week and wasn’t being renewed? TBH most of the feedback I’ve heard was that it was never that good, and people often left, but can’t talk from personal experience... that’s just the main feedback I’ve seen from research I’ve done.

 

I haven't been on NCL since 2009, but the second city folks we had on our cruise were decent (definitely nothing memorable, but I was laughing through the performance). From reviews I read, the second city performers were always hit and miss depending on the ship/contract. Basically the lowest rung of the Second City system was the NCL circuit, so it was always almost entirely fresh meat, which doesn't mean they aren't talented, but most were very inexperienced.

 

Honestly I'm excited to see if they are booking better acts now for headliners rather than the 4th or 5th string of a well known theater company.

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I agree with OP assessment of the kids club and the disappointment of missing GSC.

When we went in October, DS 9 said the kids club wasn't as much fun as the Jade because there were just too many kids. A few times he didn't want to go unlike the previous year when he was obsessed with the club. Also like you said the lines to get into the club is ridiculous. There has got to be a better way to check kids in. In order to make sure DS got into the club we just decided to go 20 mins early. If we have to stand in line for 20 mins, we figured we might as well be first and ensure his spot.

 

As for missing GSC, I knew it was a great possibility due to all the posters on CC who said they have missed the island. I too was also very disappointed since PC was a bust and Nassau is well, Nassau.

 

 

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We were also on the sailing with you. Six adults three cabins no offspring. We all had a great time. Food and service were good sometimes great sometimes slow. We only went to the buffet for a snack and I don't care for them. O'sheehans was good for a late night snack or ice cream. A bad day on a cruise is better then a good day at work.

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I wouldn’t swear off NCL, my favorite ship is the Gem. I think your typically quiet week was impacted by many of those who were supposed to sail the Gem.

 

That could very possibly be the case, and honestly it's what I was afraid of going into the trip when we got the Gem breakdown news...but I'm pretty sure that we won't be back on the Breakaway...the ship is just badly designed. There's potential there but it loses SO much space to the specialty dinning areas.

 

I very specifically choose my vacations to be during what *should* be "slow" times, to try to avoid overcrowding...lines ect...obviously that didn't work out last week ;)

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I think I heard that the Secind City contract finished literally last week and wasn’t being renewed? TBH most of the feedback I’ve heard was that it was never that good, and people often left, but can’t talk from personal experience... that’s just the main feedback I’ve seen from research I’ve done.

 

That seems to be the case with every contract that ends these days with NCL...they are clearly cutting back. Now...had they NOT continued to promote 2nd City then I wouldn't have been as miffed...but they are actually STILL running the promo videos all over the ship lol. I'm not saying it would have been better but it's just a very clear case of false advertising. We enjoy improv and they are promoting an improv group...it's just another piece in the disappointment pie that's all. And the replacements were less than stellar as well so....

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I haven't been on NCL since 2009, but the second city folks we had on our cruise were decent (definitely nothing memorable, but I was laughing through the performance). From reviews I read, the second city performers were always hit and miss depending on the ship/contract. Basically the lowest rung of the Second City system was the NCL circuit, so it was always almost entirely fresh meat, which doesn't mean they aren't talented, but most were very inexperienced.

 

Honestly I'm excited to see if they are booking better acts now for headliners rather than the 4th or 5th string of a well known theater company.

 

Unfortunately the lineup last week didn't seem any better than what you probably have experienced in the past. Honestly...one of the 3 was just not funny period. The other 2 were OK...like I said...the local Comedy Club in Wilkes Barre PA has a better lineup on a weekly basis...we go at least once every 2-3 months and it's has always been better than what we saw in BA last week.

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I agree with OP assessment of the kids club and the disappointment of missing GSC.

When we went in October, DS 9 said the kids club wasn't as much fun as the Jade because there were just too many kids. A few times he didn't want to go unlike the previous year when he was obsessed with the club. Also like you said the lines to get into the club is ridiculous. There has got to be a better way to check kids in. In order to make sure DS got into the club we just decided to go 20 mins early. If we have to stand in line for 20 mins, we figured we might as well be first and ensure his spot.

 

As for missing GSC, I knew it was a great possibility due to all the posters on CC who said they have missed the island. I too was also very disappointed since PC was a bust and Nassau is well, Nassau.

 

 

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Exactly our experience...and we did the same in regards to gerting in line early later in the week.

 

GSC...I knew it could happen...but it still doesn't take the disappointment away...unfortunately in *my* mind that itinerary's success hinges on whether you get to GSC or not...and by the time u get to Nassau at 4pm on Weds it's too late to do much of anything there...at least anything that is family friendly.

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Exactly our experience...and we did the same in regards to gerting in line early later in the week.

 

GSC...I knew it could happen...but it still doesn't take the disappointment away...unfortunately in *my* mind that itinerary's success hinges on whether you get to GSC or not...and by the time u get to Nassau at 4pm on Weds it's too late to do much of anything there...at least anything that is family friendly.

 

The day we missed GSC was probably one of my favorite days on the ship. Since we kinda expected it we already had a backup plan to head up to the pool area as soon as the announcement was made. We were one of the first up there at the kids aqua park. One thing that annoyed me was that I went to guest services about something else and figured ask them when the announcement was normally made. The guy seemed surprised that I was asking and kept saying that we are a go for tendering and that they didn't know until we did that it would be canceled. All I tried asking as when it is usually announced that the stop is canceled. If it really is about a 50/50 shot I am sure that they kinda know when that decision is made. I was also at the desk probably only like 15 minutes before the announcement was made.

 

We just did the pools and hot tubs with our daughter and then dropped her at the kids club at night so we could go see Rock of Ages. Since we saw the 6:30 show it was almost empty in the theater as a lot of people got off the ship when it docked.

 

Overall we had a very good time and we did not let the little things like the slow service/no beverage service in the MDR, quality of food, lines for kids club really bother us. It was just something we noticed as compared to our previous sailings. There just wasn't the wow factor that we have had previous or any specific crew member that stood out. Even our stateroom attendant was just ok. Our room was always clean and made up but as far as interactions with her went there really wasn't much. Again just seemed like she was there to do a job, more like a regular hotel housekeeper. This was the same on our second cruise on the Allure. I think we just got spoiled on our first one as we had an awesome attendant on that one.

 

We will go on NCL again. Not the Breakaway as I believe it is moving to NOLA soon. I do want to try the Escape as it looks like it has more for the little kids to do and it also has the District Brew House. I really want to try a few different ships between RCCL and NCL. Wife wants to do Disney at some point too. I personally do not think making a comparison between only 2 ships from different companies is a fair representation of both lines, especially when one is the top ship in the line (Allure was the newest in the fleet our first cruise and still probably one of the better ones the second) and the other is not.

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