Breakaway to Bermuda Cruise Review 08/25/13

[1witchydiva]

Congrats on your five years. Awesome accomplishment. :)

 

I loved your review. Thank you so much. I mentioned the same about the aft privacy issue in my review. I never saw a divider that way before.

 

Welcome back and thanks again.

Edited September 5, 2013 by 1witchydiva

[Red-Sol]

Congratulations and Happy Birthday on both the "5" and the "55" Curtis!

 

I very much enjoyed your review. I love reading reviews where people "Keep it Real" No cruise is perfect and no cruise is terrible. You did a great job of keeping it real and I appreciate your efforts. Great job Curtis! :)

Edited September 5, 2013 by Red-Sol

[Highboy90]

A couple more pictures. A home I think many of us would love to own.

 

 

 

 

Happened to catch this shot one night. Just like it. Not sure why.

 

[Highboy90]

Congrats on your five years. Awesome accomplishment. :)

 

I loved your review. Thank you so much.

 

Congratulations and Happy Birthday on both the "5" and the "55" Curtis!

 

I very much enjoyed your review.

 

Thank you very much to the both of you. Almost half way to "6." :cool: Now, how does one stop the clock at "55?" :p

[Weeziblu]

Happy Birthday, congrats on your 5 years and thank you for the review!!

[Laszlo]

Aside from some beach time, I rode around 1/2 to 3/4 throttle for hours. Used slightly less than 3 gallons. At least that is what I was told and billed for.

 

LOL

Man did I read your post wrong. I thought the $194 was for fuel ONLY. LOL

 

I'm thinking to myself boy you must have rode around at WOT for hours. LOL

 

I think they charge $11.00 a gallon

[VickiD59]

YAY!! Great review and photos, and thanks for taking the ones on either side of your cabin:) I followed along with my minds-eye from the description of your journey to the port - we don't live far from the Bear Mountain Bridge, on the east side of the Hudson.

It's a little sad to see such obvious wear and tear so soon, but there's been a lot of folks on board since the first sailing, so I guess it could be expected, but I hope they keep after it. I'm definitely going to be checking under the bed;) Maybe the shoes were a birthday present LOL Happy Birthday and congrats!!

Edited September 6, 2013 by VickiD59

[jdvmd]

Great review and pictures! Can't believe the maintenance issues for such a new ship.

Happy belated birthday! Love the fact that NCL gave you a cupcake and towel cake! Have never seen that before.

[Highboy90]

YAY!! Great review and photos, and thanks for taking the ones on either side of your cabin:)

Thought you might like that. ;)

 

Happy belated birthday! Love the fact that NCL gave you a cupcake and towel cake! Have never seen that before.

Thank you! I saw this once on the forums and before my birthday, saw a cupcake on a dish on one of the cabin steward's cart. Figured I'd be getting one too. :)

[Highboy90]

One thing I forgot to mention in my review that was a big concern to me and a few others was the noise from above. There has been some concern over noise levels from Spice H20 in the past. Especially on higher decks.

 

I'm very noise sensitive and sleep with a "noise" machine which I brought along. On the first or second night in Bermuda, music, mostly a thumping sound was easily heard in the cabin with the balcony door closed. Like living near a bar or night club I suppose. Perhaps not as bad.

 

When the ship was moving, you noticed the music less as it was drowned out by the mechanics of the Breakaway. I originally booked a AFT balcony on deck 14. Prior to the cruise, switched to deck 11. If noise is a possible concern of yours, I'd suggest you stay around deck 11 or lower if possible.

[covertunes]

If you haven't you should really add this review onto cruise critic's site? I'm sure a lot of people would find it extremely valuable ... on top of having many more people finding it. That's where I found a lot of the Breakaway reviews as opposed to looking into individual roll call forums. Just a thought.

 

Final Thoughts: After reading each and every review I could, there were days where I would get discouraged to the point of almost canceling this cruise several times. As sail date came near, reviews did seem to get better. That with the fact that I would lose a good chunk of money by canceling, I began to concentrate on the positives and noted the negatives and planned accordingly. This seemed to work well as I was happy with the ship, crew and activities.

　

Yes, the ship does feel crowded especially on the first day. Then again, there were times where it was hard to believe that there were forty some hundred fellow passengers aboard. (Heard an actual number which I think was about 4,800 but not sure.) Except for one dinner seating, service was very good. Even then when not, was okay. One of my biggest complaints on the NCL Jewel was waits and service during dinner along with mediocre food. Got some flack on the C.C. forums one time for stating such. Fortunately, this was not the case on the Breakaway. In fact, I thought the food in general was much better.

　

Another concern was staying in port a few days. Well, I would do this again in a heart beat! It was really nice to actually be able to explore a port instead of rushing back to a ship after a few hours. Being able to work around the weather if need be was a plus. I do not gamble but for those who do, having the casinos closed may sway them in a different direction. Walked through the stores enough that having them closed during port days did not matter either. Found other things to do.

　

Aside from a cabin that could have been cleaner initially (partner used wipes and went over many areas), I have no real complaints about staff aboard the Breakaway. Most addressed you with a hello when passing by. Of course, a very few did not. Big deal.

　

As for food, I find it hard to think one would go hungary on this ship or any other for that matter. Found an item or two I didn't care for but generally speaking, most were good.

　

Used the ship for Internet as I found connecting from the Dockyard via WiFiZone not to be a good connection much of the time when trying with two different devices. An iPad mini and my Samsung Galaxy cell phone. Very frustrating. Even when near or under the gazebo, it was poor except for the third day which did seem to be better when testing the signal. A 72 hours access card was no longer available. Had to signup and pay via the Internet with a e-mail confirmation for that plan. Hard to do when you don't have a connection. Regardless, the ships connection speed was usually okay though I only used about 100 minutes or so.

 

Bottom line: Overall. A pleasant cruise with no real negatives. Perfect? No. Would I sail on the NCL Breakaway again? YES! Would I go to Bermuda again? You bet! Hopefully, sooner rather than later. Would I sail another cruise line in the future? Of course. Have the RCCL Quantum of the Seas on my radar.

　

Thank you for reading a very brief recap of my cruise to Bermuda aboard the Breakaway. Hope you enjoyed and found it of some value. :)

[cruisebear84]

Thanks so much for this review, Curtis! I was looking forward to yours since you expressed the same fears I did when the reviews first started rolling in. Since I did end up having to cancel :( I knew you'd give an honest perspective... Really appreciate you taking the time to make a real succinct, easy-to-read review... And do post it up on the CC review section! Glad you enjoyed your cruise... Happy belated bday!! :)

[Red-Sol]

 

Happened to catch this shot one night. Just like it. Not sure why.

 

 

I can understand that you would like that picture Curtis..it is very cool and very unique. If I had taken it it would reside as my desktop background on my computer.

[VickiD59]

If you haven't you should really add this review onto cruise critic's site? I'm sure a lot of people would find it extremely valuable ... on top of having many more people finding it. That's where I found a lot of the Breakaway reviews as opposed to looking into individual roll call forums. Just a thought.

 

See... now I always look HERE for reviews first. Something about having usually chatted and posted with the person doing the reviewing beforehand. I do occasionally read the "member" section, but I like being able to ask a question if need be.

However both are very appreciated and helpful :)

[martinchem]

Nice review, looking forward to our cruise.

[garnet115]

Fireworks Video taken from AFT balcony, cabin 11312. See some asking elsewhere. You perhaps did not see the entire show but most of it. At least on this sailing.

 

This is great! I am in that cabin in February and have been hoping we will be able to see the fireworks from our balcony! Thanks for posting!

[Keith1010]

Great review. Thanks for all of the effort you put in putting this together.

 

Keith

[Sundiego]

Thanks so much for this awesome review! We are in 11910 next week! I really appreciated your AFT cabin pics :)

 

~Denise

[coka]

Thank you for writing review and for posting pics. The boat rental in Bermuda is great information...would like to try that next visit. Oh, did the shoes fit? LOL

 

coka

Edited September 7, 2013 by coka

[lobsterlover]

Well done! Thank you.

 

L.L.

[Highboy90]

Nice review, looking forward to our cruise.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Great review. Thanks for all of the effort you put in putting this together.

 

Thanks so much for this awesome review!

 

Thank you for writing review and for posting pics.

 

Well done! Thank you.

Your welcome everyone. Thank YOU for the comments. :)

[Highboy90]

If you haven't you should really add this review onto cruise critic's site? I'm sure a lot of people would find it extremely valuable ... on top of having many more people finding it.

I probably screwed things up but did submit a slightly edited review to be posted on the Cruise Critic site under ship reviews a few days ago. Hasn't been posted...yet. :cool:

[covertunes]

I probably screwed things up but did submit a slightly edited review to be posted on the Cruise Critic site under ship reviews a few days ago. Hasn't been posted...yet. :cool:

 

Nice! I'm sure it will be up soon.

 

 

Send from device_name using Cruise Critic your_app_name App

[graphicguy]

Found a pair of shoes under the bed from a previous guest. How long they were they there? Who knows.

　

 

It's obvious no one vacuumed under the bed after each cruise as the shoes were not mid way under the bed. Actually slightly under the skirt. There was also lots of finger prints on the closet doors and such indicating a less than thorough cleaning prior to our cruise.

 

Nice new ship and some blemishes already.

　

 

Noticed some trim or sealer if you will hanging off the shower door. Shame it was left that way and that a new ship is already showing signs of wear, poor craftsmanship and/or design. I put the trim back in place where it remained for the duration. We did see a few other examples around the Breakaway which I will show you later.

　

 

Curtis....thanks for the review. I'm enjoying it.

 

Was on the Breakaway in June. Noticed the same things myself regarding a lack of build quality and cheapened materials.

 

Enjoyed my cruise, but whomever designed/built the Breakaway isn't someone I'd use for any other ships I was planning to build. As you say, it's a new ship and there are lots of areas I found that were already falling apart.

 

Definitely some pretty big design faux pas around the ship, too.

 

Love to read more of your review.

[noshoobie]

Nice review - thanking you for taking the time to post! Also, congratulations on your sobriety :D