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NCL Breakaway Vibe vs Haven Review – Lots of Pictures

brian99

By brian99,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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brian99

brian99

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I was on Breakaway 10/25/15, this was my 3rd cruise, all on NCL, with my wife. Most people would say we did the whole cruising thing backwards, our first was on the Jewel in a garden villa, the second was on Breakaway in a haven aft penthouse and this one was in an aft balcony. Originally we had no interest in doing the same cruise this year but when a warehouse club was offering an aft balcony for $950pp with $50 OBC and free drink package we couldn’t pass it up. The cost of the same aft penthouse we had last year was over $3000pp, I couldn’t justify the extra cost considering how little we used the haven.

 

 

I didn’t take as many pictures of the ship since we did the same cruise last year. I’ll post a bunch of my pics below but if you want to see them all, go to my flickr page, I also took a picture of the dailies:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brian99/albums

 

EMBARKING:

Since this would be our first cruise without being in the haven we wanted to make sure to get Vibe passes. We arrived at the pier around 9am and waited in line until 9:30 when the security started letting passengers in. After going through security we were given boarding pass 19, this was completely unacceptable since we were one of the first 50 people in line. I started looking around and everyone was getting 19, a few minutes later I saw a woman giving out boarding pass 5, I told her I didn’t have a boarding pass and she gave me one, I put pass 19 in my backpack and now I wasn’t worried about getting Vibe passes.

 

Boarding as very organized, they made several announcements about how the process works. By 11:30 they started boarding groups 1 and 2, a few minutes later they called for groups 3, 4 and 5. Once on board we went straight to guest services to get our vibe passes. We would have been pass #24 and 25 but instead choose to get a cabana, there were four of them available and we picked #1 (closest to the hot tubs). I don’t know why anyone would get vibe passes without the cabana (if one’s available). Vibe is $99 per person, a cabana is $339 for two people and includes a $100 OBC, so basically the cabana is only $40 more for the week. We spent about $70 of the OBC on food in Vibe but received the whole $100 credit.

 

 

22399468909_f77f208a8d_b.jpg

2015 NCL Welcome Aboard by Brian Sweeney, on Flickr

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TraJon9

TraJon9

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This will be interesting to see your opinion. We just got back 11/8 and stayed in the Haven Courtyard Penthouse. Now being so close we used the restaurant often. Breakfast 3 times, lunch 3 times and 3 dinners. We used the sun deck. Now I have to admit I used the Lavazza espresso so many times.. That thing is amazing! And we loved the room...

 

We were on the Breakaway last June to Bermuda (you must go!) in a regular balcony aft. We had Vibe.. Vibe to me is 1000 times better then the Haven courtyard. We don't travel with littles ones and unfortunately for us the parents showed no respect to anyone when it came to their kids and that area. The concierge had to control the situation one day it got so bad, dangerous with the little ones. Another day there was an incident with a little one slipping in the deep section after totally running wild. It was shocking to see it all play out.

 

I will follow your thoughts..

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TraJon9

TraJon9

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Yet another child-based report on why I will never book Haven. :)

 

The problem I have with vibe is that as far as I know there is no water feature to cool off in? Or am I wrong?

 

The hot tubs are not hot and there is a large like enclosed glass shower to cool off in. The cabanas can be really hot, it is why some decide not to get them. We had one in June and it was perfect leaving NYC.. The vibe is worth it! Like 20 people tops in there usually with a private bar, nice music..

 

I can't be mad at the kids, but the parents. OMG! Here I am trying to have lunch watching over their kids because you could see the accident was coming.. Parents backs turned drinking. These children were under five.. Walking all over the chairs in the water feature, tipping them over.. Jumping into the hot tub while guests were in the hot tub, the other empty. Pushing water out of the hot tub onto the floor.. Then a little girl slipped into the pool. A NCL Employee jumped so fast and pulled her out of the pool by her arms.. She then got upset, her parents finally noticed. They then went on to blame the employee saying he scared her.. I was irate, seriously.. I don't get the parents.. I like a mix of people but not parents who show no respect to such a beautiful place.

 

The room? Amazing. The staff there? Awesome and fun. That espresso maker? Not sure it's worth the haven but it might be lol

 

(BTW) we are going back.. Back to the regular aft room with vibe..

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thistimeplease

thistimeplease

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Enjoying your review and look forward to more I just have one question regarding the boarding passes. You said you received a higher number originally to board but then went to a random person and received a lower number, didn't know you could do this? Is this how boarding passes work? Why show up early if they aren't going to give out lower numbers to those who arrive early?

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brian99

brian99

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Yet another child-based report on why I will never book Haven. :)

 

The problem I have with vibe is that as far as I know there is no water feature to cool off in? Or am I wrong?

 

There is a outdoor glass shower you can cool off in but if it's not windy there are umbrellas everywhere. Unless the sun is directly overhead there are usually some loungers that are shaded.

 

The cabanas do get hot in the morning or later afternoon, depending on which direction the ship is pointing, but in the middle of the day it's shaded enough to be comfortable.

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brian99

brian99

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Enjoying your review and look forward to more I just have one question regarding the boarding passes. You said you received a higher number originally to board but then went to a random person and received a lower number, didn't know you could do this? Is this how boarding passes work? Why show up early if they aren't going to give out lower numbers to those who arrive early?

 

I think they're supposed to give the low number passes to the people who arrive first but there were at least 5 different people handing out passes and they all had different numbers. I saw some people with numbers over 50. If you see someone handing out the yellow boarding passes with a number lower than yours you can simply go up to them and say you don't have a pass and they'll give you one.

 

Also, one boarding pass is good for your entire group. If you get there late, make friends with someone with a lower number and board with them.

 

One slight issue with boarding I didn't mention was there are nowhere near enough seats for everyone. This means the people who get there early and board first are sitting and everyone else is standing between the seats and in the hallway, you need to get through them to get to the gangway. This wasn't much of an issue for us because we were sitting by an aisle in the 2nd row but people in the middle of the back row of seats would have a hard time.

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AndyCapn

AndyCapn

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One thing we learned getting the cabana on our recent cruise is that you can smoke is permitted there. Otherwise the only other place in Vibe where smoking is permitted is at the bar.

 

Speaking of which, if you are a drinker and you've constantly read how long it takes to get a drink onboard Breakaway, the Vibe is definitely for you. It's like having a private bartender.

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prg2101

prg2101

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I think they're supposed to give the low number passes to the people who arrive first but there were at least 5 different people handing out passes and they all had different numbers. I saw some people with numbers over 50. If you see someone handing out the yellow boarding passes with a number lower than yours you can simply go up to them and say you don't have a pass and they'll give you one.

 

Also, one boarding pass is good for your entire group. If you get there late, make friends with someone with a lower number and board with them.

 

One slight issue with boarding I didn't mention was there are nowhere near enough seats for everyone. This means the people who get there early and board first are sitting and everyone else is standing between the seats and in the hallway, you need to get through them to get to the gangway. This wasn't much of an issue for us because we were sitting by an aisle in the 2nd row but people in the middle of the back row of seats would have a hard time.

 

 

Or just book a Haven suite and have Priority boarding with the concierge....just saying;)

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brian99

brian99

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VIBE:

I can’t say enough good things about Vibe, it was by far the best part of the cruise and was much more enjoyable than being in the haven. There are no kids allowed in Vibe, in the haven there were always kids running around and using the hot tubs. The hot tubs in Vibe are also much better because they have a view of the ocean, the Haven hot tubs are “indoors”. Getting drinks is also better in Vibe, from the hot tub or cabana it’s about 5 steps to the bar so there’s no need to even dry off to get a drink, the haven bar is inside. After a day or two the bartenders knew our usual drinks and we could simply wave to them and they’d bring us drinks in the hot tub or cabana. The only negatives I see for Vibe is it’s all outside, if you’re cruising from NY in the winter it may be useless for 3-4 days and they allow smoking at the bar. The smoke wasn’t an issue for us since there was never more than one or two people smoking and we stayed upwind from them.

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brian99

brian99

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SHOWS:

 

We saw all the main shows last year and Cirque Dreams is the only one I would have wanted to see again but not for $40pp. Second City was awful, I’m not a fan of improv but my wife is and she agreed it was bad, luckily it’s only a 45-minute show. Howl at the moon (dueling pianos) was great, we probably spent 5-6 hours there over the four performances. The fourth show wasn’t as good since it was an older crowd and they were requesting songs I wasn’t in to but we really enjoyed the first three shows.

Edited by brian99
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brian99

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INTERNET:

Internet access on Breakaway is great. My company paid for the unlimited plan so I could check emails and make some phone calls. I downloaded three different wifi calling apps, the first one I tried (Talkatone for android) worked flawlessly so I never tried the others. I assume any wifi app including skype would work. Below are some pics from speedtest showing the network speed. We used over 4GB of data, mainly because we were streaming google music and Pandora for hours every day.

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