Breakaway Review 5-28 Including Vibe!!

[schnitzel]

Just got off the Breakaway this morning and after reading some great reviews that helped with many decisions we made, I wanted to write my own review. This is my first crack at this so go easy on me :) Both my girlfriend and I have been on previous cruises and I was on the NCL Dawn 8 years ago but this was our first cruise together...

Embarkation

We stayed over at my girlfriend's sisters apartment in NYC the night before to avoid any travel issues Sunday Morning. We arrived to the pier around 10:00 am and was given the number 9 card. After not winning our minimum bid for an upgrade to the Haven we really wanted to get the golden tickets to the Vibe so this number didn't give us great odds at being 2 of 70 to get them. They actually started calling the numbers out before they were supposed to. (thanks previous week Breakawayers for getting off the ship quickly!) Groups 8 and 9 were called together and we got near the front of the group. After going through a fairly easy embarkation process that got us on the ship around noon, we rushed over to guest services to find out that the couple in front of us had received the last 2 passes :o:o

My girlfriend suggested we linger for a few minutes to see if something might open up. It wasn't more than 2 minutes later that a lady walked up to the counter and said that her friends didn't want to pay the $99 fee so they were going to sell it back!! So thanks to some amazing luck we got the Vibe!!

Vibe

Without access to our room for a little while we headed right to the Vibe and it is absolutely worth the price. It takes away the whole process of fighting with 4000 other people to get a chair by the main pool and all the crowds and kids and despite not having a pool, the Vibe has 2 large sized Hot tubs and a separate Bar just for the Vibe. You also make good connections as you see the same people throughout the week and have the same bartenders. The hot tubs are open till late at night and there was never a struggle to find space.

Stateroom

We had originally booked a balcony room on the 8th floor but after seeing a price drop, we called NCL and got upgraded to a mini-suite room on the 9th floor. The only difference was a bigger bathroom but the room and balcony was perfectly fine for 2 people. I do recommend trying to get a room on the 10th or 11th floor though because our room was directly over the Fatcats jazz club and being light sleepers, my girlfriend and I were unable to get to sleep until after 1am when the music stopped every night. Our room steward Garvin was ok but we did have to ask a few times to get things that already should've been in our room.

Food and Drink

Most reviews i've read on here mention that the food is great on the breakaway and I cannot disagree. We booked the 3 specialty restaurant package and ended up dining at Cagney's, Teppanyaki and La Cucina. Being an avid steak eater, I have had many great steaks along the way and the Filet Mignon at Cagney's was right up there as one of the best I have ever eaten. Teppanyaki was great and we definitely get bigger portions than at your typical hibachi house that usually has you wanting more. We also had great Italian food at La Cucina. We also ate dinner at Taste, Savor, and the MDR 1 time each and the food and service was always good. The garden buffet was always good for breakfast, O'sheehans was acceptable for a quick bite or a late night snack and although there is a fee for food at Margaritaville,the Volcano Nachos can not be missed!! I do recommend that you try to book your specialty restaurants ahead of time and a quick bit of advice is that you can arrive a little more than the 15 minutes before that they tell you to show up because they will seat you early if there is room. We also had the Ultimate Beverage package and maybe it was because most of our drinks were ordered in the Vibe, but we never had any issues with any bartenders. I suggest the drink called "Miami Vice". It is a red, white and blue drink with a mix of Pina Colada, Blue Curacao and Strawberries. My girlfriend drinks a lot of coffee and its very funny that except for the sit down restaurants, you get charged for coffee but put a shot of whiskey in it and its free :D

Things to Do

There were always many things to do around the ship. I'm a huge music lover so most of the things we saw were music related...

Some of the things we saw or did:

Howl at the Moon- This was really fun and the female singer was amazing. But I can't see anyone spending more than a couple hours there even though they are on for 4 hours

80's party at Spice- love 80's music and although most of what was played was your typical cliched 80's party music it was really fun to dance outside on the top of a cruise ship

Waterslide- We did the Freefall waterside and even though it goes very quickly, it was a great rush

Poker- Typical cruise ship poker tournament where the levels go really fast and it's much more a matter of luck than skills but still fun.

Carla Stickler- The singer who has performed in Wicked and other shows on Broadway was great! She has an amazing voice and wished she was on longer than an hour

Arvin and Emily- We saw them in bits and pieces numerous times around the ship and they were both great

Acoustic Vibes with Melvin- Great acoustic renditions of popular songs

Game Shows- watched the Newlywed game, Sing it if you know it and some of the perfect couple game- basic Cruise ship cheese lol and if you want to be recognized on the ship try to get on the Newlywed game as that broadcast was on the breakaway channel virtually every time we turned to that channel

Disembarkation

Our friend was looking to pick us up early at the terminal so we decided to take the pink luggage tags that was a self-disembark between 8-8:30. We actually starting moving even before 8 and were actually finished and on the sidewalk outside 12th ave by 8:25. Very impressed with the process!

 

All in all, it was a wonderful time and even though I probably won't travel on Breakaway again because of repeating a lot of things, I will definitely travel NCL again

Let me know if you have any questions and i'll try to answer them

 

Scott

[tokidoki]

:cool:Welcome back! At embarkation, did u notice if casino went before platinum or after? Thx

[L1211]

Glad you had a great

Cruise! Thanks for the review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[schnitzel]

From what I recall, Casino at Seas, Platinum and Seven Seas were called together but don't quote me on that one

 

Scott

 

:cool:Welcome back! At embarkation, did u notice if casino went before platinum or after? Thx

[easyboy]

Great review! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Disneylover1012]

Thank you for the review. We are going on our first NCL cruise on the Breakaway in October. We are doing the Haven.

[DKane]

Hi, when you self disembark, can you use the elevators or do you wheel your luggage down stairs or an escalator?

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[cantthinkofanythingfun]

Thanks for the review. I'm going in three weeks. It will be my fourth time on the BA. I'm also hoping for a Haven upgrade. i've been in there once and it was pretty fantastic, but not worth current list price. If I don't make it than I'll be making the mad dash for Vibe. Sounds like I'm going to have to leave pretty early in the morning. I easily scored Vibe passes the last time I went and didn't get to the pier until around 12:30. Of course that was an October cruise to Bermuda and it was during Hurricane Joaquin Phoenix. May have lessened the demand.

 

Was Les Getrex and the Creole Cookin' Band still playing in Fat Cats? Next to Howl at the Moon. That's my second favorite on board entertainment.

[BirdTravels]

Hi, when you self disembark, can you use the elevators or do you wheel your luggage down stairs or an escalator?

 

By 8:15, the elevators were in somewhat gridlock. Many people pushing the Up and Down buttons on both banks of elevators and getting into any elevator they could fit on.

 

For those who have been on any of the NCL MegaShips, they have a stupid elevator system where 4 of the 8 cars go from deck 4 through 15 and the other 4 cars go from 4 through 16 (Havens and upper sundecks). It started with the Epic and continued with the BA and GA. And a slightly different configuration on the Escape.

 

Once in the terminal, there is an escalator and elevator down from the gangway level to the baggage hall/Customs area.

[schnitzel]

Thanks for the review. I'm going in three weeks. It will be my fourth time on the BA. I'm also hoping for a Haven upgrade. i've been in there once and it was pretty fantastic, but not worth current list price. If I don't make it than I'll be making the mad dash for Vibe. Sounds like I'm going to have to leave pretty early in the morning. I easily scored Vibe passes the last time I went and didn't get to the pier until around 12:30. Of course that was an October cruise to Bermuda and it was during Hurricane Joaquin Phoenix. May have lessened the demand.

 

Was Les Getrex and the Creole Cookin' Band still playing in Fat Cats? Next to Howl at the Moon. That's my second favorite on board entertainment.

Yes Les Getrex and the Creole Cookin Band was still playing in Fat Cats. Almost every night

[markf]

One thing surprised me about your review, the steak was good!

You say you are from Long Island, would you say the steak was comparable to the better steak houses on long island, like Bryant and Coopers or Lugers. If so I would be very surprised.

i always found the steak to be of lesser quality

[winner76]

Hey Scott -

It's Jill!!! Give my email to Oz winner76 at msn.com

J:)

[schnitzel]

One thing surprised me about your review, the steak was good!

You say you are from Long Island, would you say the steak was comparable to the better steak houses on long island, like Bryant and Coopers or Lugers. If so I would be very surprised.

i always found the steak to be of lesser quality

 

I really do think the Steak at Cagney's measures up to the better steak houses on Long Island. Definitely top 3 Steak i've ever had.

 

Scott

[schnitzel]

Hey Scott -

It's Jill!!! Give my email to Oz winner76 at msn.com

J:)

 

Hey Jill!

 

I will give her your email. Hope all is well :)

 

Scott

[msears101]

Just got off the Breakaway this morning and after reading some great reviews that helped with many decisions we made, I wanted to write my own review. This is my first crack at this so go easy on me :) Both my girlfriend and I have been on previous cruises and I was on the NCL Dawn 8 years ago but this was our first cruise together...

Embarkation

We stayed over at my girlfriend's sisters apartment in NYC the night before to avoid any travel issues Sunday Morning. We arrived to the pier around 10:00 am and was given the number 9 card. After not winning our minimum bid for an upgrade to the Haven we really wanted to get the golden tickets to the Vibe so this number didn't give us great odds at being 2 of 70 to get them. They actually started calling the numbers out before they were supposed to. (thanks previous week Breakawayers for getting off the ship quickly!) Groups 8 and 9 were called together and we got near the front of the group. After going through a fairly easy embarkation process that got us on the ship around noon, we rushed over to guest services to find out that the couple in front of us had received the last 2 passes :o:o

My girlfriend suggested we linger for a few minutes to see if something might open up. It wasn't more than 2 minutes later that a lady walked up to the counter and said that her friends didn't want to pay the $99 fee so they were going to sell it back!! So thanks to some amazing luck we got the Vibe!!

Vibe

Without access to our room for a little while we headed right to the Vibe and it is absolutely worth the price. It takes away the whole process of fighting with 4000 other people to get a chair by the main pool and all the crowds and kids and despite not having a pool, the Vibe has 2 large sized Hot tubs and a separate Bar just for the Vibe. You also make good connections as you see the same people throughout the week and have the same bartenders. The hot tubs are open till late at night and there was never a struggle to find space.

Stateroom

We had originally booked a balcony room on the 8th floor but after seeing a price drop, we called NCL and got upgraded to a mini-suite room on the 9th floor. The only difference was a bigger bathroom but the room and balcony was perfectly fine for 2 people. I do recommend trying to get a room on the 10th or 11th floor though because our room was directly over the Fatcats jazz club and being light sleepers, my girlfriend and I were unable to get to sleep until after 1am when the music stopped every night. Our room steward Garvin was ok but we did have to ask a few times to get things that already should've been in our room.

Food and Drink

Most reviews i've read on here mention that the food is great on the breakaway and I cannot disagree. We booked the 3 specialty restaurant package and ended up dining at Cagney's, Teppanyaki and La Cucina. Being an avid steak eater, I have had many great steaks along the way and the Filet Mignon at Cagney's was right up there as one of the best I have ever eaten. Teppanyaki was great and we definitely get bigger portions than at your typical hibachi house that usually has you wanting more. We also had great Italian food at La Cucina. We also ate dinner at Taste, Savor, and the MDR 1 time each and the food and service was always good. The garden buffet was always good for breakfast, O'sheehans was acceptable for a quick bite or a late night snack and although there is a fee for food at Margaritaville,the Volcano Nachos can not be missed!! I do recommend that you try to book your specialty restaurants ahead of time and a quick bit of advice is that you can arrive a little more than the 15 minutes before that they tell you to show up because they will seat you early if there is room. We also had the Ultimate Beverage package and maybe it was because most of our drinks were ordered in the Vibe, but we never had any issues with any bartenders. I suggest the drink called "Miami Vice". It is a red, white and blue drink with a mix of Pina Colada, Blue Curacao and Strawberries. My girlfriend drinks a lot of coffee and its very funny that except for the sit down restaurants, you get charged for coffee but put a shot of whiskey in it and its free :D

Things to Do

There were always many things to do around the ship. I'm a huge music lover so most of the things we saw were music related...

Some of the things we saw or did:

Howl at the Moon- This was really fun and the female singer was amazing. But I can't see anyone spending more than a couple hours there even though they are on for 4 hours

80's party at Spice- love 80's music and although most of what was played was your typical cliched 80's party music it was really fun to dance outside on the top of a cruise ship

Waterslide- We did the Freefall waterside and even though it goes very quickly, it was a great rush

Poker- Typical cruise ship poker tournament where the levels go really fast and it's much more a matter of luck than skills but still fun.

Carla Stickler- The singer who has performed in Wicked and other shows on Broadway was great! She has an amazing voice and wished she was on longer than an hour

Arvin and Emily- We saw them in bits and pieces numerous times around the ship and they were both great

Acoustic Vibes with Melvin- Great acoustic renditions of popular songs

Game Shows- watched the Newlywed game, Sing it if you know it and some of the perfect couple game- basic Cruise ship cheese lol and if you want to be recognized on the ship try to get on the Newlywed game as that broadcast was on the breakaway channel virtually every time we turned to that channel

Disembarkation

Our friend was looking to pick us up early at the terminal so we decided to take the pink luggage tags that was a self-disembark between 8-8:30. We actually starting moving even before 8 and were actually finished and on the sidewalk outside 12th ave by 8:25. Very impressed with the process!

 

All in all, it was a wonderful time and even though I probably won't travel on Breakaway again because of repeating a lot of things, I will definitely travel NCL again

Let me know if you have any questions and i'll try to answer them

 

Scott

 

Glad you liked it. We were the couple that got the last two vibe passes, Mike and Kate.

[Endlesshorizons]

Thank you for you're review. I was wondering if you know what time the passengers have to be out of their cabins to disembark the ship? We are in no hurry to rush off and like to have a leisurely sit down breakfast before leaving.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Endlesshorizons
Add to reply.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[schnitzel]

Thank you for you're review. I was wondering if you know what time the passengers have to be out of their cabins to disembark the ship? We are in no hurry to rush off and like to have a leisurely sit down breakfast before leaving.

The passengers were told they needed to be out of their cabins by 9:00am and could then sit in one of the lounges or restaurants. We were off the ship earlier than that so I don't know if that was strictly enforced

 

Scott

[schnitzel]

Glad you liked it. We were the couple that got the last two vibe passes, Mike and Kate.

 

Hello Mike and Kate!

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.