Review of NCL Breakaway for 5/28/17 - 6/4/17

[oceanfun77]

Just a mini review on some lesser-reviewed items on the NCL Breakaway for 5/28/17 - 6/4/17. Our Cruise Director was Alvin Oliva.

 

This is my 2nd cruise (my first cruise was with Princess to Alaska).

 

Evening Shows

Compared to Princess, I find the evening shows more limited in that they really only had Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages repeating all through the week. We saw Burn the Floor twice. And Rock of Ages once...I thought the show and songs to Rock of Ages were kind of meh...I'm glad I didn't pay to see that on Broadway! Before I saw the show, I thought I would like Rock the Ages more and Burn the Floor would be meh, but boy did Burn the Floor surprise me!

 

Cirque Du Soleil Jungle Fantasy - I loved this show! During dinner, people dressed up in costumes come up to your table to playfully tease you a bit and take pictures with you. The show itself was fantastic! I was like 10 feet away from the performance stage so I saw everything close up and it blew my mind.

 

Unadvertised Additionals - If you see Burn the Floor on Friday, after the show, they bring out a representation of the stewardess, restaurant waitresses, and other staff to the stage which I thought was kind of neat and touching

 

Also, an unadvertised performance which you can't book for in advance on the MyNCL website is Broadway star Carla Stickler who performs on Saturday at 7pm & 9pm. You don't find out she performs until you get your dailies paper on Friday night.

 

For super fans of Burn the Floor, the cast puts on a mini though impressive show in the Manhattan Dining Room at 9pm on Saturday. This was also unknown until you get your dailies paper.

 

Food

Every night, the buffet has a different theme of foods available (Carribbean, Italian, Mexican, Oriental, etc...) though they serve their usual comfort foods as well. If you're a picture taker, I would go up to the buffet area every night just to take a picture of the fruit carvings they did...it's beautiful.

 

Shanghai Noodle Bar, Teppanyaki, and Oriental Lunch Buffet at Moderno - I am Asian, and thought their oriental foods were disgusting! Way too salty and way much salt. The Shanghai Noodle Bar's noodles had a weird taste to it (that might appeal to western palates?), but it definitely wasn't something we would cook ourselves or combine the ingredients they used into one bowl. The only good item was the Shrimp dumplings, but would suggest they give us sirracha sauce as the dipping sauce instead of sweet & sour sauce.

 

The oriental lunch buffet at Moderno they had for a day was yucky. They did hang up nice decorations for it though. We ate like 20% of the food on our plate and then went up to the real buffet to eat instead.

 

O'Seehans - this was my favorite place to eat! The Thai Chili chicken wings are to die for...they also had great sandwiches that came with French fries that were better than the ones you get at the buffet. You can also get hot dogs from the cart like you see on NYC streets if you want, but I didn't get it.

 

The free dining rooms (Taste, Savor, Manhattan) - I loved eating at the free dining rooms...the desserts are far superior to what you will see at the buffet area, though be forewarned, it takes 2 hours to finish a meal here! The breakfast here also has some other items not available at the garden buffet such as eggs benedicts and open-faced smoked salmon with bagel.

 

Gym Classes

I tried out the free 7am stretch and 7:30 abs class my 2nd day They were mediocre at best and way too easy for anyone under the age of 60.

 

I also took a Fight 2 Klub paid gym class my 2nd day. It cost $24.99 plus gratuity totaling $29.50. There were 2 other people in my class and the instructor was totally improvising the class and I didn't even break a sweat. The instructor did know what he was doing and did it very well and strongly, but it didn't translate well to the 3 students. I did not feel like I got my money's worth with that class and that was my biggest waste of money while on this trip.

 

Pool & Waterslides

There are 2 pools, one main pool which is 6 feet deep, and a smaller pool that is about 4 feet deep? As a short non-swimmer, the 6 feet pool was way too deep for my comfort...I spent a little bit time in the 4 feet deep pool, but I spent a lot of time on the waterslides! The yellow and purple ones are really a lot of fun, but I spent a lot of time on the open-top light blue slide as well since that one was a bit tamer, but on the upside also meant there was a shorter line. Didn't have the guts to go on the free fall red & blue slide!

 

Rock Climbing, Spider Slide, Ropes Courses, Bungee Trampoline

Rock Climbing - it's only usually open for 3 hours a day, from 3-6pm, so read your dailies to find out when it's open.

 

Ropes Courses - I meant to try it, but when I got up there and saw the ocean on the very edge where the ropes course starts, I froze up and couldn't do it. I had to make the shameful walk down stairs....why am I such a wuss?

 

Spider Slide - I've been meaning to try this, but it's only open like an hour and 45 minutes each day and I kept missing the time when it's open since I was busy with other things, but on Saturday, I made sure to go do it...only to find out it has a weight limit of 30-120 pounds only...meaning it's really a kiddy apparatus...I was only a few pounds over, but oh well...

 

Bungee trampoline - I think this was closed the entire duration of the week. There was also no open times listed on the dailies schedule.

 

Will continue when I have more time.

[NonnaT]

Hi!

Quick question about your Circe seats...

Did you have VIP?

If not, do you know where the VIP seats were?

Thanks so much for the quick review, very helpful and informative!

NonnaT

[oceanfun77]

Hi!

Quick question about your Circe seats...

Did you have VIP?

If not, do you know where the VIP seats were?

Thanks so much for the quick review, very helpful and informative!

NonnaT

 

No, I didn't have VIP seats, but I did sit at the 2 tables on a raised platform in front of the stage. The couple who sat with us on the same table asked if we had VIP, and I said no...they were under the impression they purchased VIP seats...so I have no idea.

[BirdTravels]

Quick question about your Circe seats... Did you have VIP? If not, do you know where the VIP seats were?

Thanks so much for the quick review, very helpful and informative! NonnaT

 

The VIP seats are the two 4-top tables on risers "behind" the stage. You will always get a good view from there.

 

For general admission, you are seated first-come-first-seated by the hostess. Havens guests are seated first (entering through a side door). If you want good seats, you need to have at least one person in line at least 1 hour before the show. And your whole party in line at least 30 minutes before the show when the doors open.

 

We were at the 7:00 pm show on Sunday night.

 

Doors opened around 6:30

Dinner was served between 6:45 and 7:45 (3 course set menu).

During dinner, various characters came out and wandered around the show room taking pictures with people.

The show started at 7;45 and ran for about 40 minutes.

 

You can see the 4 people sitting at one of the tables behind the cage. That night, the people at the other VIP table decided that they did not want to be on the stage and moved to the back of the dining room.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[NonnaT]

Than you

@BirdTravels and

@oceanfun77

for your quick and informative replies!

This forum is a HUGE help in my planning!

[oceanfun77]

Oh! So I got to sit in the VIP section without paying for VIP tickets :)

[SaltWaterGal]

Thanks for the review! Were the pools and loungers crowded? Any must try items on the buffet?

[oceanfun77]

Thanks for the review! Were the pools and loungers crowded? Any must try items on the buffet?

 

The pools and loungers were definitely VERY Crowded on day 3 at sea and day 6 in the afternoon after everyone has boarded the ship to go back to NYC. I'm not sure how the situation was on days we docked in Bermuda since I was out since the morning and didn't come back until night.

 

At the end of May, the 2nd and 7th day at sea is closer to NYC and it's quite still quite chilly, so not as much takers as on the days when we're closer to Bermuda and it is actually hot.