Breakaway or RCL Harmony?

[MamatoJack]

Looking to book for March 2020... yes I know it's a long way away but I want to book sooner than later so I can hopefully get flights that aren't crazy expensive. My son (he'll be 10) and I have cruised RCL and Carnival, never been on NCL. He loves water slides, rock walls, ropes courses, etc. Does not care for the kids club on RCL but enjoys it on Carnival. We are looking at two cruises, both are Western Caribbean but different ports. Similar price, with NCL being a bit more. I don't drink so the drink packages don't appeal to me. Both would be in balcony cabins. I'm not sure how to decide between the two. Same week, both from Port Canaveral. NCL is Saturday to Saturday, RCL is Sunday to Sunday.

 

Breakaway - Great Stirrup Cay, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel - we have been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel before, Ocho Rios is one I want to go to for Dunn's (a bucket list thing from when I cruise with my parent's almost 30 years ago).

 

Harmony - Coco Cay, Costa Maya, Roatan, Cozumel - we have been to all 4 though a different port in Roatan and of course Coco Cay will be updates (which really appeals to kiddo).

 

Since we have never been on NCL, I'm a little nervous to book it, I'm not sure if it's really different. Kiddo loves the look of the ships with the bright colours on the front. Any suggestions or things that we should know about NCL to help decide? Thanks!

[BirdTravels]

The Breakaway is a Quantum-class-like ship with about 4200 passengers. NCL is very relaxed with Freestyle cruising. All My Time Dining, going to dinner when you want, where you want. No formal nights. Shorts would be acceptable in all dining rooms for all meals except the Le Bistro (French) and Ocean Blue (seafood) specialty restaurants which require long pants (e.g., jeans). Ropes course, sports court, and water park on the top deck. Family pool and adults only pool. Spice H20 is the the adults-only sundeck.

 

To get some idea of what the ship's dailies are like, menus, etc., take a quick scan through our live post from the Breakaway https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2504449

[Shidah]

Sailed the BA once on my own and loved the ship. The ropes course seems to be a big hit with kids as the rock wall. My daughter was 22 this spring on the GA and was jealous of the little kids zipping up it faster than she could! And she regular climbs and repels real mountains. Too funny. If you know your son doesn’t like RCL kids club, this is a chance to try NCL’s. Based on the kids I see on NCL they all appear to be having a good time. Except one kid who was getting publicly shamed by his dad (was not a great look for his dad) for keep sneaking away to the kids club when he was supposedly meant to be spending time with cousins. I think the cousins were either in a different age group or something. Anyway, that showed how much this kid liked it, kept ditching his family to go back!

[mdwcruises]

Harmony by a mile if you haven't been on that class of ships. If you have, try something new.

[Shidah]

Also, agree that it would be the perfect age for him to enjoy Dunn’s River. We did not do it since after watching videos of people going the wrong way down, I knew that would be me, We did do the Blue Hole which if he is adventurous he would like too. We did a private excursion so we could pick and choose what we wanted to do, but I think there are group ones that hit both the Blue Hole and Dunn’s River.

[kcdionysus]

We’ve been on both ships and we did enjoy the Harmony BUT we loved the Breakaway.

 

Better food, better entertainment, much more relaxed with the Freestyle anytime dining. We didn’t have to search frantically for seats in the main buffet dining room on the Breakaway like we did on the Harmony at every sitting.

 

The Harmony was good and it has a lot of innovative ideas as well as it’s sheer size which are all good as talking points but in our opinion, the Breakaway gave us a better, more memorable experience. I’d go back on the Harmony if the route/price was keen but I’d jump back on the Breakaway in a heartbeat and probably pay more over and above other cruise lines to go on a Breakaway class ship again.

[luckyinpa]

i went on BA with my friends 9 yr old twins who did not want to do the kids clubs. however i can comment that when i saw kids clubs activities that spilled out to public areas, or people going to/from the kids clubs, they were all very happy. i was told you had to have a college degree to work in the clubs. on nice sea days there tons to do outside for the kids. its a very active ship. also the water slides and pools were a blast. just watch the schedules as certain things really have restrictive times

 

however we had 2 bad days and couldnt find a thing to do with them. arcade gets expensive. atrium has horrible seating. literally have to fight for it. we prayed each day the would sleep till 12 so we wouldnt have to fill the time. there's really nothing inside to do /places to hide on the BA. found that out the hard way. its just a generally bad cold/bad weather ship

 

they did love GSC and you just need to avoid the rocks in the water. holy cow. why cant they dig them all out :)

 

it wasnt part of this discussion but regal princess has a much better piazza and even their little tv studio had fun games. but thats another thread.

[momto2js]

I have been on both and here is the deciding factor. We did not do Oasis until my oldest was 11 because at that age he JUST made the minimum cut off for the flow rider and the zip line. So check out the height and weight requirements and see if your son if likely going to make them. My kids are not kids that handle "not being tall enough or old enough for fun" well.

 

That said, we would choose harmony's ports in a heart beat. Costa Maya and Roatan are favorites in my house.

[Nyc2tropics]

Harmony is a much nicer ship in my opinion.

 

 

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[chrisc71]

I have sailed both Harmony and Breakaway. Both have good aspects to them. I give the edge to Breakaway due to the Waterfront area. Harmony is very nice ship lots of amenities but most of the time you don't feel like you're on a cruise ship. I also prefer the freestyle dining on Norwegian.

[Kfamilycruise]

I love the waterfront on the away class ships. Dunns River is so much fun -- we actually did Blue Hole last December and loved it -- my kids had a blast!!!

 

We love both the Oasis+ and Breakaway and Breakaway plus ships -- you can't go wrong for kids on either one.

 

I'd go on whichever has better itinerary for you.

[BNBR]

This isn't even close. Harmony by 100 miles. I'd prefer the Harmony itinerary too as CocoCay will be fully complete with the Perfect Day project. Roatan you have Little French Key, among other things.

 

And Harmony is CHEAPER? I mean, there is absolutely no way I would even consider Breakaway in this comparison. Harmony blows it completely out of the water.

 

One poster mentioned better entertainment on Breakaway? Compared to Harmony? That's laughable. Harmony has aqua shows, ice shows, real large budget stage shows, etc.

 

Harmony is in a different league than anything NCL has. Don't make a mistake and pay more to sail Breakaway...

 

By the way, kids club on Oasis class (Harmony) is HUGE with a lot of different activities. Including a science lab, movie theater, you name it. He may really enjoy it this time around.

[molole]

Of all these mega ships, Oasis class is the only one that truly stands out as different in ship design.

 

All others are all more or less very similar and that includes all new ships from all mass cruise lines.