Norwegian Breakaway OR Royal Caribbean Harmony?

[SAS21]

1 hour ago, dkmk529 said:

@Hammergirl Yes, you are correct and we are ok with that because we have to get 2 rooms anyway. I have no other cruise lines to compare to (other than a Carnival cruise from 1999, which i don't count) other than RCCL.  I don't know how you can get much better than that. You say you would take Harmony over Breakaway 100 times, but would you still say that knowing RCCL is $4000 more? and that price doesn't include the drink package on RCCL or internet, which tacks on an additional 1400......

Harmony for sure, while I haven't cruised on her I have been on Allure. I was recently on Getaway (sister to breakaway) on a transatlantic for 19 days and did not care for it. Long lines at bars and main dining rooms. Balcony cabin is only enough room for 2 people, very tiny compared to RCL. Not enough storage space. Toilet kept stopping. Food was subpar at best and they ran out of things pretty quickly like milk. Service in dining room slow. Stateroom attendant not up to par, long story. I could go on & on. I would personally spend more money, know what I am getting for that money and know that I can give my family a pleasant experience. Maybe call RCL and see if they have any family oceanview cabins available that hold more than 4 people.  

 

 

[dkmk529]

24 minutes ago, frizzo22 said:

Have been on Oasis before and after refurb and Harmony, Oasis post refurb is prob my favorite ship and will be going back her in April and trying Allure in December.  When are you thinking of going, Allure will have all the water slides/Ultimate Abyss/new restaurants and attractions when she gets back from refurb.

We are going in June.... Oasis was actually the one I have been wanting from the very beginning but like I said the ports aren't my favorite.  I did love Coco Cay tho, it is fantastic.

[jungle1]

Not to complicate things, but if money is a major driver you might consider one of the Dream class ships on Carnival.  We just did our first Carnival cruise (on the Carnival Magic) over the holidays and my kids (16 & 14) enjoyed it about as much as their RCCL cruises (Harmony, Symphony, and Oasis pre-refurb).  I was hesitant to try it but it was about half the price so we gave it a shot.  While I still prefer Oasis-class I had a great time and would definitely sail Dream class again on Carnival for the right price/itinerary.

 

More detailed thoughts here...

 

 

[dkmk529]

42 minutes ago, jungle1 said:

Not to complicate things, but if money is a major driver you might consider one of the Dream class ships on Carnival.  We just did our first Carnival cruise (on the Carnival Magic) over the holidays and my kids (16 & 14) enjoyed it about as much as their RCCL cruises (Harmony, Symphony, and Oasis pre-refurb).  I was hesitant to try it but it was about half the price so we gave it a shot.  While I still prefer Oasis-class I had a great time and would definitely sail Dream class again on Carnival for the right price/itinerary.

 

More detailed thoughts here...

 

 

We were looking at the Carnival Sunrise and then we ruled it out because of its size. I prefer a larger ship to a smaller and it is half the size of Harmony.  What specifically did your kids like about Magic?  I'll read the review you attached.

[Tatka]

We like NCL and have 9 cruises with them, however Breakaway was not good. We switched to their smaller ships (same as Radiance class of RCI in size) . 

IMHO NCL added some nice features to Breakaway class, and she has great outdoor promenade - Waterfront, and another one. Shows are nice too. Food is comparable to RCI - none is gourmet.

 

However NCL totally screwed up with pool areas for 4000+ people. There is no clear adult pools. Adult deck area does not have any pools... Ship is overcrowded.

[DaniDanielle]

We felt very claustrophobic on Breakaway.  We also paid half price because of a casino promotion and still didn’t enjoy it, even with free drinks in the casino!!  It was the only cruise I couldn’t wait to get off.,

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, SAS21 said:

Food was subpar at best

 

That's funny... fans of both lines say the same about other line. To me even though we are Platinum on NCL (9 cruises) and Diamond on Royal (16) food is not gourmet on either, and quality is inconsistent with both. I'd say Royal beats NCL in MDR (lobster, more seafood overall, escargots), but aside from Anthem and such looses (currently) in buffets.

 

NCL has better free food venue aside from MDR or buffets. It is called O'Sheehan's (pub) 24/7 or Local (on some ships)

[dkmk529]

5 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

We felt very claustrophobic on Breakaway.  We also paid half price because of a casino promotion and still didn’t enjoy it, even with free drinks in the casino!!  It was the only cruise I couldn’t wait to get off.,

I saw your 1st response about it being the worst cruise. Do you feel that way about the cruise line as a whole or just that particular ship? RCCL is about a $4000 difference not including drinks package or wifi, that's another $1000. 

I couldn't agree more about RCCL's ships, they are first class for sure.  I've been told that Carnival appeals to younger crowds, any of those you recommend looking into?

[DaniDanielle]

That was our only Norwegian Cruise.  If I get another casino offer we might try the smaller ships.  People I have spoken to prefer ships like the Dawn and Gem.  I have never sailed Carnival but my son and his family have and loved all their cruises.  They are going in April out  of Tampa on Carnival and then Oasis in August.  I believe they have sailed on all different sized Carnival ships but prefer the bigger ones.

[timf2001]

I would always choose Oasis class if it was an option on my desired itinerary.  Save NCL for when you want to go to ports that Oasis class can't fit into.  Both ships are nice, but Harmony spreads people out better and offers more to do.

[daggct]

The Harmony and the Breakaway are the only two ships we have traveled on as a family. The Breakaway this past December and the Harmony the December before, both during Christmas week. Overall we preferred the Harmony.

My girls (currently 16 & 18) spend all of their time together, preferably without us, and will not go to the teen club.

To give a few side by side comparisons, we thought the Harmony had better entertainment, better pool deck, more fun atmosphere during the day, better internet, and we much preferred the promenade over 678 Ocean (?).

The Breakaway had (much) better food everywhere except the buffet. 

We had wonderful cabin attendants on both ships, and felt wait times at the bars (and in fact overall service) were about equal.

 

[jungle1]

1 hour ago, dkmk529 said:

We were looking at the Carnival Sunrise and then we ruled it out because of its size. I prefer a larger ship to a smaller and it is half the size of Harmony.  What specifically did your kids like about Magic?  I'll read the review you attached.

 

They liked the ropes course, the water slides, entertainment (piano bar, production shows, trivia), loved the quick serve food options (Guys Burgers beats anything we've had on Royal).  They aren't kids club kids so no comments on that.  They also loved the 24/7 pizza and ice cream.

 

[smplybcause]

6 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

Just remember that usually the perks they give you only apply to the first 2 people in the room. So the dining, drinks internet.....they only apply to passengers 1 and 2. That has been our experience anyway.

 

I would take the Harmony 100 times over the Breakaway. We have done both and the Harmony blows the Breakaway out of the water. Breakaway is to closed in and to crowded. It has a very bad flow to it IMO.

 

 

They just switched the drink package rules in Dec. Now the first 8 passengers over 21 in a room get the free drink package (and have to pay the gratuities). I think it's because too many people would use the ability to get two drinks at a time to get the 3/4/etc guest free drinks. 

 

Of course that doesn't change things for OP if there's only 2 over 21 anyways. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Harmony.

 

We have been on the Allure and Getaway, and enjoyed the Allure a lot more. Including the food.

[mom2tcdx2]

I have sailed the Breakaway twice, both times in a balcony (once was their mini-suite level), the ship is beautiful as well.  I never considered their balconies to be small.  Honestly I almost found the dining in the specialty restaurants on NCL I think to be a bit better than we found on the Allure (My closest comparison to the Harmony).  I think their main Broadway style show are pretty comparable on both lines.  

 

If the drinks packages and specialty dining incentives make the Breakaway quite a bit cheaper, I would probably lean towards the Breakaway.  Honestly lately with how Royal jumps daily on their pricing, doesn't really have me wanting to book another cruise with them after our upcoming March sailing.  

[seabeew]

I am very loyal to Royal to Royal and have only sailed NCL once many years ago. However with the price difference and the drinks situation, I think you should go with NCL. With the savings of $4000-$5000, the adults can book another Oasis-class cruise.

[deliver42]

All hings being equal, the Harmony definitely, but with a big price difference, I'd go NCL.

[Wilson]

On 2/10/2020 at 6:22 PM, DaniDanielle said:

We have been on 24 cruises and the Breakaway was the worst.  We had a balcony room, balcony was tiny.  Food was okay.  Pool area wasn’t great. The main pool was 6feet deep all over so I had to hang on to the side!!  The only good thing was the Ropes Course and zipline but I am older so once was enough.  We felt closed in on the Breakaway.  Anyway,  Harmony, in my opinion, is just fantastic with so much to do.  Never boring and so pretty...…

 

Sailed Breakaway in November. I have to agree with your post. Breakaway was terrible! Super long lines at the bar. Pool area sucks. Ship is poorly laid out. No show in the main theater. Rock of Ages cancelled with zero notice. Staff was not friendly. Some were downright rude. We were in a mini suite and told it would be the same as Royal's Junior Suite. BS!!! It was no bigger than a standard Royal balcony. We really wanted this sailing to workout since the perks seemed amazing. All the "free" stuff NCL offered was not worth the poor experience. 

As soon as we returned we cancelled our second Breakaway sailing and booked Symphony. We have NCL Epic booked in 2021, but will most likely cancel that as well.

Go with Harmony! 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Wilson

[ourfamilylovescruising]

We have done 6 NCL and 5 RCCl  we love the Oasis class ships but our favorite ship  we have every been on is the Getaway which is the sister ship to the breakaway, our biggest complaint about RCCL is the food and the specialty restaurants on NCL are better then RCL but we did just buy the unlimited dinning for our upcoming Harmony cruise so maybe we will change our minds.

 

our kids are ages 16 to 34 and they all preferer NCL over RCL my older kids LOVE Howl and the Moon and they like being able to grab food at the Local after a show, late night food on Rccl is pizza only

 

 

to me every cruise line has there good and bad and we always pick which one has the better deal at the time

 

use your savings and find a fun shore excursion for the family

 

 

 

 

[smplybcause]

11 hours ago, Wilson said:

 

Sailed Breakaway in November. I have to agree with your post. Breakaway was terrible! Super long lines at the bar. Pool area sucks. Ship is poorly laid out. No show in the main theater. Rock of Ages cancelled with zero notice. Staff was not friendly. Some were downright rude. We were in a mini suite and told it would be the same as Royal's Junior Suite. BS!!! It was no bigger than a standard Royal balcony. We really wanted this sailing to workout since the perks seemed amazing. All the "free" stuff NCL offered was not worth the poor experience. 

As soon as we returned we cancelled our second Breakaway sailing and booked Symphony. We have NCL Epic booked in 2021, but will most likely cancel that as well.

Go with Harmony! 

 

 

You must have sailed right after Rock of Ages ended. They have Six on the ship now which I've heard is great. Breakaway & Getaway have really small balconies - they fixed that design with the Escape and every ship after has normal sized balconies. 

[Cherries Jubilee]

I’ve been jumping from cruise line to cruise line to figure out which one I like the best.I did find Breakaway to be more crowded due to poor layout, and I didn’t love the food. It was absolutely my least favorite ship, but I’m going to tell you I have not been on a single cruise that was worth $4000 more than the others. Nothing has been so perfect that I would blow that much money to do it again.

 

Make sure that your kids will even be allowed into the nightclub. I’m sorry I don’t remember which ones required a certain age and ID other than Carnival.

 

Norwegian definitely had some activities on Breakaway that they attempted to separate by age, for instance they had Adult Karaoke and Family Karaoke and the same went for Comedy shows so they may have age restrictions on the nightclub.

 

On our Royal Caribbean cruise there were different nightclub events for the different age groups and if I remember correctly they did require ID.

 

 I don’t want you to end up on a cruise thinking the kids will have great fun at night and find out they can’t. Based mostly on price and perhaps the larger variety of food at the buffet I’d go with Breakaway.

[rimmit]

On 2/10/2020 at 7:22 PM, DaniDanielle said:

We have been on 24 cruises and the Breakaway was the worst.  We had a balcony room, balcony was tiny.  Food was okay.  Pool area wasn’t great. The main pool was 6feet deep all over so I had to hang on to the side!!  The only good thing was the Ropes Course and zipline but I am older so once was enough.  We felt closed in on the Breakaway.  Anyway,  Harmony, in my opinion, is just fantastic with so much to do.  Never boring and so pretty......

i agree.  I have been on nearly 40 cruises,  and the breakaway was miserable.  I will not go into full details,  but you can checkout a live blog we did of it on our family travel blog.  
 

http://thesmallworldfamily.com/

 

We spent 14 nights on the Breakaway and it’s the first and only time I didn’t have a « great » time on a cruise.  It was still a vacation but the ship is poorly designed imo.   Feels very crowded all the time.

[janetz]

We have sailed both

Try something different 

NCL for your family 😊

Perks are good and the thermal spa area, if your into that is so much better then any RCCL ship

Amazing 

Edited February 12, 2020 by janetz

[Deeliteful]

I have sailed on Breakaway and Getaway and on Allure and Oasis. I had a great time on each of the cruises.

For a $4k saving I would go on Breakaway without a 2nd thought.

enjoy x

[Tatka]

That was our only Norwegian Cruise.  If I get another casino offer we might try the smaller ships.  People I have spoken to prefer ships like the Dawn and Gem.  I have never sailed Carnival but my son and his family have and loved all their cruises.  They are going in April out  of Tampa on Carnival and then Oasis in August.  I believe they have sailed on all different sized Carnival ships but prefer the bigger ones.

We liked Dawn and Gem much much more. They still loose to RCI in terms of adult areas, but overall are better experience. More smaller scale entertainment and you don’t need to book shows (on larger RCI ships you also need to, but more smaller scale entertainment)