Just finished my first cruise on Breakway

[craig01020]

Good morning all. Got home yesterday from a 7 day Caribbean cruise on Breakaway, my first time on BA, second on NCL. Our cruise had 3,000 passengers. I was very apprehensive because of the many negative reviews I've read, but overall it was better than I expected.

 

The good:

• The ship was beautiful and in great shape. It looked brand new.
• Food in the MDR was good, but not great.
• Six and Burn the Floor were fantastic.
• No masks required for passengers! We were constantly being told that masks were required in ports and on excursions, but that was not the case at all.

 

The "meh":

• Service was just okay. I experienced a lot of fake smiles and indifferent attitudes. Not nearly as friendly as my recent cruise on the Gem.
• I was concerned about that infamous smoke stench in the atrium. It wasn't really an issue. Just a slight stale cigarette smell.

 

The bad:

• I was shocked there was no poolside grill! This forced everyone into the over-crowded buffet.
• Large areas of the buffet were constantly roped off making it a crowded zoo most of the time.
• Just like on the Gem, O'Sheehans was a joke with the constant din from the overcrowded atrium. The open floor plan doesn't really work.
• Disembarkation was chaotic with only one staffer managing hundreds of people in line.

Edited May 16, 2022 by craig01020

[redwave]

Great summery. Ty.
Did u happen to notice if the kids splash pad was open? 
regarding the evening theater shows was there one showtime every night or two?

thanks

[bluesea777]

4 hours ago, craig01020 said:

The bad:

• I was shocked there was no poolside grill! This forced everyone into the over-crowded buffet.
•  

 

No poolside grills on megaships like BA and BA+. Too many passengers. 

 

[craig01020]

1 hour ago, redwave said:

Great summery. Ty.
Did u happen to notice if the kids splash pad was open? 
regarding the evening theater shows was there one showtime every night or two?

thanks

The kids' pool was closed. Most shows had two showtimes per night, but some nights there wasn't a show in the theater.

[acct1975]

3 hours ago, craig01020 said:

The kids' pool was closed. Most shows had two showtimes per night, but some nights there wasn't a show in the theater.

Bummer, we sail on the Breakaway in a month. I'm hoping they open the splash pad along with the Splash Academy on Jun 1st like the rumors say 

[Salf777]

The new facial recognition thing they have to get on and off the ship is not good. It slows the process down so much. At disembarkation it took forever because it didn’t recognize people or wasn’t at the proper height for the person and caused a line all the way back. If they went back to the old way it would have been so much easier 

[craig01020]

57 minutes ago, Salf777 said:

The new facial recognition thing they have to get on and off the ship is not good.

I agree completely. It was my third cruise since the pandemic and they've all used it. It is at least 3 times slower than scanning the keycard.