Need your thoughts on the Breakaway

Have been happy sailing with Holland and love the Vista sized ships of around 2000 passengers. Have been invited to sail with friends on the Breakaway in June on a Baltic capitals cruise. Its port intensive which is my preference over several sea days. If you have sailed on her recently, give me your pros and cons of this ship. I can learn a lot from your first hand accounts. Thanks much.

Will know after i get back on January 19, sailing on her for 14 days.

do you like cigarette smoke?

Tell me more. Hate cig smoke. Can you smoke on balcony? We will want a balcony. Or is it inside.

Tell me more. Hate cig smoke. Can you smoke on balcony? We will want a balcony. Or is it inside.

I know the balconies are non-smoking when sailing out of the US, but not sure about Europe.

Tell me more. Hate cig smoke. Can you smoke on balcony? We will want a balcony. Or is it inside.

No you can't smoke on your balcony.

The casino is in the middle of the ship and not at all enclosed. Pretty much all of deck 6. 7 and 8 midships smells like a disgusting motel.

Have been happy sailing with Holland and love the Vista sized ships of around 2000 passengers. Have been invited to sail with friends on the Breakaway in June on a Baltic capitals cruise. Its port intensive which is my preference over several sea days. If you have sailed on her recently, give me your pros and cons of this ship. I can learn a lot from your first hand accounts. Thanks much.

The Breakaway would not be my first choice for a port-intensive type of cruise....the Breakaway is great, don't get me wrong, but it carries twice as many passenger's as a HAL Vista Class, so embarkation/disembarkation takes longer, and the ports are more crowded...The Breakaway is more like a destination unto itself, like a floating amusement park. The older, smaller HAL ships are even better for touring, then the Vista's, IMHO...

Will know after i get back on January 19, sailing on her for 14 days.

Will be on this sailing as well!

Have been happy sailing with Holland and love the Vista sized ships of around 2000 passengers. Have been invited to sail with friends on the Breakaway in June on a Baltic capitals cruise. Its port intensive which is my preference over several sea days. If you have sailed on her recently, give me your pros and cons of this ship. I can learn a lot from your first hand accounts. Thanks much.

Looks like last year the Getaway (sister ship) sailed the same itinerary. I suggest you read through those reviews. Should give you some idea in regards to itinerary, crowds, ships layout etc..

When we were on in November the cigarette smoke was not that bad. Yes it was noticeable, but for the most part we were able to avoid those areas. We did not smell it in the atrium or really even in O'Sheehan's. It was pretty bad by Maltings as there is smoking outside on that side of the ship. Also on the pool deck there is a smoking section near all the kids stuff which doesnt make sense.

It is a large ship and there will be a lot of people but for the most part we did not encounter many lines or excessive wait times, but we also did early dinners and avoided the buffet most of the time. Obviously when shows get out there will be a lot of people. Embarkation and debarkation were all really easy. We did only get off in Nassau tho and came back a few hours before the ship was set to leave.

Overall I thought it was a pretty good ship, but the staff seemed overworked and not as friendly as we have experienced in the past on RCCL. But by June I am sure the staff would have turned over a bit so that might not be relevant for you.

we like breakaway, the smoke is not the big issue some make it out to be.

my issue with a ship this size in the baltics is disembark in Russia. we sailed this itinerary on the STar, and it took a long time ont eh first day to get thru customs (its easier the second day). that was processing 2300 people could not imagine a breakaway size crowd. and we were lucky as we had priority disembark as suite guests.

Love the Breakaway and just ended our third cruise on her today. There are far more positives about this ship than negatives.

What I like:

1. Entertainment - Rock of Ages, Howl at the Moon, Pool Band (Soulful Pleasure on this cruise), and more

2. Lots of food choice, above average quality overall

3. Lots of bar venues

4. Lots of activities - and when I look over the daily there are more I'd like to do than I can fit in

5. Great atmosphere - officers and managers are attentive, friendly, most of the staff is friendly, if not they may only be shy!

What I don't like

1. Pool layout and deck chairs - not enough poolside space, main pool is adults only without good signs saying so. They even chased my 16 year old out who was being a complete adult. too much of the top deck space is reserved for upsell uses - Havens and Vibe club, making the rest rather crowded. Notable exception: Spice H2O is a good area, not usually crowded, except, see point 2.

2. Cigarette smoke - It's bearable some days, and others it is absolutely unacceptable. Sea days with the casino open all days are the worse, the air is unbreathable for people with asthma or who just can't stand it across decks 6, 7 and 8 because there are two atriums open across all 3 decks. It even makes it to the fore and aft staircases. And one side of the pool deck has a smoking area which makes most of that side unpleasant (and makes point 1 even worse). Finally, Spice H2O, a great adult area daytime, is a bit ruined by the only bar being a smoking area.

No you can't smoke on your balcony.

 

 

 

The casino is in the middle of the ship and not at all enclosed. Pretty much all of deck 6. 7 and 8 midships smells like a disgusting motel.

No truer words were ever posted.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Tell me more. Hate cig smoke. Can you smoke on balcony? We will want a balcony. Or is it inside.

You can't smoke on your balcony. That said pax will smoke anyway. Ncl will be made aware of this. They will investigate. They will say they can't do anything because they didn't see the smoker. The room steward will turn a blind eye if they find a butt on the balcony

Oh and the balconies are so small it's almost like you are just standing at an open bay window anyway.

Sent from my iPad using Forums