Family review: NCL Breakaway vs Disney Dream

Thank you for such a detailed comparison. We are going on our first cruise in a few weeks, but leaving out of Boston on the Dawn. The Breakaway was tempting, but we usually do very long road trips for vacations, so the appeal of just driving 30 minutes and really being done with that part of the travel won out this time around.

 

As someone pointed out, you can make reservations in the MDR if you want on NCL.

 

Curious what you did with the kids in Bermuda. What did they like? Was there anything that was a miss? I have three kids that bracket the ages of yours (almost 11, 8 and 6). We're definitely looking at the beaches, but I also want to see Hamilton and St. George, and I know that might be a tougher sell.

 

Thanks.

Do Tobacco bay in St Georges for a beach. You'll get to see a lot of the sights on the way.

Really enjoyed the review. Reminds me of something I would have written! We did Breakaway in May and have Dream booked for next summer. This gives me some great info for comparison. Thanks!

Thank you for such a detailed comparison. We are going on our first cruise in a few weeks, but leaving out of Boston on the Dawn. The Breakaway was tempting, but we usually do very long road trips for vacations, so the appeal of just driving 30 minutes and really being done with that part of the travel won out this time around.

 

As someone pointed out, you can make reservations in the MDR if you want on NCL.

 

Curious what you did with the kids in Bermuda. What did they like? Was there anything that was a miss? I have three kids that bracket the ages of yours (almost 11, 8 and 6). We're definitely looking at the beaches, but I also want to see Hamilton and St. George, and I know that might be a tougher sell.

 

Thanks.

Check out the Caves http://www.caves.bm/

Aquarium was nice but it is small. http://www.bamz.org/

Activities (non-water):

Here is where I think NCL did some great new things with the Breakaway and one of the reasons that we booked it.

 

Both DCL Dream and NCL Breakaway have a sports course, mini-golf, shuffleboard, ping pong and video arcades.

 

NCL has added a rock climbing wall, a ropes course, a eurobungy jump thing and a spider climb/slide. On the ropes course you walk across some balance beams and other obstacles including a small zip line, while being ~15feet above the deck. You wear a harness and are attached by a line to a track above you. I’m probably not describing it well, but it is very cool for the kids and adults. The eurobungy has multiple large rubber bands that attach to your waist and pull you go higher as you jump on a trampoline. The spider climb has you climbing up a tower where there are elastic webs along the way that you have to squeeze through and then stand on to get higher. At the top there is a slide down.

 

DCL has the mouse detective game and sport simulators. The mouse detective game is like a video scavenger hunt around the ship to solve a mystery. The sport simulators are giant video games, one where you can play golf and the other where you can play a variety of sports against a video goofy.

 

If there was no one on the ship and we had full access whenever we wanted, NCL would win this hands down. The ropes course is especially neat and a bit scary at first. But the line to get on was very long most of the time. There were two issues, first they could only have so many people on the course at one time and secondly they had to make sure everyone was properly harnessed for safety. We ended up going at an off time and didn’t have to wait too long. It would have been nice if they had some more staff to stay open later. The spider climb always had the shortest line and my kids enjoyed that. We did not wait for the rock wall or eurobungy but they looked like fun once you got past the line.

 

We’ve always had fun doing the mouse detective game and sport simulators. They definitely aren’t as extreme as the NCL activities but much easier to access. We had to prebook and pay for the sport simulators on our last cruise but didn’t have any trouble getting times.

 

As long as you aren’t rushing to do the NCL things on the first day and pick an off time when to do them, the NCL activities wins between them.

 

 

Water Activities:

The NCL Breakaway and DCL Dream have very similar pools. Both have a small splash area for the little ones. NCL is Spongebob based while DCL is Finding Nemo. I think the DCL is slightly bigger and it is all under cover so there is plenty of shade.

 

NCL has the following pools:

1) Very shallow and small pool within the splash area.

2) Kiddie pool that is about 30ft by 10ft and 4ft deep.

3) Adult pool that is roughly the same size as the kiddie pool but deeper. It also had a shallow section on each side to enable people to sit with their feet in the water and socialize.

4) Small shallow pool with waterfall in adult area (called Spice) which seemed more for decoration than anything but nice place to sit with feet in the water (hard to socialize as the noise from the waterfall).

 

DCL has the following pools:

1) Very shallow Mickey shaped pool made up of 3 circles (2 are ~10ft in diameter and the 3rd 20ft in diameter)

2) Family pool that is about 30ft by 10ft and 6ft deep

3) Adult pool that has a small circular section and 2 smaller shallow sections for socializing.

 

All the NCL pools except #4 are salt water, which was a surprise to us.

The entertainment during the afternoon is by the adult pool on the Breakaway and the family pool on the Dream. Initially we thought this was strange because we were used to seeing the adult pool being the quiet pool, but on NCL the adult pool is really the party pool. That said the small waterfall pool is a very quiet and relaxing area.

 

NCL has a number of hot tubs around the adult pool and in the adult quiet area that were supposed to be are adult only, although later at night I did see kids in them. DCL has a couple of hot tubs in the main area that become a kiddie stew. There are also a large adults only hot tub in the adults area.

 

 

NCL has 5 water slides in the area: 1 smaller open slide with a minimum height of 40inches, 2 enclosed larger slides with a minimum height of 48 inches, and 2 drop slides (get in a small capsule and the floor drops out on you) where you must be at least 48 inches and weight at least 100lbs.

DCL has 1 smaller Mickey slide where you must be under 54inches. There is also the Aquaduck, which is a raft ride in an elevated tube around the ship (my wife calls it the human habitrail).

 

NCL clearly wins in magnitude and variety but the Aquaduck is so cool that makes it close. With both NCL and DCL, if you are looking to ride on the first day or sea days, be prepared to wait in lines. We found that DCL opens the Aquaduck earlier and stays open later and is less crowded at those times. The lines on the NCL definitely drop as the week goes on and when in port. We have picked our spots on both ships and have been able to ride almost non-stop.

Now that I have been on both the Breakaway and Disney Cruise, I agree with all you are saying. I'd like to include two other comparisons. The staff, although polite on The Breakaway, did not show nearly the enthusiasm or friendliness as the cast members on the DCL. Of course DCL also wins hands-down on their organization. With all respect for the Breakaway, Disney standards are really hard to beat in this category. I would probably go on the Breakaway again because of the convenience of leaving out of NYC and great entertainment.

Thanks for the detailed review! Our very first cruise was on the DCL and we LOVED everything about it. Felt so pampered and there was so much to do too! Never felt crowded. The kids loved the Oceanears Lab and Club. Everything was presented in classic 'Disney-style'. Had a blast looking for Hidden Mickeys too. We will be going on our first NCL cruise next month and I am very apprehensive. My husband compares the DCL as being the 'Lexus' or top of the line cruise and NCL to being kinda like a 'Honda', really nice, but not luxury. I think we should have done NCL first! lol. But, my hubby wanted to give a different cruise line a try to see what the difference was between cruise lines. I have a feeling we will be only booking DCL in the future. Our oldest is almost a teen, but she loves Disney and would probably prefer the DCL. Looking forward to writing my review when we get back. Who knows? We may be pleasantly surprised!

Thanks for the detailed review! Our very first cruise was on the DCL and we LOVED everything about it. Felt so pampered and there was so much to do too! Never felt crowded. The kids loved the Oceanears Lab and Club. Everything was presented in classic 'Disney-style'. Had a blast looking for Hidden Mickeys too. We will be going on our first NCL cruise next month and I am very apprehensive. My husband compares the DCL as being the 'Lexus' or top of the line cruise and NCL to being kinda like a 'Honda', really nice, but not luxury. I think we should have done NCL first! lol. But, my hubby wanted to give a different cruise line a try to see what the difference was between cruise lines. I have a feeling we will be only booking DCL in the future. Our oldest is almost a teen, but she loves Disney and would probably prefer the DCL. Looking forward to writing my review when we get back. Who knows? We may be pleasantly surprised!

It had been a very long time since we went on our Disney Cruise so I thought I would forget and not be able to compare it with NCL. We still had a great time on the NCL but the two differences that stood out to me were the differences in organization and staff vs cast members. I was worried when my first cruise was DCL too! I think our expectations are above and beyond now. I bet you will still have a great time. Keep in mind if you go on the Breakaway, it can be crowded depending where you are on the ship.

Dining:

This is a complicating one to classify, so starting with the easy one.

 

The 2 lines have different approaches here. NCL is creating a place away from the pools for people to eat and hang out. Meanwhile DCL has a place where you can quickly grab food while hanging out at the pool and not have to go to the buffet. I should say that the NCL buffet had a section where they were covering the standard selections that DCL puts outside.

Both concepts work very well for what they are trying to do. I really liked the waterfront as it was a nice relaxing place to sit outside without all the crowds of the pools. On the other hand, you have to pay for most of these options while on DCL they are free.

I just want to point out the the new NCL ships have the Uptown Grill, which is close to the pool and slides. It's a great place to grab all sorts of food (free) without having to enter the buffet. We enjoyed the meat pies!

http://s636.photobucket.com/user/johnql/media/Breakaway%20Cruise%20111013/Menus%20and%20Price%20Lists/UptownBarandGrillMenu2.jpg.html

The hot dogs from the cart are also free.

Check out the Caves http://www.caves.bm/

 

Aquarium was nice but it is small. http://www.bamz.org/

There is a small zoo, as well. You might want to take the kids to Clearwater Beach, where you can view planes landing and taking off from the airport.

There is a museum in the commissioners house, near the dockyard. Lots to do & see.

Thanks for the report!

Wonderful review! We just got off the Dream last month(Ive been on a total of 3 Disney cruises), but we have a NCL cruise scheduled for Dec 2018. Originally it was on the Gem, but the just announced the Gem is moving up to NY and Breakaway is coming down to New Orleans, so they will move our reservation to that. I was interested in the comparison of the Dream and Breakaway since my almost 4 year old absolutely loved the Dream. She cried the whole morning of debarkation haha Its just a little more economical to rotate NCL and DCL every other year since I priced it and for the same cruise with Disney at the same time would be $4,200 more plus a 3 hour travel to port vs 12 hours for us to go to Port Canaveral. Im excited to see the comparisons! Thanks again for a lovely review!:)