Norwegian Breakaway inaugural transatlantic Review

[Single Cruiser]

Next up is Moderno which completes the Starboard side

 

IMG_1068 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

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And we ate there (albeit inside that night and had all those meats :) )

[Single Cruiser]

One of my favourite places on the ship, the aft waterfront. As it overhangs the ship they have some glass floor parts which look straight through to the sea below.

 

IMG_1070 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

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which takes us across to the Port Side, so no header forward on the Port side we start with Cagneys

 

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[SuiteCruiser]

Awesome review so far, Craig! I'm not on Breakaway until March, but already really excited :)

[Single Cruiser]

Then another stretch alongside the shops before reaching Shakers which has both comfy chairs and then a sit up bar..

 

IMG_1081 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

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before reaching La Cucini on the Waterfront which completes the Port Side.

 

IMG_1083 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

[Single Cruiser]

At the forward end of the Waterfront they have balcony cabins. You can also look down to the Promenade deck where games such as Shuffleboard were.

 

However you'll also note that the first few balconies have very little privacy and that the first couple was even possible to see inside the cabin!! :eek:

 

IMG_1104 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Also looking at the balconies from the aft of the waterfront you can see how recessed some of them with the upper sun decks overhang..

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[Single Cruiser]

Right time for a short break..

 

coming up.. inside shots, 678 waterfront place, my fave O'Sheehan, the parties Glow/Neon (replacing white hot), the 80s with fireworks and more .... :)

[Barb Nahoumi]

Thank you, Craig, for taking the time to write a wonderful review, and photograph your cruise.

 

The Breakaway is certinly a lovely ship. It could be thought of as much as a destination, as the ports it will visit.

[Single Cruiser]

I just noticed the menus were missing from above.

 

Ocean Blues take out menu

 

image by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Cagneys

 

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[mtsnd1900]

I didnt have a daily so was using my app to get the info.

 

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I am new to this iPhone thing, so have question about it.

1. what is the app called?

2. where to download it?

3. phone in airplane mode so not to get charged data rates, especially internationally?

4. how connect to net / wifi to get the app to work, or does it not require a connection? I see NO SERVICE in the picture, so was not sure if it is live feed or download.

5. can you make reservations from it?

 

Thank you!

[Single Cruiser]

Tues morning we had the CC meet and greet. One of the largest attended I've seen. Unfortunately the venue chosen by NCL Cagneys is not really suitable. But without a lounge like Bliss on Epic, Bliss on Breakaway is one if the weak points and no where near as good as Epics. Essentially it's a dance floor with a bar one side a few tables the other and a little podium rather than stage where the DJ was.

 

Anyhow the weather wasn't great so mostly indoors. I'd booked Moderno for dinner tonight which was great and managed all the meats presented.. Trick was to skip lunch though!

 

Later that night was FABBA in Spice H2O. Unfortunately it was bitterly cold but without a suitable venue indoors they kept it on and people shivered.

 

IMG_1096 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

A few hours spent in Bliss dancing the night away ended day 2.

[Single Cruiser]

I am new to this iPhone thing, so have question about it.

1. what is the app called?

2. where to download it?

3. phone in airplane mode so not to get charged data rates, especially internationally?

4. how connect to net / wifi to get the app to work, or does it not require a connection? I see NO SERVICE in the picture, so was not sure if it is live feed or download.

5. can you make reservations from it?

 

Thank you!

 

The app is NCL iConcierge and is available for apple I devices and android. You can connect to the ships wifi to use it for free but can't get any further onto the Internet without a package.

 

Most phones should be able to disable GPRS data or favour wifi.

 

It was a live feed via wifi

 

Yes I made reservations the first night from it for Moderno.

[Single Cruiser]

As someone has raised the questions.

 

I purchased a 100mins package. The same options per minute, for 100, for 250 mins etc are available to buy as other NCL ships with bonus minutes for latitudes members.

 

The messaging and phone app for intra ship communications was actually free, normally 7.99 so I was able to use that to call cabins, send messages to fellow passengers etc..

[Single Cruiser]

Our second day at sea.

 

Breakawayday3 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Another overcast day today..

[SeaShark]

IMG_1067 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Looks like they had the person who did the emergency procedure signs for the cabin doors posting the Sorbet Flavors as well . . . :eek::o

[mbs224]

Awesome review! Love the pictures and having cruised on the Epic twice I can see the changes clearly, both good and bad. Not thrilled with the changes in the Studio Lounge. No white board changes everything for those of us who liked getting together with others for dinners or outings. I was hoping the Lounge would be better than the Epic's but sounds like I will be disappointed. I sail in June so maybe the white board will reappear. Waterfront looks amazing. Definite step up from the Epic. Can't wait to see more of your review!

[belfastgirl70]

Wow! Thanks so much for a great review! Feels like I'm on the ship already. We sail on June 9th, and your pics are getting me even more excited about the trip:):):)

[Single Cruiser]

I was going to say how we spent all day drinking and playing games but really we didnt have breakfast until about 10AM after doing laps of the waterfront.. then I took some more pics ..

 

.. oh and drinking and playing games in O'Sheehan's from wobbly Pool to Air Hockey lol.

 

but you just want to see some inside shots really don't you?

 

Ok starting for deck 8..

 

Carlo's bake shop

 

IMG_1019 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Fat Cat's

 

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La Cucini's

 

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Malting's

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[Single Cruiser]

During the day I also wandered around the shops, seems more on Breakaway then on Epic. basically the whole centre of the ship on deck 8 is shopping.

 

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many with window displays onto the Waterfront

 

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at the end we have Cagneys and Moderno's entrance

 

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and inside them

[Single Cruiser]

Following the exploits of the previous night in Moderno I opted for a much lighter choice of the O'Sheehan's Shepherds Pie :)

 

Then it was the solos meeting where we agreed times for Ice Bar and also for the Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy for later in the cruise.

 

Then I dashed off to the 7PM headliners Second City show. It was very similar to the Epic's shows, infact I recognised a couple of the same cast.

 

Tonight was another Howl at the Moon and then to Bliss until late..

[Single Cruiser]

Halfway through already. Today's daily.

 

Breakawayday4 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Tonight I had pre-booked before the cruise the 7PM Rock of Ages show, a good job as the "new" white hot party "Glow" started at 10:30 which would have clashed if I had chosen the latter of the two..

[Single Cruiser]

Probably a suitable point to post some theatre and box office pics.

 

IMG_1052 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

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As can be seen the theatre shots were not focused and more a casual just checking my phone and hit a button.. The 2nd is the Rock of Ages set.

[Single Cruiser]

At this point I'll comment on Rock of Ages. At 1hr 30mins don't drink much before seeing it. :rolleyes: hence we sat at the back. The start was slow but then I started to get into it. Have never seen the show or TV/film and it's not really my fave genure of music but it did have a very west end type feel to quality and the set and performances were great.

 

It was also worth pointing out that tonight they cancelled the two Cirque dreams shows as we were hitting some pretty big waves and winds. Glad we changed to Cirque dreams on the Saturday (day 5) although most rebooked without much issue or were refunded if it clashed..

[Single Cruiser]

10:30 was "Glow" this was another event designed to be in Spice H2O but due to the weather moved indoors to Bliss. It has replaced the white hot party and after speaking with some of the crew apparently it might do so across the fleet.

 

Gone are the winged angels and now we have dancers in tight "morph" suits that cover the full body and face and everyone has neon sticks, given out for free but can bet these will be for sale on most cruises.

 

I think I prefer White Hot Parties and definitely in Bliss. The fact that we also didnt have very good DJs on-board didn't really help, they either decided to play 20-30secs max of a song before trying a mix or playing songs that cleared the dance floor.

 

the problem is that Bliss is one big dance floor so you can't really just chill and come back..

[Single Cruiser]

Breakawayday5 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

 

Now this day proved to be the busiest at least for me.

 

The weather was starting to improve and so some of the group went up to the decks to do the ropes course, unfortunately I'd managed to twist my ankle dancing a couple of nights before and so didnt really fancy testing it with a few days in New York and walking planned so I became chief photographer.

 

During the days we spent a lot of time in O'Sheehan's as a lot of the talks and events were in the atrium and so easily watchable.

 

O'Sheehan's is near identical to Epic, the only difference is the bowling lanes have now become extra tables for dining. and where headliners is on Epic is now where the mini-bowls lanes are:

 

IMG_1047 by single_cruiser, on Flickr

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[Single Cruiser]

So the solos group had an organised Ice Bar visit, a full house of around 25 people entered.

 

My first impression was "is this finished yet?" It's not any bigger than Epics, has less statue/monument sculptures and more inside freezer sterile look.

 

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The single TV inside wasn't working either