Semi-Live Comparison to RCI from Norwegian Breakaway Northern TA 10/2-10/16

[rimmit]

So for those interested, we are starting a live blog on the Norwegian Breakaway TA. This may be somewhat relevant to RCI cruisers, as we primarily cruise RCI, and are Diamond and almost Diamond Plus and this is our first Norwegian Cruise since 1991, so it will basically be new to us. Much of our commentary will be somewhat of a comparison between the two lines. We are very anxious stepping outside our comfort zone of Disney and RCI, but the price was right and itinerary a little different.

 

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/30/northern-transatlantic-cruise-live-blog-day-1/

 

There is zero advertising, ad sense, TA links, affiliate links, etc. We make zero dollars from this.

 

Mods if you think this is too off topic for the RCI forum, please delete.

[emdia43]

Sounds good to me. What is your itinerary?

[sjalex20]

I just got off a Breakaway Baltic last month and thought it was great! I was nervous too and thought I would miss my RCL loyalty perks and what I am used to. NCL is much more comparable to RCL now than it was the last time I sailed them many years ago. I am taking my kids on the Allure on Sunday but won’t hesitate to book a bigger NCL ship next time. I hope you enjoy your cruise and I will look forward to reading your comparisons!

[rimmit]

I just got off a Breakaway Baltic last month and thought it was great! I was nervous too and thought I would miss my RCL loyalty perks and what I am used to. NCL is much more comparable to RCL now than it was the last time I sailed them many years ago. I am taking my kids on the Allure on Sunday but won’t hesitate to book a bigger NCL ship next time. I hope you enjoy your cruise and I will look forward to reading your comparisons!

 

That is good to hear. We are definitely gonna miss the Diamond Hour. Having to pay for alcohol at night is gonna be quite the experience, as we booked a guarantee cabin which did not come with any of the perks they give in the promotion. It would have been a 1084 dollar difference for us to book a cabin with perks, and we do not drink THAT much. lol.

 

The itinerary is Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Southampton, Cork, Ponta Delgado, NYC.

[sjalex20]

That is good to hear. We are definitely gonna miss the Diamond Hour. Having to pay for alcohol at night is gonna be quite the experience, as we booked a guarantee cabin which did not come with any of the perks they give in the promotion. It would have been a 1084 dollar difference for us to book a cabin with perks, and we do not drink THAT much. lol.

 

The itinerary is Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Southampton, Cork, Ponta Delgado, NYC.

 

 

Yes Diamond hour spoils us for sure even though we are only soda drinkers. But NCL only has Pepsi products and won’t allow you to bring any drinks on board ( besides the initial 2 bottles of wine) at all so we just enjoyed our Coke Zero while in port. British airways lost both of our luggage on the way over and we didn’t get it for 8 days which made for lots of shopping each port day. Hopefully you have better luck with your airline. Your ports sound fun!

[rimmit]

Yes Diamond hour spoils us for sure even though we are only soda drinkers. But NCL only has Pepsi products and won’t allow you to bring any drinks on board ( besides the initial 2 bottles of wine) at all so we just enjoyed our Coke Zero while in port. British airways lost both of our luggage on the way over and we didn’t get it for 8 days which made for lots of shopping each port day. Hopefully you have better luck with your airline. Your ports sound fun!

 

We did. Thankfully all of our luggage made it without a problem. We had no connections, so much less likely to lose it although it has happened before.

[rimmit]

Day 2.

 

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/10/01/northern-transatlantic-cruise-live-blog-day-2/

[jlocole]

Thanks for blogging. I am looking at every cruise line for my European cruise we plan to go on in 2020. Really want one that touches Ireland and Scotland. Can't wait for 2020 itineraries to be out.

[rimmit]

Thanks for blogging. I am looking at every cruise line for my European cruise we plan to go on in 2020. Really want one that touches Ireland and Scotland. Can't wait for 2020 itineraries to be out.

 

If you've never been before than you are wide open to cruise line as you've never been to any ports. Have you been on a Northern European cruise before? If so which ports, so we can help you weed through some cruise lines. As you cruise more, Celebrity, Princess and Holland America become more tempting as they tend to have more inspired itineraries. The main ones such as RCI and NCL, etc tend to stick to what's tried and true such as the traditional Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm, Talinn and St. Petersburg. Lately they have been mixing it up a little bit, but for the most part that tends to be the ports for Scandinavia or some other variation.

[Senior Citizen]

Great pictures. What are you using? Do you also use photo editing software?

 

I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.

[rimmit]

Great pictures. What are you using? Do you also use photo editing software?

 

I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.

 

Thank you for the compliments.

For this trip I brought a 5d Mark IV, 24-70mmf/2.8 L II, 70-200mm F/2.8 IS II L, and an 11-24mm F/4 L.

 

I use Lightroom Classic CC to edit and on a rare occasion also photoshop or if it’s an iPhone pic, I use Snapseed.

 

I there really haven’t been many great photos this trip so far. Our two other live blogs we’ve done (the one to Zion, Antelope,and Bryce Canyon and our Canada/New England Cruise have had much better photo ops. We’ll see how this trip shapes up.

 

I can post a link or two to some of my work if you’re interested. I am mainly just an enthusiast, that dabbled in pro photography to make some extra cash for a couple years.

[rimmit]

Day #3

From here on out as we boarded the ship our updates will be a little sporadic and possibly not until we get back to the US. I promise all days will be blogged though. :). Just not quite live.

 

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018...ve-blog-day-3/

[Senior Citizen]

Thanks for all the info on your photography “tools.” I just downloaded Snapseed because I find myself using my iPhone a lot so I can send photos when traveling. Thanks for that idea! I have a Panasonic LUMIX 1000 that I use as a point and shoot since I don’t understand f stops, etc.

 

Your photos are really vibrant. Very nice.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[rimmit]

Day #4

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/10/05/northern-transatlantic-cruise-live-blog-day-4/

[Yuridog]

I'm enjoying reading the blog, thanks for sharing all the informative tips and great pictures.

[rimmit]

On 10/5/2018 at 12:45 PM, Yuridog said:

I'm enjoying reading the blog, thanks for sharing all the informative tips and great pictures.

Thanks!  

We are back on land now, and the internet is no longer .99/minute.  Not quite live now.  LOL

Here is Day #5.

http://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/10/17/northern-transatlantic-cruise-live-blog-day-5/

Edited October 18, 2018 by rimmit

[The Fun Researcher]

Seeing photos of those inside cabins reminded me of why I cancelled our NCL cruise on the Escape last Thanksgiving.  They just look so tiny and stark.  Besides the lack of storage, does the main cabin area also feel smaller than RCL inside cabins?   (I'm fine with the bathroom size on RCI so the larger bathroom doesn't do much for us.)

Dan 

[John&LaLa]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 12:09 AM, rimmit said:

 

That is good to hear. We are definitely gonna miss the Diamond Hour. Having to pay for alcohol at night is gonna be quite the experience, as we booked a guarantee cabin which did not come with any of the perks they give in the promotion. It would have been a 1084 dollar difference for us to book a cabin with perks, and we do not drink THAT much. lol.

 

The itinerary is Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Southampton, Cork, Ponta Delgado, NYC.

Doesn't sound like a Northern TA.

It just leaves from Copenhagen.

Royal's Northern does Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada

Cute Westie. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by John&LaLa

[rimmit]

16 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Doesn't sound like a Northern TA.

It just leaves from Copenhagen.

Royal's Northern does Norway, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada

Cute Westie. 

I guess we could call it a mid-Atlantic TA,   as the weather is definitely not as warm as the southern we did and it’s not nearly as cold as when we did Iceland and Faroe Islands ending in Boston. Gothenburg was low 40’s when we got off the ship so definitely not warm either and it was high 40s in Ireland as well.  Southampton was a beautiful day in the 60s and 70s.  

Going from the Azores to NYC as the final route is definitely more mid than Northern. The newest Northern TA with Royal has the Norway, Greenland itinerary, but before that it was just Iceland and the Faroe Islands when we went on the Brilliance.

Gipper, the one dog is actually a Westie spitz mix as far as we can tell as he’s a rescue,  we have had two full breaded westies,  one who is no longer with us and another who our cleaning lady watches for us when we are gone.  Maybe in a future blog post I will feature her.  Maybe they can meet Bella someday! 🙂

[rimmit]

35 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Seeing photos of those inside cabins reminded me of why I cancelled our NCL cruise on the Escape last Thanksgiving.  They just look so tiny and stark.  Besides the lack of storage, does the main cabin area also feel smaller than RCL inside cabins?   (I'm fine with the bathroom size on RCI so the larger bathroom doesn't do much for us.)

Dan 

 

It is smaller than the newer ships (Radiance class, voyager, freedom, quantum, oasis). And the same size of the vision class inside staterooms.  They are just poorly designed.  We have done 12 nights on the Grandeur and had no problems storing our stuff and this was with a pack and play. It was tight and you could barely squeeze around it but there are so many books and crannies to stuff things it’s not an issue.  There is literally NO place to store things on an inside onthe Breakaway.  I just lived out of a suitcase for two weeks.  It is just very poorly designed.  

We are very tiny people. (I am 5’3 and my wife is 5’3 and we are both 110-115lbs) so the larger bathroom was a waste for us.  We were initially impressed but the novelty wore off quickly as the cruise progressed.

[John&LaLa]

11 minutes ago, rimmit said:

I guess we could call it a mid-Atlantic TA,   as the weather is definitely not as warm as the southern we did and it’s not nearly as cold as when we did Iceland and Faroe Islands ending in Boston. Gothenburg was low 40’s when we got off the ship so definitely not warm either and it was high 40s in Ireland as well.  Southampton was a beautiful day in the 60s and 70s.  

Going from the Azores to NYC as the final route is definitely more mid than Northern. The newest Northern TA with Royal has the Norway, Greenland itinerary, but before that it was just Iceland and the Faroe Islands when we went on the Brilliance.

Gipper, the one dog is actually a Westie spitz mix as far as we can tell as he’s a rescue,  we have had two full breaded westies,  one who is no longer with us and another who our cleaning lady watches for us when we are gone.  Maybe in a future blog post I will feature her.  Maybe they can meet Bella someday! 🙂

Love all, Serve all.  I always work Bell into my reviews.  

Edited October 18, 2018 by John&LaLa

[jandj1224]

Thanks for sharing.  We travel with our two kids and its fun following another families journey!

[MA cruisers]

OHHHH I am very interested in reading this.  We are avid RC fans and just got off Freedom. Planning a Bermuda cruise next and thinking of trying NCL so I can't wait to hear your thoughts.  Thanks for sharing.

[HolySpearit]

Beautiful photos!

We just got back from Europe last week (land based) and are on the Breakaway next year (in the Caribbean) so you are making me nostalgic and excited all at once! :D

[rimmit]

4 hours ago, HolySpearit said:

Beautiful photos!

We just got back from Europe last week (land based) and are on the Breakaway next year (in the Caribbean) so you are making me nostalgic and excited all at once! 😄

The ship would be great in the Caribbean!  

 

Here is Day #6

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/10/18/northern-transatlantic-cruise-live-blog-day-6/