Trip report Breakaway Feb 5-12, 2023

[Calicoskies1234]

We were on this sailing as a group of 19, cabins spread all over, ages 25-70+.  We had great weather. The last night the ship was really rocking badly. I didn’t get sick but felt that sway after 2 days back on land! I loved my studio cabin, I was a solo traveler this trip but had adjoining door to my sis-in-law which was fun and cozy. The Studio lounge was probably best place for coffee besides Starbucks. Ship coffee in general was undrinkable, even in specialty restaurants. My cabin was really clean, bed slept great. The Studio private halls were pretty quiet. Others in my group also pleased with their cabins, spread all over the ship. I found the ship for the most part to be very clean, hard working staff always busy cleaning areas. 
 

We loved Teppanyaki, great food and the Chef was goofy but warm and fun.  The Wasabi cocktail very good, shrimp was great!  Cagneys was the big hit with my group. Lots of raves. Don’t miss that 7 layer mousse cake, mmmmm. Le Bistro was hit or miss. Some dishes really yum, and some meh. But omg, the desserts. I had the chocolate hotdog looking thing and ate every bite, soooo dang good. We almost never enjoyed meals in buffet. Its a huge amount of choices and food looks good but hardly anything tastes very good. By the time we sat every item on plates were cold. My best play was to build a mini charcuterie for myself and skip hot foods. Then enjoy the scooped ice cream for dessert. Some of the buffet desserts were good. I liked the small portions, you could try two. The vast amount of food is there, but imo lack of quality ruined the buffet. Some manager should be aware of the massive tonnage of food waste and start investigating. We did ok in the MDR, Taste and Savor. We tried to do these most meals and skip buffet. We kinda learned that meals tasted best if you got there early in service. We also started ordering 2 apps/desserts and in doing so we usually ended up with one good one. Manhattan Room again meals were hit or miss. Setting was nice though. Setting pretty nice in T and S too, we almost always got window tables. To sum up: we all were mostly disappointed in foods but we all found a few things that worked. Our meal service was always a slow event, between 90 min to 2 hr +. We had to leave without dessert twice to make our show times. O’sheehans was awful, we never went back.  Really bad, imo.  
 

My group loved the shows. Six, Burn the Floor, Rumours all excellent. We liked the Dueling Piano guys, some in my group complained they were too silly. I found them fun and engaging and the 2 nights I popped in for 2hr+ I really enjoyed, good crowd interaction. We never got into Syd Normans sadly. We had to line up one hour early to get seats for Rumours, it was worth it. Syd’s and Headliners venues too small for such a large ship, imo. I didn’t see any comedians myself so no comment. Six was our fave, great cast and funny script. Good beats and good dancing. Burn The Floor also excellent. Some in group did Bamboozled tabletop game and had fun. The Atrium festivities were very hit or miss.  Trivia too tough to be fun, some things were just not fun. The musical bits were the best. I liked the duo that played oldies and had ppl up dancing. Pianist Andy was ok too. 
 

My fave bar was Maltings, both for the comfy seating and menu. My fave drink on ship was the Rye and Rum sour. My group were big fans of the old fashioneds. Lots of afternoons at 4pm my group would convene there for drinks to catch up on day’s happenings. It was our “spot” and Thugget Harshit the bar waiter was fantastic! He knew all of our names and fave drinks by Day 2. Shakers was ok for music but we never had a good cocktail there. The Atrium Bar had good menu, I loved the Mr Worldwide, like jazzy strawberry pop.  We are an older group and didn’t venture into the bars for the younger ages. 
 

I myself love a good spot to sit, read, sip, chat and look at the waters. Deck 8, the Waterfront is that space. I only wish they’d invest in some good comfy patio seating! All seat cushions were very tired, and chairs were oversized so that you would never be comfy. I’d go when it wasn’t crowded and steal cushions from other seats to make one mostly good seat. Of course I put cushions back when others arrived. Lounge chairs were plentiful everywhere. I’m not a pool person, didn’t enjoy the atmosphere. I like quieter spots. I also have lower back issues that make loungers not comfy for me. Wish there were some other nice seating options. 

 

I did Vibe and not really pleased. Most days were incredibly windy, couldn’t put umbrellas up for shade. If your hat was not tied to your head it wasn’t staying on. Only seating is the low loungers and bar stools. The staff was really kind. I just didn’t use it much because it was too windy and not any good seating for me. It was a waste of money. We’d pop in grab a drink and leave. 
 

This was my first cruise. We didn’t choose the ship or itinerary. My sis-in-law didn’t want to do excursions so we just shopped the ports. Others in my group had great adventures with excursions. I think their faves were snorkeling in Cozumel and horseback ride/zip-lining/sloths and monkeys, I think in Roatan. All the ports had beautiful coastlines. I’m not a fan of the flea market style shopping and I bore quickly with 30 leather shops, 30 silver shops and 30 teeshirt /souvenir shops. I did like Moho Chocolate on Roatan. For Seinfeld fans, I like to stop at the Duty free shop.  Sing it like George and Kramer. Mostly because it’s usually neat, spacious and AC, lol. I did buy perfume but once on ship I saw the price was the same as Belk and Macy, oh well I didn’t pay tax! 
 

My first cruise had ups and downs but more ups than downs. I lost 3# from lack of tasty foods and lots of walking. I only had the 150 min Wi-Fi but it was plenty. I could text any iPhones on mainland without using my minutes which was great. I typed daily emails then logged one 5-10 min to send/rec and read some news.  I have such appreciation for all the 100s of hardworking crew members, they work so hard and always greet you happily. The staff were one of the highlights. I can’t wait to book my next one! No pics because I’m not good at posting them and others have posted so many great ones.  

[rjm11]

thank you for your great review! How did the embarkation process go for you?

[Calicoskies1234]

We had 11-1130 time, it was busy but seemed to move along well. I had zero issues with either EM or DisEM.

[shecup]

Thank you for this review! We leave this Sunday (2/19) and I'm going to write down some of your "quiet" spots for sure and the afternoon cocktails in Maltings.  🙂

[SimplyAlbert]

We had the 11:30 to 12:00 time on this same cruise and things moved right along for us too.  Once we were checked in we only had to wait about 20 minutes before our boarding group was called.