Review - Breakaway March 12-19, 2017 with Dailies

This was our second time on the Breakaway, this time with the kids (ages 7). Overall, we found the service and quality of the cruise worse this time around. We still had a good time (who wouldn't when you don't have to cook and clean for a week!), but we were a bit disappointed with some of the things we encountered. Here are our thoughts about the trip:

Parking/Embarking

We used the Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield's Stay/Park/Cruise deal, and we loved it. We arrived late Saturday evening and when we checked in, they asked us what time we wanted to be picked up. We'd chosen 10am, and our driver was there by 9:45am. The ride was about 30 minutes, and he dropped us off right at the port around 10:30am. We checked in pretty quickly, and we were group #14. We were on board by 12pm. We would definitely do this again if we sail out of NYC.

Stateroom

We had a family balcony stateroom on Deck 12, and we were happy it and our room attendant. It had a pullman bed that came down from the ceiling, right above the sofa, forming a bunkbed for the kids. When we were on cruises with Royal, their staterooms had curtains that separated the bed area from the couch/TV area. We wished the Breakaway had that too, as we found the TV was right in front of the kids' sleeping faces and was too bright for us to watch after their bedtimes. But we discovered that the area on the ceiling around the pullman bed was metal - so when we stopped in Port Canaveral, we MacGvyer-ed our own curtain system. We found some magnet-clips at the dollar store and used them to hold up a curtain of towels around the bunkbed so that we could watch TV and do stuff after the kids when to bed. I wish I'd taken a picture....but I'll definitely bring a big stash of magnet clips with us next time (we tried using the magnets we brought with us, but the towels were too thick for the magnet to "go through", so we needed the magnet clips). If we were to do this cruise again, we would choose a balcony on the Starboard side so that we could view the Statue of Liberty from our balcony going out of NYC (ours was on the port side this time around). However, the good thing about being on the port side is that we get the sun in the mornings on the way down, so it was nice to enjoy coffee on the balcony as it got warmer and warmer travelling south.

Splash Academy

The kids' program was a hit-or-miss for DS and DD, who were part of the Seal program (ages 6-9). They had a good time with the Pirate evening (where the counsellors took them on a "treasure hunt" around the ship) and DD enjoyed participating in the Splashtacular show on the last seaday. Most other days they didn't want to go, or we would check them in, only to be called 30 minutes later because one or both of them wanted to be picked up. When I asked them why they didn't like the program, they said there were a lot of kids and it was too loud. There were a lot of kids on our cruise that week, as it was a school break for nearby Ontarians like us. There were some amazing and enthusiastic leaders (e.g., Pancake who always joked with the kids and gave them high fives when we saw her around the ship, and Brownie who apparently "fell" into the pool as part of the pirate evening program), but there were also others who didn't seem to want to be there. We did enjoy the other family events the Splash Academy staff ran, not the drop off ones, but ones where we participated with the kids (e.g., cupcake decorating, pizza making, a team/family scavenger hunt). If I was to do it again, I would spend more time at Family Social/Mixer in Bliss on Day 1 (sailaway day) with the kids to get them acquainted with the staff and other kids. We had dropped by and saw the Splash Academy staff playing games with other kids with their parents watching, but chose to go explore the ship instead. Maybe if we'd stayed and helped the kids break the ice, the DS and DD would have enjoyed the program more.

Restaurants

We're not really foodies and stuck to the complementary restaurants, and considering that we had the kids with us, we ate most of our meals at the buffet. DS enjoyed his daily diet of hot dogs/burgers, fries, watermelon and ice cream, but DD really enjoyed choosing and exploring different foods (she discovered she likes blue cheese!). We were happy with the food in the buffet, but found it quiet busy, especially when they only had 1/2 the buffet open. On the 2 evenings when the kids went to SA, DH & I went ate at Taste and O'Sheehan's. We were very disappointed with the services we received at Taste & Savor, especially the hostesses. Both evenings, we tried going to Savour, but the hostess told us to go to other restaurants. One evening, she said that there was no wait upstairs at Manhattan so we should go there instead (but there was a wait when we got there, so we went to O'Sheehan's). The other evening, she said that the wait was 45 minutes and that Taste across the hall had a shorter wait for a party of 2 (it wasn't, the Taste hostess said it was a hour and when we asked for a pager because we didn't want to deal with the Savor hostess anymore, she rolled her eyes at us). This made us feel very unwelcomed. Once we got actually in, the food was good. The meal times were very long, because we think the restaurants are very understaffed. The waiters were constantly working, so the long wait times wasn't because they were slacking off, they just had too many tables to cover. We sat by the galley/prep area and overhead the waiters fighting and arguing. One of the waiter was carrying trays of dishes and rudely asked the others to move out his way, and when he dropped the trays, another waiter yelled at him and said it was karma since he had said "Excuse me" in a rude tone. I guess they didn't realize we could hear them, as our table was close to the door, but it was awkward and it was kind of unprofessional. We tried eating at Shanghai's, but the wait time was 2.5hr when we went at 7:15. Wait times were never an issue for us the last time we were on this cruise, but I think it's because we didn't have the kids with us and used to eat around 6:30. DH's theory is that since Splash Academy closes from 5-7, the buffet was really busy when we went (we had trouble finding tables on several evenings) because all the families were eating there at 6 before dropping their kids off at 7, leading to a big influx of people/parents eating at the restaurants at 7:15. So if I was travelling without kids, I would go to the buffet after 7 or go to the restaurants round 6-6:30.

Ship activities

The kids really enjoyed all the recreational activities available on the ship. They did the Rope Course, Spider Mountain, Breakaway Bounce, Rock Climbing, mini-golf, giant chess set and water slides, numerous times. This is probably the best-selling point for the Breakaway - the many activities that are available. The wait times were quite long (the first time we did the rope course on a seaday, we waited for 2 hours), but when we returned early on port days, the waits were much better. Also, we noticed the wait for the evening sessions of the rope course were always shorter than the morning/afternoon session (even on sea days).

Shows

We only watched 1 show this time around. DS and I attended Burn the Floor and we both enjoyed it (I wasn't expecting him to, but he did!). DH didn't go to any of the shows because they were the same as the ones from 3 years ago. We met several families who were also repeating this cruise, and we all agreed that they need to update the shows/menus. I think because many Ontario families can drive down to NYC instead of flying the whole family to a port in Florida, people tend to come back to this trip again and again. It would be nice for them to change things up every few years. We also tried twice to attend the magic show (no reservation system), but both times there were no seats, which was very disappointing for DS. The second time, we arrived early trying to find a seat, but when the preceding show ended, most of the people stayed and the few seats that were vacated filled up within seconds or were being "saved" by others.

Ship/Areas

The ship was still as beautiful as it was 3 years ago, and seems to be well-maintained. As other have mentioned, the smoke from the casino can be an issue. Generally, we avoided Deck 7....we'd walk across decks 6 or 8 if we needed to go across the ship, but I could still smell it when we were crossing atrium areas. The much-touted Waterfront area on Deck 8 was a waste to us because people were allowed to smoke there outside the restaurants, and we didn’t want the kids hanging around the smoke. We didn't spend too much time on the deck around the pool, but when we were watching the kids swim in the children pools, we never had problems finding a free chair. Some indoor areas were overcrowded (e.g., game room, atrium during shows) because it rained on 2 seadays so everyone was inside.

Ports

We rented a car in Port Canaveral and drove to Lori Wilson Park/beach. The kids had a good time playing in the sand and ocean. There was free parking and washroom/shower (cold) facilities. There was also a lifeguard on duty, even though no one really went that far into the water. The seas were too rough for tendering for Great Stirrup Cay, so we arrived in Nassau at 8PM and had an overnight stay. We didn't go ashore for the evening as the kids were with us, but I spoke to the staff, and they said that we could go on/off all night if we wanted to. In the morning, we went early to Junkanoo and hung out around the Tiki-Bikini Hut area. There were seaweeds on the sand/in the water, but it wasn't as bad as we'd expected (users over on the Bahama boards said there were glass when they went to Junkanoo, which we didn't find). We did find certain parts of Junkanoo had more rocks/pebbles in the sand than others, but the area in front of the Tiki-Bikini Hut was okay. We only stayed for the morning, and went back to the ship around lunchtime.

Disembarkation

We did self-disembarkation, which took a while, but wasn't as bad as I had expected. It did take a long time, but I think it was because we didn't get in line until about 8:15 (and they had made the announcements to start self-disembarkation at 7:45). We did encounter many people who were not self-disembarking, but were in the line early (e.g., they had the yellow luggage ticket and didn't want to wait for to be called), so it may have made the process a bit longer. However, there were staff members who were on hand to direct people and crowd control (read: yell at line-cutters). We were through custom and outside by 9:45. We called the car service (they'd given us their card when they dropped us off) and they met us at 49th & 12th, across the street. It was the NYC Marathon, so they had shut down 12th coming southbound and traffic was more crazy than usual. The driver picked us up after 20 minutes, and we were back at the hotel and on the road by 10:30.

Overall, there were some hiccups and disappointments, but it was nice to get away and spend time as a family. We really like this itinerary for a winter/March Break cruise, and love that fact that we can drive instead of paying extra to fly. DH wants to go back to Royal or try someone else, but if NCL has their 3rd& 4th passenger free again or if the price is right….I would never turn down a cruise!

Here are the Freestyle Dailies:

Welcome Aboard

Day 1 - NYC/Sailaway

Day 2 - Seaday

Day 3 - Port Canaveral

Day 4 - GSC (this is the updated one that was published after the GSC was cancelled)

Day 5 - Nassau

Day 6 - Seaday

Day 7 - Seaday

I still need to scan the Splash Academy one, I'll try and post it on Monday.

Thank you for posting the dailies!!

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Thanks for this review! we are sailing on April 2nd on the Breakaway with my 7 year old B/G twins :) and, staying at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before!

I appreciate the information about Splash Academy. I'm hoping that my kids will want to go, because they have each other to hang out with, but we shall see! It would be great for my husband and I to have some time to grab a quiet drink while they play!

A is for shRing your review with us.

Here is the Splash Academy program sheet for Seals (ages 6-9) for the week.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for this review! we are sailing on April 2nd on the Breakaway with my 7 year old B/G twins :) and, staying at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before!

 

I appreciate the information about Splash Academy. I'm hoping that my kids will want to go, because they have each other to hang out with, but we shall see! It would be great for my husband and I to have some time to grab a quiet drink while they play!

Even though they didn't love the Splash Academy program, my kids both loved the cruise. There are so many things for them to do, and eat! DH and I did miss the quiet/alone time though.....we keep joking we should go back to cruising without the kids, but now that they've gone on one (and are older), it'll be a lot harder to explain why we're leaving them with the grandparents ;). Hope you and your kids enjoy your trip! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Even though they didn't love the Splash Academy program, my kids both loved the cruise. There are so many things for them to do, and eat! DH and I did miss the quiet/alone time though.....we keep joking we should go back to cruising without the kids, but now that they've gone on one (and are older), it'll be a lot harder to explain why we're leaving them with the grandparents ;). Hope you and your kids enjoy your trip! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

I bet we will feel the same way if the twins don't want to do SA. Thanks for all of the information!

Thanks for posting the dailies. I noticed a couple of new things that weren't on there on our December cruise such as the Grand Ball and Escape - The Big Top. Did you attend either? Was there a charge for Escape?

Sorry, I didn't attend either of those so I don't know too much about them. There was no charge for the Escape, but you did have to make reservations for it.

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Thanks for your review and the dailies..I noticed they have a gameshow 'deal or no deal' and that you needto purchase a card for a chance to play.. would you happen to know how much the card costs? Thanks

It's the useful tips from folks like you that make cruising more enjoyable. We just came back from an early March 7 day Royal Caribbean cruise departing Cape Liberty to the Bahamas. A nice cruise but need to say that we dined at different hours every night and never had the long waits for seating that you experienced. Thanks

Thanks for your review and the dailies..I noticed they have a gameshow 'deal or no deal' and that you needto purchase a card for a chance to play.. would you happen to know how much the card costs? Thanks

I'm not positive, but DH thinks he heard announcements that said $20. Please feel free to confirm/correct this!

It's the useful tips from folks like you that make cruising more enjoyable. We just came back from an early March 7 day Royal Caribbean cruise departing Cape Liberty to the Bahamas. A nice cruise but need to say that we dined at different hours every night and never had the long waits for seating that you experienced. Thanks

Were you on the Anthem? I think we pretty much traveled beside/behind you the whole trip! We were jealous that you got into Nassau before us (when both GSC/Cococay tenders were cancelled)! DS had a funny freakout moment when at one point, your ship was ahead of ours, and it "looked" like we were going to run into your ship....

Thank you-thank you- thank you!! I've been looking for Breakaway Bahamas Dailies and yours are SO easy to read. How far did you have to go to rent a car at the Orlando stop? We are thinking or renting a car to go to the Space Center rather than going on the Norwegian excursion. (77 days and counting!)

This was our second time on the Breakaway, this time with the kids (ages 7). Overall, we found the service and quality of the cruise worse this time around. We still had a good time (who wouldn't when you don't have to cook and clean for a week!), but we were a bit disappointed with some of the things we encountered. Here are our thoughts about the trip:

 

Parking/Embarking

We used the Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield's Stay/Park/Cruise deal, and we loved it. We arrived late Saturday evening and when we checked in, they asked us what time we wanted to be picked up. We'd chosen 10am, and our driver was there by 9:45am. The ride was about 30 minutes, and he dropped us off right at the port around 10:30am. We checked in pretty quickly, and we were group #14. We were on board by 12pm. We would definitely do this again if we sail out of NYC.

 

Stateroom

We had a family balcony stateroom on Deck 12, and we were happy it and our room attendant. It had a pullman bed that came down from the ceiling, right above the sofa, forming a bunkbed for the kids. When we were on cruises with Royal, their staterooms had curtains that separated the bed area from the couch/TV area. We wished the Breakaway had that too, as we found the TV was right in front of the kids' sleeping faces and was too bright for us to watch after their bedtimes. But we discovered that the area on the ceiling around the pullman bed was metal - so when we stopped in Port Canaveral, we MacGvyer-ed our own curtain system. We found some magnet-clips at the dollar store and used them to hold up a curtain of towels around the bunkbed so that we could watch TV and do stuff after the kids when to bed. I wish I'd taken a picture....but I'll definitely bring a big stash of magnet clips with us next time (we tried using the magnets we brought with us, but the towels were too thick for the magnet to "go through", so we needed the magnet clips). If we were to do this cruise again, we would choose a balcony on the Starboard side so that we could view the Statue of Liberty from our balcony going out of NYC (ours was on the port side this time around). However, the good thing about being on the port side is that we get the sun in the mornings on the way down, so it was nice to enjoy coffee on the balcony as it got warmer and warmer travelling south.

 

Splash Academy

The kids' program was a hit-or-miss for DS and DD, who were part of the Seal program (ages 6-9). They had a good time with the Pirate evening (where the counsellors took them on a "treasure hunt" around the ship) and DD enjoyed participating in the Splashtacular show on the last seaday. Most other days they didn't want to go, or we would check them in, only to be called 30 minutes later because one or both of them wanted to be picked up. When I asked them why they didn't like the program, they said there were a lot of kids and it was too loud. There were a lot of kids on our cruise that week, as it was a school break for nearby Ontarians like us. There were some amazing and enthusiastic leaders (e.g., Pancake who always joked with the kids and gave them high fives when we saw her around the ship, and Brownie who apparently "fell" into the pool as part of the pirate evening program), but there were also others who didn't seem to want to be there. We did enjoy the other family events the Splash Academy staff ran, not the drop off ones, but ones where we participated with the kids (e.g., cupcake decorating, pizza making, a team/family scavenger hunt). If I was to do it again, I would spend more time at Family Social/Mixer in Bliss on Day 1 (sailaway day) with the kids to get them acquainted with the staff and other kids. We had dropped by and saw the Splash Academy staff playing games with other kids with their parents watching, but chose to go explore the ship instead. Maybe if we'd stayed and helped the kids break the ice, the DS and DD would have enjoyed the program more.

 

Restaurants

We're not really foodies and stuck to the complementary restaurants, and considering that we had the kids with us, we ate most of our meals at the buffet. DS enjoyed his daily diet of hot dogs/burgers, fries, watermelon and ice cream, but DD really enjoyed choosing and exploring different foods (she discovered she likes blue cheese!). We were happy with the food in the buffet, but found it quiet busy, especially when they only had 1/2 the buffet open. On the 2 evenings when the kids went to SA, DH & I went ate at Taste and O'Sheehan's. We were very disappointed with the services we received at Taste & Savor, especially the hostesses. Both evenings, we tried going to Savour, but the hostess told us to go to other restaurants. One evening, she said that there was no wait upstairs at Manhattan so we should go there instead (but there was a wait when we got there, so we went to O'Sheehan's). The other evening, she said that the wait was 45 minutes and that Taste across the hall had a shorter wait for a party of 2 (it wasn't, the Taste hostess said it was a hour and when we asked for a pager because we didn't want to deal with the Savor hostess anymore, she rolled her eyes at us). This made us feel very unwelcomed. Once we got actually in, the food was good. The meal times were very long, because we think the restaurants are very understaffed. The waiters were constantly working, so the long wait times wasn't because they were slacking off, they just had too many tables to cover. We sat by the galley/prep area and overhead the waiters fighting and arguing. One of the waiter was carrying trays of dishes and rudely asked the others to move out his way, and when he dropped the trays, another waiter yelled at him and said it was karma since he had said "Excuse me" in a rude tone. I guess they didn't realize we could hear them, as our table was close to the door, but it was awkward and it was kind of unprofessional. We tried eating at Shanghai's, but the wait time was 2.5hr when we went at 7:15. Wait times were never an issue for us the last time we were on this cruise, but I think it's because we didn't have the kids with us and used to eat around 6:30. DH's theory is that since Splash Academy closes from 5-7, the buffet was really busy when we went (we had trouble finding tables on several evenings) because all the families were eating there at 6 before dropping their kids off at 7, leading to a big influx of people/parents eating at the restaurants at 7:15. So if I was travelling without kids, I would go to the buffet after 7 or go to the restaurants round 6-6:30.

 

Ship activities

The kids really enjoyed all the recreational activities available on the ship. They did the Rope Course, Spider Mountain, Breakaway Bounce, Rock Climbing, mini-golf, giant chess set and water slides, numerous times. This is probably the best-selling point for the Breakaway - the many activities that are available. The wait times were quite long (the first time we did the rope course on a seaday, we waited for 2 hours), but when we returned early on port days, the waits were much better. Also, we noticed the wait for the evening sessions of the rope course were always shorter than the morning/afternoon session (even on sea days).

 

Shows

We only watched 1 show this time around. DS and I attended Burn the Floor and we both enjoyed it (I wasn't expecting him to, but he did!). DH didn't go to any of the shows because they were the same as the ones from 3 years ago. We met several families who were also repeating this cruise, and we all agreed that they need to update the shows/menus. I think because many Ontario families can drive down to NYC instead of flying the whole family to a port in Florida, people tend to come back to this trip again and again. It would be nice for them to change things up every few years. We also tried twice to attend the magic show (no reservation system), but both times there were no seats, which was very disappointing for DS. The second time, we arrived early trying to find a seat, but when the preceding show ended, most of the people stayed and the few seats that were vacated filled up within seconds or were being "saved" by others.

 

Ship/Areas

The ship was still as beautiful as it was 3 years ago, and seems to be well-maintained. As other have mentioned, the smoke from the casino can be an issue. Generally, we avoided Deck 7....we'd walk across decks 6 or 8 if we needed to go across the ship, but I could still smell it when we were crossing atrium areas. The much-touted Waterfront area on Deck 8 was a waste to us because people were allowed to smoke there outside the restaurants, and we didn’t want the kids hanging around the smoke. We didn't spend too much time on the deck around the pool, but when we were watching the kids swim in the children pools, we never had problems finding a free chair. Some indoor areas were overcrowded (e.g., game room, atrium during shows) because it rained on 2 seadays so everyone was inside.

 

Ports

We rented a car in Port Canaveral and drove to Lori Wilson Park/beach. The kids had a good time playing in the sand and ocean. There was free parking and washroom/shower (cold) facilities. There was also a lifeguard on duty, even though no one really went that far into the water. The seas were too rough for tendering for Great Stirrup Cay, so we arrived in Nassau at 8PM and had an overnight stay. We didn't go ashore for the evening as the kids were with us, but I spoke to the staff, and they said that we could go on/off all night if we wanted to. In the morning, we went early to Junkanoo and hung out around the Tiki-Bikini Hut area. There were seaweeds on the sand/in the water, but it wasn't as bad as we'd expected (users over on the Bahama boards said there were glass when they went to Junkanoo, which we didn't find). We did find certain parts of Junkanoo had more rocks/pebbles in the sand than others, but the area in front of the Tiki-Bikini Hut was okay. We only stayed for the morning, and went back to the ship around lunchtime.

 

Disembarkation

We did self-disembarkation, which took a while, but wasn't as bad as I had expected. It did take a long time, but I think it was because we didn't get in line until about 8:15 (and they had made the announcements to start self-disembarkation at 7:45). We did encounter many people who were not self-disembarking, but were in the line early (e.g., they had the yellow luggage ticket and didn't want to wait for to be called), so it may have made the process a bit longer. However, there were staff members who were on hand to direct people and crowd control (read: yell at line-cutters). We were through custom and outside by 9:45. We called the car service (they'd given us their card when they dropped us off) and they met us at 49th & 12th, across the street. It was the NYC Marathon, so they had shut down 12th coming southbound and traffic was more crazy than usual. The driver picked us up after 20 minutes, and we were back at the hotel and on the road by 10:30.

 

Overall, there were some hiccups and disappointments, but it was nice to get away and spend time as a family. We really like this itinerary for a winter/March Break cruise, and love that fact that we can drive instead of paying extra to fly. DH wants to go back to Royal or try someone else, but if NCL has their 3rd& 4th passenger free again or if the price is right….I would never turn down a cruise!

 

Here are the Freestyle Dailies:

Welcome Aboard

Day 1 - NYC/Sailaway

Day 2 - Seaday

Day 3 - Port Canaveral

Day 4 - GSC (this is the updated one that was published after the GSC was cancelled)

Day 5 - Nassau

Day 6 - Seaday

Day 7 - Seaday

 

I still need to scan the Splash Academy one, I'll try and post it on Monday.

Thank you so much for the information and the dailies! We are on this itinerary in November and it will be our our 2nd time on the Breakaway :)

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Thank you-thank you- thank you!! I've been looking for Breakaway Bahamas Dailies and yours are SO easy to read. How far did you have to go to rent a car at the Orlando stop? We are thinking or renting a car to go to the Space Center rather than going on the Norwegian excursion. (77 days and counting!)

Thank you for your kind words! We rented our car from Enterprise (710 Mullet Rd). They had a shuttle that picked us up from the cruise terminal (I think many of the car rental companies have shuttles too), that took us to their store, where we did the paperwork and picked up the car. At the end of the day, we did an after-hour return of the car. DH dropped the kids and I at the terminal before returning the car. The taxi back to the terminal costed $20, and he split it another family that was also going back to the ship.

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you so much for the information and the dailies! We are on this itinerary in November and it will be our our 2nd time on the Breakaway :)

 

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You're welcome! The planning and anticipation is almost as fun as the trip itself! Have a great time!

Thanks for the info!

Hi I had a question on the Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield's Stay/Park/Cruise deal, does the price of this package include the return trip back to the hotel or is there an extra charge for that?

Hi I had a question on the Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield's Stay/Park/Cruise deal, does the price of this package include the return trip back to the hotel or is there an extra charge for that?

It includes private van transportation back to the hotel as well. You just have to tell the driver dropping you off, what time you are going to leave the ship on the last day.

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