1st cruise - Breakaway or Gem with tween

This is my first cruise, and the first big vacation for my son (10yrs). On a super tight budget and my main priority is making sure my son has a blast. Things like casino, nightlife, etc are not important. We live in NY, so that's where we will be leaving from. I've narrowed it down to:

9 days Florida & Bahamas on the Breakaway mid February (winter break)

11 days Eastern Caribbean on the Gem late March-April (spring break)

I know the Breakaway is a lot newer and has a lot of features my son would love (water slides and rope course!). He weighs less than 99 pounds but is taller than 48", so I think he could use everything other than the big water slide. However, I'm very concerned how many of those activities he will actually be able to do, considering we are leaving NY in Feb. Is the aqua park/rope course usable after the first day? Is Bahamas warm enough to enjoy in February?

The Gem has less features but is a longer cruise, later in the year, and includes the distinctive voyages promo. BUT it is missing the features I think he would love the most.

Both of these cruises would be ocean-view rooms, almost the same price. Which would you pick? Looking for any and all advice here. thanks so much!!!!

I think your son will have a better time on Breakaway. Leaving on Sunday, the outside temperature will be noticeably warmer by Monday afternoon, and there will be people using the pools. The ropes course will probably be open by Tuesday.

Gem is a really nice ship, but BA is better for kids IMO.

We went with the 14 night sailing on the Breakaway January 5th for our boys (12 and 8) over the NCL Jade Panama Canal cruise we were looking at. There is just so much more to do and we got an amazing deal with great perks and OBC. I've heard it warms up quite a bit once you head south. We were in the Caribbean in December 2 years ago and the weather was gorgeous!

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Breakaway - this is a no-brainer. Weather will be warm by Monday afternoon. Heck, you don't even need to leave the ship if you don't want to.

I highly suggest he try Splash Academy - he'll make friends and have lots of fun things to do with kids his age. And you can have some quiet time :-)

Since this is a vacation for your son, NCL Breakaway would be more fun in term of activities. Even though it is a big cruise ship compared to the NCL Gem, some activities are not that crowded. More crowded would be the water slide and the pool.

It's an easy decision Breakaway.

I would choose the Breakaway.

Ok Breakaway it is! Think I might splurge on the spa pass for myself as well, so my son can go to the splash academy and mommy can relax =) Thanks for the input everyone!