Ncl breakaway/getaway. Anyone tried these ships?

Looking at some of the pricing for a cruise this summer. From what I have seen in reviews, the ships look pretty nice. Wondering if any rccl fans have tried and what their thoughts are. We love the evening shows but are getting to the point where we have seen almost all on rccl.

Thanks!

Yes, I tried Getaway for just one night and was very impressed indeed. To me it seems that RCI are trying to copy with their new Dynamic Dining offerings.

Here is my review. And some pics.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1972838

Sailed the Breakaway out of NYC to Bermuda in the fall. I thought it was a fabulous ship, lots of different dining venues and not all of them cost extra. They have outdoor eating on the promenade which I thought was a really cool idea. You can be dining outside while at sea. They also had a lot of small entertainment venues, so lots to choose from. And, they had fireworks! It wasn't just a small display either. I thought they were pretty impressive. My husband also thought the water slides were fun. The only negatives would be that the cabins are tight, probably the smallest balcony cabin I have ever been in and the other thing I would mention is that I could see it being very crowded during school breaks. We went in the fall so there were very few children on the ship, but at full capacity I think it would be very crowded.

The Breakaway does get some complaints about it being crowded, and the Getaway is supposed to be identical.

That being said, they had a killer promo in February and I'll be trying the Getaway this summer. The Breakaway is of no interest to me as I have no desire to sail out of NYC, mainly because the 7 day itineraries from there are not that interesting. The Getaway routes aren't anything special either, comparable to the Oasis class boats. Such is the issue with the megaships.

I figured with the price I got (on a Haven suite even) plus the (unlimited) drink and speciality dining package it was worth a shot. I'll be interested to compare it side by side to the Oasis class, although the comparison will be slightly off as I can't afford Grand Suites on the Oasis class boats (let alone Juniors unless there is a really good deal).

I'm not new to NCL (last sailed the Epic) but I'm anxious to sail on their latest class. Royal and NCL are basically driving mass market cruise line innovation at this point so I'm anxious to see NCL's current take on it.

We absolutely LOVED it. Never had any crowd issues at all. So many things to do...so many venues to choose from. So many "no fee" restaurants....AMAZING and plan on going on her again one day.

I am 50 been on my 52nd cruise three weeks ago and the Breakaway happens to be our most hated ship in the past 12 years!!

Too crowded, traffic jams in many places

Crew/staff not friendly, would walk in hallways and pass cabin stewards never got a good morning, how are you, have a good day as we get on other cruise lines.

Some staff had difficulty understanding english, a few times my other half ordered a jack and soda water to get a different type of liquor in his soda water, wrong drink.

Hallways so narrow, if somebody with a scooter/wheelchair needs to pass by everybody needs to maneuver their bodies to a point where they can get by in the hallways

Buffet lunch not that good limited...there was only a meat carving on day one and never had another meat carving (carnival still has meat carvings!)

If you have to be gluten free or dairy and gluten free the buffet lunches are so limited....the soups had gluten...the vegetables all had sauces which are gluten on them, there were no gluten free desserts...past 10pm nothing to eat but at O'Sheehans...they have a limited menu past 10pm consisting of 8 items all gluten but the french fries that is all they had for me to eat past 10pm.

The ship was the rockiest we ever been on, omgosh especially coming back from Bermuda horrible and we had good weather too!

The outdoor deck space is very limited like consisting of "cubby holes" where you have difficulty finding a lounge chair and looking at the sea....the pools were tiny tiny for that amount of people...they were so packed looked like a bunch of sardines in a can.

They had another area to lie out in back of the ship no pool or jacuzzi here.

The casino is very warm probably due to all the people going through the casino as this was the only way to enter and exit the show/main lounge.

Specialty dining Le Bistro excellent, the Raw Bar excellent, Ocean Blu some of us thought it was just good others thought better....Cagneys Steakhouse no impressive get a better steak at Longhorn, shrimp was aways too soft and not that good....Italian Restaurant we cancelled the menu did not impress us mostly pizza and too many kids in there. The Wasabi we had for lunch excellent and the Noodle Bar was very good. MDR didn't blow me away, same old typical banquet style food as you get on Carnival...lobster is now taken off menu from what I heard but we had it and it was extremely salty for all of us.

Shows are excellent but that Cirque du soleil show was a bit boring that guy with the rings over over did it on and on it never ended lol and a few other scenes in that show needed to be cut shorter, the dinner there was horrible!

We would not cruise NCL again its just not for us...I have tried their other ships in the past to always say we not going back...but we do go back in the past because we hoping things are better....but this was our last NCL cruise we ever take.

You say that RC is mass market so is the Breakaway/NCL!

You mention that your getting a suite, from what I heard NCL does offer wonderful suite perks.

Wow. Mostly great feedback. I doubt I could go the suite route and buy the drink package too. We are happy to get a balcony.

Thanks..

You will like the balcony oh forgot now that you mentioned balconies...Breakaway had the smallest balcony ever! (we were in a high end balcony stateroom)