Royal Princess vs. NCL Breakaway..............

[nycruise]

Just to start, Princess is our favorite cruise line. We believe Princess provides the best combination of service, food and overall cruise experience.

 

Having said that, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two new ships, the NCL Breakaway and the Royal Princess. We had the pleasure of sailing on both over the past 3 months.

 

We sailed the Breakaway to Bermuda in August and the Royal last week on the 5 day inaugural cruise.

 

In our opinion, the Breakaway is a much more innovative ship, while the Royal is, in our opinion, more of a traditional Princess ship.

 

The Breakaway included innovations like the Ice Bar, a Cirque Dinner Show in a theater designed like a tent, a full 2 hour version of Rock Of Ages the Broadway show, a Jazz and Blues Club, a Second City Comedy Club and a band, singer and dance floor in the Main Dining Room. They also did a shortened version of one of there production shows in the main dining room, all unique features of the entertainment.

 

There were 18 dining venues available including a Steakhouse, Italian and French restaurants, a Brazilian Churasscaria, a Seafood restaurant by a know chef (Zakarian), an Irish Pub, a Teppanyaki restaurant, plus separate noodle and sushi bars.

 

The Waterfront area, was a deck where you could eat on the outside of the ship for many of the specialty restaurants and included a full bar serving drinks. The deck functions much like a Promenade Deck during the day, where you can comfortably sit and enjoy a side deck in the shade.

 

Features like the water park, and walking the plank and a fireworks show seemed like real innovations

 

I won't outline the features and restaurants on the Royal since most people on this board are fully aware of them. We just thought the few new features like the fountain show, Princess Live Studio and the Seawalk really didn't amount to much regarding the overall cruise experience. The expanded Piazza was impressive but again not a real innovation from previous ships. It seemed to us that the Royal was designed primarily to carry more passengers.

 

Again, Princess remains out favorite line and the Royal blew away the Breakaway regarding food quality in the MDR's and Buffett, service and general overall ambiance of the cruise but the ship is more of a small progression rather than an innovation and we felt we could have a similar experience on any of the Princess ships.

[Clutterlady]

Thanks for your comparison NYCruise. I think NCL caters to a whole different demographic than Princess. While I have sailed on NCL before, not my favorite line. Princess is the right fit for us now...:)

[The4OfUs]

Very interesting review, thank you - we had narrowed our next cruise down to these two ships - and went with the Royal for the simple fact we could use DH's Carnival credit card points to pay. Our TA is a HUGE fan of the Breakaway...and reading your post made me wish we had gone on that one instead (probably due in a very large part to all the negatives I'm reading about the Royal and what I have perceived as a "Princess attitude" that comes across from some so strongly on these boards :() - but I'm SURE we're going to have an amazing time in March on the Royal, and I'll just remind myself that paying with points on this one lets us save to try the Breakaway next! :D

[pcsunlover]

Thank you for posting your thoughts. I had hoped that Princess would have made some entertainment changes on the Royal. It's not that it's bad, just that it's pretty much been the same ever since we took our first Princess cruise in 2008. As far as I'm concerned, they could have dropped the fountain and seawalk and added some more interesting or exciting entertainment options, similar to those some of the other cruiselines have added.

[Meanee]

Breakaway sure sounds nice. I just wish it was not NY based. I am in NY myself, and not really looking forward few days at sea just to reach 1st island.

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks for your thoughtful post. Interesting. I always say it's good to try different cruise lines for the experience. I always end up coming back to Princess. I haven't yet tried the new NCL offerings. Maybe I need to give one a try just for the fun of it.

[mafig]

Breakaway sure sounds nice. I just wish it was not NY based. I am in NY myself, and not really looking forward few days at sea just to reach 1st island.

 

 

Do you know that the Getaway (coming soon), sister to Breakaway will be in Florida.;)

[nycruise]

"not really looking forward few days at sea just to reach 1st island."

 

Plenty to do on the ship on the 4 sea days.

 

 

The main caveat on the Breakaway is, don't travel when the kids are out of school. 5000 passengers is more than a ship this size can comfortably handle.

[Mulege]

Most of the NCL added restaurants are fee based. Adding them to the cruise fare was over $450 including tips on a recent 7 day cruise.

[nycruise]

Most of the NCL added restaurants are fee based. Adding them to the cruise fare was over $450 including tips on a recent 7 day cruise.

 

True but they're there for your choosing, if you decided you needed to try all the restaurants it will cost you. Most people use the Buffet and the 3 MDR's and will try a couple of the added fee restaurants, which would add a little over $100 a couple on a one week cruise.

 

Just as the spa, drinks, casino, bingo, wine tastings, Sanctuary, etc. are there for you to pick and choose, it sure beats not having the choice.