Breakaway vs Royal Caribbean

[Sponge4God]

As a Royal Caribbean cruiser I can't wait to try something else for the first time in my life. The breakaway is our choice, and one of our favorite parts of the Royal Caribbean ships was the little shop on the Promenade that served pizza slices, litlle desert cups and cookies and everything was free. Does the Breakaway have a shop like this for our enjoyment? Thanks for all responses!!

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[sugarnyc]

No- unfortunately.

But there was a smaller buffet upstairs from the garden cafe called uptown grill that was quieter and had different choices from the garden cafe. They had cute little pies :-) It was a hidden gem.

[lhugheshome]

The is. 24 hour comfort food place called O'Sheehans. Way better than the cafe on the Promenade, at least in my opinion. It is full service..serves breakfast lunch, dinner specials and their regular menu..burgers, dogs, Chicken Pot Pie Chicken Wings, Sandwiches, a few desert choices as well! Great place for a Kate night refuel!

[Kayaktom]

I can't wait to how this topic pans out. I, too, am a long time RC cruiser but have a strong interest in the new NCL ships.

[lhugheshome]

My daughter and I did our first RCCL ship EOS in April of this year. we had a good time but much preferred our NCL experiences. Nothing we could absolutely say we did not like about RCCL we just had a better vibe on the NCL ships. We were not big fans of the little cafe you referred to. it was located on the promenade deck..next to the shops and a bar! We often could not find anything we wanted to munch on. We both had the soda crds and did enjoy the exceptional variety and ability to mix flavours of the machines located on the Promenade and at the Buffet.No such cool machine on NCL. Food is so subjective. however, hands down I prefer the pub food on NCL to the cold sandwiches and pizza on RCCL. We are returning to NCL on our next Cruise. The Breakaway in September. looking forward to our UDP and UBP and our first trip to the Haven!

[Kayaktom]

I'm glad to hear that you had a good time on these new NCL ships. I'm anxious to cruise on them now. I just read where NCL just ordered two more at 2 billion dollars each. The cruise industry must be thriving.

[abisha]

The is. 24 hour comfort food place called O'Sheehans. Way better than the cafe on the Promenade, at least in my opinion. It is full service..serves breakfast lunch, dinner specials and their regular menu..burgers, dogs, Chicken Pot Pie Chicken Wings, Sandwiches, a few desert choices as well! Great place for a Kate night refuel!

 

Does O'Sheehan's have complimentary beverages in the drink dispensers? If not, is there another venue that has them? And if so, is it also available 24 hours? I am booked on sister ship Getaway.

[DaisyL]

I am a loyal NCL cruiser but our last 2 cruises were with RCI. I truly believe each line has their advantages/disadvantages so everyone has their preference.

 

Having said that, our friends just completed a cruise on Breakaway and by far said it was the best cruise ship they have ever been on. The food and entertainment were excellent. They have not cruised on RCI though, but have cruised NCL, CCL, X, Holland with us and Princess without us. We'll be going on Breakaway later this year and Quantum next year with them too.

 

So I guess I haven't answered your question but Breakaway is the highest rated ship in the NCL line; they must be doing something right.

 

BTW, I liked that little 'snack' shop too; we would take our 2 yo grandson there as a diversion and change of pace. I think O'Sheehans is like a 24 hr waiter service restaurant/diner, nice casual atmosphere for appetizers or meal or sandwich or burger or dessert or drink or all of the above (like the Blue Lagoon, which we love) so it's different in concept to the Cafe Promenade which is counter service and 'free' drink dispensers then take your items to a table or walk away with them.

[London-Calling]

It's great to try different ships/lines.

 

Personally I think RCI have some of the world's most amazing ships in term of cutting-edge design, but NCL are in second place with Epic, Breakaway and Getaway.

 

Breakaway and Getaway are similar in many ways to Epic, but they win because of their extra design feature "the waterfront".

 

I find NCL's freestyle a refreshing change compare to RCI's more traditional dining system. NCL win on dining 'flexibility' and their very wide choice of cuisine. The entertainment is different to RCI's but also very good.

 

NCL have more optional surcharges but sometimes their fares are lower - swings & roundabouts!

 

NCL's new ships are packed with dining rooms, bars and entertainment venues, HOWEVER for this reason they lack the big open 'wow' spaces that RCI are famous for.

 

Personally I will continue to cruise with and BOTH lines and enjoy the differences*.

 

(*Saying that 'Quantum' dining does not look so different from NCL's model)

Edited July 17, 2014 by London-Calling

[graphicguy]

It's great to try different ships/lines.

 

Personally I think RCI have some of the world's most amazing ships in term of cutting-edge design, but NCL are in second place with Epic, Breakaway and Getaway.

 

Breakaway and Getaway are similar in many ways to Epic, but they win because of their extra design feature "the waterfront".

 

I find NCL's freestyle a refreshing change compare to RCI's more traditional dining system. NCL win on dining 'flexibility' and their very wide choice of cuisine. The entertainment is different to RCI's but also very good.

 

NCL have more optional surcharges but sometimes their fares are lower - swings & roundabouts!

 

NCL's new ships are packed with dining rooms, bars and entertainment venues, HOWEVER for this reason they lack the big open 'wow' spaces that RCI are famous for.

 

Personally I will continue to cruise with and BOTH lines and enjoy the differences*.

 

(*Saying that 'Quantum' dining does not look so different from NCL's model)

 

 

Having sailed both RCCL and NCL, on both line's best ships, I agree with most of what you say. I find the specialty dining best in NCL, followed by a close 2nd on our RCCL Allure cruise.

 

The "WOW" spaces you speak of I assume you mean the main promenade on RCCL? If so, my biggest complaint regarding RCCL as the lack of outdoor, water facing spaces. Even a goodly amount of their balcony cabins don't point towards the water, but inwards to the "mall like" spaces.

 

NCL's newest has the OCCEANFRONT, which we loved. We could dine on the Oceanfront. We could just enjoy drinks at the bars on the Oceanfront. We just really enjoyed that aspect of our cruises. To us, that's what cruising is about.

 

But, I know plenty of people who enjoy the more "inward" feeling of the Allure.

 

I realize this is just one data point, but it seems RCCL has priced themselves out of the market, given their recent decline in profit they just reported. Just an example, we were looking for a cruise for the 2nd week of this past June. Pricing an ocean view balcony cabin on either the Oasis or Allure was hundreds of dollars more than sailing the same time on NCL's new Breakaway....in their Haven Spa Suite, which was a tremendous experience...and most definitely better than a regular balcony cabin on Allure/Oasis.

 

I've heard they've backed off on this sort of pricing recently, so this may have changed.

 

To each their own. Both offer a good time.

Edited July 17, 2014 by graphicguy

[jenfromjersey]

I am anxiously following this thread as well. I am loyal to Royal, but my parents just decided to take the whole family on a cruise for New Years. The options were only Breakaway or Quantum of the Seas. Quantum would have been $8000 more for the 7 of us. So it just didn't make any sense. None of us have ever sailed NCL, so I am very interested in what people who have sailed both have to say.

[Sponge4God]

I am learning a lot from all the NCL people....I love it, can't wait till September

 

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