Just Back from Breakaway - Aug. 9-16

[tantine]

We are just back from our first time on the Breakaway (August 9-16) to Bermuda. It was an awesome vacation! Because I read all the info I can before we cruise, I thought I'd give our feedback on our experience.

 

We (myself, DH, DS 11, DD 8) have been on Royal Caribbean twice and this was our fourth time on NCL. First time on Breakaway. We stayed in two adjoining balcony cabins (13710 and 13712).

 

Ship

The Breakaway is a beautiful ship! Restaurants, common areas, etc all really nicely designed. We liked the flow of the ship. It is huge but so easy to get around and find where you are going. If you do get disoriented, there are ship layouts at each elevator bay that show you where you are and what is on each floor. There are also touch screens in numerous areas that let you look at restaurant availability, show options and times and even show you how to get to where you want to go.

 

The Atrium is set up nicely where you can sit in the Atrium to watch a show or sit one level up in the bar by O'Sheehans and still see the show.

 

Pool

The kids pool is the only area I felt that was not designed well. One side is where one pool comes down. The other side is the Nickelodeon area which is a big hit - especially with the younger kids. But the pool itself is not very big(I know it's a cruise ship) and has this weird barrier in the middle. Between the adult and kids pool seems like a bit of wasted space that they could have used to expand both pools a bit. The adult pool get VERY crowded on sea days.

 

Chair hogging was in full force. There was no enforcement of the 30 minute rule. I didn't see anyone fighting but one of the crew members told me that security is called at least once a week because people get in fights over chairs. I went out before 7 on the sea days to get seats and stayed there. By 7:30 all of the chairs were taken but I was one of maybe 20 people who were actually there. I was surprised by the number of chairs still empty at 12 or 1 that were held by towels early in the morning. It wasn't fair to people who came up at 8 and had nowhere to sit but watched all these empty chairs sit there for hours. A couple of times if my kids were still sleeping I would let people use my chairs until my kids got there. It is just a waste of space to have people hold chairs for a whole day and come up at noon to start using them.

 

Service

We were pleasantly surprised with the amazing service on the ship. I had read some pretty mixed reviews of crew not being friendly, long lines at the bars etc, but we didn't encounter this. I don't think there was one crew member we walked by who didn't greet us. We got to know some of our waiters and bar servers and it was a pleasure to talk to them and learn about life on the ship. Our room steward, Gemel, was very efficient without being in our way. Our cabins were kept spotless, kids loved the towel animals as always, and Gemel was very pleasant.

 

Cabin

We opted for two adjoining balconies to give us a little more room and because the extra bathroom is a big plus. The room was nice with lots of storage space. Four people can sleep in a balcony room but we definitely would've been a bit cramped. With two rooms there was plenty of storage for my family of packrats and we were not tight on space at all. With the two rooms it was nice to spend a couple hours relaxing in our room in the afternoons - we could all spread out. We couldn't open the balcony divider due to safety reasons. Our room was right near the bridge - I got the feeling that if we were in a room further back where there was less chance anyone would notice, that this wouldn't have been a problem. This was fine. Balconies are very small with two chairs and a small table. There is really not much space to move. We could look down several decks below us to the wider balconies and next time I would definitely book earlier and go for those. The wider balconies have chairs and a table and have a lounge chair. We brought library cards to put in the light slot and they were not removed. This way we could leave the AC on when we left the room and the room was a nice temp when we returned.

 

Dining

Overall we thought the food was very good. There were some hits and a couple of misses but on a ship serving over 4,000 passengers, I was impressed with the variety and quality of the food.

 

We prebooked the specialty restaurants. Looking back I would prebook again. When we wanted to switch reservations to a different restaurant (we had Moderno booked twice but didn't love it the first night so wanted to choose something different), all the times we wanted were booked. I imagine if you book as soon as you board it would be fine but a couple days in it looked like places were booked except for early or late.

 

Savor/Taste - We ate here three nights. Food was good and I thought there was a good variety to please everyone. One of the nights service was slow and kids wanted to get to kids club so we ordered dessert when they brought dinner so it would arrive faster and it was fine.

 

Garden Café - We did most breakfasts, a couple of lunches and one dinner here. It is a buffet with a ton of options. Most stuff was good. A couple of things were not but that's the beauty of a buffet. You don't like it, don't eat it - get something else. Omelet station in the morning was good - sometimes a long line but good omelets. Pasta station at lunch and dinner also good. Kids loved the pizza, mac and cheese and chicken fingers. Also visiting the buffet after kids club was a must to get cookies and ice cream.

The only thing I didn't realize is that the buffet closes. I thought it was 24 hours for snacks. We left kids club late one night (after 12) and went up but there was no food and ice cream machines were off. The guy there told us they close at 12.

 

Moderno - We were really looking forward to this one - we love churrascaria restaurants in our area. We were a little disappointed. It was good but not great. None of the meats wowed us. The salad bar was really good though.

 

Cagneys - One of our favorite restaurants. Appetizers, dinner and dessert were all really good. Side dishes are on the smaller so not really enough to share with the family but you could order more than one. Really a great meal!

 

Teppenyaki - Our favorite! Our chef was great - great personality and really made the dinner a pleasure. Food was really good. Kids loved it! Dessert here is not great but have dinner here and get dessert somewhere else.

 

O'Sheehans - Service was slow here and a couple times late night there was a line to be seated. They seemed a bit overwhelmed each time we went. Late night menu changes at 11 which I didn't know. They offer 5 or 6 items - not the mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers (late night food in my opinion) that were were expecting. Chicken pot pie was surprisingly good. Chicken wings were mushy.

 

Outdoor Grill - This place gets rather crowded at times. Good burgers and good salad bar - you pick your items and they mix it for you. An easy place for a good quick meal.

 

Ocean Blue (Snack Bar) - We went to Ocean Blue on one of the sea days to get lobster rolls ($10 each). You order at the window on deck 8 and sit down with your number - the food is brought to you. The lobster rolls are good - they are a little on the small size but my kids loved them.

 

Entertainment

We didn't pre-book any shows. Didn't go to any of the main ones(Burn the Floor or Rock of Ages). I was surprised by the number of options every night. You could sit in the Atrium and be entertained all night. Or move around to Fat Cats and Headliners and still be entertained. There are some great music acts (the Beatles tribute by Angel was great) and a variety of other shows - comedy, game shows, cooking demonstrations. We liked them all. Second City did a couple of great shows too. A couple of nights there were movies at Spice H2O which was nice. There is something for everyone.

 

Splash Academy

My daughter was in the 6-9 age group and LOVED it. She went every night and asked to stay for late night. My son was in the 10-12s and liked it a lot - he made some friends and had fun. He didn't opt to stay for late night and signed himself out after the evening session. It amazes me how this great group of people keep these kids entertained and happy. Most of the time the parents picking up their kids left without them because the kids wanted to stay longer. This is a really great program.

 

The last sea day there is a 'Sea Superstars' show which is the kids club putting on a circus show. Really cute and you can see how the counselors work hard to put this on with the kids.

 

Casino

The casino is great - good layout and good variety of machines. Not good at paying much money but still fun. The bar waiters/waitresses here are really friendly and nice to talk to.

 

Bermuda

It was very nice to have more than one day in Bermuda - we love this beautiful island!

 

Elbow Beach

The first day we went to Elbow Beach. Taxi ride is approx. $45 each way. We had done day passes last year to Coco Reef but didn't reserve them this year - we weren't sure what day we would go there. When we got there at 9:30, they told us no more day passes were available. We didn't see one cruise ship passenger the entire day and most of the lounge chairs for the resort remained empty all day - there were maybe 8-10 people on the Coco Reef chairs. We could have sat there all day even though we didn't have a day pass - no one came down from the hotel.

 

We went next door to Elbow Beach Resort and rented two chairs and an umbrella for $75. They tried to get us to rent two additional chairs for our kids because everyone must have a chair. I wasn't going to spend $150 for chairs for the day so we rented 2. My kids were in the water ALL day so they never needed a chair. We had lunch at the restaurant at Elbow Beach Resort. Lunch was $100 - it was good - not $100 good but it was fine.

 

A couple times people came and put their towels on the sand and they were asked to rent a chair or leave. The Elbow Beach Resort staff really sticks to this and keeps the beach private. The Coco Reef staff does not.

 

This was an expensive day but this beach is amazing. Really one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. My only regret is that we didn't take more pictures. It was wavy and the water was gorgeous. On the way back the taxi driver stopped above Horseshoe Beach so we could see the great view - it was VERY crowded. That's a beautiful beach too.

 

 

St. George

The next day we took the 9:30 ferry to St. George. We took a taxi to Crystal Caves ($12). Our taxi driver Ivan offered to come back for us in an hour and drive us to Tobacco Bay. This turned out to be a great idea. Some of the distances are not that far and are walkable but it is a lot of uphill walking.

 

The caves are amazing. I was not really that interested in going but am so glad we did. Absolutely beautiful! $64 for 4 people. There are 80-something steps down into the caves which is fine because the guide (who was great) stops often and tells a story. The same steps coming back up are a little tougher because he doesn't stop and we were breathing heavy when he got back up. Definitely wear sneakers.

 

After the cave Ivan drove us to Tobacco Bay but stopped at the Unfinished Church first so we could take some pics. I was so disappointed when we got there and read the posted sign that due to a recent survey of the property, the structure is unsafe and no one could go inside. So we took a couple of pics outstide and went on our way.

 

Tobacco Bay

What a great beach - it is small and it does get crowded, but we were there early enough that it wasn't crazy crowded. Very different from Elbow Beach. No waves and you can walk out 100 feet and still be waist deep. It is a great place for the kids and the snorkeling was amazing. We saw schools of fish swimming right by us and if you go in and to the right there are amazing fish there. Water shoes are recommended. There are rocks. When we were there a girl cut her foot on the rocks pretty bad - there were people there to help administer first aid.

 

Didn't realize this would be so long! Any questions, please ask!

[richg35]

We were also on this cruise. It was my second time on this ship, so it was interesting to compare last year vs. this year, especially with having the kids with us this year.

 

Our three six year olds loved Splash Academy so much that they would get mad if I picked them up early before the 10:30pm closing. The counselors were all fantastic.

 

Agree about Moderno - the salad bar is excellent, and the meats are just Ok. Unfortunately though I pretty much never want to go to a Churrascaria for the salad bar. Tried it last year and felt it was OK, but decided to give it another run this year. My biggest complaint is that the beef especially generally seemed under-seasoned.

 

I thought the service in Cagney's was so-so. We had one OK experience, one not so great, and one excellent. On the not so great night, it seemed like our waitress had too many tables. It took nearly 30 minutes from when we were seated until when our order was taken. I didn't get a drink I ordered until after the appetizers came out.

 

On the final sea day of the cruise, two women were out saving seats at 5 am by the pool. I was having trouble sleeping, so I got up early to walk the ship.

This was before the crew put out the deck chairs for the day, so they must have positioned the chairs themselves and laid towels on them. When we all went up to eat breakfast a few hours later, the chairs still had towels laid on them, but no people. Some folks are just really selfish, I guess. The pool does get very crowded in the afternoons once the 18-20 set is up and drinking and dancing, but it doesn't bother me too much. The pool itself never seemed that full to me, it was just the surrounding area with everyone dancing and congregating.

 

The kids pool was generally fine, although I don't know why they have the wall separating the two parts of it instead of it just being one pool. Two of the kids enjoyed the blue waterslide but weren't interested in trying the others - too imposing. One didn't do any slides at all.

 

My mom and I did the rope course / zip line. We're both not fans of heights, but it was fun and a nice accomplishment to do the whole thing.

 

We both had UDP, so we didn't try the main dining rooms at all. We took the kids to Garden Cafe during Splash Academy break time for dinner, than ate by ourselves or with my parents at specialty restaurants. The Breakaway is definitely not "Freestyle" cruising when it comes to dining though. If you don't have your reservations booked ahead of time, good luck. We boarded with my parents at #3, so outside of handicapped we were some of the first people on the ship. We went to Headliners to try to move times and basically outside of some very limited slots, everything was taken. During the cruise, I did see walk ups coming to LeBistro and Cagney's though. At LeBistro walk ups were told they could be seated outside, and at Cagney's walk ups were told they could be seated on the waterfront. I'm not sure if these areas are generally held for walk ups or not, or if those people just happened to get lucky.

 

How did you find Tobacco Bay was in terms of cleanliness? Last year I thought there was too much garbage on the beach and in the water. Nothing I would deem "gross", but just stuff like receipts and the like from people using the beach, maybe because they didn't have enough trash cans. Because of that I didn't love it, but the snorkeling was very good there.

[everylastbreath]

Great review! we are leaving on Sunday, my very first cruise - going with my Daughter & 10 year old Grandson. Few questions:

 

How crowded were the slides / rope course?

do the slides come out into a pool or just the bottom of the slides?

How was the entertainment for the kids? I know some if it is "Iffy" but if the kids were not in Splash were there activities for them?

Did you think the specialty dining was really worth it? (we opted for the UBP) but we are booking a few speciality anyway.

did you see the Circ show? We have that booked the night of my Grandson's Bday

 

One last question- Is there anything special you would tell someone going on their FIRST cruise?? something to bring, something to do?

 

Thanks!!!!

[Carolynct]

We were on the same cruise and actually booked our cruise to Bermuda for next Summer.

 

The ship is large and I agree very easy to get around. Our room was fine, just wished the balcony was larger

 

We couldn't believe how many people saved chairs but didn't come out to use them until afternoon. I wish the pool parties didn't happen until later in the afternoon. We found it very difficult to use the pool with all the dancing and heavy drinking. Saw lots of young people spilling drinks in the pool.

 

Loved Bermuda. Horseshoe Bay was beautiful but crowded. We loved Tobacco Bay. It seemed very clean. The people there were very helpful. It got crowed too. It was very hot last week so I think most people went to the beaches

[Keith1010]

Great reviews.

 

Keith

[tantine]

Richg35 - Tobacco Bay was clean. The water was very clean. Some spots on the sand looked like people left their garbage behind. But nothing too bad.

I agree the Moderno downfall was unseasoned meat!

 

everylastbreath - Enjoy your first cruise! I think the experience is what you make of it. There are little things that you can choose to let ruin your vacation, or you can let them be minor things and move on with your day. We heard a couple people describe this as the 'worse cruise ever' - one because she had to wait to be seated at O'Sheehans. The other because the lights flickered in her room. I can think of a number of much worse things to make it the worse cruise ever - I think people lose their perspective or feel like they have a right to complain about everything.

 

We didn't see the Cirque show - I heard it was good.

 

Slides go out into the bottom of the slide - not into a pool. Crowds at the ropes course and sides depended on the time. Embarkation day and first sea day my kids did the slides a few times without waiting. Ropes course seemed to always be crowded when we were in that area.

 

There is always something going on on the ship. While some of the later night entertainment and shows are not appropriate for the kids, we were never looking for things to do. Food/cooking demonstrations, Second City early show, movies - there was enough to keep the kids entertained when they weren't at Splash Academy.

 

We thought Teppanyaki and Cagneys were definitely worth it for specialty dining. That said, the main dining rooms are good meals. If you don't want to spend the additional money you are still getting good food.

 

As for things to pack, hats for the kids - I almost forgot them. The sun in Bermuda is HOT and the hats help. Also we bring one of those plastic containers that you hang around your neck when going ashore - it holds our money and sea pass cards while we are in the water. Other than that, normal vacation stuff. Pack less than you think you will need. I always forget that we will be in bathing suits most of the day and don't need so many clothes.

[legion3]

Good review

[richg35]

Great review! we are leaving on Sunday, my very first cruise - going with my Daughter & 10 year old Grandson. Few questions:

 

How crowded were the slides / rope course?

do the slides come out into a pool or just the bottom of the slides?

How was the entertainment for the kids? I know some if it is "Iffy" but if the kids were not in Splash were there activities for them?

Did you think the specialty dining was really worth it? (we opted for the UBP) but we are booking a few speciality anyway.

did you see the Circ show? We have that booked the night of my Grandson's Bday

 

One last question- Is there anything special you would tell someone going on their FIRST cruise?? something to bring, something to do?

 

Thanks!!!!

 

We did the ropes course on the second sea day (Tuesday) at around maybe 3 o'clock. The wait wasn't too long at all. It can get a bit backed up on the course itself because the zip line at the end adds congestion because only one person can go at a time. I'd probably recommend doing it early in the day, as it's likely to be the least crowded at that time.

 

For your first cruise, second the hats recommendation and plenty of sunscreen if you plan on being at the pool on ship and beach in Bermuda. Even better would be bathing suits with rash guard tops so there are more areas of the skin covered from the sun.

 

For the beach, I bought one of these parasheet blankets last year. They roll up into a tiny pouch, sand doesn't stick to them, and water beads off. I found it to be indispensable, especially if you are going to a beach without chair rentals. http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Hammock-ParaSheet-Beach-Blanket/dp/B001AI9IRW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439834459&sr=8-1&keywords=grand+trunk+beach+blanket

 

Depending on your Bermuda plans, you should bring cash. You can buy an unlimited three day bus/ferry pass the first day there for about $44 per person (adult) and $22 per child. Children under 5 are free. Good if you plan on using the bus/ferry a lot. Check the pricing for individual fares to see if it would be worthwhile. There is a "special" bus that goes from the port to the south shore beaches that is a pretty quick ride to horseshoe bay. The regular #7 bus is about a 40 minute ride outbound because there are many stops to pick up people on the way to work, etc. There are also only two main roads on the island, and they are both only one lane in each direction, so travel is slow going.

 

The ferry ride to Hamilton is only about 20 minutes. If you plan on going to Harbor Night on Wednesday, you're better off taking the 4:30 ferry and browsing the stores and killing time in hamilton rather than waiting for a 6:30 ferry. When we returned on the 6 from Hamilton, there were SO MANY people waiting for the 6:30 ferry that they were not all going to be able to board. If you want to take a later ferry on harbor night, allow extra time for waiting because there are many other people who are trying to go to the same place. I liked a lot of the locally made souvenirs being sold at harbor night - certainly better to support local people rather than buying the made in china junk they sell in some of the stores.

 

To compare to ferry/bus, a cab ride for 7 to horseshoe bay is going to be about $35 each way, not including a tip, but it will be about half the time as a bus ride. We (7 of us) took a cab ride to Clearwater/Turtle Beach, which is all the way on the other side of the airport, and it was $100 each way (not including tip). Just posting this to give you an idea of the costs involved with transportation and getting to and from the beach. You can also take the #7 or #8 bus to Hamilton, it's just a longer ride. #7 bus goes on South Road, and #8 bus goes on Middle Road.

 

Chair rentals at Horseshoe Bay I think are $11 + $4 or $5 deposit. About 80% of the time I've been there, they have a sign up saying due to wind conditions they aren't renting umbrellas, so I never paid attention to how much those cost.

[emmak8]

Thank you for posting your review.

[everylastbreath]

If you plan on going to Harbor Night on Wednesday, you're better off taking the 4:30 ferry and browsing the stores and killing time in hamilton rather than waiting for a 6:30 ferry. .

 

What is Harbor Night? and is it only on Wednesday?

[scgssny]

Thanks for the review, glad that you all have a great time. Good attitude always helps!

[mizLORInj]

What is Harbor Night? and is it only on Wednesday?

 

Yes, it is only on Wednesday. It's a street fair.

 

Will you be attending Monday's M&G? (info on the roll call)

 

----------------------------

 

OP: Thanks for the review! I agree Moderno's meats are just 'eh; they seem to be a bit overcooked for my liking.

Edited August 17, 2015 by mizlorinj

[richg35]

What is Harbor Night? and is it only on Wednesday?

 

They close off front Street and vendors set up displays and stuff. Most of the stores stay open later as well. I believe they also have some dancers and stuff, but we didn't stay long enough. It's only on Wednesdays.

[bluefish17]

The last harbor nights of the summer season is the 1st week of September. Just FYI.

 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[garnet115]

Elbow Beach

The first day we went to Elbow Beach. Taxi ride is approx. $45 each way. We had done day passes last year to Coco Reef but didn't reserve them this year - we weren't sure what day we would go there. When we got there at 9:30, they told us no more day passes were available. We didn't see one cruise ship passenger the entire day and most of the lounge chairs for the resort remained empty all day - there were maybe 8-10 people on the Coco Reef chairs. We could have sat there all day even though we didn't have a day pass - no one came down from the hotel.

 

We went next door to Elbow Beach Resort and rented two chairs and an umbrella for $75. They tried to get us to rent two additional chairs for our kids because everyone must have a chair. I wasn't going to spend $150 for chairs for the day so we rented 2. My kids were in the water ALL day so they never needed a chair. We had lunch at the restaurant at Elbow Beach Resort. Lunch was $100 - it was good - not $100 good but it was fine.

 

A couple times people came and put their towels on the sand and they were asked to rent a chair or leave. The Elbow Beach Resort staff really sticks to this and keeps the beach private. The Coco Reef staff does not.

 

This was an expensive day but this beach is amazing. Really one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. My only regret is that we didn't take more pictures. It was wavy and the water was gorgeous. On the way back the taxi driver stopped above Horseshoe Beach so we could see the great view - it was VERY crowded. That's a beautiful beach too.

 

Thanks for your detailed review. Glad you had such a great trip.

 

Did you find that Elbow Beach got crowded? Did the chairs seem to sell out? I sent them an inquiry about pre-reserving but haven't heard back. I know I can reserve through Resort-For-A-Day, but why pay an extra $13 to go through a middle man? I really want the more private/secluded aspect of the resort beach - my dd wants to go to a pink sand beach, and I want to avoid the crowds at Horseshoe Bay. But I don't want to go over to Elbow Beach only to find out that I can't get chairs. (I already tried Coco Reef and they say that they are full for the day I am looking at.) If I can't pre-reserve and there is a risk of not getting a chair, I may just wind up at Horseshoe Bay to avoid the uncertainty.

[tantine]

Elbow Beach did not get crowded. The section of chairs for Elbow Beach day guests was about half full. If you go there in the morning you should find chairs to rent without a problem. Enjoy - it is beautiful!

[garnet115]

Elbow Beach did not get crowded. The section of chairs for Elbow Beach day guests was about half full. If you go there in the morning you should find chairs to rent without a problem. Enjoy - it is beautiful!

 

Great. Thanks for the follow up.

[everylastbreath]

Will you be attending Monday's M&G? (info on the roll call

 

Yes! we are going to roll call!

[RIvacationgirl]

Thanks for your detailed review. Glad you had such a great trip.

 

Did you find that Elbow Beach got crowded? Did the chairs seem to sell out? I sent them an inquiry about pre-reserving but haven't heard back. I know I can reserve through Resort-For-A-Day, but why pay an extra $13 to go through a middle man? I really want the more private/secluded aspect of the resort beach - my dd wants to go to a pink sand beach, and I want to avoid the crowds at Horseshoe Bay. But I don't want to go over to Elbow Beach only to find out that I can't get chairs. (I already tried Coco Reef and they say that they are full for the day I am looking at.) If I can't pre-reserve and there is a risk of not getting a chair, I may just wind up at Horseshoe Bay to avoid the uncertainty.

 

We went to Elbow Beach on HAL this July 4th week. My DH and I both agreed it was money well spent and would do it again in a heartbeat. We had reserved chairs and an umbrella- no wondering if there will be enough. They also had waiters to come and take drink orders or food orders if you wanted. It was not crowded at all, very peaceful There were clean, close by bathrooms, and we ate at the restaurant and the service was very good. The beach was so beautiful, with smooth sand. We hope to return there someday!

[garnet115]

We went to Elbow Beach on HAL this July 4th week. My DH and I both agreed it was money well spent and would do it again in a heartbeat. We had reserved chairs and an umbrella- no wondering if there will be enough. They also had waiters to come and take drink orders or food orders if you wanted. It was not crowded at all, very peaceful There were clean, close by bathrooms, and we ate at the restaurant and the service was very good. The beach was so beautiful, with smooth sand. We hope to return there someday!

 

Thanks for the information. Did you reserve in advance through the hotel, through the cruise as a shore excursion, or through that resortforaday website? I've reached out the hotel about pre-reserving as I prefer to have that peace of mind.