On Breakaway, Vibe vs. Thermal Suite

[schelercamus]

Hi everyone,

We're going for 2 weeks on the Breakaway in January and are trying to figure out which to splurge for--Vibe passes or Thermal Suite. We can't do both, but would like to do one.

 

Advice is welcome~~

[M0rrie]

Heartily suggest the Thermal suite pass....DH and I had this for our cruise on the breakaway last December and it was fabulous especially on the cold days leaving and returning to NYC. (The heated lounges in front of the window are an amazing way to spend sail away!)

[BirdTravels]

The Vibe will be cold to cool for most of your trip (probably down right unusable during sailaway). Pick the warm, bubbling, swirling waters of the hydro therapy pool, steam room, salt bath, and saunas for those winter mornings.

 

And,,, when it warms up outside, there are a lot of places to lounge in the sun with that umbrella drink in hand.

[zxcvbbvcxz]

We were just on Breakaway for Thanksgiving and had thermal spa passes.... I had read so many posts on here how people love it.... me not so much

granted we were a sold out cruise, but I found it extremely crowded when I wanted to go... no available chairs any where (and not just empty chairs with towels... they all had people in them

we also had a very rough sailing and the spa tub was drained for some of the trip... if you are like me and want to go during prime times (maybe 10am thru 3 pm) it may not be as relaxing as you would like... I ended up only spending an hour or two there tops....

I also thought the attendants were not great in the spa itself... the locker room was pristine but the actual thermal spa had used towels everywhere, the one day I went later in the afternoon to see if it was as crowded there were less people there but every chair had stuff on them. I moved stuff off a chair and read for about 45 minutes and no one ever came through to remove towels.

big waste of money , but at least I tried it

[mjkacmom]

We were just on Breakaway for Thanksgiving and had thermal spa passes.... I had read so many posts on here how people love it.... me not so much

granted we were a sold out cruise, but I found it extremely crowded when I wanted to go... no available chairs any where (and not just empty chairs with towels... they all had people in them

we also had a very rough sailing and the spa tub was drained for some of the trip... if you are like me and want to go during prime times (maybe 10am thru 3 pm) it may not be as relaxing as you would like... I ended up only spending an hour or two there tops....

I also thought the attendants were not great in the spa itself... the locker room was pristine but the actual thermal spa had used towels everywhere, the one day I went later in the afternoon to see if it was as crowded there were less people there but every chair had stuff on them. I moved stuff off a chair and read for about 45 minutes and no one ever came through to remove towels.

big waste of money , but at least I tried it

 

I'm sure that was because it was a holiday week. We used the spa during a pretty busy week (NJ teachers convention, over 1000 kids), and there were always tons of empty chairs.

[schelercamus]

Thanks everyone! $600 between the two of us is a LOT ($299 pp/2 week sailing), and we're trying to see if it's worth it. Esp. since we have a balcony cabin.

[jerseygirl111]

We were on the Breakaway Thanksgiving cruise and purchased a cabana in the Vibe. Unfortunately it was very windy causing the Vibe and upper deck to be closed for the better part of several days. We had a similar problem during our February 2015 cruise.

It was great the days we were able to use it but not sure I'd do it again on a winter trip.

[AndyCapn]

The big question is do you prefer to relax inside or outside? My wife would love the spa but since we can't afford both, she'd rather be outside spend the money on the Vibe where we can always find a lounger and there's never a line up at the bar.

 

That said, in January you're almost certainly looking at two sea days where you won't be using the Vibe because it's too cold, and possibly more. Vibe is half the price as the spa, but you may only be able to use it half as much.

[poopzilla33]

What time does the spa close for the night?

[akbrown1972]

With regards to the Vibe...I am doing a western Caribbean cruise next month. .do you think it will be too windy during this time...

[jfkny]

We were on the Breakaway the week before Thanksgiving and the upper decks were closed two of the three days we were at sea because of wind, thus shutting off access to the vibe for us.

The one sea day we were up there it was so windy the water from the hot tub was being blown out, all over people on the chairs. They had bungy cords holding the cushions down.

We were on the 12 day last January and the same thing happened. In addition, on the 12 day last year we noticed that in addition to the 12 day pass that we bought, they sold day passes to the vibe on port days which made it far from relaxing since there were more people than usual up there.

Go with the spa pass.