Breakaway Conclusion on Concerns going in

[Bellyflopchamp]

So leading up to my cruise last week on the Breakaway i kept reading about new "issues" that people were noticing. Me being one that does not worry much I took them in stride, but I know some on here might have a different mindset. Well I figured I would take a few of the concerns that I might have had going in and let you all know how they panned out. This will not be a full review of the cruise but more of just some of the things I have seen people complain about as of late. There is another thread started by OFHS93 with his review of this sailing and I added some details about my experience as well in that one. Anyway, might as well get started.

 

Smoking and common areas:

For the most part this did not impact our vacation that much. We spent a good amount of time in O'Sheehan's without really noticing the smoke that much. My wife is over sensitive to it and it did not bother her much in there. It was pretty bad on deck 8 especially during sailaway near Maltings. The Waterfront on that side is all smoking and it was blowing in really badly into the area. So much so that it turned me off on spending much time there the entire cruise. The other place where it did not make sense is on the pool deck. For some reason they have a semi enclosed section on the port side for smoking. It wouldn't be an issue but it is mid ship, in front of the kids aqua park and across from the hot tubs kids are allowed in. Just overall poor planning. Should be aft and on starboard as there is not much kids activities there.

 

Vibration issues:

We were in an Aft balcony on deck 12. We did feel vibrations every now and then and it seemed to be worse when the ship was rocking and rolling. The way back was not bad at all as the ship was only going about 14 knots. Unless you are a super light sleeper this should not be much of an issue for you.

 

Noise from Spice:

As stated we had an Aft balcony. The noise from Spice during the parties was pretty loud on the balcony. When we were docked overnight in Nassau we were able to hear the music perfectly, but it was the 80s rock party and we were stuck in the room with our toddler anyway so we enjoyed sitting out there listening to it. When the ship was moving you could mostly only hear the bass and in the room you could still hear it, but it did not keep us up.

 

Soot on Aft balconies:

This one did not concern me going in at all but I have seen the question come up many times. We noticed little to no soot on our balcony throughout the entire cruise.

 

Crowding/Chair hogs:

We did not notice much crowding. Dropping off and picking up at Splash always took 15-20 minutes and sometimes longer, but that was the only time we really felt like there were a ton of people on the ship. The buffet was busy but never too bad and we always found a seat, outside seating was always available and abundant. If you want a place to go that is quite go to the Waterfront on the Port side. It was empty whenever I went there.

 

We did not really notice many chair hogs and we were always able to get 2 loungers right by the kids aqua park. Granted we were usually there around 8:30 or 9, but we never had much of an issue.

 

Overall we had a good cruise. It was not our best, but a day at sea is better than a day in the office. If anyone else has any questions or other things that might be making them nervous I'd be happy to try and answer it for you.