Breakaway XMAS

[mesci14]

This was our first time leaving out of NYC and were worried about the traffic. We stayed in the Meadowlands area before and found the travel being minimal. We parked at the cruise terminal...it was very expensive, but also VERY EASY which in the end made it very worth it. The embarkation process was very easy once in the terminal. It is the first time we have been in a line when boarding, but it went very quickly. There was a lady in the terminal who made sure everyone followed the rules(we liked this-no cutting in the lines)---you may laugh about this, but probably the biggest negative of the ship was the large amount of rude people on the ship. We met some wonderful people, but we were just struck by the abundance of rude people---we have been on many ships and you are going to always have people you encounter who are rude, but this ship had a disproportionate number of them. We boarded quickly and the rooms were ready early. We ate at O'Sheehans which is usually our favorite, but for the first 3 days at lunch they did not have their full menu...which means no spinach artichoke dip---no barbeque burger etc. The service on most days was also really slow and odd I guess is how I would describe it. Most days our drinks did not arrive until we were done our meal. One day our appetizers arrived after our meal and no our meal did not arrive quickly. We chose to eat at the Manhatten room for complimentary evening dining...we were hoping for dining with entertainment. We discovered that the entertainment did not start until 7:00 or so and we had made our reservations for 5:30 so..... The service and attentiveness also was not very good. On the last evening we made reservations for Savor and found the attentiveness and service to be better. We dined at Cagney's which was its usual excellence and we also thoroughly enjoyed Moderno Churascaria...we just disappointed to find out there are no mojitos at these restaurants. However we would easily rebook these restaurants. Tappenaki was ok....perhaps we have gone to it too many times to find it as entertaining. The ship public areas did not feel as crowded as other big ships we have been on...they spread people out well. We were lucky to get in on the escape room, but probably will never do it again. The set up is not your typical escape room set up. You have 8 groups of a minimum of 10 people each in a large room trying to solve the problems all at once....you really don't get to handle most clues because of the sheer numbers(80 people), and if you don't have your own group of 10...you will be put with others which can be awesome or not so good. One of the things we were most looking forward to was the spa. They have excellent facilities. The down side is that they overbooked the spa so that most days you could not even get a chair to sit in. They had signs up everywhere saying limit your time in a chair to 30 minutes...which I also don't think is right...you paid for unlimited use of the spa, but in a way they are limiting your use. One time I went in to the spa and actually found a chair and it was even one of the thermal chairs, I laid down for maybe 10 minutes. Got up left my shoes on the chair and went to get a cup of tea(4 minutes tops) to bring back. I came back to find a woman had removed my items and was laying on the chair. I inquired why she had moved my stuff and she said "no one was laying here so it is now mine" ...I was stunned, but again I attribute it to the fact they had overbooked the spa most days...they sold individual day passes and week passes as well as the spa rooms already had access. That left a bad taste in our mouth and considering a change in the cruise we had already booked that was a spa room again. We however have been on the Dawn and have never experienced this kind of overbooking before (even during xmas). The entertainment was excellent. We didn't care for Burn the floor, but that was a personal preference...the people were incredibly talented and the show was well done. Loved Rock of Ages ! The comedian was excellent. Howl at the Moon is a must see and very entertaining. The cruise ship had its positives and negatives, but overall we were left underwhelmed. We probably won't sail the Breakaway again and we are leary of big ships...we seem to prefer the midsize ships.

[Snowrose]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience in the thermal spa. We were on the BA the week before you and only saw the thermal spa busy on the last sea day, when it was too cold to do things outdoors. That night we got the last 2 available chairs before going into the pool and then the saunas. No one moved the items we left on the chairs. (I'm guessing some people are now acting as though they're poolside with chair hogging.)

[katyjeka]

I appreciate the review. We are considering a cruise on the Escape December 9th of this year but we're not sure about a big ship. We've always thought big ships equal more cabins, more people, and very similar amenities. Did you cruise over Christmas? Do you have any idea how many kids were on the ship? Thanks so much.

[mesci14]

Yes we were over Christmas and we were told 1900 children were on the cruise. I have got to say we have enjoyed the midsize ships so much, but I think cruise ships are just going to get bigger and bigger and they are going to eventually retire the midsize ships :(