Breakaway - Deck Layout, Venues and Noise

[electroguy]

My wife and I just finished our 35th cruise, many of them on Norwegian (in fact we’re platinum). I know many discussions of the Breakaway cover the food, shows, staffing, ports, etc., but I want to focus mostly on the ship itself. First, we are retired, often travel with other family members, and admittedly are not looking for a loud party atmosphere. We’re more interested in having a relaxing time and enjoy being on the ship. We enjoy activities like trivia, the newlywed game, some of the music, having a drink and good conversation in a lounge, and going to dinner.

 

Besides the Breakaway, we have recently been on the Epic, and like many other cruisers, we didn’t like many things about the Epic. We were hoping the Breakaway was going to be an improvement, but much of it was very similar. One welcome improvement is that the Breakaway has traditional bathrooms, rather than the goofy split design found on the Epic. Another nice improvement is the Waterfront on deck 8, which makes the outside promenade a much more interesting and useful area, especially if you want to relax outside and avoid the pool deck.

 

 On the negative side though, there were several disappointments. First, the most popular (inside) area on the Breakaway is the atrium. NCL schedules almost constant activity there. Although at times it can be a nice place to hang-out, much of the time it is very overcrowded. Many of the activities there are very popular and the area is simply too small to accommodate them. As a result, unless you arrive early, (and hopefully during a pause in the activities) you may not get a seat. As a result, many people have to stand for popular activities and often find it difficult to get a good view. Rather than hold the more popular activities in a larger venue, so passengers can actually see and enjoy them, NCL must have decided it’s more important for the atrium to be the center of constant activity.

 

Along with this activity comes an incredible amount of noise, especially later in the day. Almost everything held there is LOUD; from the microphones used for everything (trivia, various games, dance instructions, etc.) to music. To make matters worse, the atrium is open above to O’Sheehan’s, so the entire area becomes one big noise zone. In fact, if you are trying to eat at O’Sheehan’s, you may need to yell to the person on the other side of the table so they can hear you.

 

The problem of very high noise levels extends to many other areas of the ship as well, and the noise often seems impossible to escape, especially in the evening. Although some of the specialty restaurants offer relief, La Cucina packs a lot of tables into the restaurant and is also open to adjacent areas. It was very noisy during our dinner. Teppanyaki can be extremely noisy, but I guess that’s part of the show there. If you’re looking for a reasonably quiet bar to have a drink, relax, and talk with others, it can be impossible to find in the late afternoon and evening. 

 

To us, the Breakaway also lacks enough windows where you can enjoy the view outside. On the lower decks, unless you’re in some select areas, you don’t have much connection with the ocean. Most disappointing, there is no upper deck observation lounge (like a Spinnakers) where you’re surrounded with large windows to the front. On some of Norwegian’s other ships, not only do you get a great view in those lounges, but much of the day they are a quiet place to relax, read, have a drink and enjoy conversation.

 

Lastly, this may seem like an odd complaint, but whoever picked out the chairs and couches throughout the ship, must think everyone is over six feet tall! Most of them are very deep and uncomfortable.

 

We did find the staff to be friendly and helpful and were very pleased with our room steward. There have been a lot of complaints regarding the difficulty of getting a drink at the bars. Although they are often very busy, and we did experience some problem with that, the bar staff generally hustle and do their best. Dinner service can be slow making for an almost two hour event.

Perhaps Norwegian isn’t the ideal cruise line for us, though we have had many enjoyable cruises with them. Have they changed? It may also be that their smaller, older ships appeal to us more.
 

[DublinFC]

How bad was the smoke smell on the ship through 6-7-8?

[electroguy]

We are not smokers and don't like smokey areas, but we really only noticed it when you actually walked through the casino (which you occasionally are likely to do). We never ate at Shanghai's Noodle Bar, so I can't say how noticeable it is there, but I would guess it might be. Even though the casino is open above to Shaker's Bar, we never noticed the smoke up there. It is also open to deck 6 below, but didn't notice it down there either. 

[DublinFC]

Good to know.  We sailed the Escape and I felt it was noticeable in 6-7-8.  I would not want to smell smoke while I am eating so that might be a bummer just at the noodle bar.  Never know until ya try.  Thanks for your info.

[albertamom]

19 hours ago, DublinFC said:

How bad was the smoke smell on the ship through 6-7-8?

 

We just disembarked on Saturday.  Everybody's sensitivities are different, but at times I found the smoke smell to be quite overwhelming throughout that area.  I was prepared before our Le Bistro dinner to ask to wait for an inside table, if they tried to seat us on the "patio" by the staircase.  That evening it was particularly bad.  Other times, not so much.

[kesrya]

Thank you for this review focused on the ship. We will sail Breakaway for the first time in August and this is very helpful to understand.

[DublinFC]

We just booked for April 2021.  I am looking forward to the Pour House, Howl at the Moon,  and spending time on the Waterfront.  I am hoping the Ice Bar is available on our sailing.  While on the Escape their Ice Bar was unavailable all week.