After the somewhat negative comments on the Norwegian Epic regarding her profile as well as some new features in her staterooms, Norwegian Cruise Line obviously decided to create a completely different ship with some interesting novelties: Norwegian Breakaway. Her name was chosen via a public contest, won by Kimberley Powell. Built by Meyer Werft from Papenburg, Germany, she was the ninth largest cruiseship when taken into service. After a preview cruise from Rotterdam to Southampton, as NCL often does with new ships, Breakaway proceeded to New York where on May 8 she was named by the famous dance group The Rockettes. She started off with 6 months sailing out of New York to Bermuda and then shifted to Florida and the Bahama’s again out of New York.
Breakaway is the first of a new class, the Breakaway-class (consisting of two ships, Breakaway and her sister Norwegian Getaway; later to be followed by the larger Breakaway-plus class) and as said, she differs greatly from her predecessor Norwegian Epic. On the technical side she has azipod propulsion while Epic has fixed screws. Her outward appearance looks better as she lacks the large “lump” on top of Epic’s bridge. As far as cabins are concerned, she has “regular” cabins as opposed to the curved Feng-Shui-inspired staterooms on Epic. The much criticized wash-basin being located in the living space has returned to the bathroom as many passengers disliked it, as it belongs to the “wet-zone” of the cabin, being the bathroom. The successful studio’s for solo travelers have remained as they have proven to be very popular and quickly sell out.
Carrying 4028 passengers, this 325 metre vessel does 21.5 knots cruising speed. There are 2014 staterooms, most have balconies as they are in popular demand these days and in 2013 at that time these were more of a novelty than today.
Nowadays, all of NCLS’s ships feature artwork on the ships bows, in Breakaway’s case it was designed by pop-up artist Peter Max from New York, whose name is prominently seen on her bows (on the spot you would expect to find the ship’s name which is confusing to some). Also on Breakaway like on more cruise ships, today, her lifeboats are placed outside of the ship, in an outboard position. This saves room so badly needed for public spaces. They are positioned aft on the ship, which is an advantage in rough seas she needs to take head on.
Of course like all mega ships, Breakaway has some new and stunning facilities to offer. Her interior design is provided by the English and Swedish interior designers Priestmangoode and Tillberg. She was the first ship to feature an open-air promenade along both sides of deck 8 called the Waterfront, featuring an array of bars and restaurants all situated outdoors, so when cruising in sunny weather passengers can now dine or just enjoy drinks out on deck. She was the first ship to have this unique outdoor feature.
NCL introduced Freestyle Cruising (Dining) in 2000, giving guests the oppeortunity to dine at the time they desired with whom they desired. Later this was expanded to NCL’s entire fleet, and its basics have been copied by many other lines. Breakaway has 27 dining options on offer, the largest being the Manhattan Room which is two stories high, has floor to ceiling windows and even a dance floor.
Another impressive public area is the central atrium, 678 Ocean Place, referring to the three decks it spans. Its huge chandelier changes color from time to time. 678 Ocean Place is the focal point of the ship, as many of the daily activities take place here.
Situated around Breakaways funnel is the Aqua Park which features full-size water slides, even some free-fall ones, and of course the more “standard” miniature golf-course and rock-climbing wall. The ropes course was at the time of its introduction the largest at sea!
Already present before on NCL’s Epic, the Haven has proved quite popular and has been repeated on Breakaway. The Haven is a suites-only area on the upper decks with their own facilities like a restaurant and Lido area.
On 4 January 2018, the Breakaway sailed through a blizzard in North American water which caused major flooding in several staterooms. Some cabins were so badly flooded that passengers decided to spend the night in public spaces. She was moving violently in these turbulent seas and video footage showed the ship being hit by waves as high as 30 feet/ 9 m.
Passenger reviews show Breakaway is experienced more than a resort than an “old-fashioned” cruise and old-school cruise afficionados will have some trouble adapting. But on the plus side, she offers an almost endless choice in restaurants, bars and sports facilities. Although Breakaway-cruises may seem moderately priced, if you want all the extras like specialty restaurants, it will cost you. Although with all the activities possible included in the cruise fare like the spectacular entertainment, bars and restaurants at the Waterfront and for example the ropes course, you can keep overall costs limited. Studios are popular with single travellers, but with everything happening onboard, she is perfectly suited for families.
With both Breakaway-class ships NCL has proven to be as innovative as we are used to with this company: this started with their first vessel Sunward (1971) which opened upt Caribbean cruising, later in 1980 when they introduced the mv Norway, the converted transatlantic liner France and the worlds first dedicated mega cruiseship, but also when NCL introduced the Freestyle-concept in 2000.
