5) Breakaway has Azipod propulsion for improved manoeuvrability. 3) Externally the ship is much more attractive than Epic with ‘The Haven’ complex being better integrated within the superstructure of the ship 4) Breakaway has ‘The waterfront’ feature (more about this later). 2) The much criticized ‘new wave’ cabins have been replaced with conventional designs. However there are some major differences: 1) Breakaway is 12,000 gt smaller than Epic and will generally carry a few hundred passengers less. The elevators are large and efficient.Īlthough the ‘Project Breakaway’ ships are a completely new design, internally Breakaway replicates many of the ideas pioneered on-board Epic. However there are some stairs between decks 6, 7, and 8 amidships, at ‘678 Ocean Place’ which is a mini-atrium with giant LED Chandelier. The ship only has two stair towers/elevator banks, which is not ideal for such a big, long ship. Deck’s 6, 7 and the rear half of deck 8 accommodate most of the public spaces. They will be the third biggest cruise ships in the world.*Oddly they will be bigger than Epic, despite NCL saying she was too big.)īreakaway has 14 passenger decks numbered from 5-18. They will be around 163,000 gt and both have an extra deck of passenger facilities. (Two bigger versions of the ‘Breakaway’ design, code-named ‘Breakaway Plus’, will be delivered in 20. Each are 144,017 gross ton vessels, so are a little smaller than Epic, carrying 4,000 passengers, in their lower berths. (Meyer Werft had constructed most of NCL’s pre-Epic fleet.) Two ships were initially ordered: Norwegian Breakaway (sailing April 2013), and Norwegian Getaway, (sailing April 2014). NCL underwent a change of CEO and not surprisingly returned to their favourite shipyard Meyer Werft, in Germany, for project Breakaway. A reliable source also told me that her lack of Azipod propulsion (unusual for such a big ship) makes her quite difficult to manoeuvre at times. NCL are also on record as saying that Epic was a little too big*. This cabin design was panned by many critics and freaked-out modest passengers who expected more privacy for their money. They also have a very controversial split toilet and shower layout, on opposites sides of the cabin door, with semi-transparent glass doors. However the décor could not disguise that fact that they were narrower than most cabins on many other modern ships. The ‘New Wave’ cabins are very stylish indeed. Epic’s external appearance is certainly unique, with her top-heavy (ugly?) forward superstructure, housing the private ‘Villa Suits’ complex (re-branded ‘The Haven’). Epic was also the second biggest class of cruise ship in the world when she entered service (based on gross tonnage).Īt times NCL are so brave with their new ideas, that they find themselves balance on the knife-edge between innovation and risk. She has 21 dining options and multiple entertainment venues, often hosting ‘branded’ shows from Las Vegas or Broadway, such as the ‘Blue Man Group’. She was originally meant to be one of two 155,873 gross tonne, 4,200 passenger ships, code-named F3’s (an abbreviation for ‘third generation freestyle’). However the second F3 was cancelled after financial issues and disagreements with the STX shipyard, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, France. According to NCL, ‘Epic’ was the most ‘innovative’ ship afloat, costing $1.1 billion. NCL entered the mega-ship league with ‘Norwegian Epic’ in June 2010. The pre-2010 fleet have up to twelve dining options with about half of these carrying a surcharge. In short there are multiple restaurants and no allocated dining times, so passengers are free to dine when they like, where they like and sit with whom they like (between core hours). NCL are famous for their ‘freestyle’ innovation which all of their fleet are now specifically designed for. (However If you are in a hurry, skip straight to the ‘Project Breakaway’ sub-title).īefore June 2010 the ‘Norwegian Cruise line’ (NCL) had a fleet of ten ships in the 75,338 – 93,558 gross tonne range, generally carrying around 2,400 passengers each. It’s just not possible to properly review ‘Breakaway’, without looking at what came before her in the NCL fleet.
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