If you're reading this, chances are you're considering cruising on the Breakaway or you've already booked. If it's the latter ignore all the negative reviews, if it's the former go ahead and make that booking unless you've never cruised on a mega ship before.

This was our families 7th cruise, and it was not without some minor trepidation that we booked this one, as all the other 6 were with RoyalCaribbean (on Freedom or Oasis class ships) and we'd had a fabulous time on each. Then there were the plentiful negative reviews to consider, but I can honestly say that we found our cruise on the Breakaway on a par with all the RCCL ships. Yes there are some differences, most obviously being the public spaces, where the Atrium area isn't really up to the job of hosting game shows designed for a large crowd, and I don't agree with the concept of the Vibe Beach Club which takes up valuable deck space (a common complaint on these pages) just to generate some extra cash when you already have the Haven area for those prepared to pay extra. However, we found our balcony cabin (on deck 13) to be the best we've had, and whilst the balcony is a little smaller, the payback is a larger shower room which we were more than happy with. And on the subject of balconies, there is more than enough room for 2 people to sit and read a book whilst watching the sun go down, so unless you're planning pre dinner cocktails with friends it really isn't a problem.

Now for the food - we ate twice in the main dining rooms and found both meals comparable if not better than our previous cruises. We ate in four speciality restaurants and thought the food was excellent in each (Bistro, Moderno, Teppanyaki, Shanghais) and well worth the supplementary charges. In fact we all loved the ability to choose where we ate and the quality of food on the Breakaway was the best we'd had on a cruise - and that includes the much maligned Garden Cafe, where we always found a table for breakfast (unlike the RCCL ships where it often took 2/3 circuits of the Windjammer before we could sit down!). I pre-booked reservations and we never waited once to be seated. Oh and as for waiting I'll also address another common complaint - we never once waited for one single lift the whole week! Read more