The Breakaway is a beautiful ship. The variety of activities is great, but for us... there are too many people aboard to really enjoy them and it has a few basic design flaws as well. The main one is having a smoking casino wide open into the atrium. The smoke was everywhere. The location was such that you had to cross thru the casino to get to O'Sheehans or the theater. I felt badly for people with kids as I wouldn't want to expose them to that much smoke. The same with the Waterfront - smokers everywhere. Even walking the deck you had to hold your breath to get past them any time of day. When in port the areas still reeked of smoke even tho no one was smoking. It was gross and it was not just cigarette smoke.

The other issue was all the events held in the atrium area that are usually held in the theater on other ships like the not so newlywed game, etc. It was very loud and there was very limited seating causing people to stand around blocking areas like guest services, etc. A lot of theses events could have been moved to the theater as nothing was going on at the times they were scheduled. Not sure what the thought is there. It made eating at O'Sheehans uncomfortable as you couldn't hear your table companions over the noise.

The thermal suite was wonderful - highlight of the trip. I went everyday and it was quiet and relaxing and never too crowded. Absolute heaven! Read more