The reason why Norwegian Breakaway is
an important ship tends to be obscured by her size, all of the new
features aboard the ship, the Peter Max painting on her hull and by
Norwegian Cruise Line's decision to base its new ship, not in Florida
but rather in New York City. She is an important ship because she is
a further refinement on a new model of cruising.
Traditionally, an evening on a
passenger ship involved going to dinner and then a show in the ship's
theater or show lounge. When you did these things was pretty much
dictated by the cruise line. Everyone was assigned to one of two
seatings in the main dining room. There were two shows each evening
geared to the dinner times, i.e., a show for the early seating and a
show for the late seating. All of this generally worked fine but
there was not much freedom of choice.
Several years ago Norwegian Cruise
Line put a deep crack in this model by dispensing with the assigned
seatings in the main dining room and giving guests the option of
coming to the dining room when they wanted. They also built an array
of specialty restaurants on their ships so that guests did not have
to go to the main dining room at all if they choose. Nearly all of
the major cruise lines followed with their own flexible dining
systems and by adding specialty restaurants to their ships.
While guests now had freedom of choice
with regard to dining, their options with regard to entertainment
remained somewhat limited. Although there was always a piano player
in one of the bars or a band in one of the lounges, the big
entertainment event of the evening remained the two shows in the main
theater.
The first ship to break from this was
Oasis of the Seas in late 2009. She was followed a few months later
by Norwegian Epic and then by Oasis' sister ship Allure of the Seas.
What these ships did was give guests quality entertainment
alternatives. The show in the main theater was not the only
entertainment event going on each evening. In addition, the shows in
the various entertainment venues were repeated, usually at different
times, over the course of the cruise so that a guest does not have to
worry that if I don't see the show tonight, I'll never get to see it.
Under this new model, guests have freedom of choice not only with
regard to dining but also with regard to entertainment.
Norwegian Breakaway builds upon
Norwegian Epic. Among the entertainment offerings are full
productions of Broadway shows, a Cirque Dreams dinner theater, a
comedy club featuring Second City, and blues concerts by recording
artist Slam Allen. There are also the usual entertainment additions
such as live music in the bars, films, game shows, karaoke and deck
parties. Lots of choices.
Breakaway is not just a re-make of
Epic. Most notably, she has an open outdoor promenade with
restaurants and bars. This feature opens the ship up and works not
only in port but surprisingly well at sea in the warm weather. Not
to forget dining, Norwegian has added a new specialty restaurant,
Ocean Blue, developed with Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. This is an
upscale seafood restaurant that has the same New York sophistication
as Chef Zakarian's venues in the City.
Thus, Norwegian Breakaway is not just
another new cruise ship.
Our profile page for Breakaway, with
menus, daily programs, deck plans and other information is at
http://beyondships.com/NorwegianBreakaway.html
We also have a photo tour that takes
you through the ship's public areas, open decks and accommodations.
It is longer than most of our ship photo tours because there is so
much to see on Breakaway. The photo tour begins at
http://beyondships.com/NorwegianBreakaway-Tour-1.html
More next week on Breakaway.
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