Onboard Breakaway with Ian Warren, GoCruise
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Breakaway is an impressive sight from the quayside; unmistakably an NCL ship, with her hull artwork by Peter Max, but with sleeker lines than Epic.
With 14 passenger decks there is plenty for the 4,000 passengers to do. Some of the highlights include The Waterfront, which is a quarter mile long ocean front promenade port side on deck 8, and 678 Ocean Place, which covers 3 decks full of daytime and night-time entertainment. The Aqua Park and sports complex, with five large water slides, is bound to be a hit with kids of all ages.
It is good to note that the designers have resisted the temptation to copy the balcony cabins on Epic, with the separate toilet and showers, with the see through doors. There is a comprehensive range of accommodation to suit all budgets, from an inside stateroom for two, up to the 42 suites in The Haven, which include Family Villas with two bedrooms. Breakaway also has a number of Studios for solo travellers, which were successfully introduced on Epic. A great new addition on Breakaway is the O1 grade Family Oceanview staterooms which will sleep up to five people, and will surely be appreciated by many families.
For this particular launch event, NCL came up with a great idea to really grab the attention of agents while they were onboard. The ‘Engage & Reward’ programme involved each agent being given a bar code when they boarded Breakaway, which was scanned when visiting certain areas of the ship to gain points. For instance they could earn 0.5% for viewing the show cabins, and 1.0% for attending a presentation given by NCL senior management. These points earned the agent’s company the right to receive bonus commission of up to 4% on all NCL bookings made from 15 May until 14 June, for cruises departing up until 31 December. It wouldn’t be surprising if other cruise lines run similar systems at future ship launches.
As an agent selling cruises, NCL has a number of USP’s which set it apart from many other cruise lines. Some potential cruisers say they don’t like set meal times, and others don’t like having to dress up at night, but that isn’t an issue with NCL which coined the phrase ‘Freestyle Cruising’. On Breakaway for instance, there are a number of complimentary dining options available, including The Manhattan Room, the Garden Café and the Breezeway Bar & Grill. Speciality restaurants include Le Bistro, Cagney’s Steakhouse, Teppanyaki and Ocean Blue by Geoffrey Zakarian, with cover charges from US$15 to US$30 per person. Therefore each passenger can choose where and when they want to eat, and the dress code is ‘whatever they want it to be’.
NCL is also known for offering passengers a great choice of entertainment ‘firsts’ on their ships, including the Blue Man Group on Epic, and now Rock of Ages and Cirque Dreams & Dinner Jungle Fantasy on Breakaway.
One potential barrier to sales, is the fact that they haven’t taken advantage of the increasing tendency for Brits to cruise from a UK port (up 10% in 2012 according to figures from the PSA), as none of their ships currently turnaround in the UK.
Overall though Norwegian Breakaway is a great new addition to the NCL fleet, and is bound to prove very popular with passengers.