Stay with the smaller ships
Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas
7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 28, 2016
Ship: Norwegian Breakaway
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 14822
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
The Norwegian Breakaway does not have the staff to accommodate so many people. We were offered the FREE drink package which wasn't free after paying taxes and then more taxes on the ship. It would have been a good deal however if they had a wait staff taken your order. There was one waiter on the first day on the Spice H2O. Which finally ended up being the space we spent our free time because every other place was packed and with NO chairs. We never saw another waiter walking around after the first day. The lines at the 3 bars we got drinks from where at least 20 min. I believe this was done by design, because of the Free drink offers to discourage customers. And encourage them to get drinks from their room mini fridge. Which we eventually ended up having to do and it cost us a LOT of money. The larger ships also have you making reservations to any of the shows because they make the theatres half the size. We were able to finally get into one of the shows but had to show up 30 minutes before. Which would have been ok but the seats were made so cheaply that you could barely walk after a two hour show. We saw Rock Of Ages and it was FANTASTIC. The food on this ship is AMAZING we had NO complaints. They really work hard on this part of the cruise experience. We did try to get into the Noodle Bar 3 days but was never able to because of the lines. So the only two places we eat where the main dining room and the food court. We did order room service one night and had no complaints about the new room charge of $7.95. At dinner one night 2 of the crew staff stopped at our table to get feedback about our experience. We told them about our day at their island Stirrup Cay. We were able to make reservations to leave the boat at 11:00 and by the time all was said and done we made it over by 12:00. Once there we found ourselves walking around for almost 2 hours trying to find a chair. We finally settled on going over to the lagoon to try and find seating and had the same problem. On our way over we noticed that they had hundreds of chairs stacked up around a storage building. These chairs should have been put out knowing that the ship has up to 4 thousand people. Also they only offer 2 places to get food. One on the main side of the island that the line was over an hour wait, the second by the lagoon that also was an hour or more. So we never got lunch and a lot of people we spoke to never got lunch. We finally ended up putting towels down on a section of the island that had some sand and was able to get into the water for about an hour before having to walk all the way back to the boat. The day was a total bust. the staff then told us YES you have to plan accordingly going to the island and could have rented one of our cabana. After looking up the price for a small one in 2013 starts at $300. We just wanted a chair or two. This cruise only has 3 port stops because of the distance they have to cover from NY. Orlando, Stirrup Cay & Nassau. We went to Sandals Resort on Nassau and that was our only good excursion. We choose to stay on the ship when docked in Orlando to try and enjoy the ship with no so many people. The line at the bar at H2O was a bit more manageable, but we never got to use any of the hot tubs because of crowds. Maybe Norwegian has a staffing problem? We will cruise again but it will not be with Norwegian, they could give us a free cruise and we would not take it.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
21 Comments
esm54687 8 years ago
info510 8 years ago
The reason we did not get to the private Island until noon was because you have to make a reservation. So you have to get up very early to make the reservation and then they put you in a time slot. Unfortunately ours was on the wait list and we could not go until 11:00 and it took an hour between waiting in line and boat ride over. We have been to the Island when we where on a smaller ship and had NO problems getting chairs or food. But if you are on one of the Large ones good luck...
billyd3 8 years ago
I Heard almost the same review from a friend that sailed RC'S Allure of the Seas last week. I think all cruiselines are having problems with the large ships. Too many guests on the ships and not enough venues. I have nothing but great experiences on my NCL Dawn cruise last week. Best Crew of all my 10 cruises with Carnival, Royal, NCL. The shows were outstanding.
rdg19 8 years ago
esm54687 8 years ago
esm54687 8 years ago
esm54687 8 years ago
cruisincouple06 8 years ago
Jolissa 8 years ago
cruisincouple06 8 years ago