So So Cruise- Could have been nice if it were not for the below.

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Breakaway

7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 10, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12728

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

First I wouldn't rate as a 3 but more of a 2.5.    We anticipated this trip for so long that it was disappointing to have the service we did.  I'll provide Pros and Cons.

Pros:1- Travelling with a special needs child, we received the utmost care and attention including and escort off the ship so that we don't wait online. 
2- We also had warm Lactaid delivered to my 3 year autistic son every night in a nice warm carafe.

3- Service provided by Mr. Humberto Vaz, Mr. Jytin Vyas, Ms. Ingrid (don't know last name) and the entire splash academy was excellent!  They really went above and beyond.  

Now the Cons:1- Overcrowding everywhere.  Now I expected this given that we are in the spring break season BUT what I didn't expect was this entire ship overtaken by kids and drunken adults. Kids taking over hot tub, pools and buffet lines behaving rudely, badly and plain disrespectfully. No parental supervision and no security either.  I get that it's a vacation for all but I paid just like everyone else and couldn't even come close to enjoying the amenities these animals did.  Kids running down the halls like it's a stampede at all hours of the night ;  bumped into my son and when I asked her to say excuse me she said she's in a rush and i should move... mind you parents are right there!!!!  When i go to a Hilton kids are not allowed to be anywhere unsupervised. I think the cruise line needs something similar.  My kids did not behave that way and they were supervised at ALL times. 2- I’m not sure of your idea of a vacation but spending it with 5k people at GSC is NOT my idea of a vacation.  You had a family taking up 1/2 the beach with their huge floats, chairs taken, drunkenness at the beach- how can anyone enjoy their time.  Here's what my family and I did.  We got there at 10:30 and left at noon to get away from the mess.  Again, folks lost their minds and mannerisms here.  I don't like sitting or being on top of everyone and nor should anyone have to deal with that.  Perhaps breaking out the experience from a 10-1 for one group and then a 1-4 would work?  5k people all at once is not my idea of fun!
3- Multiple instances of rude staff. Woman at the buffet told my son 'to find his own straw' when he asked.  I approached her and she said she couldn't help him.  That's when Mr. Vaz enters the picture to help us out.  What a wonderful man!  At the MIXX bar, I asked for a Toma which calls for Voli Lemon. I noticed Rohit (bartender) using Voli Original and passed the drink to me.  I told him the menu says Voli Lemon, he said 'so are you saying you won't drink it?' and had an attitude. 4- O' sheehans- Terrible,service. Seats were wet in the booths and one order of wings took well over 40 minutes.  My autistic son had to wait 40 minutes (not kidding) for a damn hot dog! I told the waiter that he cannot wait and I need his food first.  He ignored me and said 'happy happy, wakey wakey'.  
5- Instead of having washy washy people, perhaps you might want to invest in your people and have security around in the buffet at all times as opposed to people spraying your hands.  An automatic can do the sanitary part. 6- How can you have Wine Tasting show at 12:30pm on Saturday as an adults show and not have splash academy open to accommodate?  That's one show I wanted to see but b/c splash wasn't open I couldn't.   Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor were a daily show and how can you only offer wine tasting show only once during the ship. The woman at the box office told me that 'it's not her problem about splash' if i can't go. 7-There weren't any family activities but pizza and cupcake making. All by the way one day at one time.  Not staggered.  What kind of madhouse are you guys creating? 
8- There is an overall lack of behavior - people cutting in line, overcrowding and nasty behavior.  Security does nothing about it.  Life guards are present and they see kids in hot tubs and nothing nothing is said about it!  You're paying those guys to do nothing. 
9- Every charge on board is nickel and dimed.  I have to be told about a tax while at port for my drinks- but I can't be accommodated for the specialty restaurants? if It wasn't for Mr. Vaz we wouldn't have been able to go to Moderno.  10- Smoking is disgusting and should be banned all together.  Walking on the 7th floor is terrible and my kids should not have to be subject to the group of breeding smokers all huddled together.  
11- Since when did casinos allow kids to be in there.  Foxwoods doesn't even allow you to enter let alone sit and play... that's what happens on 7. 12- The restaurants didn't even offer anything good (except Manhattan).  It looked like the buffet food presented nicely in a plate.  On Royal Caribbean escargot and lobster were standard and free.
I traveled on RC and that service is far better than what we experienced.  I would prefer the same waiter daily as opposed to some schulb who could care less about our needs.
 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Ports of call

New York, New York

1 out of 5

Port Canaveral, Florida

1 out of 5

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

3 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 21

14 Comments

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

Bgraham    8 years ago

Lol sounds like you just shouldn't be cruising on a cruise ship that holds more than 10 people! My wife and I had a wonderful time on your same cruise. 🛳

aidankay    8 years ago

enjoyurdaysmile    8 years ago

You know what is sad, parents don't speak to their kids before the cruise I bet in how to act like a mensch..a person and not like a wild animal.

kream36    8 years ago

No trust me, based on my brief interaction with this person nothing was going to please her...so was a miserable person who obviously finds fault with everything. She tries to come off a mother of the year, yet had no problem totally berating a poor worker and cursing in front of her kid.....way to set a good example.

aidankay    8 years ago

I think this person just wanted to have a nice vacation but really overestimated the special needs care. Only a fraction of people are special needs, much less children, and Norwegian is not used to dealing with them -- this goes for all resorts as well.

rnerbecki    8 years ago

Some people should not travel at all. Or just book an adults ony vacation. You supervised your children and used the F word in there presence. Shamefully !!!

justkegmak    8 years ago

It is what you make of it iam going june 5th and as for the smokers or as she said breeders they have aright my husband served 24 yrs for the freedom of this country so people like her can have the right to do what they do if you don,t smoke don, go on that deck it is that easy

aidankay    8 years ago

enjoyurdaysmile    8 years ago

I was on the Breakaway in 2014 Presidents week. Kids were so unruly and parents don't know where they are. 2 kids were playing and running back and forth by the elevators near the stairs and was waiting for an accident to happen. Well, I don't want people getting hurt, but it could have happened. Parents just didn't give a darn.

kream36    8 years ago

I was on the cruise with this person and I witnessed her berate the poor ice cream lady to the point of tears -- over a straw....When I told her to knock it off that she was out of line and embarrassing herself she told me to go f--- myself....in front of her precious kid. She seems to me to be the type that complains for the sake of complaining and is never happy with everything.

JessielovesWil    8 years ago

Holy Toledo!!!!

aidankay    8 years ago

First of all, I do agree that there should be increased security. A lot of reviews mention that. However, you shouldn't expect to receive top-of-the-line service when there are thousands of other people besides you on the ship that the crew need to attend to as well. In addition, while your son should have been treated better, I believe that Norwegian isn't the best environment for a special needs child, especially during spring break season. Consider Disney or possibly Royal Caribbean instead.

donnao2052    8 years ago

Seems like u need to be off some where by yourself for your vacations. What do I expect with a ship that holds 4,000 plus people. I'm leaving on May 8th there is 32 in our group. And can't wait.

Other reviews of this sailing