Long and Frustrating

Item: Norwegian Breakaway
Rating: 2.6
Author: Cimamere

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean

Cimamere

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 41

Overall rating:

2.6 out of 5

Eastern Caribbean - New York

Sail date: December 03, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11734

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

This was a disaster from start to finish. The port changes were unavoidable due to weather. The service and entertainment disappointment was avoidable by Norwegian. They choose profit over customer satisfaction. Do not go on this ship if they have any ports that require tenders.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Excellently organized inside and outside the terminal. The fact that the ship was almost half empty was a contributing factor. The long lines that were empty were unnecessary. They could have shortened the aisles.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

My rating is because the free dining was terrible in service and food quality. The main dining room and other already included restaurants were very poorly serviced. I believe this was because the cruise line has made a conscious decision to piss passengers off to entice them into paying extra to go to the "Specialty Restaurants". I enjoyed the specialty restaurants but was not happy with the so called free spots. Service was so slow that it could only be "orchestrated" by the management. I can't believe the servers would do this as they work for low pay and want tips.

O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille

4 out of 5

O'Sheehan's bar was the perfect place to relax after a busy day. The bar staff was second to none. They remembered both names and drinks. Most of the bartenders were very friendly. Every now and then a new server would join the main crew and it upset the flow. Maybe you should try to have set staff working together so that they develop a good report with the cruisers.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

If sitting at a bar or pool is your thing, this is a perfect ship. If experiencing everything that ships have to offer is more your style, you will be disappointed. Even going to the fitness centre, we were abused by staff trying to sell us. There is a pool that has 66% almost dry. Not sure the reason for this. If the pool was full size, more people could use it.

Breakaway Casino

1 out of 5

This is a full casino. My only complaint would be that they are greedy. The rake on the Texas Hold-em was 10% up to $25 per hand. This is so greedy it is border line loan sharking. Because of the rake, many players only attended the table once. Unfortunately, you cannot find the information about this part of the casino ahead of time, otherwise, we would not have gone on this trip. On a side note, they also stuck a $1 slot in the middle of a bank of penny slots. I saw two different players play the machine by mistake and lose a lot of money. It was very easy to not see this sneaky play by the casino and because you play credits and lines on slot machines, they did confuse and steal from some.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

This is our 11th cruise. This was the least enjoyable entertainment. We saw four comedians and always went to the late show. I prefer adult comedy but was surprised at the lack of adult content. We saw both stage presentations and although I didn't mind the shows, the talent was what I would expect in a small town theatre. The music around the ship was hit and miss but the good was fantastic. I would not recommend this ship for entertainment.

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

The Main dining, Taste and Savour were the most frustrating. The servers were very polite and interesting. The service was some of the worst I have ever had. If I was paying for any of my meals in these dining venues, I wouldn't have stayed long enough to get my bill. It was standard for us to get our appetizers, soups and salads at intervals from our other party. This happened every time, not just once in a while. Quite often, someone would be done their meal before another person had their entree delivered. This was hard to explain as the food was always ordered together. Again, I could see this was not the servers fault. The specialty dining was much better and we and many others we talked to agree that this is a ploy to get us to pay the uncharge to get average service instead of a terrible dining experience.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our cabin steward was very attentive and polite. The room was comfortable and there was enough room for us to move freely. We have had inside cabins and were very happy with those also. When the weather is nice, a balcony is nice. When the weather is nasty, the balcony is unuseable. I would not recommend the balcony out of New York in cooler weather as you are wasting 4 days. If you are just upsizing for the "free" packages, you may want to consider how much the packages are worth to you. I like to have a few cocktails in the evening and found the drink package paid for itself. Lucky for us, we took the specialty dining along with it or we would have had to eat at the buffet every single meal to enjoy our meals.

Ship tip

Don't! We are not new to cruising, but are certainly running out of patience for the nickel and diming that Norwegian has adopted. Everything from the price of the rake in the casino to the deliberate slowing of service in the "inclusive" dining options, this trip was all about squeezing the customer. The free offers when you first see their site are not free. The tips are added to your bill everywhere you look at a rate of 20% and this is on top of the 13.99 per person, per stateroom, per day they already gouge you. Even if you purchase the drink package, they still charge you a fee to get drinks while in U.S. waters. The amount is so small that it is embarrassing that they can't absorb it. You must be careful to watch every bill they give you because they will add on purchases and tips that you are not responsible for. Without being diligent, we would have paid an extra $469.62. This may seem insignificant to some, but with everything else that went wrong on this cruise, this was just another thing that didn't need to come up.

Thumbs up