Great ports - mediocre ship

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

Longcruise

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 50

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

Verified Review

9 Night Scandinavia & Russia (Copenhagen Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 29, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 14196

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall, the ports were great but the ship was a disappointment. Unlike prior cruises where there were nice areas where passengers could sit and view aft or forward, there was very limited common area seating inside. The water slide and ropes course were wasted space in our opinion. Also, I'd recommend looking into arranging private excursions versus the high priced NCL excursions. The two we took were disappointing. Be very careful when booking your cabin. We'd recently been in a mini-suite on a smaller ship and found it nice so we booked one on this trip. Originally we had a mini-suite on deck 10 with an aft balcony that was very large, but we changed it when we discovered it was intended for wheelchair passengers. Our daughter was on deck 14 so we switched to a mini-suite on that deck. We didn't realize, though, that this meant we'd have a much smaller cabin than if it was on a lower deck. The cabin was almost identical to my daughter's balcony cabin except that it had a bigger bathroom. If I'd realized this, we would have booked on a lower deck or changed to a balcony cabin. It definitely wasn't worth the price.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

This was a much larger ship than we'd been on before. We all felt that they increased they didn't increase the infrastructure i.e. elevators, restaurants, common spaces, etc. enough to support the increase in passengers.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Ship tip

Be aware that the cabin sizes vary by deck.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Copenhagen, Denmark

5 out of 5

This cruise began and ended in Copenhagen. We would not have seen the port at all if we had not arrived two days early.

Thumbs Up 2

Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany

3 out of 5

Berlin is 3 hours away by train or bus. We did a private excursion to Berlin where we had a quick overview of the sites which were interesting but I don't know were worth 6 hours on a bus. We were unable to see the Brandenburg Gate because of traffic problems.

Thumbs Up 0

Tallinn, Estonia

4 out of 5

Nice older town. We did a private bike tour.

Thumbs Up 3

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

5 out of 5

Amazing place. We did a private tour which I highly recommend doing. Being in a smaller group allows you to bypass some of the hassle. Also, less than the cost of a larger tour offered by the cruise line. Be prepared for a long wait when going through passport control.

Thumbs Up 4

Helsinki, Finland

2 out of 5

Very short time frame in Helsinki. We did a NCL bus tour which was mediocre.

Thumbs Up 0

Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden

3 out of 5

We were told the cruise would dock in Stockholm, but they actually docked over an hour away. We took a tour which was nice but superficial. Two of us stayed an extra 2 hours and took the trainn back.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

3 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

Thumbs Up 0

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concordnet 6 years ago

Well said "markandde"!

Thumbs Up 0

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markandde 6 years ago

We miss the observation lounges when the ship doesn't have them but we know, by checking the deck plans on the website, what we are getting before we book the cruise. We sailed the Breakaway last year without dissapointments because we knew what the ship offered before we booked our cruise. We had a wonderful time despite the lack of an "observation lounge". It wasn't a 'deal breaker' for us, so we booked the cruise. Same goes for balcony size. The deck plans are usually pretty true to scale. No reason to be surprised about that on embarkation day. Just make sure you've 'done your homework' for those things that are important to you before you book and tell your cruise consultant on what deck and in what area of that deck you'd like your stateroom to be. They have always been very accommodating for us. Each cruisers tastes are different. If a ship's features don't look like your "cup of tea", book a different one. If the line has no ships with features you like, pick a different one. Just remember that some preferences come at a higher cost. You get to choose. Not doing your pre-cruise research then complaining that what you chose didn't meet some of your expectations seems a little unfair.

Thumbs Up 5

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