Terrible Service, Extremely Disappointed!

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Breakaway

9 Night Scandinavia & Russia (Copenhagen Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 18, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 12888

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

I was extremely disappointed in Norwegian’s service. The staff was not helpful and was not able to answer basic questions such as “is there anywhere on board where I can print?” “What is the name of the port?”, etc. The response was always “I don’t know”. One day I received a note in my room stating for me to call Guest Services as they had a question for me. When I called no one knew what the note was in reference to. I have so many examples of their poor service and I will list them: -My friend and I upgraded our room 2 days before the ship and paid the difference. We also Pre-paid for EVERYTHING such as excursions, shows, Internet access, etc. At about 8PM THE DAY BEFORE OUR EXCURSION we noticed that we did not get our excursion tickets and went to go pick them up. We were told that we actually were not in their system and had no reservation. My friend showed them the confirmation email. It turns out that due to a glitch caused by the upgrade, Norwegian CANCELLED ALL OF OUR EXCURSIONS AND SHOWS and used those funds to pay for the difference in the upgrade even though we ALREADY paid for them. Causing me to be charged TWICE. The WORST part was that no one knew WHY or HOW this happened and would not help us. The manager told us to wait on a huge line or call LONG DISTANCE to my travel agency which had nothing to do with THEIR zero. They cancelled EVERYTHING on us and to this day they did not apologize or were able to figure out the situation. Terrible service. -we were a party of 9 and the hostess would be visibly annoyed whenever we requested a table for 9. One time a hostess at The Manhattan Dining Room even replied “seriously?” When we asked for a table of 9 (by the way reservations were not required). -On sea days, the ship is very crowded and does not have enough space to accommodate enough people. There really is no place for anyone to sit and relax. I asked a staff member if there was any place for us to sit and have coffee. Her response was “This is a ship with 4000 people what do you expect? If you would have called before your trip and asked us to reserve you a space we could have done it”. I’m sorry but who calls ahead of time to reserve a space for 5 people to drink coffee? Isn’t that what the restaurants are for? By the way they close them very early and they are only open during certain hours on Sea Day. - Restaurant service was horrible. Breakfast takes 1.5 hours even for a group of 2. Steaks are never prepared as requested. Even at the specialty dining restaurant I asked for a medium rare steak and it arrived well done. Your drinks will also be forgotten about.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

It is extremely crowded and therefore the service is horrible.

Ports of call

Copenhagen, Denmark

4 out of 5

Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany

4 out of 5

Tallinn, Estonia

5 out of 5

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

5 out of 5

Helsinki, Finland

3 out of 5

Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 8

20 Comments

SoCalCruiser1    6 years ago

Move the towels and get on with your day!

Ejan    6 years ago

Mepcnp. Yes, there were lounge chairs where you said, but all of them had towels on them...the same trick that chair hogs do next to the pool. If there is another time that I am on a Norweigian ship (doubtful), I'll remove the towels and enjoy the lounger.

MarksaCruising    6 years ago

phil20261014    6 years ago

go celebrity

ginjor    6 years ago

I’ve been on 5 NCL cruises on a small and large ship and have never had an issue. Sure there are going to be a glitch or two, but I can’t imagine having all the problems that were mentioned.

DaznDonz    6 years ago

Just came off the same cruise and could not fault the service. The banter and friendly chats with the staff added to the great experience. The restaurants, cafes and bars could not do enough for us.

cruzenchic    6 years ago

I love NCL.. never had any troubles.

judykaye    6 years ago

If it was that bad why even give it 3 stars?

rob11181118    6 years ago

I have read everything....twice...jist wanted to make sure that i didnt miss anything that you may have liked.....no....you hate everything...its everyone elses fault....wow...are you sure you were on vacation...or just a bitch session.... I would take a cruise to the the coast of Somalia and not complain this much... Did they spit in your food.... What a Debbie Downer.... Good luck in you entitlement life.......darn...

oldpianos    6 years ago

Interesting, because we've taken 15 cruises on NCL and never had any such problems. One time, they moved our reservation for a specialty restaurant and didn't tell us. When we complained, they put us in the very next seating and comped the meal. Some people seem to be happy being miserable...

DebandMarkC    6 years ago

That sucks

winnie0799    6 years ago

We were on the same ship....1st and last time with NCL. Our experience was very similar to yours. Now we are loyal to Royal.

Blondy    6 years ago

Sooo sorry about all your problems. We cruise on that ship a few times and had no problems!! 💖💖😊👍🏼🛳

momanddad    6 years ago

Thanks for the info. Really sorry about your problems on the trip.

rbobl    6 years ago

We love ncl sorry ya had a bad experience

pheznt13    6 years ago

CruisinSarah    6 years ago

Can’t wait to sail on NCL. I’m surprised to hear your experience was so bad.

mepcnp    6 years ago

That isn't the ships it was NCL but not the ship. I was on the Breakaway and at capacity we always found a place to sit and plenty of space to relax and eat. We never experienced anything bad with the service or food. If it is the dining rooms they tell you to make reservations on the bigger ships. Have coffee in the buffet, your room, your balcony, sitting on deck. There are lots of smaller areas in deck that have comfy chairs and no people at all. If you went out on the waterfront and walked toward the back of the ship there is all kinds of seats, it was so quiet we fell asleep. You just have to explore when people are not helpful.

Montanino    6 years ago

Wow, sorry you had so many problems. I've cruised with NCL twice and one booked for October...my experiences have been so much better than you described. Sorry to hear that your experience was so poor

sxs191    6 years ago

Sorry you had such a bad experience.

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