Disappointing cruise on NCL Breakaway

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 41

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5
Norwegian Breakaway

9 Night Scandinavia & Russia (Copenhagen Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 23, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10866

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

We decided to invite our adult children to join us on their first cruise. We were all looking forward to the Baltic cruise and exploring the 5 ports that we believed that we would be visiting. On embarkation we were informed that our first stop, Warnemunde, was cancelled. Passengers who were joining the cruise in Warnemunde were informed before the cruise to make their way to Copenhagen as the ship would not be stopping there. We did not receive any prior notification. Our first stopover was at Tallinn and we enjoyed visiting this lovely medieval city. We were suppose to stay one day, however it ended up being a 2 day stopover, and it was at Tallinn that we were told that we would be visiting st. Petersburg, but that Helsinki and Stockholm were cancelled. The captain claimed it was due to the weather. For two days were observed large ferries coming and going from Tallinn to Sweden and Finland, they were much smaller vessels than the NCL Breakaway, and we all wondered why they could make the journeys but we were stranded. The two day stopover at St Petersburg stopover was great. 4,000 passengers confined to the ship for 5 days, instead of the advertised itinerary of 2 sea days wasn’t pleasant at all. There was no additional activities, shows etc provided. While the food was good, we didn’t go on the cruise to eat all day long, we chose the cruise for the ports advertised. It ended up being a costly holiday for what we saw. If we were offered a full refund prior to departure then we would have accepted this, and then flown to all the cities. At the Q & A with the captain, the theatre was full of very unhappy passengers. Perhaps one of the most frustrating thing we experienced on the cruise was the poor and lack of communication to passengers. While we will cruise again, not with this company, our children have told us that they will not cruise anytime in the distant future.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

Be prepared for long queues and lack of communication

Ports of call

Copenhagen, Denmark

4 out of 5

Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany Did not visit port

Tallinn, Estonia

5 out of 5

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

5 out of 5

Helsinki, Finland Did not visit port

Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden Did not visit port

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 41

4 Comments

LorenaRay    6 years ago

We have sailed numerous times with 3 cruise lines and this is the first time we missed ports (3) due to weather. We know weather is first safety factor, however changes and alterations were questionable. We have never experienced such a hostile environment. From what we heard on board, NCL should consider some type of goodwill jesture to save their clients.

esm54687    6 years ago

Cruise Choice from Nationwide Insurance Company is one of them....... it covers pre-departure itineary change and would've covered the OP's first miss (at a minimum)

onlysail    6 years ago

Can you get insurance for missed ports as the cruise lines T&C state they may be changed or missed. But you should get port fees reambursed

esm54687    6 years ago

Luckily everyone's Trip Insurance they purchased included payment for missed ports!! Weather you can't control and these complaints would probably be about putting tenders at risk etc if you did visit the ports.

Other reviews of this sailing