We will never sail with Norwegian again. The accommodations were good but the food and the rest of it were all BAD!
Embarkation
3 out of 5
They seemed rather disorganized
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The food in the dining room and at the buffet was always barely warm. The only thing that was hot were the freshly made omletts. The orange juice was always warm no matter when you had some. They had no one serving coffee or juice, you had to get your own. The steak in the dinning room was like that served at a Bonanza steak house. The food pairings were really odd. No baked potato, no shrimp cocktail or creme brulee on the menu at all. In general it left a lot to be desired. When you can get better food at the buffet than you can in the dining room there is a problem some where! If was awful to say the least.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Most of the activities centered in the atrium and consisted of the standard stuff including many generous pitches about future cruises. It was usually so crowded and noisy that it was hard to hear anything. Even the dance classes were there.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Almost all the entertainment was held in the various bars on the ship, which are far to small to accommodate the volume of people that wanted to attend. We could never get reservations because they were almost always already filled up. Norwegian Cruise line promotes their so called "Free Style Cruising" but how is it free style when you have to make reservations for everything? Most of the venues held less that 200 people, some as few as 75 and when you have several thousand people aboard they don't go very far before they are filled. Yes there were multiple shows, but many people would book for several times if they liked someone so again you could not get in. Stage shows were OK. They are great dancers but shows that have nothing but dancing get boring very soon and then its just costume changes. The other performances were rock style concerts in the smaller venues and were so loud that the ship literally had sound proof doors on the venue they were that loud. Again those venues were so small that you could not get in. Many of the shows had a cover charge, another way for Norwegian to nickle and dime everything under the disguise of free style cruising.
Children's Programs
We did not have any children along.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
We received excellent service from our room steward and good service from wait staff.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The design of our stateroom was the best we have ever had. The layout of the ship isn't exactly bad, but for the number of people on board there are not enough large areas that can be used for activities. Almost everything was at the atrium and it was too much. There are no quiet places, even the Library was noisy. It was located below the game room. The air hockey and bowling game could be heard thumping and pounding.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
This was the best interior cabin we have ever had. The bathroom was huge and the shower was a normal size. The arrangement of everything was very convenient and great.
Ship tip
Do not sail with Norweigan! The Breakaway is a nice ship, but the concept of 'Free Style Cruising' is a joke.
My husband went on a fishing excursion that he booked through the ship and almost got left behind. The excursion picked him up at the pier where the ship was docked. The excursion came in slightly late but they did not take them back to the pier, instead they got off the fishing boat and had to walk all the way back to the ship, which was quite a long hike and not very well marked. The group made a wrong turn to make the way even longer and when they got to the ship there were already taking the gangway up. Had they been 5 minutes later would they have waited for them? He said it did not look like they would have.
Disorganized. Most ships have coffe, juice & pastry for those who are waiting to disembark. Not Norwegian. There were people and luggage all over the public rooms, again because there are no places big enough other than the public areas and all the bars are closed.
I agree!! Freestyle just means “we don’t know what the heck is going on.” Very disappointed in NCL. I cruised with them 25 years ago and they were considered top of the line back then, now it’s just kind of pathetic.
I Love NCL, we will be sailing on our 8th cruise in 36 days. Never was disappointed in anything at all. We cruise on the smaller ships. The bigger the ship the more people the more WAITING ,for EVERYTHING.
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