Just the right amount of time and great destinations. This was the first cruise my boyfriend went on and I think is is going to be ruined for other cruise lines. NCL has always been phenomenal and I can’t wait to sail with them again.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was easy as could be, excluding our Lyft ride from hell on the way to the port. We arrived at 10am even though Norwegian asked we don’t arrive until 11am. We wanted to try to get Vibe Beach Club passes. We were assigned to Boarding Group 4 so there were lots of people who got there before us. There was a nice waiting area after you go through check in and we were fine waiting until we could board at 12. The Vibe Beach Club sold out while we in line at Guest Services. So if you are going for it, I would get to the port by 9am latest.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The Manhattan Room Restaurant
3 out of 5
The Manhattan Room does have a dress code that calls for men to wear collared shirts and no shorts. However the night before we ate there, we ate at Cagney’s which overlooks the Manhattan Room. We saw lots of men wearing very casual tee shirts. So we showed up the next night, me in a sundress and him in a collared shirt and nice shorts. We were asked to leave and have him wear pants. So we came back after he changed and when we were seated, we see lots of men wearing casual tee shirts and cargo pants.... This doesn’t make sense to me. When everyone is seated for dinner, you don’t see they are wearing shorts; it’s under the tablecloth. But you can definitely see when people are wearing tee shirts that say Puerto Rico instead of collared shirts.
Le Bistro
4 out of 5
Le Bistro was good but probably our least favorite due to very small portion size and French just not being our favorite food.
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
Cagney’s was great and we actually ended up eating there twice.
O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille
5 out of 5
Good food and right next to the atrium so you can watch all the activities unfold.
La Cucina
5 out of 5
La Cucina was really good for casual Italian dining and portions were good size.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Spice H2O
5 out of 5
Love a good kid-free zone!
Headliners Comedy Club
5 out of 5
The show had me in tears. Great comics.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Bartenders were quick and friendly. Get the mango meltdown! All servers at the restaurants were fantastic. Room stewards were great.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
There were plenty of bars and it never took long at all to get a drink. The pool area seemed fine to me though other people said it’s too small. But we down like to go to the pool and layout so that wasn’t a problem for us. There was always available chairs if we wanted though. The ship was always clean and the layout made sense.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We booked a balcony room which was a first for me and I was so glad I did. I liked to be able to get away for a bit and enjoy some time alone with a drink in my hand. We were on the 12th Floor Forward. This was perfect for us since we were higher up and removed from most noisy activities. Room was clean and had enough storage for me even as an overpacker.
Ship tip
Check in at 9am latest if you want to purchase the vibe beach pass. Have some patience and just relax. You are on vacation after all!
There isn’t a dock for the ships yet so we had to take tender boats, which was an easy and straight forward process. Once on the island, we went to the first little beach. The waters weren’t as clear as St. Thomas but the snorkeling was alright. Very very rocky though so make sure you have after shoes! We had an excursion on an Eco Boat Tour. It was really good an informative! The only downside was other people on the boat who didn’t consider others and wouldn’t pass the sea creatures along for others to see. After our excursion, we decided to get back on the ship since it was stormy and started to rain.
We did a scenic driving tour up to Mountain Top Lookout and then down to Magen’s Bay. I snorkeled at the beach on my own and it was amazing. I saw fish, sea turtles, and a stingray!
We went to San Juan, Puerto Rico and did a city tour. This excursion was one of our favorites. It included one of the forts and we loved the history! We walked around the city for a while before returning to the ship.
We did a canopy tour/ zip line. This was cool and I’m glad we did it. But the island wasn’t very impressive to us so we went straight back onto the ship after the excursion.
This was where we heard the most complaints about the Breakaway. Many people complained there were delays with getting off the ship so we went into it expecting a wait. We selected the latest disembarkation time, got a drink, and had a seat by the entrance of the Breakaway theater since that’s were people seemed to be exiting the ship. We had cell service so I just hung out and played on my phone. Twice during the disembarkation process there were announcements saying they had to hold people getting off for a while since there were backups in the security terminal and the number of people allowed in the building at once was exceeded. This is what most the complaints I had read were about. I think they are blaming the wrong party for this; US Customs controls this building, not the NCL Breakaway! But even with this happening twice, we were off the ship by 10:05 and out of the terminal with our bags at 10:20. Not bad at all in my opinion.
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