Up and Down Cruise

Item: Norwegian Breakaway
Rating: 3.1
Author: CNMnola

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

CNMnola

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 26

Overall rating:

3.1 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 10, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10254

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

I would consider going on a Norwegian cruise again because I liked the flexibility with dinner reservations, etc. but they would have to regain my trust due to lack of communication about issues and changes. They skipped the one port I really wanted to visit, Roatan, for the 3rd or 4th straight cruise according to staff. The Captain has claimed different reasons everytime, but this time he claimed it was wind. The boat did not get within 5 miles of port before turning away from the island. The Carnival ship of similar size docked their about 15 minutes before we were supposed to. The kids club was advertised as open on their website up until cruise time, but we got an email 5 days beofre the cruise saying it would be closed with no explanation why. We were traveling with 2 kids under 12 which meant there was no available child care for the adults to have a nice adult night at dinner and bars. Very dissappointing.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Lines were long and slow, took almost 2 hours to get through the lines

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Drinks were good and the food was solid but could use more flavor

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Some activities are still closed due to Covid, but they do not advertise them as closed and they seem open according to Norwegians website.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Six was excellent, comics were good, dueling pianos were entertaining. The Burning the Floor show was cancelled for the second straight cruise due to "technical issues" and we were not informed until a couple hours before the first show.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

The kids clubs were not operational despite the website saying they were open. The cruise line did not tell us they were closed until 5 days before departure. Also, there were no other child care options for children under 12. Yet, the teen club was still open?

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Room steward did a great job of maintaining the room while staying out of our way. The vartenders and waiters were freindly and worked hard. The guest services staff were virtually no help when you would go to them.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

It was an average cabin with clean sight lines of the water

Ship tip

Don't go until they get a new captain who is not afraid to dock in Roatan. This was teh 3rd or 4th week in a row the boat did not dock in Roatan. Captain claimed it was windy, but we never got within 5 miles of the port and a similar size Carnival shipped docked their the same day.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5

IF you been there once, you have been there a thousand times.

Thumbs Up 0

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

1 out of 5

Captain refused to dock here for the 3rd or 4th straigh cruise.

Thumbs Up 0

Harvest Caye, Belize

4 out of 5

Norwegian private island. Nice setup, but you are limited to only do what Norwegian allows/provides.

Thumbs Up 0

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

2 out of 5

Still a few years away of development and infrastructure to being a good port of call for cruise ships. Has potential, but need some continued work

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Fairly smooth, no issues, the lines wrapped around the boat on the 7th deck

5 Comments

dogg1322 2 years ago

Thanks for the review, in response to RetiredRay's comment above, it is a little more complicated than that. I totally agree that the captain has to put safety of the vessel first and I'm not judging the captain's decision, however NCL really needs to figure out Roatan. I would love to know the number of times in 2022 that this port has been skipped. On our cruise, we woke up, you could see Roatan on the port side of the ship and mainland Honduras on the starboard. As we approached the island, all of the sudden w e turned around. The captain came on and said due to the winds, he could not safely port and we would have a sea day. A huge bummer, as we had chartered a boat to take us snorkeling all day in Roatan. To make matters worse, as we sail away, a RCL ship (I believe the Allure), goes right into the port. I attended the Q&A with the Captain a few days later and the first question asked was about Roatan. He said, when the Breakaway docks in Roatan, the positioning of the dock is such that the winds hit it broadside. If the winds are over 33 knots, he cannot hold the ship. He said the RCL Ships dock at a different pier in the same port where they are not positioned broadside into the wind. From what I've read online RCL invested in infrastructure in Roatan and built (or funded) the pier they dock at so that they can get ships (even bigger than the Breakaway). NCL has not done this and I know that out of the past 3 cruises, Roatan has been skipped twice.

Thumbs Up 0

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