Great cruise with some room for improvement

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 25

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5
Norwegian Breakaway

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 22, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8710

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Overall great experience! Met a lot of nice people and the food and drinks where plenty and nice. There where some improvement points but that mostly has to do with the fact that the ship is back to full capacity and not the staff. If you can overlook these start up problems you will have a superb vacation.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Embarkation went very smoothly, we took an Uber from the Radisson Red to the terminal for 15 dollars. The time between the arrival and the check-in went very quickly. Since we had the first boarding group at 9.30 we needed to wait a bit in the Terminal (1,5 hour) but was to be expected. Water was provided everywhere and there was plenty of seats. Our tip is to make sure you have all you documentation ready to ensure a smooth embarkation.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Did not check out the buffet (besides one time to get a quick cookie). In general we where content with the main dining rooms and in particular the Shanghai Noodle bar (5 out of 5!) The reason it is 4 out 5 instead of 5 is that you could notice that the ship was back at full capacity and the staff was not. Despite that the staff was wonderfully and hard working (especially Gypsy (she is a gold star)) sometimes small mistakes happened like giving you the wrong order, forgetting something or not having it as warm as we would like it to be. Same applied with drinks. Overall good but it was busy.

Moderno Churrascaria

3 out of 5

Expect it to be warm (hot) there and have a long sit on not the most comfortable chairs. Food was good but waiter was poorly trained and hard to understand. Forgot our drinks and food twice and then brought us the wrong drinks instead and the bread even never arrived at all. Despite the small complaint don’t be afraid to to go because it is good food :)

The Manhattan Room Restaurant

3 out of 5

First time we went I ordered the cordon blue and it was not only cold but also so hard (and dry) it was almost impossible to cut. Second time all was perfect so it could be just a bad dish.

O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille

4 out of 5

Good food and drinks but missing some more pub food like cheese sticks.

Taste Restaurant

4 out of 5

Overall good food but compared to the specialty dining it can be at times a bit underwhelming.

Teppanyaki

5 out of 5

Great experience and lovely food

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

5 out of 5

Best complementary option you will have on the boat. Delicious!

Shaker's Cocktail Bar

5 out of 5

Great drinks, often live music

Maltings on the Waterfront

5 out of 5

Best drinks are served right here! Expect therefore at times a bit of a que.

The Bake Shop

4 out of 5

Bit high in price for what you good but overall tasty!

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Best dining experience we had overall. Staff was superbly trained here and the food was delightful.

Bar at the Atrium

5 out of 5

Good waiters here and quick!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
We had the Mandarin Spa pass for a week and that was amazing. Pool on deck 15 was way too small for the amount of people. However if you like to swim there go around dinner time and it should be almost empty.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
The burn the floor was really not good. Way too loud and left me behind being disappointed. However, the musical Six was the opposite and was amazing (and not to loud). The rest of performers and musicians where adequate.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
3,5 out of 5 While most of the staff was amazing we also noticed that there where a lot of new people and in training. Everyone was friendly to us but like mentioned before they where severely understaffed which led to long lines, inpatient fellow cruisers and long days for the staff.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Very clean and there where always cleaning or fixing something. We liked the lay-out but hated the fact that they allow smoking in the casino which means that terrible sent travels about everywhere nearby. Since the fact the casino is like the central hub in the ship they basically force you to walk through the smoke or take a detour.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Great cabin, very clean, good in size and amazing staff that cleaned our room. We are happy to sail again in this stateroom.

Ship tip

Book everything you want in advance as soon as possible. The line for the guest services, restaurant reservations and shore excursions where insanely long. We where happy we did book all in advance so we could skip this line.

Ports of call

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

4 out of 5
Went to the beach as well (relax at long bay beach). Since we where at port at 7.15 and at the beach at 8.00 it was too early to really enjoy its full potential.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
We had a great time here. Magens bay was amazing and we will definitely want to come back there. The skylift ride was nice but since the beach is just wow we would recommend to skip that one and go four hours to Magens bay instead of two.

Miami, Florida

1 out of 5
We did the tour of sightseeing Miami and Aventura mall. The tour operator was an old lady wo was rude, forgetful, had arguments with the bus driver continuously and explained nothing of Miami except phrases like… you are on the I95 now… oh… this is Main Street we will take a left now..

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

5 out of 5
Great drinks and food and it was a great place to snorkel

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
While our disembarkation went super smooth we needed to wait a long time before we could go…. There where several (4) other travellers that also booked an excursion in Miami and despite they where over an hour late the entire bus waited an hour just for them.
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5 Comments

GabeNSteph    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

AuntPinkie    2 years ago

Appreciate your detailed review. Glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise.

javawoody    2 years ago

Appreciate the review

byhisgrace    2 years ago

Thanks for your review

Dumfy75    2 years ago

Glad you thought most of the cruise was great! Thanks for the helpful review.

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