Nice port calls, less-than-expected ship quality

Item: Norwegian Breakaway
Rating: 4.4
Author: Cruiser34306352

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

Cruiser34306352

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 18

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 21, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10814

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

You really don't want a review from me. I would not sign up for an NCL cruise in the near future without a lot of assurances that they have improved their service.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Three hours in line to embark!! Two days before embarkation we were told not to show up before 4pm. Rather than giving us new boarding windows everyone just showed up. Processing had not even started as of 4pm. No food, no drinks, no apologies available during the 3 hours. Disgraceful!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Some staff members were very good and helpful; others seemed to ignore me (as I was trying to get information). Almost all of them seemed to have been told not to give the passengers too much information--direct questions were ignored. What was going on??

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Be prepared to stand in line--big ship, lots of people, all of whom want to information and services at the same time.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Bar Harbor, Maine

5 out of 5

Portland, Maine

4 out of 5

Saint John, New Brunswick

5 out of 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

5 out of 5

The port was interesting. The timing with the itinerary, the cancellation of my original tour with (again) no explanation, not so good. Why in the world would a ship pull into a port at 3pm without making arrangements for the passengers to be able to stay longer at the points of interest such as museums, forts, etc???? Then you add delays into the mix and we paid for 45 minutes in a museum (before it closed) and were just barely able to get to another site--using a taxi at my expense vs. the excursion we originally had planned. This itinerary should NEVER be repeated as it was.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

Again, understand the need to get passengers off the ship, but lack of communication had people piled up everywhere waiting for over an hour beyond the supposed departure time. Add to that that going to the biggest airport on the East Coast (using a purchased transfer) with a bus driver who did not speak enough English to understand anyone and who had ZERO instructions, the who disembarkation resulted in a similar experience to the embarkation. Disgraceful!

7 Comments

RoberticoRFranken 2 years ago

Wauw thanks for your comments. Looking forward to the same ship in November

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delpereira 2 years ago

Thx for your input . Going on the same cruise in October.

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javawoody 2 years ago

Appreciate your comments

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

Thumbs Up 1

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Oops 😬 thanks

Thumbs Up 1

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NCLARRY 2 years ago

Your ship wasn’t scheduled to leave New York until midnight. Why did everyone show up at 4 pm?

Thumbs Up 2

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willwork4cruz 2 years ago

So they said they will not start boarding till after 4pm and you were appalled that they didn't start boarding till after 4pm?

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