Your cruise is what you make of it. Go with people you like. Understand that may not be your family! Look for the good, delight in the fact that you are in a floating city for 7 days and BE NICE! We had a wonderful time, rain and rough waters were just little blips.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation in New Orleans was so quick and easy! We had a group of 8 and had no issues at all. Our friends actually got engaged while we waited to board, and the Norwegian photogs got pics of the whole thing!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Buffet was typical, not great. Breakfast is perfectly fine at the buffet, but the rest of it was not very good. We were surprised that there was no grilled cheese or chicken tenders at the buffet the entire week, since that was one of our family members pretty much ate during our entire cruise last year on the Encore. When my SIL asked the grill cook if they could make a grilled cheese (they were making paninis that day), she was told no.
Main dining room was fine. I have a shellfish allergy, and apparently went on the day that nearly everything on the menu involved some kind of shellfish! No biggie, I ended up getting the baked ziti.
La Cucina
4 out of 5
We realized on our last day that we had a second specialty restaurant included with our package. We were able to get a last minute reservation for La Cucina and were thrilled. Service was good, but the restaurant was quite noisy and we both had a hard time hearing our rather quiet server. I had a Caesar salad and made the pasta carbonara my main entree. My husband had a salad, fettuccine Alfredo and a pizza. OMG the food was so good, but there was so much! We were disappointed that we could not have our leftovers delivered to our room - we had done this on our prior cruise, which was also Norwegian, but were told that it was some sort of law that they could not accommodate us unless we had a butler in the Haven?Anyway, we wasted a lot of food, but also got cannoli and tiramisu for dessert so we could have a couple bites. Everything was delicious, portions were quite generous.
Shanghai's Noodle Bar
4 out of 5
Ate here our first night and it was pretty good. Dumplings and spring rolls were good, if not really hot when we got them. Beef chow fun was good, but made with linguine rather than wide noodles. Chicken lo mein was very cornstarch heavy, making the sauce quite sticky. Fried rice was also v good. We tried to go back for dinner another night, but were informed that you had to stand in line at 4pm when they opened to get seats. They essentially don’t take reservations but expect people to stand around for over an hour to get a possible seat for some time that evening.
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
Great food, even better service. Steaks were near perfection. Wedge salad was awesome. And the desserts…WOW!Our server was so on top of it, and we had a table for 8. We thoroughly enjoyed our meals!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We loved Spice H2O and the bar outside of Vibe. We participated in a few trivia sessions that were fun.
Three people in our group signed up for one of the painting classes. We went on the day we boarded the ship and signed up. We were told that the session started at 10am, and we needed to arrive by 10:10 to keep our seats.
So imagine our surprise when we arrived at 10:00 for our class and were told that we were supposed to be there at least 10 minutes before the class, so we were late and they had given up our seats?! The crew member in charge was quite dismissive. We were not pleased.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Loved Burn the Floor! It was fantastic, if a bit loud. The theatre was only about half full, which makes a big difference with sound!
We were disappointed to find out that Six closed the day before we got onboard our ship, so BTF was the only production.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was AWESOME! Fernando took such great care of us and called us all by name each time we ran into him in the hallways. I wish I could give him 10 stars!!!
Service across the board was great, although they seemed a bit overwhelmed at the beginning of our cruise.
Our only real exception was our server at the diner, who had obviously had a REALLY BAD DAY. He pretty much ignored us and our food was cold when we got it.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Older ship, not as many bells and whistles. Everything was very clean. Strangest thing I have found about cruise ships is it is really hard to find a garbage can!
My major issue was with the smoking areas. On deck 15, the smoking room was directly beside one of the bars, and on the path to the buffet. It reeked of smoke all the time. The casino was all smoking, rather than one area for smokers. And you had to walk through the casino to get many other places. Yuck.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Ship tip
If you are allergic to cigarette smoke, consider a different ship.
Thank you for your review of the Breakaway
I am following all the Breakaway reviews as I am sailing on it on December 2024
Yes, cruises - as well as life - are how you view and react to events
I try to look at everything with a positive view and outlook - and do not take anything for granted - and am thankful for all the good things which happen in my life
Happy sailing!
Glad you had a good time anyway. Agreed that the Breakaway is a smokers ship. The Lido smokers “booth” is right next to the kiddie pool. I think there was a miscommunication for that painting class. Why would they tell you to be ten minutes late to secure your seats. I’m sure they meant to say ten minutes early. If something sounds bizarre, especially from someone with limited English, question it.
Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us and including the details of the trip you enjoyed. Agree with you, take the blips and enjoy the floating adventure.
Great review! Well detailed. Love your perspective & could not agree more!! Glad you had a good time & that you enjoyed the good, the not so great & that the unpredictable weather did not affect your cruise enjoyment. Thank you for sharing. Happy Cruising 🤩⚓️😎❣️‼️
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