Overcrowded & understaffed

Item: Norwegian Breakaway
Rating: 3.3
Author: FatTintin

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

FatTintin

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 14

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

7 Night Caribbean: Great Stirrup Cay & Dominican Republic (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 21, 2024

Ship: Norwegian Breakaway

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 5617

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 months ago

Review summary

NCL have let their standards drop with this cruise. Ship was very tired and in desperate need of a refit. Many toilets onboard did not work, some for days on end. Entertainment was worse than an MSC cruise. Unlikely I’ll go back to NCL

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Boarded over an hour after our check in time

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

All the restaurants were excellent. Food was of a very good quality and tasted fantastic. Past cruises have often fallen short with regards to food, but couldn’t fault it, with the exception of the American Diner, which was poor.

American Diner

1 out of 5

30 minutes to wait for shockingly bad food. Menu was virtually the same as O’Sheenans, but the food was awful. $7 for a milkshake, yet I had the P+ drinks package. Couldn’t get a glass of milk, yet I could get a $25 glass of whiskey. Overhyped!

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Only used the gym, was unable to go on the water slide as I couldn’t remove my wedding ring

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Band and DJ at the pool were very good. Pool entertainment lasted less than 20 minutes. Comedians were poor, I’ve seen funnier stand ups in a morgue. Game shows were poor, and taken place in the Atrium, which meant very few people could actually see what was going on

Children's Programs

No kids

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Understaffed, normally have a room steward clean the room in the morning and turn down the bed with fresh towels in the evening. We were lucky if the room was cleaned before 1500

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Poor layout, nowhere for entertainment apart from the atrium

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Bed was horrific, held together by zips which dug into you. Bedding was torn

Ship tip

Don’t, half the toilets didn’t work, the whole of deck 12 had no toilets for 3 days

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

3 out of 5

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

Like a cattle market

9 Comments

BPRD2696 6 months ago

Sorry for a disappointing cruise experience. Thanks for sharing.

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PIRATAWENCH 6 months ago

Thank you for the review Sailing her in December Have heard many complaints about the toilets

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enjoyurdaysmile 6 months ago

They stopped doing turndown when they opened the cruise industry after they had to close due to Covid.

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Sogmoore 6 months ago

I agree with the understaffed. I hope they fix that issue soon

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Gwbigdog 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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javawoody 6 months ago

Appreciate your comments

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cruising2004 6 months ago

Sorry this cruise was not up to par.

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Lounray 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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HeavySeas 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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