in a nutshell i was beyond dissapointed. we had been looking forward to this vacation close to a year. There were 11 of us in my party and not a single one of us felt " happy " to be there. The staff did not treat us well. It lacked enterinment ( shows). The restaurant had such long lines regardless of the time that you went that it made it eat the same buffet food. No food variety between one day and the next. No pools ( exept for the main pool) which had to be emptied twice.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Good
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The main dining room had only reservations available. either 5:30pm or 8:30pm. If you did not have a reservation your wait was 50+ min. The guy that would check you in was completely rude. at one point he even yelled at me and spoke to me as if HE WAS the paying custumer when i would ask for an update to see how much longer we had to wait to be seated after already waiting an hour. My mom got sick and they did not let me take food to the room " restaurant policy" yet you could take food from the buffet to the room.
The buffet had THE SAME food everynight with the exeption of the last 2 nights. Same breakfest, same lunch.
At night time 3 nights in a row we had to go inside the buffet and ask for cups becuase they had no cups for water outside. the outside area at night was a MESS soooooooo dirty.
In their private island, people would complaint because the water would run out and the staff would take over an hour to refill. The buffet lines at the private island would take over 30 mins. The service at the bars was slow and the treatment over all was just terrible.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
as opposed to other ships i have been to this ship had only 1 show in the theater. " burn the floor" this show was on 2nd night and then on the 4th night THE SAME SHOW. i am used to different shows every day. there was little to no entertainment. shows were rated pg13 yet they made reference of male and female private parts non stop on these "marriage shows".
the night parties were the same music on every party. the music on the pool was the same type of music.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
as opposed to other ships i have been to this ship had only 1 show in the theater. " burn the floor" this show was on 2nd night and then on the 4th night THE SAME SHOW. i am used to different shows every day. there was little to no entertainment. shows were rated pg13 yet they made reference of male and female private parts non stop on these "marriage shows".
the night parties were the same music on every party. the music on the pool was the same type of music.
I will saw that Mathew with the guitar was great and he had a lot of talent.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
there were 4 of us in the room. NOT A SINGLE NIGHT did the room steward bring the bunk beds down. we had to do it ourselves, becuase they did not bring the beds down we also had no ladders. My sister who also had a cabin had to ASK TWICE for the bed sheets to be changed becuase they were not changed.
the staff on this cruise was just not friendly. I would say things like good morning or good afternoon when walking past them and 9 times out of 10 i wouldnt even get a response.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
with the exeption of the outside buffet area at night time the ship was cleaned.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The cabin itself was big. However, no drawers. How can you expect a family of 4 to go for a week and not have something as simple as drawers.
i was very bummed. There was very limited variety. not what i expected at all. i do give it 3 starts beccause if you did not get an excursion they make it very easy to get on a little bus taxi to get to the beach .
So lets start with the fact that in other private islands they have unbrellas at the beach with the beach chairs first come first served. NOT WITH NCL. with NCL they RENT their unbrellas ON THE BOAT. we were 4 cabins total. my nephew is a special needs child!!!!!!!! becuase we assumed that it would be first come first served i go on a tender early. only to realize that my SPECIAL NEEDS nephew had to be in sun all day!!!!!!!!
We ended up having to drag chairs under palm trees to protect him from the sun becuase we were told that we could not pay for an umbrella because they had no more availability.
Each their own. We liked the Breakaway last year. I know all cruise lines have cut back since Covid. I hope that changes. With all the cuts we still had a great time.
A little homework goes a long way. NCL eliminated twice daily room service a while back, which got rid of turndown service. They have also cut back on shows, these are well known if you look online.
Dining reservations open up 120 days before the cruise, with a group of 11 it would have been a good idea to plan ahead for at least some meals. NCL don’t do turndown service any more and I don’t think they’re the only cruise line who’ve stopped it, so you either have to have the room set up for sleeping all the time, or change it yourself as required. And not sure why you expected the sheets to get changed or was it a long cruise.
I am on right now.Its peak season and summer.There will be lines everywhere. I had a few issues and they corrected them immediately. There are 2 big groups and they seem very happy. Maybe you should have made a group reservation or booked a smaller,upscale line.
This is heartbreaking... waiting a year and having a big party of 11. The ONLY way NCL can fix this is by cutting the capacity to 75% to 80% or whatever the magic number is.a they are way to desperate for cash to do that. Unless I were in the Haven I wont be going on an NCL mega ship. Again... so sorry this happened. (dare I ask why the pool was drained??)
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
