Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I personally would not recommend Norwegian to anyone. I know that sounds a bit harsh, however, I have sailed with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Disney, and Carnival and have taken 14 cruises since 2011. I'm in my mid-30s so that should help to understand my perspective. I much prefer the structured days of the other lines to the very loose approach NCL uses. There are nights when most things you'd want to do or see are all crammed in at the same time and other nights when nothing is going on. I find that annoying. I prefer the option of an early show and late show so I can choose when I want to have dinner and not miss any of the entertainment. I also do not like needing reservations to see shows, comedy, etc. The nickle and diming is excessive on NCL ans there is really no excuse for the bad food. I suggest you only consider Norwegian if you don't want to see any shows, don't care about food, and only want to lay out and have a difficult time getting drinks from the bar.

This was possibly the worst cruise I have ever been on with Norwegian. Besides the problems I have listed above, My suitcase was broken, as well as a suitcase of another member of my group. I am highly upset because the staff could not do anything & kept telling us to claim it with the airline, BUT WE DROVE. Of the 2 suitcases that were broken, one we were told to replace, which we had to at a port with a cheap, awful piece that we were reimbursed for. My piece, however, I was told to call Norwegian when I got home about. I am upset because it was the largest piece from a $450 3-piece set that is no longer usable. The overall trip was just disappointing. I dealt with fans blowing down the hallway for 4 day drying under the carpet in my hallway, overcrowding everywhere I went, forget watching any entertainment & SEVERELY understaffed bars. There is NO WAY this is up to the standards I have come to expect from Norwegian & I am sorry that I wasted my money on this trip.

This was a great cruise. The NCL Breakaway is a nice ship and our balcony room was great. We enjoyed the buffet and the meals in the dining room. We loved the variety of the desserts in the dining room. The staff were helpful and friendly. We really enjoyed the Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor shows. The performers were fantastic singers and dancers. We were able to sit in the first few rows in the theatre to really enjoy the shows up close. We visited New Orleans, two ports in Mexico and also Belize on the cruise. There were many good excursions to choose from and we enjoyed the two that we chose: Dolphin Encounter and Chacchoben Ruins. One thing that could be improved upon is when in port, people going on an excursion should be let off first. It makes it easier for people who need to catch an excursion. Also better instructions for which floor to exit on.

Very great relaxation on this cruise. I was disappointed about having to pay for Cirque show.

Overall a beautiful ship & wonderful cruise. Awesome weather the entire trip. Excellent service, drinks & food.

We enjoy our cruising on NCL, but will make a better effort in the future to do some checking on cheaper rooms, etc. I enjoy the cruises and ships on NCL and I know they are in the business of making $ but sometimes it is at the sacrifice of a better product. We won't stop cruising them due to these changes, but will carefully pick/choose what we will do for future cruises. All in all, it was a great 10-days.

I felt I paid twice as much as any other passenger on the ship in much nicer cabins than mine. I was disappointed when I found more than 25 people in cabins equal too or better than my cabin that paid $200 to $400 less per person than we did. They made their reservations about the same time. Some people in the Spa Rooms paid what we did. So disappointed in this.

We enjoyed this cruise but would have liked more entertainment scheduled earlier and better food even in the specialty restaurants!

Love the cruise ship & hope to go on it again. Entertainment was started early enough to enjoy during the evening and we could get into restaurants in a timely way. Did not like the port embarkation/disembarkation. Ports were all fun.

Best cruise we’ve ever been on! Everything was just outstanding! Did not want to get off ship when you came back!

We are an older couple and enjoy cruising. We have visited many of the ports already so excursions are not our priority. We were with three other couples and enjoyed just hanging out together.

Norwegian is not passenger focused but wants to nickel and dime passengers for things that we found included in previous cruises with other cruise lines. Very disappointed about lack of information from Norwegian. I tried to call Norwegian several times PRIOR to our cruise and could never get them to even answer their 800#. I told my husband I wish I would have tried to to call them before booking with them as I would NOT have proceeded to do so. A company that doesn't staff their customer service properly so that inbound calls are answered and a company that doesn't communicate basic information for first time passengers, is not worth considering when looking at the many choices that are available to people that love to cruise!

It was a nice vacation on a modern ship with good amenities. The staff was helpful. If you like cruises this is a good one to try.

We are glad we did this itinerary. We will never a mega ship again. It is double the amount of passengers with the same amenities. We didn't realize the $280 we paid for internet only allowed us one device. There is not streaming. Movies in your room are $9.99 and there is one movie channel that is free. You can't bring a can of pop aboard otherwise they can't sell you one for $3.45. You can't bring water on otherwise they can't sell you some for $48 a case (including the self service mandatory tip). Some of our excursions were cancelled because of the rough sea. We paid for them the day we booked them (a month before we got on the ship) but they will not credit your card back. The only option is for them to mail a check. After waiting almost 3 weeks and the check hadn't even been cut I called Cruise's Only to see if they could help get our $679 because Norwegian will not expedite or credit our card back. called and we were told in a few more days they would credit our card. This is our 4 cruise with Norwegian and they have become very transparently greedy. They charge for some of the shows now and ice bar is a giant scam, don't fall for it!

We have tried a couple other cruise lines in the past but prefer Norwegian by far and only book on Norwegian now!

NCL is always my go to cruise line. Great food options in main dining rooms, and 1st class entertainment in the theater.

Our first cruise was awesome. We cruised with 6 other experienced cruisers. They were not very impressed with the buffet food, but everything else was great.

The ports for this cruise were very enjoyable and would recommend. The size of the ship and amount of people were a little too much. For the price difference of other cruises, I probably would not go Norweign again for my first choice. I found just as much to offer, fun, and value on other less pricey cruise lines.

This was the second time that we have sailed out of New Orleans on an NCL cruise, and both times were memorable experiences. If you spend a couple a days in the city before your cruise and plan ahead for your stay on the Breakaway, you will have a enjoyable cruise to the Western Caribbean that will make you want to come back. To set the background for my review, I want to note that this was my 7th cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines, and my 18th cruise overall. My wife and I have cruised over the Christmas/New Years holiday fourteen times. This was our third time on the Breakaway (our two previous holiday cruises sailed out of New York City). We also have a good deal of experience cruising with multiple cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Carnival. Over the past year, I had read a fair number of negative reviews about the Breakaway in Cruise Mate, so I was interested in finding out why this ship seems to bring forth so much negativity from other reviewers. I can definitively say that my wife and I had a great experience from start to finish. I have no reservations about recommending this cruise to anyone. One thing that I think has caused a great deal of frustration and negativity among NCL cruisers comes from the way the company markets it cruises. Their freestyle cruise ads suggest that you can do whatever you want whenever you want and have the time of your life. This is not really true. If you want to experience the most an NCL cruise has to offer, you have to prebook everything (your specialty dining, your shows, etc.) Your will have a better experience if you do this online in your Cruise Planner well ahead of time. As an example, we knew that we wanted to eat at Cagney’s around 6 PM, so we attempted to book this over two months ahead of time, but we had difficulty finding a day and time that worked for us. I can’t say it enough. Forget the freestyling - you will have a much better experience if you book your specialty dining and shows ahead of time in your Cruise Planner. This will help you to get the dining times and restaurants that you want along with the shows you want. If you wait until you get on the ship, the optimal dining times and shows will already be full. If your are given the opportunity to book something like a comic or other show, book it as soon as possible. A little bit of planning and booking will greatly enhance your onboard experience.

Great ship! Excellent Cruise Line! Love the free-style cruising experience. We are really happy with the experience of New Orleans being much more convenient for west cost folks and now direct flights being offered (we live in Seattle so Florida is a major challenge with travel). Having done over 10 cruises with Celebrity (another excellent cruise line), we were very impressed with NCL and especially the ship layout of the Breakaway had very good flow and amenities and we especially liked the multiple outdoor open walking areas (the waterfront was really nice since it also offered shade!). We were sufficiently impressed that we bought 2 cruise credits on board mid-trip so we are definitely going to go on NCL again.