Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The Haven class rooms are pricey, but worth every penny.  From fast boarding and disembarking, to the outstanding restaurant and decks, it allows for the best of both worlds - ready access to the ship and a private retreat. The Breakaway is very clean, well-maintained and has a friendly staff.  One drawback: smoking is allowed on most decks, the casino, and balconies.  For those of us that don't smoke, or want our kids or grandchildren exposed to 2nd hand smoke, this is an issue.  

This was our first cruise on Norweigan. The ship was very clean and modern. It had a very young vibe to it even though all ages were represented from families with small children to elders with disabilities requiring mobility assistance.

It was really fun. There was always something to do on board and a variety of excursions were available once in port. The night life was incredible with a big party on the upper deck every night. Additional entertainment was dispersed throughout the ship's bars and atrium.

Absolutely loved the any time dining. Took advantage of the liquor beverage package and the specialty dining package which were free offers options with our cruise. The liquor package was great and the drinks were very good. However, if you're a martini lover you will be paying extra because the standard martini was $19 and the package only compensated up to $15 per drink. The specialty dining was very good, especially because the food was made to order on site like a regular restaurant. The pub food was good too. Lots of choices for food throughout the ship. We never went to the café which served buffet style food which appeared to be very popular to the families on board. However, the main dining left something to be desired. The presentation of the food was always very nice but you could tell it was premade and waiting to be served. For example, I ordered a waffle for breakfast with whipped cream and got what appeared to be a slightly soggy (steamed waffle) with whipped cream in a cup that was melted to liquid. I realize the dilemma of serving food in a timely manner to this volume of passengers. Much of it must be prepared ahead of time so that orders

can be served in a timely manner.

We stayed in a spa mini-suite which was really nice and gave us access to the thermal pools and heated lounge chairs next to the spa on a daily basis. Highly recommend!!

You must go to the beach! The pink sand is incredible. It is cool to your feet even on a hot day. The island is not only beautiful but also very clean. The water was incredibly clear and beautiful (never saw so many colors of water from aquamarine to deep purple).

The naval dockyard at port is also a very clean, safe and fun place and readily accessible from the ship.

Staff was outstanding. Very courteous, friendly. Kudos to our captain who re-routed our ship to avoid bad weather and gave us an extremely smooth sailing experience. I really appreciated this because I am prone to motion sickness.

Overall, would highly recommend this cruise. The only negative is the overall quality of the food in the main dining areas.

Positives:

Dinner at the Restaurants were very good.

Cabin room was cleaned.

Free Style eating had limited spinach at breakfast.  There was always shortages.  Going back & forth to the omelet line was wrong only to be disappointed.  The Chef never refilled his pans with assorted foods to prepare omelets.

Improvements - Safety

Areas on the pool deck had hollow spots on the floor. You felt them when walking causing uneven surfaces.

The brown vinyl flooring on the pool deck was very slippery when wet.  I hydroplaned and fell upon the boat going up to the water slide.  That fall injured my left ankle, & toe.

We went fishing at Bermuda.  The captain fished while we fished.  He did not care for his mates.  This is wrong.  Plus the boat was catch & release which is fine.  However he kept all the fish that was caught upon the boat for his own dinner. 

As a frequent cruiser on NCL my family and I were disappointed as to the quality of service, food and overcrowding. The ship could not handle the amount of people on board. Chairs around the pool were not enough for all folks on the cruise. Service in all restaurants was terrible. Slow and food came out cold. In addition, the staff seemed unhappy and were not pleasant. All in all this was the worst cruise we have taken and the last on NCL.

NCL Breakaway is great, food is good but entertrainment is now mostly cost additional money, less complimentary shows and speciality dining.  Overall we enjoyed our vacation. 

The staff was not very friendly and there was no place in the cabins for our luggage. The dining areas always had the same menu as the other dining areas.

This was our second time on the breakaway, not as good as before. Taste and Savor restaurants for breakfast lacked good service. You hardly got what you ordered. "Toast" was always served as warm bread....no "toastiness" to it. Room service breakfast also didn't come as ordered which is a shame when you pay $7 for it.  We had the unlimited drink package and this is the first time NCL had pre-mixed Long Islands, which were nothing but sugar. Some bar tenders were awesome. I recommend you bring singles to tip the bar tenders to take care of you so you don't get watered down drinks. Room accommodations were on par with what I would expect. Room steward was great! Specialty restaurants  were well worth the money. Teppanaki and Moderno (Brazilian) were the best and well worth the money. Lots of funs stuff to do onboard. This was our fourth NCL cruise. Will give them one more chance and otherwise trying other cruise lines. 

Our family had a fun filled cruise with the rock climbing, walking the plank, zipline and all the water slides.  All the included restaurants were delish.  Lots of fun activities and movies in the Atrium.  All shows and performances were great.  I would recommend it to all and hope to do it again some time.

This was my first cruise. I loved being at sea, found the staff very helpful and friendly, and the food was varied and delicious (plenty of vegetarian options!). Overall, I had a great time, and would consider another cruise. The only thing that will stop me from coming back to the Breakaway is the cigarette smoke throughout the common decks. On the top deck, the smoking "area" was right next to the pool, and not well contained or ventilated, so cigarette smoke drifted everywhere. From the gambling area on deck 7, and the cigar bar on deck 8, the the smoking areas were also poorly ventilated, so that smoke drifted throughout the common areas, especially right around those two smoking zones, and throughout the large interior stairwell (we were smelling it as we ate at Le Bistro, on 6). The carpets have become smokey so that the common areas smell like cigarette smoke all the time. I would love it if Norwegian could replace the carpets, and fix the ventilation so that the smoke goes outside, instead of throughout the interior common areas.

The incredible vacation begins the moment you step onto the ship!!  The crew is amazing, the food is unbelievable and the entertainment is incredible. 

We have already booked our next cruise leaving in October.

Check out "Cagney's" steak house too.  You will LOVE IT!!!

We just returned from our 7-day cruise to Bermuda on the Norwegian Breakaway.  This is the second time we've cruised on the Breakaway and the fifth time we've cruised to Bermuda.  One reason we continue to cruise with NCL is that the crew does an amazing job of giving the guests the best possible cruise experience.  From our stateroom steward to the ship's captain, everyone is friendly, helpful, and nice.  We recommend cruising on any NCL ship.

We love Bermuda and can't wait to go back.  It's our paradise away from home.

Getting on board the ship. Arrived at the port at 10 am on Apr 30th. Finally got checked in, wai ted for 2 hours to finally get on board. Port was so small they couldn't accomadate passengers embarking and disembarking. Passengers were still getting off the ship at 1230pm. When I returned to to the Manhattan Cruise port the problem of disembarking still existed. I was in the 5th group to get off the ship. It was after 10am when I finally got to the baggage claim area.There were only 7 or 8 custom official to process 3,900 plus passengers. Unacceptable. Stateroom was clean, however the balcony door had Duct tape on the gasket to keep it from leaking. the little trash can in the bathroom was not fasten securely,so every time you used it you had to hold it up to close the door. Still hadn't been fixed when I disembarked. I paid extra money so I could enjoy a Bacolny view and thought that a newer ship would be in better shape than it was. Entertainment was not up to the standards that I experienced on other Norwegian Ships. 

Ship is way too big pool is very small not enough chairs at one venue for people to sit on staff is not friendly at all except for the housekeeping staff shows where okay food is nothing to write home about except for the specialty restaurants and needless to say Norwegian is our least favorite Cruise Line

Our favorite part was the excursions in Bermuda.

The ship was nice but too big for our taste. Too many people everywhere. 

We had to stand in line for 2 hours at embarkation, the ship was late coming in causing much congestion in the terminal.

We were also disappointed in the choices for complimentary entertainment.

The Second City Comedy was great, but the only other choice being Rock of Ages was very risque and not entertaining. What happened to just plain entertainment? 

I will always recommend NCL, but cruising just isn't what it used to be.

Excellent experience except for an extremely chaotic disembarkation.  Bermuda is amazing.  The majority of the staff went overboard to make you happy.

The Broadway shows on the ship are outstanding.  Loved our mini suite.  The crew and all the services are top notch.  The activities are well ran.  Lots for kids to do however we had no children with us.

Very nice ship with a large variety of things to do. Meals had several options that everyone loved. The entertainment was the best. We loved Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor.

Bermuda was a great port. Many things to do and the local busses and ferries we easy to use.

This has to be the cleanest cruise ship I've been on. The staff were very professional. Bermuda is gorgeous what a wonderful port to pull into, I like it better than Hamilton. Food was great!! Entertainment was outstanding!!! Definitely get your value on this ship.

we are platinum plus ffrom the beginning the so called help to our cabin in the HAVEN  was me pulling our two carryons trying to keep up with helpppp

by taking upgrade we lost our free stuff our gratuities we were told were not for the haven  so they treated us great so $250 out of pocket for tips  no internet the butler and cabin steward was excellent the concierge was non exsistant plus we paid $2500 additional for spa haven which was 2 floors below THE HAVEN bringing our total to higher then we would ofpaid for cabin  plus we were not given any perks that all others got in the HAVEN PLUS we were hereded like animals down 8 decks for drill unable to get an elevator for over a half an hour we were in cabin #14740 

best parts:

o'Sheehan's pub was fantastic. Good food, great service and awesome hours.

Buffet was set up well. Could get around, always could find a seat, nice 360 view.

family/group activities were fun and easy to join.

talented shows.

not so great things:

paying extra for an indoor pool and sauna area. 

Exercise class was $25 that is way too much. Royal only charges $10.

the show "Rock of Ages" was disgusting and crude. No need for such filth. The talent was great, it did not need to hide behind x-rated behaviors.