Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We've been on several cruises and had wonderful experiences and we really expected this one to be amazing but it was such a huge disappointment. 

1. There was almost no family appropriate entertainment.  Not a single show in the Breakaway Theater was okay for kids.  Rock of Ages--the main show was inappropriate enough that they made multiple special announcements that it was adults-only. During the unfortunate day when we had to tender to the private island they had us all line up in the theater and we got to enjoy an hour of staring at the stage complete with a giant sign (from the production) reading "LIVE NUDES." That made for some interesting discussions with the kids... The other shows in the theater (a ballroom dance show and a Broadway singer) were just boring. Literally the only entertainment that we found bearable was a comedy show. The daily programming was also baffling. There were endless rounds of bingo and art auctions (of the tackiest art ever) and spa demonstrations and Deal or no Deal, but there was NOTHING for families except a "cupcake decorating" event where-in we stood in a line and got a cupcake, a spoonful of frosting, and a spoonful of sprinkles so we could "decorate" with our kids, and an ice carving demonstration on the pool deck, and a fruit carving demonstration in the atrium.  That was it.  All week.  Including FOUR sea days.

2. The New York departure port made for a very cold start and end to the cruise.  This was unfortunate because literally the only thing to do on sea days were the activities on the sun deck. The rock climbing wall, water slides and ropes course were actually pretty cool, but they were closed a good deal of the time.

3. The food was bad.  Perhaps all the good food was saved for the specialty restaurants?  Either way, the food in the main dining rooms (The stuff you get paying for the cruise) was really sub-par--dry meats with sticky gravy and pastas with red sauces.  Even the desserts were disappointing. The wait staff was lovely though.

4.  The entire main area of the ship (including the atrium, nearly all the specialty restaurants, the comedy club, the art gallery, the casino and more, featured an enormous cloud of second hand smoke. Whoever designed this ship was either a smoker or an idiot.  This was actually my biggest gripe with the ship. Smoking causes lung cancer.  We know this.  It is not 1950. Why in heaven's name would you design a ship so that smoking areas were open to EVERYTHING and everyone gets to breathe in the second hand smoke from the handful of people smoking? This was so gross, and there was literally no way through the 6-8th floors without going through it.

5.  The kids clubs were very disappointing.  On of the first nights we were there the kids were taken to a dance club (right in the center of the smoking area) and told to dance.  One staff member, frustrated that the kids weren't enjoying the activity, shouted, "You need to do the activity!  If you don't, we'll tell your parents and they'll be mad at you." Because manipulation is cool.  Our kids wouldn't go back after that night and we were okay with that.  If people are working with kids they need to have some kind of basic training in how to deal with kids.  This was the worst trained staff of any cruise ship we've ever been on.

6. The private island was pretty awful too.  There was construction going on everywhere and if felt so crowded. They only had food available for 2 hours and the lines were long.  And when they shut down the food stations they also shut down the drinks...which meant no water for hours on a hot humid island.

7. This was supposed to be one of the biggest, best ships in the Norwegian fleet.  It was big, but it was also horribly crowded.  We've been on big ships where the crowds and traffic flow were managed well and it didn't feel like we were right on top of each other.  This was not one of those ships.  It felt horribly crowded.  We were lucky that we remembered to get reservations to the restaurants before we left and didn't have to wait (sometimes hours!) for a table, many others were not as lucky. 

Other disappointments included:

-No watchable movies.  They did have an 11:15 PM showing of kids movies several nights in the smoky atrium.  It was probably good that all the kids were already asleep...

-5 television channels featuring news and sports only.

-Music that consisted of Gloria Estefan tribute shows on the ship and insanely bad "island music" on the island.

I could kind of go on forever.  This was a bad trip. The consensus at the end was that if someone offered us this trip for FREE we would pass. Please, please don't spend money on it unless you like casinos, second hand smoke, and spa demonstrations.

Bigger is not better or even good in this case.

Overall, it was great but since we have been on many cruises (mostly NCL)--we did notice some changes since the last time we were cruising on the Breakaway.

First night---we are in New York in March, it was cold....seemed like all restaurants servers or the kitchen were not ready for the amount of people that are not eating in all restaurants instead of the Garden Cafe.  Very poor service/meal the first night.  Every night after that was superb.  Seemed like the ship was wearing a little even the bedspreads and sheets were thinning. Maybe some more rust deterrent outside in places.  We love everything about NCL.....so happy to be Platinum now!!   Probably can't begin to state all of the fabulous things about our vacation but the Private Island was the highlight of the cruise..loved it!!  Even though there was alot of families b/c of spring break---we didn't feel the anxiety that goes along with cruising with 4000 people including children. We would definitely suggest this cruise and NCL for families for many reasons.

The Breakaway was very nice.  Food was good and employees very helpful and friendly.  The only bad point was our cabin.  We could not regulate the temperature in the cabin so was very hot for us.  We reported it 3 times but got no answers the entire trip.  We were in a balcony mini suite so at least we could open our door at night.  The hallway outside our cabin was cool.  I even took to sleeping on the balcony a few nights to get respite from the heat. 

This is a great cruise with a lot of at sea time to enjoy the Beautiful Breakway. Due to the size of the ship while dining the food usually comes up on the cool side and is never really hot. The restaurant service is on the slow side which makes for a very leisurely meal. The tendering service at their island great stirrup cay is very slow getting off the ship and very slow with very long lines getting back on. The island is very beautiful however it is difficult to find a lounge chair due to the crowds.  There is a very nice buffet on the island but the lines are very long.

On board the staff is very nice and tries to be very helpful. The ship is beautifully appointed and has a lot of activities no time to be board.

The water slides on the ship were my favorite part of the cruise.  The cruise was great food was good.  The only problem was the tendering took to long.

My husband and I had a wonderful time.  The food was excellent and plentiful.  There were many options for dining, even without the dining package.  Staff were helpful and always cheerful.  They took good care of us.

We were unable to get a handicap accessible room.  My husband uses an power chair.  Despite this he was able to maneuver throughout the ship with ease.  This was our first cruise and we definitely plan on going again.

From the minute you walk on the boat until you leave there is tons of food and drinks available. I really like the free style dining so you can eat on your own schedule. If you can get the ultimate beverage package as part of cruise package for free that is a huge value. The boat is new and rooms are very nice. Even when at sea for 2 days we always had plenty of fun stuff to do. The staff is nice and always try there best. If you driving into the NY port area I recommend the Hilton garden hotel in NJ -stay one night and you can leave your car parked there and they will shuttle you to the port. The only caution for this cruise is they will charge a service fee of $13.5 per day per person - so for us with 4 people in the cabin I was surprised by the $350 charge.

This cruise was the fifth on this itinerary, and the third on the Breakaway. Although the Breakaway is lovely and the designed to hide the fact that there are often over 4,000 passengers, it all comes to naught when tendering everyone to Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island.  When just about everyone wants to get off at the same time, it lierally takes hours.  These mega ships are just too large, and it seems that's all that is being built now.  I just learned that my favorite ship, the Gem, is being removed from New York after next year and is being replaced by a ship even larger than the Breakaway.  How sad!  I guess I just will have to find a new cruise line near by with a smaller ship. (Summit)

Nothing to do but relax and enjoy the view, sun, food, bars, shows.  Staff was so pleasant, and handworking..ship was super clean!  Special dining restaurants were amazing..food cooked and seasoned to perfection.. ready to go again!

Breakaway, awesome ship.  Cagneys as usual "best" fillet mignon @ sea.

Westher was perfect.

Shows excellent.

Moderno sub par compared to other NCL "Moderno's".

Manhattan terminal cannot properly handle this many passengers.  Over 1.5 hour delay to board.  Disembarking delayed due to

I absolutely loved this cruise. The staff was friendly, the ambiance was awesome, food delicious and the drinks were even better. What would make it better is if we had more time at the ports but it would prolong the cruise. I would definitely recommend it to everyone no matter the age.

We bid on a Haven stateroom and got the penthouse. We loved the whole experience. The Haven restaurant was excellent.  The staff were all wonderful. Meg was great to work with at every step.

Nice cabins (we had a balcony). No covered pool!!! It's cold sailing out and to New York. Don't plan being outside much (first and last day) if sailing anytime from October to March! Buffet is good, regular restaurant is below average cruise. Menu is not very appealing. Cabins are clean, personnel is nice. 

The ship was nice, the food was amazing, and the staff were courteous. But I would strongly caution against cruising during spring break. We had 4 college age/early-20s kids in the rooms on either side of ours and they were loud until 2-3 each morning. We complained, and security apparently spoke with them and they were more quiet afterwards, but I would not book again during the spring break period as I did not realize how many spring-breakers would be on the ship. Other than that the cruise was great. If you're ok with loud, heavy-drinking college kids during spring break then go ahead, but if you want to choose your own bed time and not have it dictated by 21 year olds, pick another sailing date. 

This is my first time cruise with family for school break.  I liked almost everything on board. good buffet food, polite staff, good service and many activities.

We really enjoyed our vacation in Norwegian.

If Norwegian could provide some sort sightseeing service on certain stop, that will be a plus.

The Norwegian employees are friendly and well trained.  Our cabin was quite comfortable.  The food at the complimentary restaurants was amazing.  We had a great meal no matter when we sat down to eat!  The excursions were fun.  However,  disembarking in Florida was a bit of a challenge.  It seemed as if there weren't enough boats to take everyone to shore.

Varieties of activities for every one. Never bored even a minute on the ship. I would ask NCL management to organize a better and an effective way of tendering to and from the ship. I would recommend NCL Breakaway to any age and any group. 

My favorite part of the cruise was the dining. Every meal we had was excellent. The second favorite was the service, the staff was was accommodating, majorly and always friendly and efficient. My least favorite part of the cruise was the cold days at sea. During these days the ship seemed overcrowded, loud and too busy.

Best parts of the cruise: specialty restaurants, overall quality of foods in all other venues, attentive and helpful staff, two shows were excellent (Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor), overall cleanliness, 

Other:  cabins are long and narrow, hard to get to closets with the room design, small balcony deck, many many bars, few items to bring home as treats such as candy and cookies, embarkations was smooth but disembarkation was NOT.

The ship is marvelous. The cabin we had was spacious (handicap room) and the bathroom was excellent. The service was sub par, I have been on other cruises and this was by far the worst. The waiters and waitresses were often depressed looking and short. I don't agree with the automatically charged "service fee". I feel they didn't deserve it. The activities on the ship are very good, the water park is great. Mini-golf is fun. Did not get to try the rope course due to high winds, but it definitely looks like a good time. The pool was undersized for the amount of people that wanted to swim. The hot tubs fill up fast (as always). The food gets boring after day 4. I won't be taking another NCL cruise. I won't recommend NCL to anyone.