Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is a beautiful ship.  We sailed to Bermuda, I would recommend waiting until June to go as the weather was pretty hit or miss.  It's in the Atlantic so it's not as warm as you would hope.  Lots to do on the ship for young and old.

The best thing is the cruise director, DAN DAN. best i ever dealed with. great job by him. other wise it would be a so so cruise. after all this time NCL still can not get this food serving down. the buffet is always out of coffee at breakfast and running out of cups. the staff was great n always have a big smile for you but the management is not good. the buffet i would give it 2 stars, food is not up to par. you dont feel like you are on a ship, more like a big hotel.

Bermuda was the best vacation spot/port we have ever visited! I would recommend it to anyone.

The Breakaway is a great ship. When the weather is not good it is VERY crowded. It would be nice to spread the shopping and photo area out so as to not create such a crowd that no one can shop or gt through the hall/passage way. We would have shopped more if the area wasn't so restrictive and crowded. Besides that the ship was great!

The worst part of the trip was the port in New York. We most likely will not sail out of there again. The terminal cannot handle a ship the size of the Breakaway and this causes long lines both boarding and clearing the ship at the end. We stood in line two hours to get off the ship, get luggage, and clear customs. That is not acceptable.

Overall great trip with a few snags along the way!

Ship is way too big. I will never sail with Norwegian again!!!!! Reservation people suck!!!! Norwegian doesn't care in the least about it's past passengers and their latitudes program doesn't mean a thing

Overall I had a good experience. I got the ultimate dinning package which contributed a lot to my satisfaction. Without this package, food was just so so. For older kids, would prefer more actionable outdoor activities. 

In terms of technology, I think it needs an upgrade. Having to carry the room card at all times was a bit inconvenient. I used a wrist band at other cruise lines which made things so much easier. 

Also, having to pay for wifi to communicate with other members of your family on the ship is excessive. It was free on other cruise lines. 

It seemed as most of the travelers must have had the beverage package because bar service was extremely slow. This complaint was heard from several of the passengers. Beds were very uncomfortable and cabin layout is poor. The closet is so closed to the bed you have to turn sideways to get out of the bed. We always get a balcony room which normally has plenty of room to sit; this balcony was so small you couldn't move without hitting your knees on the glass front or your chair on the sliding door and I am only 5'4". The food was pretty good and there are many options.  Cagney's and the Italian restaurant were fantastic.  Plenty of recreation options for travelers with children.  Bermuda is very pretty and the people were friendly. Overall it was an o.k. cruise.

First cruise, will certainly cruise again soon. Very pleased with the ship accommodations and staff. The dining was spectacular, both the main dining as well as the specialty dining. The staff was very helpful and polite all the time. The Ultimate Beverage package is wonderful. Bermuda was very nice and having 2.5 days was enough time for us to see both Hamilton as well as St. George. Plenty to do on the island so do your DD before you head out on the cruise. If you like getting away from the crowds get the spa package...totally worth it. We sailed at the end of April and it is far too cold and windy to do the pool and tanning on the ship. But the weather in Bermuda was sufficient for beach and tan. Ocean is freezing cold, but doable if you are used to the Jersey shore. All in all fantastic time on the cruise and will cruise again.

Booking through American Airlines was simple and they are very helpful and great to work with.

They treated us like royalty and the shows were just non stop. The only problem we had was that it was only a week long. We just had so much to do and not enough time to do it in. 

My husband and close friends along with and myself traveled on the NCL Breakaway and were very disappointed with this cruise.

One of the reason's we booked this cruise was the adult swimming pool/hot tub and the Casino.  Normally, we can expect that these area's would be off limits to kids, however, we found that the adult swimming pool/hot tub was always filled with kids.  We never took advantage of the adult pool area.

The casino seem to have several kids playing machines.  When I inquired about both the pool and casino, I was informed that the staff did not want to upset the parents of the kids.  Made no sense to me and my husband.

Had several problems with staff not understanding what we wanted or said.  I have to say for the most part, the staff was wonderful (housekeeping) but it was difficult getting service while sitting at the bar.  Seems we were ignored because we were the older crowed.  Was disappointed with the Steak House.  The staff keep spilling things (alcohol, water) and got our order wrong.  I don't think they were happy with us. We were happy with most of the specialty restaurant however I don't think we'll be traveling on the NCL Breakaway out of NYC any time soon.  People were rude getting on the vessel.

Did do the Hawaii cruise and that was wonderful.  i would totally recommend the Hawaii cruise, but forget the NCL NYC cruise to the Bahama's.

Wonderfully clean ship, great steakhouses, great live entertainment.  Beach excursions where wonderful.  Some of the best snorkeling I've done in years.  The pool is way too small for the amount of people on board.  The adult pool was full of children from morning 'til night (albeit it was school vacation week).  We waited 1 1/2 hours in line to check in.  Plan accordingly.

From the staff to the restaurants we could not have been more happy. What a great time. You are treated like royalty from the time you leave till the time you get back. There's so much to do and thr staff make sure everyone is having a great time. Activities galore. 

WE HAD A GREAT TIME. I WISH WE NEW MORE ABOUT BOOKING OUR SHOWS SOONER , WE MISSED OUT. THE FOOD IS GOOD WISH IN THE MAIN DINING ROOM WE HAD THE SAME TABLE BUT WE UNDERSTAND WITH FREE DINING THATS HARD TO DO. OUR ROOM WAS GREAT BUT WISH THE ROOM HAD BEEN STOCKED AND CLEANED BETTER. DRINKS WERE GREAT AND BARTENDERS WERE AWESOME. ONLY ONE BAD BARTENDER DECK 8 MALTINGS BAR, HE WAS "MISERABLE"!!! OVERALL A GREAT BOAT AND A GREAT TIME!!!! WE ARE GOING AGAIN NEXT YEAR! THANKS

At this point I would say we are experienced "cruisers" as we have now been on 8 in total.  This cruise was a disappointment.  We knew it would be crowded as it was a school vacation week so we knew what to expect as far as long lines, impossible to get lounge chairs etc.  With that being said, we found ourselves to be very bored while on the ship.  On the days at sea there was hardly any entertainment going on at the main deck (no live band) just background music.  There would be one guest activity at around 1:00 (ex. men's sexy legs) but after that nothing.  As for night entertainment they had a few shows.  I would recommend Rock of Ages.  As for the food, if you are traveling with any food allergies I would say BEWARE.  My son and I have a severe tree nut allergy and honestly did not feel safe with the way it was handled.  You had to pre-order for the next night but even doing so when you mentioned that you had a pre-order to your waiter they seemed confused.  On other cruise lines, you get to know your waiter and they understand by day two what your allergy is and make sure you are safe.  There is one restaurant that claims to be nut free but it has the same boring menu (wings, burgers, salad) and after eating there a few times it gets old.  All in all we had an OK time.  I would cruise Norwegian again but definitely not this ship or a ship this size. 

It was very disorganized getting on the ship, performing the muster drill, using the tenders to get on and off the private island, and getting off the ship.  Does not appear the ship is capable of handling the number of passengers on the ship.

It took almost 3 hours to get on to the private island since they could not properly time the tenders.  It was like the first time they did this operation. Same on the return standing in the sun waiting for tenders and several came at once rather then having them timed.

Another complaint was that even with prepaying for the specialty restaurants, still had to pay an addition fee for some of them which was almost the cost of the main course.

This is the 2nd time I've taken this cruise (during April school vacation).  Both times I had my teenage (13, then 14 year old daughter). The main reason I took it the 2nd time was because she had so much fun last year.  Entourage, the teen club, is great/kids seem to love it (I rarely saw my daughter!)

The ship is huge, which I didn't think I'd like, but I turned out being fine with the size, primarily because it offers you so many options in terms of things to do.

I got both the unlimited beverage package and specialty dining package this year, and both are, in my opinion, great.,  I tried 5 specialty restaurants: Cagney's, La Cucina, Teppanyaki,  Moderno, and Le Bistro.  I did end up paying for one of them, since the package only includes 4 nights, which I hadn't noticed.  La Cucina was my favorite and Le Bistro my least favorite.  Would I bother paying extra for them?  Probably not, since the food in the free restaurants is surprisingly good.  Be sure and check out the noodle bar some night, as well as the small lunch buffets at Moderno. O'Sheehans has good,late night, post-drinking food (wings, burgers, and great fries).

The main pool area is crazy crowded, but a good alternative for adults is H2O on deck 16.  I also think that paying for a week's pass to the thermal suite is well worth it (access to a quiet, indoor, adults-only therapy pool, hot tubs, saunas, steam bath, salt room, showers, and my favorite--the heated tile lounge chairs). 

Shakers martini bar is very nice (try the cucumber basil martini), and the music in Fat Cats (Blues/Jazz) is good.

I'm not a fan of the ports (Cape Canaveral and Nassau), but Cocoa Beach  (Cape Canaveral) and the Blue Lagoon (island in Nassau) were both nice.  Norwegian's private island is nice, but crowded/takes quite a while to get off the ship since they only had 2 tenders going.

All in all, if you can get a decent price and live anywhere near New York, it's a fine place to take your kids on school vacation.  Would I go without kids?  Probably not.

We have been on the breakaway before so we knew what to expect.  That was helpful as the first time we did expect more!  That said we had a good time.  we booked at the last min an anywhere suite and were given a spa suite by the elevator.  That was really great!  The food is good, to very good.  Many selections, our favorite place to eat is the Manhattan Room. Live  Music  and dance.  At times very noisy but still I love the music while we ate.  Kids were off from school and even though we didn't have any,  they kept them busy and happy.  the dinning rooms were full of large parties.  But the staff handled it well.

As before the things we didn't like were still there.  The extra charges for room service or seeing a movie in your room.  the poor TV stations, also they had the same shows as before on TV so after the first 2 week cruise nothing to watch but the news!

Because of the kids they had some 3D movies in the theater they had a great sound system and the 3D worked well.   

Had a message and it was really one of the best I ever had!  Expensive but worth it, helps you relax for the rest of the trip. 

Great Stirrup Cay there was a tender but if you were patient all went smoothly,  It  was great the highlight of the trip!  water a little cold but we went in and enjoyed the full day in the sun.  Again many activities to keep the kids occupied for free, a tram to get around was helpful, the afternoon BBQ nice but not great.  

Port Canaveral we have been to many times before, much to do there, I really wouldn't choose Disney to far and not enough time in the park.  We found a great park and had a picnic and enjoyed the day.

Nassau again we have been there many times, so we walked around town and enjoyed the day.  some people went by taxi to Atlantis and had a hard time getting back.  Two people missing the boat! 

The shows were the same as before but we enjoyed them.   They only have the same show 2x's so no show on the 2nd night?  They say so all can see it.  Well maybe a lounge show?  Second city was very tame due to  the amount of kids in the audience.  Again had to book in advance.  Overall a good trip for us. 

The cruise was good but I was disappointed that the group that I booked with didn't all receive the same credit. I understand that we all stayed in different grade of rooms, but all of us booked excursions and we all didn't receive the same excursion credits.

Also, we when we booked we weren't informed that we had to pay for things like beverage packages, spa packages and meal packages. Had we known that we could have paid a few hundred dollars more and we could have stayed in the Haven Suites and all of those things would have been included; we would have booked that.

First I wouldn't rate as a 3 but more of a 2.5.    We anticipated this trip for so long that it was disappointing to have the service we did.  I'll provide Pros and Cons.

Pros:1- Travelling with a special needs child, we received the utmost care and attention including and escort off the ship so that we don't wait online.  2- We also had warm Lactaid delivered to my 3 year autistic son every night in a nice warm carafe.

3- Service provided by Mr. Humberto Vaz, Mr. Jytin Vyas, Ms. Ingrid (don't know last name) and the entire splash academy was excellent!  They really went above and beyond.  

Now the Cons:1- Overcrowding everywhere.  Now I expected this given that we are in the spring break season BUT what I didn't expect was this entire ship overtaken by kids and drunken adults. Kids taking over hot tub, pools and buffet lines behaving rudely, badly and plain disrespectfully. No parental supervision and no security either.  I get that it's a vacation for all but I paid just like everyone else and couldn't even come close to enjoying the amenities these animals did.  Kids running down the halls like it's a stampede at all hours of the night ;  bumped into my son and when I asked her to say excuse me she said she's in a rush and i should move... mind you parents are right there!!!!  When i go to a Hilton kids are not allowed to be anywhere unsupervised. I think the cruise line needs something similar.  My kids did not behave that way and they were supervised at ALL times. 2- I’m not sure of your idea of a vacation but spending it with 5k people at GSC is NOT my idea of a vacation.  You had a family taking up 1/2 the beach with their huge floats, chairs taken, drunkenness at the beach- how can anyone enjoy their time.  Here's what my family and I did.  We got there at 10:30 and left at noon to get away from the mess.  Again, folks lost their minds and mannerisms here.  I don't like sitting or being on top of everyone and nor should anyone have to deal with that.  Perhaps breaking out the experience from a 10-1 for one group and then a 1-4 would work?  5k people all at once is not my idea of fun! 3- Multiple instances of rude staff. Woman at the buffet told my son 'to find his own straw' when he asked.  I approached her and she said she couldn't help him.  That's when Mr. Vaz enters the picture to help us out.  What a wonderful man!  At the MIXX bar, I asked for a Toma which calls for Voli Lemon. I noticed Rohit (bartender) using Voli Original and passed the drink to me.  I told him the menu says Voli Lemon, he said 'so are you saying you won't drink it?' and had an attitude. 4- O' sheehans- Terrible,service. Seats were wet in the booths and one order of wings took well over 40 minutes.  My autistic son had to wait 40 minutes (not kidding) for a damn hot dog! I told the waiter that he cannot wait and I need his food first.  He ignored me and said 'happy happy, wakey wakey'.   5- Instead of having washy washy people, perhaps you might want to invest in your people and have security around in the buffet at all times as opposed to people spraying your hands.  An automatic can do the sanitary part. 6- How can you have Wine Tasting show at 12:30pm on Saturday as an adults show and not have splash academy open to accommodate?  That's one show I wanted to see but b/c splash wasn't open I couldn't.   Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor were a daily show and how can you only offer wine tasting show only once during the ship. The woman at the box office told me that 'it's not her problem about splash' if i can't go. 7-There weren't any family activities but pizza and cupcake making. All by the way one day at one time.  Not staggered.  What kind of madhouse are you guys creating?  8- There is an overall lack of behavior - people cutting in line, overcrowding and nasty behavior.  Security does nothing about it.  Life guards are present and they see kids in hot tubs and nothing nothing is said about it!  You're paying those guys to do nothing.  9- Every charge on board is nickel and dimed.  I have to be told about a tax while at port for my drinks- but I can't be accommodated for the specialty restaurants? if It wasn't for Mr. Vaz we wouldn't have been able to go to Moderno.  10- Smoking is disgusting and should be banned all together.  Walking on the 7th floor is terrible and my kids should not have to be subject to the group of breeding smokers all huddled together.   11- Since when did casinos allow kids to be in there.  Foxwoods doesn't even allow you to enter let alone sit and play... that's what happens on 7. 12- The restaurants didn't even offer anything good (except Manhattan).  It looked like the buffet food presented nicely in a plate.  On Royal Caribbean escargot and lobster were standard and free. I traveled on RC and that service is far better than what we experienced.  I would prefer the same waiter daily as opposed to some schulb who could care less about our needs.  

I would not travel  Norwegian Cruise line again! The service and the  hospitality  was horrible. Most of the employees were rude and not friendly at all. Some employees were races to my family 

.  Also everything on the cruise ship to have to pay extra for. Never again 

Too many people and kids.  Kids running throughout the ship and the Casino.  Kids gambling in the Casino.  It took an hour to get off the ship in Port Canaveral the first stop because there was so many people on the ship.  The second stop was their island.  We waited 2 1/2 hours to get off the boat to go over to the island.  When we got there there were swarms of people, their chairs were on top of one another in lines 20 deep.  It was difficult to get a chair.  The cruise line had four boat to take people on and off the island.  They were only using two which we had no idea why.  You had to wait in long lines to get a hamburg.  But they were really good.  All in all the food was fairly good on the ship.  The help were basically rude.  If you asked them a question they wouldn't even look up to answer you.  In fact, I got the feeling they felt they were doing you a favor helping you.  There were not that many attendance that went around asking if you would like a drink.  We had the beverage package but when I asked to get a bottle of water I was told they would have to charge me.  One bingo session was close to $40 a person.  The prices were awful.  The bingo was sold out and there were 3 prices, $300, $400 and $500.  The ships help that did the entertainment were amatueur and silly.    There are more negatives but all I will say is that I will never sail with Norwegian again.