Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

To celebrate our 49th anniversary, we booked the Norwegian Breakaway for a 3-day stay in Bermuda.  We had a balcony mini-suite, which was similar to rooms we have had on Royal Caribbean Oasis and Allure, except that the Norwegian bathroom had a walk-in shower.  Leaving from NYC is very different than we are used to.  We drove to the pier (we live in MD, only 3 hours away), paid $40/day in advance and schlepped our luggage across the parking lot to a freight elevator, where we met the porters.  Back on the elevator, we went up to the check-in area, which was totally satisfactory.  We boarded around noon.

Lunch was being served so we tried the buffet.  Not bad at all, actually better than the Oasis and Allure.  We had purchased the Ultimate Dining Package, so we only had breakfast at the buffet.   The specialty restaurants are excellent - Le Bistro, La Cucina, Cagney's didn't disappoint.  However, Ocean Blue (where we paid an additional fee) was very good, but somewhat disappointing.  This was the restaurant where we planned to have our special anniversary dinner.  The wine list (yes, we're wine snobs) was smaller than we had hoped for, although every wine was available by-the-glass as well as the bottle.  The biggest rub came when we were looking over the wonderful dessert menu.  Our waiter brought over a 6-inch cake as an anniversary gift and proceeded to cut a small slice and serve it to us.  So much for dessert.  We did leave there somewhat disappointed, believing that we would be "wowed" by the Geoffrey Zakarian restaurant.  There is also a Brazilian Steakhouse, a habachi restaurant and a raw bar.  O'Sheeans pub has excellent food, but doesn't have Guiness on tap.  Plenty of beers are available, though.  We booked the Chef's Table - worth every dollar!  3 hours of eating and drinking in a wonderful setting, in The Haven.

The ship itself is pretty easy to navigate and has tons of activities for kids and adults.  The biggest minus was the lack of swimming pools and availability of deck chairs.  Since we were at sea for 5 days, we wanted to spend leisure time lounging in the sun.  If we got to the adult area after 10:30, or so, we were shut out of deck chairs.

The shows are among the best we have seen.  The Cirque dinner show was great as was Burn the Floor (a history of dance).  Rock of Ages was brilliant, but DO NOT bring children to this adult-themed show, as some people did.  The theater is very comfortable with good views from almost any place in the theater.

If you are going to play slots, do it on the first night.  Everyone seemed to be winning big (we did).  But after the second day, they "tightened up" the slots and tried to get back most of what they gave away the first night.  We stopped after the third day.  We also went on the Behind the Scenes tour.  It was just so-so after we had done this on the Allure the year before.

The staff, as on most cruise ships, were friendly and helpful.  The disembarkation was without incident and really fast.  We will probably go on Norwegian again in the future.

We loved the Breakaway.  We went in May, so I suspect there were fewer kids than June, July and August.  We took advantage of the fun activities on board, such as the water slides, ropes course, zip line, mini golf, and hot tubs.  We skipped the climbing wall, but others seemed to enjoy it. We hardly waited in line at all, and the water things had little or no crowding.  The staff was excellent, friendly, and helpful.  The captain himself was on deck several times, chatting with passengers and answering questions.  I have only one area with less than totally enthusiastic approval.  The shows are quite good, though not always kid friendly, but since we didn't have quite enough information for reserving seats at the less popular shows,  we ended up with a couple nights with no shows to go to.  Next time, I would try to get a more complete show schedule for some of the shows not in the main venues, like Second City.  Also, while I enjoyed the dinner served at Cirque de Soleil, I found trying to eat while not taking my eyes off the show and in the dark to be a bit of a distraction.  If we had had a choice, I would have chosen show only, with no dinner.  Some people complain about the food on Norwegian, but I have no complaints.  We ate at the Garden Cafe, Manhattan Room, Savor, Taste, O'Sheehan's, and Uptown Grill.  All are included in the cruise price.  The food was very good and the staff very friendly and helpful.  We liked Savor and Taste better than Manhattan, as we found them to be less crowded and quieter (and maybe a bit friendlier), but again everything was very good. I should note that we ate before 6:30, and had no real waits. Lastly, I have two disappointments, though not directly related to the cruise line.  First, we had a noisy neighbor, whom we asked once to lower the music after 11:00, and that was the end of the music.  However, on the last night of the cruise, for some reason between 11:30pm  and 12:30 am, there was a lot of yelling and banging next door, which we chose to try to ignore.  I wish we had known if there is staff or department to call to request keeping it down.  Second: Snorkel Beach now charges $5 to get on the small crowded and not impressive beach.  We decided to skip it.  Spend $9 round trip instead and take the local bus (#7) to the free and incredible beach at Horseshoe Bay. ( I don't recommend the $30 excursion price from the ship, unless you have trouble walking about 1/4 mile or less from the bus stop down to the beach.) I don't have a lot of cruise experience to compare with, having taken one other Norwegian Cruise to Bermuda and one Princess Cruise to the Caribbean.  This one exceeded my expectations and was my favorite, so far.  Here are some hints that might be helpful: Use sunscreen generously, the sun burns quickly.  There are few clocks, but the boards at the stairways and the tv in the rooms have the time, and can be used to make show reservations.  Do try the water slides and rope course, they are thrilling (to a just past middle aged person and accompanying young adults ) and safe. If you are at all inclined to go ashore, walking around the Wharf area is very pleasant, and Horseshoe Bay is worth the effort. Bring a little power strip for recharging, there are only two plugs.  As well, bring a spare credit card shape to put in the door slot so that you can recharge when not in the room.  Have a great trip. I hope you love it as much as we did.

Overall cruise was just ok, not great. PROS: Ship was super clean, staff were fantastic, room was great, teen program was wonderful, and Bermuda was gorgeous. CONS: Food was mediocre at best, often overcooked with way too much salt. Main pool and hot tubs were inaccessible due to overcrowding and the same people hogging it all day long with no one making sure everyone could have a turn. If you didn't claim your spot as soon as it opened, you didn't get in. Onboard entertainment was terrible, with the only exception being the Rock of Ages show, and even in that the sound mixer had the bass so loud you could barely hear the solo singers. The pool band Jammroc was awful, and often let passengers go up and sing. If I wanted to hear passengers sing I would go to karaoke. The only other onboard act was a duo named Arvin & Emily who sounded great, but they sang only slow songs and would repeat the same songs every show. Many activities had an extra charge, and many of the "seminars" were just infomercials to get you to buy products from the spa or gift shops.

The Good: -The ship is new, and the staterooms are well laid out to maximize space efficiently.

-Despite being a big ship, it is easy to get around. The specialty restaurants, casino, bars, and shopping are all in one spot, mid ship on three decks.

-The entertainment is some of the best I have seen on a cruise ship with Second City performing in the comedy lounge, and Rock of Ages in the main theater. They also show 3D movies in the main theater. -The top deck has several water slides and a ropes course, but they won't let you bring a camera on it, because they want to sell you photos. The Bad: -By far the worst service I have ever received on a cruise. Carnival and Celebrity were both far superior. When dining at the main restaurants service is extremely slow, and you actually have to walk out of the restaurant to find a bar if you want anything to drink other than water. We had dirty dishes on our table for 30 minutes. My wife's mean came out 15 minutes before mine did. You can seriously get better service at Denny's.  This was not a single night either. It consistently happened at every mean except one. The specialty restaurants are better, but at $40 a person, you get the same quality food and service you get at the complimentary restaurants on other cruise lines. -The "beer and whiskey bar." They advertise 29 bars on the ship, but they all serve exactly the same thing. The marketing made a big deal about Maltings Beer and Whiskey bar, but they didn't really have a selection of beer or whiskey.  They had the same six light lagers (Coors, Budweiser, Miller, Heineken, Amstel Light, and Corona) that the other bars on the ship had. You can't call yourself a beer bar when you only have six beers that all taste the same.  On the Celebrity Summit they had a beer bar with over 100 varieties of craft beers from all over the world.  They also had a total of 4 bourbons, and a handful of scotch, and Jameson, so their whiskey selection wasn't much better. -The staff on the ship are friendly but not professional. It seems like they are there more for their own fun than for the service of the passengers. We tried to get a table at a specialty restaurant, but were turned away because the tables were all filled with crew members that already had tables. -The food was by far the worst I have experienced as well. The cafeteria was OK, and it was easy enough to find something to eat, but the food at the complimentary sit down restaurants was pretty awful. Case in point was a spinach dip we ordered that consisted of a single spinach leaf in a soup of cornstarch. It was inedible. -More of a minor inconvenience, but the casino advertised live poker tournaments, but what they didn't tell you is that the ship keeps 25% of the purse plus the first $2,000 of your winnings, to buy you into another tournament on a different cruise later in the year. That means if there is $3,000 in the tournament, the casino keeps the first $750, then the next $2,000 of your winnings, and leaves you with a lousy $250. -Many of the problems with this ship is that everything seems to be geared to get you to spend more money. For example, no cameras on the ropes course in order to get you to buy their photos. Poor service in the complimentary dining rooms in order to get you to spend more at the specialty restaurants. -One huge plus side to the general lack of service of the crew is that we talked to several people who were able to easily smuggle alcohol onto the ship from port. On other cruises, they watch you like a hawk when you come on board on confiscate alcohol. This is a case where the lack of professionalism can work to your advantage, if you want to sneak your own booze on. Bottom Line: This was a really disappointing experience. The worst part about it was that the Celebrity Summit had nearly the identical itinerary, but since we had already been on that ship we wanted to try something new. That was a huge mistake. I would definitely never sail on the Breakaway again, and most likely avoid Norwegian altogether.

Very nice ship with plenty of room for everyone.

The ship was fully booked, however, it was always room in either garden cafe or at any other restaurants, bars, etc.  

Very easy going atmosphere, nice crowd, excellent pools and sport complex!!

Food could be better though as well as entertainment.

Really like restaurants  and bars on the waterfront. 

Bermuda was very nice. The people were friendly and the island was very clean and inviting.

The Breakaway, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired. The staterooms are very small. The shows on the ship were second rate at best and the sound volume was set dangerously high. After the first night reservations were required for all shows (what was that about freestyle cruising). The food in the dining room was no better than on would expect from a cheep buffet. I guess the good food is kept in the extra-charge dining rooms. We will be going back to Carnival for our next cruise.

What an awesome experience. The crew and staff were magnificent. Everyone was polite and always ready to take care of your every need. We were never lacking in entertainment, games and just plain relaxation. It was a wonderful way to travel. Loved the fact that you were docked for 3 days at Bermuda which gave you plenty of opportunity to visit the entire island. I hope to do it again in the future. The stateroom was spacious and plenty big enough for 2 people. The only issue I had was if you were in the middle of the ship there was no way to tell what dock you were on. The elevators were the only area that identified the deck number. I would recommend putting the deck number in other conspicuous areas of the ship away form the elevators.

Norwegian is awesome. The Breakaway was a fabulous ship and I am sure we will travel on her again. My title refers to . In this case we did not read the fine print and were screwed out of our $50 on board credit. Apparently, in order to receive said credit we were required to fill out a form (not supplied) and mail it more than 21 days prior to our cruise. Our Agent failed to mention said caveat to our OBC and as such we didnt receive any. So, the cruise and the cruise line get 5 stars. gets 0. We won't be using this service again, as we will direct book with Norwegian from now on. Oh, CC graciously refunded us $50 after the fact, uh yeah!

Traveled on this ship last year to Bermuda in June, loved it then and had a great time this year! Probably will go again next year. Food was very good everywhere we ate. We had the unlimited beverage package, nice plus!

Unable to sleep at night. It sounded like furniture was being scraped across the floor above us.The noise continued until at least 2:00 A,M. each night. Could not get into the theater without prior reservations. The theater seats are so uncomfortable that we only went to one show and the music was so loud it required earplugs. What happened to the lobster? one night I ordered shrimp ans beef brisket. Brisket was delicious, however there were exactly two shrimp. Up in the Garden Cafe I told the room captain the although the tables were being cleared, they were not being washed between guests. When I requested a table be washed so that we could sit and enjoy our meal, he promptly turned his back and walked away. Many drink and ice dispensers did not function. When we told anyone about the problem the answer was always the same, Use the one at the other end. Not easy when carrying a plate of food in a very crowded room. Oh how the ads bragged on the rope course and rock wall. Good luck with that! They are closed more than they are open. We are not novice cruisers and at least five have been with NCL. We Will Think twice before sailing with NCL again.

 This vacation was awesome!!!! I choose the studio room which was perfect for me!  I also went with the ultimate dining package, I went to a different restaurant every night.  I loved all of the shows and the staff was Amazing.  You will not be disappointed!

What i liked about this cruise: food, very clean, service was good. What I do not like: passengers allowed to smoke almost everywhere and it was hard to find no smoking area, too many alcohol and drank people (feels like you at the  bar where everybody drank and smoke 24/7), the atmosphere is too boring (the cruise director only makes announcements, otherwise we never new he exist), cabin and balcony very small, no entertainment, ship has no decoration, no personality, pool is very small. I was on 20+ cruise trips and this one was not my favorite at all. 

great cruise enjoyed the food , activities and the entertainment, I will say I found the common areas a little cramped not much room around the pool areas, doorways to staterooms were also cramped, bermuda was beautiful

I cruise a lot, This cruise is not the greatest but good enough. This must be my bad luck. The room steward was the worst ever. Everyday, he forgot something. This guy, Wesley needs more training. NCL must have budget problem. They still use wooden chairs in Headliner club. My bottom hurt after 5-10 minutes.

was very good and thorough with our reservations and plans. No complaints.  Will certainly use Criuses.com again. 

The cruise to Bermuda was wonderful.  Accomodations, dining and activites were excellent.  The crew, the staff and especially our room steward were also excellent.

One downside was the disembarkation process on the final day.  A nightmare.

Freestyle cruising is the only way to go, but these large ships take freestyle out of the equation as reservations are required for most entertainment & dinning. Also game shows should not be held in the Atrium, not enough room to be comfortable, cannot get to the internet terminals, and all the chairs removed. Game shows should be held in the theater. Smoking in the casino should be limited to a side area, as walking deck 7 midship  makes it hard not to breath second hand smoke.

Disembarkment was caotic. If you get liquor from gift shop, make sure you check your selection when it arrives in your room Saturday night. I found out when I got back home that I didn't get what I selected.

The Breakaway was a beautiful ship.  We are experienced cruisers and felt this ship was a little too big for us (too many people).  I don't think we saw the same people twice.  We were in the back of the ship and it took like 15 minutes to get to the front of the ship!  The balcony room was nice, but the balcony was very small - our knees touched the glass when we sat forward in the chair.  The food in the free restaurants was very good, and we dined in two specialty restaurants which was also very good.  The parties in Spice H20 were amazing, and the cruise director was awesome.  When we went back to our room (in the back of the ship) the party was still going on and even with the door shut we could still hear the thump, thump noise from the music.  Word of advice - book a room in the middle or front of the ship to avoid this!  Our cabin steward was great and all the staff were friendly and fun.  We didn't make "reservations" for the shows, so we didn't really get to see any of the entertainment on the ship.  I suggest booking the shows online before you sail.  Overall, we really enjoyed the trip but next time we will sail on a smaller ship.

I cruise a lot, This cruise is not the greatest but good enough. This must be my bad luck. The room steward was the worst ever. Everyday, he forgot something. This guy, Wesley needs more training. NCL must have budget problem. They still use wooden chairs in Headliner club. My bottom hurt after 5-10 minutes.

Ship was beautiful. Half of activities did not happen. The main dining room had the same choices all week except for a few changes, dinner was rushed and lacked the regular things you look forward to. Staff did not greet you. Not the wonderful experience that you usually get from cruising.