Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Had a great time. Food was good.  Staff was great. alot to do.Will go again.Bermuda is so nice .The Breakaway is a large ship  but you get around just fine.

Norwegian Breakaway has something for everyone! Restaurant dining is a real treat.  Entertainment was great.  Only wish they had a vegetarian option for the Cirque show.  The mobil app was helpful but limited.  Cruise staff was friendly and cheerful.  Buffet could use more double burner omelet stations at breakfast and food consistency of stations but otherwise a pleasant option. The Vibe was a treat, but should be non-smoking! Looking forward to sailing again!

Our first cruise  was 12 years ago, and it was with NCL, on the small ship.  We liked it very much. After that we had another 8 cruises with different lines till I decided to take NCL again on May 3 to Bermuda. We could definitely say that NCL changed to the worst. Not only I was shocked that I have to pay for the show (show was very good, but having dinner at the same time was terrible-you don't know what to do-either to eat or to watch). Because of o lot of people I had to book practically every complementary show or to come at least 30 min before to get the sits. On this ship they decided to squeeze more people to get more money (who cares about people) . Cabins are very small (we had balcony for 3) comparing to the other lines, just 1 small pool for adults for such a lot of adults. Every cruise line now has complementary Zumba classes-not this one, and yoga and Pilates cost more then everywhere else. There was not even body lotion in the cabin (they  had it 12 y. ago), I had to ask steward twice and he gave it to me on the second day like he took it from himself ( tipped him for that) .  My son's sofa was with ripped linen-never was changed. Beach towels-another annoying thing- I had to signed-in when I took it and returned. I was afraid to forget it somewhere and they would charge me for that.

 We still managed to have some fan on this cruise (there was 5 of us with a lot of experience with the other cruise lines). The weather was good and we spent a lot of time on the decks outside. We liked big and most of the small shows. Food was not bad, but the buffet had the poorest choices comparing for example to Princess or Celebrity. We went to the Manhattan for dinner only once, and it was worst Caesar salad in my life. Again, nobody was hungry, but we have seen better. The crew was OK. We liked our comfortable beds, I even tried to find out where NCL is ordering the bed pillows-nobody knew.

After all we decided that our "after 12 years" experience with NCL was not that bad, but we would try to stick with Celebrity of Princess.

I took advantage of the 3 days prior the cruise booking and got the excellent price from .

The Norwegian Breakaway ship is 2 years old and has a lot of fun for kids and adults. The Bermuda island had an excellent weather and temperature of the water in the ocean. I would highly recommend this destination to the tourists.

just got back from 7 day cruise on breakaway. 3rd time on this ship and while nice it seems that it is same thing over and over --  entertainment seems not to be updated and food good but somewhat ordinary.enjoyed speciality restaurant (cagneys)  despite extra charge. we like norwegian but probably done with this ship. weather in bermuda was just ok and always enjoy horseshoe bay. crew and natives on bermuda very friendly . only real problem was disembarking in ny --- very unorganized and delays blamed on customs backlog.

I ENJOYED THE SERVICE.

MY ONLY COMPLAINT WAS THE SERVICE AT THE SALON.. I WAS CHARGED FOR A OIL TREATMENT THAT DIDN'T WORK. 29.00 AND ALSO HAD A COLOR THAT HAD COLORED LEFT ON THE HEADLINE THAT I NEEDED TO REMOVE MYSELF.

THANK YOU

First of all, we were promised "the middle of the ship" and put "at the very end of the ship".  When we went to Costumer Service, they told us there is nothing they can do.  They are totally booked. So every night we heard and FELT the motor of the ship. And a lot of noise back there!!

Second, when we opened the door to the ROOM, we thought it was a CLOSET.  Are you kidding me!!  How do you expect 4 people to fit comfortable.  There were just three of us in that CLOSET and we are not very big people.    

This ship has hiding fees.  I don't like how we have to swipe our card on every thing ... free or pay   It was not clear to us in the beginning which was "including" restaurants and the ones we had to pay for.  Plus, ALL SHOWS SHOULD BE FREE.  They all are on Carnival.  Seriously, who would pay $47 to see a show that we had already paid thousands of dollars to go on a cruise.

The only good thing were the workers.  Our "porter" was Noel.  He was very friendly and he took pride in his job.  We also liked Jerry in the main pool area.  Very nice guy.  Always a smile on his face. 

Also, lets talk about the pool area.  There was only ONE main adult pool. WHAT!!  On Carnival there was ONE ON EVERY LEVEL!!  And about six hot tubs which the same people would be in there for like six hours and eat & drink in there.  It's a good thing I have a hot tub at home.

Trust and believe we met a lot of people that had similar complains.

We enjoyed our Bermuda cruise very much.  Our room steward was great and the price was excellent.  The only issue we had was the length of time it took to offboard the ship.

This is my 8th cruise so now I can really compare the plus and minuses of this cruise.  The Breakaway is a large ship and I was very excited when booking this cruise. We did the New York to Bermuda cruise from April 27th to May 3rd.  I had high expectations about this ship since it was supposed to be very large and have some great amenities.  When getting into our inside room I was shocked at the size. I know all inside rooms are small to begin with as I have always had them in the past as well but this was the smallest room by far of all the ships we have been on.  I thought with being a larger ship that the rooms would be the same size that we have seen at least but they were tiny.  It didn't have any dresser drawers in the whole room.  Every cruise I have gone on has had at least 2 or 3 drawers to put socks and underwear.  They vanity in the room had a mirror and desk top with only a little chair under it and the tiny refrigerator, but no drawers, so we had to hang every item we brought of have to pull out our suitcases from under the bed every day when getting ready. I like to get unpacked for the week and feel like we are comfortable and not living out of a suitcase all week.  They only thing they had for shelves was by the safe.  They had about 3 shelves but they were only about 18 inches wide and 4 to 5 inches deep which is where I ended up putting socks and things but it was tucked away in the closet and not easy to get to.  Most of the past rooms we have had usually had a small (tiny) couch and this one did not.  If you opened the closet door it would also block the TV so my husband was always saying "babe I can't see the TV, can you shut the closet door".  I understand that these rooms are all tight quarters but this room was so small. I laid in the bed and stretched one morning when I woke up and hit the wall with my finger tips. I put my arm out and measured on my arm where the bed ended to where the wall was and it was maybe 10 to 12 inches.  So every time we went to get into bed we would have to go sideways and shimmy down to the head of the bed.  The side end tables by the bed were only about 5 inches wide to fit on the sides. They also did not have any drawers just one self at the top and then you could put something on the bottom but again you had to shimmy in just to get to the end table.  I have always been able to walk straight in but still usually cramped but never having to go side ways and lean down on the bed and scoot in.  The bathrooms were similar to other cruises.  

Another thing that we always look forward to on the ships is the entertainment. I don't like to sit around much so cruising is what we love because they always have something going on pretty much all day.  The Burn the Floor dancing show was excellent. Usually cruises have one or two really good dancers and the rest are just okay but every single dancer was excellent.  That is not something you normally see.  The Rock of Ages musical was also excellent. I really enjoyed these shows.  The downfall was that the theater chairs were very uncomfortable.  They were slightly slanted downwards and they had about a 2 inch hard piece of what felt like hard wood all the way to the back of the part of the seat that folds down that you sit on that went straight across your bum so you had to sit forward about 2 or 3 inches and slouch in order to not kill your tail bone.  The dancing and singing shows were only about 45 to 50 minutes and after about only 30 minutes I was ready to leave as my butt was going numb and it was very uncomfortable.  I love watching dancing but being uncomfortable like that I kept wishing it would hurry up and end.  I am also a little on the heavier side so I have extra cushion in my butt anyway and it bothered me. My poor husband has a flat butt and I can only imagine what he was feeling. 

So the shows were good and in the past we would always go to the shows and do dinner and then they always had another big even in the evenings like "the newlywed game" or the "perfect couple". On other ships they always had another big dance floor area with lots of seating and a bar usually at the back of ships where you could sit and enjoy the shows.  The Breakaway does not have a room like this so they host those in the Atrium.  Their Atrium is not that big but they have large chairs in there so they can't seat many people.  Every night, even if you go to the atrium and hour before the show, you could never get a seat at all.  People had to stand in a circle around the atrium and some nights they would be standing 5 people deep and no one could see.  I am only 30 but we went with my mom and dad who are in their 60s and we had to leave the "not so newlywed game" half way through because they couldn't stand on their feet for the second 1/2 hour of it.  This was really disappointing to me as it is always my favorite to watch but I even was sick of standing and shifting back and forth and being so close to other people as everyone was squeezing in close to be able to see.  They should have used small folding chairs and fit a lot more people in that area if they didn't put a second entertaining area on the boat.  They pride themselves on having the most restaurants at sea but when doing that, they put them all near the back of the ship which is where the big entertaining room would be.  I think NCl usually calls that room the Spinnaker lounge which this ship did not have.   I felt this really had a negative twist on the boat for me.  I can deal with the small room as we aren't in the room very much but not having a comfortable area to watch shows was definitely a HUGE let down for this cruise. 

I think that when making this ship, they wanted to say that it fit a huge amount of people on it but in doing this they cut down room sizes and got rid of one entertainment area in order to fit more cabins and restaurants in. They really should rethink this as entertainment is the biggest attraction to most people when going on a cruise.  Even things like dance lessons in the middle of the day would be hosted in the atrium and they had one cha cha dancing day where they had to have 3 groups and teach 3 different times because the floor was so tiny that you couldn't fit all the people who wanted to join in.  If you make a ship for 4000 people then  if you only have activities in 2 areas you can't expect to only use a room that only seats about 100 people.  This was a huge mess up in the design of this ship in my opinion. 

I know I probably sound like a negative reviewer but I am being honest and I have never had this many complaints on any other ship. 

As for the positive things, like I said the shows in the Theater were excellent (excluding the chair experience).  The staff is always great. Everyone is so nice and pleasant all the time.  They staff all are extremely hard workers and always so happy.  The food was pretty good in the buffet.  We loved the crepe station for a late night snack. :)  We always go to the specialty steakhouse on all of the trips we go on and Cagney's was excellent as usual. Their steaks are really something and I loved the au gratin potatoes as well. That is always my favorite combo.  My husband and I love the teppanyaki as well.  We go and really enjoy the show that you experience with it.  They chefs are talented and also very funny.   The food was great too.  My parents have never done a hibachi experience and they were hesitant but ended up loving it and have already pre-booked it on a cruise they have coming up.  

As for the pool decks, they looked awesome. They had a bunch of waterslides that would have been great but we had pretty chilly weather this time of year. It was only about 64 degrees so we never even put on our bathing suits as it was too cold especially with the breeze off the water.  The pool was the same size as on smaller boats so I bet if it was hot out the pool would be full in no time.  I never understand why the pools are so small on all the ships because it is a main focus point that most go to relax during the day when they are at sea but they never make that area very large. 

We had a good time in the casino. It was very similar to any other at sea casino. The smoke always bothers me so even though they say one side or area is "non smoking" but they don't have a divider so of course the whole place smells. They have the casino on deck 7 which goes around a staircase and huge pretty chandelier that is in a 3 deck high open area. So from deck 6 to 8 there is this open area but because the casino is on deck 7, even walking down on deck 6 where the comedy shows were, you were hit with they cigarette smell which is not pleasant and also up on deck 8 you could also smell it.  Again a bad set up especially since it was in the center of the ship and if you wanted to go around it you would have to go up to deck 9 or down to 5 to bypass that section of the boat. 

The comedy shows with second city were hilarious.  They did an awesome job.  All the shows were reservations only until about 10 minutes before the show then they had a standby lane for people to wait in if you didn't have reservations.  The downfall about larger ships is the reservation part but I understand why they need to do it because there are so many people on the boat.  Comedy show (headliners) was on deck 6 right under the casino so waiting in the standby for 30 minutes, you just inhaled the smoke the whole time.  It was worth the wait though for their comedy shows! 

We did have a good time anyway even with all the things I stated above.  It is a vacation and we always have fun no matter where we go but now since we have been on a lot I am starting to really see the differences and now I know what I want to look for on these ships before booking next time.  I think I prefer the smaller ships because the room are bigger and it is just a more relaxing trip because you don't have to schedule out your whole week just to make sure you see every show. I like to relax and just be able to get ready for dinner and look on the freestyle planner and say "so what's going on tonight" and be able to walk into a show 15 minutes early and have no problem finding a seat.  These big ships need reservations and planning and it just isn't as relaxing of a vacation as it could be. 

I know this is very long but I wanted to give an accurate review so people know what they will get with this boat.  Oh and Bermuda is absolutely gorgeous.  We enjoy going to horseshoe bay, (I have heard tobacco bay is good too but have never been),  we have done crystal caves which is something to see, they have an aquarium and zoo that I like a lot and you must hit the "swizzle inn" for lunch. They have 2 on the island now and the food is pub food but it is excellent.  The burgers are great and they have a swizzle rum punch that really will get you a buzz fast!   We also love the Frog and Onion pub right by the pier off the boat.  Again excellent food (fish and chips was awesome).  They also have dolphins right off the pier in the museum.  I love dolphins so I pay $10 per adult to go into the museum and the dolphins and a turtle are in the pools right inside the museum so you can see the dolphin quest shows and watch from poolside.  They have people who work there that come out and answer questions and you get to see the dolphins up close. They had a one month old baby dolphin there which was really something to see.  If you like sea animals this is a must see!

I hope this helps.

the ship is beautiful plenty to do extra resturants excellent shows awesome casino not worth going in and god forbid you win over 1200 give credit on bill no cash ridiculous 

While The Breakaway is a beautiful ship -  however, one must be very aware that if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke, this is not the ship for you.   The casino permits smoking and it is not enclosed. I suffered with the smoke issue the entire 7 days. 

I've cruised over a dozen times with Celebrity, Princess, Holland, and Azamara. On each of those cruises I found the service to be impeccable and the food out of this world.  My experience with NCL was just the opposite.  The staff were not attentive to detail and the food was okay at best, despite eating in each of the specialty restaurants during the cruise. On NCL you'll find that a "fee applies" to nearly everything you from room service to taking a behind the scenes tour of the ship.  In my experience the other lines don't nickel and dime you to death like NCL does.  The Breakaway is a beautiful ship, but it didn't live up to the hype.  Bermuda on the other hand was amazing.  Three days on the island was the perfect amount of time to experience all she had to offer.  I highly recommend a Bermuda cruise, but I'd suggest you look at what the other lines have to offer before choosing NCL.         

Getting more passengers on a ship may be more profitable for the cruise line...but it doesn't satisfy my level of comfort on this 7 day vacation. Main central corridors at times felt like a transfer tunnel at a subway interchange. Elevator banks at times felt like a black Friday sale before the doors opened. Entertainment offerings on Megaships changed from the usual generic musical-dance variety show/stand-up comic/magician/tribute singers to a specific high budget-recognized name Broadway Musical Licensed Show. In this case, Rock the Ages, is over-the-top unnecessarily sexually raunchy (plenty of warnings posted), with so-so music, all in the name of a "famous" Broadway show.

Highlights: Breakaway Bermuda Debarkation Pier party w/crew dancing alongside a welcoming Red Carpet.

Dining  superbly excellent (Food, Service) in all Main Dining Rooms (no specialty restaurants necessary - save your money).

Heated pool and Jacuzzis.

Bermuda: Most welcoming hospitable and civil people in the World!

Bermuda: Snorkeling and beaches, good transportation offerings including fast ferries (Hamilton, St. Georges).

Negatives: For the first-time cruisers, be aware that the 40-70 hour crossing from NY-Bermuda more than 50% of the time has a 6-8 hour window of Rough Seas with swells often 10-15 feet. This is especially true in Sept - Oct. but is true in other months as well. Once you pass the continental shelf (about 8 hours out), the waves have a tendency to be at the very least "choppy" as the Captain says.

This is not usually the case on the NY-FL-Bahamas itinerary or any Carribean itinerary (Eastern, Southern, Western).

Negatives: Not sure how to navigate the ship's layout. More steps between stateroom and any activity...sometimes leading to unnecessary frustration (as compared to a smaller or mid-sized ship).

Negatives: Entertainment lounge "Hardliners" has improbably designed hard-wooden chairs that are very uncomfortable nor appropriate for a club. Atrium stage -where the cruise staff are forced to present much of their "group games"  (i.e. New Newlywed Game; Deal or No Deal, etc.) - does not have sufficient seating for those who would like to watch.

All in all, my next cruise will be more ship specific (i.e. Pearl, Gem, Jewel, Dawn) so as to keep the fellow passenger count down to below 2,800.

Good Luck on your selection!

I was so excited to cruise on the Breakaway!  It is a large ship and they promised fireworks on board- I was excited!  But I was disappointed with the ship.  Our balcony room was the smallest we have ever had and the balcony was truly tiny!  The ship only had the theater area to accommodate large numbers of spectators.  All other entertainment venues were is small rooms which had standing room only as there were very few chairs for cruisers.  We hated standing all the time in order to view the entertainment provided.   I will not cruise on this ship again or on any ship in this class.  The Royal Carribbean Oasis is a great example of a large ship with many common areas to accommodate large groups of people.  I will use that ship in the future!!

Overall the cruise was outstanding. One problem though. Spice H2O was extremely too loud late at nite. The bass was turned up way to much and the lead was "yelling" so loudly the hangers were rattling in our closet and our room rumbled with the noise. It needs to be turned way down by 11:30 to midnight. 

WE ALL (6 TRAVELERS IN MY PARTY) WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS SHIP.  WITH SO MANY PEOPLE YOU LOOSE THE PERSONAL FEELING WITH THE STAFF.  OUR STATEROOM WAS SMALLER, THE BALCONY WAS HARDLY ENOUGH ROOM TO FIT 1 PERSON LET ALONE 2 AND THE CLOTHES CLOSET WAS DIFFICULT TO GET TO ANYTHING OUT OF IT.  OUR STATEROOM ATTENDANT WAS EXECELLANT EUGENE RODRIGUEZ-  WE WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE FOOD-NOTHING TO RAVE ABOUT.  WE WILL CONTINUE TO TRAVEL ON NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE BUT NEVER ON THE LARGE SHIPS AGAIN. WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE TO TRAVEL WITH.

Loved the free dining upgrade. Steak was sooooo good. Food was good. Sorry to notice I gained 7 lbs after the trip.

Entertainment was not as good as my previous NCL cruises. Afternoon entertainment was boring, There was a circus show on board, but the price was 79-89 per ticket! I guess the reason the afternoon entertainment was so boring was to force customer to buy circus tickets.

The shore excursion was good. We did airboat in FL, and parasailing in Nassau. They were fantastic.

The pool is too small. It was all packed when the weather was nice. 

On board shopping choice was not too much. It was good to save money.

Because of dining and drinking upgrade, there were quite many drunk people around. Saw teenage drinking beer some times.

I recently booked a studio room on the NYC to Bahamas cruise. Great little rooms with everything you need - you feel like you are in an Ikea display.  Being in a studio room gave me access to the Studio Lounge where they have a full commercial cappiocino machine and snacks for solo travelers.  There is a solo traveler coordinator who gets solo travelers together for dinner and shows, etc.   What a great program.  I met so many nice folks doing the same think I was doing - I made new friends that I will travel with again.  It was a great experience on a great cruise line and I can't wait to do it again

We enjoyed this cruise from start to finish.  Everything was handled so professionally and it was non stop fun the whole week.  The restaurants are first class and the food well presented and very tasty! The entertainment was delightful, the crew made everyone want to get up and dance!!  For a ship that is as big as the Breakaway we were pleasantly surprised at how pleasant all the staff/crew were.  We will definitely do another cruise with Norwegian!

Great crew. Great ship. Highly recommended Shore excursion went to Kennedy space Center which was great! Snorkeling in Bahamas was great and fun. Jet skiing on private island was the best Atlantis was beautiful. Did dolphininteraction was good but overpriced