Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

our trip on the Breakaway was the best cruise experience we have ever had. the ship is clean and warmly decorated. the food was good,but the staff was amazing. we have been on 16 cruises and the staff on the breakaway was top notch. the stewards.waiters,and bar staff made us feel like family. i would do this trip again in a heartbeat!!!

We always enjoy Norwegian and their freestyle cruises. We have been on the Breakaway before and have recommended it. Our only reason for withholding our usual five star rating for this trip is that the decibel levels at both the outdoor and indoor venues have been significantly increased. While discussing this with friends, during disembarkation, several others in line agreed. The accommodations, service, and food were excellent, as usual. Senior staff were particularly courteous and would inquire as to our satisfaction. When my wife made a casual observation regarding our room, the change was made before we returned that evening and a tray of hors d'oeuvres, with a note, were delivered the next day.    

We truly enjoyed our cruise.  We met a lot of great people, and found the benefits of the all-inclusive package was fantastic.  Cagney's had wonderful food, and Moderno was also good (the grilled pineapple was worth the cost if we had to pay for dinner).  We had some great service.  I do think the ship is a little too big, and the lack of an elevator in the middle of the ship makes getting around more difficult.  Also, the stops at San Juan seem like a waste.  The ships from NY usually don't arrive there until 3 or 4 and there really is not a lot to do (other than to go to Senor Frogs).  Overall, it was a good time and we would do this cruise again. 

The ship was great, entering and exiting the ship was painless. Getting around the ship wasn't difficuilt I was able to learn the ship lay out in less then two days with help of the daily activity news paper.  the food was great and the service was great.  I had the unlimited wine and caps.  my head was nice the whole trip.

We have sailed with Norwegian quite a few times & this is by far the worst cruise we have ever been on.The food in the main restaurants was average at best.The buffet food was terrible. service disgusting, no tables cleared, over run with children & most of the time the food was cold & tasted burnt.We decided to splash out & pay to eat in the Italian restaurant only to find the dishes were exactly the same as the included restaurants....save your money & don't bother!.

Although our cabin was kept resonably clean we never once saw our housekeeper!!!The ship it self is really beautiful with impressive shopping but the crew seem to nickel & dime everywhere.EVERYTHING costs extra....but they use clever words like "free" & "complimentary" when it should read "included".The crew have no control over the passengers...especially people with children.....they are everywhere including the casino &

adult areas only.When we complained we were told there was nothing they could do as the passengers report the crew as being rude!!!!

We will NOT be travelling Norweigan for a while...not until they get there act together!!!!

Me and the kids had a blast on the Norwegian Breakaway. It was a huge ship with lots of things to do for the kids and adults. I would definitely recommend this ship to anyone that wants to have fun. The only thing is that the elevators are very slow. But otherwise I would love to go back on this ship.

we enjoyed our trip very much, everything is expensive but most of the cruise members are very nice to us, we will do it again. We love the photographers who are Philippino and super nice to my daughter

Our family of 5 (kids are two teenagers and a 20 year old) sailed on the Breakaway over New Years. We traveled in two cabins. We have been on over 10 cruises, with and without the kids, mostly on Carnival, but also Holland America and Royal Caribbean. We chose this cruise, not because of the itinerary or the cruiseline, but because it left from a local port at a time we wanted to travel.  We had never been on Norwegian before, and were interested in trying it out. We will probably not sail Norwegian again, and here's why. First of all, a minor point, the two cabin reservations were not connected online to make registration simpler. I had to enter all the information for both rooms separately.  This was also the case on board.  Reservations for shows or excursions had to be made separately for both rooms. (More on reservations later) Additionally, we had to book a parent in each room, and Norwegian wouldn't change the arrangement at check-in, as other cruiselines do. Their solution was to give us extra room keys so we could use both cabins freely.  This was ok, but it meant carrying an extra card around, and when I forgot one, I was locked out of my room. 

"Freestyle" cruising - I had done some research to understand what this means, and in a nutshell, it's not having an assigned dining room or dining time, and no strict dress code in the dining rooms. Jeans and sneakers are acceptable in all but the most upscale restaurants, and probably there too. Ok, sounded interesting. But what we found is this: There are 3 main dining rooms which offer open seating and the same menu (similar to main dining rooms on other ships), and you can just show up for dinner there when you want.  If it's not too busy.  Otherwise, you will wait for a table.  There are also about half a dozen specialty restaurants you can go to that carry a surcharge of $15 - $100 per person. The restaurants with a  surcharge require reservations.  People who know this can book all their dining online before the cruise, so that by the time we got on board and understood the system, the most popular restaurants were booked up, unless we wanted to have dinner at 9:30 at night. That being said, we did get into 3 specialty restaurants: The Spiegel Tent (cirque dinner show), Teppanyaki (Japanese steakhouse) and Moderno (Brazilian steakhouse).  We also ate at O'Sheehan's pub for lunch, one of the venues that is included in your cruise, no reservations needed.  The cirque show was amazing, but the dinner was just ok. It is a fixed menu of filet and shrimp, and actually, we felt it was a distraction from the show, which is fast paced and sometimes mesmerizing.  The show would be better without the dinner.  Teppanyaki was not worth the money.  The menu was very limited, and everything was cooked with an appalling amount of fat!  We all felt sick afterwards. Moderno was worth the extra money.  Service was friendly, the salad bar was fantastic and the grilled meats were very good.  Don't miss the grilled pineapple!  O'Sheehan's was a limited, typical pub menu, and ok for lunch, but they do have a pretty good price on a pitcher of beer (about $15).  (A word about drinks - we aren't big drinkers.  Maybe a drink or 2 by the pool and a glass of wine with dinner.  But if I'm paying $8 for a mixed drink, I want it to taste like a mixed drink. We felt the drinks were weak and we stopped buying them.)  In all, our dining experience would have been better (and cheaper!) had we stuck with regular dining options.  Food in the main dining areas had more variety and was what you'd expect from cruise food.  

Entertainment - if you enjoy dropping into a show after dinner, you'll have to plan ahead!  Another aspect of freestyle that is not free!  The main shows, as well as some of the smaller shows (comedy, dueling pianos) require reservations if you want to be sure to get in.  Again, people who know book ahead.  The only difference is that there's no penalty for missing a show reservation because shows are included (if you miss a dinner reservation, you still pay).  So people just make reservations, then decide later not to go, and you can get in a standby line and maybe get in.  That's annoying.  The theaters and other show areas just aren't big enough to accommodate the numbers on the ship. We enjoyed the shows we did see, however.  We just didn't appreciate the hassle of making reservations or going standby.

Staff - this was another area of disappointment.  On ALL the other cruises we've been on, it seemed like the staff were over the top friendly and couldn't do enough for us. We just didn't feel this on the Breakaway. The cabin stewards were great, and we had a couple of friendly, memorable waitresses (one in Taste and one in Moderno), but other than that, people just seemed bored or unhappy! Oh the singers in the buffet were enthusiastic and happy, as they sang to us about the importance of hand washing! - "If you're happy and you know it, wash your hands!"  But some staff that we encountered were downright rude!  The woman at the dinner reservations desk couldn't even look up from her computer screen to help us - no greeting, no eye contact, no smile. And after we stood in line at the box office to try to get into a show, just as we approached the counter, the young man  at the desk actually excused himself to go greet "his friend," another passenger who was walking through the hallway!  We stood at the counter dumbfounded!

So, what did we like? Well, we had a great time just because we were together.  The ship itself is very attractive - none of those wacky color schemes and interior design themes you get on Carnival.  It does tend to be smoky in the atrium because of the casino, and we don't like that.  The pools are a nice size, but the deck space around the pools is limited and tends to be shaded.  We had to go to upper decks to get chairs in the sun, but we could always find a place.  The buffet food and regular dining rooms was enjoyable.  The Norwegian phone app iconcierge is very helpful.  You can make reservations from your phone (but you don't get reminders), see where your ship is on a map, and for $8 for the week, you can keep in touch with family and friends on board via text or phone call. This was great with teenagers. And the kids really enjoyed the teen club, Entourage. Even our 17 year old spent a good deal of time there.  We also got great pictures on board!  Though almost no one dressed up for "formal night" or New Year's Eve, we did, and we felt a little out of place, but the photos were awesome!

Overall, if you don't mind scheduling out your cruise and making reservations for almost everything, you will get to do what you want and have a good time.  We go on vacation to get away from planning and schedules, so we didn't appreciate this aspect of freestyle. Also, the upcharging was excessive. We've never had such a large final bill on a cruise for our family, even when we brought a extra guest.  We actually felt constrained by "freestyle," and it's unlikely we will choose Norwegian in the future. 

We had a great time with our kid and grandkids. Plenty for the kids to do, the kids loved the water slides and Sponge Bob swimming area, the bowling and arcade games and the kids academy on 12.  We were impressed with The dining rooms. They felt more like very nice restaurants not the usual huge dining rooms on most lines and most were included in the "free" dining. The Manhattan dining room had a nice band with a dance floor in the middle for dining enjoyment. We had a balcony, the room was nice but the bed was right on top of the closet very poor configuration otherwise nice room.  The Atrium on 6 was awful!  There was a bar, guest services, excursion reservations, the Internet area all in one area surrounding a seating area used daily for entertainment like dances, games, movies, demonstrations etc.  There wasn't enough seating it was very loud and crowded!  The Internet also sold megabites not minutes! Who ever heard of that?  We did however have a nice time.

We just returned from a week on the Breakaway during Christmas week.  Two families with college aged kids were looking for a way to spend a week together without any of us having to be in charge of activities, food, or any other decision making, so a cruise seemed the easiest choice.  Our decision to take this cruise was driven more by specific date constraints, airports and price, so we knew when we chose this itinerary that the ports weren't that interesting, but thought it would be a nice way to just hang out together - and it was.

We all booked Balcony Mini-Suites, and even with stateroom guarantees we all ended up on deck 13 which worked well for our group.  Rooms are adequate but small - I can't imagine what a Balcony Stateroom would be like, but I'd assume it would be even smaller than our 'Mini-Suites.'  Staterooms had the most minimal of amenities: TV (no DVD player), shampoo and soap dispensers in the bathroom (no conditioner or lotion), blow dryer, a mini fridge (empty the mini-bar contents into the storage stool if you need the fridge space), coffee maker, and ice bucket. No bathrobes.  Small balcony with two chairs and a small square table that could hold a book and a couple of drinks.  That said, our clothes easily could be stowed in the closet and shelves (no drawers), and luggage stowed under the bed, so as long as we kept the room neat, there was room to move around.  Bed was comfortable and while we could hear voices from the adjoining staterooms during the day, there didn't seem to be any noise at night and we slept well.  It was nice to be able to view our bill via the TV in the stateroom.

Entertainment: We attended several of the Second City shows, Burn the Floor, Rock of Ages, and the female solo singer's performance in the main theater.  All of these shows were at no additional cost - there are at least two shows on board which require an additional fee.  Rock of Ages - a raunchy (for no reason) show with mediocre performances and mediocre staging.  Second City was uneven - some of their bits quite funny, others fell flat - and after our third performance we were done with them.  Burn the Floor had some amazing dancing, and the singer's show was quite good. NCL and our travel agent strongly encouraged us to make reservations at the shows.  This turned out to be just a bit hassle as they changed the entire entertainment schedule and switched the dates we had chosen in advance to see shows.  There is a 'standby' line - I don't know why NCL has added this reservation system as all it did was make it a slow process to enter the theaters as they had to scan our room keys to confirm our reservation.  Seems to me they're doing this just to capture information about who is attending the shows.  It was a big waste of time - we got into all the shows we wanted to, even without reservations.

Food:  We ate at Taste, Savor and Manhattan Room (all the same menu and included in the cruise fare), as well as one dinner at Moderno.  We liked that this ship broke up the main dining room into three distinct spaces - it made for much more interesting dining as each room had a different feel.  Taste and Savor were probably our favorites because the rooms are smaller and more intimate than the cavernous Manhattan Room.  Food was very good, although most dishes were served without vegetables, so we ended up asking for an extra plate or two of vegetables to share at the table.  Service was good in all three, although not amazing.  Plenty of choices for the non-carnivore among us.  Moderno was good for the carnivores - nonstop servings of meats from the skewer and the college boys went at that meat with gusto.  Nice salad bar comes with the meal - good for the non-carnivore (chicken options were a grilled drumstick or bacon wrapped breast) and the fish was not so great (and not on the skewer).  Garden Cafe - crowded (as cruise buffets always seem to be), and we missed the completely open air, outdoor seating we've enjoyed on other recent cruises.  Food was adequate but not very imaginative or creative.  We enjoyed some quieter breakfasts and lunches in Moderno, Taste and Savor.

Highlights of the week included wine tasting (we attended two of them and tasted 6 different wines at each tasting - a bargain experience at $15/person), martini tasting and beer tasting (all $15/person).  The martini tasting was basically a boozefest of overly sweet martinis, and the beer tasting...well that was just a raucous and entertaining evening with the fun bartender 'Chips' Ahoy. 

Ports:  Easy walk off in Port Canaveral.  We chose to rent cars and go in a couple of directions: one family to Universal Studios in Orlando ( 1 hour and 15 minute drive), the others to Kennedy Space Center (20 minute drive).  In both cases, we had to take a courtesy shuttle to the offsite car rental agencies (all about a 10 minute drive from the ship).  Keep in mind the car rentals close around 5:00-5:30 and the shuttles back to the ship stop at 5:00, but we didn't need to be back at the ship until about 8:00 p.m., so that meant paying to take a cab from the car rental office back to the port ($15 fare for our family of four).  The ship arrives at noon, so it doesn't allow a lot of time in the Orlando theme parks.  Great Stirrup Cay:  VERY slow process of getting off the ship and onto the tenders to the private island.  The process took an hour which was ridiculous, with passengers being sent into the main theater to sit and wait.  Once on the tender, it was a short ride to the island.  We chose to walk past the main crowded and noisy area closest to the pier and found a quieter area with plenty of beach chairs.  Lunch was adequate: grilled meats, salads, fruit, and dessert.  There were plenty of bathrooms available.  Our kids enjoyed chilling on the beach, and playing some beach volleyball.  Nassau: Easy walk off the ship.  We chose to do a self guided walking tour of the Queen's Steps and Fort Fincastle, then walked through town a bit before catching a cab to Cable Beach.  There we hired a boat to take us snorkeling - the water was warm and clear and the fish were abundant.  The boat captain agreed to take us all the way back to the port at the end of our snorkeling, so we saved the taxi fare back.  Unfortunately, we were in Nassau on Christmas Day so most stores were closed and we missed the Junkanoo Festival.  I wish NCL had flipped our days at Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau as it would have been very interesting to be in town to experience a truly local cultural event like Junkanoo.

The ship is just a year and a half old, and it feels new.  Much, much nicer (and larger) than the Norwegian Jewel which we sailed this summer to Alaska.  The water slides are a nice plus which our kids enjoyed.  We didn't get to the rock wall or zip line as lines were long.  With 4000+ passengers there is a lot to do on board.

Prices for drinks seemed reasonable.  We chose to bring our own wine on board at a $15/bottle corkage charge. 

Fitness Center is larger than most I've seen on prior cruises.  FlyWheel is $30/class - I took two (only four were offered the entire week) and both classes were sold out so if you want to do any of the many different types of fitness classes, sign up as soon as you board the ship. 

Overall, a good cruise experience.  Passengers included a lot of families, and it was a much more interesting diverse and international group of passengers than we expected from a round trip NYC itinerary - many languages being spoken!  Three days at sea were a bit too much - it seems to me there is one other port in the area we could have stopped at.  Crew was friendly, but not as attentive as my most recent cruises on Norwegian Jewel and Celebrity Reflection. 

If you're looking for a wide variety of dining options on a big new ship and don't need a particularly interesting or exotic itinerary, the Breakaway is a great option.

We had great expectations regarding this new ship and it does indeed has many pluses: a great sport complex for young ones and young at heart featuring climbing wall, rope itinerary, mini-golf, a large soccer and basket court. Also, the food was excellent everywhere. Among other positive points, the ship is extremely stable. No seasickness there. Cabins are also well soundproofed and no announcement can be heard in the cabin which is nice for lazy risers in the morning.For photographs, a smart system never seen anywhere else. All your pictures are in single folder. This being said, the Breakaway is anything but elegant or classy. No big atrium with elevators as we see on other cruiselines. You have to make a reservation for almost all shows. Rock of Ages is not appropriate for families, which seems weird for a ship that is precisely meant for families. We were used to attend a different show every night on other cruise lines not on this generation of NCL ships. The theater is very small and bleak. No colors there like in all the restaurants on the dark and gloomy side.

Going on the Norwegian Breakaway Cruise for the holidays was an amazing experience for my family. My daughter, who is fourteen, loved the Entourage, the teen lounge, and spent the majority of her time there, and my son, who is nineteen, loved going to Bliss, the night club. It was great how big the cruise was and how many things there were planned every hour, and all around there are friendly faces from other passengers and more specifically, the staff. Last year we went on a Royal Carribean Cruise to Mexico, and there weren't too many people and there was less variety in dining, activities, and places to go on the boat. My husband and I personally spent most of our time doing trivia and watching shows in the Atrium, which was way more fun than it sounds! The Bahamas itself was beautiful, especially the beaches, and there were many foods to choose from on the beach in Great Stirrup Cay. We went on the Atlantis excursion in Nassau and my kids loved it. 

Additionally, my kids constantly brought up the new people they met and how friendly the staff were. It was an amazing experience overall and I already wish I was there again!

The Norwegian Breakaway is a beautiful ship.  It is very large, but easy to navigate around with the elevators positioned well.  We took the specialty dining package and the food was good.   Our favorite restaurant on the ship was Sheehan's Irish Pub for breakfast and lunch.

The Entertainment was too geared for adults only.  The cirque show was fabulous, but the shows in the theater were just okay.   The activities were okay, but there was not much variety  Our Grandson enjoyed the kids activities.

Also, the ship's stores were not great.  There wasn't enough variety or choice in the selections.   Overall I would recommend the ship, but not on a holiday cruise.

The ship was magnificent. However, too many people. Just tooooo many people. Just no corner where you can sit and reflect alone. And so noisy. Again, too many people, overcrowded. I would not recomment the people over 50 (the people, who actually can afford it).

The ship is beautiful and maybe during a week when the ship is not full to capacity the food and service would be good, but not during Christmas week.  The freestyle dining should be renamed to free for all dining.   The reservation system for the evening dining was useless as we had to wait  well past our  reserved time.    Mostly, the dining room service was slow and confused.  We were forced to eat in the extra charge steakhouse in order to get good food and good service.  I will say that the food and service in the sports bar was better than the dining room, but we don't cruise to eat dinners in a sports bar.  The enterainment is better than anything we have ever seen on the seas, and we are very experienced cruises.  The problem was you had to make a reservation to see some of the shows and this being the first time I have sailed on a NCL megaship, did not know that.  So, we were shut out of some of the more popular show times. Our cabins ( we had two aft fac ing balcony cabins) were nice with very large showers, but inexplicably without one drawer for storage except under the sofa bed..  I will give an A+ to our cabin steward.  He was excellent and was responsive to every request.  By far the biggest problem was getting off the ship to go to the private beach island.  Even thought NCL gives itself props for being the first cruise line to own a private island it has never built a pier.and the tendering process took well over an hour of waiting in various lines until we got onto a tender.  Lastly I will say that the bartenders were great, but of course they are making money for NCL.  .. We have sailed during both christmas and new years weeks before and this was well below our expectations.

Thanks for asking. I personal hadn't enjoy enough the time on board because of the inconvenience of services and long waiting time: library, internet, guest services, land excursion. The price for plane water in the cabin too high and the waiting time before the food arrives from the kitchen too long. The kids on the other hand are served very well. Sincerely yours Svetlana

I had a nice relaxing time on board of Norwegian Breakaway. 

Food was excellent,  service was good.

I got to enjoy the spa, which was great during days at sea.

I would definitely take this cruise again. 

This vacation is the best I had. Amazing experience. Cruise was super clean. Our only task on the ship is JUST ENJOY, EAT, SLEEP. Amazing crew. Amazing entertainment. Amazing feel you get when people talk to you. There are so many variety of foods. So many options!! Anyone would definitely enjoy it.

This is the best vacation we ever had. We enjoyed a lot and had so much fun and relaxation. The dining, trips and boarding process is very well organized. Maintained clean and safe environment every where.

I have been on many cruises, and this one seemed geared towards a younger crowd, one willing to spend money on things I expect to be included.  Like, instead of a show every night, there are a few free shows and then more you pay to attend.  There are many, many "pay" restaurants.  There was no lobster night, no lobster at all anywhere I could find.  The activities I'm accustomed to were limited (dance lessons, karaoke, zumba, etc.).  And the tiniest pool for 4,000 adults!  The 40 somethings on board seemed pleased, so perhaps its my age.  Limited movies, and shown at 11:30 at night.  Limited TV stations (one movie channel, one TV show channel).  Just not what I'm used to.  Lots of people, though.  No lack of a crowd wherever we went . . .