Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Tthe cruise on the Breakaway was very convenient because we did not have to take a plane. We keep kosher so we were pleasantly surprised to find a nice selection that is tasty as well. The staff was knowledgeable and helpful.

The staterooms are clean and roomy. The bathrooms are relatively spacious. But the soap and shampoo are in a dispenser so it cheapens it. No moisturizer no shower cap no conditioner are given.

Entertainment is good. Plenty of activities for the kids.

 I did know what to expect but once I was aboard it was like a different world. From the time I checked in to the time I departed. I was treated with extreme courtesy and respect. In addition since it was our 25th wedding anniversary, the surprise decoration that was done to the room was very classy. I hope that my next crew is as fulfilling as this one was. 

Thank You.

The Breakaway is a brand new great ship.  I have been on dozens of cruises and this ship is near the top as far as amenities, cleanliness and things to do.  But... I must say the rest of my experience was somewhat mediocre.  I think part of the cruising experience is how the personnel treat you.  Many of the cruise team were friendly and accommodating, but some acted like they didn't care.  I can say though the bartenders were definitely my favorites and most attentive!  I would rate the food 5 out of 10 and free-styling dining is definitely a plus.  The items for sale were your standard cruise items and I felt were somewhat expensive.  They also have a "final sale" policy on what you buy, but it is not posted anywhere except on the receipt they give you after you buy something.  They will take something back but you have to have a long discussion about it.  They had some really interesting outside activities such as the water slides, rope slings and a climbing wall, although we couldn't try them because the weather did not really cooperate.  I guess that's part of the risk of taking a November cruise out of New York.  We booked a mini-suite because the price was attractive, but I still felt we were in balcony style room.  The balcony was small, although the bathroom was bigger.  I didn't see the benefit to having what may be considered a larger room, so I'm not sure it was worth the extra money.  Overall I loved the ship, the different bars and entertainment were good but I felt overcrowded, and although you could have as much food as you wanted, I have had better on other cruises.  I might try this ship again in warmer weather.

bad weather, terrible people. I only give 2 stars because food was good, drinks were perfectly mixed and my housekeeping was excellent. Will never take the cruise from NYC again. 

I had a bad experience with products sold in the ship's spa. Only when I submitted a complaint was I told the NCL outsources the services provided by the spa and wasn't responsible. NCL didn't offer me any resolution to my complaint.

The weather was horrible. Cold and rainy, high waves, couldn't go to the Stirrup Cay. Guess it wasn't NCL's fault, but it was disappointing.  I think the ship is just to big, that you had to reserve a ticket way ahead of time for any shows you wanted to see, I guess because a big enough auditorium wasn't part of the plan. Getting on and off the ship was easy and relatively fast, and the food was pretty good, and our room steward was very, very good!!

Only the best liquor .......the drinks are the BEST !!!!!  But you pay top dollar .....casino small..........Dining package a must............French ,Japanese , very good !!!!!!   

Second time on the NCL Breakaway. Nice ship but for wife and I, far too big. We like the quaintness of the smaller ships like Dawn and Gem. We were gonna go to their private island. 2nd time trying to do this, the first being a week before Hurricane Sandy. Last time you could understand why they had to pass on the island but this time they cancelled too. This time for wind. Wind? Seriously? It's an island in the middle of the ocean, there's always wind. From investigating further, crew told me 50 percent of the time island is canceled so don't go on this cruise just for island. Odds are you won't go. Ship was full, people everywhere, many of low class. thats what happens when prices drop well below 400 for a cabin per person. Saw the difference in clientele rather quickly.

Went to Nassau again, 2nd time as well. 1st time went to Atlantis which was nice, and took water shuttle so never really saw the rest of the city, but this time I went to beach near port. Now I got to see what the Bahamas is really about and you know what? Compared to Bermuda, Bahamas is the buttcrack of Bermuda. Trash everywhere, sidewalks crumbling so you gotta watch where you walk. Buildings rather dumpy and locals hounding you to buy stuff---doesn't happen in Bermuda. So no more Bahamas, I'll stick with Bermuda, a favorite of mine, if you couldn't tell.

Oh, and for ship itself? Food, crew and it all was fine, what I expect from NCL, which is my favorite cruise line.

Although ship is larger public areas have shrunk. Main entertainment event were too crowded.   Private island did not have enough lounge chairs to accommodate. As an overall experience would not go on breakaway again.

normally my wife & I find something wrong with the cruise we were on, this time we could not find anything wrong. You will not be disappointed if you take this cruise. the ship was great, so was the food & service.

My husband and I have been on many cruises together but the Norwegian Breakaway out of New York has been one of the best so far.  Some of our favorite things:

The doors to the balcony "slide" instead of opening out, which allows much more comfort when getting onto the balcony.

The door to the shower is a solid door instead of a curtain, and there is no steam in the bathroom after a long, hot shower.  Very nice!

The Spice H2O area on Deck 16 was our FAVORITE part of the ship.  We spent almost every day there.  Even though there is not an actual pool, the refreshing waterfalls and the sound of the waterfalls was very relaxing . . . and a great place to relax, sunbathe and read in that adult-only spot.

Our favorite restaurant was the Uptown Grill - we had the salad bar almost every single day.  

My husband enjoyed the fitness center every day.  We also liked the way the casino area was very bright and wide open, allowing us to pass through even if we didn't want to stop and gamble.

The restaurants were nice, although way too dark.  It was difficult to read the menus.  For that reason, we preferred O'Sheehan's and the Uptown Grill.  

The ship is very large, clean and bright.  We love the swimming fish on the carpets in the hallways.  The hallways, however, were very narrow.  Because of that, every time someone was coming the other way or someone was doing housekeeping with their cart, passengers had to stop and duck into an entryway to allow the others to pass.

We would definitely go on this cruise again!

Me and my wife enjoyed out cruise very very much. The level of service was amazing and we wanted for nothing.  I would definatly cruise with norwegian again and plan to book something in the future.

I am an experienced/avid cruiser. This being my 7+ cruise . 5 of which were on the Royal Caribbean. I was ready to start a new relationship with NCL, as It had been recommended by friends. Well for starters, My first day and or hour was a disappointment. I am a foodie- it is important that the food be good and well presented, neither was the case. I found the first lunch/afternoon meal to be tasteless, lacking variety and poorly done. - the bread was hard the food had no taste lacking in salt and or spices. chicken was not appetizing. the people we saw and heard from also had concerns.by the 5th day we all agreed this was the worst spread on any ship. - there was no midnight meal, something we all look forward to either. If you wanted to eat something different you had to pay for It. - even the it was not special, more like room service on a bad day.

My stateroom was smaller than we expected form a balcony suite. A sofa blocked the small closet and there was no drawers to speak of. the send day I noticed we had ONE towel for two people! his response was - there were not enough towels imaging that.. I spent a lot of time asking my stateroom attendant/person to pick up room even three hrs later. and checking on missing items which we would be held accountable for.

The crew in the Garden café walked around aimlessly - they were not trained properly and seemed to not understand the concept of cleaning or attending guests.

On one occasion I asked for a cup of coffee from a person walking with a carafe's, she simply walked away. some were chatting in areas were you would expect them to pay attention to guest.

On another occasion a friend had asked for help carrying a box he had brought in one of the ports and the crew member just said he could not help - he was too busy. walking away.

The Savor dinging room had two hostesses whose job seemed to be to monitor who comes in, not to their liking. They were extremely rude to many. although I enjoyed the Manhattan room the menu consisted of three items each - appetizer/main course and dessert - I received a good steak but was confused as to the three onion rings on top. no mushrooms/gravy but Good steak. the wait to be served was long though. as it seemed to be for all dining rooms.

The best thing I had was the sushi - Wasabi - of course I had to pay for that too.

I would say for those that enjoy gambling it's good.

For those that enjoy Latin music - forget it. not one area was set aside for that.

The shows were ok but paying for a show was not my idea of being entertained on a cruise ship.

note - most of the crew members were 90% Philippine - which was hard to understand and you never knew if they were talking to you or about you, some were downright rude to most, and not in a good way. It made for a very uncomfortable walks thru areas at times..

BTW - the cruise director was barely seen except when he/they were doing a show on TV.

I must say the ship is beautiful, but poorly trained staff and crew members, did not help it.

Be alert and check everything before leaving rooms.

We love the bright decor of the Breakaway, bright and fresh in most of the public areas!

The start off was not overly great right at the Manhattan terminal. The public announcement system did not work well to start and actually stopped working just at time of boarding. Terminal staff were not overly friendly and only the odd NCL staff were nice. It must be the enormous crowd and we were after all in the midst of New York!

We found our room is small and the hall way to our stateroom narrow comparing to what we are used. My wife is very unhappy with the limited closet spaces provided in our stateroom. We did however like the bathroom layout!

We had poor experience with guest service staff, most of them but not all seemed stressed and not overly helpful! We complained in writing to management and were responded relatively timely!

There were many options of dining and entertainment and we found them all meet our expectations more or less! Our room steward tried hard to accommodate our requests through our stay! We also had lovely wait staff in all of the restaurants!

We enjoyed the entertainment offered and the performers were fabulous!

They offered many opportunities to enhance our cruise experience in dining and entertainment usually at an added charge.

The biggest hurdle for us on this cruise is to getting used to pre-book or reserve everything ahead of time.

They had a staff performance/presentation at the last day of the cruise in the theater and it was rather well done and we recommend attendance for sure! All in all we enjoyed our time with NCL in NY!

I DID NOT ENJOY THIS CRUISE AS MUCH AS I DID ON CARNIVAL CRUISE I TOOK AROUND THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR.  THIS SHIP DID NOT HAVE AS MANY ACTIVITIES AND I DID NOT LIKE THAT RESERVATIONS HAD TO BE MADE FOR THE "FEW" SHOWS THAT WHERE OFFERED.  THE STAFF WAS GREAT AND ATTENTIVE.  I WAS EXPECTING BATHROBES IN THE ROOM DURING MY STAY AND THAT WAS NOT OFFERED.  SINCE I LEFT FROM NY IN OCTOBER, SEVERAL DAYS WERE SPENT AT SEA SO HAVING MORE ACTIVITIES WOULD HAVE BEEN A PLUS, I COULD NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE DECK AREA WHEN WE FIRST LEFT NYC BECAUSE OF THE COLD WEATHER AND THIS SHIP HAS NO TOP COVER AS CARNIVAL DOES.  ALSO DURING THE CAPTAIN'S NIGHT THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH PHOTOGRAPHERS, WHEN I FOUND ONE THERE WAS A LONG LINE.  ON CARNIVAL THERE WAS MUCH MORE TO DO AND ATTENDING THE EVENTS WAS MUCH EASIER.  I LIKED THAT CARNIVAL (SPLENDOR) HAS THE COVER ON THE DECK DURING SAILING IN THE COLD OR BAD WEATHER. ALSO THE ANNOUNCEMENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE HEARD IN THE ROOM. AND IT WOULD BE  GREAT IF THE APP OFFERED TO DOWNLOAD ON YOUR PHONE WOULD ALERT YOU OF PENDING RESERVATIONS.  I ALSO DID NOT LIKE THAT I COULD NOT GET A REFUND FROM THE TRADEWINDS STORE ON CARNIVAL I WAS ABLE TO GET A FULL REFUND ON MY RETURNED  PURCHASE.  I DID HOWEVER, LIKE THAT LUNCH WAS PROVIDED ON THE PRIVATE ISLAND IN THE BAHAMAS AND THE EASE OF DINING IN THE MAIN DINING ROOMS. I WOULD HAVE LIKE MORE SPECIALS AT THE SPA WHILE AT SEA, I THOUGHT THE PRICES WHERE EXTREMELY HIGH COMPARED TO THE CARNIVAL SPLENDOR. WHILE ON THE CARNIVAL CRUISE I LOST TRACK OF ONE DAY TO THE NEXT ON THE BREAKAWAY I WAS BORED AND THE DAYS SEEMED TO DRAG. I WILL NOT  BE TAKING THIS CRUISE LINE AGAIN

Having sailed on the Breakaway on it's maiden cruise to Bermuda, I had said to my wife I wouldn't go on the ship again, but my grandson needed a break and we had friends going on this cruise so I booked last minute and while the price was good, the service, entertainment and communication were all lacking. Having been told that you could limit the spending on your minor's card after we had a horrible $350 spending spree in the game room the first time. I followed the instructions from the NCL e-mail to set a limit. Well they cannot do that because the systems do not share info!! For dinner the first night we ate at Savor, early, very light crowd, but the service was HORRIBLE. Never waited so long for each course, forgot to bring us coffee and never got the dessert. Only positive I could say was room steward was very attentive. The Rock of Ages was not only a different cast but they changed the story. It seems to me the Breakaway staff has taken on the attitude of New Yorkers!!

The ship was beautiful, The food excellent, The staff wonderful ,BUT there was smoking all over the ship,

on the verandas, on deck 8, outside all the bars even in front of the restaurants,at the bars by the pool,in the casino. THIS IS A BIG NO NO.

After reading the reviews for the breakaway I was a little nervous that I did not make the right choice for our trip.  While some of the negative reviews were correct, this is a beautiful ship and we had a great trip!  I was traveling w/ my wife for our 10 year anniversary.  We were able to get babysitters for our children so we were traveling alone.

This may be a little long but I will provide details on most of our experiences.

Check in - boarding.  Pretty painless process.  We were on the ship within an hour from arriving at the port.

Room.  3/5.  We loved that we were able to get right into our room after boarding.  Our checked lugged was not there yet (as expected) but we had 2 carry on suitcases that we were able to take right up to our room and didn't have to lug around while getting familiar with the ship for the first time.  We had booked a large balcony room.  There was plenty of room for the 2 us.  There were not many drawers but plenty of hangers and shelves in the closet for our clothes.  We were on the 9th floor forward, starboard.  There was a slight odor of smoke in the room and most of the ship.  Assuming from the casino which we frequented.  The room was clean but dusty.  The balcony was about the length lounge chair.  Plenty of space and spectacular views leaving NY.

Service.  2.5/5.  I was quite disappointed with the service.  I was expecting much much more.  With the exception of a few, the servers and bartenders were rude.  It stood out to us when a server was smiling and personable.  That should not be the case.  We have only been on one other cruise with rotating dinners and the wait staff knew us by name on the first night and stayed with us throughout our trip. 

Dining.  3/5 overall.  The buffet was horrible, not many choices, not very good food and a little crowded w/ rude passengers.  Uptown Grill salad was excellent but we had to wait over 30 minutes for the cheeseburgers.  The 3 main dining rooms were ok but all 3 had the same menu EVERY night and the options didn't change much from night to night, so again there was not much variety on food choices unless you paid additional money for a specialty option.  Cagney's and Moderno were very good but the servers were ok.  We opted for 2nd night of Moderno on our last night to avoid the 3 main dining options.  The main dining room dinners were good at best.  I was disappointed that I had to pay for a specialty dinner to have a "very good" dinner.  My wife ordered margarita's from O'Sheehan's, the pool bars, restaurants, etc. and never paid the same price for the same drink which was odd.

Onboard activities.  4/5.  there is truly something for everyone from child to adult.  We spent most days lounging in the sun and enjoying some adult beverages.  Bring sneakers if you want to enjoy in the ropes course.  My wife only had flip flops so she wasn't able to go up but it was a lot of fun.  Walk the plank and zip line were cool.  Bingo and Deal or No Deal were just ok since we didn't win.  It was fun watching someone win the free cruise for 2 though even though it wasn't us.

Shore Excursions.  3.5/5.  We stayed on the ship in Port Canaveral.  Norwegian's Island was better than expected.  Food was readily available and the BBQ was decent.  We tried the Standup Paddle Board for the first time and both loved it.  You had a decent amount of area to roam on your own.  In Nassau we went to Atlantis for the first time.  When we docked it was pouring and the forecast was for 70% rain for the day.  We had the option to cancel but decided we were going to get wet doing the slides any way, so we decided to go.  It ended up being a great choice.  The rain kept the crowds down so we had very little wait times on most rides until the rain slowed around 1pm.  The slides were great.  Some of the tube slides were more like roller coasters than water rides.  The "not so lazy" lazy river was a lot of fun and you can get to each section of water slides via the lazy river.  Unfortunately, the conveyer belt that takes you to the top of Power Tower was closed but we still had a great time and for us it was worth the money since we didn't have to wait in any lines.  The grounds of Atlantis large and confusing at times but beautiful.  I read negative reviews regarding the staff, however, everyone we encountered was happy to help with directions.

Entertainment 4/5.  The Casino staff was very friendly and personable.  Rock of Ages was a very good show but inappropriate for children.  Don't bring them.  The Second City was enjoyable.  Howl at the moon was entertaining and fun.  Burn the Floor was scheduled for our last night but we ended up being too tired and full from Moderno.  We decided to pack and go to sleep instead of attending but I heard it is a good show.

Overall we had a great time and I would cruise with Norwegian again.  I liked leaving out of NY which saved us on airfare.  The ride was surprisingly smooth and at times we would forget we were out at sea.  I would like to see some improvements on the waiting staff and food options in the buffet and 3 main dining rooms in the future.

Hope my opinion helped!

Had a super time. Everything was superb!!  The staff was excellent. Everybody knew my name, loved the characters left on my bed everday. The food was great and the entertainment, was even better. It was fun and romantic, and I would most definately cruise with Norwegain again. Not to mention our agent, Janet Delpino, we loved working with her as well

This was our first Cruise and we were very happy to have sailed on Norwegian BREAKAWAY cruise ship .  The food was great and we enjoyed the first class shows on board. The Rock of Ages show was fantastic and the Burn the Floor dancers were great.  I have a food allergy and the dining crew always double checked my food orders. We had a stateroom with a balcony and were pleased by the size and quality of the room and bathroom. We would recommend a Norwegian Breakaway Cruise to all our friends and neighbors.