Norwegian Breakaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,880 reviews

Blown away by the Breakaway!!!

Review for Bermuda Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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Tailwind1
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2013

My wife and I are frequent cruisers. This is our 25th cruise. It probably sounds odd, but I really didn't want to enjoy this cruise/ship too much. We are Emerald with RCCL and Platinum with Carnival, but only Silver with NCL. This is simply because we haven't had great experiences with them. We always thought the food was poor and the last time we sailed with them (5-7 years ago) we had a particularly bad experience. In spite of that, we've wanted to sail on the Epic because of its unique offerings and dining experiences. When we received announcement from NCL many months ago about the Breakaway, the opportunity to do a Maiden Voyage (sort of) and the fact that the home port would be NY (a fairly short drive from Massachusetts), this seemed like a great opportunity to give NCL another shot. My comparisons will be of the Breakaway vs. RCCL and Carnival ships as a whole. We've been on the Allure of the Seas (loved it!!) and the Carnival Dream during their inaugural seasons so new ships aren't foreign to us, but we've also been on many others. Right from the start, I knew there would be a lot to say about our experience on this cruise, so unlike past reviews that I've written, I am writing this as we cruise, in journal/diary form.

Day 1 - even with no flights involved, arrival day is always tough on us, but embarkation was a breeze. The layout of the ship really isn't like a ship. We certainly haven't seen much of it at this point, but it certainly is different. Sailing out of NY harbor isn't like sailing out of any other port. To sail by the Freedom tower and the Statue of Liberty is awesome. We bought the beverage plan. At $49pp per day, we consider this to be reasonable. We will probably break even, but it keeps us from getting shocked by our on-board spending on the final day. We did this on the Independence of the Seas a few months ago, but, unlike the IOS, NCL has a slip for you to sign with every drink order. I find this annoying. RCCL did log each drink order digitally, but there was no paperwork. NCL should consider this.

We had dinner at Cagney's steak house. My rib-eye was good, but not great. The salad and sides were terrific. I guess that I always compare steaks to Ruth's Chris steaks. My wife loved her 5oz Filet. Afterwards, we had reservations for Burn the Floor. This was an absolutely fantastic show.... And I'm not usually a fan of dance. The theater is small, but wasn't full. Afterwards, we hit the casino. We enjoy playing BJ, but as far as decor goes, this is the most unattractive casino ever! White walls? Plain? Really? The smoking side is intolerable. Seems to be a ventilation issue. The casino is bigger than we thought. Turns out that the whole other half is non-smoking. Much better. We packed it in after a couple of hours here. We had a great first day!

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