Background Information: We returned from our Breakaway seven night cruise two weeks ago (June 30, 2013 –July 7, 2013). This is our sixth sailing on NCL. We have sailed on the Spirit, Dawn, Jewel, Gem, Star and now the beautiful Breakaway. My husband and I have loved each of our NCL cruises and this one was no exception!

Embarkation: We arrived at NY Pier 88 early around 10:15 by a car service, gave our luggage to the porters at the pier and proceeded through the screening area without any problems. We like to arrive early to get a low number and to board the ship early. We can’t wait for that first step on the ship. We entered the Gold/Platinum/VIP line and waited only a couple of minutes to be processed by helpful NCL staff. We also could have processed through the CAS line, as we booked with a Harrah’s discount. We boarded the ship at 11:15, the third number to be called. A large wedding party with about 200 or so guests and visitors were before us as well as the suite guests with their concierge. We entered the ship with cheerful staff welcoming us and went to our cabin just to drop off our carryon luggage. We then met our cabin steward, Milton who took great care of our room all week and left the cutest towel animals most nights. As he was still making up his rooms, we left, explored the ship a bit and then went to the Main Dining Room for a relaxing first meal. We were not disappointed in the food, the wait staff or the décor of the room. During the entire cruise, I kept getting Savor and Taste mixed up so I don’t know which one we ate in that day. They serve the same food. The rooms were extremely attractive and we sat by the window at a table for two overlooking the port. As we finished lunch, an announcement was made that the cabins were ready for us.

Cabin: We had a 9th deck mini-suite cabin that was midship and on the portside. According to all the NCL deck plans that I had studied before the cruise and other deck plans published by other sites, the bed was supposed to be situated by the window. Guess what? The deck plans were wrong and the bed in our cabin was by the closet. This was a little disappointing at first, but there still was about 15 inches or more to get into the closet and having the bed by the closet gave the rest of the cabin a more spacious feeling. You might want to make a note that this continued down the line with the cabin bed situation being opposite from the plans. The bathroom was very roomy, the shower was great. There was no problems with the AC, got as cold as we liked. Milton gave us a dummy card to put into the slot to keep the electricity going when we were out of the room. A card must be in the slot for power to be on in the room. The room was over the Shakers Lounge and you could hear the sounds of the piano bar until 12:30am. This really didn’t bother us as most nights we weren’t in our cabin until late. The sound was not too bad anyway, but for you light sleepers or if you have a little one, it is something to make a note of also. The balcony was smaller than the other NCL ships we were on, but we still enjoyed it and especially on the 4th of July evening where we were able to see the fireworks that NCL had for their celebration. What a great view right from our own balcony! We had heard that the upper deck where they were shooting them off was very crowded. We had plenty of storage space in our room. I did bring extra hangers so that I could hang up all I needed. There were shelves in the closet as well as under the TV cabinets and drawers under the sofa. I had emptied out the fridge for our own use and told Milton we wouldn’t be using the items in it. He suggested storage of the items in the cube/seat that was at the desk. We had our muster drill, received our luggage shortly after, unpacked and eventually went to dinner in the Manhattan Room. That night we saw the performance of Burn the Floor. It was excellent. I wish I had half the energy that the dancers had. Read more