Let me start off by saying that this was our 8th cruise. We have four children and find that cruising provides a little something for everyone. The Breakaway was the first time we have cruised with NCL. We have mostly cruised with Royal Caribbean and my husband wanted to try out freestyle cruising on NCL. I will breakdown each area of our cruise and try to give you the best possible information.

Embarkation:

We had a family member drop us off at the cruise terminal since we only live 45 minutes away. We arrived at the cruise terminal at 10:30am. The bag attendants are right at the curb and picked up our bags right away. We entered the terminal and walked straight to check-in...no lines at all. We checked in and received our key cards in less than 10 minutes. We were on the ship by 11:30am. This is when I realized how many people were on this ship. It took forever to get an elevator up to the Garden Cafe which is on the 15th floor to get lunch so we decided to eat at O'Sheehan's Irish Pub which was less crowded. We packed a carry on bag with bathing suits so we could change and enjoy the pool before our bags arrived. The pool area was very crowded and it was very hard to find a lounge chair. We had a balcony stateroom so we went back to our room to watch the ship leave Manhattan. The ship passes the Statue of Liberty and this made for some wonderful photos. Read more