Both to organize my own thoughts, and to help the reader find specific information of interest, I have used a bullet-point format and segregated this review into the following sections: Introduction, General Comments, Food & Drink, Entertainment, Activities, Technology, and Cabin.INTRODUCTIONFirst, a little about us to set context. We're a family of four with two teenagers. My wife and I had sailed two years ago on the QM2, and this was the kids' first cruise. We are not big drinkers or party all night types, and since the kids had been at camp all summer, they wanted to hang out with us rather than do any of the kids activities.We booked our cruise in March 2012. We had originally wanted a mid-ship balcony and inside cabin across the hall for the kids, but that configuration was not available, so we booked two mid-ship balconies. After reading more and more on Cruise Critic, I realized that I wanted aft balcony cabins, preferably on Deck 9 as those are the deepest, and was able to snag them for about $120 more per person. Overall, we all had an excellent time on this cruise. It did not disappoint.GENERAL* The Breakaway is huge. Having only sailed on the QM2 before, it was just about the same size, but is twice as big as some other NCL ships. That being said, while the kids found the size a bit overwhelming at first, they quickly figured out where everything was. Since the common areas are all on 6, 7, 8, 15 and 16 - that wasn't very difficult.

* We arrived at the Manhattan cruise terminal at 10:30AM and were on board after a short wait at 11:30AM.

* For the most part, the staff are all great. Many are funny, and most seemed sincere. The only exception - as has been mentioned by others - is Guest Services. Some were helpful and friendly, some were dismissive and not so knowledgeable. This is the one area in which work is needed on the staff. Read more