I have taken numerous cruises on cruise ships and oceanliners, traveling the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean and the for 25 years. I am not a novice. On Jan 5, 2014 I boarded the NCL Breakaway at NYC's Westside

Cruise Ship Terminal for the first Breakaway venture into the Caribbean. It was a twelve day cruise. The boarding process was fast, efficient and courteous. The crew is pleasant and well trained and my room steward was excellent. I had selected an aft-facing balcony cabin (9322) with a large balcony after reading on this site. It was a good choice, pleasant and quiet. It was obvious that NCL does not want passengers watching TV in their rooms. Channel selection is VERY limited. There is a movie channel and a channel devoted to re-run TV programs, but there is NO guide for these channels.

The food was very disappointing. I ate many meals in the Manhattan Room, which is a tastefully appointed dining room with live music and dancing until about 9 PM. Two other dining rooms, also with no surcharge for meals, Taste and Savor, were smaller with no music and not as pleasant, served the same food as The Manhattan Room. The selections for dinner were limited, repetitive and lacked imagination. The breakfast menu was the same for all 12 breakfasts and the lunch menu did not change for 5 or 6 days in a row. There were no daily specials for lunch or breakfast. My worst meal was rack of lamb. I could not eat it. In talking with fellow passengers throughout the cruise, the topic of poor food often arose. I was not the only passenger who had bad rack of lamb. I have had much better food on NCL's Jewel and Sky. The Garden Café was a pleasant place to eat, lots of windows, bright and airy and the standard fare cafeteria food was well prepared, presented and served by a cordial hard working staff. I was surprised and pleased with the efficiency of this operation. NCL's greatly touted "Freestyle Dining" is pretty much freestyle in name only. If one wants the same table, the same staff and dinner at the same time each day, the fine print says that this is only available between 5:00 and 5:30 PM, otherwise one must sign up for one of those portable electronic devises that rings, flashes and vibrates when your table is ready, which can be anywhere from ten to forty five minutes later. I did not eat in any of the nine cover charge ($15 -30 pp, depending upon which restaurant) restaurants. About one week before the cruise I made a reservation for Cagney's but canceled it after talking with other passengers who had eaten there and thought it was not worth spending $30. When I canceled the reservation I was surprised to learn that it had already been billed to my credit card and now a month later, I am still waiting for the charge to be backed out. Read more