First off, I'd like to say that Norwegian has always been my husband's and my cruise line of choice. We enjoy the idea of a Freestyle cruise, and we love that we can leave from NYC, which is just a short train ride from home. We've cruised on Dawn, Spirit, and Gem, and have also cruised with Holland America and Princess. On this particular cruise, we felt the the Freestyle aspect was not as free as it could have/should have been. On past Norwegian cruises, we loved just deciding on the spur of the moment when we'd like to eat, when we'd like to see a show, etc. I am not a fan of having to prebook entertainment, which was a new policy on the Breakaway. When I am on vacation (especially on a cruise) I like NOT planning. I spend my regular life planning everything to a tee, and I look forward getting away from that while I'm on a cruise. This aspect certainly didn't ruin our trip by any means, but I could have done without it. That is really the only overall "complaint" I have about this cruise. For more specific information on individual aspects of the trip, please continue reading.
SHIP:
Yup - the ship is big. This was not news to me, as I did research before booking. True, there are a lot of people, but I never felt that the common areas were overcrowded by any means. I now know that I prefer a smaller ship (around 2500 to this one's 4500), but the size/number of people did not affect us negatively at all.