It was a totally different experience for us on this HUGE ship. We're used to smaller ones - less crowds (we didn't realise as Canadians it was your Memorial Day weekend). The crowds were abit daunting at times (according to front desk - there were almost 6k and the crew on board!!!). Sadly - never got the chance to try out the water slides / ropes / and climbing wall seemed to not be working when we were onboard. That was abit of a disappointment - and didn't help that on our last sea day back to NYC port - weather conditions closed them all down.
We did manage to not have to reserve the complimentary restaurants (not sure why NCL agent told us we had to - bit odd). So, chose the smaller more intimate ones - Taste/Savor. Manhattan was just way too loud for us to be in. You could barely hear each other talk - even when there was no music.
We never were able to book or get a seat via Standby for the Second City shows. If we could have booked online before we left - maybe we would have lucked in. This is where I find the FreeStyle bit failed - but according to NCL agent - due to the size of the Breakaway - and more of their mega size me ships - this is the route they have to go.
if you are a person who likes to sleep with balcony door open for fresh air - rethink where you have your stateroom on the Breakaway. We were in the port side aft stateroom 14868 - and we had to close our balcony door in order to sleep (we tended to hit the hay at around midnight). This was abit disappointing to us - as we hoped to sleep at night with the door open - even with the chillier temps for our May 25th departure from NYC to Bermuda cruise.