Norwegian Breakaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,880 reviews

Great Service - Ship just too big!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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andee2s
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2014
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Large Balcony
Traveled with children

I will try to keep short and just the basics. Me - (41 years old), DH 43, and DS 9. For me and hubby this was our 9th cruise together (son on his second voyage). We have sailed NCL once before (was not that great-in comparison to other lines - but still a cruise:) RCL 4 times, Carnival 1, and Celebrity 2 - our favorite! We booked this cruise to get away for the holiday (over X-mas season) - and it was definitely a good choice. NCL redeemed itself (our first on NCL Jewel - 7 years ago was fine just not memorable). We experienced excellant service everywhere we went. Friendly attentive staff!. We bought the UDP and were very happy with all the restaurants. The Cirque Dreams show was great (free admission on first night with dining package) The ship was well-appointed, for being such a large ship it never felt like we were walking long to get anywhere. O-Sheehans very nice, table service and never busy - good pub fare. Tip - go there on embarkation instead of fighting the crowds at the buffet. Our room was great, I did research before and heard about the small balconies - so this was great. Room clean, bathroom big with two sinks and great shower with 6 jets! Balcony had 2 lounge chairs and two regular chairs and a table. We were happy to have this room considering the crowds. AND that would be our one negative. In our opinion, the ship is just too big! It was a sold out cruise and felt like it. 4,000 people is just a lot by any standards. Constantly felt "herded" and just did not enjoy that part. Because of the volumes, if you did not plan or get to shows early, you could not see anything. I was disappointed that our Rock of Ages reservation was re-scheduled, problem was they rescheduled it on the day of our Florida Gatorland excursion. We did not get back in time so did not get to see the show. We did not get to see 2 other shows because the theater was filled to capacity. Understanding we should have showed up earlier but we do not want to sit in seats for 30-45 minutes waiting......Again, NCL was impressive in their ability to handle the volumes of people. Every staff and officer always greeted us and was terrific. I was amazed on the tendering process to Stirrup Cay - very smooth; however; imagine a beautiful tropical "private" island invaded by 8,000 people ( the RCCL Quantum was there as well) and somehow not so great. We lasted 30 minutes on Stirrup Cay and went back to the ship. We found out afterwards if you want some solitude there is a place called the Lagoon that you can take another boat ride, to get away from the masses. I will admit when we went back to the ship while it was somewhat empty, it was nice and relaxing. Our son loved the water park and Splash Academy did a great job as he always wanted to go there. Again, I cannot say enough about the staff, everyone we encountered was soo fantastic and pleasant. The Cruise Director and her staff were always visible and super friendly. It was a cruise and we are fortunate to be able to go on one so trying not to complain. Recommend pre planning and booking reservations for as many things as you can prior to boarding. We definitely saw a big difference in the service from our other NCL cruise 7 years ago. We will definitely be looking to go on NCL again, I just think our preference is for a smaller ship with about 2,000 less people.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Large Balcony

Cabin M6

Great room, clean, bathroom fantastic with two sinks and shower with 6 jets! Balcony has two loungers, two regular chairs and a table. Pull down bed with couch, we were 3 but could sleep 4. Room location was great (IMHO) central to all the public areas on Decks 6-8. A little bit of an elevator or (daunting stair hike) to Deck 15 - access to pools, sun decks, garden cafe (buffet).

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