Norwegian Breakaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,880 reviews

Norwegian Delivers Again

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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Snipe74
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2015
Cabin: Inside Stateroom

My wife and I cruised on sistership (Getaway) in November 2014, and enjoyed it so much we decided to do Breakaway. Although the same layout, size, etc, Breakaway has a distinct New York vibe, just like Getaway has a distinct Miami vibe. It's hard to describe, but both work well. In our opinion, Getaway has better entertainment, and a slightly better hotel and food services crew (friendlier, more attentive). Food variety and quality was consistently excellent - we were never disappointed. In that respect, I'm not a burger fan, and usually pass on them, but at the recommendations of some my fellow shipmates about the burgers in the Uptown Cafe, I became convinced to sample one. In a word - OUTSTANDING!!!. The coffee in all dining rooms was strong, rich (just the way I like it).

The Library has Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and trivia games every day. The $15 martini flight is a great deal. After donning an insulated upper body and head wrap and gloves, we tried the Icebar ($20 cover charge for 2 drinks per person, 8 total drink choices) - OK experience, worth the price. When in sight of land or other interesting sights at sea, be sure to use the free telescopes on the Waterfront. Our only real unpleasant encounter occurred during embarkation while we were attempting to figure out which line to get in. A crabby little old lady barked at us using a sarcastic demeaning tone in response to my inquiry. Having lived in NYC for 3 years a while back, I chaulked it off to the "New York attitude". Not appropriate for cruise ship facilities though.

Cabin Review

Inside Stateroom

Cabin IF

Despite its location between the hull and the corridor, Norwegian classifies this cabin as “inside”, (i.e., no porthole or window). We booked it as Cat IX (Norwegian ultimately selects the cabin for you – luck of the draw). The cabin was a bit noisy when the bow props were in use, and I suspect that is the case for all nearby cabins. Other than that, the cabin was cozy, quiet, and comfortable. Even though we encountered some fairly rough seas on our voyage, we experienced very little motion in this cabin due to its location far forward and low. We could even hear the waves slapping on the hull – which actually proved quite relaxing. Overall excellent value for the $$. Of particular note is the fact that the corridor from the cabin to the elevator lobby is mostly extra wide in this area for some reason once you clear two narrow-ish door openings off the elevator lobby. (The deck plans on the websites don't show this.) This extra width makes for roomy passing when encountering passengers going in the opposite direction, even when the cabin steward service carts were parked in the corridor. Our cabin steward (a senior staffer) told us that he specifically picked this area just because of the extra space.

Port Reviews

Barbados

This port is way overrated overall. The taxi drivers are the WORST that we've ever encountered - insulting, pushy, aggressive (some even threatening), sarcastic. We visited on a Sunday – hardly anything was open. Port terminal shopping, was however, pretty good.

Carlisle Bay Beach was nice, and is walkable from the cruise terminal (about 45 minutes one way). The only good snorkeling, however is at the ship wrecks, which is a fairly long swim from shore (I'm glad I had flippers). If you go to snorkel around the ship wrecks, look for the paid excursion boats at anchor - they mark the location. The locals on the beach were also very pushy to let them take you to the wrecks for a fee. One even said that we needed a special marker to go out (not true). The beach features free restrooms with changing areas and fresh water washing stations.

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