Traveled with husband, daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons ages 4 and 3. This was our first Norwegian Cruise and about our 20th overall. We have traveled on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival. I would say that if we are with kids we prefer Royal Caribbean and if just the two of us we prefer Celebrity or Princess. The first thing I would say about the Norwegian Breakaway is that it is a beautiful ship. The number of activities available is extensive. It is a paradise for kids. The putt-putt is darling, the water slides are fantastic and the ropes course is amazing especially when you realize that it is on a ship. The kids pool/water area is total fun. They also do a great job with the Nickelodeon characters-Dora, Diego, Sponge Bob, etc. they are out and about and opportunities to interact with them are many.

I would say that the breakfast and lunch food in the Garden Buffet was well layed out and very good. There seemed to be ample tables available. The ice cream was good but didn't compare to Celebrity's homemade. There were other venues available for breakfast and lunch depending on whether it was a port day or sea day.

Now for the bad. There was simply not enough help to clean up the eating areas of the ship. This was particularly evident in the Uptown Grill. The food here was great but the place was disgustingly dirty. Food all over the floor and never cleaned up. No one ever came along and cleaned up plates on the lounge chair areas or the help just walked past and pretended not to notice. In the main dining rooms the help was also lacking. The table was never cleared between courses. Compared to other ships we have been on the eating areas were a mess. The dinner food was hit or miss. Some of it was delicious and others was not all that great. Read more