If you think that spending a week with the cast of Jersy Shore sounds like fun then by all means book a sailing on the Breakaway. While we did run in to a handful of nice and polite fellow guests they were certainly in the minority. Here is who your fellow passangers are: Loud, me first, pushing, shoving, foul mouthed jerks. NCL has chosen to market to the lowest common denominator of those that live the great New York City area and this combines with NCL's every escalating ala carte style of reaching into your pocket while cruising makes for a truly miserable experience.

Even if the fellow passengers had been the nicest people in the world I would not recommend this cruise for one key reason: the food offerings ranged from meh to dreadful. We had perhaps two good meals the whole time that we were on board and that was in Ocean blue (burning a Specialty meal cards AND an "upgrade charge") and the other decent meal we had was in Cagneys. By far the most horrible meal we had was in Le Bistro which, with the menu changes NCL made earlier this year, has now become some horrible Americanized and cost saving driven version of French food that would make the French themeselves weep and nash their teeth. What do I mean? Here is an example: A Warm Goat Cheese salad, which is a French cuisine classic featuring a good church of goat cheese warmed in the over and served with a salad dressed with a French vinegrette, was instead a salad with Argula mixed with romaine lettuce accompanied by two very small rounds of French bread smeared with less than a teaspoon of goat cheese. The Duck confit was actually a chopped mixture of cooked "duck" formed like a meatloaf patty topped with mashed potatoes and the rack of lamb has been replaced with "lamb tenderloin" which was roughly 3-4 oz of over cooked lamb with about a teaspoon of sauce.

NCL also continues to find more and more creative uses of the ala carte impulse buying concept of cruisers by charging you for everything possible. I swear that it won't be long before NCL wants to charge you for the soap and toilet paper in your state room. You can expect that your ultimate beverage package doesnt include essentials like bottled water, which NCL now forbids you to bring on (as well as ANY liquid beverages at all as of July 2016) so that the can charge you an obscene amount of money to buy a water package while on board. Most activities on board are either things you must pay extra for (mini golf, rock climbing wall, any group fitness classes, etc) or "activities" that are really a prolonged sales pitch for something NCL really wants you to impulse buy on board. Quasi medical procedures and/or products are disguised as information lectures or "ladies pamper parties". The $20 Beer, Wine or Whiskey tastings include such unusual products as Sam Adams or Jack Daniels, and all items "tasted" are also available in your UBP so why pay $20 bucks to hear you bartender extols the virtual of a beer you can buy at your supermarket at home? Read more