Norwegian Breakaway Review

First NCL and first mega ship

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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Irenet2
6-10 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: Feb 2017
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom

We chose the Breakaway because it had the right timing for two of our son's friends who were joining us for their first cruise. This was our first cruise on NCL and on such a large ship. We all (6 of us - Us, Parents, and adult son and daughter and son's married friends) had a great time and loved many of the features. I enjoyed the freestyle dining and we tried all the free options. Our only complaint was that the service was often painfully slow, 2+ hours for dinner in the restaurant. The other complaint was the long lines to and on Great Stirup Cay. Again, it took 2 hours to tender to the Island, about 20 minutes in line for food and another hour in line to get back. They still have not constructed the underwater sculpture garden, even though they advertised it. Our first time cruisers were also first time snorkelers and they loved it anyway.

Enough with the complaints, we had a great time. We enjoyed all the trivia games. Our son and his friends did the slides and mini golf. Some of us did the rope course, including me, a 68 year old (scary, but I did it!). The staff were great. We loved the Burn the Floor show and Second City.

Embarcation in New York was a little stressful because it was raining and we were parking on the the roof with no shelter. Disembarcation was a little easier, because the weather was better. All in all, we had a great time but will probably go back to smaller ships and Baltimore Port which is easier for us.

Cabin Review

Balcony Stateroom

Cabin BD

Nice forward balcony room. Couch is close to balcony.

Port Reviews

Port Canaveral (Orlando)

There is nothing to do at Port Canaveral at the actual port, nothing that can be walked to. Even going to the beach requires a shuttle at $13 (?) round trip each. We took it anyway and went window shopping at Ron Jons.

Great Stirrup Cay

Supposedly because of the high winds, the tenders were very slow and the lines were extraordinary. It took 2 hours to get to the Cay. We signed up for group C, to tender at 10:20am, we got to the Cay at 12:10pm. There were lines for everything, including the ladies room. The ladies room line in our section to the right as we disembarked, stayed constant. They should really increase the stalls or number of ladies rooms. The snorkeling was not terribly interesting. The underwater Sculpture Garden was non existent. In answer to a question I had, if you have your own equipment, you are free to snorkel. The $30 Sculpture Garden excursion is just equipment rental. We still had a good time, but it was very crowded.

Nassau

We just walked around a bit and went to Straw Market.

New York (Manhattan)

We decided to bite the bullet and pay for parking at the terminal, $280. We expected a way to drop off our bags before parking, like in Baltimore. No such luck. We had to park and drag our bags, in the rain, to an elevator, down one flight before a porter took them on the 2nd floor.

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