The ship does not disappoint. The staff is incredible and the amenities are top notch. Our itinerary was great! The concierge and butler service made us feel like royalty. We had goodies in our room waiting for us every day! Our room was spotless every time we walked out, even if just for a moment! We really loved eating at all of the specialty restaurants, especially Cagneys! The ports were great and we had never been to any of them. We were very glad to get to see such unique places without having to travel by rail or air to get to them. Literally every member of the staff went out of their way for us constantly with a big smile. The ship has things to do for people of all ages and interests. It is a great way to spend time with family. We sure hope to be back soon! Read Less

I took my adult children on cruise to see the Baltic area. This was our second Norwegian Cruise and we really enjoyed it. Getting onto the ship was easy. The majority of people get on at Copenhagen, which I recommend doing over warnemunde. The people getting on at warnemunde seem to be forgotten about and no special sailaway activities. There is plenty to do into the wee hours of the morning or you can choose to do nothing and enjoy relaxation. The shows were entertaining. With nealy 4000 people on ship very few times did it seem crowded. The buffet was excellent and very good variety for evening meals. Also Wasabi sushi bar was good. We didn’t do the dining plan do we stayed to the complementary eating which served us fine. The waitstaff and room stewards were friendly and helpful. If you really want to get away from people and have your own jacuzzi/bar check out the Vibe... recommend to pay by day and Not entire week. We enjoyed the ice bar - it’s tiny but fun. Dress warm before going in! They give you a cover but it’s still cold!! Really research your excursions if booking thru the ship. For us doing the old town in Estonia was perfect. There’s not much else to see so spend your time in old town. I’d recommend the 2 day best of St. Petersburg. If you book the excursion thru the ship your first off the shop and don’t have to wait in insanely long immigration lines. Our tour guide was wonderful and very informative about her country. Finland Sweden and Denmark I don’t recommend the boats excursions. Get a city map, arrange drop off in town center and explore on own. In Sweden the port is about 45 min from Stockholm so a transport is needed. Stockholm was so packed with people and buses we were hearded like cattle, guide was awful, rushed, and saw very little - Best of Stockholm. Book an excursion on water and see sites that way. And when sailing up to Copenhagen ... watch for the bridge you’ll sail under watch for the porpoises that come up near the ship. Read Less

I chose this cruise for the itinerary because it lets you see all the capitals of so many different countries all in 9 days. Also, they offer solo cabins for the single cruiser of which I am one. They said there is no single supplement but call it what you will, I did not pay the single traveller price but almost the full travel price of 2 people. Cruise lines are really missing "the boat" on single travellers. The food was very good and they have a lot of selection. There is a myriad of different restaurants - Italian, Sushi, steak, seafood, asian noodle bar- and cuisines to choose from and so many bars that I don't know if I ever saw them all- though I did my best LOL. They had a lot of slides for kids, and rock walls, somthing to do with ropes, bowling, movies, a plethora of different musical venues, broadway shows, and lots of activities to keep you busy if you want to do it. (I would have liked to have seen Netflix on all the televisions in the rooms and you can watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. As it is, the selection on tv is minimal and sometimes a show would end and then there was absolutely nothing on till the next show started). Everyone made me feel comfortable being a solo traveler with one exception. My first full day at sea I went to the savor dining room and told them 1 diner. She looked at me with a perplexed expression so I quickly added on, a table that seats 2 is fine or I will share a table. She told me no one was sharing right now and she waved her finger in the air (my personal favorite) and said there is nothing she can do to help me and walked away. I was awestruck and stood there with my mouth open. Can't I eat by myself in this dining room? She hurt my heart with her words and I was so saddened I almost cried. A couple days later I was eatting in this same room with 2 people I had met aboard ship when the assistant matre de' came by to ask how everything was. I told him this story and asked if single people were not allowed to eat here and he said no she should have never treated me that way and took my room number. I thought surely he would send a bottle of wine to my stateroom as a sorry you were treated this way gesture. But no, no bottle of wine, he didn't even offer to buy me a glass of wine. Very disappointing that. Besides this one glitch I had a wonderful cruise. The ports were fantastic. Cobblestone streets, breathtaking architecture, outdoor markets, cathedrals.... It would have been nice to spend 2 days in a different port that ST Petersburg Russia because in Russia you cannot get off the boat and walk around by yourself. You have to be on a excursion through either the boat or a professional company- unless you have a Russian Visa which costs $300 and takes 6 months to get. I like to get off the ship and walk around on my own so this was disappointing. All in all a great cruise and can't wait till my next one! Read Less

We have wanted to do this trip for many years. We waited until our daughters were 15 & 12 and we also traveled with my parents 83 & 79. Everything was perfect from our room steward to the many restaurants options,entertainment, bartenders & staff! We ate in Cagneys twice(our favorite), Moderno once and La Cucina once as well as Savor, Taste and the Manhattan dining room. It was great having music and a dance floor there. The shows were fantastic as well. We really enjoyed Burnin up the floor, the dueling pianos and the rock bands at Sid Normans. We loved the various ports, the beauty and architecture. Other than Stockholm, (NCL excursion)we booked private tours on our own which were terrific. Our daughters loved the combination of the tours and learning about these fabulous countries and then going back and having fun on this terrific ship with the watersides and activities. We got lucky with the weather, it was perfect! The staff was the friendliest we have had in the past and fellow cruisers were so polite and engaging. It was a perfect mix of people from all over the world and various ages. We love NCL and this was our favorite ship and itinerary. We would definitely do this cruise again although it is fun trying different things and not sure we can top this experience again. We stayed in Copenhagen for 3 nights(Marriott) before boarding the ship which was awesome as well. The embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly considering the size of the ship and number of passengers. It was seamless. Our daughters haven’t stopped talking about the trip since we’ve been home:) Read Less

Amazing evening with Magic Mike. Can’t rave enough. The service on the ship was excellent everywhere. The embarkation was the easiest of any ship I’ve been on — which is saying a lot for how large the ship is. Stops were all well organized for the ebb and flow of the passengers — not a lot of lines or waiting except for Russia... but how Russian is that? Gotta love it. The cruise line showed good respect for the ports, giving a lot of stop time. The variety of food venues was nice to have — and each place we ate was good. The bars were fun. The upstairs bar at the front of the ship was especially entertaining... My cabin steward (Mik for 12451) was hilarious and helpful. Hope he enjoys his baby boy (who I think is going to be a girl!) Read Less

I am a cruiser who had traveled to many locations. I had traveled with Royal Caribbean 3 times already & decided to try out Norwegian based on their Baltic/Russia itinerary. I was on board Norwegian Breakaway with my family of 4. The moment we arrived for check in we were split based off of our room numbers. They have a odd & even section based on your deck number. We had deck 9 & 10. Wasn’t expecting to be separated from my family the moment we arrived. Shortly after we performed a extremely unorganized safety drill. We we all placed in the main lobby for quite a long time. Welcoming show for the evening was underwhelming. Nothing exciting but meeting the staff in the theater. Entertainment on board was disappointing. You had to make reservations for shows. Never experienced that before. The music all around the ship was extremely repetitive. The same singers with same songs by the pool & in the lobby for 9 days. The layout of the entire ship & the entertainment decks are very flawed. Each deck was blocked off for the ships revenue or the Haven members. It was not possible to walk around an entire exterior deck without being denied access. The flow was very choppy. Additionally, the non accessible heli-pad was dissappointing. The pool decks were standard. Smoking section was located directly infront of the main pool. For non smokers this is bothersome. The Garden Cafè was very different layout from many other cruises. It is a very long hallway of buffet food with people going in every direction. It can get very crowded. The variety of food was lacking especially for vegetarians. The desserts were served in frustrating cabinets that needed to be lifted. This caused many messy accidents. The staff did a good job clearing dirty plates. Shore excursions were extremely pricey. Did my homework prior to sailing and booked cheaper liscensed tours. WiFi was good. Got 250 complimentary minutes. Disembarking for Russia was a hot mess. Put us all in the theater & gave priority to excursions booked with Norwegian to exit first. Lines for guest services in the lobby were way too long. Overall my experience on Norwegian Breakeay was standard. Read Less

I like the countries that are in this cruise . Every crew in this ship are very friendly and ever willing to help . Just seeing the ship Breakaway seems to bring joy n fun already . There was abundance of food , good entertainment . Enjoyed listening to Arvin n Emily at the Atrium, n Lily Jane Young. I was afraid to go on a cruise again because of my first experience was not good . This was great ! The sailing was smooth and Guest services was quick in checking things for us. . When we went out for tours and during disembarkment it was well organized . My husband n I treated ourselves for this cruise as our gift for our 43 year anniversary on September. We are 10 in this cruise , with our friends and HS classmates. We enjoyed the cruise and recommended it to some other friends. Thank you .., you didn’t disappoint us! It was Fun ! Fun! Fun! Read Less

We choose this cruise because of the ports and dates. We stayed in the Haven which is quite expensive but quite lovely. We were not impressed with excursions. They were too expensive with too many people. I ended up cancelling two of our scheduled excursions and booking local tour guides at 2 ports. It was hot and many people were not dressed for walking on uneven streets. They would have on flip flops or sandals. We had two people fall on two different excursions. One boat we were on in Stockholm had us packed in like sardines and it was HOT and unpleasant. If/when we take another cruise I will pre-book all the excursions on our own. Just research on Tripadvisor and you can find reputable tours. We have done that all over Europe and never had an issue. The cardio equipment needs more maintenance. It is heavily used and poorly maintained. The rowing machine was broken while we there. It was supposedly fixed...it wasn't fixed. Had to try 4 different ellipticals before one worked consistently. The exercise room needs a re-vamp. It is very tired. Perhaps putting the equipment on a maintenance rotation schedule....don't wait until it is broken....preventative maintenance. Customers need to check the credits on their accounts when they get on the ship. There were problems with several of my credits. I checked them the day before we left and that wasn't soon enough to get anything fixed. So I was overcharged and I will have to get my travel agent involved to see if we can get any credits. We disembarked to get on the bus to Berlin. It was a 3 hour drive with NO scheduled bathroom break...who does that? 3 hours with no restroom break? Keep in mind the restroom on the bus was out of order. Our son speaks German so we requested the bus driver stop when a 10 year old girl was becoming quite miserable. The bus driver was nice and very accommodating. The internet was too expensive and really too difficult to operate. The system should log you automatically after so many minutes of no use. Seemed a little mean spirited and almost suspicious in this day and age to such an archaic system. This cruise had a learning curve for us. We would cruise with NCL again but apply what we learned this time. Read Less

This review highlights some of the highs and lows of our trip. We've rated this cruise "4" overall and we have tried to balance our comments accordingly, though we have taken the time to explain the "less favorable" parts thoroughly. EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION We picked this cruise for the itinerary and we were not disappointed. The cities were amazing. Getting on and off in each port was easy and smooth (except for St. Petersburg, which involved a long, slow process). We began and ended our cruise Copenhagen and spent several days exploring before and after the cruise. Great decision. Embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. We used public transportation to get to and from the cruise ship, to the airport and throughout Copenhagen. HIGHLY recommend you check into this. An all day pass is about $12-13 USD and a trip to/from airport is about $5-6 one way. Can't believe how many people pay NCL $25 USD per person to take a bus to the airport (except for those who cannot walk, carry luggage short distances, etc). SHIP We loved the beauty of the refurbished ship. It is clean, contemporary, "new" looking and very stylish. We did not like the public areas. We have sailed on the "jewel" class NCL ships (Gem, Jade, Pearl, etc) and while they are not as impressive looking, they are much less crowded and much less noisy in the public areas. With 4000 passengers on board, NCL did not put enough money into increasing the public spaces on the Breakaway. Everywhere was crowded. Elevators, restaurants, atrium, bars, pools, etc. We were so tired of pushing and shoving and ended up finding chairs and tables outside (near the martini bar) to sit at during most of our down time. The weather was wonderful for our entire sailing, so sitting outside without the crowds was heavenly. This was our first summer cruise and we had not anticipated children on board being so unruly. Perhaps we are just used to US expectations of kids in public places but we were not expecting screaming, running, falling on the ground, rolling around, winding the leash that they were attached to around their parents and other passenger's legs (yes, children on leashes acting like unruly puppies), tired children up at midnight, pre-teenage children running around the hallways near staterooms and screaming (in Italian?) as they got on the elevators (more than once), etc. We could go on and on. The parents did nothing to try to re-direct their children. They just kept talking to other adults, drinking and ignoring their naughty children. We did ask the pre-teenage children to "please stop running around", but not sure they spoke English. It was odd to be on a nicely appointed cruise ship with children acting like they were at an amusement park. Shame on the parents. CABIN Our cabin was clean, quiet, modern and slightly larger than other inside staterooms that we have had. We've gotten pretty good at using the space efficiently. On this ship we had no drawers, just shelves and closet space. DINING Restaurant service was slow. (That's true with all NCL cruise ships) Waiter takes your order, then you wait. Behind the scenes, the food is "staged" and covered to stay warm. By the time it gets to you, it is closer to room temperature. We do not eat at buffets, so we always go to the sit down restaurants. Food taste is good, with some interesting menu choices and some things that are just so-so. Our behind the scenes tour told us that the NCL menus are changing with the beginning of the roll out occurring in Sept 2018. This is good news. Speaking as people who have been on 8 NCL cruises in the past two years, we are very tired of the same menus offered for the entire NCL fleet. No uniqueness per ship. The rollout won't be unique per ship either, but at least it will be a long overdue change to bring some variety for frequent cruisers. Sometimes we are waiting for our food, another soda or drink, our coffee, etc and we would look around and see servers who are resetting tables for lunch or dinner and only our server is running around like crazy. Why can't NCL see this too?? Those tables can wait to be reset later. HELP the servers who are obviously overwhelmed! We asked one of the managers who came to our table if they were short staffed. He said, "oh no we are not short staffed" and asked if we had been waiting long. YES we wanted to shout. Aren't you looking around and seeing the server running around trying to do ten things at once while the customers are just sitting there?! For the most part, we just took the waiting in stride and reminded ourselves that we were on vacation. CRUISE DIRECTOR/STAFF AND ACTIVITIES The cruise director, Roberto, speaks many languages, and at first it was impressive to hear him make announcements in 4 different languages, but after awhile, it got old as each announcement takes 4 times as long to make. There has to be a better way. Speaking of the cruise director... he was not very visible and when we did see him, he is by far the least approachable and least friendly of the 8 cruise directors we have met in the past two years. His staff was not very visible. By the end of the cruise, I only knew one cruise staff member's name. The onboard activities were limited. Trivia was on average of once per day or less. No origami, arts and crafts, etc. Many activities held in the atrium. Seating is difficult, crowded, hard to see even from the overhead balcony. Other NCL ships have cards that you get initialed after activities, then at the end of the cruise you turn the cards in for a prize, like a T shirt. Now they give you a plastic prize IF you are the winner. So if you attend an event, they no longer value that as deserving a prize at the end of the cruise. After I won some a can "coozie" and a fabric frisbee (which I gave away to a child), I lost interest in attending activities. OTHER STAFF Customer service area is crowded, slow and the treatment is harsh. They are by far the worst representatives for "customer service." Is that done on purpose, NCL? Cruise Next staff is fun, friendly and very approachable. We loved seeing them around the ship and having short conversations! Some of the bartenders are wonderful. Some took the time to get to know us, remember our names, remember what we drank, etc. The same is true of the drink servers. Cabin steward was friendly and efficient. He kept our room in great shape. ENTERTAINMENT Mixed. Some good, some mediocre and some we skipped. Not our favorite cruise for entertainment by far. LAUNDRY SERVICE Platinum members get a free bag of laundry. When our clothes had not arrived back after 48 hours, we called the front desk. We were told laundry takes 48 hours. We explained that that was why we were calling. When the person on the phone asked if we were using a coupon, we explained it was our "free bag" benefit. "Oh in that case," she said, "yours will take 3 to 4 DAYS." We thought it was odd that NCL values us as Platinum Latitudes members by giving us a "free bag" of laundry, then de-values us by making us wait twice as long as paying customers. SHORE EXCURSIONS We booked all of ours through and independent company and they were all EXCELLENT. We did use the free voucher we were given for Nynsham to Stockholm transfer. The bus ride to Stockholm was fine. The bus ride home was not. They sent a bus knowing it was NOT air conditioned. We know this because they tried to use the same bus with the people on the 2:45 (?) earlier pickup and those people refused to get on it after being told there was no air. For us, they did not tell us about the "no air conditioning" till we were pulling away and asked the driver to put on the air. There were no windows to open and it was about 85-90 degrees F in the bus (30-32 degrees C). We were beyond hot and really feared someone might get ill. One group of about 8 people could not take it any longer and after about 15 minutes on the bus they asked to be let off. The bus driver let them off and continued our ride through the city of Stockholm to some kind of station. At this point, the driver pulled over and told us he had called for a new bus. We spent 10 minutes waiting on a city sidewalk, when an air conditioned bus came, we boarded and were on our way. This resulted in our getting back to port 1/2 hour later than the busses that left at the same time. Would we go again? For the ports, yes. We would not be excited to go on the Breakaway again. Overall, we do like NCL. We like freestyle cruising. We like the friendliness of the bar staff and drink servers. We had many vacation heroes. Read Less

One of our BEST Cruises! NCL Breakaway (July 13 – 22, 2018) Background to review: Normally we book a room in the Haven or the Garden Villa, but traveling with friends we decided to book a Spa Balcony. We got along fine on this cruise without the extra amenities and the smaller room was just fine. You spend so much time OFF the ship, I don’t believe the extra expense to be in the Haven would be worth it on this trip. Cruising is all about EXPECTATIONS. Not everything will be perfect but I rate this cruise EXCEPTIONAL because of the Ports and the Breakaway was a very nice ship with a staff that was very accommodating and helpful. On the Breakaway, the combination of the ship, the crew, the excursions, the food, friends we met, and of course the SPA, made for a perfect cruise. Our weather was EXCEPTIONAL (no rain, temperatures in the 80’s almost every stop). I am going to list the highlights and if you want more detail, please read below for a given topic. • WARNING: Paid excursions or not, be prepared for a LOT of walking both to and from the ship and within the sites you visit. • Copenhagen: We embarked in Copenhagen. Very easy and efficient. Very expensive city. Stayed at the AC Bella Hotel for $129 per night before and after cruise. • Warnemunde: Very nice port. Took train to Rostock, ate lunch on the ship and then toured Warnemunde. No paid excursion here is really needed. • Tallin: We walked to the Old Town. Visited several historic sites. • St. Petersburg: We booked The Grand Tour with Alla Tours. One group in our party booked The Comfort Tour for less walking. Both tours were very good. Less expensive than the ship’s excursions and worth the money. More on the NCL disembarkation process below dealing with Russia’s Immigration. • Helsinki: We paid for the $15 round trip bus shuttle provided by NCL to the Market Square and toured on our own. Enjoyed the ability to have some down time by sitting in the beautiful park just off market square. • Stockholm: Because we docked in Nynashamn we booked Alla Tours. Picked us up at the dock, 45 minute drive to Stockholm and toured the sites. Very easy and worth the money. • Breakaway: Ship was very nice. Staff excellent. Only had one mishap with prior dinner reservations but quickly solved. Many cruisers were very rude and pushy. Getting on and off the ship fairly easy at all ports. Disembarkation easiest I have experienced at the end. Food was excellent. We ate in a specialty restaurant every night. Copenhagen: Stayed at the AC Bella Sky Hotel by Marriott for $129 a night. Great rate for a fine hotel. The Metro is very close to the hotel (short walk). We took the Metro, M1 Train, into Copenhagen and got off at Kongens Nytorv St and it was a short walk to Nynhavn. Took a Canal Tour in Nynhavn and ate dinner. The Canal Tour is about 60 minutes and costs $14 a person. Well worth it!! Dinner was expensive. Paid about $22 for a hamburger and side. The Tram ride is $4 per person in and $4 back out if the time from the first trip is more than 1.5 hours you have to buy another ticket. If you plan on spending a lot of time sightseeing, check into the All Day Pass. In planning your travel around Copenhagen, a site called www.Reseplanen.dk is very helpful. The currency is the DKK which is about 6:1 for U.S. dollars but we were able to use our charge cards very easily, everywhere. At the end of the cruise, we also stayed at the AC Bella Sky Hotel. They provided a shuttle from the hotel to the cruise ship and back again for $50 per person. On our last day, we took the Tram into Copenhagen and toured the Rosenborg Castle to see the Crown Jewels. The Castle tour was about $14 per person. Everyone was TOO tired from all the walking on the cruise to do much else so we ate lunch and went back to the hotel to crash. We took a cab to the airport for about $27 at 4:40 am to catch our 7:05 flight. Everything people have written about the Copenhagen airport being slow to progress through is correct. Seemed like it took forever to check our bags and get to the gate through security and customs. Glad we listened and allowed a lot of time. Warnemunde: This was a nice port to start the cruise. We first took a train into Rostock because we wanted to see St. Mary’s church and the astronomical clock. If you are there at 12 o’clock, you will see the clock in action. If it was not for seeing St. Mary’s Church, I think I would have avoided the visit to Rostock. We did some sightseeing in the center square and had some wonderful Pastries and Coffee!! If you are planning to go to Rostock, it is a simple journey by Train and local Tram. The train is a short walk from the Pier to the Train. There are ticket machines but just opposite the machines is a ticket counter in the red brick building. We found this the easiest. You take the S1 train to Rostock central train station. About a 21 minute ride. We were able to get a group (5 or less) roundtrip ticket for $20 or $5 per person since there was 4 of us. When you get to the Rostock Central Station, you need to go down to the lower platform (A) to catch the local tram. We took Line 5 in the direction of Mecklenburger Allee and got off at the central market, Neuer Markt”. Make sure you check the return S1 train schedule for the return time so you don’t waste too much time in the train station waiting for the return. St. Mary’s Church with the astronomical clock is just to your right of the square. There are many shops and some great pastry shops around the center square. Getting back take the tram Line 5 Direction Sudblick or Line 6 Direction Mensa to the Rostock Central Station. Get the S1 train to Warnemunde. Warnemunde has many local vendors and great eating places just off the train stop. One GREAT ADVICE we got from a waiter on the Breakaway was to go to the local grocery store and buy German Chocolate Bars. The store is located away from the train station towards the church (steeple visible). Go around the church and look directly left from the rear of the church. The store is on the corner. Name sounds like “Ekert” drug stores in the states. You will see many of the NCL staff shopping in there. Got many chocolate bars for 59 – 89 cents. Tallin: Very easy to find the Old Town. Follow the crowd to the entrance. You will do a lot of walking around the OLD TOWN and the walking can be difficult at times on the cobble stones. Make sure you visit the Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform that is hidden away on KOHTU and is free of charge. Don’t mistake the viewing platform overlooking a track and field park for the Kohtuotsa Platform. A must see visit is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. You will also find many shops and restaurants as you walk around Old Town. St. Petersburg: This is the HIGHLIGHT of the trip. I am so glad that we decided to book the Grand Tour with Alla Tours. The price was $285 per person but we got a slight discount because we were on the Cruise Critic Roll Call and booked a second tour with them for Stockholm. Much has been written about the CHAOS in departing the ship in St. Petersburg. Basically, the NCL tours go off first. People with private tours booked go to the Theater and you are released by Group A first, B second and then C. You sign up for a group on the touch screens in the ship, your TV (which was not working) or in the Box Office. Group A sat in the right hand side of the theater as you faced the stage and the center section. This was done so not to FLOOD the Russian Immigration Station. Being very truthful, you can just show up early and sit in a section. I did not find NCL checking anyone. In the end, everyone got through no matter what group you were in and made our tours. RUSSIAN IMMIGRATION is SLOW the first day. They are checking something in their database and each person goes ONE AT A TIME and they don’t rush. On the Grand Tour, we had a nice new Mercedes Bus with 20 of us on the bus. Everyone had hand held sets with ear phones. Our first visit was to the Hermitage Museum. Great to be on the Tour because we get priority entrance. Lines to visit the Museum are long. We then visited the Church of Spilled Blood and had a great lunch in a Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg. After lunch we went to Saint Issacs Cathedral and St. Peter’s Fortress. It was a long day but so worth it. The second day started with a Canal Tour of St. Petersburg and a ride on the subway (very interesting how clean the subway is and the entire city). Not like NYC, or any other American City. We then visited Catherine’s Palace with the Amber Room, Yusupov Palace with the Gregory Rasputin exhibition and finished the day with the Peterhof Summer Palace and Gardens. This to me was the highlight of the second day. Massive Palace and property! Helsinki: This turned out to be a great stop especially after St. Petersburg. Our visit was low key and we really enjoyed our time in the Park located next to the Market Square with all the vendors. We sat in the park, watched the people and ate ice cream. A great way to relax after 2 very busy days in St. Petersburg. We paid the $15 per person for the round trip bus fare. The bus picks you up right at the ship and drops you in the center of the town. You can go a little cheaper on the tram but it is not worth the hassle. Everything we wanted to do in Helsinki was within walking distance of the Market Square. We visited Uspenski Cathedral , Senate Square, Lutheran Church located in the Senate Square, and of course walked the park on Esplandi. Stockholm: We landed in Nynashamn which is about a 45 minute ride to Stockholm. To avoid all the confusion with the NCL shuttle and the crowds, we booked the tour with Alla Tours. They picked us up at the terminal and our tour was fantastic. Our tour started with a visit to the Vasa Museum followed by a scenic drive to the Old city or Gamla Stan for a walking tour and free time to shop and eat. NCL Breakaway: Everyone in our group really enjoyed being on the Breakaway. We stayed in the Spa rooms because we extensively use the Thermal Spa to get away from the crowds and find some quiet place to relax. Unfortunately, there were some rude cruisers who did not understand the SPA is not the Swimming Pool and were very noisy and obnoxious. We REALLY ENJOY eating in the Specialty Restaurants when I travel on NCL. Le Bistro and Cagney’s are our favorites. We ate in Le Bistro twice, Teppanyaki twice, Cagneys twice, La Cucina, Ocean Blue, and booked the show in the Spiegel Tent, Cirque Dreams and Jungle Fantasy. All the restaurants are excellent and the show in the Spiegel Tent was fabulous. My favorite stop was O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill. We ate lunch or breakfast there whenever we did not eat at Taste or Savor. CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET: NCL really did a fine job of hosting our Meet and Greet in the Bliss lounge. Our attendance was less than expected but this might have been due to the late change NCL made moving the meeting from La Cucina to the Bliss Lounge three days before we sailed. Entertainment; We enjoyed Burn the Floor. Walked out of Rock of All Ages. NCL should cancel this show. The comedian was great. Best of all was the dueling pianos in Headliners. Read Less