Where to start? we have travelled for years both ocean and river cruising, and never on a mega-ship before! To begin with, if you like your sleep! forget it! this modern ship has cabin doors which are of the automatic slam shut ! variety, consequently 24/7 doors are being slammed the length of the vast corridors, and no one thought to hang on to the handles as the doors closed, why 24/7? because of discos and casinos there was always something going on. As for the dining! being of a free style variety! you either joined the chaos of top deck diners, with all of its constant noise, and shoving to get food and find a table, or you joined a few free restaurants which in the evenings were so popular (no surprise!) that you then had to queue before a table became free. Obviously you could choose to pay extra and dine elsewhere. With most busy ships numbers of passengers can disappear with many activities but with 4,000 passengers and approx. 1500 crew there was no where to escape to apart from the llibrary and the smokers room!! A word of warning, if using the main theatre which is canted so everyone gets a good view, however near the top of the stairs two short steps follow each other so that the number of people stumbling and even falling, occurred each night we were there, one night an elderly gentleman stumbled down them and went crashing into a seat back, did anyone care? Needless to say a stop in Stockholm was cancelled because of bad weather (this is quite often the case as its a floating dock!), so we had to spend two days of a short 10 day break going slow to waste time. If we missed the stop why could we not have made it a day earlier to Copenhagen as compensation, as it was for the two days the decks were roped off! so had to stay inside, and as many ended up with the ships cough! at $250 dollars for a brief visit with the ships GP and a few antibiotic tablets. Read Less

The ship was suppose to go to places I wanted to see, but three ports were cancelled and we stayed on the ship extra days. We were suppose to go to five ports but only went to two, Estonia and Russia. Port calls in Germany, Finland and Sweden were cancelled. Bad weather was cited for the reason but there had to be other reasons since we bypassed Helsinki even thought the storms had passed days earlier. The shipboard entertainment was so-so. It was mostly solo acts, such as a single singer, violinist etc. My wife and I left some shows early since they were boring. I knew in advance beer ($8.30 a bottle) and soft drinks ($5.00) would be expensive so it was not a surprise. I just didn't drink as much as I would have liked. Still the food was great, the cabins were great, the service was great and we had a very good time but regret not seeing what we paid for. For old people, such as my wife and I, it was a relaxing vacation. Read Less

We have cruised many times, including on NCL 3 or 4 times. Even though this cruise had problems due to the weather, that part of the cruise was not in their control, so this has nothing to do with that. The good points were: the ship was very clean and kept that way. There were some nice workers, not many though. Had great on board entertainment. Negatives: Oddly, had several dirty table cloths during our dining experiences at the white table cloth seating's during breakfast. Most of the people who worked on this ship were not very cordial. Normally they are pleasant and full of energy and talkative, about 90% of the workers in all areas in all restaurants and bars seemed very tired, bored, way too serious, always seemed that when we asked for something we were bothering them. The area where they showed movies maybe sat 80 people, but it was a bar, and a tiny screen, was ridiculous. Most of us left the movie because the seating was so poor due to people taking chairs and moving them up front in front of the screen. All the other ships we have ever been on on NCL, RCL and Carnival all had actual theaters to watch movies. Game room only sat about 20 people, with over 4,000 aboard, Too small My son sent us Champagne. When we got to the room it was sitting in the silver container in room temperature water, not ice. We will not go on this ship again, it was way too small , crowded, not enough seating in public areas, stood alot. Just was not a pleasant experience. Food was average, really average. Definitley not the experience we have had on the other NCL ships we have been on. Read Less

This was a special cruise for us as it was our first cruise and we were looking forward to sailing at night so that we could spend each day exploring a new country. In fact we only stopped at 2 of the 5 ports. We had no information prior to joining in Copenhagen that we would be there for 2 days (we would have arranged to arrive on the ship later and conduct a tour of Copenhagen), although those joining in Germany had been told to embark at Copenhagen. We missed Germany, Sweden and Finland and spent an extra day in Estonia. What a waste of time. The ferries were running from Tallinn to Helsinki, but the modern, high tech, stabilised Norwegian Breakaway could not sail the short distance. At a Q&A session with the Captain and Hotel Manager over 500 people voiced how angry they were that NCL had ruined the cruise offered nothing to compensate i.e. no free movies or internet or dining options. The entertainment stagnated and certainly the Flyboys had come prepared to offer a different show from the one already seen by everyone, but were never asked to do so. The inside cabin was clean, roomy and well designed. The food was good but the buffet was absolutely packed and like a cattle market. The junior staff were generally helpful, but the more senior they were, the more evasive they became. We were told by the Captain that the decision not to visit the other ports was made by NCL Head office in Miami and went to the President of NCL for the final decision. Did they apologise, offer any sort of compensation or do anything to try and compensate for all the disappointment. Nothing but excuses and poor entertainment at sea. Read Less

We are veteran cruisers. This, from Copenhagen to Copenhagen was our 50th. We are brand loyal to NCL - this was our 25th cruise with them - our first on the Breakaway. If you are a non-smoker, there is a huge design flaw with this ship that may ruin your trip. They put the Casino on deck 7 in the middle of the boat and it has an open ceiling to the 8th floor and open to the 6th floor . Smoking is permitted any time the Casino is in operation. Every time you walk through the middle of the ship on floors 6, 7 or 8, you are walking through s haze of second-hand smoke. In 2018, with what we know about smoking, why would a cruise line cater to 5% of their passengers and penalize 95% of non-smokers? It gets worse. On deck 8 mid ship they build a very nice, open air Italian restaurant. It faces a very comfortable bar and lounge area. In the lounge area they built a CIGAR BAR. The knucklehead who did this thought they would solve any smoke issue by simply adding a door to the Cigar Bar - which is fine - as long as the door remains closed. Once it's opened, the cigar smoke fills the adjoining bar lounge and wafts over to the open air Italian restaurant. It's just silly. Lastly, next to the bar/lounge is a Rock n Roll band bar. When they play every evening, the thumping of their musical instruments and the vibration can be felt in the staterooms. We were on the same floor, HALF WAY DOWN THE SHIP IN ROOM #8746 and had to wait every night until the band quit at 11pm ... STAY AWAY FROM THE 8TH FLOOR! Before we booked, we didn't realize THE BREAKAWAY was designed exactly the same way as THE EPIC (and the GETAWAY). We'd already vowed never to travel on The Epic again for the reasons mentioned above regarding The Getaway - ALL THREE BOATS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. We really enjoy the after dinner entertainment on cruise ship. The Breakaway was the worst line-up of entertainment we'd experienced. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary which unfortunately we missed 60% of the scheduled ports due to weather. This was a big disappointment but overall the ship is beautiful and the staff were wonderful. Although the ship can obviously not control the weather I don’t think adequate provisions were made for the changed itineraries. We ended up not finding out that we were not going to Berlin as we checked in for the cruise at embarkation. There was not time to schedule any activities for the next morning in Copenhagen, I think that the cruise line could have provided a bus for transportation back into the city the next morning or assisted with arrangements given that the itinerary was abruptly changed. The same thing occurred in Tallinn when it was announced that we would also not visit Stockholm or Helsinki. We spent an extra day in Tallinn and there was no assistance offered or provided to help passengers with the extra day there.. these days could have been much better days with minimal assistance from the cruise line. Then when asked about the missed ports the staff just told us that they were told to have us call NCL when we returned. Not satisfactory. So, while the ship and crew were very nice I think NCL failed the passengers on this particular cruise. Read Less

Just returned from this cruise from Copenhagen supposedly calling at Germany, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Finland and Sweden. Unfortunately we only made it to Estonia and St Petersburg. The breakaway didn't sail for Germany sited as storms at sea. The ship stayed in port for the night and most of the next day. It then sailed directly to Estonia where it also stayed an unscheduled night and extra day reported as weather. With 3 nights and 2 days remaining they announced there would not be enough time to call at Finland or Sweden. This was very suspicious as it had only taken 1 day and 1 night to reach the region. Were Norwegian just saving on port costs? You have to wonder. This was our 10th cruise and usually you can barely sit down in a lounge before a waiter asks if you would like a drink. However on this ship there would only be 1 or 2 waiters for the entire lounge. You had to go to the bar and order your own drink. Is this a cost saving effort to fund the 3 for free at sea deals? Also they don't have anywhere near enough seating on sea days when all passengers are onboard. If you want a quiet place to read it just doesn't exist. Is this because so much space has been dedicated to pay restaurants? They have a great rock lounge call Syd Normans with good entertainment, however there is no space for dancing. What good is a great rock band if you can't boogy. Dining on this ship is chaotic. Freestyle dining (dine at anytime) is all good and well however that is not how it goes. You decide to dine, go and request a table, get given a beeper and wait to be called. Once took 40 minutes. The main dining rooms and a mad frenzy of waiters trying to cope. One night we sat for 30 minutes with a glass of water and a bowl of break waiting to be served. Not good enough. Waited 40 minutes to be served in their specialty Italian restaurant and when the food arrived it was fair at best. Made a hair dressing appointment and sat there waiting for 30 minutes. Activities on sea days are very average. Lots of things that just aren't up to scratch. Read Less

So bad we got off half way. We are family with twin girls and chose to cruise through parts of Europe to see as much as possible without having to continually pack/unpack. Do not be fooled by NCL “freestyle” write up, it’s a joke. There is very limited dining pretty much one giant Buffett which is impossible to get a seat. We were even happy to pay extra and use restaurants onboard except they only open at night and are very hard to get into as the staff continually turn people away even when it is half empty through pure laziness and under staffing throughout the ship. The kids playroom lights didn’t work which made it extremely hard to entertain our kids. There is very limited casual seating anywhere which is another reason why the buffet is full all the time. The only way to get any care on board was to forceably and start to rage at the staff before anyone would help and even then the response was pretty much too bad. Some of the stops were cancelled etc due to weather which I have no issue with, that’s just bad luck. Overall the worst experience we have ever had travelling all over the world. I strongly recommend never, ever, ever go with Norwegian Cruises! Read Less

First time cruisers and we waited 73 years to do it. The Baltic states were on the bucket list of my wife and I. Six countries on a beautiful cruise ship. Wow ! Unfortunately that's not what transpired. The weather and resulting high seas put a major damper on our long awaited cruise. Totally missed ports and land tours of : Germany,Finland and Sweden. Spent extra days in port in the cities of Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. We had already spent three days in Denmark before the cruise. One full day or day and a half in St. Petersburg would have been enough. Finland or Sweden would have been special. Again the weather was a big factor. The 12 ft plus seas over a period of several days kept my wife in wrist bands and bed. The ship and its offerings tired after five days or so and the missed ports of call rang loud. Spent much more time on the ship than expected. Bright side was we got to meet many of the crew in numerous capacities. They were very accommodating. Wouldn't recommend a cruise that time of year to the Baltic. Read Less

We went on this cruise to see six ports and due to weather were unable to see three of them Norwegian did not give any type of compensation other than credit back excursions not taken I blelieve they should have done way more than that Not happy as celebrating three anniversaries with two othe couples The fitness centre had a few machines not working The service in the restaurants was very slow The food was excellent I am not sure why there is no compensation for missing three ports We have planned this anniversary cruise for over a year What is Norwegian going to do about this This is our first time on Norwegian and will be our last We heard through the grapevine that the first missed port was due to equipment failure and were told it was due to the weather Not at all satisfied with our Norwegian experience Read Less