Arriving at the port in NYC was easy and boarding was not difficult. We traveled as a group of 4 - my DH and myself and good friends who were married the day before. CG (new bride) had never been on a cruise. I have been on 4 with NCL, this was my DH's third with NCL and RG (groom) had sailed previously on the Dawn. We spoke on the drive to NYC of all of our past experiences which were all exceptional and we were so excited! We boarded the Breakaway loving all the hoopla, taking in all grandeur of the magnificent ship. After dropping our carry on's off in our individual cabins, we broke apart our little group to do individual exploring. My DH and I raced to the spa because we have always purchased spa packages because we enjoy the less crowded Jacuzzi's and sauna. After purchasing our package we were given a tour of the facility which was awesome. Love the salt room and the area was just spectacular. I reserved a massage and we continued to explore. Hungry, we checked out the Garden Cafe. This turned out to be our salvation for this cruise. I embraced the buffet for the first time ever on a cruise and enjoyed people watching as well as it's variety of food options. During these first hours on the ship, I viewed everything like a kid with a new toy.

During the walk around, I really took in some first impressions. The Breakaway is extremely easy to navigate (much easier than the Dawn-LOL). It is clearly marked and the touch screen menus are located in various, easily accessible areas that will navigate you from where you are standing to where you want to go. Prior to this cruise, I had downloaded Iconcierge on my iphone and was unable to use it on the Dawn. Now, I was able to use most of it's features after getting some help from the IT manager and myself and the groom paid $7.95 each for the messenging service. This never worked appropriately and ended up being one of several instances of inconsistency with services on the ship. On day 5, I finally went to guest services to be refunded as we could never use it appropriately. They referred me to the internet manager - who referred me to guest services. At this point, I had too many issues going on with the ship and basically told guest services that I was tired of the run around and to please figure it out between the two of them ( as I pointed to the manager across the way - they could see each other for pete's sake). It was refunded. Second impression is that for such a larger ship, many of the venues and areas were much, much smaller. The auditorium is small and without a balcony. The pool area has also been downsized (this might be the breakup of adult vs child areas and the addition of water slides). There is still 4 Jacuzzis but a much smaller salt water lap pool. The dining rooms are smaller (except Cagney's), Garden Ca is the same size.

The casino is much larger, but has some issues. It is $100 to enter a Texas Hold Em tournament (opposed to $60 on the Dawn) and you can buy in 4 times. This really makes it difficult for the vacationer who wants to play as opposed to the heavy hitter with money to throw away. There is many more slots - but $1 and 2cent and 1 cent machines. Only saw about 4 or 5 quarter machines. I was particularly irritated by the amount of people who were playing 2 of the most popular machines at the same time without any NCL representatives saying anything with people waiting. I do not smoke and I, personally did not smell the casino until I was near it. Read more