We had planned a trip out West starting in California and ending up in Arizona, but our trave agent had recently returned from a cruise to Bermuda on NCL's Breakaway out of NYC and said it was fabulous. We normally get suites since we travel with three families and normally have at least 11 kids with us. From the outside the ship was magnifcent althought the inside looked like this new ship had been around for at least 5+ years. They must have been experiencing some sort of sanitation issue because at times the hallways smelled like a septic tank.

We have travelled on Royal Carribean and they seem to have things a bit more organized. Instructions and information were difficult to come by. It was nearly impossible to get dinner reservations and once we did they changed the show times that we had scheduled and sent us a message on our tv set. When we travel we try and enjoy the trip and not watch tv so we missed the message and when we went to guest services they basically acted like it was no big deal. They did have the box office manager call me once I asked to speak to a Manager and when she left two messages in the room I called her back and she acted like I should have been waiting on her call. Again, we did not plan on staying in the rooms waiting on a call. The staff with the exception of the entertainment crew lacked training in customer service or more likely were overworked since the ship is so crowded.

The food in the specialty retaurants where an upchage is required was good, but the buffet was pretty bad. In fact even our kids did not want to eat at the buffet. With lots of kids under the age of twelve, they ironically ran out of ice cream cones on the 4th day?? That did not make for happy kids in our group, but maybe it was just a strategy to get them to spend more money in the kids arcade. Be careful, before you know it your kids will rack up hundreds of dollars in arcade charges. Read more