Norwegian Breakaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,884 reviews

Not User Friendly; Hit and Miss

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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Papermoon4
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Nov 2016
Lounge View - Deck 6
Balcony View - Deck 12
Senior Cruiser
21" step into the tub!  NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I chose this cruise for a last-minute escape from NYC; not for the ports or even the vessel itself. That said, this brand new ship is not always a user-friendly experience. I had a guarantee stateroom assigned by the line, so bear that in mind in this critique. I have cruised many, many times before, but never had the luxury of a bathtub. This balcony room (deck 12) had one! But you needed to have long legs and be fairly healthy to step into it. The tub wall was 21 1/4" high! That's more than 3 steps on a stairwell! Also, from the comfort of my bed I could not reach the night lights or the room lights! To enjoy this room you need to have extra long arms and legs! Also, if you thought of re-charging your phone or brought a bedside clock you'd better have excellent vision. The closest electrical outlet is across the room!

As a single 55 year old adult, I didn't know that my cabin was adjacent to the Splash Academy. Here's some insight: You can give kids a million toys, water slides, rock walls, and pool games - but the lure of racing up and down a long ship's corridor never gets old - even at 11:30 at night. After a day or two you realize that dealing with 4800 passengers has the hard working crew painting on their smiles. Keeping up with 'on the job' training often caused lapses in the usually fine service. Others were just going through the motions. But it is hard to ask so much of so few serving so many.

The ship as a whole tries to be all things to all people, and that is bound to disappoint a few. The food was also hit and miss. Like the room, the buffet line was not user friendly. For example, the toaster was not on the same line as the omelette station. The soups were adjacent to the ice cream. Thing like that make you double and triple back to get a complete meal. Also, having Eggs Benedict on the buffet is noble idea but the egg yolks were all hard boiled. Similarly, the dining room lava cake (offered every night) erupted no lava. All the eggs except fried or boiled are pasteurized liquid egg product (the Executive Chef said so). I really enjoyed the escargot en croute - delicious and there were other culinary joys. The salads in the dining room always are soggy by the time they get to your table, so order dressing on the side. Skip the Garden buffet totally, if possible. But watch out for the mini lunch buffets of various international cuisines that crop up in the (usually for pay) Moderna restaurant. There are so many people on board that they cannot feed them all in one place, so they take over the 'pay per dine' restaurants for lunch.

Cabin Review

Cabin Balcony

I had a guarantee stateroom assigned by the line, so bear that in mind in this critique. If I could have chosen, I would have picked a room with the bed nearer the balcony to wake up to seeing the ocean - mine was nearer the bathroom (they alternate every other cabin or so). Warning about Deck 12! Splash Academy (for kids) is located mid-ship on 12. So if you are not interested in hearing children day and night in the halls and adjacent rooms, don't book here! The walls are paper thin and you can hear every word people say in the adjacent cabins. The bathrooms are roomy compared to other cruises I have been on. I have cruised many, many times before, but never had the luxury of a bathtub as I did here. But the tub wall was 21 1/4" high! That's more than 3 steps on a stairwell! I had to ask my cabin steward for a step stool, which he found (he probably hears this a lot). Also, from the comfort of my bed I could not reach the night lights or the room lights! The night lights are a foot above the bed and just out of reach of the average arm (with the beds pushed together, that is. If they are two singles, they put the night stands between the bed and your proximity is reduced).

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