Norwegian Breakaway Review
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We sailed on Feb 12 with our two young boys (age 4 and 2). There were pros and cons about our trip and the cruise in general:
1. Ship: the ship itself is nice and has lots to do (pools, waterslides, hot tubs, trampoline jumper, ropes course, climbing wall, etc). Unfortunately, since we left in February, we couldn't enjoy these on the first two days or the last day of our cruise (it was too cold). I mean, even the Sailaway party was cancelled due to weather (it was cold and there was some snow on the deck, but it was not actually raining/snowing). Even worse, there's not all that much to do for families with young kids that's indoors. We spent those three days mostly eating and walking around the ship. The kids got pretty bored. I think this cruise would have been a lot more fun if we had sailed out in warmer weather.
2. Food: the food itself was pretty good - nothing wonderful, but about on-par with what I'd expect for a large ship. My complaint with food is that the meals did seem a little seafood-heavy so my husband (who does not eat seafood) often only had only one or two options. Also, one day, we compared menus on all three of the complimentary restaurants and all three were identical. This was a little disappointing - what's the purpose of having different restaurants if the food is the same!? On our last night, we headed to Teppanyaki (a paid restaurant) - the food here was amazing, though our steaks were a little over-cooked. We would definitely recommend this. Our kids were able to order off of the standard children's menu so we didn't need to pay for their meals, and the chef was nice enough to give them free rice and noodles anyhow. One last comment about the restaurants - the servers were all very nice but service was always painfully slow. I wish I were exagerating when I say that it took an average of 20 minutes just to get juice at the table. This was even the case during breakfasts, when the restaurants weren't very packed. Meals generally took at least an hour and a half (and that was with rushed eating and ordering because the kids were getting antsy to leave).
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
The room itself felt much smaller than other balconies I had stayed on before. The balcony itself also was much smaller and literally only had room for two chairs with very little leg-room. The bathroom had a shower (no tub) which felt slightly larger than a regular cruise-ship shower. The water pressure was good and the water temperature was great. There is no conditioner offered (just a hand-pumped, conditioning shampoo mix) and soap near it. We brought our own but I wish we didn't have to.
The good: I heard rumors that the 10th deck can smell of cigarettes - i did not have this experience at all.
The bad: the room was apparently too close to one of the clubs because i heard the loud bass of the music every day until about 2 or 3am. Also, i think the room was close to the engines or something because there was a constant vibration in the room. I joked with my husband that it felt like a cheap motel room's vibrating bed.
Port Reviews
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
nothing to do unless you have a pre-booked excursion.