My wife and I are 70 and this review is from our point of view. If you're younger, you may disagree with me. That's OK.

Boarding in New York was long and disorganized. NCL told us to arrive between 10:00 and 10:30 even though they also said boarding starts at Noon. We were checked in within ten minutes and found one open seat to wait the hour and a half until boarding at Noon. My wife sat in the chair and I sat on a small table. Within minutes, an announcement was made that the terminal was overflowing and they had to suspend check-in. I felt sorry for the hundreds of people in line that had to stand in line with no place to sit. They stood for over an hour. About 70 minutes later, check-in resumed. We boarded around 12:45 and went to our cabin on deck 13. The door was open and the cabin steward was not around so we put our carry-on bags on the floor. We later learned we were not supposed to do this as the cabins were not ready for occupancy until 2:00 PM. It all worked out though as our bags were there when we returned.

Our first trip to the buffet was a preview of how things would go for the entire week. Lots of people. Lots of kids. Lot's of noise. Lot's of cutting-in and elbows. I've been on dozens of cruises and I realize some of this is to be expected at the buffet. However, for some reason, my wife and I both felt the buffet on the Breakaway was the worst we've experienced. Not the food - which was decent and typical 'buffet' food. It was the room and people. Tables were hard to find. Lots of kids running and crying. Very loud and not peaceful. It seemed the room was just too small for the amount of people trying to eat there. Read more