We chose the Breakaway because we had sailed on her before, we liked the itinerary and we wanted to visit NYC. We visited during the Bomb Cyclone in January. The ship had a late docking and we ended up missing the first day of our cruise. That, and an emergency evacuation resulted in us completely missing our overnight visit to Aruba. NCL offered some compensation for this. However, bad weather resulted in our delayed return to NYC.
The resulting chaos was very distressful. Disembarkation was a lengthy, unorganized nightmare. We missed our late afternoon, return flight home which ended up costing us an additional $750. NCL would not offer any compensation for this.
The food was average, and our balcony stateroom was as described, with plenty of storage space. We had a large balcony, but because of the weather we were unable to use it for at least half of our cruise. The atrium area was extremely loud which made it very difficult to communicate at the guest relations desk. Inadequate seating and uncomfortable chairs in the Atrium and some of the bars. Entertainment was good and varied. Wish they didn't allow smoking in the casino as the smoke permeates all nearby areas.