Norwegian Breakaway Review
Port-intensive and a bit on the expensive side
Rating by category
Additional details
When my son got accepted for an exchange semester in Copenhagen for the third year of his business degree, my wife and I found this cruise and decided to tag along to Copenhagen and leave him there. We booked the cruise in January (for the Aug 27 sailing). This is our ninth cruise, with seven of the first eight being on Carnival.
I’ve heard it said that the mass market North American (based) cruise lines are more similar than they are different. After our experience on the NCL Breakaway, I’m inclined to agree. While this review describes what we liked and what we didn’t like about NCL and the Breakaway, given our previous cruise experience, it’s hard not to make this a comparison of NCL vs. Carnival.
Mood/Tone/Décor
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
The NCL cabins are much more similar than they are different than Carnival, but there were some minor differences that added up. We had a category BC balcony on the 14th deck. We were very conveniently located to the buffet and the stern pool area, without being in a high traffic area that made it a nuisance.
The balcony was definitely smaller that we were used to. This is a big deal for us because we enjoy the balcony. In fact, it was not deep enough to sit in a chair facing out. The sliding balcony door was a significant improvement over the tightly sprung standard Carnival doors (which are difficult to open and slam behind you if you lose your grip on the handle).
I liked having a shower door (rather than a clingy plastic curtain). The blackout curtains were great.
The only negatives I can remember were that the bathroom razor socket didn’t work (it didn’t seem to have any electric hardware under the plate, which I popped off and checked because my razor plug just wouldn’t stay in the socket). And the location of the closet is awkward, running the length of the bed and not much more than a foot away from it. I appreciate this is a choice that yields more space elsewhere in the cabin.
Port Reviews
Copenhagen
We spent four days in Copenhagen before the cruise. I consider that part of our vacation to be unrelated to the cruise.
Rostock (Warnemunde)
We pre-booked a rental car at the cruise port from Europcar for 97€ and drove to Berlin. It was quicker, cheaper and (in my view) easier than paying an exorbitant amount for a “shore excursion” consisting solely of a bus ride. We took the City Sightseeing hop on, hop off bus tour, which was disappointing.
Tallinn
We planned to just walk to the old town, but stumbled across a City Bike rental desk at the cruise port. We paid 11€ each for a bike for all day, which was great.
St. Petersburg
We took the SPB “Russian Treasures Tour with Faberge Museum”, which was great. A small shuttle bus with only 3 other couples.
Helsinki
We walked off the ship and immediately into line for the Red Buses CityTour hop on, hop off bus, which was the best hop on, hop off experience of the three we tried on this cruise.
Stockholm
We pre-booked the City Sightseeing hop on, hop off bus tour by Stromma, but ultimately ended up taking the train from Nynashamn port into Stockholm (because Stromma was going to make us wait more than an hour, until 10:00 at the earliest, before their bus would leave the port for the one-hour drive to Stockholm). We took the train back as well because it was easy, more comfortable and we already had the return ticket.