We chose this cruise on the recommendation of our travel agent as providing the best value for the money during the week we could go. It did not disappoint. First of all, prior to leaving I had read some of the more recent reviews and I was somewhat concerned after reading about terrible overcrowding, disorganization, and overworked, disengaged staff. To be honest, it almost makes me wonder if we went on the same ship. We found the Breakaway to be very nice, near spotlessly clean all week, and the staff nothing but attentive, positive and helpful. We have never had better service on any vacation or experience. Our stateroom steward was incredible - doing his work consistently well without once interrupting us while we were in the room. Our trip wasn't perfect - we did have a couple of issues. First, our son's bag didn't make it into our room. The first step/search turned up nothing. However, I got multiple contacts regarding it and late the first night it appeared outside our door. Later in the week, we had a problem with the toilet in our room and it was fixed within three hours. On both occasions the staff responded quickly and graciously and resolved the issues.

The food? Nothing short of INCREDIBLE. We ate at three of the specialty restaurants and all three main dining rooms. Superb each meal. Hard to believe I was eating on a cruise ship. We didn't eat at the buffet often, but when we did we found it fresh and very good overall for buffet food. One note about he buffet - if you saw food on the floor or a table it had just been dropped there. The wait staff kept the Garden Cafe near flawlessly clean in spite of the fact that there were hundreds of people eating in that area.

I do have two areas of criticism - both consistently mentioned in these reviews. First, the reviews mentioning the smoke smell and layout of the casino are exactly right and on target. My wife and son noticed the smell the first time we walked through that area. Everything else about the ship screams "excellence" except this area. We do not gamble and simply decided to go down to the sixth floor to cross the ship. The second criticism involves the atrium. Many reviews say it is chaotic and way to small for the volume of people and activities held there. On target once again. I get what Norwegian tried to do with this space - create a "vibe" with people and constant activity in this area. The result is often overcrowding and noise so great that you cannot hear your conversation with the smiling representative at the guest services desk. This was especially true in the evenings. Read more