Norwegian Breakaway Review

HELLish Cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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Caro1631
6-10 Cruises • Age 40s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Aug 2019
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children

This cruiseline is severely mismanaged. Do not put your family's safety in their hands. I have never wanted to end a "vacation" or been so stressed in my life. Also, who wants to make reservations for ever turn of their cruise?! more stress. And no one knows anything and sends you down to guest services, extremely understaffed. Prepare to wait long lines and be stressed out. AVOID AT ALL COSTS, especially if you have children. My son did not want to return to the kids club because he reported that he did not feel welcomed or included by the staff. There is nothing for little ones to do. Oh wait, there is mini-golf and I found severe safety issues on that floor, where a toddler who is unattended for a minute could have easily gone overboard (a giant giant hole in the net, meant to keep everyone safe). The photography was subpar, no one made an effort ever - it's like the staff all hate their jobs and I get it because the management is awful. My family got stomach bugs at the end of the trip. The "complimentary" dining (i.e. not the specialty restaurants) are awful, the food is bland and no where near the customer service that I am used to from other cruiselines and ships. I was on board during the Hurricane Dorian fiasco and trust me that they will be sued by people for their mismanagement. We were all told we were staying in Mexico an extra day, but the captain changed his mind to go straight to Miami...then we are almost there and the Port closes, so he decides to stay at sea for three or more days, and when he realizes that isn't the brightest idea since there is a hurricane approaching, he finally decides to go to New Orleans. We got our flights rebooked by NCL, delivered to us at 11pm the night before disembarkation. They wanted to keep us in New Orleans which was unacceptable to us, so I had to fight for 5 hours on the phone - Guest Services did nothing, they just sent me to NCL corporate and told me I had to pay $5/minute to speak with them! NCL corporate office , in any event, was closed. Oh yeah, and our luggage tags arrived at 1am. someone actually knocked on my door at that time to tell me to have my luggage out by 3am. The audacity. The mismanagement. The complete opposite of a vacation. Save your money. They also nickel and dime everything everything everything and I was charged $75 for a phone call that I did not make and had to fight that, stay vigilant of your bill! And why can't they provide any sort of valued television programming?! It's all crap, no selection. Just like their food at the complimentary restaurants...they push you to eat at specialty. Also the pool area was dirty and the common areas were no where near as impressive as other cruise ships - who puts a casino in the middle of everything - i smelled like SMOKE every night!!!! Such a bad cruise!!!!

Cabin Review

Balcony Stateroom

Smallest balconies I have ever seen on a cruise ship. Terrible noise insulation between the cabins.

Port Reviews

Costa Maya

Difficult to get out of the tourist trap port. Very long walk. All controlled beaches; had to really fight to find a local spot and I still had to pay a restaurant.

Harvest Caye

Colossal waste of time. Rude life guard. Overcrowded. Terrible seaweed beach. NOTHING included even though it's controlled by NCL. Outrageous!!!

Cozumel

Cozumel is disappointing. It's all privatized, nothing local - well they said the other side of the island was, but that to get to it you had to pay $120 to get there.

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