NCL had been my favorite cruise line until 8/31/19. It had nothing to do with Hurricane Dorian; they changed our itinerary to Key West and Cozumel. The ship was smoothly sailing but I paid more to get the beverage package perk. But they decided to give EVERYBODY on the ship that even though they didn’t pay for it. This was great except they didn’t get us any other perk for free or give me a refund. No one had to show their sign and sail card. I am also a red wine drinker and they told me the only wine available was the house wine and it was horrible. Tasted like it had been in a hot place or something. It had turned bad. I asked for Merlot to Cabernet to Pinot Noir and someone suggested the Malbec. I couldn’t even sip it. It was that bad. But to make matters worst, the only compensation they offered me was free water (6pack) after I complained that a bartender told me I had to pay for bottle water even though I was told at the information desk as soon as I inquired once on the ship, that bottle water and soda came free at the bars which is suppose to be free anyway. They could have offered me the dining package or something to make up for the fact they were giving free drinks to everyone on board. I even suggested it or at least give me a refund since I paid more to have it. That would have made it better. When you go on the NCL website, the sail away rate is much cheaper than the ones that gives the perks so I paid much more plus when you choose the beverage package you pay an extra fee; I think it’s for the gratuities of that package. Also, the food selection was horrible. On the top deck/buffet you hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken drumsticks and pasta that tasted like the noodles were not cooked fully for both lunch and dinner. The pizza they offered at lunch time and late evening was good if you caught it straight from the oven but otherwise, it tasted like cardboard. The main dining room didn’t even offer a shrimp or shrimp cocktail not to mention no lobster on the menu. I just ordered a steak except for one night I ordered baked fish but it wasn’t very good. There just wasn’t anything really good to choose from. This was my 24th cruise and I’ve always looked forward to the dining experience. The dining room was called the Palace. We ate breakfast there for breakfast every morning except for debarkation day. The breakfast was very good there; both in the Palace and at the buffet on top deck. The table settings were not complete, though in the Palace. I had to ask for salt and pepper and butter on numerous occasions. We ate dinner all but one night in the Main Dining Room; the Palace. One night the main dining menu was so bad that me and my husband looked at each other like WTW. NCL really let me down on this one and we went on the Sky a few years ago and it wasn’t like this nor was the Getaway in 2017. I don’t know if I can ever trust NCL again. I didn’t go to any of the specialty dining rooms this cruise. Our budget was tighter this sailing. I didn’t think I should have to in order to eat a variety of food or even good food. The beans on the buffet were even hard. I can say however, that every time I go back on ships of different cruise lines from time to time, they’ve changed things. I all in for change that makes things better but this was not the case with this ship. In spite of the food and wine, we did manage to have a good time. We love Cozumel and the Carlos And Charlie’s Beach is worth checking out. Read Less

Cruise was shorted due to hurricane Dorian. Told a day at sea but was docked in miami, herd like cattle in customs, held for hours while they hunted down 5 guests on board. Left on the boat all day and wasnt told we could roam miami until 5:50 that afternoon when you had to be back on the ship at 7. The buffets were same food daily, only thing I can rave about is cagneys steakhouse. Norweigian offered only 20% refund on VOYAGE. Mind you a 3500 cruise we were offered 333.52 after being told by staff they took us back to port so they could get.ready for their next cruise. We watched from boat as they loaded and stocked their cruise ship all day while we were bored with nothing to do but walk the boat, eat or sleep. At port so everything for entertainment was closed. Way disappointed. Read Less

Sailing out of Miami we did the Little Havana Food tour and had a great time. When we were leaving for this trip, Dorian was just a little puff. How all that changed. Overall we had a very nice cruise. In Key West and Nassau we walked around on our own. In Freeport we did the glass bottom boat tour and it was very nice and saw lots of sharks. I was talking to our bus driver and another tour lady and it looked like Dorian may go north of them at that time but that’s not how it turned out. I hope all is ok with them. I think we were the last ship out of Freeport. Everything was great with the cruise but we had to skip the private island because of Dorian. Although we were looking forward to our cabana, it was a small price to pay for what the islanders had to deal with. The really surprising thing was how quiet people were when the captain was providing storm updates. They did a nice job with letting everyone know what was happening with the info they had. Great job NCL. Just booked Greek Isles for 2020 and will probably get a couple others in before then. Kudos on helping out the people there with the Breakaway and best wishes for a speedy recovery. Read Less

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!!!! Read Less

While the dining experience and shows were excellent, we have to rank this cruise as THE WORST. I understand many folks may not mind the loud, shoulder to shoulder situation at the pool, and and less than hot, hot tub. But the response to Hurricane Dorian was inexcusable. The Cruise line had no contingency plan to deal with the situation, kept changing their minds in ways that severely worsened the situation, did not keep passengers informed of what was going on, and treated the passenger extremely poorly in this emergency situation. Passengers were initially told the ship would remain in Costa Maya weathering the storm there, and that passengers could disembark and remain off-ship until 4:00 am. Then, while passengers were off-ship, plans were changed and the crew decided to try to outrace the storm. Because of this waffling, and the fact that the ship then needed to wait for the passengers to return to the ship and re-board before setting sail, by the time the ship reached Miami, the port had been closed. At that point passengers were told we would be remaining in the straights of Miami until the port reopened. But the crew changed their minds and took off for New Orleans without bothering to tell the passengers. Hours later, when they got around to telling the passengers, they offered no plan for getting the passengers back to their home port. Panic ensued when everyone realized that there was no way enough plane tickets would be available to get everyone home that day or the next, and that no offer had been made to cover the costs of hotels, transportation, etc. A near riot broke out. Instead of diffusing the situation by offering information and assistance, a dozen or so male uniformed staff lined up shoulder to shoulder against the passengers like they were Pinkerton guards out to break the resistance. Eventually we were told that Norwegian would cover costs up to $300 per person to get us home, but of course, all the passenger realized that would not be a fraction of the cost of airfare, plus taxis, hotels, and meals until we could find an available flight home. The cruise line proceeded to do every possible thing to make things more difficult at that point. Instead of opening internet access so that passengers could find out what was going on and work on making arrangements, passengers were told they could have one free call, and could use the limited number of computers the ship had to make arrangements. (That's for 4,000 passengers - I'll leave you to picture the lines.) No effort was made to help passenger who would run out of medicine due to the situation. A friend on board, had to pay $149 to see the ship's doctor $149 to try to get the insulin she was running out of. (The doctor didn't actually have the kind of she used, and didn't know how much of the alternate he had she should take.) They also charged her $104 for a bottle of aspirin. On Sunday they lined all 4,00 passengers up to trade in our key cards for new ones. Then Monday while we were at dinner, they disabled the new ones so that no one could get in or out of their room without a staff person letting them. Slightly after midnight Monday night, they banged on our door, and handed us a piece of telling us we needed to have our bags packed and in the hallway by 3:00 am, and that we would be deboarded that morning. No mention of whether breakfast would be served, so I assume the earliest to go went without food. My husband and I were placed on a bus to a charter airfield where we waited approximately 6 hours for a plane Norwegian ultimately arranged for us after being shamed into it. There was one women's bathroom stall for everyone there. Four busloads. (Don't know about the men's bathroom.) Because Norwegian didn't want to spend a penny more than they had to, there were no plans to feed us. Passengers were told they were not allowed to order Uber Eats (even at their own cost.). Around 4 pm when they broke down got Subway sandwiches for us. Note: There were no candy machines or anything, so there was absolutely no way to get any food at all before that. And there were little children among us who hadn't eaten - and elderly people, and presumably diabetics. Ultimately, we did get home. When the plane finally landed, the passengers were so relieved everyone broke out into applause. Oh, did I mention our confinement at the airfield made national news, with our group being filmed penned up in a fenced area that we weren't allowed to leave while we waited for the plane? Also, just a note, this doesn't even touch the way Norwegian completely gave up on taking real care of the passengers once they realized they were stuck with us and there was no more money to be made on us. So here's the deal: Under ordinary circumstances, Norwegian may be fine. But who wants to take a ship that only knows what to do when the sky is blue and the sun is shining? Norwegian has no plan for what to do in an emergency, and clearly resented having to take care of passengers beyond their 7 day paid for stay. Summary: Stay away! Find a cruise line that plans for the unexpected, and will take care of their passengers even when things don't go according to plan. Read Less

1. The service has incredibly declined from what it used to be , staff is not friendly . 2. The food at the Garden Cafe was the same food for 7 straight days for lunch lots of burgers, hot dogs , salads and lots and lots of Indian food. 3. The main dining room was nothing that made me want to come back every night and the specialty dinning were always booked. 4. The shows were great one of the best . 6. The wait times at the O’sheehan’s restaurant is more than 30 minutes for you to get just half and order of chicken wings. 7. We were woken up every single day from the engine noise and guest service didn’t do anything about it , they wanted to try to move us at night on the 6th day.8.Barely any activities unless they want you to spend money . 9. This was the trip during Hurricane Dorian, the captains communication was horrible , we were intended to set sail from Cozumel on Friday and arrive in Miami on Sunday morning , the captain changed his mind so many times that we couldn’t leave when we needed to since people were partying overnight thinking the ship will leave at 4am . NCL has lost a costumer , will not cruise with them again the service has significantly decline , they are so focused in making you waste money on specialty dining and everything else that the costumer service has declined . Read Less

Wanted to take a trip with adults only. We just came off of the Norwegian Escape for a summer vacation with our children and decided to do an adult only cruise twenty-two days later. This trip was probably too close together to appreciate it as much. The Breakaway was a good size ship with plenty of on-board activities to keep you busy. I recommend The Big Top Escape, Comedy Show, Deal or No Deal, Karaoke and Burn the Floor for on-board activities. The ship only seems a little crowded at initial sea day. Pool deck seats in the shade are hard to come by if you are trying to sit with groups of four or more. I found the ladies public restrooms to be a little deprived of cleanliness and fresh smell. I'm sure the next group of people will have a different experience as I know a deep cleaning was getting done after our disembarkation due to Hurricane Dorian. All other areas seemed to be well kept with over 4,000 people on board not cleaning up after themselves. We stayed in stateroom 8766, which was the floor with restaurants, shopping and bars. I was concerned about the smoking, noise level and traffic on these floors, but the noise and smoking was not a real issue and I'm a very light sleeper. Only when you got close to large Chandelier did smoking becoming a factor. The only thing was the stateroom doors slam very hard. I always tried to manually close the door to be courteous to my neighbors, but not everyone does that. The walls between staterooms are also very thin as you can hear some extracurricular activities going on...Our stateroom attendant (Michael) was fantastic. He kept our room clean and was always around if we needed him. The room was spacious for two and had a good amount of storage for clothing with extra storage in footrest. I wish the balcony area was a little bit deeper, but still ok. Shower was bigger than ones on other cruise lines. The bathroom also had shelving and multiple hooks for hanging items. There is a easy to use safe in closet and side reading lights beside bed with little tables on each side. In order for the power and lights to come on in the room you need to put any type of card in the slot right by your door entrance along the wall. NCL would like you to believe that only the cruise card will power the room, but any card will keep the lights on. Please note that Stateroom Attendant is required to remove it if you are not in your room (no biggie just don't expect anything to be charged when you come back if that was your intention when leaving the room). You will have to go back and put card back in after Stateroom Attendant is finished cleaning up. I loved The Martini, Maltings and Atrium bars. Most of the Bartenders were really friendly and made great drinks. They are on their feet the majority of day and night and do it with a smile. So tip them out (CASH ONLY as they don't get tips written in on receipts). Please remember to have a little patience when it's busy. Also, on day one of cruise they close down all bars around 30 minutes before ship drill. Things to note: Wear swimsuit under your clothes and use a back bag/beach bag to pack a change of clothes, medication, electronics, sunglasses, chargers and any other personal items you need, as you won't have immediate access to your luggage or stateroom. The Crew Members are the ones who drive NCL business. They are the ones that keep customers coming back. I notice they work a great deal of hours throughout the cruise. However, I'm not sure that their work discipline is rewarded, other than receiving the comment cards we write up. I would recommend including perks based on accolades provided via customer comment cards. Such rewards should include free wi-fi minutes, extra hours off, special request consideration, extra leave for special events (i.e. weddings, death, immediate family birthday, graduation, etc...). Honduras was a nice spot to venture out. Our driver Cruz Argentina gave us this information as we took a taxi ride over to West Bay, Roatan Islands. The taxi ride was $20 per person and an additional $15 to get a lounge chair with umbrella. The beach was nice and the bathrooms were clean. You could order food & drinks from the Argentina Bar. Your driver waits for you and takes you back to port when you are ready. I would suggest that you offer your driver a tip or food & drink as well. Our driver said that Honduras schools always appreciates if tourist brings pencils/pens for students on the Islands. There is always a need for these school items. Belize is NCL's private island with shops. They also had zip lining & wildlife sanctuary you could walk through. I could've passed on this stop. The only reason to get off is to shop for souvenirs (the t-shirts were low quality there). Because of light winds we were not allowed to put up umbrellas and shaded spots were very limited. Pretty much every seat was taken. So finding a spot out there for even two people seating together was almost impossible. Also wanted to get my passport stamped and couldn't get it done here, as the immigration person was not obligated to be there :-( Costa Maya was a nice Island. As soon as you get off the Island there's a pool, music, lounge chairs and plenty of shopping. I believe you can swim with dolphins right there. It was crowded by the pool by the time we got off the ship, so we took a $8 taxi cab ride (around 8 minutes) over to 40 Canones and paid a minimum $20 drink/food order per person for access to beach side lounge chair with shade for a few hours. Cozumel was very hot this time of year. There is an open mall as soon as you get off the ship. You have to walk about five blocks to the right of mall to find information stand, where you can get your passport stamped (it's right by a 7-eleven). There are plenty of restaurants, cigar, liquor and souvenir shops to explore. Stay hydrated if you plan on walking around here. I think I got heat stroke from walking around Cozumel. Lastly, our ship was at sea while Hurricane Dorian was brewing. The communication during this time was not great. We found out when we were in Costa Maya that the Captain was in communication with multiple areas to figure out our ships next course of action. It seemed that skipping the final stop in Cozumel was most logical. However, we continued on to Cozumel. The Captain was waiting for further information regarding heading back to Port of Miami. On Friday August 30th before disembarkation in Cozumel, the Captain advised us to be back on ship no later than 4am August 31st. At this point people were leaving with suitcases trying to get flights out of Cancun, Mexico. At around 1pm on August 30th the Captain said that we received the all clear to head back to the Port of Miami and we were just waiting for those who were still not on board to head out. Unfortunately, many people were under the impression we didn't have to be back to the ship until 4am the next morning. Therefore, we had to wait for the remaining people that did not show back on ship until around 11pm. At that time the Captain was hauling towards Port of Miami. The next communication was when we were around Marathon, FL to say that there was a tropical storm warning in Florida and the Port of Miami would be closing at 10pm. This means we would not make it to Port of Miami in time. We missed our window to get back on dry land. Chaos ensued and the deck 6 was filled with pissed off people. Although the communication was slow and disorganized, ultimately NCL did a great job of getting people home. Any one who had booked/traveled by plane through NCL, booked air through 3rd party or drove to port fill out forms. This was to make arrangements for everyone to get back to their final destination. People who booked air travel through NCL was automatically put on the next available flights home, 3rd party bookings had to make their own arrangements and were offered a $300 credit per person (they needed to save receipts and submit for reimbursement). People who drove and parked in Miami got on chartered flights back to Miami, where they were met by buses to the Port of Miami. Anyone who used an outside park-n-ride was not able to get onto those chartered buses as the Port of Miami was not officially opened and was only excepting the chartered buses. Therefore, we had to call an Uber to get back to parking garage we used. All-in-all I think NCL really stepped up and got things taken care of. I believe that the people who are complaining were those that tried to take a proactive approach and make arrangements before seeing what NCL was going to offer. They came out of pocket because they didn't wait for instructions. Every change they made on flights cost them money that they couldn't get back for the changes they made. This was all based on the announcements made by the Captain. However, if they would have waited to find out how NCL was going to rectify the situation, they wouldn't have been out of some much money. Ultimately, we got an extra two days of vacation and made it back home safely. I would cruise with NCL again. Read Less

I wasn't precisely sure what to expect and it was a bit of a mixed bag. Service for the most part was outstanding. Pearl in housekeeping was great and most of our wait staff were terrific( Francisca in Manhatten and waiter in Le Bistro). Bartending was hit and miss and people tended to just walk up and order though I had been waiting. Food was good, some better than others but I have to really commend all of them for catering to my Vegan diet!! I had such good food that my traveling mates were jealous and said they were going to go vegan so they too could be treated like a queen! The room was spotless and we loved the extended balcony and spent a lot of time there. The morning coffee delivery was an unexpected treat and I had a glass of wine on the balcony at night. LOVED the 6th floor outdoor space and dubbed it "the quiet place". Great for readying, napping, relaxing. I liked the Spice area and that it was adult only. We encountered issues due to the hurricane and for the most part those were well handled or at least as well as could be expected. I liked the day spent at Harvest Caye. The pool situation, in my opinion, is very inadequate and we never got near the pool on board. It is just WAY too small for 4000 people and it is basically the only pool. I see other ships have 17 pools and probably, we would look for that if we sailed again. One adult pool that isn't all that big just doesn't cut it. I was looking forward to pool time and that never happened. The gym is decent but early mornings it was totally full. Not sure how that could be improved really without dedicating more space. We booked the free at sea deal and Norwegian handled our flight arrangements which was a Godsend once things had to be rerouted. We didn't have to do a thing! They handled ours expertly. Would I go again?? Well… maybe and maybe not. It's crowded and loud and a little too "people" for my tastes but overall I had a good trip and liked visiting other countries. We were well cared for through the storm and had "bonus" days on our vacay for free so I'm certainly not complaining. Issues with key cards that I still don't totally comprehend but it was super inconvenient and annoying. Smoking in the casinos left a little to be desired in areas where it wafted. I did the vodka ice bar and that was worthwhile just for the experience. Like I said... for the right price I MIGHT book again but... the jury is still out on that..... Read Less

As far as the ship concerns , personel wonderful ,polite.The food was excellent, like the choice of restaurant and don't have to be assign ,have to freedom of choice and time that we appreciate. The ship is great ,my only critic is for the size of ship only one pool. The facility to get out and in of the ship very efficient and quick and the welcome after a day of excursions very good. The shows were great too.A far as the situation of the hurricane too much changes ,causes a lot of concerns especially for the people changing their tickets 4 times, The team should of stick to their first decision.The cabins very spacious and very clean. Another critic is the size of the smoking section a little too small.Overall a nice cruise!!!very good service ,need more coordination in terms of circonstances like hurricane or others, something to improve!!!!! Read Less

My friend and I needed a last minute vacation that wouldn't require too much planning, so we decided a cruise may be the best option. I had only been on one cruise before on a different cruiseline and I was very impressed! The staff was incredibly friendly and the ship was clean! I didn't feel like I had to wash my hands every second or wear sandals in the shower. One thing I was disappointed in was when I had an accident on the mattress. I had requested a new mattress, but they only changed the sheets. I felt this was unsanitary, but all in all our room was kept clean. We booked the excursions on ship and the staff was very helpful and even shared their own experiences - loved the recommendations! The food was good and easily accessible - didn't have to wait for tables etc. The entertainment was ok - I wasn't too fond of the rock of ages show, but I also went to the 10pm show and was extremely exhausted. The ports were great and there were plenty of options for excursions! We didn't take an excursion in Belize, and I really wish we had because there wasn't too much to do on the island - I am not one to sunbathe and I didn't want to sit at the swim up bar. I wish there were more shops or free activity offerings at the island. On the boat, I didn't get a chance to go on the obstacle course, but it was unique and looked fun. I liked the water slides, but was bummed the other two waterslides were out of order. We ended up disembarking early in Mexico due to the hurricane. I felt this was a good decision on our part and the staff made it very easy to do so! They were helpful and clear on instruction with what we needed to do and where we needed to go. I appreciate your alls organization and the discount for our next cruise - we understand that a hurricane is out of your control and that you all are doing the best you can to keep us safe. It can't be easy rerouting thousands of people! I already have a cruise booked in December, and cannot wait! Read Less

I wanted to write this review because I've read several accounts of this cruise in the media. I have to say I have a different point of view and perhaps a very different experience. In short, I would not hesitate to book another cruise with NCL. They did a good job in a difficult situation in Hurricane Dorian. I booked everything through NCL and they made and paid for all arrangements to get us home after we arrived in New Orleans. They moved 4000 people to the airport and back to Miami. They put people up in hotels and provided 300pp for flight change fees. I'm not sure what people expected in a natural disaster. At no time were we out of food or hungry as people have implied. In fact the two extra days on the ship were excellent, the ship was fully functional the entire time, with entertainment, dining and bars. Thank you NCL for taking good care of us and thank you crew of the Breakaway for keeping smiling faces even when people were nasty with you. I learned through this two things, first, take the travel insurance or buy it on your own. Keep in mind that NCL's travel insurance only covers $500 in airline and hotel. Second, book everything through NCL, we did and they took care of everything. We got a letter in our stateroom telling us they were taking care of our arrangements and that they would let us know when they were complete. On the last evening, we had our new flight reservations delivered to our room. We got bussed to Baton Rouge so that we could get home the same day. While people were scrambling and waiting in long lines on the ship for Internet or phone, we had fun on the ship. Thank you NCL. Now for the cruise review. We booked thru NCL and got free airfare, free drink package and free speciality dining plus $100 on board credit. We requested to arrive a day early to Miami and we stayed on the beach at the Hilton Bentley Miami. I have to say I'm not a clubber so Miami wasn't really my scene, the beach was nice though. The Hilton Bentley Miami was nothing to write home about, it was very overpriced for what you got. The room was a standard room but really not worth the $300 per night. Great beach though and good service on the beach with free chairs, water and even a glass of wine. We used Uber to get to the port and arrived about noon. The check in process was very easy. We waited about 10 minutes total and were on the ship in less than 30 minutes from arrival. Our room was 12182 a Family mini suite on deck 12 near the kids club. Having no kids it was a little noisy for us and the room next to us had some very rowdy boys who made lots of noise. The room itself was nice, with an extra large bathroom with two sinks and a full bath tub. I have been on 14 cruises and I have to say that I was at first a little disappointed with the ship. Since the ship was fairly new I was expecting open floor plans, big atriums, lots of space both interior and exterior. This ship is a little different design where almost all the space is used. The exterior decks, pool, sundeck don't extend all around the ship and are blocked so that you can't walk all the way around the ship on them. The pool deck is closed in with two relatively small pools and two bars right in the middle. It doesn't leave for much deck space for loungers around the pool, most of the lounger space is covered by the deck above. The pool deck has 5 water slides and a kiddie splash area, it's a lot crammed into the pool deck on 15. Deck 16 above has the rock wall, ropes course, mini golf and the sports court. There's lots of outside space I just think I've been on other ships that used the space better. I will say the design grew on me over the week especially on the interior. You won't find an open mall type area like on the RCL ships, deck 6, 7, 8 are where al the common areas are restaurants and bars, theater, shops, casino. On deck 8 there are some really nice outdoor bars and seating areas, we really enjoyed them. Overall, by the end of the week the design of the ship had grown on me as being very efficient use of space I have grown to really like it. I've seen many complaints about the food on this ship. I have to wonder if we were on the same ship because I found all the food good to excellent. Perhaps those folks ate meals at the buffet and if they did I understand the complaint. Don't eat at the buffet, eat at the restaurants you will have a better experience. The buffet on this ship is a total disaster, it's small for this size ship. It's so crowded you'll be fighting for a seat and there's not much variety on the menu. They don't help you find seats nor to they bring around drinks like I've experienced on other ships. On the brightside, don't miss the crepe station at the dinner hour, it was the best dessert on the ship! The ice cream on the buffet was very good as well with both hard and soft ice cream. We ate breakfast daily in Taste or Savor or used the buffet in Moderno. The service in Taste and Savor was slow at times but the food was so much better than the buffet it was worth it. At dinner time, we ate at Teppanyaki, Modurno, Cagney's and the Manhattan restaurant. All the speciality restaurants were good to excellent. Cagney's was my favorite with food equal to a good steakhouse on land. If you haven't gotten a dining package for the speciality restaurants, do it. It really is one of the nicest things on NCL and to enjoy the cruise you really do need to experience the speciality restaurants. The 3 meal package is a good value. I would not plan to pay the a la carte prices on the menu, they are ridiculous. Also, make reservations online before you go. You can make reservations onboard but you may not get the time you want. I was pleasantly surprised at the free dining in the Manhattan room. Here, you needed to wear long pants but for that you were rewarded with nightly entertainment, which was great. The food was good to very good with plenty of good choices. The service was at times slow waiting for the kitchen to deliver food but not terribly so. While we were waiting there was live music and waiters were attentive keeping your wine or water glass full. When your food did arrive it was hot. I found the entertainment on this ship excellent. You will need to make reservations for the shows, do that before you get on the ship in the app or the 1st day when you board. They opened the show to any one 10 min before the show. The Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages shows were nothing short of excellent. (and included) They had a comedy club which was good and they also had a magician that was good as well. We participated in the Escape Room on board, it was also free and fun. There were also shows in the atrium which were fun as well, but there weren't too many places to sit so go early. Another nice find was Syd Normans Tap Room. There they had live entertainment too. We saw Thunderjack an AC/DC cover band who were very good. People have complained about nickel and diming on this ship. I don't think this ship is any worse than any of the other ships I've been on. There's a gelato shop, a Starbucks, a bake shop all for an extra fee. Starbucks really wasn't any more expensive than on land. Gelato could be had for about $3.00. The buffet though had lots of free ice cream so we didn't feel the need to try it. There is a Margaritaville on board but its and upcharge @ $14.99 and I never saw anyone in there. There is also a free breakfast buffet in Margaritaville on some days so keep an eye out for that too. We did book two excursions through NCL, Tabyana beach in Roatan and the 3 reef snorkel in Cozumel. Tabyana beach was excellent with the most beautiful reef offshore. There were guides who for tips would take you out snorkeling if you had your own equipment like we did. There was great security here and lunch was included. In Roatan, definitely go to the West Bay Beaches. We booked the 3 reef snorkel excursion in Cozumel because we've been there many times and wanted something different. The trip was just ok, the reefs aren't nearly as nice as Roatan but there was a lot of time in the water so it was fun. We didn't really care for Great Harvest Caye. It was a nice beach day, but the day we were there it was very windy and there was lots of seaweed. They did their best to get rid of the seaweed but it was just everywhere. It also wasn't an all inclusive private island so anything you wanted you had to buy or go back to the ship. There was a very nice pool and kids splash area, bathrooms and nice shops. The zip line looked fun but it was expensive. My least favorite port in the Caribbean is Costa Maya. We decided to go downtown as we haven't in many years. Don't waste your time. There is so much seaweed it smells awful. The beach clubs here aren't very nice, neither is the beach. The local shops aren't worth much either and the locals constantly hound (not rudely, just excessively) you to buy stuff. It will cost $16.00 round trip by tram and taxi. It's a great place to get cheap drinks though $1 beers. Personally, I'd do an excursion here, we've done the Mayan Kingdom on previous cruises and it was fun. We really enjoyed this cruise, definitely in the top 5 of cruises I've been on. NCL is a little different and we really enjoy the Freestyle program. It's so nice to not have to dress up, be somewhere at a particular time, or conform to someone's schedule. We also loved the all inclusive booking experience, if you get free offers (They aren't really free) from NCL take them. We found the dining and drink packages well worth it, it makes the trip so much nicer when you're not worrying about your bill at the end of the cruise. Again, thank you NCL for taking good care of us with Dorian rolled in and for getting us home. Read Less

Actually it was chosen for us by the casino. We had already took this trip previously but it was just as enjoyable as before, maybe even better. The room was always clean, our room steward had a very nice personality. We were treated very nicely on this cruise, we got to eat at 3 specialty restaurants, they were absolutely wonderful, we also got on/board credit. The food in the other restaurants were just as good, but it was nice to be invited to the speciality restaurants. Even though there were a lot of families with children, we were not impacted by them, most of the children were very respectful. My cousin and I played a lot in the casino, even though we did not win any big jackpots, we got to meet very nice people from all over the USA, Canada, Germany and many other countries. I met a German couple and I lived previously in England and worked in Germany for a couple of years, I was able to polish up on my German with my lovely German friend. Thank you. Read Less

I have never been on a cruise until I went to this one I actually won a vacation gift certificate and decided to go on a cruise it was AMAZING I never had this fun in my life before will definitely go again my boyfriend loved it we ate so much food we went on a shore excursions the site was beautiful to see the different islands and the blue waters the stateroom was perfect the staff on the shift were so helpful and understand everything we asked them the art on the ship was beautiful to see how talented these artists were and how compassionate these people are in their art the sound of the water while I was sitting on the balcony was so relaxing I fell asleep several times it was just amazing I really enjoyed myself and want to cruise again with Norwegian I had so much fun Read Less

My wife and I try to take a cruise each year to celebrate our Anniversary, August 25th. I try to make it a special cruise vacation for both of us so this year I chose Norwegian Breakaway as the ship and upgraded to the Haven. It was the best decision I have made in years but there is a good chance that one day I might regret that decision. You see, what I found is that once you book a Haven Suite you can never go back to anything less. Therefore, the day may come when I may not be able to justify the additional outlay of funds for the Haven, naw, I'm not going back!!! From the time you arrive at the ship you are greeted by a knowledgable crew member and accompanied to the Haven to be shown around all the Haven has to offer. You think, what no line, no hour plus boarding time? We just got aboard a few minutes ago and already we are seated in the Haven dining room having our 1st adult beverage of the day. In our opinion, the Haven dining room exceeds any of the dining venues aboard, even the specialty restaurants. Talk about being made to feel special or as my wife relates, pampered, you owe it to yourself and your spouse to book one Haven cruise to see for yourselves. Your Haven suite is nothing short of 1st Class and that is how you are treated by every crewmember no matter their rank or position. I will stop now or this will grow to a short story. We did have one problem on this cruise. His name was "Dorian". He caused the Port of Miami to close and we were redirected to New Orleans. Ever heard of Burbon Street. Party On! Read Less

Because of Hurricane Dorian, we were unable to return to the port of Miami so there were several changes at the end that wound up putting us in New Orleans two days after we were supposed to dock in Miami. Norwegian paid for a hotel and booked us in a flight home the next day. When circumstances change like this it’s hard to make people happy but I think they did an excellent job. They kept us safely far away from the storm, had plenty of food and drinks to keep the party going, and we got an extra 3 days of vacation at no cost! I would sail Norwegian again with no hesitation. The dining and entertainment on board were both superior and the excursions we booked were amazing. The crew was friendly and we enjoyed all the activities offered. My children loved the ropes course. The pools were usually quite crowded but I think that is to be expected and we still found times to enjoy them when we had free time on port days. I can honestly say this was the best family vacation we have ever had. Read Less

First time on a Norwegian Cruise ship. I have be told by others that Norwegian is the best cruise line. I have taken Princess and Carnival Cruise. My best experience was on the Viking Cruise one Seine River in Europe. Several of your restaurants like the Manhattan and Taste are at the 5 star level. My children are grown. But I enjoyed seeing the staff playing with the children and believe my grandchildren would enjoy this ship. The cabins were well designed with balconies. I enjoyed the many choices of lounges and quiet areas to rest,read, sleep or just look at the beautiful ocean. I chose to go to the beaches. I did not wish to take any excursions. I traveled with a group of 14 people who either attend my church or are close friends of members in the group. We have traveled together before. We wish to THANK THE NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE in arranging the buses and chartered airplanes to enable us all in returning to Miami. Thank GOD for a caring Cruiseline with a caring staff who are able to plan and make adjustments as needed. A special Thank You to the Captain of this ship. Read Less

This is one of NCLs smaller ships, minimal extras, meant for short trips. Our room was a porthole oceanview, the window was larger than we expected. Shower didn't drain well, notified front desk and it was resolved immediately. Local Pub (their version of Sheehans) was not 24 hrs as we hoped but had a similar menu. The sushi was fantastic but kinda tucked away, you had to know the ship had it to find it. Entertainment and activities were as expected, meaning smaller boat smaller productions however they were good. Our cabin was always clean, but we didn't get any towel animals...first time that ever happened and were a little disappointed because it is something we always look forward to. We went swimming with the pigs in Freeport, it was a fantastic experience and even took us to another location to go shopping. The island is repairing after the hurricane and things to do and places to shop are limited. Nassau we just walked around and found a fantastic bar called Pirate Republic Brewery...wonderful staff, craft beers and food. GSC was nice, we snorkeled (a lot of jellyfish) and enjoyed lounging in the sun. Food and drinks are included (NCL owns the island) and the buffet was good. We would probably not go again as this is definitely a younger less respectful group of people who cruise. Maybe it was the time of year or the fact that it is a short, alcohol included cruise. Read Less

We chose this cruise as a replacement option. Our Cuba cruise was cancelled by presidential order and NCL offered us to take this cruise, instead. Although the itinerary wasn't our first choice, vacation time was set aside and this was our only alternative. NCL discounted our cruise 50% and gave us a 50% discount towards a future cruise. Therefore, the deal was right. The vessel looks beautiful inside. We learned it was recently refurbished. Other than difficulty finding public bathrooms (few and far between), and the A/C blasting far too much, particularly around the Stardust theater (trust me, way too cold), the cruise was fabulous. The attention to detail and the incredible high customer service made it even better. Our recent experience with NCL wasn't good. Customer service was lacking, and the little things missing. This time around everyone was very attentive to our every need. A couple of disappointments included learning that our Platinum standing was limited to on-board discounts. We did not receive our "usual" perks (water, champagne, free laundry, free specialty dining, etc.). NCL claims that said perks are reserved for cruises in excess of 5 days, which was news to us. We had never heard such thing before. We did two tours: Atlantis on our own and swimming with the pigs. Both were perfectly organized and fun. A final thought: NCL must realize that Royal Caribbean and others charge virtually the same, do the same itineraries, and have a better reputation. Every time NCL changes the rules, it turns us off. We have two more cruises coming. Afterwards, we are going back to Royal. Read Less

The people serving on this cruise were awesome. A special shout out to Katherine San Juan for her energy early in the morning in the dining room buffet area. "washy washy makes you happy" loved it!! and to Edith from Peru and and everyone else that cleaned our room, always with a smile and a friendly good morning. The food could be better at the buffet. The stateroom was comfortable, the bed was great had the best night sleep ever. the embarking was a smooth process. The entertainment could be better and the food as well. I definitely want to do another family trip and bring more family members, can't wait for my next cruise. I want to try another Norwegian ship and a longer cruise. This cruise in the overall was awesome and everyone was very friendly. The Stirrup keys Island was amazing, had a wonderful time there did not want to leave you left the best for last. Thank you Norwegian Sky. Read Less

I wanted to do a cruise for my birthday this year and after looking at several cruise lines we chose the Norwegian Sky because we liked the idea of cruising Freestyle. It was AMAZING! This was our first time cruising with Norwegian and we were so impressed that I honestly don’t think we will ever cruise with any other cruise lines. Everything was perfect from the price of our cabin, to the food, the entertainment and the drinks. We did not buy any specialty dining bc we aren’t big foodies but the choice of food was plenty. We aren’t breakfast eaters so I can’t give any tips on that but for lunch and dinner we chose to eat at the Palace or Crossroads. We did eat pizza one day up on the pool deck. We never ate at the buffet on the ship but we did at Great Stirrup Cay and the food was ok but we are not big buffet eaters. We loved Great Stirrup Cay and if we ever go back we will definitely be booking a cabana!! The ships entertainment was great and they also had a funny comedian. We also bought bingo cards and deal or no deal cards in which my husband got to play that game on stage and won $40. Our cabin was on the 10th floor inside cabin and it was perfect for us. It was the same size as our camper so we felt right at home. The only thing that I didn’t like was the pool. I felt like too many people were hogging it but other than that it was the best time ever. We did take extra cash to tip our servers even though we knew we were tipping them at the end. They definitely knew us by our faces and always appreciated the extra tip. We didn’t travel with kids but we did explore the area geared towards children and it looked like they would have fun at the arcade and the other room was like a preschool. All in all we had a fantastic time! Read Less

Spent the first three days on lines fixing problems, from charging us extra for drink we never ordered (even though we had a drink package) to the internet not working and their ncl app not recognizing my login, and constantly kicking me out of the app when I did manage to log into it. No functioning exhaust fans in either of our 2 rooms, so basically when someone went to the bathroom, you had to live with the smell for hours. To make matters worse, one of our rooms had a bathroom that had sewer gasses leaking into it and by the end of our 7 day cruise smelled so bad that we all started to use the bathroom in the other room. We notified them on the 3rd day but they never fixed the problem. Most restaurants and activities were already fully booked on the cruise before we even boarded the ship, so basically their freestyle dining requires you to tell the future and predict when and where you'll be everyday, without being able to see the itinerary until you actually board the ship. The drinks were severely watered down. My wife can't drink for anything, she has about 2 ounces of wine and gets giddy, yet she was able to drink 4 cocktails within an hour and not feel a thing. In fact, I switched to just beer, knowing that they can't water that down, and then I finally started to feel it myself. The internet package is a scam, they sell it by the minute, yet it's so slow it'll take you at least 10 minutes to log in to check your email. Plus if you forget to turn it off (yes you have to turn it on and off) it'll eat up all of your minutes even when you aren't using it. Constantly trying to con more money out of us. Carnival doesn't nickle and dime you like ncl does. EVERYTHING costs extra when you're on the ship. The itinerary was all based on getting more money out of you, there were hours of activities planned everyday that was about selling you lewelry, art, wat he's, future cruises etc, but no other alternatives, so basically there were chucks of time during the day were you were just bored, unless you felt like getting hustled. My 18 year old had NOTHING to do for a week, he was bored the entire time. The club went up to 17 years old and they strictly enforce that age limit, and the other club was geared towards older people, so he had no one to mingle with. The only interesting activities were late at night, but then the excursions started early in the morning, so basically you had to choose between missing out on something or being sleep deprived. The worst part was when we left the ship (apparently they have a reputation for this) when they got us off the ship, they couldn't care less what happened afterwards. They basically over crowded us on the dock and herded us in without any roped off lines or clear directions. Employees were constantly telling us and other people that we had to switch lines, the porters were yelling at ncl employees for not organizing all of us and blocking the aisles. People were shoving and cutting the lines and the employees did nothing to stop it. They even had us crossing through the crowd of people entering the ship as well. Read Less

I decided to cruise with NCL again just because I had an EXCELLENT experience on my first cruise with NCL GEM from NY to BAHAMAS. LIST OF MY ISSUES - I took the reduce flight promotion and they assign a return flight with 12 hours waiting time at the airport. Try calling few weeks before sailing but the phones agents didn't want to help changing it - Toilet on my Cabin was broken for the first 3 days. Me and my family had to use the Public smelly bathrooms - Standing Sliding Tub was closed the entire cruise - Limited interesting activities compared to the GEM Ship - Some crew members were in a bad mood and will give you attitude for asking if a sandwich was tuna or chicken as an example on one of my bad experience, or asking where is the Theater? and getting a response "The map is next to the elevators" - Needed to go from bar to bar at times to find my favorite drinks because they go out of stock quick. - Bowling was broken - Arcade games keep having issues and I needed to go from deck 16 to deck 6 to get a refund. TERRIBLE!! - Wall Climb only open for few hours in the evening Read Less

Our Anniversary cruise. Had a horrible experience with the hotel staff. Had unruly teens in the room next to us. Wrestling and bouncing off the walls. Swearing and screaming on the balcony. Every day all hours. My wife could not sleep. I could not nap and was forced out of the room due to noise. Racing up and down the halls. Staff could not get them under control. We called or visited the service desk at least 8 times on this issue. At one point my wife and I left the room and the kids were in the hall. They heckled us and yelled at us. I truly felt threatened. I went directly to the service desk and qas told they could not control the situation. I asked one more time whether they intended to do something and the girl at the desk refused. We were so afraid of retaliation on the last night my wife stayed in the room until our luggage was picked up so those kids could not vandalize it, losing her last night on the ship. Now the cruise staff, entertainment, housekeeping and food were stellar! We have cruised many many times on RCL and these items were soo much better. Unfortunate that the Hotel staff let a bunch of teens traumatize us. I have a NCL cruise booked for 2021 and was considering another in 2020. I may cancel NCL to go where we feel safe. Read Less

I have been on 7 cruises on different lines and this was my first NCL experience. The reason I chose this line is because of the free airfare, free adult beverage package, free soda package and free 250 minutes of Wi-Fi. The embarkation process was great. You did not have to wait long to be processed and get onboard. I think if this was my first cruise ever, I may have been more impressed but there were certain things that I just did not like. We did not meet our cabin steward until the last night which was very odd because when we would go on Royal they would introduce themselves the first day and ask you about your preferences with the room. The Garden Grill which had the buffet was strangely laid out. Everything was in a long line which made it difficult to get around the crowds when getting breakfast. We liked to eat dinner in The Manhattan Room which was so beautiful. There was music every night and couples dancing during dinner. The food was good and some nights it was exceptional. We did have dinner 2 nights in Taste and Savor because we did not want to get dressed up and they will allow you to wear shorts (The Manhattan Room will not). We made a reservation at Shanghai Noodle Bar for one night and it was well worth it! Food was amazing and the staff was super friendly. We had 4 ports and 4 shore excursions. In Roatan we went on the Jolly Roger catamaran snorkeling and it was the best excursion of our trip! Not only was the snorkeling great but the crew made the trip very fun and the lunch was tasty. In Belize we went snorkeling again and was very disappointed based on what we had encountered the day before. The boat was very small to hold the 45 people they squeezed onboard. In Costa Maya we did the Segway tour which was a lot of fun and we got to relax on the beach for a short period of time. Our last excursion was Playa Mia beach. Very relaxing which was needed after the active days we had prior. The drink prices are overwhelming with a can of coke at $4.00. I traveled with 2 16 year old (boy and girl) and they enjoyed the cruise but were not into the teen club so they would walk around trying to find things to do. My son would go to the basketball court but was not too fond of it because the net was tilted forward and with the wind, he would take a shot and it would go sideways. Disembarkation is what it is on all cruise lines. You wait around forever for Customs to clear the ship and then everyone rushes to get to buses and taxis to get to the airport. Overall: The ship looked dated. The staff was average. The ports and excursions were good. The food was good. The cabins were clean. Next cruise, I will go back to Royal Caribbean! Read Less

I wanted to see some new stops and that’s why I picked this cruise. We loved Costa Maya and Cozumel but stops at tiny islands in Honduras and Belize were a waste. The staff was wonderful, the restaurant staff tried hard with our Kosher meals but aren’t familiar with the proper way of getting it prepared to bring it back to original shape. The Haven staff is amazing and we loved all the amenities. The only problem we encountered is that our front facing penthouse Haven cabin was so far from the elevators and it was a difficult to walk 3 to 5 times a day. We really enjoyed the previous cruise where our suite was within the Haven compound. I didn’t realize that Haven cabins can be outside the Haven. That was my mistake and I’ll be more careful next time. We also didn’t like Rock of Ages but we loved Burn the floor and the great comedian Warren B Hall. Read Less