Kosher on Norwegian Breakaway Review

[CAcruisin202]

For anyone thinking about kosher on Norwegian, our first bit of advice is - don’t do it. We just got back from the Norwegian Breakaway and had a terrible experience as far as kosher goes. “Freestyle” dining sounds great in theory, but not when you have special meal requirements (whether they are kosher, vegan, no dairy, etc). Without a set waiter for meals, there is no one who actually knows you are keeping kosher. The waiters don’t get too engaged with the customers like on other ships since they are all getting a pooled tip. The regular waiters are not trained and don’t know anything about keeping kosher. For example, they had Heinz Malt Vinegar on the ship so whenever we had salad in the main dining room, we requested this dressing. One night, the waiter swore the dressing he gave us in a little cup was the malt vinegar but it was clearly a non-kosher balsamic vinegar. He eventually brought us malt vinegar. They will gladly bring you a dairy dessert (all of the desserts on the menu are dairy even though there is no indication of that on the menu and they are served without any labels) after a fleishig meal. In addition, the kosher meals were Spring Valley Catering brand and they were absolutely terrible. There was no quality control of these frozen meals - from day to day the same meal could vary so much that it could be OK one day and absolutely tasteless the next. The meals overall tasted like they had been thawed and then refrozen. We never got the exact meals we requested. There were no dairy options on the entire menu.

 

On other ships, the salad buffet works well. On this ship, most of the vegetables were coated in dressings which made them inedible to us. They did have a “special kosher skillet” that they made omelettes for us on. They also said they had a “special kosher oven” and that was where they baked challah and cooked double wrapped food. We had double wrapped salmon a couple times and when we requested a different type of fish, it was like pulling teeth but we finally got mahi mahi. On Royal Caribbean we got different types of fish each night without any issues. The only kosher wine on the ship was Manischewitz which is pretty unacceptable.

 

 

General Thoughts on the Ship

The ship was overcrowded and poorly planned. The ship has so many private spaces that the public spaces are just teeming with people. The elevators were very slow to come even when most of them weren’t moving and obviously free. When they did come, they were so crowded that we joked Norwegian was trying to simulate the NY subways during rush hour. The running track was on the pool deck where it was impossible to run as it was crowded and tended to get wet from the pool. The fireworks were shot directly over the audience so ashes fell on us. The casino was the majority of level 7 in the 678 center and was very smoky. The hallways in front of the rooms are so narrow that the staff are trained to stop whenever you walk by which is a little uncomfortable. For some reason, the inside rooms have their own hallway so there are 3 hallways and not enough space. We also weren’t enamored with the dark fake wood decor. Light decor would help make the spaces seem larger. Ceilings are low in the dining rooms and other public spaces. We also paid extra for a mini-suite which was not really worth it. We thought the room would be larger but we basically paid for a slightly larger bathroom which was unfortunate. We did enjoy our balcony. Entertainment on the ship was not as spectacular as on other large ships.

Edited June 17, 2013 by CAcruisin202

[L3GWG]

Excellent news then that our paths will not cross on this ship in the future. I am bored bored bored and this was meant to be a holiday.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[rydan]

As Count Dracula would say Blah, blah, blah...blah,blah

 

PARTY POOPER!:mad:

[camz]

Well, CACruisin, I am very sorry to hear that you did not enjoy Breakaway or the Freestyle Concept. This is the first real negative review I have read regarding the Breakaway. I have to ask, was there anything that you liked? There had to be some good things about Breakaway that you could report.

[KJE Atlanta]

Well, CACruisin, I am very sorry to hear that you did not enjoy Breakaway or the Freestyle Concept. This is the first real negative review I have read regarding the Breakaway. I have to ask, was there anything that you liked? There had to be some good things about Breakaway that you could report.

 

I think CACruisin likes complaining. :rolleyes:

 

We were on the Breakaway a few weeks ago with 4500 other passengers. We thought the elevators were much more efficient than on the Epic, that the layout was better than on other ships such that we never felt overcrowded; our room did have light color wood decor; and we thought the entertainment was excellent - from the full shows to the nightly music.

[russianmom]

Sorry to hear you had such a miserable time.

 

I have a lot of food allergies and I get excellent service on NCL in regards to this.

 

One of the reasons (besides the suite life) I keep booking NCL is how well they take care of my food needs.

[MsTabbyKats]

But, they did provide you with kosher meals.

 

If you are kosher, and you cruise on a "not specifically kosher sailing", you cannot expect the waiters to know which malt vinegar is kosher and which one isn't, nor can you expect "no dressing" on the vegetables.

 

Did NCL mislead you?

[jdough789]

We have cruised NCL 4 times and keep Kosher. We were pleasantly surprised that NCL gives soup, appetizer and dessert in addition to the entrée. Carnival only gave us a main dish. We did have issues on the Gem, because of poor selection, due to hurricane season, but the other cruises were fine. It can be tricky to keep kosher on a cruise. The cream of broccoli soup (Weberman) was O-u-meat, while the cheese cake (Weberman) was parve. We found that Weberman Kosher meals were generally lousy, but edible. There were a few dairy items, mac-n cheese, pizza and parve, fish croquettes (inedible), salmon etc. The breakfast entrees could be ordered for lunch, blintzes, omelets.

Generally, you must decide 1 day in advance, what you will order for your meals. You need to seek out the person in the MDR who is in charge of the Kosher meals. He or she will give the waiters proper instruction. They even delivered kosher meals to their private island.

Or you have 2 other choices----1- Pay for the special Kosher cruises.

2-take a different type of vacation.:eek:

[emcee207]

For anyone thinking about kosher on Norwegian, our first bit of advice is - don’t do it. We just got back from the Norwegian Breakaway and had a terrible experience as far as kosher goes. “Freestyle” dining sounds great in theory, but not when you have special meal requirements (whether they are kosher, vegan, no dairy, etc). Without a set waiter for meals, there is no one who actually knows you are keeping kosher. The waiters don’t get too engaged with the customers like on other ships since they are all getting a pooled tip. The regular waiters are not trained and don’t know anything about keeping kosher. For example, they had Heinz Malt Vinegar on the ship so whenever we had salad in the main dining room, we requested this dressing. One night, the waiter swore the dressing he gave us in a little cup was the malt vinegar but it was clearly a non-kosher balsamic vinegar. He eventually brought us malt vinegar. They will gladly bring you a dairy dessert (all of the desserts on the menu are dairy even though there is no indication of that on the menu and they are served without any labels) after a fleishig meal. In addition, the kosher meals were Spring Valley Catering brand and they were absolutely terrible. There was no quality control of these frozen meals - from day to day the same meal could vary so much that it could be OK one day and absolutely tasteless the next. The meals overall tasted like they had been thawed and then refrozen. We never got the exact meals we requested. There were no dairy options on the entire menu.

 

On other ships, the salad buffet works well. On this ship, most of the vegetables were coated in dressings which made them inedible to us. They did have a “special kosher skillet” that they made omelettes for us on. They also said they had a “special kosher oven” and that was where they baked challah and cooked double wrapped food. We had double wrapped salmon a couple times and when we requested a different type of fish, it was like pulling teeth but we finally got mahi mahi. On Royal Caribbean we got different types of fish each night without any issues. The only kosher wine on the ship was Manischewitz which is pretty unacceptable.

 

 

General Thoughts on the Ship

The ship was overcrowded and poorly planned. The ship has so many private spaces that the public spaces are just teeming with people. The elevators were very slow to come even when most of them weren’t moving and obviously free. When they did come, they were so crowded that we joked Norwegian was trying to simulate the NY subways during rush hour. The running track was on the pool deck where it was impossible to run as it was crowded and tended to get wet from the pool. The fireworks were shot directly over the audience so ashes fell on us. The casino was the majority of level 7 in the 678 center and was very smoky. The hallways in front of the rooms are so narrow that the staff are trained to stop whenever you walk by which is a little uncomfortable. For some reason, the inside rooms have their own hallway so there are 3 hallways and not enough space. We also weren’t enamored with the dark fake wood decor. Light decor would help make the spaces seem larger. Ceilings are low in the dining rooms and other public spaces. We also paid extra for a mini-suite which was not really worth it. We thought the room would be larger but we basically paid for a slightly larger bathroom which was unfortunate. We did enjoy our balcony. Entertainment on the ship was not as spectacular as on other large ships.

 

 

All I can say is......................WOW!:eek:

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing your review.

 

Keith

[JohnIreland]

So if it read it correctly , during the week there was one mistake (wrong type of vinegar) which was quickly rectified ?

[Barb Nahoumi]

Well, CACruisin, I am very sorry to hear that you did not enjoy Breakaway or the Freestyle Concept. This is the first real negative review I have read regarding the Breakaway. I have to ask, was there anything that you liked? There had to be some good things about Breakaway that you could report.

 

He enjoyed his balcony.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Keeping strictly kosher outside of one's home can be very difficult. I understand that there are many kosher restaurants ,resorts, and occasional kosher cruises.

 

Packaged frozen food can never be compared to something that is freshly cooked.

 

To the OP, you could bring your own bottle of salad dressing on board, along with your own wine. You just need to pay the corkage fee.

 

The breakfast buffet does serve lox and pickled herring. You could check with the staff to determine whether or not it is kosher.

 

Many of the boxed cereals have U or K printed on them.

 

I have never kept kosher, but I am familiar with some of the regulations.

 

Sorry that your cruise did not live up to your expectations.

[Cruisegirl6]

CACruisin I have to agree with practically everything your saying. I not kosher but I am gluten free. The first day they had a meat carving on the buffet it was excellent prime rib....ok I said to myself as long as I get my meat, some veggies and a salad I be good here, well the second day on NO MEAT CARVING! They only had one or two veggies which were in sauces gluten....salad bar very limited (I am used to all the many different types of salads RC gives) well my lunches were of few pieces of cubed cheese, tomatoes and some greens, sometimes a mashed potato. There was nothing for me being gluten free at that buffet and I realize there was no kosher either!

 

For my salads I need to be gluten free which means no salad dressing but vinegar and oil, they didn't even have this they had this pre made up terrible what they call is a vinegar and oil dressing which was not good, it also had this sweet taste to it, :confused:

 

Totally agree RC caters to everybody of all diets, we going back to our RC!

 

Totally agree this ship is poorly planned/laid out, interior and exterior! We found so many negatives that just add up to us, even down to the bed being shorter, my other half if he lied on his back his feet hung over the bed and I am only 5'6" my toes! We also found the staff not to be friendly they all did their job but no hello's, no how was your day, have a good day NOTHING! We even had our drinks mixed up, wrong liquors and I not just speaking about just two bars. I have to say the best people who were near friendly were the bartenders walking around in the casino but even that we felt that NCL had a no interaction with the passenger rule.

 

How about those many traffic jams hugh, it was bad. I did notice about the jogging track your so correct. We chose not to get the spa balcony believe the only thing you got extra was a double sink in the bathroom. We didn't find the elevators to be slow at all we were impressed although handful of times they were full but the next one came quickly.

 

Entertainment- Rock of Ages we enjoyed becaue it is the music of our time, but Burn the Floor four out of 7 of us fell asleep and took a nap during it! Cirque show was very good but some parts were like this is being dragged out especially that guy throwing the rings up in the air. The dinner there was horrible, I asked for no shrimp on my plate and my steak medium rare...I got shrimp on the plate (ewww) and my steak was shoe leather overdone. It was ok that night we went to the MDR for lobster dinner which the lobster although very salty was very good and we ate there before the show.

 

The pay restaurants ok....Cagneys steak looked beautiful was cooked to perfection (medium rare for me) but I could of gotten a better tasty steak at simple Longhorn! Ocean Blu was best only because for my family members they loved the raw bar which was extra cost! Moderno pushed those sausages, chicken and spare ribs which were not good...we never go back again there....LaCucina menu just ok place full of kids we cancelled our reservations there. We did all love Le Bistro that was my favorite restaurant.

 

Anyways, sorry to ramble but I totally agree with your review! NCL is just not for us, its all over rated, we back to RC where we find everything overall to be excellent.

Edited June 30, 2013 by lyndamr

[Sara_smile]

It seems special diets and cruises dont mix.

[Demonyte]

It seems special diets and cruises dont mix.

 

From what I've read and experienced, wanting to get special treatment without any pre-warning in buffet is a no-go - in normal plate-served restaurants at least NCL crew is very accomodating (of course you still need to make advance plans in order to even hope to get everything right).

[Orleanscruiser]

WE WERE ON THE GEM RECENTLY, WE MADE ARRENGEMENT 30 DAYS PRIOR OUR SAILING. WHEN WE BOARDED THE SHIP ON FIRST DAY WE WERE ASSIGNED A NUTRIONIST(Jeph Agustin)and every night would meet and we set up our meal for the next day . All the staff on the Gem made an effort to accommodate our special need. If you don't do you homework how can blame NCL.

 

Taken from NCL WEBSITE UNDER FAQ.

 

What about special dietary needs?

If you have any food allergy or a dietary requirement that requires Kosher meals or gluten-free food product, please advise a Norwegian Reservations Agent, or your Travel Agent at the time of booking. Obtaining the product for many of these requests requires 30-days notice prior to sailing, and we want to ensure that we are able to fulfill your request. We cannot guarantee Kosher Meal requests made within 30 days of sail date.

For the protection of all of our guests, it is not permissible to bring aboard any food items that would require preparation by the ship’s staff, or food items that would require cold storage in our kitchen facilities.

[Cruisegirl6]

Sara_smile that's not true because when I cruise on RC their buffets have things for everybody on every diet including sugar free desserts are abundant. Carnival was better for gluten free actually....NCL just is very limited for all with special dietary problems.

 

In all my many past cruises (I have to be gluten free for years now) never ever did I ever have to worry about not having much to eat, only on NCL. If a buffet lunch offers me meat carvings daily, nice decent salad bar and veggies plain I am just fine, only NCL didn't have meat carvings day 2 onward and their veggies were all sauces with gluten and their salad bar was so limited even moreso than Carnivals was.

[Cruisegirl6]

Five of us out of 7 that went on the Breakaway said the Epic was much better, larger pool, better flow interior and exterior better too.

[spidybabe]

Well, CACruisin, I am very sorry to hear that you did not enjoy Breakaway or the Freestyle Concept. This is the first real negative review I have read regarding the Breakaway. I have to ask, was there anything that you liked? There had to be some good things about Breakaway that you could report.

 

If this is the first negative review you have read then obviously you have not read any other reviews as it is almost impossible to find a favorable one!! and I guess you haven't read any of my comments.

Although I did not require kosher food, I had friends who did-- on this ship as well as other NCL ships... no problems on the other ships ( none concerning any issues be it kosher food or observing Shabbot) major problems on the breakaway.

Many problems all over the Breakaway. Many poor reviews--check them out for yourself....

She is a beautiful ship with many new and wonderful ideas - except- all venues are way to small. The pool area is a joke, whoever designed it had to be drunk or worse... and we didn't enjoy standing at some events ( once I got lucky and was able to find a seat on the floor-- not really my idea of having a fun time). We had a good cruise, but with a little more space, it could of been a great cruise. Some events held in the atrium def should of been held in the theater, and because most venues were so uncomfortable, we noticed the time frame given to events was cut back from other sailings.We really missed a Spinneker Lounge, and can;t wait to be back on the Gem.

Safe sailing

[Medtech2]

For anyone thinking about kosher on Norwegian, our first bit of advice is - don’t do it. We just got back from the Norwegian Breakaway and had a terrible experience as far as kosher goes. “Freestyle” dining sounds great in theory, but not when you have special meal requirements (whether they are kosher, vegan, no dairy, etc). Without a set waiter for meals, there is no one who actually knows you are keeping kosher. The waiters don’t get too engaged with the customers like on other ships since they are all getting a pooled tip. The regular waiters are not trained and don’t know anything about keeping kosher. For example, they had Heinz Malt Vinegar on the ship so whenever we had salad in the main dining room, we requested this dressing. One night, the waiter swore the dressing he gave us in a little cup was the malt vinegar but it was clearly a non-kosher balsamic vinegar. He eventually brought us malt vinegar. They will gladly bring you a dairy dessert (all of the desserts on the menu are dairy even though there is no indication of that on the menu and they are served without any labels) after a fleishig meal. In addition, the kosher meals were Spring Valley Catering brand and they were absolutely terrible. There was no quality control of these frozen meals - from day to day the same meal could vary so much that it could be OK one day and absolutely tasteless the next. The meals overall tasted like they had been thawed and then refrozen. We never got the exact meals we requested. There were no dairy options on the entire menu.

 

On other ships, the salad buffet works well. On this ship, most of the vegetables were coated in dressings which made them inedible to us. They did have a “special kosher skillet” that they made omelettes for us on. They also said they had a “special kosher oven” and that was where they baked challah and cooked double wrapped food. We had double wrapped salmon a couple times and when we requested a different type of fish, it was like pulling teeth but we finally got mahi mahi. On Royal Caribbean we got different types of fish each night without any issues. The only kosher wine on the ship was Manischewitz which is pretty unacceptable.

 

 

General Thoughts on the Ship

The ship was overcrowded and poorly planned. The ship has so many private spaces that the public spaces are just teeming with people. The elevators were very slow to come even when most of them weren’t moving and obviously free. When they did come, they were so crowded that we joked Norwegian was trying to simulate the NY subways during rush hour. The running track was on the pool deck where it was impossible to run as it was crowded and tended to get wet from the pool. The fireworks were shot directly over the audience so ashes fell on us. The casino was the majority of level 7 in the 678 center and was very smoky. The hallways in front of the rooms are so narrow that the staff are trained to stop whenever you walk by which is a little uncomfortable. For some reason, the inside rooms have their own hallway so there are 3 hallways and not enough space. We also weren’t enamored with the dark fake wood decor. Light decor would help make the spaces seem larger. Ceilings are low in the dining rooms and other public spaces. We also paid extra for a mini-suite which was not really worth it. We thought the room would be larger but we basically paid for a slightly larger bathroom which was unfortunate. We did enjoy our balcony. Entertainment on the ship was not as spectacular as on other large ships.

Sorry you had problems. I see that you do not have many posts. If you are not thrilled with cruising you might want to look into timeshares where you can have a kitchen and totally control your diet.

 

BTW congratulations on your wedding. Hope your honeymoon overall was nice!

 

Mazeltov!

[dwjoe]

CAcruisin, thanks for posting this review.

 

I was on the Gem in January and at that time NCL was experimenting with different kosher suppliers for the frozen kosher meals. They weren't using Webermans anymore and the new supplier "Gourmet Kosher / MDA Kosher" was not good - many of the meals were downright inedible.

 

I am disappointed to hear that the supplier "Spring Valley" they used on your sailing was not good either.

 

I wish they'd go back to Webermans... until they do, I am reluctant to sail NCL again.

[Ba' Datz]

I keep strictly Kosher and have sailed the NCL Pearl to Alaska and 2 months ago The RCCL Serenade on a 15 day Transatlantic.

 

On both ships I was served Webermans and on RCCL also from Sterling and Gourmet Glatt. I agree with the OP that quality control is basically nonexistant. The dairy Lasagna is one day from one company and the next from the other and they are totally different. Same with some meat dishes

 

NCL gives the cheapest plastic tableware available which can hardly open the packaging and is terrible to eat with. RCCL's on the other hand gives high quality ones.

 

On the Serenade I had 2 types of soup, 2 diary dishes (lasagna and eggplant parmesan). 3 chicken dishes, 5 beef dishes, 2 fish (gefilte with Morrocan sauce and Terriyaki Salmon) Hamburger and 2 cakes. They could not find the Challah rolls so I ate bagels or whole wheat pita instead (OU)

 

They also made double wrapped fresh salmon, baked potato and sweet potato.

 

Word to the wise do not eat anything breaded. It cannot survive the freezing, defrosting and reheating.

 

For breakfast they also had french toast and waffles but you had to order in advance so they could double wrap it. All this in addition to Kellogs cerals, Heinz condiments, and hard ice cream. Because we left Barcelona the soft serve ice cream did not have a Hechsher. From New Orleans it probably does. NCL's did

 

The staff from the Hostess to the waiters, Head waiter, Maitre D' , assistant Chef and even the F&B manager all went out of their way to make me feel as comfortable and fed as possible all within the limitations of Kashrut on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

 

Bottom line, all things being equal I'll take RCCL over NCL any time. Of course if I could afford it I would take a Kosherica special cruise but at three times the regular price I really can't justify it.

Edited January 19, 2014 by badatz