Longish review of the Breakaway by experienced cruisers

[bedfordmom]

Being our 10th cruise and 5th Norwegian, I feel like we had a lot of experience to compare this cruise to. first the age of the passengers were way too old for us. Being young 54 and 57 newly empty nesters I have never seen so many different walkers scooters and canes. the difficulty of these aides became apparent during rough seas of the 1st and 4-6 sea days where these folks had difficulty staying upright.

 

Indoor chair hogs in full force!

 

Another difficulty is the lack of indoor space for the 4000 passengers during cold weather. There was literally no place to sit in any public areas so we stayed in our cabin for part of that time. Food was variable. We loved the uptown burger but that closed sea days 1, 5 and 6 due to high winds. Cagneys was amazing but slow service. Free dining was also variable. Meat dishes were usually good but sometimes cold and small . Appetizers were weird. Asparagus with risotto looked like someone threw up-- it was mashed. Escargot appetizer looked like chipped beef over a. Biscuit. I later learned to stick to more conventional appetizers and was pleased. No escargot (unless you consider the chopped chipped beef looking thing over a biscuit) and no lobster.

 

One good thing with traveling with an older population is that all the outdoor activities. I loved the ropes course and did it 4x even walking the plank and purchasing the picture. never had time to do the slides with all the port time. But if I did, I would have had them all to myself, same with the rock wall. The gym was very small for a 4000 pax ship; however most of the passengers didn't last long on the machines, so we never had to wait long. The free stretch classes were variable. I enjoyed Ferdinands classes better than Vladimers. Vladimer combined his 2 half an hour classes into one 30 minute class. I felt bad for the folks showing up at 7:30 for the fab abs and we were just finishing. Vladimer didn't even bother showing up during one of his last classes. (it was his bday) Luckily Ferdinand came near the end and ran the class.

 

Entertainment was superb, which is usual for Norwegian but a couple of nights they repeated shows so there was not much to do. luckily we were able to see them a second tome.

 

Cabin: mid ship balcony on the 11th. Great location but would have preferred a mid ship elevator. Though we tended to mostly use the stairs. Mid is the way to go on a large ship as we felt halfway to everything.

 

 

Ports. San Juan--missed due to rough seas. been there many times but had been looking forward to calling home and emailing friends; pi cking up forgotten items.

 

st Thomas--used the morning to go to the McDonalds to use the free internet to get in touch with folks at home. went to Kmart to pick up missed supplies we were supposed to get in San Juan and then into downtown. Returned and Ate lunch quickly and then went on the ship sponsored excursion, St John a Eco Tour enjoyed the mild 40 minute hike to Honeymoon Beach for a 30 minute swim. Bussed back to the ferry, we were the last excursion to board at 5.30. Pretty good for a ship excursion. The boat that ferried us (as well as the beach tour and sightseeing tour) really put the hard sell to get tips from us at the end.

 

St. Martin-- public bus to Marigot where we climbed the fort, had croissants at Seraphinas and shopped for french cosmetics at Yves Rocher. Fun unstructured day.

 

st Lucia: Cosol tour-- busy, fairly priced long day

 

Barbados-- Calabazza!!!! amazing experience snorkeling with turtles and theShipwreck--best excursion in 10 cruises

 

St Kitt -- walked over to Palm Court Garden a beautiful infinity pool, restaurant and garden. we were the only ones there for the first 2 hrs with a couple of tours coming by later. Excellent food and a great shell work gift shop. a great serene way to end our last port

 

Ship was OK too big for us but the ports were amazing. you have to do your research take risks and tailor your excursions to your interests and vary it and try to roll with punches. Other than the rope course, I much prefer smaller ships.