REVIEW - Breakaway September 4 - 11, 2016

[stungazed]

This is my review of the Norwegian Breakaway on the September 4 – 11, 2016 sailing. Since I didn't take notes I'm going from memory so it won't be as detailed as some reviews are or my Las Vegas trip reports are (for those that know me from the various Las Vegas message boards I post on).

 

Norwegian Breakaway:

This cruise was booked as my annual "free" cruise for being 7* with Caesars Entertainment. This perk offers a balcony cabin. I only had to pay $200 per person in “administration” fees and the port charges. We also had to pay the 18% service charge on the Ultimate Drink Package and The dining package.

 

I took this cruise with my father while my mother and wife stayed home and had "girls week".

 

I booked this cruise back in March shortly after our previous trip on the Breakaway. At that time I was offered two perks of: free shore excursions, drink package, dining package or internet. We chose the drink package and the specialty dining package.

 

I thought the ship was VERY nice but compared to ships with fewer passengers I don't think they added enough space for the public area. The pools in particular were one of the areas that seemed to be fairly crowded with 4000 passengers on board. The Atrium was another point of congestion. It's way too small of an area to hold major events in.

 

Recently there have been many posts on Cruise Critic about the smokiness of the ship, particularly from the casino. While there didn't seem to be too many smokers on the ship this time there was a smoke smell in a few places. Obviously the casino. Since the ship was built with the casino in the center on the 7th floor open air to the 6th and 8th. The smoke does travel to these areas. Down on the 6th floor it went as far as the hallway to the atrium. It wasn't noticeable in the atrium though. It also went in the other direction almost as far. Up on the 8th floor it went into the center area and down the hallway a bit in each direction. Other than that I didn't detect any smoke smell.

 

 

The only other exception would be the stupid little smoking booth on the pool deck. Whoever designed this thing should be fired as the design is quite useless. It's a square box with glass surrounding it. The problem is it's open to the pool deck. Instead of it being a solid room with ventilation out to sea, the smoke just comes right to the pool deck. Depending on how many people were in there at any time it was either really bad, or not noticeable.

 

The ship had all the amenities of most ships with shops, a casino, library, gym, bars, night clubs and of course FOOD! They also had a few things that aren't on other ships, the ropes course being one of those. The last time I was on the ship I didn't do this but this time I did and was glad I got to do it and “Walk the Plank”.

 

Overall I thought the ship was in good condition and well maintained. On our March trip the miniature golf course was beat up pretty badly but it appeared they had done some work to fix it up a bit.

 

Below is my review of the stateroom, food, and entertainment and ports of call and more. I’ve broken it down by category.

 

Pre-cruise Hotel:

I don’t have much to report here because I live about an hour away from the pier in NYC. It was nice not having to fly and check into a hotel the night before the cruise. However, the parking fees at the terminal are VERY high at $280 for the week. Welcome to New York City!

 

 

Embarkation:

We were originally planning to get to the pier at about 10am. Due to weather and some info from NCL that they were leaving at 1:30pm instead of 4pm to get a jump ahead of the upcoming bad weather. It would have been nice to have been contacted by NCL about his instead of finding out about it on the internet. Because of this we arrived at the pier at 8am.

 

 

Things seemed very organized here when we arrived. Security wasn't open yet and the lines were beginning to form already. Once they opened things up it moved well and after going through security checking in only took a few minutes. We were then directed to the "staging" area where we waited for the current passengers to disembark and the ship to clear. While we were sitting I saw out the window that people were not only still disembarking, there were still guests out on their balconies. Now going on 10am there was NO way this ship was leaving at 1:30pm. Thousands of people were arriving early to the terminal at NCL's request and the place was filling up fast. It began to turn into a giant cluster f@#k. So bad that they had to suspend check in temporarily. It was also about 50 degrees in the terminal and most of us were freezing our butts off.

 

 

There has also been a lot of chatter on Cruise Critic about bringing water/soda on board. While there were signs posted in numerous places around security and in the terminal stating that no beverages were permitted past that point I saw 3 different passengers carry full cases of bottled water through the terminal into the boarding area. I'm not sure if they got on with them or not but seeing as they got that far with them I'm going to assume they did.

 

 

 

 

Around 10:50am boarding finally started. This was pretty organized but as always a few a-holes can't follow instructions and just slow things down for everyone.

 

Other than the Haven/VIP's we were in group 6 to board. We made our first stop the buffet for lunch and were among the first to arrive.

 

 

We finally sailed away at 3PM, 60 minutes earlier than originally planned but 90 minutes later than we were told we would leave. Of course they left the muster drill scheduled at 3pm. Exactly the time we departed. Being from the NY area and having done cruises from Manhattan before it was no big deal to me but I felt bad for the passengers that never saw the NYC skyline that had to miss it because of bad scheduling. By the time the muster drill was over we were all of the way down to the Statue of Liberty so I'm sure most passengers missed seeing that too.

 

Stateroom:

We had a balcony cabin 11182. This is my 2nd time ever having a balcony cabin on Norwegian. This is actually one of the angled balconies at the beginning of the bump out. I was actually surprised at how small the balcony was on this ship back in March but I can say this balcony was easily twice the size. There was plenty of room for 2 chairs and a small table.

 

I was happy with the layout of this room. We had twin beds with a small nightstand between them. There was plenty of closet/dresser space. There was also a table with coffee maker and a flat screen TV. I think the room itself was probably largest balcony room I've had and had a pretty good floor plan. This room was a flipped layout from the previous room we had with the couch next to the closet and the beds closer to the balcony.

 

The bathroom was quite roomy compared to other ships I’ve been on. I liked the fact that the shower had glass door and not a curtain.

 

There were no issues with the room for the most part. The only minor issues was the lack of towels left by the room steward. Some days plenty were left, other days not enough. The same thing happened on our previous cruise here on the Breakaway. Certainly not a major issue but not something that should be the norm. On our previous trip in March the room we were in was very dusty and not cleaned well. This room was the complete opposite and was spotless. Even typically dusty areas in most rooms were clean and this steward knew how to clean! (I'm a bit of a hard ass when it comes to things like this and I was quite pleased to see thins were done well!!).

 

 

Speaking of the room steward his name was DAGOBERT and other than the issue with towels did a decent job keeping the room up. He was quite stealth and we never saw him until Wednesday when we were heading out to port. Other than that I only saw him two other times during the entire cruise and one of those was Sunday as we were leaving.

 

 

One thing to note is this room is close to the elevator and you CAN hear the “ding” from the elevators when they stop on this floor.

 

Captain & Cruise Director:

The Captain was Mikael Hilden. Our Cruise director was Dan Dan. I thought Dan Dan was a pretty good cruise director and I did see him and his staff around the ship interacting with passengers quite a bit. I also saw the Captain and his staff walking the ship a number of times interacting with the passengers.

 

Dinner:

We ate four dinners in the main dining room, Manhattan and 3 in specialty restaurants. We never had a wait to get in when we dined between 5-7pm. The other days we went to Cagney's, Moderno, and Le Bistro. We don't usually partake in any of the restaurants that contain an additional charge. My reason for this is simple. I feel by doing so it’s going to lead to a time in the future where all food is extra and nothing is included in the fare price. Since my last NCL cruise I've already seen the prices increased and some venues go a la carte just like a land based restaurant. My second reason is cost. I don't see the point of spending upwards of an additional $60+ for dinner when I already paid for food in the price of the cruise. By paying for this extra meal you’re actually paying for it twice. We did eat at these venues this trip due to the fact they were one of our free perks.

 

As far as the foods went in the Manhattan Room, I’d say they were hit and miss. Some of the meals we had were excellent, high quality, great flavors and ample portions. Others weren't that good being bland, overcooked or very small portions. Food is always very subjective and opinionated so I won’t go too much into detail.

 

Service in the dining rooms was varied day to day. Some servers were excellent and others seemed like they had just started. There is one difference with the freestyle dining concept to the traditional dining of other lines. On the traditional lines all of the appetizers/salads come out at the same time followed by the main course. Freestyle they all come out as ordered so there's no continuity. Sometimes they came out quickly, other times each course took forever.

 

 

Cagney's

Our first specialty meal was in Cagney's. This was my first meal in ANY specialty restaurant on ANY cruise line. I was looking forward to this as was my father. He was a little disappointed when he saw the surf and turf was switched from lobster to shrimp. I had the pork belly appetizer and he had the shrimp cocktail. I tried out the tomahawk rib eye and can say it was pretty good and cooked perfectly. My father's filet was also cooked perfectly. The sides were fair and nothing to write home about but it was a really filling meal and very good. For dessert Dad had the 7 layer cake which he said was the best dessert of the cruise. I had the brownie and was underwhelmed.

 

 

Moderno

I was looking froward to this one as well but heard some negative reviews of the place. I wasn't worried but expected it to be so-so. This is why food and reviews are so subjective. I personally thought it was a great meal. The small buffet/salad bar set up was good enough in itself. Most of the meats that came out were excellent although a few weren't up to par due to being over seasoned and/or overcooked. Our server kept telling us to hold out for the pineapple and how good it was. I can honestly say that it was worth the wait.

 

 

Le Bistro

We're not exactly fans of French food so my father ordered the veal medallions and I ordered the filet mignon. His veal was good and my steak was the best I had in a long time and cooked perfectly for my liking. The only bad thing about this meal was the service which was incredibly slow. I thought that it was just the style of the restaurant but it turns out that it was just our server as people that arrived well after us left long before we did. The table next to us waited nearly 20 minutes for their desserts. That guy was not a happy camper.

 

Other Dining:

Garden Cafe (Buffet):

A HUGE room with many different stations and selections. Laid out pretty well and a huge assortment of food. All of our breakfasts were here. Not much changed from day to day but it's breakfast, and there's only so much you can do with it. There was normally plenty of seating too unless you were there right at prime time, then it was a bit packed. The staff did a good job of turning over tables and clearing dishes.

 

 

Last trip my only real complaint here was in regards to the "orange juice". I put it in quotes because I saw them filling the machine with the concentrate one morning and saw on the container that it was Orange Juice Cocktail. I didn't get a full look at the label but the word cocktail typically means only a small percentage of it is juice, the rest is water and sugar. The apple juice was the same. I'm sad to report they are still using this same “cocktail” concentrate.

 

We also had most of our lunches here as well. There was more of a rotation for lunch each day as well as the standards that were offered each day.

 

While we didn't eat dinner here we did stop by later in the evening a few times after dinner and everything looked good. They also had themed nights that kept things interesting.

 

 

 

The Uptown Bar and Grille:

Knowing this is going to be replaced with a Margaritaville in a few weeks I had one lunch here based on reviews of the good burgers. I have to agree it's a good burger.

 

 

O Sheehans:

Had late night snacks here twice. Service was spotty both times I went but I only ordered wings. An order is 6 wings and each time I had 7 on my plate but one was ICE COLD each time. Tells me a stray wing got left in the sauce bucket the previous time someone ordered that flavor.

 

Taste:

I had lunch here one day of the cruise. I thought my food was excellent and honestly too much food for lunch. One thing I don't like about the main dining rooms for lunch is the menu never changes.

Desserts:

Similar to the meals in the dining room, some of the desserts were excellent while others were lacking. The last time were sailed there seemed to be a lot of desserts that had a mousse - like filling that was rubbery and bland. Those seemed to have gone away and there were more cake items this trip. Oddly many of the cake items were dry (but tasty).

Pay Restaurants:

As I said above I don't usually go to these places but we did this trip because they were part of the package. I did find the food better here than in the MDR but in the future would still not pay extra to eat at these places as I find the MDR to be more than suitable.

Entertainment:

One thing I was surprised about was the lack of size of the theater (it's only 1 level as opposed to 2 on most ships). I thought that this was odd for a ship with 4000 passengers. Because of this they repeated Rock of Ages and Burning the Floor quite a few times and there wasn't a new show in the theater each night like on most cruises. Having been on the ship just 6 months ago the entertainment was almost all the same so we skipped most of it since we saw it in March.

 

 

Oh What A Night:

This was in the Breakaway Theater and is a Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons Tribute Show with a little history and comedy thrown in. They were very good and were entertaining. The only problem with this showroom is it's smaller than it should be and the seats are fairly uncomfortable.

 

 

 

Other:

We also checked out some of the smaller acts like Arvin and Emily, Melvin Harold and the band at the pool ( who also played the atrium and Manhattan Room) as well as some of the passenger oriented shows.

 

 

 

 

Casino:

I got this cruise for free from a casino so it’s no surprise that I’d spend a little time here on this cruise. It was fairly large for a cruise ship. They had most of the newer popular slot machines and a large amount of table games. I pretty much played Craps. The craps game had a $5 minimum for the week with 3-4-5x odds. The casino staff was very good for a cruise ship, better than some land based dealers. Since I was brought in through the casino, I was offered a card that allowed free drinks in the casino.

 

In Room TV:

The in room TV was interactive and you could look up your account on it. I do have to say though that they had the weakest TV channel line up of any cruise line I’ve ever been on. Not that I go on a cruise to watch TV because I don’t. It would just be nice to wind down at night with something to watch. Of course if you’re in the room watching TV you’re not out and about spending money!

 

Ports of Call:

Bermuda:

This port was our first and only stop for 3 days. My father has been to Bermuda about 25 times in his life. I've been twice but haven't been in nearly 35 years. We used the ferry and bus system to get around the island. The first day we walked around Hamilton and took the bus back to the Dockyard. Great way to see the island and only a few bucks. The only bad thing was the bus broke down ½ back and we had to wait for the next one to arrive to pick us up.

 

 

One the second day we took the ferry into Hamilton again and then took the bus to the Aquarium in Flatts. The aquarium is a nice place with fish and a small zoo. The price is right at $10 per person with discounts for seniors. We took the bus back to Hamilton and the ferry back to the Dockyard.

 

 

The 3rd day we stayed in the Dockyard area and checked out the shops around the pier. We weren't out there long and returned to the ship and went to the pool. Around 2:30pm (all aboard time) I started looking towards the dock and saw 100's of people still coming down the pier. I guess they feel they are exempt from the rules. The best was the genius that was running his ass off at 2:50. Sadly he made it back and the ship set sail at 2:55pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Disembarkation:

During the week Dan Dan did a presentation about disembarkation that was on the TV. He said they've NEVER started before 8am. We were up early and decided we'd go to breakfast at the dining room. No sooner do we sit down and minutes later Dan Dan comes on the PA and says that self assist guests may now disembark. We skipped out of the dining room, grabbed our things and headed off the ship. The line was moving quickly and it was pretty painless. Dan Dan was on deck saying good bye to everyone.

 

 

Customs was a little slower and I'd like to give a huge eff you to the people that waited until they were in line to fill out the customs form that was received 2 days prior. We were in the car and on our way home by 8:20am

 

Other:

The seas were pretty wild for the first 2 days this trip. The swells were in the 20-25 foot range according to the TV but nothing so bad. Every now and then it was tough to walk in a straight line but I didn't see anyone get sick or fall over. Once we were out of range of the storm things were smooth as glass.

 

The weather was nice, excellent the entire trip. Bermuda was actually having warmer than normal temperatures and it was quite humid.

 

While I’m not a huge fan of NCL, I don't hate them. I don't have anything booked with them in the future (or any other line) but they are always a possibility especially since they sail out of NYC.

 

 

Questions and comments can be posted or e-mailed to me directly.

[BirdTravels]

Great review [feom memory]. Thanks.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us. I hope the casino was nice to you.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Excellent report, thanks.

[luckyinpa]

Customs was a little slower and I'd like to give a huge eff you to the people that waited until they were in line to fill out the customs form that was received 2 days prior. We were in the car and on our way home by 8:20am

 

best line in review for 2 reasons:

 

1. i'm a newbie and learned something. there's a form to fill out. i feel like i'll never learn it all before boarding..sigh.

 

2. never saw eff spelled out like that

[patter44]

Oh What A Night:

This was in the Breakaway Theater and is a Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons Tribute Show with a little history and comedy thrown in. They were very good and were entertaining. The only problem with this showroom is it's smaller than it should be and the seats are fairly uncomfortable.

 

 

 

Great review. What night is this Tribute offered? Is it on all sailings? We are Sept. 25th.

[grandmarnnurse]

Stungazed--I feel the same about paying for specialty restaurants. We never eat in them, as I already paid for my food in the cost of the cruise! And you are right--if people begin to use them more and more, who's to say the wont eventually charge for ALL food! I hear people say that the quality of food has gone down in the free venues. Perhaps this is their way to encourage people to go to specialties. When we first started cruising, there was only the MDR, and we never had a bad meal. On our last 2 cruises (on RCCL), I felt the MDR food was not as good as the food I ate in MDR on my previous Carnival cruises. But by then, specialty restaurants were everywhere on the ship. I have a NCL cruise booked for January on the Getaway, my first with NCL, and I amhoping for good good, and a great time.

Love reading your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[stungazed]

Oh What A Night:

This was in the Breakaway Theater and is a Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons Tribute Show with a little history and comedy thrown in. They were very good and were entertaining. The only problem with this showroom is it's smaller than it should be and the seats are fairly uncomfortable.

 

 

 

Great review. What night is this Tribute offered? Is it on all sailings? We are Sept. 25th.

 

It was on Thursday at 7:30 and 9:30. They also did a matinee on Friday at 3pm. I don't believe it's on all sailings. Dan Dan said it was a "treat" that we were going to be able to see them.

[patter44]

It was on Thursday at 7:30 and 9:30. They also did a matinee on Friday at 3pm. I don't believe it's on all sailings. Dan Dan said it was a "treat" that we were going to be able to see them.

 

Thank you for your info. I hope the "treat" lasts a couple of weeks to include our sailing on the 25th :D.

 

Look forward to your photos.

[stungazed]

Thank you for your info. I hope the "treat" lasts a couple of weeks to include our sailing on the 25th :D.

 

Look forward to your photos.

 

I have to work this weekend but should have the pictures posted by Sunday Night. I don't have many of the ship as they are all over the internet already anyway. I do have quite a few of the menus, meals and I'll get the dailies posted too.

[grandmarnnurse]

I will be looking forward to the pics!

[stungazed]

I will be looking forward to the pics!

 

 

The pictures have been posted in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2403809

 

Or by clicking the link in my signature