Breakaway Reviews

[babs135]

Once again the negative reviews for the Breakaway are rolling in. I understand it is easier to post a negativity but why so many?

 

With just over 2 months to our cruise on the Breakaway (1st timers) please please will people start posting positives. I cannot and will not believe that there are no good points.

 

BTW our time for embarking in New York is shown as 12.00 - 12.30 pm. I assume this means we can turn up, do the necessary check-in and board or will we still find ourselves in a long line of people who have just simply turned up?

[penwah2002]

Your cruise is what you make of it. Everyone has different experiences and you should just make it your own and not worry about others opinions.

[agennis]

Hi there!

In looking through the recent posts, it seems there are a lot of negative reviews from the October 9th sailing. We were on the cruise, and were unfortunately diverted from Bermuda to Port Canaveral and Nassau due to weather. The itinerary change was a hard pill to swallow for many, as we had our premium destination replaced with two (much) less desirable ports in my opinion. I personally feel NCL could have been more communicative and could have handled the situation much better, but that is my subjective opinion. There were a lot of very angry people and it took a toll on the passengers and staff. Couple the itinerary change with some issues (which may have been easier to overlook absent the disappointment) there are many passengers that are very angry. The ship is fantastic and frankly we had a fantastic time in spite of the issues we encountered. Don't worry, as the other poster said, your cruise is what you make of it. We made a decision to very briefly lick our wounds and move on. Our trip was still fantastic, we got to spend time with loved ones, the crew did a great job, and you should have a fine time. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them. Enjoy your trip!

[bear3412]

You will bond with the New Yorker's after a few.

 

They will be there, if you need anything, regardless of their, or your count.

 

Relax and enjoy.

 

:D

Edited October 18, 2016 by bear3412

[thistimeplease]

We sailed on the BA in July, a prime vacation time for families, and had a great time on the BA. We had a 9am check in and didn't wait long at all. After check in we then had a seat and waited until about 12:30 to board the ship. We loved the BA and have already booked another cruise for next July. The ship, in our opinions, was beautiful and we enjoyed great service by all the staff. Once we boarded a smile never left our faces. As to recent complaints who knows why. I would never book a cruise in Oct and not be prepared for possible changes. The cruise is what you make it, some complaints are valid but complaining about ports during hurricane season is not.

[KShea]

I've never had a bad time on a cruise. You will love the ship and I'm sure you'll be addicted to cruising. I've been on this site for over 15 years and you really get so much extremely helpful information that will enhance your cruising experience... you just have to weed out when people are being negative just to be negative. Like I've said I have never had a bad time on a cruise and they have always been my favorite vacations...enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[melbur]

Unfortunately you are getting people who were annoyed about not being able to sail in the eye of a hurricane and get tossed all over the ship, putting everyone's safety at risk. It's much easier to just trash the cruise. :eek:

The Breakaway is awesome, we are on in just over 5 weeks and can't wait!

[bam1957]

We have cruised on the Breakaway 4 times. We had a great time each time on her. I agree that your experience is what you want it to be. We were on her July 30th to Bermuda and it was great. Enjoy and have fun.

[bjlaac]

The best advice is its up to you to make it a great vacation or not.

 

I've been on the Breakaway twice and if I never go again it will be too soon. But that's my opinion and others as you have seen love every bit of it.

 

Relax and enjoy

[PelicanBill]

Once again the negative reviews for the Breakaway are rolling in. I understand it is easier to post a negativity but why so many?

 

With just over 2 months to our cruise on the Breakaway (1st timers) please please will people start posting positives. I cannot and will not believe that there are no good points.

 

BTW our time for embarking in New York is shown as 12.00 - 12.30 pm. I assume this means we can turn up, do the necessary check-in and board or will we still find ourselves in a long line of people who have just simply turned up?

 

I was on last week's cruise and will be posting a report that will be much more positive than negative - but NCL did not do enough in my opinion.

 

I arrived 9:30 and boarding started about 11:00. I had lunch in Savor or Taste - whichever one faces starboard side - and watch the lines inside the next 1 1/2 hours. Generally, it took an hour to board everyone who was already checked in and waiting. From there, I saw a line to get checked in that looked to be a 30 minute wait for the next hour or so. About 1:00 pm it slowed down and the wait was brief. Stragglers at 1:30 and all aboard was originally 2pm until we learned it would change to 7:30am Monday.

[david5272]

10th cruise last month.....it was on the Breakaway. it was awesome. Even though it was a NY crowd :(

 

wrote a review

 

 

So far all the cruises I been on were great. No problems.

 

What people are saying is accurate, there are those that will complain about anything and everything.

[Ontime Departure]

10th cruise last month.....it was on the Breakaway. it was awesome. Even though it was a NY crowd :(

 

wrote a review

 

 

So far all the cruises I been on were great. No problems.

 

What people are saying is accurate, there are those that will complain about anything and everything.

 

Were they wearing tee shirts that said "We're from NY"? ;-)

[momoftwinteens]

We sailed on Breakaway this past March and I am sailing on her again next year. I absolutely loved the Breakaway and wouldn't hesitate to recommend her to anyone. True, she is much bigger than the Jewel class ships and that might be a little off-putting to those used to the smaller ships but, I loved it. Cruises truly are what you make of them. I have sailed in good weather and bad. Big ships and small. Any cruise is better than sitting in my office doing paperwork!

[babs135]

Thanks everyone. That's what I want to hear.

 

Amused about the comments (!) re New Yorkers. The people we have met in the past have been very friendly. Do they lose their inhibitions when they get on board? :eek:

[mjkacmom]

As of this time, those arrival times aren't enforced. If you are worried about lines, show up early, or show up late. People start showing up around 9, boarding doesn't start until close to noon. If you arrive at noon, there will be long lines.

[Bullies3]

Once again the negative reviews for the Breakaway are rolling in. I understand it is easier to post a negativity but why so many?

 

With just over 2 months to our cruise on the Breakaway (1st timers) please please will people start posting positives. I cannot and will not believe that there are no good points.

 

BTW our time for embarking in New York is shown as 12.00 - 12.30 pm. I assume this means we can turn up, do the necessary check-in and board or will we still find ourselves in a long line of people who have just simply turned up?

 

My wife and I were on the BA on the 9/18 sailing. We had a great time and loved the multitude of things to do on the ship. We travel a few times a year whether it be an all inclusive, resort or cruise. I read tons of reviews prior to our trips and have learned to pick up tips and filter out the total negative reviews. As others have said, go into your cruise with an open mind and let the experience unfold. No vacation is totally perfect however I believe NCL does it's best to give you a good experience. I've been cruising with NCL since 1988 and have never had an overall negative experience.

 

Enjoy!!

[bjlaac]

My wife and I were on the BA on the 9/18 sailing. We had a great time and loved the multitude of things to do on the ship. We travel a few times a year whether it be an all inclusive, resort or cruise. I read tons of reviews prior to our trips and have learned to pick up tips and filter out the total negative reviews. As others have said, go into your cruise with an open mind and let the experience unfold. No vacation is totally perfect however I believe NCL does it's best to give you a good experience. I've been cruising with NCL since 1988 and have never had an overall negative experience.

 

Enjoy!!

 

You are absolutely correct in your post as the vacation is what you make of it. Those of us that don't like the BA have valid reasons to not want to sail on her again.

 

For example, if you like a decent size pool the BA is not for you, I've not found one person who believes its adequate for the amount of guests it carries, except maybe NCL. Or if you like just walking into shows ahead of time with no pre-reservations at all, your choice is limited. Many venues are over crowded and their design leaves a lot to be desired. There are more examples I'm sure.

 

If these types of things will sour your vacation, there will be negative reviews and the OP may feel the same. Its best to do research and listen to what being said, both good and bad, and decide what's best for you.

[C-line]

We've been on the Breakaway 4 times and have our fifth booked for January. My only other cruising was on Carnival a couple of times before we switched to the Breakaway but my other half and his parents have been cruising for years and years with different lines and they love the Breakaway too.

 

We considered doing the Jade out of Tampa in January instead but when we looked at how close the two cruises were in price and factored in that we'd have to travel to Tampa we decided to sail out of NYC again. We like that we know the Breakaway so well too - it's almost like going home. :)

 

Entertainment: We love Rock of Ages. We've seen Burn the Floor several times and even though it's a great show I don't think it matters either way to any of us if we see it this time around. Every trip after the first one we've said we're not going to do Cirque but we always end up there and it's a little different each time and we always enjoy it. I think if we kept doing the 7 day things would get repetitive. We found a huge difference between the entertainment on the 7 day vs the 14 day. I think there were only a couple of nights on the 14 day that we weren't in the theatre. They brought in different entertainment - an Irish singer, a Four Seasons tribute, a woman that did Broadway songs, a juggler/comedian - on top of the regular shows. Howl at the Moon is one of my favourite things about the Breakaway. :)

 

Meals: We didn't eat in the MDR much for our first two trips. We had the dining plan so we mostly ate breakfast and lunch either in the buffet or at O'Sheehans and then dinner in a specialty restaurant. The last couple of trips we've eaten in the MDR more and it's been mostly enjoyable. A couple of times the service was pretty slow and we had to send something back once because it wasn't hot enough. I like the MDR breakfast a lot better than the O'Sheehans breakfast, but the other people in our group preferred O'Sheehans I think. We loved Uptown Grill because their burgers were pretty good and the salad bar was great. I'm a little disappointed to see it's been changed to Margaritaville but I think the rest of our group is excited to see the change.

 

Drinks: A lot of people complain about the bar service being slow but maybe being friendly and leaving the odd tip on top of the auto gratuity goes a long way because we never felt the wait was too long. Maybe we were just more laid back than the people who have voiced concerns. I've read comments about NCL being a "booze cruise" now that the UBP promo is widely available. People were definitely enjoying their drinks, but they weren't causing problems on the cruises we've been on. It seems like it would be more of a problem for the shorter 3 and 4 day cruises. We're disappointed with not being able to bring on pop and water this time around, but it's not a deal breaker. We have the beverage package and the women don't mind drinking the ship water - we'll just bring a couple of refillable water bottles. If the men are fussy I see that they have packages with 1L bottles that aren't outrageously priced. I don't know how well the 1L bottles will fit in the fridge, but they can use the ice bucket or whatever.

 

Disembarkation: I do agree that disembarkation can be aggravating. It probably doesn't help that people are little sad/grouchy that the cruise is over. We always do the self assist. It would go *much* more smoothly if everyone followed the announcements telling them when to line up to get off the ship instead of rushing to be the first in line whether you're supposed to be there or not. I think it's pretty obvious who's doing self assist and who's not and sometimes I see crew members turning away people who aren't carrying their luggage when it's supposed to be self assist only, but I wish they'd enforce that more.

 

Cabin: We did an aft balcony a couple of times on the 7 day Florida/Bahamas it was fantastic! I loved being on the back of the ship cruising out of NYC and any time we had an aft balcony in Nassau we had a beautiful view of Atlantis. The downside is that Spice H20 can be *super* loud late at night. I'm talking glasses rattling on the shelves loud. I don't know if we just had the luck or if it's like that all the time. Some people wouldn't care, but it would drive others bananas. The other times we've had a regular balcony - I definitely wouldn't want to give up the balcony. We spend enough time out there and in our cabin that it's worth it to us.

 

It's unfortunate that there are so many negative reviews. We've had issues while on board and once while booking but most of them have been handled very well. There hasn't been anything major enough to prevent us from booking again or anything we felt we had to share on a forum like this. If something is a legitimate problem the crew on board is pretty good to work with you to find a solution. I read something the other day (on these forums) where someone commented that the Breakaway has a reputation of not being a great ship to work on and that it's reflected in the attitude of the crew but we absolutely haven't seen that. It's amazing that we interact with so many crew members over the duration of a cruise and nobody stands out in my mind as being unhelpful or unfriendly.

 

So... add our experiences to the "Yay for Breakaway" camp. :)

 

Sorry if this doesn't flow very well - I kept going back and forth from it to some work I'm trying to get done. Once we have something booked I have a hard time not thinking about it!

[JAMESCC]

We are just off Breakaway, our first NCL cruise and there are good things about Breakaway and bad, like all ships.

I didn't like the layout and flow of the ship. Bad bottle necks at points. Really hated Manhattan terminal but more for disembarkation. Embarkation wasn't all that bad. Elevator situation is rough and service at different venues is a bit slow. Casino is really bad, location and smoke wafting.

Now the good, I thought the food top to bottom, free and specialty was very, very good to GREAT. Tepanyaki we did twice because it was incredible and fun. The ship is absolutely stunning to look at, the decor is beautiful. The choice of colors, different woods, brick, or stone and carpet was nothing short of beautiful. We loved our AFT balcony, HUGE balcony, and I thought the bathroom was big for a regular room and not a suite, shower was very big. We had a great time, cruises are always fun. Sit back relax, and enjoy. Its a cruise on a big, huge beautiful ship.

Edited October 18, 2016 by JAMESCC

[Harlan]

My husband and I have been on the Breakaway 11 times and we will be going for our 12 next month.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Harlan

[easyboy]

Hi there!

In looking through the recent posts, it seems there are a lot of negative reviews from the October 9th sailing. We were on the cruise, and were unfortunately diverted from Bermuda to Port Canaveral and Nassau due to weather. The itinerary change was a hard pill to swallow for many, as we had our premium destination replaced with two (much) less desirable ports in my opinion. I personally feel NCL could have been more communicative and could have handled the situation much better, but that is my subjective opinion. There were a lot of very angry people and it took a toll on the passengers and staff. Couple the itinerary change with some issues (which may have been easier to overlook absent the disappointment) there are many passengers that are very angry. The ship is fantastic and frankly we had a fantastic time in spite of the issues we encountered. Don't worry, as the other poster said, your cruise is what you make of it. We made a decision to very briefly lick our wounds and move on. Our trip was still fantastic, we got to spend time with loved ones, the crew did a great job, and you should have a fine time. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them. Enjoy your trip!

Glad that despite the setbacks, you still enjoyed your trip.

[luv2cruise523]

your cruise is what you make of it. Everyone has different experiences and you should just make it your own and not worry about others opinions.

 

agree!!!

[sunnsail]

10th cruise last month.....it was on the Breakaway. it was awesome. Even though it was a NY crowd :(

 

wrote a review

 

 

So far all the cruises I been on were great. No problems.

 

What people are saying is accurate, there are those that will complain about anything and everything.

 

David, Could you explain what you mean by a NY crowd?

[NH Cruisers]

David, Could you explain what you mean by a NY crowd?

 

My thoughts on the NY crowd?

 

I am from a small town in Maine and now live in a small town in New Hampshire. I personally felt welcome by the NY'ites. More so than in the small towns I am accustomed too. NY'ers like to have fun and too me sound funny, but I love that and as said before... no issues with them.

It's not like when a NY sport fan wears their teams logo in Boston, now Bostonians CAN get really rude! I wear Red Sox hat in NYC and people act polite just the same.

Jon

[sunnsail]

My thoughts on the NY crowd?

 

I am from a small town in Maine and now live in a small town in New Hampshire. I personally felt welcome by the NY'ites. More so than in the small towns I am accustomed too. NY'ers like to have fun and too me sound funny, but I love that and as said before... no issues with them.

It's not like when a NY sport fan wears their teams logo in Boston, now Bostonians CAN get really rude! I wear Red Sox hat in NYC and people act polite just the same.

Jon

 

New Yorkers are good people, but just like any other place there are some bad. I just wanted to no what David meant about NY crowd, very curious as a New Yorker myself.