NCL baltic cruise - mixed feelings

[Georgeven]

Background info: we´re a gay married couple (40 and 41) from Norway and this was our 19th cruise overall and the third with Norwegian Cruise Line, first time in a Haven. Booking was based on itinerary, price and ship; in that order of priority and because we wanted to celebrate my 40th birthday on a cruise. Most of our cruises have been on RCCL and Celebrity but I will try my best to not compare standards between cruise lines given that we all know the differences between them.

PRE-CRUISE: We arrived to Copenhagen the day before the cruise late at night and stayed at the Comfort Hotel® Vesterbro in the center of the city. We have been there before so for us it was just a night to sleep and a morning to take a relaxing walk around the center before going on board.

EMBARKATION: it was one of the more effective and organized embarkation we have experienced, taking into consideration that we booked a Haven cabin and had priority line; however it looked like everything was very well organized for everybody. After checking inn, a butler escorted us directly into the ship and all the way up to the Haven lounge.

SHIP: The Norwegian Breakaway is a great ship with tons of things to do all around, and it comes with pros and cons. I just will go through what we liked and what not from our point of view:

The good: The waterfront, different venues for entertainment with simultaneous activities that gives you different options every day/night. The Spa (and thermal suite) design and structure is amazing.

The not so good: The size of the pool deck, the structure of the decks 6-7-8 with a big corridor through them without really looking out to the Sea, kind of you forget that you are on a ship. The lack off relaxing places like lounges or places just to sit and read without being on a Bar.

CABIN: we booked a Haven Spa Suite (H9) cabin 14738 and loved everything about it, this cabin has a pole in front of the Jacuzzi tub and it really doesn’t bother at all. Balcony was on the small side but enough for sitting for a coffee. A lot of storage space, a nesspresso machine the we used a lot. Super Comfy and huge bed.

HAVEN CLASS PERKS: Once we checked inn in the terminal, we were shorted to the Haven lounge by one of the butlers. Once there we met Seka (our butler) who informed us briefly and very fast that she was our butler and she would take care of us and everything in our cabin, gave us her card and that she would come by the cabin later on. She was of great assistance during the week, basically by magic she learnt or guessed our schedule so whenever we were out of the cabin she was inn to leave daily snacks or pick up things we left. She also delivered orders from O´Shenans restaurant (chicken Wings) and from the Noodle Bar ( a full dinner); we didn’t know this could be done so we’re informed by the restaurant while waiting to be seated that our butler could take the order and deliver to the cabin. This was great....

We also met Virginia, one of the Concierges, she was amazing all the cruise. We just needed to fix small things like to change and cancel reservations for the specialty restaurants, excursions preparations for St. Petersburg and tickets for the shuttle in Helsinki. The Haven lounge Bar bartenders: Kumar and Olga and the waiter Kai were AMAZING... It was great to have a place where you could relax and find assistance (if needed). Also our Stateroom Attendant did a good job and kept our room spotless during the length of the cruise even though the most of the days it was extremely slowly in the mornings. The Haven restaurant will be commented under Dining.

We has included access to the Thermal Suite at the Spa, which was great and we really enjoyed the first visit when it was a real sanctuary of peace and quietness. Our second and last visit, lasted 10 minutes after which we just felt it was overcrowded and loud. Some people even opened a bottle of sparkling wine which sprayed some towels and bathrobes and was drinking inside the pool and jacuzzi (to my understanding this is not allowed).

We think is worth to pay the extra for the Haven Spa Suite and the perks that come along, would we book it again?, Maybe, if the price range / value is Ok for us and in of the newest ships of the Breakaway Plus’s Class

DINING: as part of the Haven, we had access to the Haven restaurant as our main restaurant for dinner, breakfast and lunch everyday. In general this was a great addition considering the ship, the menu is limited and doesn’t change during the cruise and for lunch and dinner this could be repetitive, there is a daily special that we tried twice and in our opinion it doesn’t get to the standard of the rest of the menu in terms of quality. The menu is good and everything was perfectly cooked, perfect temperature and good flavors. Once we asked if it was possible to get a Onion Soup and were told No. Service was excellent in the restaurant at all times. Notice that we didn’t see a Sommelier in the Haven restaurant. Also as part fo the Haven perks we had three specialty restaurants included that we visited in the following order:

Le Bistro: we had big expectation that were not fulfilled. The food was very standard for being a specialty restaurant, the service was on the just delivering food side, no interaction or whatsoever with the guests. Our least favorite meal of all the cruise and a disappointment.

Moderno: we love the concept and have tried it before in the Norwegian Epic and the real concept in Brazil several times. The quality and flavor and temperature of the meats was on point and the service was really good. We just felt we were being rushed to eat fast and leave fast, to the point that we have to say so that we wanted it a little slower. But it was goooooooooood.

Teppanyaki: we also know the concept and was an enjoyable and funny dinner with good quality of ingredients and service.

Ocean Blue: we reserve this one for my Birthday and this was the highlight of the restaurants on Board. Food, service, menu, quality, temperature everything was PERFECT, even better that Haven restaurant. We also tried the lunch on the sea day through the small window to the waterfront and it was Out of this world. Just AMAZING.....

Garden Cafe / Buffet: Very standard selection for lunch (when we were there), good quality and tastes, lack of service from the staff. It was like a big Cantina / Cafeteria.

O´Shehans: Pub food, good burger and amazing chicken wings and amazing service. Being in the Haven we didn’t know we could order with our butler who delivered to the stateroom.

Shanghai Noodle bar: We went one day for dinner and while waiting in the queue the maitre told us we could order with our butler and have the food delivered to the stateroom instead of waiting around for one hour. We did so and the food was good good good....

Taste Main dining room (Lunch): Slow service, cold and tasteless food. We order: Pho Vietnamese soup and it was a joke... the fried chicken and the salad for the main were also just bad. And for me is difficult to find a salad and chicken bad.

BARS: we had the Ultimate Beverage package and found it was OK. We spent most of the times in the Haven Bar (that we loved it). The drinks were good but the service standard in the bars was lacking, kind of get your drinks and get our of there.

ENTERTAINMENT: for our taste this was a rollercoaster: Rock of Ages was a disaster with sound problems and a bad production. We enjoyed a lot our times at Syd Normans Pour house, the rock band was very good. The night in the Howl at the moon, was funny and i loved it. Cruise Director Adriano, sorry but imho this guy could be a good International ambassador but not a cruise director.

ACTIVITIES: we wanted to try the ropes course and the water slides but being this itinerary so port intensive we though about doing these at the last sea day or in the last port - Stockholm -; however the weather didn’t help and we missed the last port and the last two sea days the outer decks were closed and therefore we didn’t try these. This situation also made us think about the inconvenience of this ship regarding sea days with bad weather, felt crowded everywhere and not enough space for a full sold cruise.

SERVICE: I would say the service all around the ship was OK, nothing memorable just OK

SHORE EXCURSIONS: we prebooked two excursion for St. Petersburg that were very good and we enjoyed a lot.

POST CRUISE INFO: We were shorted out of the ship by one fo the butlers, and took a taxi to the Admiral Hotel in Copenhagen.

 

CONCLUSION: we had a great time, we enjoyed the cruise and loved the ports and the Haven experience for my big 40 birthday but we definitely would double think before cruising with NCL again, we don’t feel this product is our cup of tea

[kitkat343]

Thanks for the review. Happy birthday and I’m glad you liked St. Petersburg. I haven’t had a chance to sail rc or celebrity yet ( we sail for itineraries). What did you like better about them?

[Markj]

We also met Virginia, one of the Concierges, she was amazing all the cruise. The Haven lounge Bar bartenders: Kumar and Olga and the waiter Kai were AMAZING... It was great to have a place where you could relax and find assistance (if needed). Also our Stateroom Attendant did a good job and kept our room spotless during the length of the cruise even though the most of the days it was extremely slowly in the mornings.

Ocean Blue: we reserve this one for my Birthday and this was the highlight of the restaurants on Board. Food, service, menu, quality, temperature everything was PERFECT,

 

Agree completely with these - we had Seka too and she was great

[Georgeven]

Thanks for the review. Happy birthday and I’m glad you liked St. Petersburg. I haven’t had a chance to sail rc or celebrity yet ( we sail for itineraries). What did you like better about them?

 

We definetely like the design of the ships better with RCCL or Celebrity (pool deck and public areas) and the Buffet areas also.