NCL Newbie Review of Breakaway Western Caribbean 9/15/19-9/22/19

[Boston Mom]

Tried NCL for the first time this month after several cruises on Royal (Bermuda, Bahamas and various Eastern Caribbean itineraries) and one Carnival cruise last summer.  I had heard good things about NCL from family and friends, read a few good reviews here on Cruise Critic, and when we got a flyer from our travel agent advertising sale fares and an extra "free item" on NCL we decided to give NCL a try.  We were celebrating my husband's birthday and our 25th anniversary the same week, and had never been to the Western Caribbean ports included in the September 15, 2019 sailing, so the decision was made.  We quickly booked our trip and got what I thought was a good deal for what we paid.

 

I will try to answer as many questions as I can, and will post pictures later once my husband has a chance to retrieve them off his "good camera".  I didn't even bring my phone as I didn't want to be getting endless calls from home, which always seems to happen despite my request to not call me during vacation, so I don't have my own pix to share.  Here goes with our experience with the ship, excursions, flights, hotel, etc.  Overall we had a great time.  There were a few things that I would have done differently, or wished they had been different, but overall I will say that we had a lot of fun and that I would consider sailing NCL again if we got the right itinerary at the right price.

 

[coscab]

Looking forward to your review, will be on the Western sailing in December, been to all the ports but never on Breakaway.

[Boston Mom]

We ended up getting free flights through NCL as part of our cruise package.  I have read horror stories thereof on this board, but for us it worked out well overall.  I always prefer to fly in a day early because I'm paranoid about missing the ship due to airport delays, particularly when I don't have a direct flight.  With the free NCL air there was a $25 per person upcharge to fly in the day before, and we would not have transfer from the airport to the port included because we would be going to a hotel, rather than the cruise port.  For $50 for the two of us, plus the price of one night's hotel and transport to the pier the next morning, it was well worth the peace of mind to get there early.  I was glad to hear that NCL would still include the transport back to the airport at the end even though we flew in a day early; I had read some conflicting information about this on Cruise Critic but for us the shuttle back to the airport was included.

 

Our flights weren't ideal in that we did have a layover, but overall they were decent.  We left Boston at 8 am, had a 45 minute layover in Philadelphia, and were in Miami by early afternoon.  We got our flight information from NCL 46 days before we sailed, and were easily able to select our seats, pay for our bags, etc. directly with American Airlines once we got our NCL flight confirmation number.  Both flights were right on time with no complications thereof.

 

We had booked the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Miami Brickell Downtown after reading several good reviews about it on Cruise Critic, and we were very glad we went with this hotel.  It was super easy to get from the airport directly to the hotel on the Metro Rail.  For only $2.25 each we were able to go to a vending machine right in the airport and purchase one way tickets on the orange line toward downtown.  Less then a half hour later we were at the Brickell stop, which is practically across the street from the hotel.  We got there as quickly as we would have by cab or Uber - super cheap and easy to use the Metro Rail.

 

Check in at the hotel was also super quick and easy.  We had booked a king bed elite room, and when we were checking in and chatting with the front desk agent I happened to mention that it was my husband's birthday the next day.  He said "happy birthday" and upgraded us to a gorgeous suite at no additional cost.  He was also super helpful with regard to dinner suggestions and with getting us to the port the next morning.  Our suite was enormous and like the rest of the hotel was meticulously clean.  I would definitely stay there again.

 

The Metro Rail station across the street from the hotel also access the Metro Mover, which offers free tram service around the downtown area.  So nice to find completely free transportation that was safe and easy to use and access.  After talking to the desk agent we decided to head over to Bayside Marketplace, which is an outdoor collection of shops and restaurants.  We took the Metro Mover from the Brickell stop over to the Bayfront Park stop and walked through the park over to the Marketplace.  It was late afternoon and the park felt very safe to walk around - mostly family groups, couples, and other tourists like ourselves.  After browsing around the Marketplace for a bit we had burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe, browsed around a bit more, and then took the Metro Mover right back to our hotel.

[Boston Mom]

After a great sleep at the Hampton Inn (very comfortable bed and I never heard a thing all night although I usually don't sleep so well in hotels) we woke up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the free breakfast.  I have stayed at several Hampton Inns and this was definitely the nicest Hampton Inn breakfast I have ever had.  In addition to the usual continental breakfast stuff, waffle maker, eggs, etc. they had absolutely gorgeous fresh fruit, and a few different kinds of fruit smoothies.  Yum.  The bakery stuff also didn't taste "packaged" like some free hotel breakfast buffets can tend to taste.  We both enjoyed plates of fruit, toasted bagels with cream cheese, and smoothies, and got coffees to go as we finished packing and got ready to leave for the port.

 

The hotel offered a direct shuttle to the port for $8 per person.  We had our choice of 4 departure times (10, 11, 12, or 1) and had to make reservations for the shuttle the night before.  We had originally planned to just Uber over to the port but after we found out from the front desk staff that the shuttle was direct, without picking up passengers anywhere else, we decided it was easier to just book the 11 am shuttle.  It was well worth $20 for the two of us, and at precisely 11 we were pulling out of the hotel parking lot on our way to the pier.  The NCL terminal was the first stop, and the shuttle driver unloaded our bags and brought them right over to the NCL luggage deposit cart.  Super efficient, and after a quick drop off we were on our way to the inside of the cruise port to check in.

 

Once we were inside the cruise port everything was extremely organized and orderly.  We got into line at 11:25; the line wasn't too bad and was moving quickly.  One stop to show our cruise tickets and passports, another stop to have our pictures taken for our ship ID cards, and another stop to fill out a quick health information questionnaire.  It took us 27 minutes from the time we walked into the terminal to the time we were walking onto the ship - very impressive.  I would recommend keeping our ship ID card out as you move from the terminal up to the gangway and then onto the ship, as we had to show ID at seven different check points before we were actually on the ship.  I had brought lanyards from home as I always do, and found this to be the easiest way to keep hands free while having my ship ID on me at all times.  We were on the ship just before noon, yay!!!!!

[Boston Mom]

We just had one small carry on with us, after being able to easily check our other bags at the NCL luggage drop, so we decided to explore the ship.  Staterooms were not yet ready and most other people that were also already aboard seemed to be doing the same thing.  There were always a lot of people, as the ship was pretty much full (including many passengers that had opted to switch their sailing from the one two weeks before in the middle of Hurricane Dorian to this sailing of the same itinerary), but it very rarely felt "crowded" as the ship is so large, with wide common area corridors and plenty of open space.  We found ourselves on Deck 8 in an outside area called the Waterfront.  We found a very nice bar called Maltings which had comfy chairs, friendly bartenders, and an amazing view of downtown Miami as we sat there and enjoyed our first drinks (Miami Vice for me and a Corona for him) before we left port.

 

About 1:30 there was a general announcement saying that staterooms were ready.  We finished up our drinks ad made our way to our stateroom.  We had booked a balcony room on Deck #12, midship.  I had selected this room because it had an angled balcony, which I had read are larger than standard straight balcony rooms on the Breakaway, a queen bed near the window, and a location where we would be less likely to feel motion (after all we were cruising during hurricane season).  When I saw the location in person I was initially a little worried about how close it was to the mid ship elevator, and to the Spash Academy kid's program.  I was afraid the location would be louder than I anticipated, but this was not an issue (other than one night when some jerk was running up and down the halls at 2 am knocking on doors and making weird bird noises - the guy in the cabin next to us that was absolutely HUGE and intimidating went out and put a stop to that real quick!)  I would definitely stay on Deck 12 mid ship again, and we loved having the big angled balcony.  It felt super private as the people around us did not seem to use their balconies that much, whereas we did.

[Boston Mom]

Another good surprise about our cabin was the amount of storage we had.  Our couch had two large drawers underneath.  There was plenty of room under the bed to stow our suitcases, and the closet was roomy, with plenty of wooden hangers and shelves along the sides and top.  Equally good was the storage space in the bathroom, with plenty of shelving and a retractable clothes line thing along the top of the shower to hang wet swimsuits, etc.  The bathroom was also roomier than several other ships I have been on.  The one thing that I wish was bigger was the shower.  I am not a big person and to me it felt extremely tight; I imagine it would have been uncomfortably tight for someone larger or taller.

 

After quickly unpacking we decided to go get some lunch.  The Garden Grill buffet was completely packed and we felt like having a sit down meal, so we decided to try O'Sheehan's.  Bad decision.  It was the only bad meal that we had over the course of our 7 day sailing - and probably up there for one of the worst meals I have had in my life.  When we got to O'Sheehan's it was packed; for some reason people still had their luggage all over the place despite the fact that the staterooms had by then been ready for some time.  We were told it would be a 15 minute wait and were given a beeper while we waited in the Atrium Bar area.  We were not beeped until over a half hour later and were then kept standing for another five minutes while they cleaned our table.  (It was very busy and there was the luggage all around, and I get it that things can be crazy the first day.)  Another ten minutes waiting for our waiter, where we asked to order both drinks and food at the same time since we had already been waiting so long.  Weirdly the drinks never came; my husband ended up going down to the Atrium Bar to get a diet Coke and a beer and bringing them up since our waiter never reappeared.  We then sat there for another half hour waiting for the nachos, barbecue chicken wings, and reuben sandwich that we had ordered.  When we finally got our food it was brought by a different waiter, and was so stone cold that there was no way that we were going to eat it.  We ended up just leaving it there and going to the buffet after all, just grabbing a plate of cheese cubes and fruit as after the long wait it was getting close to dinnertime.  After the gross O'Sheehan's experience I was worried about what the food would be like for the rest of the vacation, but luckily everything else went well with food and the first day lunch was the exception to that.  We never went back to O'Sheehan's the rest of the sailing - ewwww.

[Boston Mom]

After the yucky O'Sheehan's lunch it was almost time for our 3:30 muster station drill.  Muster was quick and efficient.  I thought it was good that NCL shuts down all bar service, entertainment, etc. thirty minutes before muster, which seemed to get people there quicker.  They had staff everywhere directing people to the appropriate muster stations and checking everyone in, such that we were all done by 3:45.  Much more impressive than our last (Carnival) cruise where people were wandering in a half hour late with drinks as we stood outside in the blazing hot sun waiting.  Good job NCL.

 

After muster it was almost time for departure.  We made a pit stop at the Maltings bar on Deck 8 for another Miami Vice and Corona, which we brought back up to our balcony to toast my husband's birthday and the beginning of our cruise.  Most people seemed to be at the send off party on the Deck 15 pool area so we seemed to have that whole side of the ship to ourselves as we left the Miami harbor for the open sea.

 

Our cruise package included 3 specialty dining meals, in addition to the free Premium Beverage Package and free air.  For our first specialty dining experience we chose to dine at Teppanyaki our first night.  I would have to say that Teppanyaki was my favorite meal of all the meals we enjoyed on the ship.  We were immediately seated with three other couples around the hibachi cooking station, and our drink orders were promptly taken and delivered.  A few of our table mates ordered the signature cocktails, but not wanting to mix the rum I had consumed earlier with sake I opted for a glass of pinot grigio instead, and my husband had a cabernet.  The Wasabi Cocktail drinkers at our table pronounced them delicious, and we were very happy with the quality and variety of the wine that was included in the Premium Beverage Package.  Although we are not big drinkers I had considered upgrading to the higher drink package, but in the end I was glad we didn't because none of what we ordered for drinks was over $15 anyway, such that we didn't need it.

 

Teppanyaki has set appetizers of miso soup (I am not generally a big miso soup fan but this was pretty good) and a seaweed salad with ginger dressing, which I enjoyed.   As we were being served our soup our hibachi grill master for the evening came over, introduced himself, and then started doing some pretty amazing stuff with knives, eggs, and cooking our fresh fried rice and meats.  He was very entertaining and our table mates were great, making for a very fun evening.  The food was also AMAZING.  I ordered the Kamakura combination which was filet mignon and chicken, and my husband ordered the classic filet mignon. As it turned out we were able to try basically everything, as we all ordered different things and he gave everyone samplings of the meats and seafood that we had not personally ordered.  In addition to my filet and chicken, and the best fried rice I have ever had in my life, I got to try the shrimp, scallops, and calamari.  It was a lot of food and I was so full that I opted to skip dessert (green tea cake or Japanese fruits) and have just coffee.  A few of our table mates ordered the green tea cake and although it looked weird, they said it tasted good.  All in all Teppanyaki was a fun meal with great food and I would highly recommend it.

 

After dinner we went over to the main theater for the welcome aboard show, which I thought was well done.  We met our cruise director Clay, the assistant cruise director Malina, and the rest of the entertainment staff.  Both Clay and Malina, as well as the rest of their staff, were very friendly, upbeat, and very visible throughout our sailing, and I thought they did a terrific job.  The welcome aboard show consisted of "previews" of the two main shows on our sailing (Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages) as well as the comedians and magician that would be performing throughout the cruise.  I enjoyed the show.  Afterward we wandered around the main areas of the ship some more (I quickly learned to avoid the casino area on Deck 7 as it was already smoky on the first night and smelled strongly of smoke throughout the cruise) and then went up to bed after a long and busy day.

 

When we got back up to our stateroom everything had been tidied up by our room steward, with the next day's Daily left on our bed.  What I thought was weird about our room steward was the fact that we NEVER saw him.  Not once throughout the whole seven days, not even in the hallway.  It wasn't a problem for us as we are pretty neat and had no special requests, and he did always make the bed, wipe down the bathroom, and leave fresh towels when we left ours on the bathroom floor as a sign of "please replace".  On every other cruise we have gone on we have had our steward introduce himself/herself and they were visible to us throughout the week, so not sure if this is an NCL thing or something unique to our experience and our steward.  I did miss the towel animals; I had thought NCL was no longer doing them so I was not surprised to not get them although several people we met on the ship did mention the towel animals they were getting.  Also weird.

[Boston Mom]

We quickly fell asleep that first night on the ship as it was so quiet and comfortable in our stateroom, and slept WAY longer than we had planned on sleeping, such that we slept though the sit down breakfast option that we had planned on for our first sea day.  But all worked out well as we decided to go up to the breakfast buffet at Moderno, which became our breakfast staple for the rest of the cruise because we liked it so much.  It did not have as many options as the huge breakfast buffet at the Garden Grill, but it had plenty of choices and we loved the smaller setting and the peace and quiet.  No made to order omelet station as they have on Deck 15, but we enjoyed cheese omelets that were coming hot off the grill, as well as bacon, breakfast potatoes, and a variety of fresh fruit and juice.  For some reason we both liked the coffee a lot better at the main buffet than we did at Moderno, so we would just have juice at Moderno and then grab a cup of coffee to go from Garden Grill afterward.  The buffet was meticulously clean and tables were quickly cleared, with plenty of inside and outside options as to where to sit.  I loved the Moderno breakfast buffet.

 

We had planned to do a meet and greet with our Cruise Critic roll call folks on that Monday morning, but after sleeping so late we had missed it by the time we finished breakfast.  It was extremely hot and crowded by the pool so we decided to head back to the Waterfront area on Deck 8, where we were able to get one of the huge comfy double loungers.  That lounger became base camp for the afternoon, as we relaxed, read, chatted with people on the other loungers nearby, got sodas and then frozen drinks from the nearby Maltings bar, and then brought a selection of salads back from the Garden Grill buffet for a late lunch.  Total relaxing afternoon!

 

More later....

[sabrefan15]

41 minutes ago, Boston Mom said:

Another good surprise about our cabin was the amount of storage we had.  Our couch had two large drawers underneath.  There was plenty of room under the bed to stow our suitcases, and the closet was roomy, with plenty of wooden hangers and shelves along the sides and top.  Equally good was the storage space in the bathroom, with plenty of shelving and a retractable clothes line thing along the top of the shower to hang wet swimsuits, etc.  The bathroom was also roomier than several other ships I have been on.  The one thing that I wish was bigger was the shower.  I am not a big person and to me it felt extremely tight; I imagine it would have been uncomfortably tight for someone larger or taller.

 

After quickly unpacking we decided to go get some lunch.  The Garden Grill buffet was completely packed and we felt like having a sit down meal, so we decided to try O'Sheehan's.  Bad decision.  It was the only bad meal that we had over the course of our 7 day sailing - and probably up there for one of the worst meals I have had in my life.  When we got to O'Sheehan's it was packed; for some reason people still had their luggage all over the place despite the fact that the staterooms had by then been ready for some time.  We were told it would be a 15 minute wait and were given a beeper while we waited in the Atrium Bar area.  We were not beeped until over a half hour later and were then kept standing for another five minutes while they cleaned our table.  (It was very busy and there was the luggage all around, and I get it that things can be crazy the first day.)  Another ten minutes waiting for our waiter, where we asked to order both drinks and food at the same time since we had already been waiting so long.  Weirdly the drinks never came; my husband ended up going down to the Atrium Bar to get a diet Coke and a beer and bringing them up since our waiter never reappeared.  We then sat there for another half hour waiting for the nachos, barbecue chicken wings, and reuben sandwich that we had ordered.  When we finally got our food it was brought by a different waiter, and was so stone cold that there was no way that we were going to eat it.  We ended up just leaving it there and going to the buffet after all, just grabbing a plate of cheese cubes and fruit as after the long wait it was getting close to dinnertime.  After the gross O'Sheehan's experience I was worried about what the food would be like for the rest of the vacation, but luckily everything else went well with food and the first day lunch was the exception to that.  We never went back to O'Sheehan's the rest of the sailing - ewwww.

I was also on the 9/15 sailing of the Breakaway and ate at O'Sheehans once. Plenty of waiting for service for us also and our food actually came before our drinks. The burgers weren't too bad but that is the best I can say about O'Sheehans.

[C cruise]

enjoying your review - going to be on Breakaway in December so interested in everything about the ship and your cruise...

[cmecruise1962]

I'm also going to be on the Breakaway in December!  Thanks for doing this review.  Did you book Teppanyaki before you left or while on the ship?  I want to go, but we have three in our party and it will only let me book four (and without the dining package I have to pay in advance!)  😞

[Captain-John]

Great review, love all the detail - looking forward to more. 🙂

[drvmywifecrzy]

12 minutes ago, cmecruise1962 said:

I'm also going to be on the Breakaway in December!  Thanks for doing this review.  Did you book Teppanyaki before you left or while on the ship?  I want to go, but we have three in our party and it will only let me book four (and without the dining package I have to pay in advance!)  😞

 

Call and make the ressie for 3

[CruzinfromFL]

Thanks for the review. We just booked the Breakaway for March, this will be our first NCL cruise so excited to learn all I can about NCL and Breakaway.

[Sand and Seas]

Sorry your first meal on board didn't work out!  We always have our embarkation lunch at a Main Dining Room to avoid the crowds at the buffet or O'Sheehans.   

Nice to hear that Breakaway still has the breakfast buffet at Moderno.   When we were last on Breakaway they also had a great themed lunch buffet in Moderno on 'At Sea' days.   Did you happen to try that?   (I hope they still have it).

Thanks for sharing your review with us☺️

[Suna]

Following along ... 

 

what are the photos they take prior to boarding? We never had that ... just the photo with the ship backdrop.

[FLAHAM]

I like the smoked salmon served open-faced on a bagel in the MDRs for breakfast--not available in the buffets.

[Boston Mom]

20 hours ago, coscab said:

Looking forward to your review, will be on the Western sailing in December, been to all the ports but never on Breakaway.

I think you're going to really enjoy the Breakaway.  It is by far the largest ship I have ever sailed on but at no point did it ever feel crowded or overwhelming.  And overall I was super impressed with the crew.

[Boston Mom]

18 hours ago, sabrefan15 said:

I was also on the 9/15 sailing of the Breakaway and ate at O'Sheehans once. Plenty of waiting for service for us also and our food actually came before our drinks. The burgers weren't too bad but that is the best I can say about O'Sheehans.

Maybe we were there at the same time, LOL.  We ended up meeting another couple on our first excursion that we kept running into and talking to throughout our cruise, and turns out they were at O'Sheehan's that same first day lunch also, and had the same experience as we did.  I think the nachos and wings and sandwich actually would have been decent had they not been the same temperature as my Diet Coke.

[Boston Mom]

16 hours ago, C cruise said:

enjoying your review - going to be on Breakaway in December so interested in everything about the ship and your cruise...

If you have any questions about the ship, ports, etc. I would be glad to try to answer them.  Overall we had a great time.

[Boston Mom]

16 hours ago, cmecruise1962 said:

I'm also going to be on the Breakaway in December!  Thanks for doing this review.  Did you book Teppanyaki before you left or while on the ship?  I want to go, but we have three in our party and it will only let me book four (and without the dining package I have to pay in advance!)  😞

We booked all three of our specialty dining meals (Teppanyaki, Ocean Blue, and Cagney's - more to follow on Ocean Blue and Cagney's when I get to those days) very early on - about 3 months before sailing - as I was told they tend to fill up fast.  Although we did make some friends on board that had not booked anything prior to sailing, and they ended up walking into Ocean Blue the night we were there and being seated within 20 minutes despite the dining monitors around the ship saying that Ocean Blue was completely full.  They were also able to do the same thing at Le Bistro.  Definitely worth giving it a try if you want to eat somewhere but don't have reservations.  I noticed the same thing about the reservations function having only options for even numbers of people. If it was me I would probably just call NCL and make the reservation for three that way.  I think you are going to love Teppanyaki.  It was hands down my favorite meal on the Breakaway - and probably my favorite cruise meal ever.

[Boston Mom]

13 hours ago, CruzinfromFL said:

Thanks for the review. We just booked the Breakaway for March, this will be our first NCL cruise so excited to learn all I can about NCL and Breakaway.

Overall we had a blast.  Let me know if you have any questions and I would be glad to try to answer them.

[Boston Mom]

12 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Sorry your first meal on board didn't work out!  We always have our embarkation lunch at a Main Dining Room to avoid the crowds at the buffet or O'Sheehans.   

Nice to hear that Breakaway still has the breakfast buffet at Moderno.   When we were last on Breakaway they also had a great themed lunch buffet in Moderno on 'At Sea' days.   Did you happen to try that?   (I hope they still have it).

Thanks for sharing your review with us☺️

We basically always do too - although for some reason the Breakaway didn't have a lot of lunch options open that first day.  Our choices were Savor (a smaller MDR), the big buffet, or O'Sheehan's.  We figured Savor would be packed since it's so small and the only MDR open for lunch, and my husband wanted to watch the football game that they had playing in O'Sheehan's.  He did get to watch his game but neither of us got to eat, LOL.  Unfortunately no themed lunch at Moderno on our sailing.  If they had had one we definitely would have tried it as we loved Moderno for breakfast.

[Boston Mom]

11 hours ago, Suna said:

Following along ... 

 

what are the photos they take prior to boarding? We never had that ... just the photo with the ship backdrop.

Unfortunately not a question I can answer as we didn't stop for the pre-boarding photos.  As we went from the terminal up onto the gangway they were taking pictures over to the right, but there was a line and we veered left to get onto the ship instead of stopping for pictures.  I will say that I thought the ship photographers did a great job.  They were more unobtrusive about the pictures - they quietly approached and would take your picture if you wanted a photo taken but didn't bark at you or follow you around like the photographer we had on our last cruise (Carnival).  Hopefully someone else reading this will have stopped for the pictures and be able to answer this for you.

[Boston Mom]

11 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

I like the smoked salmon served open-faced on a bagel in the MDRs for breakfast--not available in the buffets.

They actually did have delicious smoked salmon at the Moderno buffet one morning.  It wasn't served on the bagel - I had to assemble it myself.  I don't know about its availability at the Garden Grill big buffet because we only went there for breakfast once, on our last morning as we were rushing to eat something quick at 6:30 am before disimbarking.