Is the NCL Breakaway as bad as almost all of the current reviews say it is?

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, tscoffey said:

You forgot to mention the cats and dogs living together. In balcony cabins. 
(and European cats and dogs at that (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more…))

I believe that you may have confused Eric Idle with Bill Murray.  Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more!!!

[DCGuy64]

On 3/14/2024 at 5:11 AM, RWK1952 said:

Wow.  I started scrolling through the very recent, 2024 Cruise Critic reviews for the NCL Breakaway on which we currently have paid the small, refundable deposit on a cruise around the Iberian peninsula in March 2025.  I had to double check to make sure that I had not selected just the 1 star (out of 5) reviews.  

 

We wanted a 1-way cruise ending in Barcelona and there do not appear to be many options.  Plus, the 2 person fare, even for a Family Balcony Suite, was extremely reasonable .. extremely ... on the Breakaway compared to say, Oceania, which was one of the only other cruises I found going 1-way from the U.K. to Barcelona.

 

I found out that the Breakaway is huge - 3900+ guests and 1600+ staff.  

 

Reviews on CC consistently say that everything is crowded, including the main breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet and the complimentary dinner areas, and the food is average and often room temperature.  Trying to see shows is often impossible since you are competing with almost 4000 other people.

 

We recently (September 2023) took a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium in Alaska.  That ship has a little more than half the passenger capacity as the Breakaway, and we had no issues with the complimentary and specialty dining areas or with the food quality, and no difficulty just walking in to see the shows.  Unfortunately, Celebrity only seems to do round trip cruises, at least in Europe.  Also, our Alaska cruise was at the very end of the Alaska cruising season so perhaps that was a significant factor.   

 

Is the NCL Breakaway potentially as bad a choice for us to take as seniors, as the reviews here on Cruise Critic make it sound?

 

It's a terrible ship. Absolutely horrible. In fact, it's SO horrible, I insist on going in your place so I can be miserable instead of you. Please let me know when I can expect the tickets. 😉🤣

[graphicguy]

^^^^^
 

Glad I could help!

 

I’m sure there are others here who can offer better advice on beaches!

[firstmickey]

On 7/15/2024 at 2:36 PM, cruiseny4life said:

Love, love, love that you had so much fun on your cruise!!! Not everything's perfect, but sounds like you had a wonderful time. I wish I could pull up a Haven bar stool next to you and talk through the day. You sound like some fun folks to travel with! 

Welcome back to the not so fun reality. 

I couldn’t stand reality so Im sailing again on the Encore in September. I will save a seat at the bar for you! Lol!

I will be the Florida girl bundled up for cold Alaska!  

[graphicguy]

18 hours ago, Pghpensfan said:

Wow, thanks so much!  This is a huge help!  I'll take any advice you have to give. 

 

There's going to be 4 of us (so far) but 2 of us are doing solo balconies and the other 2 are a couple going in an inside cabin (their preference). I can't do inside, balcony is required. 

 

Everything I'm reading sounds very similar to Encore and I loved that ship.  So, I'm happy to explore a new one like it (as long as it's not that beast, Epic!).  

 

This one is going to Puerto Plata, Barbados, Antigua, San Juan and GSC.  I've been to all of them but some it's been many years and I loved all of these ports.  So, I'm happy to explore them again.  PP and GSC were just last November but happy to return to both.  The others, for myself, I'll probably just look for a beach to go hang out on.  Not sure about the others in my group. Any beach recommendations at these ports?

 

Thanks again for the advice!  I appreciate it!

John

That's a good Caribbean itinerary, also.  I LOVE San Juan.

 

Like you, I've sailed insides and solos.  I guess over the years, I've beomce a tad claustrophobic.  I just had an MRI in a tube and couldn't quite pull it off whereas 10 years ago it would have been no problem.  So, chalk that up as an issue with me, not the cabin type.

 

Part of my enjoyment of a cruise is waking up, throwing open the curtains and see the port or water.  Grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting on the balcony for an hour or so before kicking it into gear.  That's how I love starting my cruise day.

 

I have a certain fondness for both the "Away" ships because they both helped me celebrate personal happy milestones when I sailed them.  Aside from that, they're both really nice ships.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, firstmickey said:

I couldn’t stand reality so Im sailing again on the Encore in September. I will save a seat at the bar for you! Lol!

I will be the Florida girl bundled up for cold Alaska!  

And I'll be the one in shorts and t-shirt saying, gosh it's hot today!! I'm more suited to Antarctica than New York. 🙂 

 

Wish I could jump onboard, but we have an intense road trip in late September/October. Not sure my boss will let me run away for much longer than that. 

[Asawi]

I do hope Breakaway isn't as bad as some fear since I just booked it for a spring Mediterranian cruise. Second cruise after drydock. But honestly, it has to be pretty awful to ruin my holiday! I will have a bed to sleep in, food to eat and lots of ports to visit. 

 

 

[Pghpensfan]

49 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

That's a good Caribbean itinerary, also.  I LOVE San Juan.

 

Like you, I've sailed insides and solos.  I guess over the years, I've beomce a tad claustrophobic.  I just had an MRI in a tube and couldn't quite pull it off whereas 10 years ago it would have been no problem.  So, chalk that up as an issue with me, not the cabin type.

 

Part of my enjoyment of a cruise is waking up, throwing open the curtains and see the port or water.  Grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting on the balcony for an hour or so before kicking it into gear.  That's how I love starting my cruise day.

 

I have a certain fondness for both the "Away" ships because they both helped me celebrate personal happy milestones when I sailed them.  Aside from that, they're both really nice ships.

Funny what you said about the MRI.  I just had a neck MRI a few months ago and was getting very claustrophobic.  I started thinking about everything we did on my November cruise and I made it through it.

 

Morning coffee on the balcony is my favorite thing to do. 

 

Any recommendations for San Juan?