The Norwegian Breakaway’s 7-day trip from New York City began up to par with expectations and appeared to set the bar high in regards to efficiency in feeding and assisting the 4,000 passengers that embarked on December 29th. This was my and my boyfriend’s first cruise, so we greatly appreciated the efficient check-in process that the Norwegian crew provided, and they were extremely helpful in answering our questions once aboard. From then forward, we had an extremely satisfactory initial first days of the cruise, and embraced Norwegian’s Freestyle Cruising and laid-back atmosphere. In addition, the wait staff as well as our stewardess were particularly helpful and personable. The itinerary of the fifth cruise day included a visit to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian’s island, but we were informed that we would be unable to attend the island due to poor water conditions (the impending storm, Grayson, which we were not informed of). However, passengers were already at the island location, and they were immediately transported off the island by the crew. The itinerary of that day was hindered by the change of plans, ushering passengers to instead loiter around the ship, offering limited activity options, though this was understandable due to the focus of crew/passenger safety. We were obviously disappointed from the loss of the day, but safety, as the Captain mentioned, was priority.

From then onward, though the Captain muttered about the importance of safety and precautions, he sailed us straight into Grayson. From this point forward, it was a complete and utter disaster on the ship. Most elevators were shut off to conserve power, leaving a large population of elderly and families to brave the 15 floors of stairs, or to shove into a single elevator. Being young and thankfully able-bodied, this did not impact me, but I witnessed the struggle of other fellow passengers. Elderly had to be held upright, taking breaks on each stairwell and cling to the rails of the ship. We witnessed passengers constantly vomiting, or diving into bathrooms to vomit. Each stairwell had on it a set of complementary vomit bags. This happened for two days straight, however, on the “up” side we were given $23 a person for essentially missing one of the three main trip locations (on a side note, the 14- day cruise following ours received an apology for their inconvenience AND a refund of one day for their itinerary, but we have received not word nor compensation though we essentially lost the vast majority of our cruise to the Captain’s poor choice to brave Grayson).

Any and all belongings on the mirror and cabinets were thrown across the floor, and many passengers and their children were forced to sleep on the Atrium floor (next to a late-night bar) due to two inches of water, there appeared to be no vacant rooms for emergency situations. This was a complete and unnecessary disaster that was endured at the expense of Norwegian Breakaway’s passengers for the sake of staying on schedule and ensuring profit. The most unnerving situation was not the storm itself, but the intent of upper management in their behavior to keep passengers as ignorant and confused as possible. This was best displayed by the final night of the cruise (the 4th of January) when the Captain announced at approximately 6pm that we would be disembarking and arriving to NY port at 4pm instead of 8am. Due to the mass amounts of passengers that fly/have travel plans (as most do), this caused a urgent rush and need to use the phone services and internet. We hurried to the Guest Services desk, only to be directed to stay where we are, that there was a phone at the front desk that I assume all of the guests were expected to use. As we waited, another crew member directed myself and others to a small computer lab of about five computers, said we were free to use them and that there is no phone available, and essentially shrugged her shoulders and left the situation. I once again asked for access to the phones, but we were shrugged off once again. Masses of people were now panicking and urging crew members for assistance. Read more