Norwegian Breakaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,884 reviews

Underwhelming ship, mostly good ports

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Breakaway
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sidebones
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2019
Cabin: Inside Stateroom
Traveled with children

We did not really care for the Breakaway ship itself. Almost every single activity was held in the atrium, making it extremely loud and crowded and nearly impossible to find seating. Speaking of which, lots of uncomfortable seating in the public areas. We really hated that shows needed to be reserved on this ship, yet you still had to show up early to get good seating. It was an unnecessary, frustrating extra step. We've seen better shows on the smaller ships. Burn the Floor was really good, but Rock of Ages was just awkwardly inappropriate and unnecessarily distasteful. The Cirque show was great, but cost extra. As did a lot of things; we felt nickeled and dimed worse than any other cruise. Dining was good, but service was really hit or miss. Thankfully we found Edy early in the week who did a fantastic job taking care of us. The kid's program was seriously lacking on this trip. There was some serious miscommunication about our kids checking themselves in and out, which led to them getting kicked out once and forced to stay in another. The manager was rude and unhelpful, so we ended up talking to the cruise director about things. Thankfully, JC was much better at customer service and took care of us. But the fact that it got to that point was such a turnoff for both us and our kids. The ports of call were all good except for Harvest Caye. NCL's private island is nothing more than a commercialized, overpriced beach that doesn't even feel like you're in Belize. We much preferred when we used to go to Belize City. Overall, we still enjoyed our trip. The cruise director's staff did a great job as always and the games/shows were a lot of fun. But we weren't impressed with the Breakaway like we thought we'd be, and with the other issues we'd still probably try a different cruise line next time to see how they compared.

Cabin Review

Inside Stateroom

Cabin ID

Cabin was a little awkward compared to other Norwegian ships. There was wasted shelf space that could've been added to the closet. The bathroom was also in serious need of a trash can. There was only one in the cabin. We asked our steward to please leave it in the bathroom, but we still had to move it every day.

Port Reviews

New Orleans

This rating is for the embarkation experience. The port was extremely difficult to find, as New Orleans signage all led you in the wrong direction. We had to hunt down a baggage handler. The terminal felt extremely closed in, and the lines were ridiculously long. We've never waited so long to board. As a result, NCL did not even take our embarkation photo. Everything was very crowded and disorganized.

Harvest Caye

This port was incredibly commercialized and expensive. My son wanted a stone chess set that they were asking $120 for; we found it in Mexico later for $30. It may be Belizeans working the shops there, but nothing said "local" about the place. The beach was crowded and the water didn't look great. There was absolutely nothing to do here without going to the mainland. NCL used to tender to Belize City before they built their private little island. We miss going there. Harvest Caye was not even worth stepping foot off the ship.

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