Norwegian Breakaway Review - December 2022

[Jason26]

 

 

I just disembarked the Breakaway, 7 night western Caribbean and here are some of my thoughts.  Some background on my cruise history, I’ve cruised 20+ times on various cruise lines, including 3 Caribbean cruises on the Getaway and 1 Mediterranean on the Star. I’ll rate on a scale of 1 to 5 various categories on my experiences.

 

Pre-cruise and boarding 4.5/5

Overall I believe NCL did a good good.  Online check-in was seamless, checking in at the port was easy and the safety/muster drill was streamlined. The only ding against the process is that we had a 9:30 AM to 9:30 AM check in time.  We arrived at 9:05 and we’re one of the first to go through security.  Had boarding group 2, but we couldn’t board until about noon.  Not a big deal.

 

Food quality 1.5/5

Let’s face it, many of us plan our days around the meals, with food being a big part of the cruise itself.  Our first experience was in Taste, one of the main dining rooms.  When most of the masses head to the buffet for lunch on embarkation day, we try to use the main dining room.  Kudos to NCL for offering this up as an option.  That being said, the food and service in the main dining room for this cruise was by far the worst I’ve had in over 20 cruises.  This would include the main stream cruise lines, including Carnival.  I felt sorry for the wait staff as it was obvious they were stretched pretty thin.  Beef dishes were tough, literally shoe leather tough.  Had a beef short rib entree that consisted of maybe 2 spoonfuls of shredded beef and pasta.  The dish was exceedingly sweet and had an odd taste.  Many of the appetizers were okay, but the main dishes were terrible.  Most were cold and it was obvious NCL was implementing cut-backs. After a few days we gave up on main dining and ate at the buffet.

 

Overall the buffet was decent.  Many options that were prepared okay, but more often than not, the food was cold to barely warm.  I found myself scraping food from the bottom of the serving dish to find something semi-warm.  The food taste in the buffet was good overall.

 

We also ate at Cagney’s and the Brazilian restaurant.  Both had very good food quality and service.  

 

If food is important to your cruise, either manage your expectations or skip this cruise entirely.  I’ve been on 3 other cruises, post Covid.  Two on Celebrity and one on Royal Caribbean.   The food was far superior compared to NCL.  Additionally,  a far different experience on my previous NCL.

 

 

Ship cabin 3/5

We booked a mini-suite to enjoy the extra space with a larger bathroom.  My first thoughts were the room is dated with the mattress being absolutely worn out.  The balcony was extremely small for a mini-suite, but this was expected as we’ve cruised this class ship before.  The shower head kept sliding down the track, so I stuffed a wash rag in the track to keep it stable.  Requested a pod coffee maker for the room, but they only had decaf coffee. We booked a room on deck 9, primarily due to the specific room we wanted, with a couch next to the balcony.  This was at least how the NCL deck plan showed.  To our surprise,  the deck plan was incorrect.  Not a big deal, but we had another issue, which was a loud speaker directly under us at the martini bar.  It was so loud the floor and bed vibrated every night until 11 PM.  The last night until well after midnight.  I’ve had cabins above the casino, bars, under the pool deck and never had I had a cabin so noisy.  Something to keep in mind if you book this ship.  For whatever reason, you could hear normal conversation through the walls, so perhaps this was a flaw in construction with no insulation between the walls or floor.  Our room steward was great, hence the reason for a 3/5.

 

Drink package, bars, etc.  3/5

Overall, the bar service was pretty good.  A recurring theme for this cruise was not enough staff.  If 90% of the passengers have the “free” beverage package, you probably need more than one bartender outside the bar next to the main dining room in the evening. They worked their tails off, but could only do so much to keep up with the demand.  Drinks had plenty of alcohol and were prepared well.

 

Another ding against NCL is around their drink package.  No bottled water of coffee included, really?  I’m sure there are some that will say get coffee in the buffet or main restaurant.  Okay, fine,  but that is not what I would consider good coffee.  If you spend that much for a cruise, including what I consider a high gratuity for the “free” drink package,  give me the option for a few 50 cent bottles of water a day.  Sure, you can get ice water from the bar, but again, the bar staff was stretched too thin already.  Sure, you could go to the buffet every time, but you are on vacation.  Why should you have to pay so much and work hard to get water.  If the lack of enough staff is driving me as a passenger to go across the ship to glass of water, then that’s a problem.

 

One final point around the drink package, NCL only had one scotch that was eligible without an up charge.  Most of the martinis had an up charge as well.  They did have a variety of beers, including a few IPAs, but if you were looking for anything other than beer, mediocre wine, and cheap mixed drinks, you were paying the up charge.

 

 

Shore excursions/ports 4.5/5

Many good stops.  We’ve been to these several times and still find something new. We did an ATV and animal sanctuary in Honduras and a botanical gardens and spice tour in Belize.  Both tours were excellent and pricing was reasonable.  The only issue we had was around the NCL waiver of liability that we were asked to sign.  I do contracts for a living and it fascinates me to see people simply sign the waiver without a thought.  Sure an issue is unlikely, but there is a reason why NCL requires this waiver and one should think about why they would ask that you sign.  That being said, a general waiver is understandable, however, the waiver that NCL asked we sign included language where you waived NCL’s liability, even under the situation where the tour operator is negligent.  It also stated that we accept these terms willingly.  Some may say this is to be expected, but shouldn’t we as customers expect that NCL do some basic vetting of each tour operator before they market, associate their name to the tour, profit from the tour and send their customers to that tour.  Additionally,  we weren’t even presented the waiver until we were on the bus an hour away from the cruise ship.  Since we were not willing to accept these terms willingly, we didn’t sign.  It’s s shame NCL puts these tour operators in the position and not have us review the waiver before we leave the ship.  Now some may say you agree to unreasonable terms as part of the passenger contract when you book the cruise.  That is correct, however, that doesn’t give NCL the right to abuse their passengers.  Fram a contractual perspective, this waiver certainly fell into that category.  All cruise lines may do this,  it doesn’t mean it’s right.  Always carefully read these contracts and either refuse to sign or mark through the abusive language, which is what we did for the second shore excursion.  Okay, I’ll get off my soap box.

 

 

Activities/shows 4.5/5

Many activities like water slides, ropes course, presentations, trivia, etc.  Plenty to do on the ship.  We saw Burn the Floor and the show was very good.  NCL used a combination of live music and previously recorded music, but the show was very well done and entertaining.  No complaints here at all.

 

 

Internet 2/5

 My rating is based on the overall value of the internet.  The Breakaway is currently evaluating Starlink and for those who are familiar with that technology,  you know it is low earth orbit with lower latency, higher bandwidth and overall a much better user experience.  I spoke with the IT rep onboard and he explained that we’ll have Starlink likely until we go south of Cozumel, when at that time they would flip back to the standard VSAT technology.  So I paid approximately $360 to upgrade 2 devices for 7 days for what they refer to as unlimited streaming.  Unless you were on Starlink at 6 AM in the morning, forget about any video streaming. At times I had issues with streaming XM radio.  The big issue is constantly losing my wifi connection.   The primary reason for internet was that my family could reach me on the ship, with WiFi calling.  I found myself having to reconnect literally about 50 times a day.  There was a workaround, which was to continually stream music.  Inconvenient for me and frankly not fair to other passengers, but I wasn’t sure what else to do to keep that connectivity.  One final comment, if you pay $360 for internet for the week,  it should at least function.  Here, it did not.

 

Overall value and final thoughts 2.5/5

I put this into perspective for what my wife and I are looking for in a cruise. 

By the time we paid for our cruise, crew gratuities, drink package gratuities, premium dining gratuities and the internet package, we were at almost $4K.  Did I feel I got my monies worth?  No. When I say main dining was bad, I literally wished for a lower end restaurant or even fast food compared to what they served in the main dining room.  Frankly, the dining room chef should have been ashamed to send food of that quality out to their customers. 

 

Something else that was strange was the lack of any request by NCL on the ship to complete the post cruise survey.  In fact, they never mentioned it, which again was a first.  I guess the old saying don’t ask the question if you do not want an honest answer applied here.  We did receive the post cruise survey and completed it objectively.

 

 

Finally, given what the cruise lines had to deal with over the last few years, I was really pulling for NCL and tried to be as understanding as possible.  Perhaps if I didn’t have a good experience on my other post-Covid cruises,  maybe I would feel differently.  But,  if we allow mediocrity, the cruise lines will provide that experience.  They are a business and will try to generate as much revenue as possible at the lowest expense.  I really do believe many of these issues come down to not enough staff.  That being said, under the right circumstances,  I’ll sail NCL again, however,  I’ll weigh my options and will likely go with another line until I see improvement.  Let’s hope that happens soon.

 

 

Jason

[graphicguy]

Thanks for the review.  

 

 

Agree about the excursion waivers.  I always wondered what would happen if someone would refuse to sign the waiver halfway through the excursion?  Drop you off in the middle of nowhere to find your way back?

 

I understand what they’re trying to do….shield them from liability on an excursion they have no control of.  But, Lord forbid something did happen.  Those waivers provide NO recourse.

 

Generally speaking, I think NCL is going through cutbacks overall.  I have no knowledge other than I’ve sailed them a lot.  I do. Believe they’re trying to do away with MDRs in favor of pushing people to the Buffet and/or the Specialty Dining rooms (at extra charge).

 

I was on the Breakaway last mont and had none of your issues.  But, that’s before the recent reports of cutbacks and layoffs.

 

Tough thing to do, though.  You can bet Celebrity, Royal, etc are chomping at the bit to take their customers away.

[LincolnLog]

I too am curious about what happened when you didn’t sign the waiver. You said the bus was already an hour away from the port. Did you have to just sit out the excursion and wait while everyone else did it? I think at that point I would have saiid  just give the damn thing and I’ll sign it. But maybe they’re banking on people like me who they know will cave in and that’s why they wait until they get far from the port! 

[abbyar]

We’re on this sailing departing tomorrow Sunday the 18th. Were you on last week’s sailing? 

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for sharing your review with us @Jason26.   Like you, we usually have our first meal onboard in the MDR.     

 

Did you ever eat at O'Sheehans?   It's a complimentary casual venue we usually enjoy.  We also like Shanghai's Noodle (another complimentary venue).

 

How was your disembarkation?

[barric]

We were on the 10/26 Breakaway sailing and could not agree more with OP.  For example, the 2oz of shredded beef "short ribs" was awful.  Even the Maître Dei had no comment when we summoned him.  I really dislike the fact that they turned the forward observation lounge into cabins.  Now there is no inside forward viewing area anywhere.  We also were very disappointed in the lack of lounges and lounge entertainment early in the evening.  And the furniture.  Geez.  Who did they get to design the chairs in lounges?  7 foot tall people?  Form over function.  

 

We have sailed on Getaway and Breakaway previously and had much better experiences then.  Now, we will avoid both ships unless reviews change for the better.

[Jason26]

3 hours ago, LincolnLog said:

I too am curious about what happened when you didn’t sign the waiver. You said the bus was already an hour away from the port. Did you have to just sit out the excursion and wait while everyone else did it? I think at that point I would have saiid  just give the damn thing and I’ll sign it. But maybe they’re banking on people like me who they know will cave in and that’s why they wait until they get far from the port! 

We never signed and we were able to compete the excursion.  When we arrived at the botanical gardens, the tour operator stated that we had 35 people on the tour, but she only had 29 signed waivers.  She said that she would leave them on the table for the remaining people to sign and to please do so at your earliest convenience.  We never signed anything and nothing else was said.  I really do feel sorry for these operators as they are put in a difficult position.

 

For our ATV excursion, they collected the waivers while boarding the bus.  This waiver was not as bad as the first, so I simply marked through the ridiculous indemnification language, around negligence, for our entire party.  About 1/4 of the contract was struck, but they accepted it.  Not sure if they ever noticed or not.

 

 

Jason

[Jason26]

2 hours ago, abbyar said:

We’re on this sailing departing tomorrow Sunday the 18th. Were you on last week’s sailing? 

We were actually on the cruise that left the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I really have enjoyed NCL over the years, so I wanted to settle in a bit and think and think through everything before I submitted a review.  I’ll be the first to admit that it can be easy to let a single, somewhat small issue, cloud your judgement.  I wanted to get back into the world of reality before I posted my response.

[Jason26]

1 hour ago, Sand and Seas said:

Thanks for sharing your review with us @Jason26.   Like you, we usually have our first meal onboard in the MDR.     

 

Did you ever eat at O'Sheehans?   It's a complimentary casual venue we usually enjoy.  We also like Shanghai's Noodle (another complimentary venue).

 

How was your disembarkation?

We did eat at O’Sheehans a few times.  For the most part, the wait staff was good.  Overall, the food was good, and it was definitely better than the main dining room.

 

Disembarkation went well.  We had a 9:15 AM train to catch, so we did self disembarkation.  Went down on deck 7 around 6:15 AM and lined up by the bowling alley.  We were the first off the ship, around 7:15 AM.  Everything went smoothly and we made our train with plenty of time to spare.  Very good overall experience getting off the ship.

 

 

[psmoove]

Thanks for this review.  We will be on the Breakaway on the 23rd and was wondering if you remember what time the ship left the port of New Orleans?  Just curious as we are arriving on the same day and interested in knowing if the ship leaves at 4 pm or if leaves later.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I was on this cruise also.  Yes, it departs at 4:00.  Our meal in Manhattan was adequate, but I was under the assumption there was a band and dancing and that didn’t happen.  We had four specialty dinings 3 of which were good, but LaCucina was awful.  Shanghai was very good,but you have to share a bar style table, which was okay and it is very noisy.   The atrium is a horrific wasteland in terms of a place to have a beverage or coffee without the mind numbing shrieks of game players.  It astounds me that when there are empty venues in the daytime they don’t shift those DIY entertainment experiences to somewhere else.

 

disembarking was generally well done once an officer got everyone lined up in the right spot.  Lots of folks who had been at the appointed spot since 5:30 due to a flight change to 9:30, wound up being toward the end of the line when they sent us in the other direction.   Stupid that something that is done every week cannot be second nature to the disembarking crew.   The food in August on the StR was by far even worse than the BA, so be glad you didn’t have to endure that.  
 

we are Diamond on NCL and our good friends are RCL loyalists, the equivalent to Diamond.  They are furious with their recent TA and changes RCL is making and, I never though I’d hear this from them, but they are jumping ship!   You can pretty much carbon copy the same complaints we have as theirs about Royal.