We’ve now completed our 10 day cruise tour of Italy, Greece and Malta (see itinerary below) and had time to reflect on the journey and report on the experience.

Staff: Grade A+

The staff & crew on the Norwegian Breakaway were hard working and friendly. We were frequently greeted with good mornings or good evenings and we disembarked or embarked on the cruise ship and various other places we went around the ship. Alexis said there was only one unhelpful person when trying to change an excursion but overall we thought the staff and crew did a great job in keeping us fed, entertained, welcome and safe.

Entertainment: Grade A-

We attended a magic show by J Alexander which was entertaining, funny and magical and we attended two musicals Burn the Floor and Six. We had a good time at all the shows and it was great to have something to do while at sea. We also enjoyed the live band that played at the main foyer during our Starbucks coffee runs as well as the Jazz singer and band at The Manhattan.

Excursions: Grade B+

Our excursions, overall, went well. The biggest complaint we have is that there has been no technological advancement in on-boarding or off-boarding such large numbers of people on the ship. Over 10 years ago, we went on a western Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Epic and the process to go on excursions was the exact same way: wait in an area, get your assigned group number called, walk to the exit point and get your card scanned to get off. A second complaint and a huge forthcoming issue for all cruise lines is that many of the excursions do not offer people with mobility/disability issues the ability to visit sites. In the US, there are 50 million or so baby boomers that will continue to grow old and develop mobility issues and if cruise lines don’t address disability and excursions they will ultimately lose business.

Services: Grade C

We utilized the spa for several massages and while the massages were great, the cruise gets a C for deceptive pricing. We had signed up for a $199 massage special that included an extra half hour when we boarded the ship. Much to our surprise, they did not disclose a $40 service charge so we essentially ended up paying full price for the massage. We also dinged Norwegian on this grade because of the constant and never ending up-selling that takes place everywhere from pushy photographers to art sales and additional services at the spa. We also had the ‘unlimited liquor’ package but struggled to get more than 1 drink every 30 minutes at bars like O’Sheehans because they were clearly understaffed and had too many drinks to prepare.

Dining/Food: Grade C-

There is no way to sugar coat this (pun intended) but the food at just about every ‘free’ restaurant and buffet on the ship was mediocre. The ‘paid’ restaurants that we visited, Moderno Churrascaria and Le Bistro weren’t much better. Le Bistro was a french themed restaurant was the best meal we had on the ship and it was likely because it probably had an actual French chef cooking food. The ‘Brazilian’ themed Churrascaria cooked the worst picanha I have ever had as the meat was overcooked, was heavily seasons with pepper and no salt. Other cuts of meat were over cooked, poorly seasoned, rubbery and tasteless. The traditional sides were really the only things edible at the restaurant.

Bars: We went to several bars asking for local wines or Greek/Italian cocktails and were informed that only certain liquors and alcohols would be served on the ship. What’s the point of going on an Italian/Greek cruise and not get access to Italian and Greek booze?

Wine Tasting: We went to a single wine tasting expecting to sample some Greek or Italian wines but the wines we tasted were from California, Oregon and Portugal. WTF? If we wanted California wines, we would have just stayed home!

We gave the dining experience a C- instead of an F because while the food was terrible, we didn’t get ill from eating it the 10 days we sailed.

Infrastructure: Grade C+

When we boarded we had to request several fixes to our cabin. First, the shower wouldn’t drain properly so we had to get an engineer to make a visit so it would drain properly. After a couple of days the issue was fixed. Secondly, while we don’t expect to have great internet access while out in the ocean, we did expect that when we paid $10 per passenger to utilize Norwegian’s internet app that it would work consistently but that wasn’t the case (see image below).

Norwegian ‘banned’ radios because they want to force people to use their unreliable app and service. We really didn’t have a choice but to buy it because it’s difficult to communicate with others if you don’t have cell service onboard the ship. We may consider bringing our own Starlink Satellite Internet the next time we cruise but I’m sure the cruise lines will find a dumb reason to ban them as well.

Epilogue: Overall Grade: C

Overall Norwegian Breakaway scored a C which gives it an average rating. There was nothing particularly exceptional about the ship except for the staff. Would we cruise on the Breakaway again? Probably not and we were leery of booking this cruise after reading the reviews of it on CruiseCritic.com but booked anyway as it was the only cruise that fit our tight schedule.

Categories: Norwegian - Breakaway, Uncategorized
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When we were in Rome, we rented an apartment through VRBO. Our apartment was located on Via Pierluigi da Palestrina in Rome. Since we were traveling as a family, we rented a four bedroom apartment. The apartment could have been fantastic as it was close to the Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican as well as plenty of shops and restaurants but there were far too many issues with the apartment.

The Good

The apartment was very large and had plenty of room and beds to sleep up to 6 people. It had a kitchen, dining area, family room, and 3 bedrooms with the family room having a sofa bed (4th bedroom). It was located near the Italian Supreme Court, Castel Sant Angelo and the Vatican. Below are some views of the courtyard from the apartment.

The Bad

Despite the great location and size of the apartment, that’s about where the good ended. Here is a list of issues with the apartment. First, there was barely any hot water. This apartment uses a tank-less water heater system and it rarely worked. There was a weird combination of having to open the sink faucet to drip then you might get hot water out of the shower. If that were the only problem it wouldn’t have been that bad but it wasn’t. The second problem with the shower was the water pressure which provided but a trickle of water from the apartment. The third problem with the shower room was mold in the corner of the bathroom. The fourth problem with the shower was how tiny it was and there was no shelves for soap or shampoo or much of anything else, fairly primitive even for European standards.

Secondly, one of the AC units (pictured below) was not working. It was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit while we were in Rome the last week of July and not having AC was brutal. We managed by cranking up the other AC units and strategically placing fans to circulate as much cool air as possible.

The furniture in the apartment was the cheapest creakiest stuff possible. The beds all creaked at the smallest movement and the mattresses were fairly thin and offered very little padding.

The Ugly

We were charged a 170 euro cleaning fee upon arrival which needed to be paid in cash. We’re not sure what the cleaning fee was for because the floors in the apartment were dirty. Clearly it wasn’t mopped prior to our arrival as there was dirt everywhere. The picture below is of the outside shutters, does this look clean to you?

It was great to have a full kitchen with gas stove, fridge and small dining table however the pots and pans provided did not have any lids so we had splatter everywhere anytime we cooked something. When I say pots and pans I really mean a small pot and a wok that was provided to cook.

Epilogue

With all the issues many people are having with VRBO and AirBnB and the ones we’ve experienced, it’s unlikely we will use those services again. I won’t say NEVER because the reality is that some cities simply don’t have enough hotel rooms or offer rooms large enough for more than 2 or 3 people much less kitchens but we will definitely use hotels more frequently over VRBO & AirBnB.

The cost of this ‘fabulous’ apartment was about €400 ($438)/night which was still cheaper than getting two hotel rooms during the prime summer vacation month in Rome.

Categories: Rome, Italy
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We arrived early to Livorno but the busses took a while to get loaded and take us to our destination.

We stopped for gelato at an amazing place called Bar La Terraza with majestic views of the Tuscan countryside.

We decided to take a look at a few of the properties for sale in the area. peccioli is an amazing place nestled on a hill overlooking the Tuscan countryside with cool breeze blowing through and wine country keeping the soul nourished.

We stopped by a local church where our group would assemble for our next stop: Winery.

After our walking site visit it was off to lunch and wine tasting.

Meanwhile in the other side of the Tuscan hills…

Back to the ship and our final stop Rome.

Categories: Italy
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We arrived early in the morning to Naples.

We drove about 40 minutes to Gragnano to visit an old pasta maker named Pastificio Cuomo. We got a tour of the facility and rich pasta making history of the area.

This whole street had pasta vendors at one point but now there are mostly shuttered retail outlets.

We sat down for lunch which included a cold plate appetizer with the fresh mozzarella being the highlight. The pasta was good but the tomato sauce stole the show.

The current owner of Pasta Cuomo said he may be the last family member to produce pasta given mass production and economies of scale with larger producers. If this is true it will be a sad day for the original pasta street.

Before we left Naples, we had to try a slice of pizza so we stopped by this place near the port called Cafe Beverello and the Legend of Dutch could be seen wolfing down slice after slice of pizza.

After our pizza, it was time to head back to the ship for our second to last stop.

Categories: Italy
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