Norwegian Breakaway – Review & Report Card
homer| August 8, 2023 5:55 pmWe’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.
