We seniors did this 7 night cruise, having sailed Breakaway and Getaway, (among other NCL ships) previously. We no longer LIKE Breakaway. Here are the good and the not so good.
Service. Ship was near capacity but all service was outstanding: bars, restaurants, customer service, boarding. All good.
Music. Big disappointment. Daytime and early evening only had poolside music. But this is Oct, and not suitable to sit and listen outside. Only once or twice was there lounge music at 5:30. Only in a small lounge, crowded of course. With really horrible furniture. Form over function. After 6 there was some music in the Atrium. Hugely crowded. Worst chairs you can imagine. Only good for someone 7ft tall. Nobody could sit back comfortably. The last place for early evening music was in the Manahattan room but this was at dinner. Wife and I like to have a pre-dinner cocktail and hear some entertainment, but forget it. Did I mention the bad furniture throughout the ship?
Later on, there was music. Howl at the Moon was exceptional.
Buffet. Good! Self serve. Had lots of protection for food. Breakfast and lunch choices were good. Staff was accommodating, going specially for a juice item I wanted.
Around the ship: No forward indoor viewing areas. No aft outdoor lounges. So if you wanted to view sailing, nothing was satisfactory.
Daytime entertainment; Trivia, sodoku and not much else to our liking. There was always some kind of commercial event going on. And always some outdoor stuff in the 55-65 degree weather, with wind.
Boarding and disembarking: fast, easy. Tendering was aok.
Dining: We learned to carry a cocktail into MDR and order wine inside. This avoided the slow bar service in Manhattan. Cocktail service in other places outstanding.
OSheehans expectedly good. Last time on NCL, this restaurant did not feature daily specials. This time yes, including prime rib. MDR Manhattan was either poor or satisfactory. A short ribs entrée was just shredded beef on a ton of noodles. Good thing I ordered a double because the meat serving size was pathetic. One or two nights nothing in MDRs appealed to us so we used our specialty dining perks
Cagneys: not up to previous quality. Porterhouse did not seem to be a good cut.
Ocean Blue: Wow! Just great.
La Cucina: We always like this place and it did not disappoint again. Osso Bucco and Filet Mignon outstanding.
Le Bistro was good
Internet: Poor. We each had 150 minutes. It cost me nearly 100 on line to achieve 30 useful minutes.
We have a sailing on Getaway in March, so it will be interesting to see if anything is different.