Norwegian Breakaway 9/13-9/20 Review

[DonJuan77]

We got back from an awesome vacation on the Breakaway last night and I wanted to give my review of the ship/Bermuda. This was my first time on NCL and first time to Bermuda. We tried to fit as much as we could in three days but I will definitely be going back.

 

I went with my Wife, parents and aunts/uncles overall there were 8 of us.

 

I will start by saying I rarely ever complain when I go on vacations as I am too happy to really let anything bother me. I had a few things that were just observations but didn't let it get to me as you will read. I like to read the negative reviews of the ship to see what people complain about to see if I can prove them wrong.

 

Embarkation: We stayed in Parsipanny the night before as we were all coming from different places. We ended up parking there and taking a van to the port. It took about 40ish minutes to get the manhattan and sat in horrendous traffic when we got there (around 10:30 am). I believe there were 2 other ships in port so obviously it was very chaotic and not much could be done about the traffic but it was over an hour. Once we got through traffic check in was fairly simple, gave our luggage walked up the stairs and waited maybe 20 minutes, then we got on the boat.

 

Room: 9206 MB Mini-suite. I originally booked a balcony only because the company I booked through had a balcony or higher promotion. Two weeks before the cruise I asked about upgrading to the Mini-suite and it was only $105 total! The room was small as expected from other people saying it was. The balcony was also very small, you basically had to go single file to the balcony and had to move the chair to get in. The bathroom was the highlight of the room, as a 6'4" person I greatly appreciated not having to duck down to wash my hair. The beds were comfortable but we had a lot of trouble getting the AC to work but by day 4 we finally figured it out. Also when I would brush my teeth/shave for some reason the water never stayed on the temp I tried setting it to so it just stayed steaming hot it was annoying but I didn't care. I would suggest if you want a big shower/bathroom get a mini-suite definitely worth the extra money IMHO.

 

The Boat: I've been on both small and big boats (mostly the bigger ones) this boat had a very weird layout. My wife and I usually figure out the boat within the first day but for some reason could never fully grasp this ship. They definitely figured out how to maximize the number of people on this ship, it always felt crowded. On Royals big boats they have the middle of the ship that is the promenade and it always helped us figure out where to go, on this one it felt everything was just put there and there was no real flow. The sun deck was always packed but since we aren't lay out in the sun people I didn't care. It seemed most people didn't know about spice H2O so if we wanted to be outside we would go there and sit in the comfy seats near the bar. I think the slides and ropes course took up the prime real estate of the pool deck. Our favorite bars were O'Sheehans and Shakers martini bar. Shakers had an awesome bartender we met on the first day and went there every night.

 

Staff: Overall I thought the staff was awesome. I was reading reviews that said the staff was unhappy and miserable and they were never greeted etc. we never really ran into that. There were only two people I can distinctly remember looking just miserable, one waitress?/assistant bartender in the breakaway theater where we would play bingo that looked like she was going to have a mental breakdown on day 2 and a waiter/assistant bartender in O'sheehans who looked like he just did not want to be there at all. Other than those two everyone else seemed fine. The cruise director Silas was awesome, always cheery everyday and was always involved. The assistant cruise director (Adam I think? from Toronto) was also awesome. Overall the cruise directors staff was awesome, (we played a lot of bingo and deal/no deal haha).

 

Embarkation Day At Sea: Obviously after the hectic time of getting on the ship and everything we got our stuff in the room and immediately changed into our suits. I wanted to hit the slides before the crowds so my wife and I went up there. Zero lines! We went up and wanted to try the drop out slides but were stopped and said we couldn't be wearing ANY jewelry. Luckily my aunt and uncle were taking pictures so we were sent down the other slides (just as fun) and gave them our wedding rings. I was sent in the red one, they shut the door and was counted down (3,2,1) what a rush! flying down to the bottom was amazing. I got to the bottom and could hear my wife screaming as she was coming down so much fun! After that we went to the buffet that wasn't too packed around 2 pm. I got a salad and tuna my wife got a hot dog, not too bad but I will get into the food after. We sailed away after that sitting at uptown burger taking pictures of lady liberty, ellis island etc. Taking full advantage of the UBP we drank a lot. We ended up eating at O'sheehans (at the bar which has a very limited menu) I got wings my wife the pot pie (fantastic). I went out with my family to the majority rules trivia where Ferdie grabbed me as I was running up and made me "shake what my momma gave me" to which I responded well my mom is over there! He made us both dance haha then I embarrassed my self "dancing" and he just told me to go sit down. Hit the casino then the hay.

 

Day 1 (Monday) At Sea: Woke up and went to the buffet for breakfast we went around 8 am and the crowds were there. The buffet breakfast is terrible, this was one of my biggest complaints of the ship. I can understand that they are cooking for 5000+ people but wow it was bad. The only positive were the garlic hashbrows those were crispy and fantastic. We then went to bingo where I met the bartender for the first time, he never forgot me haha. After bingo we went to O'sheehans sit in dining I got the burger and she got the meatloaf, she loved the meatloaf the burger was okay. We got mozzarella "sticks" (3) seemed like they just sat there but no biggie. After that we met up with the family and did some bowling which was a blast. Then we played deal or no deal which is a lot more fun if you get called up no one won any huge prizes but it was something to do. We then ate dinner at taste (just two of us) we got in with no reservations very quickly and the service was very quick. I had an onion soup and a steak salad which was delicious. People complained about the drink service but I had 3 glasses of wine with zero issue. We then hit the casino limiting to $100 (I try not to be a huge casino guy) On our last $10 my wife put it on 16 and we hit, we swiftly left.

 

Day 2 (Tuesday) At Sea: We ate breakfast at O'sheehans I was hoping the eggs would've been better but I was wrong, I got the corned beef hash breakfast with scrambled eggs and it was just okay. My wife got the country platter and really liked it. After that we played bingo again and then we explored the ship when we found spice H2O, sat there for a couple hours had great bar service. We then went to uptown burger for lunch which I give A+++. Fantastic burgers and fries definitely a must do. Did bingo again and then went to the arcade and played pac-man air hockey which was a lot of fun. After a few more bar hops we went to dinner at savor which was a completely different experience than taste. Service was much slower but the food was just as good.

 

Day 3 (Wednesday) Bermuda: We went to Port Royal for some golf which was an amazing experience. My first time there and the course was absolutely beautiful and the scenery was outstanding. We should've played from the whites but that's why I packed a few more golf balls ;). After golf we had a drink in the Bella Vista bar and then got a cab back to the boat. We then went to the Frog and Onion for their famous fish and chips and I stupidly got the "Big Ben" a 50 oz beer. They brew their beer in house so I chose the amber ale very good. As expected the fish and chips was fantastic. After a second big ben and a $300+ bill for 8 people we went to the Bonefish bar and grill (known as another name that could get this review deleted). The drinks were good then went to calico jacks for a night cap. I got my first dark and stormy there which I wasn't a huge fan of. Back to the ship where I had an allergic reaction to something I broke out with hives and had trouble breathing, we couldn't find any benadryl and I was not going to health services so I slept it off luckily it was nothing.

 

Day 4 (Thursday) Bermuda: First full day wife and I skipped breakfast because we weren't hungry. Took a cab to horseshoe bay which was amazing. We went pretty early got there around 10:30 and there weren't many people. Stayed for 2+ hours walked the trails and found the other beaches that seemed to be hidden treasures (Apparently after we left someone had a heart attack at the beach rumors I am not sure if they are true, I am hoping not). We got back to the dockyard around 1 and had lunch and the bonefish bar, we got a burger and split nachos they were very good. We were looking for a different place to eat so we tried the hammerhead grill, not knowing what we were doing we had to pay $5 each just to get in and it was the Snorkel Beach club which was basically an all day/night club. If we were with our younger friends and not my family it would've been an awesome place to go at night (wife is 24 I am 26). We had reservations for my dad's birthday at Cagneys so we had to get back on the ship. Cagney's was absolutely fantastic a definite must-do. I got the iceberg wedge, 14oz strip and a ton of sides, wife got the filet and was all great! The drink service was very slow though that was my only complaint. We went from there to rock of ages (we were told that this was their last show on the breakaway not sure if it was part of the show) I am not a broadway show buy but my wife and family loved it. Had a few more drinks at shakers and went to bed.

 

Day 5 Last day in Bermuda: We woke up early and went to taste for breakfast, I would say if you want a good breakfast go to the dining rooms. It is much better, we got in very quick for 4 people. We then went to hamilton. We missed the 9:00 ferry so we split a cab between 5 people. I liked the scenic tour we got from our cab driver so it was worth the money. Hamilton was amazing, definitely a great place to go for shopping/bar hopping etc. We hit the pickled onion, hogs penny and I believe an irish bar I can't remember the name of. At that point we were pretty sick of spending money so we just had a few drinks and window shopped. We caught the ferry back to the ship to watch them leave bermuda. After watching them leave for a couple of hours on the waterfront we saw lounge singer Andy Avery who was fantastic. We wanted to try the buffet dinner, much better than breakfast and we were satisfied. Met up with my family at shakers again then went to bed.

 

Day 6 At Sea: We decided to sleep in and went to a late lunch at O'sheehans bar service. Got a tuna sandwhich which was very good as we were waiting for deal or no deal. We then played some pool which was pretty fun once I figured out how to swipe my card. We ended up getting late reservations at Teppanyaki and also got reservations right before at the ice bar. The ice bar was so worth the $20, being from NH I thought we could've handled it no problem. We drank pretty heavily before got our parkas on and for the first 10 minutes it was nothing, then we started to get pretty cold especially after sitting in the ice chairs. We lasted about 20 minutes then got changed for dinner. Teppanyaki was the highlight of our trip, even at 9:30 they cooks were very cheery and awesome. The drink service was very quick and the steak/chicken was fantastic. Stayed up quite late and passed out.

 

Day 7 Disembarkation: So full from teppanyaki we decided to skip breakfast and just get ready to go. We got off at 9:30 AM and it was relatively quick and painless for the amount of people they need to move.

 

Overall: I had an amazing time and can't wait to go back to Bermuda. I forgot to add that the complaints about the bar service being very slow is not true at all. Only during big shows and heavy crowd times was it a problem, i.e. a show in the atrium and you have 100+ people in the atrium and o'sheehans it's going to be slow. I would say if you want to get sun go to spice H2O or get the vibe passes. My next trip will be out of Boston on the Dawn for sure and NYC was very hectic and a lot of travel hours.

 

Any questions feel free to ask, I realize as I am re-reading my review it sounded like we didn't do much but it's hard not to just ramble on and on.

[janetz]

Great review! We board this Sunday. How much was Bingo? Thanks. :)

[bananapancakes]

We will be on 10/4 and have reservations for Rock of Ages, so I hope that wasn't their last show! Thanks for the review!

[DonJuan77]

Great review! We board this Sunday. How much was Bingo? Thanks. :)

 

 

$29 for two 1x3 cards

$49 for two 2x3 cards plus raffle tickets for a free cruise

$69 for two 2x3 cards, raffle tix and two instant win pull tab tickets. Also you get a t-shirt which if you wear it to bingo you get a free board, an extra raffle or an instant win.

[janetz]

Thanks! :)

[DonJuan77]

We will be on 10/4 and have reservations for Rock of Ages, so I hope that wasn't their last show! Thanks for the review!

 

 

Okay I figured as much, probably just part of the show so we could be more into it. It's definitely not kid friendly just an FYI. Women in lingerie the entire time, swearing and sexual innuendos. It was funny they clearly stated it like 5 times in the beginning and halfway through people with kids were leaving.

[buzzygirl1]

There are things to do at the Dockyard, there is a glass blowing demo, quite interesting actually, it is free, but you can leave a tip if desired, there is a Rum Factory, but quite honestly, at Holiday time, I make a better Rum cake from scratch, ( even husband agreed) MINE you can taste the rum.

As result, we weren't impressed much with the rum cakes and didn't buy any.

We found that souvenirs at the " pharmacy" at Dockyard were quite reasonable in price. Just thought we would add these few notes to your review. Agree on Horseshoe Bay Beach, rent an umbrella and beach chairs, and spent over 4 hours our Thursday there, so nice.

Planning a trip on Breakaway back to Bermuda next summer. have taken cruise to Bahamas, but we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise to Bermuda much more.

[DonJuan77]

There are things to do at the Dockyard, there is a glass blowing demo, quite interesting actually, it is free, but you can leave a tip if desired, there is a Rum Factory, but quite honestly, at Holiday time, I make a better Rum cake from scratch, ( even husband agreed) MINE you can taste the rum.

 

As result, we weren't impressed much with the rum cakes and didn't buy any.

 

We found that souvenirs at the " pharmacy" at Dockyard were quite reasonable in price. Just thought we would add these few notes to your review. Agree on Horseshoe Bay Beach, rent an umbrella and beach chairs, and spent over 4 hours our Thursday there, so nice.

 

Planning a trip on Breakaway back to Bermuda next summer. have taken cruise to Bahamas, but we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise to Bermuda much more.

 

 

I completely forgot about the rum cakes and the glass blowing! The coconut rum cakes were my favorite. We went for Benadryl at the pharmacy and ended up buying a magnet instead haha. I wanted to try the glow ball mini golf but we didn't get a chance. We walked around the entire mall etc. next time I would like to check the museum, do mini golf and jump the plank at calico jacks.

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[clarkg]

The mini suite was small or just the balcony on the mini suite was small?

[DonJuan77]

The mini suite was small or just the balcony on the mini suite was small?

 

 

The room itself was pretty small but not too bad. You had to walk single file past the bed. The bathroom was huge which made it worth it. The balcony was pretty much useless, we used it to just watch sunsets in the morning but it was nice to have a balcony regardless.

[cv322]

Thanks for your review, I enjoyed reading. The Breakaway is one of my 2 favorite ships!

[SilentHill]

We will be on 10/4 and have reservations for Rock of Ages, so I hope that wasn't their last show! Thanks for the review!

 

It was that "casts" last show. They change the actors every 6 months.