Norwegian Breakaway 7 night Bermuda Cruise (Tim & Anne’s Report)

Norwegian Breakaway
7 night Bermuda Cruise
Sept 14-21, 2014
by Tim Larison, CLIA Certified Master Cruise Counselor (MCC)
with contributions from Travel Agent Anne Larison

2014 marked the first time we had cruised on an NCL ship in over 10 years.  After a wonderful Hawaii cruise on the Pride of America in June we looked forward to sailing on one of NCL’s newest ships, the Norwegian Breakaway, on a 7 night Bermuda voyage from New York.  Similar to our Hawaii cruise, we really liked the NCL experience!

The Ship

The Norwegian Breakaway first sailed in April 2013.  At 144,000 tons it is approximately the same size as the Royal Caribbean Voyager Class ships (we had sailed on RCCL’s Voyager Class Mariner of the Seas three times before).  Given her large size the Breakaway has lots to offer.

Dining

NCL pioneered the “flexible” dining concept on cruises, where passengers can choose what time they want to eat dinner.  Much like dining at a Chilis back home, when you show up at one of the Breakaway’s three “freestyle”, complimentary dining rooms you are seated at the first available table.  One cruiser we talked to said he dined in a freestyle dining room every night, the food was good, and there was never a wait to be seated. We had a different approach to NCL dining – we only ate at a freestyle dining room one night.  While I thought the food there was acceptable, where NCL really shines is in its speciality restaurants (each with a cover charge).

My favorite speciality restaurant, and a must for us to dine at on every NCL cruise we take, is the Teppenyaki dining room.  As this short video shows, NCL’s Teppenyaki room features an entertaining chef grilling your dinner for you right at your table:

http://youtu.be/bvMyBrtBbfs

We found the Teppenyaki dining on the Breakaway just as good as what we had on NCL’s Pride of America earlier this year.  The portions were huge (I had three servings of fried rice!) and my grilled shrimp was excellent.  The Breakaway’s Teppenyaki room is larger, with more tables, than what we’ve seen on other NCL ships.  That helps some with availability – I saw open dining times here most nights if you were available to dine early or late.  We still recommend making a reservation in advance to insure you have a meal at this unique and excellent restaurant.

The other speciality restaurant we gave high marks to was Cagney’s Steakhouse.  The steak lovers in our party loved their dinners here, and I enjoyed my fish entree.

There were so many specialty restaurants to choose from on the Breakaway that we did not have near enough meals to experience them all.  I thought the speciality dining package was a good deal – at $119 per person on our cruise you could dine at a speciality restaurant each night.  Without the package the cover charge for Cagney’s was $30 and Teppenyaki’s was $25 per person.  The other speciality restaurants have similar pricing.

For breakfast and lunch, we often ate at the ship’s buffet.  While the quality of the food was good, for such a large ship I didn’t think the buffet offered as many choices as I expected, and it was very crowded at the peak dining times.  The buffet’s free ice cream, though, as Anne mentions below, was excellent!

As an alternative to the buffet I preferred O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill.  This complementary sports bar was open 24 hours a day.  I enjoyed my made to order breakfast omelette here, a hamburger at lunch, and meatloaf at dinner.  I heard other passengers raving about the “all you can eat” rib night at this informal dining hall.  The desserts were excellent, too.  There’s a bit of a wait if you dine at peak times at O’Sheehan’s – we avoided that with our early bird breakfasts, lunches, and dinners here.

Anne says:

One of the things we found unique about the Breakaway was the complimentary ice cream.  Not only were there two soft serve ice cream machines available for self-serve chocolate, vanilla and twist cones, but there was also a scoop ice cream station in the Garden Café buffet.  Many ships offer one or the other, but not both.  We have sailed on many ships where the scoop ice cream included a cover charge.  We did take advantage of an ice cream treat every day!

Entertainment

“Best show I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship!” we overheard one passenger say about NCL’s signature “Rock of Ages” production.  “That show was terrible! I walked out and many of my friends did, too,” said another.  Our reaction to the show was in the middle of these two extremes.  We thought the performers and vocals were very good.  It was fun to hear some of our favorite rock songs of the 80’s.  The show’s material is definitely adult – this isn’t your family oriented Disney production – and we’ve seen better story telling from other cruise line productions (like Royal Caribbean’s “Hairspray”).  Those who were offended ignored the repeated warnings from NCL about the adult content of the show.

While Rock of Ages was just OK for us, we enjoyed most the entertainment presented at a unique venue in the center of the ship – a stage with a two story movie screen behind it.  We liked Arvin and Emily’s tribute to Timeless Songs here one night.  After we heard this duo we were sure to catch their other performances on the big stage and at smaller venues around the ship for the rest of the cruise.  On another night the center stage hosted a high energy tribute to Michael Jackson by Fire and Ice.  The big screen was used during the day, too.  We watched the movie “Saving Mr Banks” one afternoon, and we played trivia in this area on another.  Kudos to NCL for this area – the best use of a big screen I’ve seen on a cruise ship.

There were other shows we heard good reports on (Cirque Dreams, Second City, and Burn The Floor were three).  Compared to smaller ships there were so many entertainment options on the Breakaway that you are sure to find something that appeals to you.

Anne says:

One tip about watching entertainment in the Atrium, the seating is limited, so you want to arrive early.  The main floor is of the viewing area is near guest service and there are a limited number of large comfortable chairs surrounding the stage.  On the second floor there are seats arranged in a horseshoe shape surrounding the area, but again with a limited number of bar stools.  For many of the performances it was standing room only, with lots of people standing.

Onboard Activities

The tallest water slide I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship is just one of the many recreational features on the Breakaway.  Basketball, mini golf, a ropes course, a miniature bowling alley, and more are available to keep even the most active cruiser engaged on the “at sea” days.  On our cruise we were busy attending meetings with the travel agent conference we were part of.  Hence we did not have the time to experience the recreation venues as much as we would have liked, though we did get in 9 holes of minigolf.  We found this layout more challenging than your typical cruise ship course.

Anne says:

There is tons of fun involving water on the ship.  The Kid’s Aqua Park features Nickelodeon characters from Bikini Bottom, including SpongeBob and others.  In addition there are five waterslides, two swimming pools and four hot tubs.

Staterooms

Our inside stateroom was small with not much storage space.  In addition our room was located at the front of deck 8, right next to a crew stairwell, where we heard noise throughout the night.  We eventually adjusted but we would not recommend this stateroom location on the ship.

As travel agents we did have the opportunity to see other cabins.  The suite area was very nice with its own exclusive pool and lounge (“The Haven”).  A few lower priced balcony staterooms had access to the Haven, too.  Next time – forget the inside room – we want to stay in The Haven!

The Breakaway has excellent accommodations for single cruisers, with specially designed solo staterooms, a dedicated lounge, and an activities director.  On the Breakaway singles pay a lower price one of these reduced sized rooms.  We talked to one family who said their grandmother stayed in this area, while the rest of the family had a balcony stateroom.  This allowed the grandmother to come along at a reasonable price, instead of having to pay the double occupancy rate like you see for singles on most other cruise lines.

Internet Café/wireless access

The Breakaway had the latest in internet access.  We had no problems accessing a wireless signal from our stateroom and elsewhere on the ship.  Instead of a “minutes” plan you could buy so many megabytes worth of internet usage.  I found the megabyte plan gave me more time online than the standard “minutes” plans I’ve seen on other ships.  I still prefer an “unlimited” internet plan like Royal Caribbean recently has introduced, but for a package where you have to buy time NCL’s charge by megabytes instead of by minutes is a welcome addition.

Sailing out of New York, Bermuda

Our cruise itinerary involved sailing two days from New York, staying in Bermuda for two and a half days, and then sailing back.  Cruising out of New York harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, is always an emotional experience for me.  I think back to what it must have been like for my Italian grandparents when they first saw this sight when arriving at Ellis Island.

This was our first visit to Bermuda.  Our travel agent group received a warm welcome from the locals.  A Bermuda historian came up to us as we explored on our own and gave us a 45 minute tour of the dock area, telling us stories of the island’s past.

The highlight of our three day stay was a morning visit to Horseshoe Bay.  We arrived shortly after 9 am, before the crowds, and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves for the first hour.

The mayor of Bermuda and the town crier welcoming our travel agent group at a gathering at Hamilton City Hall.

Anne says:

Our ship docked at Heritage Wharf near the Royal Naval Dockyard.  There are many opportunities to explore this British Territory including ferry boats to St. George’s Parish and the City of Hamilton, motor scooter rentals and taxis.  

Summary

A Bermuda cruise on the NCL Breakaway from New York is a wonderful getaway!  On the four “at sea” days you get to cruise on one of the most advanced ships afloat, with plenty of dining, recreation, and entertainment options.  On land the beautiful beaches and hospitality of the natives in Bermuda assure you of an enjoyable three day stay.

Sound like fun?  We can arrange your vacation on the NCL Breakaway to Bermuda or the Caribbean, too!  Contact us for more information or for a no obligation price quote!