NCL Breakaway (March 2023)

Reason for Booking:

After having sailed a lot of different Carnival ships (17 different CCL ships so far), wanted to try a different experience and decided on NCL for this time. We did NOT have their Haven experience, so no special treatments / priority / perks for those booking those cabins. Instead of a traditional review, I’ve broken it down to the NCL/CCL differences.

Where we felt NCL did well (vs CCL):

[Embarkation] You get your cabin key cards during check-in at the cruise terminal.

[Embarkation] You get a big “Boarding Card” in the cruise terminal with a big Group number on it, so when it’s time for them to call boarding groups, they can easily identify people are in the right group that’s called and pick-up those cards from you on your way to the gangway.

[Buffet] Different stations included Asian, Indian, etc; ice-cream served like BR style with good/different flavors (they also have self-serve ice-cream machines as well).

[Buffet] Napkins and utensils at every table (instead of pick-up by food stations).

[Buffet] Food plates were usually hot, and liked seeing the different color food plates.

[Buffet] In general the food seemed a bit less greasy somehow (although I enjoy food on both/all lines).

[Buffet] It was nice seeing several Officers walking around the Buffet area, making sure guest tables are good and guests are happy, guiding the crew where needed, and even saw Officers picking up plates and cleaning up tables (and not just crew).

[MDRs] There are 3 on this ship, different décor for each but same menu across the 3 on the same night (but menu changes day-to-day, just like CCL). You can eat in whichever one you want as part of their ‘freestyle dining’, and not assigned a particular MDR.

[MDRs] They all felt kinda elegant, maybe partially because they all have tablecloths every night, and also your waiter hands you a hardcover menu without you asking (no scanning with your phone).

[MDRs] Tables seemed to have more distance between them.

[MDRs] Less dinner interruptions like getting your pic taken, shots, etc.

[Cabin] Our bathroom was pretty spacious, including the shower (with glass doors). No need to have one foot inside the bathroom and one outside to dry off like on Mardi Gras/Celebration

[Cabin] There is 2 buttons inside the cabin right by the door—a ‘Do Not Disturb’ and a ‘Make Up Room’. When you click whichever one, it will put a designated light outside the cabin above the door, so your cabin steward knows.

[Cabin] Captain and other important announcements from CD come thru the TV at the same time as the live announcement, very very cool. No need to run to the door to hear what’s being said.

[Cabin Hallways] Love the fish design on the carpet, can easily tell which way is fwd/aft (fish swim direction is fwd)

[Cabin Hallways] no plates in the hallways by the cabin doors. Hardly saw anyone bringing food to the cabins (from buffet or other food dining venues). I think most people leave their plates inside their cabin for like room service when they’re done. I know, I know, CCL specifically says to leave outside. Just an observation difference.

[Getting off the ship at Ports]: seem more organized getting off, no photographers pushing for pics or slowing down the gangway, and they give you a towel when you’re off the ship (just tell them your cabin #)

[Getting back on the ship at Ports]: Right before getting on the gangway, they give you a cold wet towel to cool off, lemonade/water, and a place to throw your soggy towel (just tell them your cabin #).

[Drinks] I had the Drinks pkg and it is truly unlimited (no cap at 15), and you can get 2 drinks at a time. Also they don’t hand you a receipt after each drink to sign (I really liked that).

[Kids Camp] They call it Splash Academy (for their 3~12 year olds) which is Free until 11pm, instead of 10pm on Carnival. After that, a small charge (just like CCL).

[Slides] I know this is ship dependent, but slides on this ship are FUN. There is one that you stand vertical, this transparent tube closes on you, you hear a loud countdown from 3 to 1, and then the slide chute under your feet opens up and you just free-fall down for a few secs before twisting/turning going down then up then down. Very cool, I went on it like 10 times!!

[Lido deck] Singer and a small band playing by the pool area, vs just a DJ.

[Theater] Proper 2 level but no top ‘balcony’, just rows of seats from bottom to top. Also I noticed behind each seat on the top of it, there is a vent/AC

[Band] I know this can be ship dependent, but the band playing in Syd Norman’s Pour House nightclub were truly fantastic!!

Where we felt NCL didn’t do so well (vs CCL):

[Muster Drill] Back to old style… 7 beeps and everyone goes to their assigned muster station at certain time (ours was 3pm). But I saw a recent operations announcement that they are going back to e-muster (rather than in person) starting April 1st 2023.

[Cabin] Even though we had our key card on hand from cruise terminal, our cabin wasn’t actually ready until 2:30pm (we boarded a bit before 11:30am).

[Cabin] I found very little shelf space in the cabin and no drawers. Except in the bathroom, like I mentioned above those were spacious (and lot of places to put your toiletries)

[Cruise Director and Entertainment Staff] Carnival’s are way more fun. Their personality, energy level, just more fun and dynamic.

[Crew] This one is tough to explain. The crew is still very polite and friendly but they seem less ‘open’ in a way. You know, like even walking the hallways on Carnival saying good morning, how are you doing, CCL crew loves that. Here they seem more reserved in a way, if that makes sense. Not everyone ofcourse, some were like on Carnival, but not the majority in our experience.

[Kids Camp] OK, the Registration for Splash Academy (3~12 yo’s) and Entourage (13~17 yo’s) just plain sucked. You have to be onboard to do their registration, and it’s a sit down with the camp staff them explaining everything (doesn’t help with there’s a long line of guests wanting to register).

[Kids Camp] Don’t have your kiddo lose their wristband, or it’s a $5 (Splash Academy) or $20 (Entourage) charge to your sail account. I was quite shocked with this.

[Kids Camp] Drop off and pick up at Splash Academy just takes too long, between them calling several kids together (so you might wait a while), a “password” you set with them, double rope/gate barrier for them, asking the child and the parent the last name, etc. I’m all for child safety and making sure the right adult designated is picking up, but it really is overkill.

[Kids Camp] My biggest pet peeve is when they ask you “where are you going to be” when you drop off your kid. First time I asked them why are they asking, and they said ‘just in case’. So let me get this straight… if I tell you I’m going to the theater, and I’m sitting there in the middle of 1000 other people, and there’s an issue, are you going to come down to the Theater and try to find me? If it’s an emergency, make a ship announcement to have us call GS or a certain number. And what if we change our mind and go somewhere else, you really want us calling you everytime or everywhere we go? Yes, I am adding this feedback to the post cruise review.

[Kids Camp] They can and do have max capacity in camp which means turning people away if it reaches that… and needing to do ‘Virtual Que’ in those situations, which has an expiration window (like 20 mins or so). Happened to us… stood in long line to check in/drop off my son there, finally when our turn they said sorry we’re max capacity, please use the virtual que. So why not put a sign or something or inform those folks standing in long line so they don’t waste their time.

[Self-service Kiosk] They don’t have them onboard. Want to do something simple like add cash to your sail account? Gotta go to GS’s.

[Reservations] Having to reserve for a lot of things (not just dining), like comedy and theater shows. No penalty ofcourse if you don’t make it, but just having to do this since everyone else is (otherwise hard to get a seat).

[Comedy] Way less comedians onboard. We only had 2 and they repeated their shows. I really missed the Comedy shows on Carnival on this sailing.

[Comedy] The lounge that holds the comedy and few other entertainments is not as nice as Carnival’s IMO, for the layout and also the hard/wooden chairs.

[Elevators] Only aft and fwd (8 each), and when you press the button to go up/down, it only triggers a series on one side. I think this might be a strategy on their part to ‘free up’ some elevators, but lot of people end up pressing the buttons on both sides anyway.

[Atrium] Lots of activities here, but it gets crowded for popular stuff like Deal or No Deal, Love & Marriage (which they call Newly Not So Newlywed Game Show) and lot of people end up standing or not going when they see nowhere to sit or even stand to see anything.

[Lido] Design there is a bit strange and not much space between the stage and the pool, so they hold those Deck Parties at Spice H20 instead (back of ship), which is normally adults only area except for stuff like deck parties when they open for all.

[Key card] Comes without a punch hole, and can’t punch a hole on it yourself, since it demagnetizes the card (even if you’re careful and not punch on the back strip). Happened to us and we had to get new cards at GS (thankfully no charge) and they told us can’t punch a hole anywhere.

[Wifi] Had the Free at Sea 150 mins, but it was a bit finicky at times. You have to log on and remember to log off everytime (otherwise it all gets used up quick). But a couple of times after I logged out, I checked back later and saw it said 0 mins left. Went to Internet Manager on deck 6 (across from GS desk near the atrium) and he reinstated the remaining minutes.

[Time change] We had ship time change to 1 hour forward one night (2am), and then 1 hour back fwd closer towards end of sailing (2am). Thought it was kind of weird on a Caribbean sailing and not stay as same time as home port time.