I Braved The Scariest Activities At Sea!

ad – This content was created on a press trip (similar to those travel agents and journalists take). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

On my last cruise, I braved drop slides, a zip line and a ropes course. I even walked the plank off the side of the top deck.

The height from the plank to the ocean is more than the height of the Statue of Liberty, so it’s not a surprise that it took me over 10 years to build up the courage to do these things.

I was so nervous that I’d get stuck on the ropes course, maybe I’d fall off the plank or not make it over the loop of the waterslide…

One of those things did come true, but I’m so glad I faced my fears, and I know what I’d do differently next time. 

As soon as I embarked on Norwegian Breakaway, I noticed the massive ropes course on the top deck.

It’s quite hard to miss that when this section sticks out 18 decks above the ocean. When I cruised on the ship way back in 2015, I didn’t get up the courage to do it, but I hoped that I would this time around.

I knew I’d have to work my way up to that though so I decided to start with the waterslides.

Not that they were any less scary. I did go on the easy peasy one to start with, of course, to warm myself up, but I knew that the drop slides were where I had to go next.

I had done a drop slide before on Norwegian Aqua, but that was a dry slide, and this one was a wet slide.

The dry slide was great because I could just pop down the slide to go to lunch, but this one required more preparation.

By the time I was in my swimwear, I felt like I’d always committed to going down the slide. 

I knew that there was a very real possibility that I wouldn’t make it over the loop and would have to be rescued from the little hatch in the middle. 

Just to be clear here, that is a totally normal thing, and the risk is part of the thrill of a slide like this.

Still, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like in there. would it be claustrophobic and dark, and wet? I didn’t really want to find out, but it was a risk I had to take. 

Because both of my swimwear options had little plastic bits on the straps to adjust them, I had to wear a t-shirt on the slide. 

Norwegian don’t mess around with safety when it comes to these slides, and that is important. I had to take off all my jewellery, my earrings and ring. Basically, nothing plastic or metal can go on the slides at all. 

The crew working the slide were so friendly, and because I went when we were in port, there were no queues at all. 

I climbed into the slide, crossed my arms and tried to just breathe to calm my heart rate down a bit.

I knew that at any second the floor would fall out below me and that I’d fall into a dark slide. I didn’t know when it would be, but I knew that it was coming…

I closed my eyes so I can’t tell you a lot about what it looked like but I can tell you that I was moving forward fast and the water wasn’t too cold. I realised very quickly, though, that I was going backwards rather than forwards.

It didn’t worry me, though. The crew member at the top had told me that it might happen because of my t-shirt, and I knew that I’d just have to wait for the other crew member at the bottom to let me out. 

I’m sure it only took a few seconds, but while I was still in the slide, I made the decision to go again. The drop part was fun, and I just wanted to give it another go. I couldn’t come this far and not try again. 

I tried the other slide the second time, they are the same, and I had the same result – I got stuck. Again, I blame the t-shirt.

My top tip for these slides would be to make sure that you have some swimwear without any plastic, a sports costume maybe, or if you’re a guy, just wearing shorts, you’ll be fine.

I saw plenty of people who did make it over the loop, and I had fun anyway, which was the whole point.

It definitely wasn’t scary being in the slide, although on the second attempt, I got so close to the top, I held myself there for a second, but I knew I couldn’t climb upwards in the dark, feet first and all wet.

So I just had to let go and slide backwards, that was a little sad but definitely not scary. 

I knew that the crew were in charge the whole time, and I liked that. It wasn’t my responsibility to work out what was going on.

That wasn’t the case for the next thing I braved though, this one was totally on me and I would be alone the entire time.

I had been past the ropes course a couple of times earlier in the cruise, and I wondered if I could pretend I was too short to go on the big ropes course.

I did look longingly at the kids’ version of the ropes course, which is only a few feet from the floor, but there was no denying from looking at the height chart that I was tall enough. 

In theory there should be no difference, if you can walk on a pole here a few foot from the ground, you can up in the air, but my legs didn’t feel like that was the same.

The crew put on my harness for me, and it felt very secure and sturdy. The ropes course, zip line, and drop slides are included in the cruise fare.

I could feel the harness there with every step, which was reassuring. It does give you a bit of a wedgie, but that’s a small price to pay! 

I walked up the steps, making sure to keep moving my rope up with me. You had to physically move the rope onto the next part before you could move, so that you couldn’t just accidentally slip and fall down. 

I was so happy to see when I got to the top that it wasn’t a fixed course with one way around. There were some parts that looked harder than others, and I could pick and choose.

I didn’t want to be holding up the whole line because I couldn’t get over one part. 

I started with a few sections where I had to walk on ropes and those were the hardest because my legs were shaking. I tried not to look down, but is quite hard when you have to see where to put your feet! 

As I wandered around I did get more and more confident, maybe helped by the fact that there were kids on the course who were way smaller than me, and they wandered around as if it was no different to being on land.

I’ve never been on a zip line on a cruise before, and this was a great one to start with.

It felt like I was just sitting in a strange chair made from ropes. I was amazed that I didn’t find it scarier, but I knew the scariest part was still to come, on the other side of the zip line. 

Norwegian Breakaway has a plank that sticks out over the edge of the ship, and it’s only 8 inches wide.

It’s scary enough looking down a couple of decks to the top of the ship, but this ropes course is already on deck 18 of the cruise ship, meaning that I was a million trillion miles high.

There is wind up here, too of course, I’m not saying that I am light enough to be blown off my feet, but my legs were already shaking, and it did feel like I could be poked over by a feather. 

When I got to the plank, I thought to myself, “This is it, it’s now or never”. I’ve made it this far and walked over plenty of parts already that are the same material and width, I’m sure I can do this one too.

What I hadn’t thought about, though, was that yes, I had learnt to walk forward, but going backwards was another thing entirely. The sea was so far down that it almost didn’t register in my brain at all. It was out of focus of my eyes anyway. 

I decided to turn around at the end, and that really was scary.

The relief I felt when I got back to the regular ropes course, though, was incredible. From that point, I was wandering around like it was nothing, with the confidence of the kids I’d seen earlier. Maybe the plank is where they got it from. 

I was so proud of myself, and I of course decided that when I got back to ground, I needed to reward myself with lunch at the American Diner. I knew I’d be happy for the rest of the cruise now – when my legs stopped shaking anyway. 

Have a look at me on that scary ropes course in the video below:

There was so much more to this ship than just the scary activities and even if this isn’t your thing at all, you can still have a great time onboard Norwegian Breakaway.

I sailed to Bermuda on her in 2015. I didn’t try the ropes course or the drop slides. Past me would be proud of current me, I hope! 

To find out what our lunch was like, along with all the other food I ate onboard, the entertainment I watched and the places I went to, check out this video next.

Before You Go

I stayed in a solo studio cabin on Norwegian Breakaway. Find out if this is a cost-efficient solution for solo travellers here:

Cruising Solo: Is a Studio Cabin Cheaper Than Staying in a Standard Cabin Solo?

Have a closer look at Norwegian studio solo cabins here:

I Cruised in The SMALLEST Cruise Ship Cabin (1 Guest Only)