I Spent 9 Days on a MEGASHIP With 4237 Other Guests

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

I’ve just disembarked a cruise on one of the world’s most exciting cruise ships, where I braved a 5-storey drop slide and walked the plank 18 decks above the ocean.

The cruise was onboard Norwegian Breakaway, and even though I have been cruising with Norwegian since I was eleven, this cruise was very different.

From my tiny solo cabin to quirky speciality restaurants, I did things I’ve never done on a cruise before. 

In total, the Norwegian Breakaway can hold over 4000 guests and almost 2000 crew members.

She has 19 bars, 15 restaurants and is as long as 74 cars in a row. She is a big, big cruise ship, and I spent 9 days onboard trying to see and do everything. 

I went into this cruise with a really long “to-do” list, so I wondered if it might be a bit overwhelming.

I also wasn’t sure how it would be visiting the Mediterranean ports in summer with so many other people, and I hoped that it wouldn’t be too crowded in the bars and lounges onboard.

When Norwegian Breakaway launched, she was described as being “fun, flashy and modern.”

But that was over a decade ago, so I hoped that the ship would still live up to that. I recently cruised on Norwegian’s newest ship, Norwegian Aqua, so I was a little nervous that this ship might not compare. 

We flew to Barcelona to board the ship, and embarkation was really easy.

There were a lot of people there for sure, which makes sense – it’s a big, big ship – but all the lines were moving fast, and it was all very well organised.

I had a boarding time of 11:30, which was incredible and meant that I’d be onboard for lunch. 

I was hopeful that this was a sign of what was to come and that, even though I would be sharing the ship with over 4,000 other guests, it wouldn’t mean delays and crowds. Only time would tell, though… 

The ship looked absolutely huge, and the hull art on the front makes her instantly recognisable.

She was built originally to sail from New York City, and that’s reflected in the art. From the ground, I could see the ropes course up on the top deck, which looked absolutely terrifying.

I really wanted to get up the courage to do it on the cruise, but I wasn’t going to make any promises.

If it was scary from the ground looking up, I figured it would be even scarier up there looking down. Especially since this plank actually goes over the edge. slides

Stepping into the ship was so exciting. The first place that I found on board was this big atrium area with a bar and restaurant on the top called O’Sheehan’s.

The design and colour definitely are from 2013, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The ship has been updated a lot since then, and they’ve added some completely new venues. 

Wandering a little further down the ship, I found a separate atrium area with a massive chandelier in the middle.

It’s really impressive, and the fact that this ship has two atriums is a sign of how big she really is.

There were lots of people around here organising their speciality meals or booking excursions, but there was only one thing on my mind at this point, and that was lunch.

One of my favourite things about Norwegian cruises is that they have their main dining rooms open for lunch on embarkation day, and Breakaway actually has three. 

At the back, she has a huge dining room with massive windows, and there are two smaller ones on the sides called Savor and Taste. There are no fixed dining times at all, no dress codes, no formal nights, and I love that. 

Because my first five cruises were with Norwegian, this is what I was always used to. It was quite a shock to go on other cruise lines and to find out that they had requirements about what I had to wear, when I had to eat, and on some cruise lines you even have to share a table with strangers at dinner. No thanks.

The Norwegian freestyle approach suits me perfectly. 

We decided to go to Taste for our first meal, and I think this restaurant is a great example of how Norwegian were ahead of their time with this ship.

2013 might not sound that long ago, but a lot has changed in cruising since then, and one trend is that cruise lines are opting for more intimate dining venues rather than big rooms.

This restaurant was quite big, but it was split up nicely, so you never felt like you were in a big restaurant. 

It was here that I had the best salad I’ve ever had. It was called a salad on the menu anyway. I’m not sure I’d count this as a salad, it was a brie pastry with veg on the side, but it was absolutely fantastic.

I could have eaten this meal every day of the cruise, and it still wouldn’t have been enough.

I had a turkey cottage pie for main, and just getting up and leaving without paying at the end of the meal is so much fun.

I know that’s how it works, everything in here is included in the cruise fare, but still, it feels cheeky. 

I headed outside next to the promenade deck. A lot of cruise lines have started phasing promenade decks out over recent years, and I’m so happy to say that Norwegian have really embraced and expanded on the promenade deck idea.

Norwegian Breakaway was one of the first ships to have what is called a “waterfront”, and I love it so much.

It’s basically a traditional promenade deck, but it has bars and restaurants actually on the waterfront, hence the name.

I had an inside cabin on this cruise, so this area pretty much became my own big balcony.

I was a little worried at the start that it would get busy, but I was always able to get a seat here, and everywhere I wanted to, even on our sea day.

Sitting in the comfy seats with a drink from the bar was perfect. It was so warm and snuggly, and I started to look at the Norwegian app to plan my week. 

On Norwegian Breakaway, entertainment onboard doesn’t need to be booked ahead of time, but speciality restaurants and excursions do.

On the newer ships like Aqua, you do have to book the theatre shows, but not on here. I booked a couple of excursions and a speciality restaurant which was inside a cinema, which I was particularly interested in.

I wasn’t sure what that would all be about, but it sounded like something unique. I like food, I like cinema, I couldn’t imagine that I wouldn’t like the two together. 

In the app, we could see the daily schedule of events, check our onboard spend, and see when things were open, like the ropes courses and the waterslides.

I have to say I was absolutely terrified at this point of going on those, but I told myself I’d be brave and would do it later in the cruise.

Every time I saw the waterslide closed, I was like “Phew, I’m off the hook…for now”

Because we boarded so early in the day, we still had a little bit of time until our cabins were ready, so we decided to head up and out.

My cabin was on deck 11 anyway, so I’d be ready when it was available. I walked up the stairs from deck 6 to 16 and was totally out of breath by the time I got to the top.

I did get used to it as the cruise went on and I do have pretty good stair legs now I think.

I averaged 50 flights of stairs a day on this cruise according to my watch, and yes there are lifts but I try not to take them when I cruise because, well, I just I don’t need or want to.

I never go near the cruise ship gyms, the stairs are my exercise. 

The sun was shining on the top deck, people were in the pool, there was music playing, and it was such a good feeling.

I was a bit worried at first that this pool deck area seemed very small, but as I wandered around, I found lots of outside space; it just felt as though it was more spread out than typical.

There was another pool under the slides and a splash area for the kids. There is a grassy area on the very top deck called Horizon Park, and there were plenty of pool deck areas with lots and lots of sun loungers. 

Up on the top deck, behind a secret door that I usually don’t get to go to, was an area called the Vibe Beach Club.

I knew that I had this on my account on this cruise, but I still wasn’t convinced that it would really let me through the magic door.

It did, though, and I’m so glad that it did. In here was a bar, loads of very comfortable seats and a few hot tubs. 

This is a paid-for extra area, but given how hot this cruise was, I think it was well worth it. I decided on this cruise that I’d actually prefer an inside cabin with access to this space, than a regular balcony cabin.

I loved how cold my cabin was because of the air conditioning, and having this part with a bar was great. Balconies don’t have their own bars, and because it goes right across the back of the ship, we could always find a shady side.

They’d even bring around fruit on a stick, and if that doesn’t make you feel fancy, I don’t know what will.

We ordered a drink in here, and because we had a drinks package, we didn’t get charged extra for our actual drinks, those were included.

What we did get charged on top was the Spanish tax of 10%. This was added to all food and drink purchases while onboard, even if you have paid for a drinks package.

Thirty cents extra on my Diet Coke wasn’t the end of the world. I do wish Norwegian would just include these taxes in the prices, but it is what it is.

We were told about it a lot, so it wasn’t a surprise. We were emailed about it before the cruise, and the information was on every bar.

This was one thing that the app was great for. It’d update almost instantly every time we purchased anything, so we never had any doubt about how much we’d spent. 

While I was relaxing on the very comfy sun lounger, there was an announcement about our cabins being ready.

I was so excited to see mine. I’ve stayed in inside cabins a lot in the past, but never one quite like this.

My cabin was a studio solo suite designed for just one person, and it had everything that I needed in a tiny little space. There was a toilet in one corner, a shower in the other and a big bed just for me. 

Have a look at that interesting cabin here:

Despite the fruit that I’d eaten in Vibe, my stomach was rumbling, so we headed to the buffet, which wasn’t too far from my cabin.

The buffet on Norwegian Breakaway is absolutely massive, and it stretches down two sides of the ship and around the back.

It’s by far the biggest buffet I’ve seen on a Norwegian ship, and I’d say the best too. Not just because of these carvings, but I do like Mr Melon Mouse here.

If anybody has a name suggestion for him, let me know, maybe Melon Mouse Monty or Melon Mouse Melvin.

We went to the buffet far more than we normally would on a cruise, just because we were really impressed with it.

The pizza and the ice cream were particularly good with lots of flavours. I could have quite happily eaten in here every day of the cruise, and I would have been happy.

There was tea, coffee, and juices, too, and we were never unable to get a seat, even on the busiest sea day.

I’m sure that was helped by the fact that this was a lovely, warm weather cruise, so a lot of people sat outside, and we did too.

The weather that we had on this cruise was ideal, it was hot enough that some people were outside, but not so hot that everybody was, meaning that the guests were spread out.

That probably had something to do with why it really didn’t feel too busy at any time. 

I saw on the schedule that there was a show on in the theatre called “Red, White, and British.”

I am British, if you can’t tell by my accent, but Norwegian are a very American cruise line. You would be forgiven for thinking that they are Norwegian, but they aren’t, they are American.

I was really looking forward to going to the show, but was also prepared to be offended at bad British accents and a show that was entirely the Beatles, that’s usually what it is when they say British music.

But it wasn’t at all, the show was an hour long, full of fun costumes and loads of song variety. I really enjoyed it and the theatre itself was lovely too, with cup holders and waiter service.

The theatre wasn’t as exciting as the ones on newer ships, which turn into amazing nightclubs, but as a theatre, it was definitely good. 

Have a look at that amazing theatre/nightclub venue on the Norwegian Aqua in the video below:

They had shows in here every night and it’s just first-come, first-sit.

We came back here later in the cruise to watch a show called Rumours. Rumours is a show that Norwegian used to have only in a small venue called Syd Normans, but they’ve moved it to the theatre because everybody loved it. 

With the songs in my head, I headed to bed. On our cruise, we only had one sea day, so we had lots of ports to explore.

We first visited Cannes in France, where we used the ship’s tender boats to get to land. We had to book our tender boat tickets on the screens around the ship, and then we waited for our number to be called.

It was around 20 minutes from booking to our time, which I didn’t think was too bad at all.

I love a good tender boat ride, and they are usually either the ship’s lifeboats or local boats. I found the film festival location in Cannes, which seemed important, but the thing it reminds me of most honestly is the Mr Bean movie. 

We were tendered there all day, and in our next port of Livorno, we actually had an overnight stop.

This is the main port for Pisa. We arrived at 8 am and left at dinner time the next day. That meant that we could explore in the evening, which was great. It was much cooler and quieter.

Not having to think at all about what time we would be back onboard was fantastic. 

Reboarding the ship in ports, we just had to show our cruise cards. The cruise card is what you charge everything to on your account, and it lets you into your cabin.

If you wanted to do something like sign up to play “Deal or No Deal”, this is what you’d use.

Deal or no deal was very popular on this cruise and it would often happen in the evenings in the first atrium area, they’d have arts and crafts here too, live music and even play movies.

On the top level of this area, people would sit and look down, and when we went to eat at O’Sheehan’s, they’d give us the option of the restaurant area or the bar.

We’d often stop here if we were hungry at an odd time, as it’s open 24 hours a day. It was surprisingly quiet at dinner times, but I suppose that’s because there are so many other options onboard. 

It was from here that I watched a presentation about the future Norwegian ships like Norwegian Luna. I actually knew the answers to the Norwegian trivia questions too, which made a nice change.

I remember watching presentations about the new Norwegian ships on my first cruises when I was a teenager. They were probably talking about the all-new and all-exciting Norwegian Breakaway, which would be coming in 2013.

Never did I ever imagine that I’d be onboard in 2025, though, or that I’d be talking to people about it on the internet. 

Just to the side of O’Sheehan’s was a small arcade area, and we played a game of bowling. These games do cost money, but I had onboard credit on my account, and to me, that does make it feel like it’s free.

I know it’s not, but it’s a clever way to get me to go bowling. It was good fun, not exactly proper bowling if you want to really practise how to bowl, but it was a good laugh.

The balls are tiny. We weren’t moving at this point, so I can’t blame my bad score on that. 

This wasn’t my favourite game on the ship, though. I knew that there was a real arcade onboard, and I used to spend hours playing Pac-Man on the first cruise I took at eleven.

Since then, though, my tastes have changed a little, and when I saw the Guitar Hero game, I was so happy. I used to play Guitar Hero for hours, and I actually think I was pretty good at it. 

I was surprised that there weren’t many kids or teenagers actually in the arcade, but I think that they might have just been in the kids’ clubs or the teen clubs. We did see kids around sometimes, but they weren’t ever any trouble at all.

The guests on the cruise seemed like a real mix of ages and nationalities, which is my personal favourite way to cruise.

If I had to guess, I’d say around 1/3 of the guests were from non-English-speaking countries like Spain and France, which makes sense given where the cruise started.

I’d then estimate that around 1/3 were from the USA, with the other third made up of people from Canada, Australia, and other countries like the UK. 

Please don’t quote me on that one though, that’s entirely based on me guessing people’s accents, which I am not very good at. 

Whatever the country of origin, though, there is one thing that always brings people together on a cruise, and that is Abba.

Just behind the arcade was a pool deck area called Spice H20. This is an adult-only area most of the time, and it was here that they would hold parties.

It was the perfect place for it, there was a bar, seating around the edges and loads of space for people to dance. The big screen was great too, and it was lots of fun. 

This area was open during the day, too, and it was such a suntrap. There is a smoking area to the side, and there are other places around the ship where guests can smoke.

Norwegian have added walls to the smoking area of their casino, which I love, it kept it nice and contained.

We never smelt anything in the rest of the casino. They do have a cigar lounge, too, but it probably won’t come as a surprise that I am not a cigar smoker. It’s a cool idea though. 

For dinner we went to Cagneys which is a speciality steakhouse, these chips were so good and I honestly wish that they just sold those.

If you could buy a cone of these chips, I probably would. Maybe up on the top deck or the promenade. If Norwegian take on that idea, I want it to be called “Emma’s chip cone shop”. 

I had the “More at sea” package, which meant that I had two speciality meals included. I also got another two with my Sapphire loyalty status, and we used that to book La Cucina, the Italian restaurant, which was lovely and a meal called “The Silver Screen.”

I decided to book the new Lilo and Stitch movie for that one and was looking forward to it. I’d heard that there would be unlimited sweets, so I was in. 

We decided to have an evening drink in the Whiskey bar before heading to bed. There were numerous small bars onboard, including one that was an ice bar.

I knew that to try them all on this cruise, I’d have to order a drink from at least two or three different bars every single day. 

The next day, we were visiting Civitavecchia, the port of Rome and then heading to Naples.

In Naples, we joined a cruise line excursion to visit Pompeii, which is somewhere that I’ve always wanted to go.

Around 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city under ash, which perfectly preserved it.

Walking around is just like stepping back in time, and just like 2000 years ago, there weren’t any fans or air conditioning, so being out in the heat was so hot.

I’d love to visit again, but I’d definitely go back outside of summer so that I could really take it in and stop to learn about the things that we were seeing.

I’m sure I’ll be back, though. Naples is a popular port on cruises, and I have been there before.

Our next stop was actually in Ibiza which I’ve never been to, we had a lovely walk along the front and please don’t mistake the clouds for it being cool, it was not, I was absolutely roasting. 

After our toasty walk, we decided to go to the American diner up on the top deck. This venue is included in the cruise fare and is open in the afternoons.

We must have timed it just right because there was almost nobody there when we went. Everybody did come after we went though, we must have been setting some kind of trend.

We ordered meatloaf from the American diner, which is the most American thing I can think of. We had a great meal here. It was something a little different.

We enjoyed lots of meals in the big main dining room at the back, too. It’s called the Manhattan Room and has the most amazing huge windows.

It felt so grand, but I loved that I didn’t have to dress up at all to come in here. We’d just come, enjoy our food and leave – easy peasy. The mirrors on the wall made me laugh every time I went past. 

I was determined to try the things that I wouldn’t normally do on this cruise, and I even went to Starbucks.

I have many friends who love their Starbucks and really are so happy to see this onboard.

I don’t like coffee, so it’s not my natural habitat, but I found that they have refresher drinks, which were nice. They were like a fancy squash, if you’re from the UK and know what I mean. 

Next up on our itinerary was Palma, and we took an excursion in Soller on a historic railway.

It was so peaceful and quiet; in a way, it reminded me of the White Pass railway I went on when I was in Alaska on my Norwegian Encore cruise. We had free time to explore the town, too.

Back on the ship, we headed to another very popular place onboard, which was the Headliners bar. Duelling pianos were taking place when I was wandering around just before my Silver Screen speciality cinema meal. This sounds like a piano show. It is, but I’d say that it’s more of a comedy show with pianos rather than the other way around.

It’s a bit interactive for my liking, but the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. There was no shortage of entertainment on this cruise, and I loved just being able to go for a wander to see what was happening where.

After a little while in Headliners, I headed across the road to Syd Normans. Okay, it wasn’t a road, but it does kinda feel like you’re crossing the street to get to the next venue.

This was a small bar where they’d host things like Karaoke. It’s a very cool venue, it’s dark and moody, and small on purpose.

When they have shows in Syd Norman’s, you do have to arrive early to make sure that you get a space. If there’s a show in here that you do want to see, it’s well worth it.

We arrived at the Silver Screen venue, checked in at the desk, and were then taken to our seats. We could pick where we wanted to sit, which was nice, and the room was impressive. 

This used to be a venue called “Spiegel’s Tent”, but Norwegian changed it during a recent refit. I think they did a great job with the room, the seats were really comfortable and reclined. That was important as we were eating a meal and watching a movie in here.

We were served the food before the film, which wasn’t what I was expecting, but it does make sense.

All of the food was good, it is a fixed menu, but it’s okay to skip anything that you don’t want. I skipped the lobster shrimp thing, for example, and that was no problem.

I was far more interested in getting to the popcorn and the sweets that I’d seen at the back of the room.

While we waited for the film to start and ate, they played movie trivia on the screen, and it was a really nice way to spend an evening.

I would have liked to have been able to come here just to see a movie, but I was very happy that we could use our dining credits to eat here. 

It wasn’t something that I’d ever normally do on land, and that’s the kind of thing that it’s most fun to do on a cruise.

….Or that’s what I told myself when I was stood at the top of the waterslide waiting for the floor to drop out below me.

To find out what my first-ever cruise ship zipline experience was like, and if I made it over the loop of the waterslide, watch this video next. Spoiler alert, no, I did not…

Before You Go

Not all Norwegian ships have studio cabins. Find out which ones do here:

Which Norwegian Cruise Ships Have Studio-Specific Cabins For Solos

Have a look at whether studio solo cabins provide good value for solo travellers here:

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