It was TIME to BREAKAWAY to EAT Part 1

Last weekend I was afforded a trip aboard the Norwegian Breakaway out of New York City.  As a Sandy Mom, my family was invited and paid in full by Katie Couric and her amazing show!  It was FREE drinks for all and free speciality restaurants and entertainment.  I will be boarding the Breakaway later this summer and look forward to it.

Besides all the great free things that we were adorned with, I am a cruiser and do have some things to say about the generous and professional crew aboard and some short comings.  Never mind meeting Kevin Sheehan and wanting to tell him everything we see going on this ship...things that need some tweaking...things that were wonderful.  But we didn't want to crash the party and my niece was just so excited to meet the Undercover Boss.  She also was excited to meet Buddy from Carlo's Bakery and Geoffrey Zakarian from Iron Chef fame and Ocean Blue abord the Norwegian Breakaway.

Boarding: Smooth, as usual, except that we wanted to attach one credit card to two rooms and the check-in people were not able to do it so I had to go to Guest Services to get that done once aboard.  That took too long. 

Allison, Mom, Me, Michele,Meg, Dan
#StatenIslandStrong

Rooms:  We were in an inside room 12627.  Room is much smaller than an inside room aboard the Jewel but it was a complimentary trip so who complains.  However for our next trip, it will be the larger room with Window.  Tight closet space, lots of cubicles, and the best was the big bathroom with shower door!!!!  We did get to see rooms in every category as there were viewing hours.  This was great because it helped us see what rooms were best for our next trips.

 



Chilling in the Bunk Bed eating Cheerios

  Dining:  Let me remind you that all dining, including speciality restaurants were free.  So by the time we booked through their touch screen method on board much was booked for prime dining.  We did get the opportunity to eat at the Italian restaurant "La Cucina."  I have eaten at the same restaurant aboard the Jewel and it has been good.  This time around we had some issues.  The pork and gnocchi dish was not very flavorful.  The gnocchi was cooked well and was the best on the dish though.  The beef carpaccio was also flavorless and I understand that the pasta carbonara had too little sauce and not very tasty.  The other dishes were also very salty.

Garden Buffet:
Lunch-Found it weird there was no "kid" friendly portion of the buffet.  The assortment of foods was abundant and the area clean.  Quality was good too: pasta selections, hamburgers with bacon and pineapple, swiss and mushroom, hot dogs, pizzas, panninis, veggies, breads, desserts. However the service was sparse.  We needed to bus our own table, in comparison to other cruises we have taken, the staff rarely, if ever, cleared our table when we were finished with our plates.  Nor did they ask if we needed anything.  We did look for them to get some juices, alcoholic beverages, and sodas at a point since we didn't want to leave the kiddies and the kiddies didn't want to walk, but nobody to be found.  We have had this type of service on Norwegian before so we were surprised by it.

Breakfast-Again assortment of foods were okay.  Omelet Station, pancakes, which tasted like citrus hence didn't go well with the table, waffles (didn't try them),and french toast-not cinnamon enough and had raisins- but was thick and cooked well.  What was not cooked well was the bacon!!!  Always looked raw and fatty.  Had to dig for a little well done piece here and there. Cinnamon buns though were amazing.  Some fresh fruits and hot cereal were also good, watermelon not so ripe though. 

Manhattan Room: The larger dining room, we ate here only once and it was for a Special Brunch.  Salmon for appetizer, Fillet Mignon and an egg pattie for main course and eclair for dessert.  Salmon was salty which made it taste fishy however the cream cheese helped.  Fillet Mignon was delish which made me eat my sis' too!  The egg was okay.  Didn't love it but it was fine. And dessert was also fine.  Which means...Didn't need seconds on both.  And in teh Manhattan Room later in the day I was able to take a dance class with the Rockettes!!  It was very amazing.

Me enjoying the Meat

Bloody just like I like it!



Rockette Dance line Michele and me

 Taste:

Lunch-Philly Cheese Steak-I don't even eat these but I did share some bites and it was GOOODDDD!  Service was also good but slow.  And it was no where near filled like it would be on a regular journey.  So something to look at here and in all the restaurants is service.  Timeliness and quality.  All were very sweet but I can see where theere will be shortcomings. Club sandwich which had ham, bacon and turkey on it.  I couldn't look at the meats, they looked processed so I passed. 

Savor:
Dinner-Tilapia was my main course after a pumpkin soup, followed by a piece of apple pie and pistachio creme brulee.  Both dishes were my second best meal to the fillet mmignon!  Apple pie was no favorite and the creme brulee-wish I had two but it was a large serving!

Breakfast-Sad to go but breakfast was hearty.  Hot cereals, choice of eggs and carbs, hashbrowns were nice and toasty, little man loved it all!  Even the sausage and scrambled eggs.  Did not like the pancakes though, clearly. I did ask for whole wheat toast but they didn't deliver and I didn't say anything...who needed more carbs?

Carlo's Bakery-This was the ONLY thing I paid for on the ship.  I had a chocolate covered cannoli, lobster tail, and chocolate cupcake.  Okay, we SHARED these!!!  Really liked the lobster tail and the cannoli but didn't love the cupcake.   

I did find it weird that there were no chocolate chip cookies in the buffet when we ate but we did find them hidden in some high end areas...

Casino time-Mom enjoying the lobster tail from Carlo's Bakery