We just got off of the NCL Breakaway after an 11 day Cruise. NCL has done away with drinking straws on the Ship and supposedly the entire NCL line of Ships. They claim it is in the interest of the environment. It was difficult trying to drink frozen drinks without the use of straws. Most people took it in stride without too much complaining. The Cruise line still uses plastic cups to dispense drinks in, but I guess those aren't as great a threat, maybe because it's harder for the sea life to swallow it? Just a heads-up for those who plan to sail on NCL that if you need a straw, bring some with you.

Thanks for the note. How did you like your cruise otherwise??

The Ship was way too large, having 4000 passengers. It seemed the hallways were narrower also. The common areas were smaller, all of which leads me to believe the smaller areas allowed for more cabins, thus more $$$ by allowing more passengers. The Shows were always booked to capacity requiring reservations well in advance to get a seat. Long lines at the three dining rooms, and the buffet on deck 15 was always crowded. We are used to Ships half the size (and capacity), that allows us more room to move around when the Ship is docked, as we usually wait for most to leave the Ship first (on tenders and on tours). This Ship seemed crowded even while in Port. Tender tickets had to be reserved the day before, and they called for 15 tenders(those having ticket #15) before opening up the tenders to anyone without a ticket.
The food was good, and we ate in two specialty restaurants (Cagney's and Moderno) as a perk for being Platinum Members. Cagney's was exceptional, however Moderno's was a disappointment-food was bland, cold, and not presented in a timely manner.
We booked the Cruise due to the incentives, Pre-paid gratuities, and Ultimate Beverage Package along with aforementioned dining options. It cost us less than a 7 day Cruise for this 11 day Cruise.

We probably won't book another Cruise on NCL out of New Orleans as long as the Breakaway is here. The sister Ship, Getaway is coming to New Orleans in 2019 to take Breakaway's place but since it is the same size, we will book Carnival or Royal Caribbean before a Cruise on one of these Mega Ships again.

Interesting. Thanks. We are thinking about booking a cruise again, for the first time in a long time, in 2020. We have never sailed on anything larger than about 3,000 pax, but basically almost everything is at least that larger or MUCH larger these days. Just doing some general reading, it seems that NCL is the best about offering the free beverage package, which we have never done one of those, but would be interested in that, for sure. I wonder, most people who talk about sailing on one of the mega RCCL ships seem to say that RCCL deals well with huge crowds, or better than they expected anyway. We have never been interested in one of the mega ships and have sailed over a dozen times on Princess, but we may try something different the next time.

The beverage package is a great deal if you get it as a booking perk. It is about $100 a day for two passengers, if you have to purchase it, and all adults in the cabin have to purchase it. That doesn't work well with us, as I don't drink. My wife does wine at meals, and Margaritas and L I Ice Teas during the day so she gets her money's worth. A soda card works good enough for me, but then again NCL does Pepsi instead of Coke, and I don't care for Diet Pepsi. Carnival and RCCL has Coke products- I prefer them a lot more. NCL does have a lot of booking perks and the longer in advance you book, the more they offer.

We both would use the beverage package, so that's OK. I was seeing that NCL really does offer a lot of booking perks.