Carnival Breeze - New Years Cruise Review!

Background

This was my 28th cruise, 13th on Carnival. We're a professional couple in our late 20s (yes, I've been cruising most of my life :p). This was my 5th New Years cruise (2 on Royal, 3rd on Carnival). My last 2 cruises were on RCI's Oasis of the Seas, so you'll have to excuse me for sprinkling in some comparisons as those 2 sailings are fresh in my mind. We primarily cruise Carnival and Royal, but will be on Celebrity in Europe this coming fall for our honeymoon. Overall we had a very good time on the Breeze. I'll spell out what we liked, what we didn't, and some misc. points and tips for future Breeze cruises. This was the 6 night itinerary calling on Grand Turk, Ocho Rios, and Nassau.

*Disclaimer* This review will contain praise were warranted and criticism where appropriate. If you do not want to read any criticism of the Carnival Breeze or Carnival Cruise Line in general, please utilize the "back" button on your browser right now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

What We Liked

-The decor. I won't go into too much detail since it's all over these boards but wow, the Breeze is a gorgeous departure from all of the weird and wacky "Farcutecture" on the previous ships. There wasn't a single area I didn't like, but I'll note that I particularly enjoyed the decor in the Lido Marketplace. If you don't normally like Carnival's decor, give the Breeze a shot!

-The food. The food on this cruise blew the food on the Oasis out of the water (I'm specifically talking about the included food, not the specialty restaurants). I didn't have a single meal I didn't like the entire cruise. My personal favorite were the beef dishes. Carnival found a way to make all of the meat and shrimp dishes taste charbroiled, which was fantastic! Waits were long for the Mongolian Wok but we went on a port day and it was delicious, just beware the Szechuan sauce, it is extremely hot and my mouth was tingling for 30 minutes after! :eek:

-The service. We received excellent service on this cruise. I don't mean to imply that we never had to wait for anything... but when we ordered things, they arrived as specified. When a thirsty fly with a sweet tooth took a nose dive into my fiancee's mojito on deck it was quickly replaced by our friendly bar waiter. We experienced some service lapses on our last cruise on the Oasis, so we were extremely pleased to have received such good service from all crew we encountered on the Breeze.

-The crew in general. Just an excellent bunch. Didn't notice any of the morale issues some previous reviewers noted earlier in December (and I was looking). Everyone was friendly and proficient. I will note that Captain Alcaraz is back on board from vacation... perhaps that could have something to do with the perceived uptick in morale.

-Butch. I wasn't so sure about him on the first day when he made a series of rambling announcements, but I grew to really enjoy him. His enthusiasm is just so infectious and he just seems like a genuinely nice guy. By the end of the week I was convinced that he was well deserving of his post as CD on Carnival's flagship. Along with his ACD 6-3 Amy and the rest of the entertainment staff, we were well taken care of.

-New Years Celebration. I love Carnival's New Years celebrations. It's a giant deck party with everyone together dancing on the top deck. This one didn't disappoint and I was very pleased with our decision to entrust another New Year to Carnival and in particular the Breeze.

-Dancing on deck. With one night being NYE and two other nights being the Red Frog Caribbean Deck Party and the Blue Iguana Mexican Fiesta, we had dancing up on deck for exactly half of our 6 night cruise and we enjoyed every minute of it. For the deck parties, the entertainment staff would do their thing for about 45 minutes and then the DJ would just keep DJ-ing into the wee hours of the morning up on deck. We took full advantage, as did many others. It was truly enjoyable and I hope Carnival keeps doing this.

-The DJs and Live Musicians. The 2 DJs ("Flo-Rin" and "T-Lake") were excellent and definitely better than the 2 DJs we had on the Oasis. We like to dance so this was very important to us. The combo band (can't remember their band but their excellent lead singer was Consuela) and the duo that played primarily Latin music were excellent. Ron Pass was excellent in the piano bar as everyone here on Cruise Critic already knows. I just wish they performed more often! We didn't listen to the guitar player in the Red Frog Pub so I cannot comment.

-The water slides and ropes course. Loved the Dream Class slides! This was my first Dream Class cruise and I was extremely impressed with both slides, had a great time using them on port days when there were no crowds. The ropes course was a lot of fun too and way more challenging than it looked! The hinges where your safety wire travels through on the various platforms were rusting a little, requiring some extra effort to get them through, but it was a minor inconvenience. I just hope they keep the course properly maintained because it was a lot of fun and a great addition.

-The cabins. I love the new decor and the cabin just felt more spacious than our cabins on the Oasis (we had standard balconies on both ships). My fiancee and I never felt like we were tripping over each other and we had more than enough storage. While the balcony was significantly smaller than on Oasis, it was ample for our purposes. Two thumbs up.

What We Didn't Like

-The obvious cutbacks. It's formal night. It's 7pm, you have late seating dinner, you're ready early, and you want to go enjoy a nice cocktail and take some pictures before dinner. You wander down to the promenade deck only to discover that the only "entertainment" offered by Carnival is karaoke in the Ocean Plaza. This is one example but I intend for it to demonstrate a larger point. The vast majority of the live music is gone and as someone who's been sailing Carnival for a while it was both obvious and disappointing. Also, no definitive proof here, but the pizza was awful (I used to enjoy it on Carnival cruises) and seems to have been the victim of a quality cutback.

-No more Calypso band. I obviously knew about this going in as I live on Cruise Critic, but it didn't make it any less disappointing on board. DJ Flo-rin did a fine job up on deck -- we enjoyed him and his music greatly -- but it's no substitute for a calypso band. Plus, the good music he plays gets old by 10pm when you're hearing it for the 5th time. After having a full Calypso band on our 2 previous cruises on the Oasis, it was particularly disappointing.

-Pool Deck design. Who in their right mind designs a main pool area on a cruise ship without hot tubs? No, I don't need you to tell me that there are hot tubs elsewhere on the ship or where to find them -- I was on the ship. I'm just making a point. Horrible design. While the thatched-roof huts over the circular sitting areas on each side of the main pool are extremely attractive, they should either be replaced by more pool-side seating or have hot tubs under them. Horrible design. I will note that chair hogging a/k/a chogging was a major issue on this ship as I knew it would be when I saw the lack of pool-side seating. Carnival's attempts to enforce its own chogging policies were at best inconsistent and at worst non-existent. I was extremely disappointed by this, especially after having no trouble ever finding pool side seating on either of my Oasis cruises.

-Lack of pools. Along those same lines, whichever Carnival executive thought it was a brilliant idea to build a ship carrying 3700 people with only 2 small pools should be reassigned to a detail cleaning said pools with a toothbrush for two months. Just preposterous. There were 1,200 children (per Butch) on this sailing and the pools were completely unavailable for paying adult guests on sea days, unless they want to get climbed on and hit and splashed by hundreds of children. This is inexcusably poor planning by Carnival and is a major reason I'd refrain from cruising the Breeze again in the future. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is that even the much smaller Carnival Destiny carrying far fewer passengers had 3 pools?

-Crowds / Lines. I know another reviewer from the Roll Call had a different experience, but we did experience crowds and significant lines (beyond the pool crowding and chogging mentioned above). We avoided the breakfast rush 4/6 mornings because we're relatively early risers, but the 2 mornings we were there at peak time it was sheer mayhem and a terrible way to start the day. Peak lunch times were the same story, and there was always a long line at the Mongolian Wok even at lunchtime on port days (I went in Nassau). Guy's Burgers typically had long lines, although we went on a port day and avoided them. Lines can be avoided if you're willing to tailor your schedule and what you eat to avoid them... but my gut impression a number of times was that there were just too many people on the ship. This was particularly true when trying to maneuver the tight Lido Marketplace.

-"Playlist productions." Of the 3 shows (Divas, the Brits, and Latin Nights) only Latin Nights appealed to us so we only went to see that one. At the risk of sounding overly harsh, what a joke. I don't mind the 30 minute duration... that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that Carnival's idea of a production show is now 8 people singing (poorly) and dancing (out of sync) in front of a screen. As Carnival Cheerleaders often point out, this is a time of major change and upheaval in the cruise industry. That is undoubtedly correct. However, other lines idea of major change is innovation. Royal put Broadway shows, acrobats, and Aqua shows on its ships. Norwegian put the Blue Man Group and an ice bar on its new ships. Carnival's idea of "progress?" Firing its show bands and running out 8 very amateur performers to dance in front of a screen. I'm sorry, this just isn't acceptable IMHO. The lasers and cameo by the DJ at the end of the show were a lot of fun, but the production was just not acceptable and I left very disappointed with Carnival. Thankfully, we saw it on the last evening.

-Terrible Jamaican excursion. We (attempted to) do the Chukka Beach Horseback Riding excursion in Ocho Rios. We should have known from the start that it was a bad idea when we saw the chaos in the van parking lot. I'll make a long story short: we were trapped on the van for over an hour and we arrived only to find mayhem. Chukka sold way too many tickets to the various ships in port and they simply couldn't handle that many people. After being 2 hours into our tour and still not being on a horse without getting any good answers from the staff, a bunch of us just demanded to return to the ship. We were returned and Carnival gave us a full refund. We really appreciated Carnival standing behind its product and refunding our money. I'm sure they would have given us our 3 hours back if they some how could have... we salvaged the rest of the day on the ship and had a nice time.

-The itinerary in general. It didn't make much sense. Spend a short day in Grand Turk (8-1:30) so we could race off to spend a short day in Jamaica the following day (11:30-5:30), with Nassau (arguably the most "blah" port of the bunch) being our only full day stop? It's possible there were docking space considerations, but if not, I could come up with several other ways they could have structured this itinerary to make better use of the time. It was odd, at best.

-The Lanai's impact on standard (non-cove) balcony cabins. I value peace and quiet very highly on my cruise ship balcony and neither is possible with a standard balcony on this ship. Whether it's loud people in the hot tubs, the sound of the guitar player from Red Frog Pub or just geleral commotion drifting up, I didn't find our balcony very relaxing on this trip and the reason was the Lanai. I also note it was much more difficult, if not impossible, to watch pier runners (people racing back to the ship at the last minute before sailaway) -- one of my favorite activities ;) -- because the lanai was in the way. While I liked the Lanai when I was on it, I'm very disappointed with the way it impacted our balcony experience and its another thing that would steer us away from a Dream Class ship.

-Bingo on the lido deck. Enough said. It's just an obnoxious revenue grab.

Misc. / Tips for Future Breeze Cruisers

-Breakfast lines in the aft of the Lido Marketplace were always shorter, particularly the omelet lines.

-Hit up Cucina del Captain for lunch on embarkation day if you want to try it. We did, and it was completely empty (it was really good too!). Most of the cruisers who aren't as well researched as Cruise Critic members won't find it until later in the week.

-If you can, do the water slides and the ropes course on port days. We skipped Nassau and came back early from Ocho Rios after our tour mishap and enjoyed the day greatly using these attractions. The lines were very long on sea days for both, particularly the water slides.

-The Liquid Nightclub was a lot of fun and didn't get hopping until close to 1 most nights. Don't get discouraged if you go there earlier and its still quiet.

-Plan to arrive at the comedy shows at least 30 to 45 minutes before show time if you want a seat, closer to 45 minutes if you want to sit anywhere decent.

-The ship wasn't as cold as previous Carnival ships I've been on, but it was quite comfortable.

-The Blush Restaurant (aft) has more large tables while the Sapphire Restaurant (mid-ship) has more smaller tables.

-New internet packages. We did the basic $29.95 (something like that) for the entire cruise. We didn't need high speed as we were just checking e-mail. If you're like us and just checking e-mail it's sufficient and not necessary to pay the much higher prices for the new high speed internet.

-The ship was extremely clean, it was very impressive.

*I may remember more stuff later and will add it when I do.

The Bottom Line

We really enjoyed the Breeze at night but not nearly as much during the day for the reasons noted above. We had a great time overall (how can you not on a cruise?) and will consider Carnival in the future, but we won't be rushing back to Carnival or the Breeze. We'll consider Carnival on occasion for another New Years cruise or when the new ship comes out in 2016, but we found ourselves missing the Oasis despite our best efforts to keep an open mind (we did) and appreciate the Breeze for its finer points (we also did). I'm really glad I tried the Breeze as trying a Dream Class ship has been on my agenda for several years, but, for us, we're going to default our Caribbean cruising to Royal Caribbean and also give Norwegian a try when Breakaway comes up to NYC to see what's out there. Being a New Years cruise we paid a rate similar to what we paid for our previous Oasis cruises, and we just didn't feel that we received anything close to a comparable product (even factoring in the New Years premium).

I hope this review has been helpful to some and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. I realize there has been a lot of divergent opinions on the Breeze lately on Cruise Critic and that people will disagree with me. That's fine. These views are my own and based on my unique experiences on my many previous cruises.

Happy cruising everyone, and to upcoming Breeze cruisers, Bon Voyage!

Thanks for your review. can you tell us what cabin you stayed in?

Thanks for a fair and honest review

Thanks for your review.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse any typographical errors.

Thanks for your review. can you tell us what cabin you stayed in?

We were in 9400. Very convenient to the Lido Marketplace.

Did you try that stuff their calling eggs ;)

Thanks so much for such a wonderful review. It is such a shame that they are doing away with a lot of the live music. I always enjoyed the live music at the pool .It always made me feel more like I was on a cruise festive

Very honest review, and appreciated. I especially liked your point of view regarding the lanai posing visual problems.... yep, I love to watch people running down the pier too! :D I probably just jinxed myself:eek:

I haven't read too many reviews from spa goers. By any chance did you or your fiance indulge in Cloud 9 treatments? Considering a massage for DH as a surprise but fear the pushy sales.

Did you try that stuff their calling eggs ;)

Haha nope! Omelets all the way. :D I did give that egg-like substance a hard stare-down on my daily trip to visit the friendly Bacon Police.

I especially liked your point of view regarding the lanai posing visual problems.... yep, I love to watch people running down the pier too! :D I probably just jinxed myself:eek:

 

I haven't read too many reviews from spa goers. By any chance did you or your fiance indulge in Cloud 9 treatments? Considering a massage for DH as a surprise but fear the pushy sales.

Glad I'm not the only one. ;) We didn't do any Cloud 9 treatments on this sailing. I've done them on past Carnival cruises and didn't find the sales pitch too irritating -- I just told them firmly but politely that I wasn't interested and they stopped.

Thanks for your review...

Thank you for sharing your detailed review! :)

very honest review, and again, like our Cruise a bit hit and miss but overall we very much enjoyed it.

We were also not very impressed with the Shows either. We caught them earlier on in the Breeze Sailings and there could have been some issues, but clearly these have not been fixed. Sounds like they spent lots on the production but I think it was a miss. We had a show on the Inspiration last November that got a standing ovation from everybody, but these 3 nights had people leaving a few minutes in. This was disappointing but never took away from our overall experience.

As for the itinerary: well you did know the times ahead of booking correct? I agree the times are not ideal to say the least but you were aware of this before booking and had the choice to book elsewhere...

The Pools are always an issue with Carnival. Although they were packed we were usually able to jump in and cool off for a bit if needed. The Pools on these ships are usually cold so I don't need to swim for hours on end.

Not sure the Bingo is obnoxious, as you have the option to buy in or not. Of course it is a revenue grab, not sure what you expected it to be?

We were on Breeze off peak time, so my guess is the extra people on board NYE made it more challenging than it was for us. As you figured out, we too figuredo ut the Aft Lido is quicker for service.

As for the itinerary: well you did know the times ahead of booking correct? I agree the times are not ideal to say the least but you were aware of this before booking and had the choice to book elsewhere...

 

Not sure the Bingo is obnoxious, as you have the option to buy in or not. Of course it is a revenue grab, not sure what you expected it to be?

 

I imagine everyone who booked the cruise was aware of the itinerary when they booked, but that doesn't mean that there aren't simple tweaks Carnival could make to improve this otherwise lackluster itinerary. I also imagine most of the people on board were like us and booked the cruise to celebrate New Years at sea, to try the brand new Breeze, or some combination of the two. Otherwise, Carnival has far better itineraries on other ships. New Years only happens once a year, so I think Carnival would be well-served to do what they can to tweak this itinerary.

Bingo in and of itself is not obnoxious when you have a choice as to whether to avail yourself of it. When bingo is brought to the Lido Deck, however, and you're trying to relax up there, you are not given a choice as to whether to avail yourself of the ear splitting loud and irritating call of the bingo game (even if you don't play). As we all know, typically bingo is played in the main show lounge and you have some semblance of a choice as to whether you're there when its going on. When bingo is forced upon those on the Lido Deck trying to relax on a sea day, that choice is gone and that's when it becomes an obnoxious revenue grab IMHO. Your "choice" is to either give up the relaxation you've chosen to enjoy on the Lido Deck for a period of time or to sit through it while Carnival tries to squeeze out some extra pennies.

I realize not everyone will agree, but I'm just calling it how I saw it last week.

Dave,

Thanks for the excellent review! Very objective, well written, and nicely laid out. I appreciate the fact you pointed out the good and bad, as I rarely find reviews that are 100% positive or negative very credible.

Your review is of particular interest to me as I will be following in your footsteps. I leave on OASIS this Saturday, then sail on BREEZE in February. As both ships are pretty much the best that each of these mass-market lines has to offer, one cannot help but compare. Having already sailed on OASIS and ALLURE I have a fairly good idea of what to expect, and I pretty much know the experience should be pretty awesome. I'm a little more apprehensive about the BREEZE. I don't sail Carnival much anymore and vowed never to sail on a Destiny/Conquest ship again after a pretty horrific experience on CARNIVAL CONQUEST. It was without question the most crowded ship I have ever sailed. Mind you it was in July (peak time) but still I have never waited in so many lines. Essentially the BREEZE is a Conquest Class on steroids, so I am concerned about lines and crowds. While it may not bother some, waiting in lines for everything is not my idea of a vacation. People that never sailed sailed on OASIS and ALLURE have a perception that the ships are mobbed with people and there are lines everywhere, but just the opposite is true. Yes the ships carry a lot of people, but they are designed so well that crowds are rarely an issue. I love the open decks and pools and ALLURE and OASIS are superb in this regard. I agree with your comment about 2 pools for almost 4000 pax?? What was Carnival thinking?? The Spirit Class has three pools for far less people. Anyway I'm a little concerned about the lack of deck space on BREEZE. Did you use the adults only Serenity area at all, and if so did you enjoy it?

Anyway there is one aspect of your experience you didn't touch on. Like you, I'm Diamond with Royal Caribbean and Platinum with Carnival. I accumulated most of my Carnival cruises when I was younger and have essentially moved on to other lines, but I still sail Carnival on occasion but generally only on the Spirit Class off season which is more of a safe bet. On Royal Caribbean I feel that I'm treated quite well as a Diamond past passenger, especially with the dedicated lounge and free drinks every evening. This will be my first time sailing Carnival as a Platinum level past passenger, and I'm curious how it compares with sailing Royal Caribbean as a Diamond. Any insight you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Ernie

I'm with ya on the comparing of two ships- we were on Allure last year and are trying Breeze this year.

My main question is which type of dining would you say is best for the Breeze? I'm curious about trying the anytime dining but I like the familiarity of having the set dining time and wait staff. What I do not want is the 2 hour buzzkill dinner....which I'm assuming is what happens with the set dining times....please help! :confused:

Thanks for your honest and balanced review. Refreshing to see both sides of a story. :)

lines in the Lido? what is a long line and what is it in terms of minutes spent between entering the buffet and sitting down to eat? is it approximate to the wait on a good buffet on land on a saturday night when the place is full or is it like a school lunch line where a 1000 kids are all waiting to go through. i appreciate the fact that there is a line i just want to know outside of generalizations how it impacts people. and more importantly do the lines mean you also have to wait for a table with your hands full of food if everyone is choosing to eat at the same time.

hot tubs? personally i use hot tubs as a destination and not an incidental and i am more inclined to use one that is away from the madding crowd just because i don't want them full of children using them as a mini-pool. also, tubs at the pool area always seem to be overly crowded and once in people rarely leave as the drink guy will just keep coming round. no problem with the hot tubs being away from the main action.

pools. they are usually only busy from 10 am to 4 pm on sea days in my experience. the rest of the time it often looks like a grave yard at the pool. to give that much real estate to an activity that is little more than a place to cool off seems like an activity that has been addressed and has found itself taking a back seat to permanent buffets and more buffet options.

the shows. i find on most cruise lines that the live theater venues are always packed long before the show. it seems like something that has become more and more a boondoggle for many cruise lines especially as more families and children travel and the evening entertainment has expanded beyond the bars, booze, and dancing. i also think with the advent of ytd, specialty restaurants, and the buffet people seem more inclined to show up early because they can. once upon a time you got out of dinner and everyone walked to the theater, now its just full when you get there.

the lanai. as more and more cruisers have embraced balconies and exterior space that is open to the sea there is now a fine line between providing that experience for both those that pay for a balcony and those that use the rest of the ship as a balcony. i've been on many a promenade deck that is full of lifeboats and no outdoor seating so i'm happy to see designs where an area other than the top deck that has been opened for everybody. yes it imposes a bit on me when i sit on my balcony but i'll deal.

bingo on the lido. i am totally sure that is a buzz kill. but then i don't like the pool games, or the hairy leg contests, or controlled activities of any kind. but a whole lot of people want to be entertained, no matter how crudely, and i've just found other places to go if i just want to read my book in peace and quiet.

ports and shore excursions. if people want to put either of these on their didn't like list that works for me. neither are a reflection of the ship and that experience for me. they are a whole different animal and i judge them on a whole different set of parameters so if the op had issues i am truly sorry they didn't meet up to his expectations.

Dave,

Thanks for the excellent review! Very objective, well written, and nicely laid out. I appreciate the fact you pointed out the good and bad, as I rarely find reviews that are 100% positive or negative very credible.

 

Your review is of particular interest to me as I will be following in your footsteps. I leave on OASIS this Saturday, then sail on BREEZE in February. As both ships are pretty much the best that each of these mass-market lines has to offer, one cannot help but compare. Having already sailed on OASIS and ALLURE I have a fairly good idea of what to expect, and I pretty much know the experience should be pretty awesome. I'm a little more apprehensive about the BREEZE. I don't sail Carnival much anymore and vowed never to sail on a Destiny/Conquest ship again after a pretty horrific experience on CARNIVAL CONQUEST. It was without question the most crowded ship I have ever sailed. Mind you it was in July (peak time) but still I have never waited in so many lines. Essentially the BREEZE is a Conquest Class on steroids, so I am concerned about lines and crowds. While it may not bother some, waiting in lines for everything is not my idea of a vacation. People that never sailed sailed on OASIS and ALLURE have a perception that the ships are mobbed with people and there are lines everywhere, but just the opposite is true. Yes the ships carry a lot of people, but they are designed so well that crowds are rarely an issue. I love the open decks and pools and ALLURE and OASIS are superb in this regard. I agree with your comment about 2 pools for almost 4000 pax?? What was Carnival thinking?? The Spirit Class has three pools for far less people. Anyway I'm a little concerned about the lack of deck space on BREEZE. Did you use the adults only Serenity area at all, and if so did you enjoy it?

 

Anyway there is one aspect of your experience you didn't touch on. Like you, I'm Diamond with Royal Caribbean and Platinum with Carnival. I accumulated most of my Carnival cruises when I was younger and have essentially moved on to other lines, but I still sail Carnival on occasion but generally only on the Spirit Class off season which is more of a safe bet. On Royal Caribbean I feel that I'm treated quite well as a Diamond past passenger, especially with the dedicated lounge and free drinks every evening. This will be my first time sailing Carnival as a Platinum level past passenger, and I'm curious how it compares with sailing Royal Caribbean as a Diamond. Any insight you could provide would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Ernie

Ernie, have a great cruise! I'm so jealous that you get to go on both Oasis and Breeze in the next couple of months LOL.

You're absolutely right, I left out the CCL Platinum / RCI Diamond perks. I intended to cover that but completely forgot. The short answer is there is no comparison. RCI Diamond perks blow CCL Platinum perks out of the water. Consider the following (perhaps not exhaustive but off the top of my head):

The same between the two: Priority embarkation and disembarkation, a gift, a top tier past guest event with complimentary beverages, priority reservations at specialty restaurants, special treats delivered to cabin.

RCL Gives Diamonds Additionally...: $225 of balcony cabins assuming you book far enough out as I always do, a dedicated Diamond lounge on most ships (coming to all of them) with a dedicated Diamond Concierge and unlimited complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres every evening, and a coupon booklet containing additional savings including things like a free photo, spa discount, etc. There may be more I'm forgetting.

I felt much more appreciated as an upper level past guest on RCI than I did on Carnival. I'll give a tangible example. We recieved an awful table on the Breeze and, to boot, it was in the dining room where Ken Byrne (the famous singing Matire d') was not. We requested a change to Ken's dining room. Kris, the other Maitre d', gave us the impression that he was making a very limited effort on our behalf and never got us into Ken's dining room but did move us to another table in his dining room (where we received fantastic service as noted in my review). Any time I've requested a table change on Royal as a Diamond, particularly requesting a move to a table for 2, it was done that same day.

It's clear to me that RCI's business model depends on repeat guests / passenger loyalty much more than CCLs does. CCL relies more on attracting new cruisers. That's fine! They're businesses out to make money, I understand entirely, and I don't begrudge them. But as an upper level past guest, I'd be lying to you if I said RCI's additional perks didn't make me far more likely to cruise with them in the future and (God willing) reach Diamond Plus!

I'm with ya on the comparing of two ships- we were on Allure last year and are trying Breeze this year.

 

My main question is which type of dining would you say is best for the Breeze? I'm curious about trying the anytime dining but I like the familiarity of having the set dining time and wait staff. What I do not want is the 2 hour buzzkill dinner....which I'm assuming is what happens with the set dining times....please help! :confused:

 

Thanks for your honest and balanced review. Refreshing to see both sides of a story. :)

Hi Jayfo. I've actually never done anytime dining so I can't tell you too much about it on the Breeze. I can say that I only saw long lines for it one night (New Years Eve) and there always seemed to be a lot of empty tables in the anytime dining area from my vantage point on the upper level of the dining room. Regarding the service in traditional dining, we received very quick service in the Sapphire dining room (generally in the 1.5 hour range). I heard from others who were in the Blush dining room with the larger tables that their service was slower. In short, it sounds to me like a crap shoot. If you do want to try anytime dining perhaps the Breeze would be a good ship to try it on! Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

I imagine everyone who booked the cruise was aware of the itinerary when they booked, but that doesn't mean that there aren't simple tweaks Carnival could make to improve this otherwise lackluster itinerary. I also imagine most of the people on board were like us and booked the cruise to celebrate New Years at sea, to try the brand new Breeze, or some combination of the two. Otherwise, Carnival has far better itineraries on other ships. New Years only happens once a year, so I think Carnival would be well-served to do what they can to tweak this itinerary.

 

Bingo in and of itself is not obnoxious when you have a choice as to whether to avail yourself of it. When bingo is brought to the Lido Deck, however, and you're trying to relax up there, you are not given a choice as to whether to avail yourself of the ear splitting loud and irritating call of the bingo game (even if you don't play). As we all know, typically bingo is played in the main show lounge and you have some semblance of a choice as to whether you're there when its going on. When bingo is forced upon those on the Lido Deck trying to relax on a sea day, that choice is gone and that's when it becomes an obnoxious revenue grab IMHO. Your "choice" is to either give up the relaxation you've chosen to enjoy on the Lido Deck for a period of time or to sit through it while Carnival tries to squeeze out some extra pennies.

 

I realize not everyone will agree, but I'm just calling it how I saw it last week.

I agree that the times they have you in Port are odd, but I am not sure how scheduling and others ships come into play with it. I equate this the same way as I do setting up Professional Sports schedules. Always a head shake or two.

Hey if you find bingo calling takes away from relaxation on the Lido it's your call of course....we played once and didn't the other and didn't really find it intrusive at all. The horrid music being played at times (ie. Randy Travis) was more of a nuisance to us...

The horrid music being played at times (ie. Randy Travis) was more of a nuisance to us...

Sheesh! Glad we didn't have to contend with that :D

The short answer is there is no comparison. RCI Diamond perks blow CCL Platinum perks out of the water.

Thanks for the speedy reply. I sort of figured this would be the case, as it certainly appears this way on paper but sometimes the actual reality can be different. I always feel very appreciated and recognized when I sail on Royal Caribbean as a Diamond member, and it sounds like CCL still has a way to go in this regard with their highest tiers. Hey it wasn't that long ago that CCL called it's frequent cruiser program "Past Guest Program" ... that shows how much priority they place on past guests. Like you I also understand and appreciate that CCL is more geared to first timers ... buy hey who doesn't like free stuff and special treatment! LOL

Oh and one last question. Please tell me the DJ's play music other than hip hop all day by the pool and in the atrium!!?? That would probably put me over the edge. I haven't sailed Carnival since this new entertainment programming started, but in a nutshell it sounds like nothing more than a huge cost cutting initiative. Cut out live bands, reduce the shows, more audience participation (which costs nothing), etc. etc. I'll save final judgement until I experience it first hand, but it doesn't sound promising. Meanwhile other lines like Princess, NCL, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity seem to be enhancing their entertainment offerings with more elaborate shows and broadway productions. Just another way I guess that Carnival really appeals to the first timer.

Ernie

 

pools. they are usually only busy from 10 am to 4 pm on sea days in my experience. the rest of the time it often looks like a grave yard at the pool.

 

I just had to pop-in to respond to this. So you're saying the pool is busy during the entire portion of the day with sunlight? Ahh. Silly us to complain! I guess we should be open to enjoying a dip in the pool at midnight. Good thing Carnival thought of that ;) I can tell that we have different expectations about sailing than you.

This review is probably more relevant to those that do not pay for constant balcony noise, swimming at midnight, and kidsoup pools, all because Carnival has chosen to pack an high number of guests per sqaure foot on their ship in order to increase revenue.

BTW, I should add that I am Dave85's fiancee (HI!). I generally agree with his review, although I was not impressed with the decor. I also thought the food was MUCH better than the Oasis, but I otherwise found myself missing the lack of crowds on that ship the entire week. Interestingly, we sailed on the Oasis during prime kid season and they were much less invasive to my relaxation than on the Breeze..... but, I'm sure some will nonetheless respond that my expectations reinforced by past cruises (and the reason I continue to cruise) are unreasonable. Unfortunately, it seems from this sailing that Carnival agrees with the cheerleaders, and for that reason I will not be spending my infrequent vacation time with Carnival anytime soon. Not until they start packing fewer people onto their ships!

I will also shout-out to the Cruise Director and entertainment staff (best I've seen!!), our wait staff (Andre, Louis, Gordana), and our room steward (Anatole). They were all truly top notch. I have no complains about the staff and crew of the ship -- they were all incredible.

This review is probably more relevant to those that do not pay for constant balcony noise, swimming at midnight, and kidsoup pools, all because Carnival has chosen to pack an high number of guests per sqaure foot on their ship in order to increase revenue.

That is indeed an accurate statement. :)

BTW, I shoulld add that I am Dave85's fiancee (HI!). I generally agree with his review, although I was not impressed with the decor. I also thought the food was MUCH better than the Oasis, but I otherwise found myself missing the lack of crowds on that ship the entire week. Interestingly, we sailed on the Oasis during prime kid season and they were much less invasive to my relaxation than on the Breeze..... nut, I'm sure some will nonetheless respond that I my expectations reinforced by my other cruises are unreasonable. Unfortunately, it seems from this sailing that Carnival agrees with the cheerleaders, and for that reason I will not be spending my infrequent vacation time with Carnival anytime soon. Not until they start packing fewer people onto their ships!

 

I will also shout-out to the Cruise Director and entertainment staff (best I've seen!!), our wait staff (Andre, Louis, Gordana), and our room steward (Anatole). They were all truly top notch. I have no complains about the staff and crew of the ship -- they were all incredible.

Thanks for chiming in! LOL

What is the old saying ... you get what you pay for! No doubt BREEZE is less expensive to sail compared to OASIS and ALLURE, and I suppose expectations should be lowered in comparison ... but regardless of what is paid I think a certain standard should be expected. If I only had a limited amount of time for vacation and had to pick between OASIS and BREEZE it would be a no brainer. I would absolutely pay more to have a better experience. I don't blame you in that regard one bit.

Ernie

Thanks for chiming in! LOL

 

What is the old saying ... you get what you pay for! No doubt BREEZE is less expensive to sail compared to OASIS and ALLURE, and I suppose expectations should be lowered in comparison ... but regardless of what is paid I think a certain standard should be expected. If I only had a limited amount of time for vacation and had to pick between OASIS and BREEZE it would be a no brainer. I would absolutely pay more to have a better experience. I don't blame you in that regard one bit.

 

Ernie

Exactly, couldn't have said it better myself.