sc4125

Another vote for the Legend.  Haven't been on the Horizon, but I loved the Legend.  

I also vote for the 4 day (although Liberty is one of the few CCL ships I haven't been on and would like to).  I've taken many 4 day cruises on the Paradise out of Tampa from Thursday through Monday - matter of fact I will be on one next month with a large group of family and in January I'm doing a solo. 

I have never felt it was a party cruise.  I don't go to the club because I'm just a little too old for that scene, so I can't say whether that is more of a "party" on 4 day cruise.

I still love the 7 day cruises, but I'd take a 4 day without a second thought.

I too purchase Cruise Cash for most of my cruises.  I too have never had a problem using it all (you can only purchase $500 per cabin).  I just find it more convenient than buying gift cards and then having to go to GS to have them placed on my account.   

39 minutes ago, Lottacruises said:

Is it different at lunch on the first day?

There is no charge for lunch on any day.  I always go at least a couple of times a week to get nice, hot pasta without having to stand in line at the buffet or spend so much time in the MDR for lunch or brunch.

I just sailed on the Breeze on Sept 14th and I didn't receive a boarding zone when checking in online.  I'm platinum and chose the earliest check in time 12:00 - 12:30, but nothing about a particular boarding zone.  Is getting a zone in advance a new thing at all ports?

BTW, there were so many Platinum passengers that we had to board in two different groups.

On 9/22/2019 at 12:05 PM, stellarose said:

our last cruise my son was 16 , daughter 14 both used the hub. 

 worked fine. even my inlaws did too. 

Their is a "cut-off" age - I believe it was anyone under 13 maybe (someone will know for sure).  We were on a cruise with another family - I do know that the 11 year old's parents had to go to Guest Services to give permission for her to send or receive chats.

No, it's a total of 15 drinks regardless of whether you use DOU or CHEERS.  The one good thing about having CHEERS is that you can go up to the casino bar and order instead of waiting for a drink from waiters that are taking 10 or more orders at a time. 

Just now, Schoifmom said:

The ability to stream is entirely dependent on which ship.  Some ships have enhanced wifi, some do not.

Thanks for the info.  We will be on the Paradise, so I'm thinking it won't be enhanced.  I'll just try to make sure I'm nowhere near them at game time.  

I will suggest that they try a call to CCL again and see if they get the same answer.

Speaking of wifi on the ships, I have never purchased any of the packages, but will be traveling with a large group in November and one couple asked if they could live stream a football game using the ship's wifi.  I hear people complaining about the reception, so I can't imagine being able to live stream.  I suggested they call CCL for answer and they were told that it shouldn't be a problem.  This is a new cruiser, and I don't want them to be disappointed (actually, I don't want to listen to them complain for days). 

Has anyone live streamed anything onboard?

I've had cabins under the Lido on several ships - I just got off the Breeze this past week-end and was in a balcony under the Lido.  Normally, I make sure the cabin is under the seating area in the Lido restaurant and have never had an issue with noise.  

On one cruise I was under the Lido pool area and there were a couple of times that I heard deck chairs being pushed around in the morning, but nothing very bad.

If I can't actually get a cabin on the Lido deck itself, I like to be on this floor for easy access to food and drinks.

Just got off the Breeze this morning.  Interestingly enough, we were in Bermuda this past Monday & Tuesday - Hurricane Humberto hit Bermuda right after we left.  From what I understand, we were the last ship allowed in before it hit.  

I've cruised in September 5 or 6 times and never had the rough seas we experienced on this cruise.  There was only one night of the cruise that wasn't crazy rough.  I still had a great time, but I did feel for those passengers who were prone to sea sickness and for those with children who were looking forward to the slides - they were closed down for most of the cruise.

The only other way the storm impacted us was that rather than arriving in Grand Turk at 9:00, we didn't arrive until almost 1:00 after leaving Bermuda as the Captain had to go around the storm. 

Unbelievable that this trip will be dealing with the same thing.

Leaving for Pt. Canaveral in about an hour - so happy to see that the weather forecast has improved since last night.  At least we shouldn't get wet getting onboard.  Bermuda forecast for Monday & Tuesday doesn't look great - but hey, we'll have a great time either way!!

5 hours ago, balcony bound said:

We are on this cruise also.  Departure time is 3:30 (always has been).  Got out my rain gear and umbrella!

You and me both.  Looks like we may need it in Bermuda too.  

Thanks for all the info.  I'm just keeping an eye on it.  We only live an hour and a half from the port, so as of now we plan to leave by 8:00 a.m. and get there when we do.  

Hopefully there won't be any major changes in departure time. 

At least we'll be heading away from it (I hope), so though it looks like thunderstorms are forecast for Bermuda when we get there, I plan to have a good time.  I live in Florida - a little rain and wind doesn't scare me, and I know that sailing in Sept. is always a risk.  

Thank goodness we have a balcony this cruise - if the forecast doesn't change, we will be looking at rain for most of the cruise, so I'm thinking hanging out on Lido might be challenging.  

Has anyone heard that there will be issues with sailing out of Port Canaveral on Saturday?  We are suppose to be on the Breeze to start our 7 day Bermuda cruise, and it looks like they expect the tropical storm to hit east central Florida at around 2:00 Saturday.  I haven't received an email yet but was wondering if they may decide to sail out earlier than 4:00.  Anyone have any idea??

I will be on the Breeze in 4 more days - can't wait.  I've been on her 4 times but not in the last few years.  I absolutely love the Breeze - my favorite of the 12 CCL ships I've been on & I admit I was a little concerned about the recent reviews.  I am so happy that you're experience was more in line with my time on her.  I'm a pretty easy going kind of cruiser so I expect to have a great time.

Will be going to Bermuda and Grand Turk - excited about Bermuda - haven't been there in over 30 years.  I was there 3 times when I worked on the Mardi Gras as a "gift shop girl." Don't expect I'll have the same experience now (lol).

Thanks for the reassuring review.

Maybe there was a mix up due to the fact that you turned Platinum during the cruise.  I know you receive all the Platinum perks for the cruise, but perhaps they forgot the special disembarking instructions.

I too think that you should look into ordering decorations for the cabin & maybe one of their cakes.  The decorations are really cute & not very costly.  I haven't had the cake, but I have heard that they are really good. 

You could certainly ask that the MDR staff sing happy birthday - but the only person who will probably enjoy it is the 5 year old (lol).  Like someone else said, it doesn't feel really special because they seem to be singing Happy Birthday or Anniversary or Honeymoon every few minutes.

In reference to all the cuts (particularly staffing), I'm not sure most people realize just how much it costs the cruise line for each staff member.  Granted the salaries (at least for the low level positions) are minimal; however, unlike most land based companies, cruise lines are responsible for way more than salaries:

Medical Costs

Food & Board 

Uniforms (issue & cleaning)

As the costs - particularly medical costs - increase something has to give.  Unlike most companies, crewmembers do not contribute to medical insurance, nor do they make co-pays, or pay the 20% over what the insurance covers.

I was a Purser onboard another cruise line & not only acted as the Paymaster (when all crew members were paid in cash), but also dealt with medical issues related to the crew.  When there was something more than the onboard doctor could deal with, which was probably 50% of the issues, we had to schedule, transport and pay for medical care in every port.  I can't tell you how much money (and time) that cost.  In the 3 years I held this position, there had to have been at least 20 times that a crewmember had to be airlifted off the ship for medical care.  I wasn't involved in the medical insurance claims, but I can tell you the largest expense in reference to crew was medical.

Just something to think about when considering the cut in staff.

Actually we ended up staying at a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that is popular among cruisers and just driving for 30 minutes to the Miami port the next morning and parking at the pier.

After researching the cost of a taxi or uber from the port to the hotel and the cost of the hotel stay, it just didn't seem worthwhile.  I would have probably taken a taxi to the port from the hotel also, just because the last time we used a hotel shuttle it was a disaster.  We were on the first shuttle (actually a large bus) and it seemed to take forever for the driver to put everyone's luggage in the bin and then he stopped at 3 other ships before reaching ours.  It took almost an hour to reach our ship once we made it to the port - I real nightmare!

1 minute ago, CruisesRMe said:

We sailed the Breeze this year along with two other smaller Carnival ships, the Breeze was not our favorite ship only because there were so many "traffic jams" and the breakfast buffets were the longest lines that we ever experienced on our Carnival cruises.  Carnival needs to rethink where certain items need to be placed, for instance, at the end of the line was the bacon and they always ran out of bacon, so you had to wait for the bacon to come plus the condiments/syrup and such are at the end of the buffet line which held up the lines even more.  They need to place those items somewhere away from the buffet line to keep the lines moving faster.

I would like to hear your experience when you come back....any cruise is better than no cruise so Bon Voyage!

I loved the Breeze (sailed on her 4 times) but the last was in 2016 and I've heard some not so great comments about her lately.  I tend to eat at odd times, so I don't normally  hit the long lines.  We will be in a balcony on Deck 9, so I'm thinking we will be grabbing food on Lido & eating it on our balcony to avoid crowds. 

I'm very excited about Bermuda - I haven't been there since I worked on board (I was a gift shop girl for 2 years on 3 of their 4 ships a long, long time ago).  We did 4 cruises to Bermuda when I was working on the Mardi Gras.  I'll come back on when we get back and share my thoughts.

18 hours ago, CruisesRMe said:

The people who haven't cruised yet would not know the difference, and I am unsure whether they would take another cruise after the Paradise experience.

I have sailed every class of ship on CCL - will be on the Breeze next week and it will be my 25th cruise with Carnival. 

I really liked the Paradise.  I first sailed on her in 2016 after sailing the larger ships for the 3-4 years prior.  I was a little apprehensive about going back to the smaller ships, but was pleasantly surprised.  I will be going back on the Paradise for the 5th time in November.  Not sure when you sailed on her, but she has been upgraded with the inclusion of Guys, Blue Iguana, etc.  I think she's a great choice when you want to take a shorter cruise.

10 hours ago, pe4all said:

I definitely agree with the bounce-back offers not being as generous as they used to be.  However, my dealers choice ($200 casino cash and dou card) cruise in January just changed to a premier cruise - with $1500 casino cash, party, gifts, etc.  I called my pvp and she changed my booking with no problem.  The cruise had cost me $1400 (this includes prepaid grats) so I did pretty well so far - comes out to a "free" cruise. 

Premier cruises seem to be the best deal by far.  I took a dealers choice in July & will be on another in November.  I sure wish the November cruise would change to Premier.

Sometimes you get a better deal than the bounce back.  For example, I am sailing on the Breeze in 10 days on a Premier deal (7 days to Bermuda) - $500 free play and my sister gets $1000, DOU, etc. for a total cost of $1743.54 - balcony on deck 9.  If you deduct the free play - that would be a total of $243.54 for both of us.

I received a Bounce Back offer from my last cruise on the Paradise & took the offer to book another cruise in January, again on the Paradise (4 days to Cozumel). After all was said and done, I booked an interior for two which cost a total of $421.04.  No free play, just DOU.  Four days in interior on Empress deck for $421.04 vs. seven days in Balcony for $243.54 (including free play of course).

Something doesn't sound right (lol).  If I would have given it a little more thought, I would have waited for my next Premier offer.  

The Bounce Back offers I've received in the last couple of years are no where near the offers back a few years ago, when you could book a balcony on a 7 day cruise for little more than taxes and port fees.

I think that cruise lines typically give a discount on future cruises along with the refund when somehow they are "at fault" for the cancellation.  I don't imagine any of the cruise lines affected by Hurricane Dorian will be giving a discount - they are already going to be out a lot of $$$.

I don't think many cruisers would need to have an incentive to book again.