Breeze B2B Review Dec 13-27

[nursemommy7578]

Let me start by saying this was not our first Carnival cruise...but will likely have been our last. We paid alot of money and we were let down in so many ways.

 

Embarkation: for the Dec 13th leg was SLOW. Not sure if this is a normal issue for this port, but it was a waste of FTTF. Our B2B re-boarding was also delayed as they had trouble getting people off the ship. Same issue as the week before. Also, they lost one of my bags. I did not get it back until the 3rd day. So much for FTTF again!!

 

Room: for the first leg it was 4 of us in a Lido Balcony. loved the cabin and location. Room steward was fairly attentive. 2nd leg we had 2 inside rooms on Lido. They turned out to be accessible cabins and we enjoyed the extra space. Room stewards were good...but nothing "above and beyond". We gave them stockings/cash for Christmas and nobody said "thank you".

 

Food: was mostly very good on both legs. No complaints!!

 

Service: for the most part was pretty great during the first leg! Then, something happened during the 2nd leg and it was terrible. There was one night in the MDR where we arrived at 6:20pm and by 8:00pm STILL had not recieved our meals or bar service. I left without eating that night. I ended up ordering a BLT from room service on elegant night :mad: I messaged JH about this as I was really upset. I did get a call from the maitre D...but no explanation as to what happened. We were given 2 free drinks though! lol

 

I was supposed to recieve my gold card on the 2nd leg, but "the system wasnt working" and I had to go back 3 times before I got it. I never did get my drink coupon or pin. Guest services did not seem to care.

 

Shore excursion staff were less than helpful. I had this cruise booked for about a year and I checked DAILY for certain excursions. By the time we got onboard, we were given a book and several "new" things were already sold out! How? They were NEVER shown on my cruise manager! I never knew they existed until we got the book! Why cant they pre-sell a limited number of spots and hold some for onboard purchase?? My daughter missed out on something because of this. No apology...he blamed me for not checking the website enough (again...this particular excursion was not even offered on my cruise manager).

 

During the 2nd leg our stop at Curacao got screwed up. Someone double-booked the pier and we were left hanging out just offshore for 5 hours. I cant even explain how frustrating this was. Not sure why Carnival didnt double check before sailing from Miami. Why couldnt they tender us in? People were joking that we should all jump and swim ashore...we were THAT close. Instead we sat there watching everyone else come and go on the other ship. Our new time was 7pm-2am. Seriously?? Other than bars and restaurants there was nothing to do!! I felt sooooo bad for those with young kids. Carnival gave each person $50 OBC and refunded excursions, but it didnt make up for the loss of this port.

 

Pixels: what a mess. They lost soooo many of our photos. embarkation, elegant and collectibles. I have no idea why they have not switched over to a digital system. It would be so less chaotic if they take your picture and swiped your card. Then, you could go to a kiosk (at any time!!) and look at your pics and order what you want. This current process is a nightmare. Also, there was no photo package. Carnival needs to put things fleetwide so people dont get upset.

 

Shows/Activities: I enjoyed what I saw. The Thrill Theater was a great addition for us. Ropes course was fun, waterslides were great and the comedy club was fun. (except for that 1 night when someone thought it would be a bright idea to have a 3 piece band playing Christmas music RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR to the comedy club DURING A SHOW!!!:mad:)

 

Ports:

 

Montego Bay: was supposed to be Falmouth, but got changed a few weeks prior to sailing. We stayed onboard.

Grand Cayman: loved it! Allura Catamaran to stingrays was amazing!!

Cozumel: we went to Nachi Cocom. It was ok. Not what I expected. Beach and water were not what I had seen pics of. Food and drinks were good.

 

Grand Turk: we spent time snorkelling at the beach, then hung out at Margaritaville and Jacks Shack. A great day.

La Romana: hubby and daughter went ziplining and loved it. My son and I stayed onboard and relaxed.

Curacao: a wasted port...we had booked a mini jeeps excursion but never got to do it.

Aruba: Kukoo Kunuku bus. LOVED IT!!!

 

I am grateful that we were able to vacation...and thankfully there were some good points to the trip. Sadly the negative attitudes and experiences far outweighed the good and we will be trying something else for our next trip.

[nursemommy7578]

also to add...chair hogs were out in full force!! my son and I timed 2 families one morning. they did not come back for over 2.5 hours!! then, we noticed each day that an older woman took up 3 lounge chairs in a prime location. She kept moving them around so nobody could move into her space. It was unreal.

 

despite mentioning this to crew...nobody did anything.

 

Sorry if all of these things in my review sound so negative...but it somewhat spoiled our week. I had high expectations.

[pusywillow]

Did you complain to someone in the MDR when you didn't get your food? That is just ridiculous.

[G-off14]

The delay in Curaçao was definitely a bummer.

[Cruisegirl6]

OP has every right to say what he/she wants to say and thank you for the review by the way!

 

Our two cruises this year consisted of many problems and issues also...Valor in May had two fires but didn't affect us but from the second that ship left the pier I knew something was wrong with her, she rocked badly the entire cruise, then a water pipe in back of our wall in our stateroom broke...on our last cruise a month ago I called special needs about my needing to stay gluten free they assured me even with my time dining I would be taken cared of no way in fact one of the server helpers told me the orange cake was gluten free needless to say I got sick, then late at night went for a burger was told it was gluten free another day sick, then we had this constant fog horn sound in our cabins (the entire hallways very aft heard it on our deck and we had two aft cabins) we could not sleep at all the horn noise was every other second only stopped when we docked in port so didn't get off ship we had to get sleep....then our FTTF didn't deliver our luggage was brought to our room after everybody else that didn't have FTTF.....We got on board early thanks to FTTF and immediately made reservations for the Chefs table to find the first evening in the MDR being approached telling us we are cancelled due to being overbooked. Certainly two not good Carnival cruises, I did write a letter when we got back our last cruise and waiting to see if Carnival answers what I wrote them but honestly, we are booked on the Magic for April 30 and having reservations....we have a month nearly to decide to cancel and go on a RC cruise or stay with the Magic, I think my decision be based whether we hear back from Carnival.

 

Sorry you also had many issues that were not pleasant.

[martinchem]

I'd be really pissed if I was expecting to go to Curacao and we couldn't debark at a reasonable time, I can accept a windy day missing a tender port, but not your circumstances.

That alone should make Carnival work extra hard to make your vacation extra special

[nursemommy7578]

I did try to speak with a hostess or the maitre D on my way out...but was told they were too busy. I then headed over to guest services but the line was about 50 people deep. We were also trying to get the attention of staff in the MDR but were told twice that we were "not my section". Very disheartening.

 

There WERE many good parts to the trip. I just honestly expected much better service based on what we experienced on the Splendor.

 

I understand that things happen and ports are not guaranteed, but Curacao was the single port we were most excited about.

 

We are going to try something different for our next trip! Costa Rica!!! I know things can happen on any trip...and I am trying to focus on the good from our Breeze cruise. I just wanted to share the negatives so others could be aware/prepared.

 

thanks for reading:)

[lissa42886]

nice review. honestly it sounds like 90% of ur trip was awesome! and the few mishaps should be no way a decision to stop carnival. those things can happen on any ship or vacation. not getting ur food served for 2 hours would have really angered me tho.

[Cruiserconnoisseur25]

I did try to speak with a hostess or the maitre D on my way out...but was told they were too busy. I then headed over to guest services but the line was about 50 people deep. We were also trying to get the attention of staff in the MDR but were told twice that we were "not my section". Very disheartening.

 

There WERE many good parts to the trip. I just honestly expected much better service based on what we experienced on the Splendor.

 

I understand that things happen and ports are not guaranteed, but Curacao was the single port we were most excited about.

 

We are going to try something different for our next trip! Costa Rica!!! I know things can happen on any trip...and I am trying to focus on the good from our Breeze cruise. I just wanted to share the negatives so others could be aware/prepared.

 

thanks for reading:)

 

Thanks for sharing. We are going on the breeze in 13 days and are very excited. I'm trolling all Breeze reviews to get more insight. You won't be disappointed in Costa Rica BTW. We had the best time there and it was definitely one of our favorite vacations.

[Pesh]

I did try to speak with a hostess or the maitre D on my way out...but was told they were too busy. I then headed over to guest services but the line was about 50 people deep. We were also trying to get the attention of staff in the MDR but were told twice that we were "not my section". Very disheartening.

 

 

 

There WERE many good parts to the trip. I just honestly expected much better service based on what we experienced on the Splendor.

 

 

 

I understand that things happen and ports are not guaranteed, but Curacao was the single port we were most excited about.

 

 

 

We are going to try something different for our next trip! Costa Rica!!! I know things can happen on any trip...and I am trying to focus on the good from our Breeze cruise. I just wanted to share the negatives so others could be aware/prepared.

 

 

 

thanks for reading:)

 

 

Appreciate being able to read an honest and balanced review! Thanks for posting. I love that you didn't just sweep the negatives under the rug, but at the same didn't let them ruin your vacation.