Breeze Out of Galveston w/ 2 kids

[Writer Jenn]

Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. Here's the low-down on our trip:

 

Last time we cruised out of Galveston I made a mental note to remember that the baggage drop is at the FAR end of the terminal, but somehow that note got lost in the shuffle and again we ended up dragging our luggage through the terminal and onto the boat.

 

Remember to take your bags to the FAR end of the terminal for the luggage drop!

 

OK so the terminal was an insane madhouse. We had an 11-11:30 window and got there promptly at 11 only to be shuffled into the WRONG line from one of the terminal employees who obviously misheard me. I was trailing 2 kids and a husband, each with a sizeable rolling bag and it was hot, stressful and humid. By the time we had figured out we were in the wrong line, we were able to go right into the terminal - dragging our luggage - and through the now-empty queue to the front desk.

 

Checking in was a breeze (pun intended), and then we tried to find a spot to sit in the waiting room.

 

I pity those with earlier check in times as we all sat and waited until about noon before boarding started. Of course they took the wedding parties and special groups first, then the First to the Fun people, then started calling the groups. We were group 7, I believe, and it seemed to take for-EVER.

 

Finally called then we tromped through up the gangplank still dragging our luggage -- a note here. Not one single person bothered to tell us to check in our bags. I had asked at the check-in desk and the woman informed me that it is a known, and ongoing issue, that nobody (and no signs) tells cruisers where to take their bags -- rant over.

 

The ship is lovely; from bow to stern she is lovely. Fancy without being unpretentious, but still upscale enough to make you feel special.

 

We dragged our luggage up to deck 10 to the main restaurant area and schelpped into line for a Guy's Burger. I will admit I'm a bit of a food snob, but not once on our trip, even when the line was nonexistant, did we get a decent burger. There's a menu, but that's kind of a joke. They hard-sell the cheeseburgers and chances are you'll end up with a cheeseburger even if you ask for a different kind. In any case, the toppings bar is where it's at. Those onions - OMG YUM! And you'll never find crispier bacon. Load that burger up and you won't care it's just a cheeseburger.

 

Finally 1:30 we were able to get down to our room. We entered our corridor and were hit by a wall of stink. It smelled like raw sewage. I chalked it up to just being in port, some minor instance, etc. Achem. More on the stink to come.

 

Room was pretty much what you'd expect on a cruise. I've seen bigger, but the balcony was what we were after and it was just fine. We crammed 4 of us into the small room for the week and ya, we did trip over each other and our stuff but we were ready for that.

 

That evening we had dinner at the Captain's Table, and it was to be the best meal of our trip. We had a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. There's free wine if you book on the first night.

 

After dinner we walked around and explored a bit, then headed back to the room for a night's sleep. Our room still stank like sewage.

[canadaman111]

Very interested in your review. We will be cruising out of Galveston with 4 kids.

 

Good start to your review!!

[Writer Jenn]

Next we had two fun days at sea.

 

I won't bore you with all the details of what we did. It sums up to eating, drinking and exploring. We walked a LOT the first day, trying to see and do all that we can.

 

Our daughter, almost 7, was ambivalent about the kids club. It was a cute space, but it was noisy with kids and with a lot of frenetic activity it was a tough sell to get her to go. The camp people did not clearly articulate that you can drop your kids off for dinner - we had a late seating and it'd have been nice to know how they handled dinner. We finally had to specifically ask direct questions - I got the sense that they'd rather not have kids for dinner so they don't advertise it.

 

My son, 12, tried to get in on the club activities for his age range. It was a complete miss. Every time we went to his area we could find no camp counselors, just usually some bored looking kids hanging around. This was a complete wash for us and we gave up after a few days.

 

The teen room was more active - those kids had the run of the ship and the clique of boys was in hot pursuit of a few teenage girls. At times those kids were out of control - putting feet up on tables in the dining room, sprinting through hallways uncaring of who they nearly run into, etc. Mostly though, we didn't really see the gaggle of teens who were running amok.

 

I will say that the HUB app was essential. Hubby could do his thing, son could do his, and I could do mine and we could all communicate. Plus, the app lets you 'favorite' activities and gives you a reminder 10 mins before they start.

 

About the activities. Be prepared to wait. It was kind of a running joke to see how much time we spent in lines or waiting for elevators. If you're 2-3 floors away from where you want to be, walk it. Trust me - you'll grow old waiting for elevators. And then there are the kids who go down one level in the elevator... grr.

 

By the second day I was sick of the stink in our room and started complaining to housekeeping. The first day they tried to deal with it - did an ozone refresh - but the smell invaded again. Each day we complained and each day they came and did a refresh. I finally convinced one of teh Guest Services supervisors to come up and smell it and he was appalled. I'm convinced it was a known issue, and we ultimately got no resolution to the smell. The best we came up with was housekeeping spraying down a eucalyptus spray that was strong enough to mask the smell.

 

Apparently the cruise was booked, and there wasn't even an interior cabin that we could move in to.

 

After enough complaining, we were offered a very small refund and 15% of a future cruise with a ton of exceptions.

 

The stink, however unpleasant, didn't ruin our cruise.

 

One of the highlights of our cruise was the Chef's Table. an extra $75 per person, but wine is included. Full disclosure - I'm a food writer by trade, so I know what the current trends are and what good food truly is. I'd give Chef's Table a 7.5 out of 10. There were some dated molecular gastronomy tricks, but only one dish, the one with the Wagyu beef, was a miss. The rest was pretty darn tasty.

 

I'll attach some menus and funtimes to the next post.

[Writer Jenn]

As previously stated, I'm a food snob. I try not to let that snobby side show, but I must say I was unimpressed by the food. I've been on enough other cruise lines to know that it can be better.

 

Marketplace buffet - I give props to the variety here. Lunch and dinner usually had two stations open - one a Comfort Kitchen with all-American fare, and another with something different. I saw Italian, Caribbean, and French cuisines offered at this other station.

 

There were some lineups, but it is smartly arranged and the dessert stations are separate which keeps bottlenecks from happening. It is typical buffet food - there were some hits, and a lot of misses. There was usually a roast of some kind, fish, chicken and vegetarian fare. I only saw one kind of gluten-free bread offered. I think gluten-free people would have a tough time.

 

Things of note: watch out for the chocolate buffet. This was totally unadvertised and we stumbled upon it by chance. It was spectacular!

 

The Captain's Table offers table-service at lunch with a make-your-own pasta dish. This is a nice alternative to buffet food. I've attached the menu.

 

Blush Dining Room - A very pretty dining room. We were able to change our seating to an earlier time, so we could all eat together. The food was OK at best. We had two elegant nights on the ship, and the food for the second elegant night was lackluster at best.

 

Yes, I'm well aware of the logistics behind pumping out thousands of meals. But with Carnival, you get what you pay for. If you're expecting shrimp and lobster and caviar, go elsewhere. We did have a small lobster tail offered on elegant night #1, and shrimp was often on the menu. But the shrimp were small and unimpressive.

 

However, it was adequate. I wasn't expecting gourmet. I was impressed by the nightly 'try something different' offerings, and we got to sample fun things like beef tongue, escargot, frogs legs and more.

 

Don't be shy about ordering multiple dishes. The waiters don't bat an eye. The kids menu is gross - order off the main menu for the kids. Side dishes are small - as are the portion sizes of entrees. Desserts were pretty good - creme brulee was a hit, as was the rhubarb pie.

 

Guy's Burgers was a madhouse whenever we went. It was a burger factory with cheeseburgers being doled out if you asked for one or not.

 

Pizza - this has to be the most dreaded job on the ship. The line was long, the guy manning the station slow, and the pizza was yuck unless you're drunk at 2 a.m.

 

Taste Bar - make a point of checking out this free nibble each evening it is offered.

 

Cooking demo - was offered once. Get there early to line up (at least 30 mins in advance) or you won't get a seat close enough to see anything.

 

Tea - Tea in the Blush dining room was lovely. Smoked salmon was abundant, and the desserts were pretty good.

 

Dining room breakfast - smoked salmon lovers can get their fill here. It is on the menu with all the fixings.

 

Breakfast in general - boy was I craving variety by the end of the trip. It is the same old rotation of pancakes and waffles with eggs Benny and bacon.

 

Dr. Suess breakfast - this was fun. Green eggs tho were disgusting but hubby had to try them anyhow. They brought around characters for photo ops, and it was a fun meal if a bit rushed.

 

Drinks - there were plenty of ppl on a booze cruise and by the time we left port they were well underway. Drinks were decent, but I stuck with the wine package. We lost one of our wine bottle tickets and Guest Services gave us the same value in free drink coupons which was nice.

 

Room service - pretty minimal at best. They'll deliver free sandwiches and continental breakfast, plus a few other items for a surcharge. We skipped the madhouse at the buffet on the Grand Cayman Island and had a continental breakfast ordered that was a lot more relaxing.

 

All in all the food was decent. I was hoping for more fish/shellfish, but it was pretty lacking in that area. Steaks and prime rib are always delivered as ordered (medium, rare etc) due to their holding procedures, which is nice to get what you order. I saw a lot of cross-over between buffet and dining room. For example, some of the soups and main dishes were offered in both dining areas at the same time.

 

BBQ - We're from Texas. This BBQ was meh. It wasn't hot, and the cold stuff wasn't cold. The sauce was...odd. But it was a nice change from buffet and burgers.

 

Indian - didn't try it. I love me some good Indian cuisine and well, it looked dry and unappetizing.

 

Mongolian - the overwhelming smell of sesame oil drove me away from this place.

 

Burrito - was decent but nothing compared to Chipotle. The whole wheat wrap was weird. Breakfast tacos were decent.

 

OK here come the menus and pics.

[Writer Jenn]

I'm continuing to try to write this review with info that I was looking for before cruising, so it may not be the typical review.

 

In any case, we tried to do as many activities as we could. We're not an idle family.

 

In general, I was disappointed by the variety of offerings. There were TONS of things to do for extra $$. Bingo was pushed hard and the on-board shopping was touted as the thing to do. Perhaps I'm missing something but who, on a Carnival cruise, spends thousands on jewelry or art? We saw some paintings we were interested in but found out the bidding for those started around $800. OMG.

 

Shows in the Ovation Theater - these were fun. The dancers/singers were pretty good and there were enough special effects to entertain my eldest. We saw two shows with the dancers. DH and kids went to the magic show and reported it was decent.

 

Casino - I spent a whopping $50 in the casino. But, there were people there dropping hundreds if not more. If you do play the slots, start early and get to 1000 points for free drinks. I'm sure there are exclusions to that offer. It was also smoky being one of the few (only?) indoor smoking spots.

 

I hated that the shortest route often took us through the casino. The kids would run through as fast as possible to avoid the smoke.

 

Pool-side activities - there were a handful of these but they were swarmed with people, and got kind of gross. The Hairiest Man competition involved the judges smelling and yes, tasting, the hairy guys.

 

Booze tasting - the line was LONG, all for a few tiny sips.

 

Live music - was OK. There was a great variety, that's for sure.

 

Thrill Theater - wasn't open a single time we went past. Nobody seemed to know when it would be open.

 

Skycourse - the kids and hubby had fun with this, but it was the kind of thing that once you've done it, you don't need to do it again.

 

Miniput was fun and operated on two levels for even more fun.

 

Pools - VERY crowded and very salty. We have a pool at home so didn't feel the need to swim much. The main pool was very loud, but there was usually plenty of seating even into mid-morning on sea days.

 

Adult-only area - never even stepped foot in there. Same with Spa.

 

Excursions - oh wow, did Carnival push these hard. I exhaustively researched these ahead of time and we opted for non-Carnival excursions. In Jamaica, we jumped on a cab and went to Doctor Cave Beach - it was lovely. Jamaica is not so lovely, and I was nervous about it, but the cab drivers (expect an upsell) took good care to get us to and from the gate unharassed.

 

In Grand Cayman we opted for a private half day charter with http://www.islandlife-watersports.com/ - cannot recommend this enough. We had a 4-person tour of Stingray City, snorkeling and looking for starfish. Price was comparable to any other big excursion.

 

In Cozumel we just walked around looking at shops and wandered off down the road to one of the many flea markets. If you want to shop, go to the flea market. There were some horse-drawn carriages that were doing mini excursions that we entertained, but it was really humid and opted for a shorter trip on shore.

 

Chef's Table - I wrote about this earlier.

 

There were a handful of other activities like corn hole, trivia, the morning show, etc.

 

Kudos to all the staff who worked exceptionally hard and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. We encountered one snarly and sour activities person who seemed to be just having the worst week ever. For the most part, everyone was happy and imparted a sense of fun that is the Carnival motto.

[hulksmash]

Thank you for the nice review. We are on the Thanksgiving cruise and staying on deck 10. Where was your cabin with the smell issue? Btw same thing happened to us on Disney and they upgraded the room on day 3 and gave us some obc. It smelled like I was living in a sewer line.

[TxChick]

As a foodie I can see how you were disappointed. Did you ever get a chance to try the steakhouse because, and I agree the food has gone downhill, but the steakhouse is well worth the price and I could eat there every day. Also, was the sewage smell all over? I've only experienced the smell once and it was right after the disaster on the triumph and it was unavoidable.

 

Also, any way to enlarge the menus?

[fivemonkeysplus1]

Yes, thank you for your review! We are going in a year. I am disappointed to hear your experience with Circle C, etc...I have 4 kids I will be taking with me. I would also be interested to know which deck your cabin was on.

[Badfinger]

You must not write about chocolate very much, because in my experience, that chocolate buffet only offers 2-3 items that are good. Most of the chocolate seems waxy and void of that dark chocolate taste you would expect by looking at it.

 

Glad to here the burrito was not like Chipolte...I guess this means you did not get food poisoning!

[MsSmack]

I'm enjoying your review. I have a cruise booked on the Breeze also. Please tell us what your cabin number was that you stayed in. Did you actually sit with the Captain at the first night dinner? Thank you for posting pics, unfortunately, the menu pics are too small to be readable.

[ToddnMichelle]

what were the cruise dates? based on your description of the lines/crowds, i'm assuming this took place over the Memorial Day holiday?

Edited May 31, 2016 by ToddnMichelle

[margaret10987]

What night was the chocolate buffet?

[Riley's Mom]

We were on the Breeze that deported May 22nd.

We thought the ship was beautiful.

I will agree with you regarding the sewer smell. We were in a

spa balcony cabin and the sewer fumes flooded into our cabin early every morning. Especially noticed on port days. I didn't think about telling our steward, now I wish I had if we could have gotten a discount.

 

We loved Guy's burgers. They were juicy, greasy and delicious!

Always cooked well done, which is what we all like. The onions on the burger bar were one of my favs too.

 

The Thrill theatre is open many times during the day, you can see the open times and show times posted directly to the left of the ticket counter.

It was a lot of fun. A little disappointed though that they only open at specific times to sell tickets. You have to wait in a long line to purchase tickets for a specific show time, when they have sold 16 tickets, that showing is closed.

One two rows of seats were working. The entire back row of seats were not open due to malfunction.

 

We loved the Sapphire dining room, our wait staff were excellent. I told them how much I adore Creme Brûlée, so our head waiter was able to order it for me each night at dinner.

 

We loved the Breeze so much that I booked another cruise on her in October. I was able to get the special half price deposit deal that was available today.

[Riley's Mom]

What night was the chocolate buffet?

 

The choc buffet was on the last sea day and it was at noontime.

It is an extravaganza for sure!

[JaniceB]

Thank you for writing a review of your cruise.

I am a little worried about the sewage smell on the ship.

I am a dark chocolate lover but have never really found many items at the Chocolate buffet that have it. Did you see many?

We have friends traveling with us that have twin 9 year olds. I hope the kids club sees some improvements by the time we sail.

[dawnvan]

Thank you for your review.

Maybe I missed it but what balcony room were you in?