Chrissandra's Carnival Breeze US Inaugural B2B Review (11-22 thru 12-2)

[gambee]

 

And before I forget, this was how calm the sea was. From our balcony!

 

 

I absolute love how close to the water those cabins are, one question is there a lot of splashing into the balcony?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like this picture, I feel like I know all of you by now.

 

 

 

Thank you very much sharing, I truly enjoyed your review. I am also in the process of reading Femmy.. review, I know its been said before but although her pictures are amazing, yours are very good and your style of writing is a lot of fun. With these two reviews I am sure to get a feeling about what the Breeze is all about.

 

I was thinking about sailing her to a full review myself, but after you 2 I am having second thoughts. It would be very hard to even come near what you have done.

 

Once again thank you for the time and energy you spent doing this for us fellow cruisers :)

Edited December 14, 2012 by gambee

[ardnassac79]

LOL - we've always used a card DH has from a tire store. That's the only use it's been for many cruises now.:p Truly enjoyed your review. Best wishes on your upcoming wedding - may you have a long and happy life together. And I'm really looking forward to your honeymoon cruise review!

 

Thank you! We really appreciate the kind words :D

 

Hi again review pros, my wife and I have a question. We have been in PA for 3 years and have avoided sailing out of Maryland on the Pride because of the ports of call, especially port Canaveral. It just seems like that is where cruises should start and not head to. I see you have taken many on the Pride, and we LOVE the sister ship Spirit (sailed out of San Diego). Is it worth flying like we have done for the last three years? your opinion, especially after this review, is highly appreciated. Thank you.

Congratulations on your engagement. Beautiful couple :). I proposed on the Magic last March and we had our wedding in San Diego in July. Already had our honeymoon, our cruises are just (hopefully becoming) traditional. Thanks Again!!!

 

The Pride is a great ship - we love the Spirit class ships - less people, great layout, etc. We jokingly yet lovingly call it our "vacation home" - for us, it's a great option to perhaps get a 2nd cruise in during the year without the extra cost of airfare, which these days can cost almost as much as the cruise itself! I know a lot of people are not fans of the Port Canaveral stop - we personally love it due to the opportunity to take an excursion into Orlando and do one of the theme parks there (the Disney ones, or Universal).

 

I will admit we try to avoid sailing during the colder months, as the first 2 days at sea will be kinda chilly!

 

Not sure if you knew this, but the Pride does have a different itinerary sometimes - Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Freeport. This is a GREAT option if you want to get some beachy stops! We are always out on Carnival.com looking for different itineraries - I'd definitely recommend checking it out. We have 2 reviews (links in our signatures) for our Pride trips - feel free to check them out... I'll warn you our review from 2011 is annoying to read because the links to most of my pictures are blacked out - I changed settings on my web hosting album and didn't realize it would mess up the links in the review. Our May 2012 should be fine though.

[ardnassac79]

I absolute love how close to the water those cabins are, one question is there a lot of splashing into the balcony?

 

I really like this picture, I feel like I know all of you by now.

 

Thank you very much sharing, I truly enjoyed your review. I am also in the process of reading Feme.. review, I know its been said before but although her pictures are amazing, yours are very good and your style of writing is a lot of fun. With these two reviews I am sure to get a feeling about what the Breeze is all about.

 

I was thinking about sailing her to a full review myself, but after you 2 I am having second thoughts. It would be very hard to even come near what you have done.

 

Once again thank you for the time and energy you spent doing this for us fellow cruisers :)

 

Aww thank you! We love doing the reviews, just the same as we love reading them!

 

As for the splashing - there is no Splash - you are still a good ways up from the water line, but depending on how Forward your room is, there is a good chance you'll get sea spray from the bow, especially on windy days, or when the ship is really trucking.

 

And I would recommend ANYONE who wants to do a review to give it a shot! I love being able to relive our vacation in a pictoral format. When we did our first one, it was on a whim, and there had already been some great ones done for the Pride - that didn't deter us, and all the wonderful feedback from folks like you keep us going each time... I say DO IT :D

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Awsome Review !!!!

 

We both just finished reading it. Love all of the pics, especially the one's on the Pirate ship. We would have loved that rope swing but it may have taken, as you said, a little liquid courage.

 

Quick question for Chris, how did you like the Sweet Potato soup ? We both love the Pumpkin soup and were wondering if it was just as good?

 

 

Have fun planning the Wedding and see you on the Liberty !

 

 

Cari & Rick

 

 

 

 

.

[Anung Un Rama]

Awsome Review !!!!

 

We both just finished reading it. Love all of the pics, especially the one's on the Pirate ship. We would have loved that rope swing but it may have taken, as you said, a little liquid courage.

 

Quick question for Chris, how did you like the Sweet Potato soup ? We both love the Pumpkin soup and were wondering if it was just as good?

 

 

Have fun planning the Wedding and see you on the Liberty !

 

 

Cari & Rick

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

Hi guys! Cass is more a fan of pumpkin than I am so I've never had that but the Sweet Potato soup is surprisingly good. I'm not a big soup guy but this is one of the better ones on the menu.

Less than 4 months til the Liberty now :D

[etwright]

Once again...THANK YOU for the review. I had an awesome "Journey" reading it :cool::D:cool:

[Anung Un Rama]

Once again, thank you for all the kind words everyone!

 

I took a day and put some thought into my final overview.

 

Staff – I think I can easily say that the staff on the Breeze was the best we’ve ever had. I liked all the casino dealers as they were all friendly (especially those couple pretty blondes). It was great that they took our room keys to grade us playing at the tables now.

 

Bar staff was fantastic. I feel so bad for those in the casino as they are so overworked. They should really double the amount of servers that walk around to the tables because it could take up to a half hour to get a drink. You know how much I love the Piano Bar staff. And our Room Steward was the best we’ve had. He always kept us stocked with ice and greeted us by name from day one.

 

Servers – this is a hard one for us as we only had one server more than once (Stanimir) and he was great. I can’t think of a bad experience or a negative thing to say about any of our servers so that’s a compliment in itself. You can always expect slower service on formal nights (this is based on all of our cruises).

 

Specialty Restaurants – I’ll continue with the service here and say that they were both great but the Steakhouse was the best we’ve ever had. The food was delicious at both but I liked La Cucina more than the Steakhouse (but I prefer Italian so take that with a grain of salt). I wish I had known La Cucina was open for lunch every day (be sure to read the Fun Times thoroughly!)

 

Food – The food was great. I’ve never had a major complaint about the food on Carnival (especially not on the 2.0 ships). I was a little disappointed with the Bacon Mac & Cheese but that’s partly because my expectations are so high. I’m not sure where to put this so the food section seemed appropriate, the lines at Lido buffet were absurd! We never got a full breakfast up here because I wasn’t going to wait 20 minutes for a buffet breakfast. This was by far my biggest complaint and issue with the ship and 3700 or so guests (we are accustomed to about 2100 on the Pride). I love the Burgers and tacos and just wish they were open later for either dinner or a snack (would be great to absorb some booze). The Taste Bar was a great way to get a free appetizer and check out food from various restaurants/bars on the ship. We both liked the appetizer options at the Red Frog Pub but wish they would add buffalo wings (I feel like that would be a huge hit).

 

 

Thrill Theater – I thought this deserved it’s own footnote. We really enjoyed this option. It’s only cost affective for a longer cruise using the pass. Try to make sure to sit front and center or at least center. We only had one issue with this when we saw the last show before a break and the person running it left without escorting us out or taking our glasses (the cage was down). We had friends that had a similar issue but when it was supposed to be open. It was a fun way to kill time and I hope they keep the movies fresh and swap them out every 6 months or so.

 

Ship – Well it’s a big ship and there are a lot of guests. It never really felt that crowded except at the Lido buffet. We never had a problem with finding chairs to lay out even at peak time and even on Serenity. Can’t say I saw a single case of chair hogging.

LOVED the color scheme and decor on this ship! It’s really hard to put in into words but it’s warm without being dark. The extra touches like the trees in the Lido buffet just give it a nice outside feeling. The Lanai area on deck 5 is a great place to eat or just sit and chill outside. As well as the comfy seats up on deck 11 aft. Great place for sail away!

I’m not much of a Martini drinker so I didn’t miss the Alchemy Bar but I did miss having a sports bar. I’d love to know the decision behind excluding the sports bar since they are on every ship that I know of.

Serenity was nice and big with 2 hot tubs. Love that there’s a bar right there and even staff that comes around so you don’t have to get up. Just wish there was a pool.

We never saw any movies out on the Lido big screen because there was just so much other stuff to do. It’s still a nice option but I just don’t want to spend 2 hours watching a movie I’ve already seen while on a cruise.

 

And I can’t conclude this without a mention of all the great people we got to cruise with. We made so many friends over these 10 days and I’m so happy that we’ll get to see many of them on the Victory next October. Thank you all for so many laughs and memories!

[deedle7544]

Love your review!!!! thank you fpr taking the time.

 

No Sports Bar - oops, the Breeze is now off the list for my birthday cruise next year. We will be cruising during football season and I must have a sports bar. Back to obsessing over ships and itineraries I go

[NYRsHOCKEY]

Great review, Chris and Cass!

Looking forward to October...

I will definitely miss you guys when I sail on the Breeze yet again next month!

 

 

>J

[aggiecruiser05]

Thank you so much for another enjoyable review!! Best wishes on the rest of your wedding plans. I hope you two have a wonderful wedding and honeymoon!!

[Anung Un Rama]

Great review, Chris and Cass!

Looking forward to October...

I will definitely miss you guys when I sail on the Breeze yet again next month!

 

 

>J

 

Ah you brat!!! At least we'll get to spend time together in October. I wish we had the time to do the BC6 :(

 

Thank you so much for another enjoyable review!! Best wishes on the rest of your wedding plans. I hope you two have a wonderful wedding and honeymoon!!

 

 

Thank you! I'm sure we will (the honeymoon more than the wedding though ;))

[ripjerry95]

I have read other reviews of yours. You capture everything so well and your pics are always great. Hope to book the Breeze in the near future. Keep on cruisin! -Kim:D

[retiredgram]

Thanks for the great review. Wishing you the best on your upcoming wedding.

[campdaan]

Thanks for the awesome review. I loved the Dream review too.

 

I'll give props to Italianfemmy on her review.

 

Also, Congrats on the upcoming nuptuals. Look forward to that review too.

 

 

You guys are on my ever-growing dream list of CCer's I'd love to cruise with...

 

The "Who's who" dream cruise is an entirely different thread... ;)

[Irishlinny]

Great job, you guys, as usual! So glad we got to sail with you finally, and glad you liked the group cruise experience.:) I'm trying to do a mini-review myself, but work is not cooperating:rolleyes:

Can't wait for October!:D

[zonabelle]

Loved this review. Could not get up once I started it!

We will be sailing the same 8-day itinerary on the Breeze in October in room 2285. I think I may be a bit disappointed though because we booked this several months ago and carefully tried to pick the room that would not have a life boat above it based on the deck plans and another website that lets you overlap decks. That is why we picked 2285. It sounds like the deck plan diagrams are not exactly accurate with the lifeboats if your room was in the "gap". Oh well.

We will still have a blast and your review sure helped us know what to plan for and what to expect. I am also enjoying Femmy's review. You are all awesome and I wish we were there with you!.

[zonabelle]

Also, thank you for using the bigger font. So easy to see and read!

[ardnassac79]

I have read other reviews of yours. You capture everything so well and your pics are always great. Hope to book the Breeze in the near future. Keep on cruisin! -Kim

 

Thank you Kim! Hope you do get to book soon as well!

 

Thanks for the great review. Wishing you the best on your upcoming wedding.

 

Thank you Linda! It'll be here before we know it! As soon as Christmas is over I need to get crack-a-lackin on setting up the appointments we still need!

 

Thanks for the awesome review. I loved the Dream review too.

 

I'll give props to Italianfemmy on her review.

 

Also, Congrats on the upcoming nuptuals. Look forward to that review too.

 

You guys are on my ever-growing dream list of CCer's I'd love to cruise with...

 

The "Who's who" dream cruise is an entirely different thread... ;)

 

Wow, thank you! A who's who?? LOL I like to call ourselves "Z list" celebrities when people recognize us on the ships... a Who's Who cruise would be over the top!

 

Great job, you guys, as usual! So glad we got to sail with you finally, and glad you liked the group cruise experience. I'm trying to do a mini-review myself, but work is not cooperating:rolleyes:

 

Can't wait for October!:D

 

We miss you!!! Yes, I know all too well about that pesky thing called work :( Woo Hoo for October!! And let us know if you get something started - I know we would both want to read it!

 

Loved this review. Could not get up once I started it!

 

We will be sailing the same 8-day itinerary on the Breeze in October in room 2285. I think I may be a bit disappointed though because we booked this several months ago and carefully tried to pick the room that would not have a life boat above it based on the deck plans and another website that lets you overlap decks. That is why we picked 2285. It sounds like the deck plan diagrams are not exactly accurate with the lifeboats if your room was in the "gap". Oh well.

 

We will still have a blast and your review sure helped us know what to plan for and what to expect. I am also enjoying Femmy's review. You are all awesome and I wish we were there with you!.

 

Also, thank you for using the bigger font. So easy to see and read!

 

Thank you so much! No problem on the font.. I know a while back Chris posted a thread in the general area about "What would you want to see in a review" and using larger font was one of the overwhelming responses :)

 

I was intrigued about the deck plans on carnival.com matching up with the actual ship and you're right - the deck plans show 4 lifeboats up front but show them starting a lot more forward... take a look at the below picture - this is the Port side, whereas the odd-numbered staterooms are Starboard, but the layout is the same - I think we were actually under that teeny orange thing that's in front of the the 1st ship in the large grouping.

 

Looks like the gaps are rooms 2289 - 2309 on Starboard side (or the 9th thru 14th cove room moving Fwd to Aft)

 

I tried to add a pictoral representation below - I tried (sorta poorly) to give you an idea of where your room would be - your current room would be the blue arrow. Ours was the red... but please keep in mind this is not the same side of the ship as our rooms were on - but should be a mirror image.

 

[whisker2193]

Regarding the open spaces between the lifeboats...I too looked at multiple deck plan sites to see if we could figure out which cove would fall between. I only seemed to find pictures of the port side and we wound up in 2309. I counted back from the first aft cove and was able to figure out which one might work. Wish I could find a pic of the starboard side close up enough to count! Either way I am sure it will be a great time in March! Again, awesome pictures and great review!

[ardnassac79]

Regarding the open spaces between the lifeboats...I too looked at multiple deck plan sites to see if we could figure out which cove would fall between. I only seemed to find pictures of the port side and we wound up in 2309. I counted back from the first aft cove and was able to figure out which one might work. Wish I could find a pic of the starboard side close up enough to count! Either way I am sure it will be a great time in March! Again, awesome pictures and great review!

 

Assuming the Port is the same as Starboard, you should be OK - 2039 was right next door to us in 2305. But you're right - either way I'm sure you'll have an excellent time!!

[okgirl]

Love your review!!!! thank you fpr taking the time.

 

No Sports Bar - oops, the Breeze is now off the list for my birthday cruise next year. We will be cruising during football season and I must have a sports bar. Back to obsessing over ships and itineraries I go

 

The Dream Class ships moved all the big screen TV's that play sports all day and evening to over the Casino bar and also designed that area with a table and chair seating area and a small performance stage.

 

The old floorspace from the sports bar was divided between enlargeing the casino and adding the Cherry on Top candy shop.

 

I think there are at least 5 big screens at the casino bar.

 

Chris....great review, our turn is coming soon....loved all your pics and very balanced and honest critique..

[Walkenkeg]

Chris and Cassandra, thanks for such a wonderful review. I will be on the Breeze 4/13/12. Come to think of it that is the same day you will be starting your Honeymoon cruise :cool:. Looks like I will have to raise my 1st DOD in your honor :D.

[ardnassac79]

Chris and Cassandra, thanks for such a wonderful review. I will be on the Breeze 4/13/12. Come to think of it that is the same day you will be starting your Honeymoon cruise :cool:. Looks like I will have to raise my 1st DOD in your honor :D.

 

Yeppers it will be!! Awww we'll have to look to each other's ships at POM while we are still in port and raise a toast! SOCIAL! :D:D Hope you have a wonderful trip!

[Eng23]

Excellent review! Thank you for sharing your experience with all of us. I'm still learning all I can about Carnival ships as I am taking my first Carnival cruise next May. After reading your review I am going to seriously consider the Breeze for a future cruise. Thanks again and Happy Cruising! Harold. :)

[Walkenkeg]

Yeppers it will be!! Awww we'll have to look to each other's ships at POM while we are still in port and raise a toast! SOCIAL! :D:D Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

We should meet at the Aft/Bow and raise our glasses. Depending on which ship is where :D. Name a time.