LIve from the Breeze

[Doug910]

...Sorry you had a bad time regarding fellow passengers.

 

...Lots of negative thoughts regarding your trip.

 

...Can you start to give us some of the positives you enjoyed while onboard?

[Cruizinman]

Sure :D I just like to get the bad out of the way first.

Sorry it might take a bit ;). But it is an honest review and others may not like an honest opinion.

 

It's not a magical world we live in where everyone likes to read perfect .

[Brenna's Mom1]

I always find it interesting that people judge a cruise to be good or bad depending on the personal actions of crew members of other pax that have nothing to do with them. Why stand in line at a buffet for 45 minutes...if a line isn't moving I'd just head to another area and make a mental note to visit that food station another time...and would the wok area move "faster" if all those receiving bowls of food were actually standing in the line...probably not but then, I guess, it would be easier to judge whether you want to wait in that line.

 

I, too, am not a fan of "kids" on cruise ships...not because they "bother" me but I know how easily young children become bored and what happens when kids get bored, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that parents want to deal with the hassle of young children while on a vacation that really doesn't cater to said kids for the most part and is physically pretty restrictive for said children. That being said I'll defend a parent's "right" to choose whether their kids go on vacation or stay home; and living or having lived in areas where school is year round or a large population of kids are homeschooled I know that a typical school calendar is far from typical any longer. Doesn't matter when you travel, there will always be kids. If I want to avoid them completely I book an adults only resort...but heck, then I'm often surrounded by adults who behave worse than kids...go figure.

[Cruizinman]

My thoughts reflect bk to visiting the jacuzzi. We were the only two there for about five minutes , as we were at port in Falmouth, more on "Falmouth latter" .

 

Enter the Dragon ! Laid my head bk thinking this is going to be quite nice ! Then this hefty lady with four kids decide to join us. No problem , until the kids started splashing water on my wife and i and the mothers only warning was to say ,kids will be kids while she slurpped down her icy drink.

 

Yes, she intended for us to leave and i tried to stay a bit longer hoping things may calm down, thats when the kids decided diving into the jacuzzi would provide more splashes.

 

Dont get me wrong the kids were cute, but as you can read their mother could care less what they did as long as she had her frozen delight in hand that was all that mattered :rolleyes: She smoked her cigs all the while and gave her kids a taste of her drink. Thats was enough for me :eek:.

 

So that was my fun filed Carnival " Fun for All ' experence.

[Brenna's Mom1]

Of course, Cruizinman, I would find this annoying, but just like on land and at hotels, etc. we cannot "control" the horrible parenting that goes on around us. Just recently I was at an expensive Japanese Sushi restaurant for a business lunch and in walked 3 sisters/friends with 3 kids each under the age of 10. Well, in no time the kids were playing with their laser swords as they laughed and screamed and bumped into neighboring tables...and all the while the mother's were deeply engrossed in conversation and ignoring the antics of their children and even a request from the restaurant staff only resulted in a swift kick to some rear ends and within 5 minutes it all started up again.

 

Point is...the world is populated by a lot of "inconsiderate" parents (but then it is populated by obnoxious drunks, loud and bosom throwing (that's a metaphor folks) grandmas, entitled young adults, and cigar smoking business tycoons who don't give a squat about any other human being) so, in order to survive, I have just learned to "deal"....and allowing these types to "ruin" my cruise says a lot more about my coping mechanism than it does about them. Sometimes you just have to move on...standing one's ground is often more upsetting to the stander than it ever is to the interloper.

[Fydlstyx]

First of all, I am not currently on a cruise, but if I was, I am sure I would enjoy the rest of it.

Out of curiosity, will your mother/daughter cruise next November 16 on the Epic result in your daughter using experiences in either St Thomas, St Maarten or Nassau for a personal project at school?

 

Sorry for getting on my soapbox, but 100% of kids belong in school during their respective districts school year for all 180 days, not 175. If the cruise rates are out of reach during the Christmas (not Xmas) holidays, then don't travel at that time of year. You were able to go on a cruise over spring break just nine months ago and now you need to go on another family cruise for "much needed family time". You were able to afford it over spring break this year, why not go again for spring break in 3 months? Or go either at the beginning of June or the end of August depending upon your kids school district schedule. Bottom line, IMHO...kids belong in school when school is in session, not on a cruise.

 

Key phrase highlighted in red above.

 

Why would you ever think that you have any right to tell people how to parent or when to go on vacation?

[Cruizinman]

The former past guest party now VIFP party is much the same with the addition of a few different drinks. My wife received her pin and invatation while mine never did show up . A quick stop at the guest service desk solved that problem. There were two seperate times for this party heald in the Ovataion theatre.

 

And you still are asked to clap for the ships you have sailed on.

We were able to request a different drink as the sweet drinks have no appeal to me. All in all not a bad party ;),just not much change as i had expected.

 

 

Platinum / former Milestone / Diamond , we received a tumbler cup on the last day of our cruise, seems they ran out and restocked in Nassau. When you arrive to port your led to a room with others including FTTF people . There were no platinum or diamond sitting around us just red and gold cards . All in all you will get on the ship rather quickly.

 

Room steward , " Jose " what can i say, deserves the most credit . And he was outstanding , our conversations were always enjoyable and interesting, seems he knew some of the people i had cruised with in the past. Room always clean ,always with a smile . Hay Doug ! something positive here.

 

 

We did not do the buy one get one slot thingy, no thanks Carnival , did not care to pay twenty dollars for something that was at one time free :rolleyes:.

Casino is tight with slot machines that offer fewer 25 cent options as other ships. Seemed to be more dollar machines and table play on this ship.

My wife enjoys to indulge while i enjoy watching her smile. Winning we had no such luck, down six hundred by the end of the cruise.

 

Humm ,maybe that smile should not make me happy ;).

[diamondgirl54]

I just got off the Breeze yesterday 12/2/12. Everyone has different opinions and that is good. I thought the cruise was outstanding. I have been on 5 cruises this year and this one was the best. We did everything the ship had to offer from all the restaurants, steak house, cucina del capitano, fat jimmy's, guy's burgers, Lido restaurtant, red frog pub, to the shows, pools, hot tubs, waterslides, rope course, thrill theater, piano bar, and the comedy brunch I thought they were all great. I enjoyed going to the casino and thought they had alot of fun slot machines. Played the table games as well as the poker pro tables. We didn't experience the long lines any where. We never saw kids in the hot tubs. I actually thought there were not many kids on board. The pools were nice but the water was too cold on some days. Had an inside room with a great location in the middle of the ship. Loved the room and our room steward. The Breeze is wonderful and I can't wait to go back....Mary

[jstcruizin]

It's funny how people see things differently. I'm on the same cruise. The ship feels much less crowded to me than the Conquest Class ships I'm used to. I haven't had to wait in line more than a minute or 2 for anything. There are always free tables, plenty of places to sit. There are so many new venues and plentiful new seating areas on Breeze.

 

The only places on this ship that I have noticed seemed more crowded to me than usual is the casino & the piano bar. There are a lot of gamblers on this sailing and any piano bar with Ron Pass is going to be packed.

 

I will agree that the Guy's Burger Stand condiment station is a bottleneck (They need another one) as are all of the drink stations in the front part of the buffet. The rear drink stations are not bad.

 

I have not been served any cold food on this cruise yet and the dining room service has been perfectly adequate.

 

Breeze is an amazing ship and I loved the extra fun day at sea today. What a great cruise!

 

Ditto here. I Didnt see any crowds . I think its just in the timing on when you go to where. The only long line I was in was when we got to Falmouth and we were getting off the ship

[Cruizinman]

Thoughts on the Hairy Chest contest , come on ! :eek: Those that had taken the time to watch this already knew that it was not a hairy chest contest . It was a shake your arise contest. And the guy that won came nothing short from having sex with the lady in the chair . :eek::eek:. Should rename that to ,

"Shake you bootie ":cool: Nothing short of a porn feast any more :(.

[SNJCruisers]

Key phrase highlighted in red above.

 

Why would you ever think that you have any right to tell people how to parent or when to go on vacation?

Because I have been on too many cruises and visited too many resorts where parents take a vacation from their parenting duties when they are on vacation. When they decided to bring little Johnnie or Mary into the world, they made a decision that lasts 24/7 for 18 years, and I can't stand it when there are unruly kids around. I have no problems whatsoever with well behaved children, but unruly kids are another matter, bottom line.

[iluvdoxies]

First of all, I am not currently on a cruise, but if I was, I am sure I would enjoy the rest of it.

Out of curiosity, will your mother/daughter cruise next November 16 on the Epic result in your daughter using experiences in either St Thomas, St Maarten or Nassau for a personal project at school?

 

Sorry for getting on my soapbox, but 100% of kids belong in school during their respective districts school year for all 180 days, not 175. If the cruise rates are out of reach during the Christmas (not Xmas) holidays, then don't travel at that time of year. You were able to go on a cruise over spring break just nine months ago and now you need to go on another family cruise for "much needed family time". You were able to afford it over spring break this year, why not go again for spring break in 3 months? Or go either at the beginning of June or the end of August depending upon your kids school district schedule. Bottom line, IMHO...kids belong in school when school is in session, not on a cruise.

 

I agree 100 times

[A2Mich]

Wow. Guess my family and I are not allowed to take a cruise on Carnival. Some people cannot simply go whenever the kids happen to be out of school. I for one can only take vacations at certain times of the year due to business demands, as well as the prohibitive cost of vacationing during the summer months or over spring break week. Budgeting for a family of four is considerably more difficult than budgeting for a couple, especially when you're having to factor in airfare, meals, cruise fares, etc. Sometimes the sheer cost can dictate when a vacation can be taken. There are ways to take a cruise vacation (especially since most cruises visit multiple ports) and make it a learning/educational experience. I do agree that I have seen some horrible parenting, but have seen some very intolerant people as well. I've said this before, but keep in mind that some cruise lines, including Carnival, are marketed toward the family demographic. That being said, passengers should expect children onboard at any given time. If complete avoidance of children, regardless of their behavior is a concern, then maybe Carnival is not the best match for certain cruisers needs. However, I completely agree with unruly and out of control children being an issue. On Carnival, you should expect to have children present - however, children should behave appropriately and not given "free reign" of the ship. For the parents who wish to dump off their kids and not supervise them themselves, Camp Carnival is the only alternative (even then, kids should be able to behave). Otherwise, children need to be supervised.

[Fydlstyx]

Thoughts on the Hairy Chest contest , come on ! :eek: Those that had taken the time to watch this already knew that it was not a hairy chest contest . It was a shake your arise contest. And the guy that won came nothing short from having sex with the lady in the chair . :eek::eek:. Should rename that to ,

"Shake you bootie ":cool: Nothing short of a porn feast any more :(.

 

I thought that, too. I also thought some of the entertainment during the shows was a bit too risque for such a broad audience. Cruises are expensive...they should have enough money to buy costumes that cover the dancers' bodies a little better. :rolleyes:

[Fydlstyx]

Because I have been on too many cruises and visited too many resorts where parents take a vacation from their parenting duties when they are on vacation. When they decided to bring little Johnnie or Mary into the world, they made a decision that lasts 24/7 for 18 years, and I can't stand it when there are unruly kids around. I have no problems whatsoever with well behaved children, but unruly kids are another matter, bottom line.

 

Oh, I agree with you that parents should parent and that their kids should not be allowed to act like monsters. I just think it is presumptuous to tell someone whether they should take their kids out of school for vacations. I don't take issue with you not wanting someone's kids disrupting your vacation.

 

I have always taken my children out of school to go on trips. They often learn a lot more in a day on a trip than they would at school. However, if my kids carried on and were disrespectful, they wouldn't go on trips whether school was in or out! Our school district permits five days per year for trips that include an educational activity. It's kind of awesome to take your children to an amazing museum exhibit or something similar and have them still talk about it months later.

[jstcruizin]

What was that stuff :eek: there serving for breakfast, calling it eggs ?

Never tasted any thing like that in my life. a

 

I died laughing at this one and would have to agree. I think they are powdered eggs, the only thing I ate that I did NOT like

.

[Cruizinman]

Ahh , the ports GT ,missed GT no loss to us as have have been there several times. Kinda felt sad for those that had never been there though.

 

Falmouth, you know there's a lesson to be had visiting ports and i should have learned mine the first time around as we have been to JA before.

 

We wanted to just grab a cab and head to Rick's cafe or the all inclusive Breezes . Could not find one ,nowhere. All that was offered was excursions that cost around two fifity a couple, and it was on a packed bus :eek:. So they tell me to walk down past the fenced gate and see if i could find a cab, not to be had. It was explained to me that to go to either of the places we wanted to go , we must do an excursion.

 

One fellow said welcome to JA and asked my name. all of a sudden there were several people calling my name wanting to provide transportation.

 

And still at a cost of eighty dollars per person :eek:. Hay Mon where ya want to go Mon ! Hay Mon I take you to place you have never been before, you know what i mean Mon. After standing mid street with no traffic trying to tell this fellow we were not interested . Finally breaking away only to harassed by another . Finally the same fellow i refused came bk around telling us we cant stand in the stree " thats what he called it the Stree :rolleyes: ", hello thats where he stopped us :eek:.

 

Gave up headed bk into the fenced port area and did the little bus tour of the city for fourty dollars a couple . Dont waste your money on this ,as it is a poor run down city it will leave you depressed . The tour was around fourty five minutes ,bought a few items bk at the port area bk on the ship two hours flat.

 

If you do anything in Falmouth, do an excursion. Its higher priced than most ports , but there are quite a few nice spots to visit. ;)

[Dazormiq]

I was on the breeze this last week as well. As a parent of two, I did what I thought the only real option...got my family members, who are retired or otherwise able to do it, to watch my kids so they would not miss school. I would never dream of taking them out of school for a vacation for crying out loud.

 

I saw a lot of those lines and it made most events not worth going to. I went to two comedy shows and was not impressed. Apparently I like people who are funny....

 

Ya those eggs were something else. Scrambled powdered egg yokes, yummy. Most of the stuff was basically tasteless or not worth getting any more of.

 

I quite enjoyed the movies at night and the entertainment staff were fun. I did trivia quite a bit to fill time between stuff I wanted to do and those ladies did a great job making something dull fun.

 

As I am new to cruising, second one in about 10 years, I really hated missing grand Turk. My first cruise went to Nassau and missed its other stop due to weather as well, so only Jamaica was new.

[SNJCruisers]

Wow, what about the homeschooling families? Not to be argumentative, just offering a different point of view. ;)

My statement dealt with 99.9% of school aged kids across the country, not 1 out of 1000 that is home schooled. If there were home schooled children on a cruise, I am sure they would be well behaved children, not unruly kids. There is a big difference.

[SNJCruisers]

I was on the breeze this last week as well. As a parent of two, I did what I thought the only real option...got my family members, who are retired or otherwise able to do it, to watch my kids so they would not miss school. I would never dream of taking them out of school for a vacation for crying out loud.

Now that's good parenting....:)

[Cruizinman]

Nassau, well there are things to do in Nassau but as we have been here quite a few times as well decided just to head over to Atlantis Casino.

 

Wow , I mean WOW ! The changes cut backs are everywhere, we noticed that the good slot machines that we played six mouths bk were gone which reminded me of the Carnival Breeze casino. Everybody is upgrading to newer type machines to make more money off the customer. So it was a short visit there and bk to the ship again.

 

Grabbed a burger for lunch and a few of those wonderful fries :).

 

I hate to say this but the burgers , actually the best highlite of this cruise. And thats saddens me. :confused: Entertainment was fair at best.

Comedy was not to be had just to many people not wanting to leave or considerate to let others have a turn , so that was out.

 

Stand alone Guitar players were fair ,even in the piano bar. But who wants to be entertained by a guitar player every night of your cruise :rolleyes:.

 

So we headed on down to the future cruise desk , just to check out the changes Carnival had made , not to buy another cruise. Whew, angry people and a rude person behind the desk . She was very short with people about the changes and you could tell she did not want this job. One fellow stated that he knew how to go bk to Royal.

 

She would say , go over to the " Hub " find the cruise you want and then come bk to see me. One lady stated that the Carnival site would not display the cruise she wanted. She says not my problem , see the person in charge and have then fix it, then come bk and see me. :eek:.

 

Carnival should get rid of people like this, their customers are angry over the recent changes and this type of aggression only drives then futher away....

 

In my opinion the recent changes and cut bk's show up highly on this ship.

Carnival has made several bad moves that just seperate them from the other lines and people will and are jumping ship.:(.

[Cruizinman]

...Sorry you had a bad time regarding fellow passengers.

 

...Lots of negative thoughts regarding your trip.

 

...Can you start to give us some of the positives you enjoyed while onboard?

 

 

Never,never feel sorry for me, :D i have always found something positive on every cruise . However on this cruise i did notice the absence of

" FUN SHIP FREDDY " .

:eek:

[scgamecock]

I was on the same cruise and had a different experience. Just a few things I'd like to comment on:

 

 

 

The people and then the People! The ship is packed with people

 

Lines for food is just that waiting and more waiting!

 

The ship didn't seem crowded at all compared to any other cruise I have been on. Longest line I waited in all week was for BBQ. 5 minutes. At 12:30.

 

 

Do ships miss Grand Turk often? That's one of our stops on the Breeze in April 2013, so wondering if this is common?

 

I don't think so. There were abnormally high (40+ knot) winds & rough seas during much of our cruise.

 

Wow SCgamecock.. i want to get in ur suitcase.. Great list of cruises to come.. I will be on the Breeze1/13/13. Hope to do a b2b on her in Dec 2013

 

Looking forward to meeting you!

 

SCGamecock.....quite an impressive list of upcoming cruises. Have not seen you over on the roll call for the 1/13/13 Breeze cruise.

 

Finally got over there tonight. Booked it just before I left last week. :)

 

Smokers rule any where and every where! No consideration.

 

I did not encounter a smoker outside of the designated smoking areas all week. I am a staunch anti-smoker. I would have noticed.

 

Did not care for the british style show more lip singing .

 

We did the Behind the Fun Tour and the dance captain told us that they record each singers tracks and they do not lip synch unless there is an emergency. (ie: singer losing their voice) and even then, it would only be just the affected person lip synching.

 

I didn't like the cartoons or fake background people either, but the LCD screens were awesome.

 

Wonder why there are so many kids?

 

There were very, very few kids on this sailing. Least amount of kids I have ever seen on a cruise. Unless they were hiding them somewhere.

 

When I read postings about kids taking over hot tubs and the adults only Serenity area during a time of the year ...

 

Again. Very, very few kids on this cruise. If there were kids on Serenity, all it would have taken was a quick mention to a staff member to escort them out of there.

 

What was that stuff :eek: there serving for breakfast, calling it eggs ?

Never tasted any thing like that in my life. a

 

I died laughing at this one and would have to agree. I think they are powdered eggs, the only thing I ate that I did NOT like

.

 

They are actually liquid. They come in a large refrigerated gallon size milk carton. We saw them in the galley on the Behind the Fun Tour. I agree, they're not great.

 

Ahh , the ports GT ,missed GT no loss to us as have have been there several times. Kinda felt sad for those that had never been there though.

 

Falmouth, you know there's a lesson to be had visiting ports and i should have learned mine the first time around as we have been to JA before.

 

We wanted to just grab a cab and head to Rick's cafe or the all inclusive Breezes

 

With 40+ knot winds, there was no way we were docking at Grand Turk.

 

The cab ride from Falmouth to Negril for Rick's (I go to Negril every summer and it's a horrible, bumpy 90 minutes cab ride from the Montego Bay Airport) would have taken pretty darn close to 2 hours. Pretty hard to fit into our original short port time. #1 $80 is a bargain for a 2 hour cab ride #2 If you really wanted to do this, it could have been easily pre-arranged ahead of time with a little research. (Juta, Courtney Taylor, etc.)

 

I agree that Falmouth sucks and would rather have gone to Montego Bay or Ocho Rios.

[mojitodiva]

My statement dealt with 99.9% of school aged kids across the country, not 1 out of 1000 that is home schooled. If there were home schooled children on a cruise, I am sure they would be well behaved children, not unruly kids. There is a big difference.

 

 

We were on this cruise with our 17 year old son who is not home schooled. We pulled him out of school. He is a senior with enough credits already to graduate (this is his free year he his home by 11am) I've also pulled my kids out of school a few times we don't always cruise spring break or summer however their grades don't suffer. My son spend most of the time in the cabin because he was bored to death. He watched CD butch on tv. My son would never be an unruly kid because he would know that he would then have to deal with mom and dad. Proud to say we have a 21 year old who never smokes, drinks, parties and goes to church every day and is graduating college soon. Never home schooled and pulled out of school a few times to cruise. :):rolleyes:

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for talking us all along on your cruise. Enjoying it so far.:)