Carnival Breeze 2/16-24, 2013

[LisaH]

Please excuse any typos...will submit to CC when i have time.

 

Carnival Breeze

Feb 16-24, 2013

Cabin: 7377 Ocean Suite

Itin: Grand Turk, La romana, Curacao, Aruba

CD: The awesome Butch Begovich - from Minnesota yah...

Overall rating: 8 out of 10

Starting to type this as we are docked in Aruba just a few hours before setting sail home...

 

Flew into Miami for one night pre cruise. Attempted to go into Miami Beach but heavy rain, road construction and boat show made it impossible...spent 90 mins in traffic and gave up. Hotel Sofitel was okay but beds very uncomfortable, however they are about to do an extensive renovation. It was very close to the airport...as in right next to the runway but that was not a problem noise wise. And torrential downpours all day did not help.

 

Took a taxi to the port around 11:15 the next morning and were on board in about 40 minutes. We were not able to get into our cabin until 1:00. It is a great cabin and laid out well. We had the same category on the Miracle last year. I feel the cabin on the Breeze is a bit smaller but very efficient and nice. The two sinks are great. There is also a jacuzzi tub which of course is combined with the shower. The balcony contained a lounger, two regular chairs and a table..plenty of room. We had coffee out there each morning. The coffee on the Breeze was better than the Miracle standard coffee but still not very good, however drinking it overlooking the ocean helped. A little known secret, the main lobby bartender Agnes can make specialty coffees just like the specialty coffee bar and no line in the morning.

 

Our only hiccup was an awful creaking noise coming from a panel in the ceiling near the cabin door. It was intolerable but there was nowhere to move us according to them. We ended up with a credit and 15 percent off our next cruise but restrictions apply. I would have preferred no noise but we were pleased they helped us out. Connie, a senior guest svcs supervisor was very helpful and agreed the noise was intolerable. Kudos to Carnival for that. Connie will get an atta girl when i fill out the survey.

 

Random Thoughts

The staff is very friendly and helpful. The one thing i thought was lacking but not really a negative was cocktail service, very slow and not plentiful. But we could always get a drink ourselves without much effort. Dining room service also a bit slow.

 

Our cabin steward was efficient and friendly. Our neighbors were quiet, one of them even smoked on the balcony and it never bothered us.

 

There were quite a few kids on board but well behaved for the most part. Also no issues with cigarette smoke. The port side was the smoking side. Smokers were very courteous and only smoked in the designated areas, which there are not many.

 

Overall the Breeze is a beautiful ship but i think i am more partial to the Miracle. However, it is really nice. The one thing lacking as far as conveniences goes are restrooms. They are not well placed and are hard to find. In my opinion the Breeze is not as open as the Miracle but we really liked all the open deck space. Chairs in the shade were never a problem. We did not spend much time in Serenity area as it is not as nice and open like the Miracle and also not easy to find. We much enjoyed sitting on Deck 11 at the back under an overhang in a lounger with a great view above the aft pool. I did notice some worn areas that were surprising on such a new ship but did it matter? Nope, not a bit. I am more partial to the more glitzy decor on Miracle.

 

Yesterday we watched some of the pool games...hilarious. And other than high winds off Grand Turk, we had great cruise weather.

 

 

Dining

We had (or so we thought) early, traditional dining as we always have and it was confirmed but when we checked in, they had us assigned to Your Time Dining so we decided to give it a try. There were positives and negatives but a couple of positives were that we met more people and got to sit in diff areas of the Sapphire Dining Room. I have a feeling we will go back to traditional next cruise but we did not dislike the Your Time Dining. Overall the food was fine. Of course my favorite was the warm choc melting cake :) . And the negative wasn't a strong negative. There was usually a line to get into the dining room but it moved quickly, but it did bother some...not a problem for us.

 

Something that we feel slowed down the dining room service was Showtime...having the waiters do the dances on some evenings was unnecessary.

 

We had reservations for Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse and i have to say i was disappointed. My husband liked it more than i did. Nick and Nora's was far better. I did not think the service was as good as Nick and Nora"s and my steak was not as good either. On the positive, it is a VERY nice restaurant and very small and intimate. We had fun people on either side of us so it was a lot of fun.

 

Bonsai Sushi

YUMMY!

 

Entertainment:

Terrific...the shows in Ovation Theater were great and their new lighting system is fantastic ... Great special effects. Marcus Monroe was the comedy juggler and he was really fun but the best way to describe him would be quirky. The WelcomeAboard show was hilarious. The tribute to the Brits was also wonderful.

 

Shipboard activities were plentiful and enjoyable.

 

There is self serve laundry on deck 7, not sure if each floor has one or not.

 

As usual, the casino took some of my money but the slots did allow for some lengthy sessions with $20. It was smoky so we avoided it during the evening.

 

Ports

unfortunately we missed Grand Turk as the winds were 30+ knots so the Captain decided it was not safe and it seems as if everyone was understanding but disappointed. We felt fortunate to have been there last year but i was bummed we were not able to visit Margaritaville but safety comes first.

 

The staff was great. Butch had a new Fun Times out within a couple of hours. The best part was that they scheduled an impromptu Q & A with a few of the executive officers. In attendance was the Captain, Butch, Anna (head of guest svcs) and the chief engineer. What a surprise to have the Captain in attendance. You can tell they all like each other a lot and are having fun. People in the audience of maybe 75 asked questions for about an hour. What a bonus.

 

We did not take any excursions this visit.

La Romana---forgettable from what we heard and saw

Curacao- great shopping as always...

Aruba- great shopping again

 

Gym

There are 21 treadmills and 10 elliptical machines, two rowers and and a few bikes...perfectly adequate for cardio. I was able to do some Cross Fit off to the side using hand weights, medicine balls. There are weight machines as well.

 

Overall i have no reason to not book this ship again but my personal opinion is i like the Miracle better but would recommend the Breeze without hesitation. It was fabulous to cruise during its inaugural season...happy sailing to all and please feel free to email me directly with any questions on any topic that i may not have covered.

 

Disembarkation was easy and we were off the ship, through customs and in a taxi within 15 mins. We had a porter which helped.

 

Lisa

atticus0216@gmail.com

[Igerster]

Thanks for the review. My wife and I will be on the Breeze in October with the same itinerary.

[Hammerman417]

Great review! So glad that you listed the gym's equipment as my wife and I are crossfitters as well and was wondering if they had any rowers. Can't wait. Only 3 days!!!

 

 

Paul

[SexyK]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait for April to get here.:D

[LisaH]

Great review! So glad that you listed the gym's equipment as my wife and I are crossfitters as well and was wondering if they had any rowers. Can't wait. Only 3 days!!!

 

 

 

Paul

 

The space to do cf was very limited . You might want to workout in the pm as in the am, finding a spot to do cf would be impossible. The only area is at the end of the cardio equip in front of the mirrored wall.

[Hammerman417]

The space to do cf was very limited . You might want to workout in the pm as in the am, finding a spot to do cf would be impossible. The only area is at the end of the cardio equip in front of the mirrored wall.

 

 

Thanks Lisa. Their is four of us working out and we were hoping to do some partner wods. Pm might work out best.

 

 

 

Paul

[JaniceB]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us.

[LisaH]

Thanks Lisa. Their is four of us working out and we were hoping to do some partner wods. Pm might work out best.

 

 

 

Paul

 

Partner wods will be tough

[jacksmom09]

Thanks for the review!

[AmberTeka]

thanks for the review. We sail in September. sounds like you had a good time.....

[campdaan]

A little known secret, the main lobby bartender Agnes can make specialty coffees just like the specialty coffee bar and no line in the morning.

 

We are booked in a cove on Deck 2. Soooo close !

 

We will look for Agnes !

 

Thank You !

[papillon cruiser]

What time were you off the ship by. Looking at an 11:00 am flight so would need to be off by 8:30 am. By the way we are platinum.

[steve819]

I was on the same cruise, and they started calling self assist debarks at 6:45AM. We left the ship at 8:15 and were on the curb waiting for our ride to FLL at 8:30. We had an 11:30AM fight.

[battchief1]

Thanks for sharing

[LisaH]

I was on the same cruise, and they started calling self assist debarks at 6:45AM. We left the ship at 8:15 and were on the curb waiting for our ride to FLL at 8:30. We had an 11:30AM fight.

 

Yep, same here and we had a 1:45 flight...ugh

[gelo7]

Thanks, for sharing your cruise experience.

[Jadehenry]

Thank you for your review!

 

Do you know if there were any upright bikes in the gym, or just recumbants?

[lbfluffy]

Thanks for taking the time to review your trip.

[ILCruzr]

We had family friends on your cruise, it's a great itinerary. I did it on the miracle also in feb 2011. My parents sailed the breeze in the med and loved the ship. They said it was real Caribbean. I'm looking to book my next cruise soon, thinking of the 8 day on the dream that just got announced with Tortola in it.

[LisaH]

Thank you for your review!

 

Do you know if there were any upright bikes in the gym, or just recumbants?

 

I know they had upright bikes in a room because they had spin classes. I am pretty sure there were a couple of them in the gym.