RCL Jewel vs Carnival Breeze

[staceur]

Hello All,

 

I haved posted this on the Carnival boards too, so I can get varying opinions.

 

I am trying to figure out which ship to choose for my boyfriend's first cruise. I have been on both lines, but recently my cruises have been on Royal Caribbean ships. We will be going at the end of April or the begining of May depending on which line we pick. I have the 8 day southern held on the Breeze and the Jewel held. The only thing I am certain about is the fact that I know I want the southern itinerary. Also, note that the airfare is not a concern as the price from where we live is about the same flying to San Juan or Miami.

 

A little about us. We are both in our early 30's. We are pretty laid back go with the flow people. We enjoy eating a good meal and having some drinks. We are not loud partiers. We more enjoy a nice seat at the bar in a quiet venue. The MDR is not really a factor as I doubt that we will eat in there. My boyfriend is horrified at the thought of eating with strangers. We will most likely stick to the specialty restaurants and the more casual offerings.

 

I am torn between the two as I feel like the Breeze has more to offer a first time cruiser. I know there are huge difference between the two ship as one is brand new and one is in need of a drydocking, but I am trying to look at this from every angle.

 

He told me that I am the one who is going to have to make this decision, so please help me make the correct one!!!!

 

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Nieuwcruiser]

We are die hard Royal Caribbean fans but last year went on our first Carnival ship. It was the Breeze and we loved it! The only negative I would have is the pool area. All seating on the main pool deck is on one side of the pretty small pool. Not a huge deal.

I have not been on the Jewel.

[BobbyD]

I have not been on the Jewel or the Breeze but I have been on their sister ships, the Serenade and the Magic. If they are both sailing the southern Caribbean (great itinerary!), I would choose the Breeze for a first cruise. Bigger ship with more to do. More food options (other than the MDR). You can't go wrong either way because they are both great ships in their own way. Just a bit different. Enjoy!

[Orange jeep]

I have been on a few of both cruise lines equally. Jewel of the Seas once and will be on again in March. I like RC and Carnival both for different reasons. Jewel of the Seas is smaller than the Breeze right? The Jewel is very beautiful and pool areas very nice. Carnival has great food in my opinion. The southern Caribean is my favorite. We were on the Oasis in September. The ship has spoiled me for sure. I can't wait to go on it again. The entertainment is wonderful all night long there is something going on. I didn't mind that we weren't in a lot of ports either. No matter what you will have a blast. We were on the Carnival Glory and Valor in 2013 and had fun as your vacation is what you make of it. RC ships with the Royal Promanade are nice too.

 

Personally I am saving again for the Allure or Oasis.:) Have fun!

[SandyAtSea]

Have only been on Carnival once and it was on the Breeze. I would definitely say the Breeze for a 1st cruise experience. More to do (for you young folks) and better dining choices. Carnival has Anytime Dining (or whatever they call it) so you don’t HAVE to eat with strangers, even if you eat in the MDR. I have not been on the Jewel but have been on the Brilliance (sister ship.) The only thing that was sub-par on the Breeze was the entertainment, at least in the theater. Plus they don’t have live bands anymore. Live music all over the place on the Brilliance. I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise on the Brilliance but I would still recommend the Breeze for your boyfriend.

[angelhelly]

I don't know about Carnival, but we just cruised on the Serenade of the sea (same class as the Jewel) and in the MDR for diner, we had my time dining and we always had a table for 2. We did reserve our time in advance, but changed them everyday from what originally planned after we received the compass for the day.

[Want2Cruise 701]

I would choose the Jewel. You said you weren't partiers and like a laid back quieter atmosphere. I think the Jewel will give you more of that. I thought the food was a little better on RC and the ships are a little nicer even on an older ship. Jewel also has the larger aft balconies. They are much larger than Carnivals. To me, carnival is hit or miss with the party atmosphere.

 

I personally don't think Carnivals new ships have that much more to offer and do for an adult. We were on the Dream and the only extra thing there was the water park with slides. Other than that, it was a regular ship. Breeze just adds the 4d theatre, guys burgers, cantina and pub.

 

You can always choose a table for 2 if you eat in the dining room. That's what we always do.

 

Did you look into the Adventure out of Puerto Rico too. It offers the Southern but has the Royal Promenade which your boyfriend might like if he's never cruised before.

 

Good luck.

[foxgoodrich]

We just came back from a cruise on the Breeze. We did like the ship, although we found it really difficult to navigate at times. There are only a few decks that you can walk across from end to end. So it seemed like we were constantly waiting for an elevator to take us to a deck that would let us go to the other end of the ship, then we'd walk across and wait for another elevator to take us where we were going. That was our pet peeve!:(

 

The Breeze is a lovely ship. It's nicely decorated, although it doesn't have nearly as much art as the Jewel. Both are pretty ships. We thought the Breeze seemed dark much of the time, while Royal's Radiance class ships seem brighter and more elegant.

 

We hated the layout of the shops on Breeze. There was always a huge bottleneck of people to get through if you were trying to pass by the shops. It's a major thoroughfare (remember how you have to get across on certain decks - this would be one) without adequate walkway space in front of the shops, especially when they have tables of stuff outside on display.

 

The Breeze has a very nice thermal suite in the Spa, and we had a spa cabin on this cruise. The Breeze spa cabins give you free access to the thermal suite, plus robes & slippers, and sample size spa products. We esp enjoyed the thalassotherapy pool and the warm tile beds with a view of the sea. So that's something different - the Jewel doesn't have spa cabins. Advantage to Breeze on this one!

 

Cabin - we prefer the cabins on Royal. We had an inside spa cabin on deck 12, which was adequate, but TINY. Seems like this inside was smaller on the Breeze than on RC and didn't have much in the way of seating. (No loveseat or chair, only a stool at the vanity.) Royal offers a little more storage too, or maybe more convenient storage, in the cabin. Our friend's balcony cabin seemed more similar to RC's balconies in terms of space, storage and seating. We like the beds better on Royal. And if you're considering a true suite, the suite perks are better on RC.

 

Burgers & Pizza & casual food - the Breeze has Guy's Burgers. They are excellent, at least as good as Johnny Rockets, and they're free. We also really liked the pizza on Breeze better than RC pizza, although we thought the location on Breeze (all the way aft on deck 10) was a little inconvenient unless you are out at the Tides pool in the aft. The Blue Iguana had nice burritos and a really good breakfast burrito. Another interesting place on Breeze was the Tasting Bar where you could sample items from various menus on the ship. Advantage to Breeze on this one.

 

Buffet - we hated the arrangement of the buffet on the Breeze and much prefer RC's Windjammer layout. Seems like the WJ had more variety, but it was so difficult to find that out with the Carnival layout, who knows? I did see eggs benedict on the buffet at breakfast on Breeze, though!:p Maybe we'd get used to how Carnival does the buffet if we cruised Carnival more, but based on this experience, the buffet advantage goes to Royal.

 

MDR - we thought the food was equivalent and similar on both lines. We pretty much liked both. Both menus offer variety. Seems like entrees didn't have as many veggies on the plate on the Breeze. And in general, we kind of prefer the desserts offered by Royal.

The Breeze dining rooms are pretty, while Jewel's are more elegant. We were in Blush on Breeze and we also thought it was terribly LOUD in there! It was hard to hear our dinner companions with the noise level. The waitstaff perform every night on Breeze - it's fun, and they are very entertaining, but it causes dinner to take longer.

A feature we LOVED on Breeze is the Sea Day Brunch in the MDR. The MDR is open continuously until 1:00 or so and offers both breakfast and lunch choices on sea days.

Both ships have tables for 2 in the MDR.

 

Music - we never saw any live music by the pool, just dj's. The night club had dj's. We saw one group performing in the Ocean Plaza, and they were very good. There was a piano bar guy and maybe one other live music performer? Royal has more live music, and maybe a greater variety. I'd give the advantage to RC for music.

 

Solarium - this is a clear advantage for Jewel. Breeze has an adults only Serenity Deck that has lovely comfy furniture choices (like clamshell loungers for 2, hammocks, etc.), but no pool, no hot tub, no convenient restrooms up there. The Serenity Deck is basically just a sun deck. I also got a chuckle over the fact that it's above, but adjacent to the Water Park area. So your 'serenity' is punctuated with some screams and giggles from the water slides and that big drencher bucket thingie.

 

Okay - that's it!:p Just a few comparisons since Breeze is fresh in my memory. We very much enjoyed our cruise on Breeze, but if I were making this choice, I'd probably go with Jewel. Have a great cruise whichever you choose!:)

Judy

Edited January 31, 2014 by foxgoodrich

[staceur]

We just came back from a cruise on the Breeze. We did like the ship, although we found it really difficult to navigate at times. There are only a few decks that you can walk across from end to end. So it seemed like we were constantly waiting for an elevator to take us to a deck that would let us go to the other end of the ship, then we'd walk across and wait for another elevator to take us where we were going. That was our pet peeve!:(

 

The Breeze is a lovely ship. It's nicely decorated, although it doesn't have nearly as much art as the Jewel. Both are pretty ships. We thought the Breeze seemed dark much of the time, while Royal's Radiance class ships seem brighter and more elegant.

 

We hated the layout of the shops on Breeze. There was always a huge bottleneck of people to get through if you were trying to pass by the shops. It's a major thoroughfare (remember how you have to get across on certain decks - this would be one) without adequate walkway space in front of the shops, especially when they have tables of stuff outside on display.

 

The Breeze has a very nice thermal suite in the Spa, and we had a spa cabin on this cruise. The Breeze spa cabins give you free access to the thermal suite, plus robes & slippers, and sample size spa products. We esp enjoyed the thalassotherapy pool and the warm tile beds with a view of the sea. So that's something different - the Jewel doesn't have spa cabins. Advantage to Breeze on this one!

 

Cabin - we prefer the cabins on Royal. We had an inside spa cabin on deck 12, which was adequate, but TINY. Seems like this inside was smaller on the Breeze than on RC and didn't have much in the way of seating. (No loveseat or chair, only a stool at the vanity.) Royal offers a little more storage too, or maybe more convenient storage, in the cabin. Our friend's balcony cabin seemed more similar to RC's balconies in terms of space, storage and seating. We like the beds better on Royal. And if you're considering a true suite, the suite perks are better on RC.

 

Burgers & Pizza & casual food - the Breeze has Guy's Burgers. They are excellent, at least as good as Johnny Rockets, and they're free. We also really liked the pizza on Breeze better than RC pizza, although we thought the location on Breeze (all the way aft on deck 10) was a little inconvenient unless you are out at the Tides pool in the aft. The Blue Iguana had nice burritos and a really good breakfast burrito. Another interesting place on Breeze was the Tasting Bar where you could sample items from various menus on the ship. Advantage to Breeze on this one.

 

Buffet - we hated the arrangement of the buffet on the Breeze and much prefer RC's Windjammer layout. Seems like the WJ had more variety, but it was so difficult to find that out with the Carnival layout, who knows? I did see eggs benedict on the buffet at breakfast on Breeze, though!:p Maybe we'd get used to how Carnival does the buffet if we cruised Carnival more, but based on this experience, the buffet advantage goes to Royal.

 

MDR - we thought the food was equivalent and similar on both lines. We pretty much liked both. Both menus offer variety. Seems like entrees didn't have as many veggies on the plate on the Breeze. And in general, we kind of prefer the desserts offered by Royal.

The Breeze dining rooms are pretty, while Jewel's are more elegant. We were in Blush on Breeze and we also thought it was terribly LOUD in there! It was hard to hear our dinner companions with the noise level. The waitstaff perform every night on Breeze - it's fun, and they are very entertaining, but it causes dinner to take longer.

A feature we LOVED on Breeze is the Sea Day Brunch in the MDR. The MDR is open continuously until 1:00 or so and offers both breakfast and lunch choices on sea days.

Both ships have tables for 2 in the MDR.

 

Music - we never saw any live music by the pool, just dj's. The night club had dj's. We saw one group performing in the Ocean Plaza, and they were very good. There was a piano bar guy and maybe one other live music performer? Royal has more live music, and maybe a greater variety. I'd give the advantage to RC for music.

 

Solarium - this is a clear advantage for Jewel. Breeze has an adults only Serenity Deck that has lovely comfy furniture choices (like clamshell loungers for 2, hammocks, etc.), but no pool, no hot tub, no convenient restrooms up there. The Serenity Deck is basically just a sun deck. I also got a chuckle over the fact that it's above, but adjacent to the Water Park area. So your 'serenity' is punctuated with some screams and giggles from the water slides and that big drencher bucket thingie.

 

Okay - that's it!:p Just a few comparisons since Breeze is fresh in my memory. We very much enjoyed our cruise on Breeze, but if I were making this choice, I'd probably go with Jewel. Have a great cruise whichever you choose!:)

Judy

 

Thank you so much for the comparison. I really appreciate you taking the time to write this out. I am still on the fence, but leaning toward the Jewel because it is $1000 less for the balcony room then the Breeze.

[staceur]

I would choose the Jewel. You said you weren't partiers and like a laid back quieter atmosphere. I think the Jewel will give you more of that. I thought the food was a little better on RC and the ships are a little nicer even on an older ship. Jewel also has the larger aft balconies. They are much larger than Carnivals. To me, carnival is hit or miss with the party atmosphere.

 

I personally don't think Carnivals new ships have that much more to offer and do for an adult. We were on the Dream and the only extra thing there was the water park with slides. Other than that, it was a regular ship. Breeze just adds the 4d theatre, guys burgers, cantina and pub.

 

You can always choose a table for 2 if you eat in the dining room. That's what we always do.

 

Did you look into the Adventure out of Puerto Rico too. It offers the Southern but has the Royal Promenade which your boyfriend might like if he's never cruised before.

 

Good luck.

 

I currently have an aft cabin held. Do you think this is better than a regular balcony (D2) cabin?

 

Adventure isn't sailing out of San Juan at the end of April or I would have gone for it.

[Want2Cruise 701]

I currently have an aft cabin held. Do you think this is better than a regular balcony (D2) cabin?

 

Adventure isn't sailing out of San Juan at the end of April or I would have gone for it.

 

I thought the very aft/back were D2's also. Anyway, the aft balconies at the back are larger. Go for those. I really enjoy watching the wake also.