HAL Enthusiast Gives Carnival Breeze A Try

[Seago2]

Please tell me you had a breakfast burrito with those little fried potatoes at Blue Iguana! So, so, so good. I would give the breakfast edge to Carnival for that alone.

[Wakepatrol]

Please tell me you had a breakfast burrito with those little fried potatoes at Blue Iguana! So, so, so good. I would give the breakfast edge to Carnival for that alone.

 

Oh yes those were awesome. I am now on a diet :o

[CJcruzer]

on our Dream and Freedom cruises, we have had one of the most attentive dining room service in all of our 20 cruises ... as I said, I was VERY impressed...

 

The aft pool area is quiet, adults only pool...

 

Carol

[Wakepatrol]

Please tell me you had a breakfast burrito with those little fried potatoes at Blue Iguana! So, so, so good. I would give the breakfast edge to Carnival for that alone.

 

I see you are doing a B2B

Do they give you any discount?

[bachcruise]

Thanks for posting your review! It's great to hear you had such an enjoyable cruise. I've heard really good things about the Breeze and I'd like to try it out.

 

 

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[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, DW and I have booked a cruise on the Carnival's Dream this December due to the smoking policy and the cut backs on HAL ships.

[Seago2]

No, none at all. It's two separate bookings, two separate cabins, but they are linked. The last time I did a B2B it was the same cabin, booked at the same time, and still no discount. I really like B2B's but due to time and budget constraints look for a 7 day and a 5 day B2B. This time I've gone for a really low budget Carnival ship, and we'll see if that was pushing it, but Fantasy reviews have consistently been good and I've never had a problem with the Carnival product. It's a lot of fun, the food is good overall, and the main reasons I cruise are the same regardless of whether it's Cunard or Carnival. Glad you had a good time!

[pearliemae]

The food was good,but I would have to give the edge to HAL

 

Breakfast just wasn't as good as HALS

 

HAL has better ice cream and the infamous bread pudding.

 

Lunches I would give to Carnival- The Iguana cafe has burritos,fish tacos,a variety of salsas. There's Fat Jimmy's Bar B-Q which is really good. Plus Guys burgers and fries really are the bomb!

 

They have Indian food,better pizza and you can eat in the Italian restaurant free at lunch time.

 

Dinner was probably a tie- The soups were very good,bread tasted fresh. Had some great meals and some so so.

 

If I had to be pinned down I'd give the edge to HAL although Lunches on Carnival win.

 

The chocolate melting cake was so good I had it every night.

Thanks for the breakdown on the food, great report.

[Chelly]

As a HAL-fan willing to give Carnival a try, I am enjoying this thread immensely.

 

For those of you who sail both HAL and Carnival, are there any Carnival ships that seem to have more crowding and partying, i.e. Carnival ships you would avoid? Thanks for your suggestions.

[jaguarstyper]

Thanks for the great review. My first cruise was on Carnival and I sort of hated it and swore I would never go on another cruise. Partly because we were in an inside cabin, partly because of rude, obnoxious passengers.

 

I am happy to hear this report and I may very well try Carnival in the near future. The Spa Suites look great. I actually looked at booking the Breeze this December, but the Spa Suites were all booked up already.

 

Again, thanks for the excellent information.

[luv4cruises]

I sail on 6 different cruise lines and enjoy variety and always look for deals! I love the Breeze especially in a spa cabin! Now that Carnival has moved away from the old gaudy designs to a tropical paradise theme their ships are beautiful!

Spa Cabins are awesome:

Private glass elevator takes you directly to the spa where you enjoy various steam rooms, heated beds and a hydrotherapy pool. The heated beds , the t pool, and the relaxation room all have ocean views! Celebrity's Persian Garden and HAl's spa pale in comparison. Having your own private elevator also makes it convenient to use the spacious spa showers and return to your cabin in your robe.

 

HAL has elegance down pat, but Carnival has the Fun. I like to mix it up. Sailing different cruise lines is refreshing and exciting!

 

Now that Carnival has banned balcony smoking they are even more desireable.

[summersigh]

We sailed the Carnival Legend out of Tampa in Feb of 2013.

The staff were as good as any we've experienced.

DH caught a brutal upper respiratory cough on board (the Doctor -very competent- said she'd seen a number of passengers with the same ailment). He pretty much stayed in the cabin/balcony for the next 4 days where our Cabin Steward was great seeing that he had water, ice, Kleenex and anything else he might need.

 

The food on that cruise left something to be desired. There was a lot of tomato sauce on a lot of different dishes. :D For example, "Shrimp Scampi" was breaded shrimp on noodles smothered with tomato sauce. Otherwise, the entrees were pretty bland. Deserts were good - how wrong can you go on desert??? :D

 

I think where CCL gets it's "boozy reputation" is that it still sails a good number of 3-4-or 5 day trips out of Florida. Longer cruises draw a different crowd. Overall the demographic on the Carnival Cruises we've sailed are quite different from HAL. As we don't use any of the "adventure amenities" on ships HAL is a better fit for us.

[Chelly]

Love reading the recent positive posts about Carnival. I am a HAL fan but I I am certainly willing to give Carnival a try now if the price is right. I didn't realize Carnival prohibits smoking on balconies. That is huge incentive for me. :) (Please let's not start a smoking thread LOL)

 

I see that Carnival sails out of either Galveston or Houston, a more convenient cruise port for me than Miami. I believe the Magic will be ported there in 2016. I know most of the accolades on this thread have been directed to the Breeze, but I am hoping the Magic is just as good.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Chelly

[nimiq]

Wow great thanks was looking into that ship

and itinerary :-)

Thanks for the review

Eric

[idiebabe]

As a HAL-fan willing to give Carnival a try, I am enjoying this thread immensely.

 

For those of you who sail both HAL and Carnival, are there any Carnival ships that seem to have more crowding and partying, i.e. Carnival ships you would avoid? Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Chelly, avoid the shorter cruises as they tend to be more with Partying. Also, avoid any type of Spring Break cruise whether it's College or Elementary and High Schools.

 

The Spirit Class (Legend, Pride, Miracle) are very nice Ships with a beautiful Steakhouse.

 

I haven't been on Magic but the Breeze and Dream (especially décor on Breeze) are very nice Ships. We like the layout of the Ocean Plaza and Promenade. Also, don't choose a Room on Deck 6 which is right above the Promenade as there would be no privacy on the balcony and also avoid rooms that are directly above the Hot Tubs that are on Promenade (no matter what deck). The noise travels up from them and although they close them at 8:00 p.m. it can be annoying!

 

Carnival Ships have wonderful Crews and Staff. Entertainment has fallen off in the last few years as has the food quality in the MDR. Even with that though you could have a wonderful cruise (and Fun) with them.

 

Our biggest concern booking Carnival is that we found in the last couple of years it really is a crapshoot as to what the passengers are going to be like. My DD had a Suite on the Breeze a couple of months ago and had neighbors next to them blasting their boom box and smoking pot. We were at a 3:30 Muster on the Pride and had a woman around 50 who was so drunk she could barely stand up and started throwing up. Yuck! We were on another Sailing where there were two men that should have been put off the Ship. They cursed out the Bartender, were harassing Young Women and were escorted out and banned from the MDR, and threatened to kill a Woman passenger. It was a Father & Son (not so young either). They were arrested when we returned back to Baltimore but they kept Security busy the entire Cruise and they did not make for a comfortable environment. These are cruises within the last couple of years. The list is long! :(

 

We're Diamond with Carnival and soon to be 4 Star with HAL. We have made lifelong friends on Carnival and have had wonderful cruises but have started getting away from Carnival altogether because of it being too much of a crapshoot! We like the enjoyment (and peacefulness) of knowing that when we board a HAL Ship there are no worries of fellow passengers! :)

[Chelly]

Idiebabe:

Thank you for your thoughtful, fair and very helpful review. I printed it out for future reference.

 

I believe you when you say booking cruises on some lines is a crapshoot these days. Four years ago, I booked a 7-day, RCI cruise to Mexico because I wanted to zip-line on my 65th birthday. Many of the negatives you stated about some of your Carnival cruises were onboard the Mariner. I felt like I was at an out of control fraternity party for the entire trip and couldn't find a quiet spot on the ship. Don't want to go through that again. One of these days when I have high-hopes and low-expectations I will give Carnival a try.

[idiebabe]

Idiebabe:

Thank you for your thoughtful, fair and very helpful review. I printed it out for future reference.

 

I believe you when you say booking cruises on some lines is a crapshoot these days. Four years ago, I booked a 7-day, RCI cruise to Mexico because I wanted to zip-line on my 65th birthday. Many of the negatives you stated about some of your Carnival cruises were onboard the Mariner. I felt like I was at an out of control fraternity party for the entire trip and couldn't find a quiet spot on the ship. Don't want to go through that again. One of these days when I have high-hopes and low-expectations I will give Carnival a try.

 

Thank you, Chelly! Just want to mention if you do a longer cruise (Hawaii) or a Repositioning Cruise on Carnival (or to Europe if they go back into that Market), there won't be the chances of running into what we've been experiencing of late or what you ran into on the Mariner!

 

My first Breeze cruise was a 12 Nite Med and it was wonderful with a great group of people! :)

[pearliemae]

Was any veal or lamb offered on the menu, and if you had any, how was it?

All these positive comments are starting to make me wonder if we should finally try Carnival. Big perception change for us.

[Wakepatrol]

Was any veal or lamb offered on the menu, and if you had any, how was it?

All these positive comments are starting to make me wonder if we should finally try Carnival. Big perception change for us.

 

As a matter of fact. One night the guy next to me ordered lamb chops and they looked absolutely delicious (don't know if they were) I was full and wishing I had ordered them.

 

They were the small ones,not the big Fred Flintstone ones we USED to get on HAL

Edited August 4, 2014 by Wakepatrol

[summersigh]

Another thing to be aware of on the smaller and/or older Carnival ships are the furnishings of the cabins.

 

We've taken regular balcony rooms (not suites). On a couple of them, we only had a hardback chair as opposed to HAL's couch and coffee table. On the last CCL we had a sort of "futon".

 

I'd check before I booked if that is something makes a difference (for example - having breakfast or dinner room service) to be sure of what to expect.:)

[CJcruzer]

As a matter of fact. One night the guy next to me ordered lamb chops and they looked absolutely delicious (don't know if they were) I was full and wishing I had ordered them.

 

They were the small ones,not the big Fred Flintstone ones we USED to get on HAL

 

asked DH, as he had ordered them on Carnival, and he said they were VERY good....:)

 

Carol

[Wakepatrol]

Thanks for the info

[iancal]

We are very selective when we are looking at a Carnival cruise. But, we are very selective when looking at a HAL cruise.

 

There are ships in both fleets that we have absolutely no interest in booking and would never book regardless of itinerary. For different reasons usually but often age and condition are usually part of the decision.

Edited August 5, 2014 by iancal