Die-hard Disney fan cruises the Breeze on 11/8/14 and LOVES it or HATES it???

[Shih-tzu]

Great review - only 1/2 way through reading it but have to put a comment in now so I can find it to finish tomorrow. Great photos :-) (and yes, I am a WDW person so enjoying this review as DCL is way out of our price range (and then with the added airfare.. )

[loveysbydesign]

Loved reading your review! We will be in San Juan in a few weeks & plan to do an "on our own" walking tour that I have printed out. I volunteer at our local pound in the cat area and I REALLY want to visit the Save A Gato Sanctuary. Can you help guide me? After we go through the San Juan Gate where exactly do we go? I have directions to El Morro but I don't want to miss the Sanctuary on the way. You mentioned that it was behind another building--what bldg. should we look for? Thanks for your help :)

I hope your son is recovering well---I loved his expressions in your photos!

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in getting back to my tr. We have had more snow, a stomach bug, baseball try-outs and new volunteering with a local animal sanctuary so we have been very busy the past 2 weeks!

 

Ryan is recovering fine, although the scar is much more prominent then I thought it would be!

 

As far as finding Save a Gato, you walk along the path by the water and then to the big red gate, then though the gate you'll turn to you left and head up the hill towards a big pink building, La Casa Rosada/Rosa, follow the road around to the left of the pink building and the very small La Casita is right behind it next to an old playground/basketball court. Check out this map, the gate is #7,La Casa Rosa is #11 http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Old-San-Juan-Tourist-Map

 

I contacted Save A Gato before our trip to let them know what day we would be there to visit, as we were originally planning to help clean out the cages and such. You don't have to do that, I did just because i wanted to make use it was ok. Then that morning I called the woman and she told me who would be there(for us it was woman who spoke no english) and that the cages had already been cleaned but we could still stop by and visit/pet/donate. It was an amazing experience.

 

Edited March 24, 2015 by loveysbydesign

[loveysbydesign]

wow what a great review! just curious about the YTD can you make a time reservation ahead like on RCCL MTD? what is the thrill theater pass you mentioned awhile back? looks like a great ship! we have our first family cruise booked this fall on RCCL freedom of the seas, and I am aniticapting that we will love it. I said I would never sail carnival after all the bad press they get, but there newer ships seem awesome for families and it seems they are trying hard to imrove?

 

No, you can not make a time reservation for YTD, but we did not have any issues, only waited 2-5 minutes every night except for one, but we did go right before the dining room opened for the evening.

The Thrill Theater pass lets you go to the thrill theater as many times as you like instead of paying each time you go. They had a bunch of different 4D movies there and I am still shocked we never went to see one!

We swore we would never cruise on Carnival either, but I am sure glad we tried the Breeze!

[loveysbydesign]

Great review - only 1/2 way through reading it but have to put a comment in now so I can find it to finish tomorrow. Great photos :-) (and yes, I am a WDW person so enjoying this review as DCL is way out of our price range (and then with the added airfare.. )

Glad you are enjoying it! I take it you like shih-tzu dogs?

We have 2 shih-tzu mixes named Magic and Meeko(Disney names of course!!!) ;)

[loveysbydesign]

So here we are at the end of the tr. :(

I will go ahead and make my comparisons about the cruise and then I'll add the info./pics. about the Autotrain after that, sound good?

[loveysbydesign]

Embarkation:

 

Sorry if I repeat some of what was said in the beginning of my TR!

 

We drove to both Port Canaveral and Miami when going on our cruises. Both ports were easy to get to and easy to park at and easy to walk over to the terminal.

However the Disney terminal was better staffed, better organized and it was much easier to navigate. We had no issues at Disney's terminal, but the Carnival terminal was insane! Now I'm sure this has to do with the fact that the Breeze was sold out and there were people everywhere. It was very disorganized and confusing, as we could not find signs or people to help us find out where to go to drop our luggage and which door to go into the check in. I finally had hubby and the kids stay in one spot and I went ahead and looked for where we were supposed to go. This ended up being a great idea. Once I found the porters I called hubby and they found me, we dropped our luggage off, tipped them well and headed inside. Security lines were moving quickly and we were upstairs in no time. Only issue was getting our case of water okayed as there was confusion between 2 workers. Once upstairs it was packed to the gills. There were people everywhere! We found the line we needed to be in and took turns using the restroom while we waited. See http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44824250&postcount=12 about our pixie dust from Carnival.

 

That being said when we took our 1st Disney cruise we were chosen as "Family of the Day" and got to go to the front of all the lines in the terminal and then board 1st!!!

That was simply magical!

So Embarkation goes to DISNEY!

[gsc500]

Just found your trip report. Love it. Read it all the way through. Glad I found it late so I got to read most of it at once. Lol.

 

I found your comments about the kids program interesting and true for my family as well.

 

Been on DCL, NCL and Celebrity with our kids. DCL was actually our girls least favorite cruise!!! We all LOVED the DCL Magic but the kids loved the kids' club on the other ships better. More interaction and activities where they got to get to know the other kids more as well as the counselors. They never wanted to leave.

 

On DCL they said they felt like they were in a gianormous day care for older kids. Lots of opportunities for individual play (video games) but they can do that at home, etc. Harder to meet and make GOOD friends. Best part of DCL was castaway cay.

 

We, too, are die hard Disney fans. My youngest DD13 has been there more than 23 times. We bought DVC when I was pregnant with her and I've been taking the kids about 2-3 times a year, sometimes by myself because my husband is disneyed out and has to stay home and work to support my addiction. Lol.

 

People assume since I also LOVE, LOVE cruising that a Disney cruise would be my dream come true. I thought so too. But it didn't turn out that way.

 

We go to WDW so often, I refuse to stay on line for more than a few minutes. So, waiting on line and meeting characters on the ship don't appeal to me when time is money. Granted some characters are rare on land. I know how to get the best bang for my time and buck at WDW. For our Disney cruise in a balcony cabin, I could have gotten a suite or 2 balcony cabins on other cruise lines.

 

I just don't feel I'm getting the best bang for my buck on DCL. Now, IF my girls had LOVED DCL and their kids' programs, it would have made a big difference. But they didn't and actually LOVED the kids' programs on the other cruise lines much, much better.

 

So, for OUR family, it is hard to justify going on another Disney cruise at this point in our lives...

 

Looking forward to hearing about the auto train!

Edited April 4, 2015 by gsc500

[Ahsndpro]

Awesome review!!! Thanks for posting it!

[loveysbydesign]

I have to apologize for not updating this!

We just listed our house to try and sell it and things have been absolutely bonkers here the past 2 weeks with cleaning and purging and donating....we had our 1st showing last night!

Fingers crossed! I will post another update within the next day or 2.

Thank you for your patience!

Edited April 10, 2015 by loveysbydesign

[SFplusP]

It's the review that never ends... it just goes on and on and on my friends....lol at least youre off the ship now, we leave in a week and I liked the ship specific stuff :) Now I'm just waiting to hear about the auto train. I had never heard of it before.

[RenoNanaOz]

Really enjoyed your review, The Breeze will be our next cruise. Sounds like you had a lovely time and made the best of everything. Thank you for sharing, enjoy that little guy. Before you know it he will be 6ft tall and 26 years old;)

[hfj17002]

Enjoying your review!

[loveysbydesign]

Cabins:

 

When we cruised on the Disney Magic and the Disney Dream we opted for indoor cabins, we needed 2 cabins (hubby snores worse then a freight train) and they were the only ones we could afford ;)

It worked out ok for us as our youngest was still taking naps when we cruised on the Magic and since the rooms were dark he napped well and we all slept great at night.

When we cruised on the Dream we had 2 insides but we had the magic portholes. The kids really enjoyed them!

On the Breeze we had 2 cove balconies for less then we would have paid for 2 insides on the Magic cruising the same week. Remember we were originally booked on the Magic for this same exact week and switched due to finances. I have to say that the coves were absolutely amazing! We loved being so close to the water and we were able to have the divider between the balconies opened up so we have had on big balcony.

As much as I am a total Disney nut, I have to say that I would probably choose Carnival Breeze over the current Disney ships just to be able to have those cove balconies. Now if we could afford a balcony on Disney would we choose them? For sure. But at this point in time there is no way we could afford a balcony on Disney, let alone 2 connecting ones.

 

Now a few things we preferred in the Disney cabins: the split bathrooms and the beds. Hubby did not like the showers on the Breeze as he is a larger person, 6'2" and 220 lbs. The rest of us had no problems with them. The beds on the Disney Dream are the best beds I have ever slept on in my entire life. the beds on the Breeze were just ok. We also liked the trunks in the Disney cabins to store things in.

That being sad there was plenty of storage in the Breeze cabins. There is a 3 doored closet, plus room under the beds. Also on the Breeze we had bathrobes in our closet, a nice touch.

 

Cabin attendants and towel animals for both cruise lines were comparable, no difference in service noted.

Room service for both cruise lines was the same as well.

[Chelly]

Does your vote for Cabins go to Disney?

[loveysbydesign]

Does your vote for Cabins go to Disney?

 

For inside cabins...yes to Disney.

For balconies it goes to the Breeze!

[loveysbydesign]

Dining rooms:

 

Now as some of you may know, on the Disney ships have rotating dining rooms with some of them having entertainment, such as Animator's Palate. The theming of the Disney dining rooms is really neat.

My kids did like the different dining rooms on Disney, BUT the service on Disney was not near as good as we had on the Breeze and the length of time for our meals on the Disney ships was too long. So even though some of it was entertaining, my kids, hubby and myself were always anxious for the meal to be over. On Disney it took forever to get refills on drinks, if we were lucky to get any at all. The servers on Disney always seemed rushed and rarely smiled. We felt like we were just another number on the ship. I have to tell you that we did not expect it to be that way at all, it was actually the opposite of how we expected it to be.

 

On the Breeze we had a great serving staff, even though we did your time dining we requested the same serving staff every night...and every night they were there to greet us with big smiles and wonderful service. They catered to the kids and made all of us feel welcome. They went out of their way to make our dining experience special. Our service was always prompt and we were in and out of the dining room in about an hour to hour 15 minutes each night. I'll also note that on the Breeze there was a magician who came around and did card tricks and things at our table, the kids really enjoyed that!

 

The food on the Disney ships and the Breeze was comparable, but I felt like the Breeze had many more options to choose from.

 

So this is tough one, if you have kids that are younger and would benefit from the entertainment in the Disney dining rooms then it would be great for you. If you are looking for great service and food then the Breeze is great too. For me personally I would rather have stellar service, even if it means being in the same dining room every night. That being said if you have never cruised Disney and can afford it, then go for it...the dining rooms are really neat!

 

Edited April 14, 2015 by loveysbydesign

[BearJim]

Great review. We've been on Disney & Carnival as well as Royal Caribbean. Carnival is hard to beat value wise for sure. I don't think we will sail Disney again. The last time we did we had scheduled a beach day excursion but my daughter hurt her foot & couldn't go so we tried to cancel it & they wouldn't let us even though her foot was in a "boot" type cast. Every time we had something come up on Carnival or RCCL they were happy to give us our money back & cancel the excursion. Don't get me wrong, we love Disney. Especially WDW but it sure seems like they care more about money & less about customer service than they used to. Having said that we are getting on the Breeze next week for the 1st time & can't wait!

[Momto3kiddos]

Hello I am a Disney lover as well. I have also done my fair share of cruises as well. We did the Disney Fantasy in Feb of 2014 and loved it. Just came home from the Carnival Sunshine from spring break and was thinking about doing a trip report. There are some good and some bad. We will be sailing the Breeze over Thanksgiving this November so your report caught my eye. There are a few things I will tweak on my next Carnival Cruise. Thanks for doing your report.

[trixiegal]

Hello I am a Disney lover as well. I have also done my fair share of cruises as well. We did the Disney Fantasy in Feb of 2014 and loved it. Just came home from the Carnival Sunshine from spring break and was thinking about doing a trip report. There are some good and some bad. We will be sailing the Breeze over Thanksgiving this November so your report caught my eye. There are a few things I will tweak on my next Carnival Cruise. Thanks for doing your report.

 

 

Please do a trip report on the Sunshine! We are booked for the end of June.

[loveysbydesign]

Hello I am a Disney lover as well. I have also done my fair share of cruises as well. We did the Disney Fantasy in Feb of 2014 and loved it. Just came home from the Carnival Sunshine from spring break and was thinking about doing a trip report. There are some good and some bad. We will be sailing the Breeze over Thanksgiving this November so your report caught my eye. There are a few things I will tweak on my next Carnival Cruise. Thanks for doing your report.

I would also love to read a tr about the Sunshine! She was our second choice if we did not cruise the Breeze. I asked our one server about the Sunshine and he just laughed, shook his head and said "The Breeze is so much better!" ;) He had been on the Sunshine before he was on the Breeze.

[denas]

I really liked your review. We have sailed Disney three times with a Carnival cruise two years ago between DCL cruises 2 and 3 and sailed Disney last summer. We can't go off season anymore because of kids school and I don't think I can handle the summer-vacation crowds on Disney again!

 

I agree that I find more choices for food in the Carnival dining rooms and have much better service. I also like buffet and pool deck options better on Carnival. DCL tries to convince you that they have lots of different restaurants, but it really is just lines in different locations on the deck and when one kid wants a hamburger, one wants pizza, I want a salad and DH wants a panini, this actually means standing in 4 different lines all over the pool deck. I prefer the set-up on Carnival much better for food. We never had lines for Guys burgers or the Cantina.

 

My oldest also didn't care for the chaos of the Disney clubs and the three and four year olds trying to do the same activities as the ten year olds on Disney. My kids prefer the structure and defined age groups of Carnival. Now that my oldest is a teen, hoping he likes the kids activities in the new age group on RCCL and Carnival. He really did like it on Disney because they were finally separated.

 

But Disney shows and atmosphere is pretty magical!! I prefer Disney ships - Carnival is incredibly gaudy and I don't like the lack of an outdoor promenade deck.

 

We are booking Carnival again for next summer (RCCL this summer). The only way I could justify our last DCL cruise price was they have great last-minute military rates so I actuallly paid the same for 2 balcony cabins on DCL in summer as I did for 2 ocean view cabins on Carnival at the end of January!!!

[Chelly]

I am curious...

To the cruisers with young children who have been comparing Disney and Carnival.......If you were NOT cruising with your children, would you cruise on Carnival or Disney?

[acceber32]

Thanks for the great report! We've been on 2 Disney cruises, 1 RCL and 2 Carnival cruises with our 3rd Carnival cruise on the Breeze booked for October. We've not been on Carnival in a few years and reading your review has made me feel better about our choice. We've got a Cove balcony booked as well and are looking forward to it. I don't like how deck 5 extends out and ruins the views for the balconies so we booked a cove. I agree that all lines have something fun to offer, Carnival just seems to do it at a great price.

[denas]

I am curious...

To the cruisers with young children who have been comparing Disney and Carnival.......If you were NOT cruising with your children, would you cruise on Carnival or Disney?

 

No way I would cruise Disney without kids. We usually alternate and cruise with and without kids and I never even consider Disney for the adults-only cruise. This time it came down to Carnival or NCL and we chose NCL for the ports

[edinboro cruiser]

I am curious...

 

To the cruisers with young children who have been comparing Disney and Carnival.......If you were NOT cruising with your children, would you cruise on Carnival or Disney?

 

 

Empty nesters here and we are cruising this September for our 25th Anniversary on the Disney Fantasy without kids. We normally cruise Carnival but our first cruise was on Disney and we have wanted to go back for a while. We enjoy Disney and are looking forward to this cruise