Breeze Review & and why i will never sail carnival again

[jp12687]

I was on the Jan 25th sailing of the Carnival Breeze our of Miami sailing to Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. my Girlfriend and I were staying in a grand suite and were celebrating my birthday and our anniversary.

 

Our first day we get onboard and go and buy the cheers package. Head over to the bar and grab a drink then go up to our room. We settle in and then head up to find some food. We went to guys burgers since the ship was still fairly empty and there was no line (had a Chilus Maximus and it was amazing).

 

After lunch we wondered the ship trying to get our bearings. Went back to the room right before sailaway to see if our stuff had arrived yet and it hadn't. We then went up on deck for sail away and had another drink, listed to the music, danced, and watched the multi million dollar houses as we sailed out of miami.

 

Just before 6 we went back down to our room to change and get ready for dinner-- but no luggage yet. We had anytime dining so we decided to go down o dinner in the sapphire room.

 

Dinner was plagued with some speed issues-- which could be chalked up to the fact we were a group of 2 who were seating in a section with a group of 14, 8, and 9. So we drew the short straw on that one and it was pretty obvious. Service was very slow through the entire meal. My appetizer came before my girlfriends by about 5 minutes. Stuff like that. When we ordered desert my girlfriend ordered coffee. Her desert came and she finished it before her coffee arrived.

 

after dinner our bags had arrived-- but still no sign of our steward.

 

ok not going to ruin our night. First night-- slightly slow service. We then went and wondered the fun shops, checked out the band in the ocean plaza, and then i settled into a 3 card poker table for a bit. Around 11:30 we headed up to get some pizza to find the usual long line and what seems like one person running around as fast as he can. We get our pizza and eat it up on deck. Head to bed to enjoy the next sea day (which happened to be my birthday). W

 

The next morning we woke up with a knock on the door and its finally our room steward saying hello. We let her know who we are and what our schedules like.

 

We then head up on deck to the serenity area and layout for the day. We found the walking waiter service to be very inconsistent. Sometimes they were walking around but then wouldn't be anymore. no one was able to tell us the hours they walk or any details. Which was a bit of a let down. Still we enjoyed the serenity area.

 

We went down and got burritos for lunch and then headed back up to the serenity deck. I went down and played bingo at one one point. But overall my goal for the day was sun and a few drinks.

 

That night we had reservations at the onboard uncharge steak house. I had been to the steak house on the splendor and absolutely loved it. the maître d' walked around and talked to everyone and helped with wine selections, our waitress tossed the Cesar salad in front of us at the table. It was a great night and i was looking forward to it so much we made it my birthday dinner.

 

Well the night was a complete let down. We had a waitress who did not speak much english and was no help with the wine list. The salads came out in their "deconstructed" state with a stick of lettuce with a little cheese and dressing on top of it (i just don't think salads should be eaten with a knife). During dinner there were long stretches between courses which would have been fine if they still came by to either a) check on us or b) refill our water. This all culminated with after our main meal i had stacked my empty dishes together with my napkin on the table and then sat there for over 20 minutes with everything stacked and an empty glass of water. I finally got up and went to the hostess (who was also apparently the maître d') and said we have been done with our main course for 20 minutes and have not seen our waitress. Well waitress comes back and clears our table and offers us dessert. But now she feels like she's rushing us and running around. She offers us another bottle of the crappy house red wine (which we didnt drink the first bottle of because it was so bad) and we leave.

 

I am a bit upset at this point. I felt the maître d' should have been walking around and after my complaint should have atleast checked in with us. she did not.

 

We get back to the room where the lights won't turn on. I had left one of my personal cards in the little card thing. We look all over the room and its nowhere to be found. I am not literally as angry as it gets that we had this horrible dinner and then came back to our room to find something missing.

 

My girlfriend sends me down to the casino while she heads to Guest Services to try to get the whole thing sorted out. While at guest services she is offered 4x picture coupons explained to her as she can get any 4 pixel program pictures.

 

She is told they would look into the restaurant and get back to her tomorrow. They found my card it was taken out accidentally by the assistant steward.

 

So my girlfriend comes and tells me all this and then we leave the casino and head down to listen to some music in the atrium.

 

The next day we are in Ocho Rios. We booked the ATV Adventure. and it was great. It had rained a little bit that morning so it was extra muddy. The one note i would say about that was they don't mention the opportunity to cliff jump anywhere so no one was dressed for it. I ended up going anyways in my shorts-- but it would have been nice to know. Besides that it was a great day out.

 

We got back to the port and walked around a few of the shops outside. As everyone has said before the port is really just a collection of locals harassing you to sell you something "cheap and on sale" we didnt buy anything but did get a few bottle of rum and some coffee from the liquor store right outside the gates.

 

We went back onboard early and headed up to the Mongolian Wok. I had an overstuffed bowl of awesomeness in the Thai BBQ sauce. It was very good.

 

After that down to the room to change and then up to serenity. again same kind of inconsistent bard service but we just laid out and spent some time in the hot tubs.

 

We watched the sun set and then headed back to our room to get changed. We didnt really like the MDR menu that night so we decided to go try the italian place.

 

While getting ready the phone rang and it was the maître d' of the steak house and she spoke with my girlfriend and basically deflected any issues. We had left a small tip and the maître d' used that as an example of "you must not have really hated it" which aggravated her. We were offered (another) bottle of their crappy wine or their food served int he MDR for free (we were not big fans of how the food came so didnt really want more). So they end the call and she hops in the shower.

 

Well when she's in the shower the phone rings and I answer it...its the maître d' calling again to offer us another seating in their steak house. I said no thanks we were very disappointed and didnt want to waste another night. The maître d' mentioned that we left a tip again and then said "you seemed to be talking" yes we were talking while waiting because we didnt want to stare at each other. She then misquoted what i had said to her the night before as "we wanted to order dessert" she left out the 20+ minutes of empty water and waiting. I also told her she as maître d' should have been walking around and after i complained should have come by our table atleast once to check on us and i had nothing further to say to her and hung up the phone.

 

That night we went up to the Italian place and had an absolute blast. The staff were funny, knowledgable, and attentive. The maître d' was walking around talking to every table. The food was amazing. We had a great bottle of white wine-- we even ordered a bottle to go.We laughed and joked with the waiters all night. When we left i even left a tip larger than the $30 we paid for the two of us to eat-- because service was really just that good.

 

My girlfriend goes down to deal with guest services still about the steak house and GS decided to refund our money.

 

While that is happening i write on John Healds wall (who was onboard the ship) about how great the service was at the Italian restaurant to make sure they get a bit of recognition for being great.

 

When back in the room i ask the steward to clear out our mini bar so we can keep the bottle of wine in there. She tells me she will do it tomorrow. uhhh-- ok...so i stick the bottle in the ice bucket.

 

We then head downstairs to check out Ben at the piano bar. Ben was amazing-- way better than the piano bar on splendor. He was funny and interactive with the audience. We ended up signing all night with him.

 

The next morning we are in Grand Cayman and due to winds they move us to a very small secondary port. We had booked a reef snorkel. They pick us up and drive us out to the boat where we sail out to the reef. The water was beautiful and calm and we spent an hour snorkeling over the reef and exploring the fish. One of the guides even took my go pro down and played with an eel.

 

Once again we head back to the ship and since we aren't in town at the normal port we get back onboard and grab some lunch from the buffet.

 

After lunch we headed to our room to find the minibar was still full and once again ask.

 

We then once again head up on deck to the serenity area.

 

That night we were not big fans of the menu in the MDR so we decided to just do buffet dinner. Guys was open that night so we did that, some taco's, and some stuff from the deli.

 

That night i went to the casino and then we went to see the Brits in the theatre. Man was that show strange. The music is great music but the state production behind it was just weird.

 

After that we decided to take an easy night in our state room-- go back to find the mini bar was still full. whatever i'm done chasing people on this trip.

 

We go out on the balcony and have a glass of wine and then come in and watch a movie together.

 

The next morning we are in Cozumel. We had booked an all inclusive beach option. Casa De Playa select retreat. It sounded awesome. Every review i read said it was capped around 25 people. Yet today there were 2 ships in port and we had just about 50 people there. The service was not able to keep up with it.We grabbed a day bed and ordered a few drinks. We asked about chips and salsa as a snack as we were both a little hungry and were told soon. an hour later still nothing. We asked to order food and were told "soon" an hour later nothing. I finally go in to ask about the chips and salsa and they tell me they ran out of chips.

 

Well long story short we finally get fed and while eating they call 10minutes til we leave. The food was small and horrible. I wrote an entire review on the carnival site if you're interested.

 

I wrote the review and forwarded it to the shore excursions email not expecting to hear anything from them.

 

One of the guys from the excursion actually took our info and came to apologize to us-- while the guy in charge blamed everyone else (including us) for why it didnt work out well.

 

Ok not ruining our day. We get back onboard and go write to Blue Iguana to get taco's. The line is ridiculous as its one of the only things open as everyone gets back on board. We wait in line and by the time we get our taco's and get to the topping bar its practically empty and there is one guy walking back and forth refilling one bowl at a time...so pretty much 75% of the stuff is empty at any given moment. Very badly organized.

 

So the usual afternoon-- serenity until sun set. We actually really liked the menu this night so went down to the MDR for dinner. We ended up in a different section and the staff was great. We ordered multiple starters and i had the lasagna Bolognese. which was just amazing.

 

After dinner we swing by our room and the steward told us the snoozing was on the door so she hadn't gone in. which was weird because i remember flipping it to cruising as we left. we go in the room to find a ship on a stick and a bottle of champagne. But no idea who from or why-- but obviously when they left they accidentally flipped the sign.

 

That night at 11:15 was supposed to be caribbean music in the cantina which sounded great. So after dinner i went to the casino with the plan of meeting my girlfriend around 11:15 at the cantina to enjoy some caribbean music. Well at 11:15 we get there and its still Amy singing cover songs. 11:30 rolls along and still cover songs. 11:45 still cover songs...so we leave. No explanation is ever given why caribbean music didnt happen.

 

We head to bed to enjoy our last sea day the next day.

 

We wake up early and head up to serenity to grab some seats and hang out. We then go down and do the sea day brunch which was good-- but felt like we had to pull teeth to get a bar waiter so we could order mimosas.

 

After brunch we take a stroll and go down to pixels to find some pictures we want to use with the vouchers we were given. We find some ones we really like and decide to get them. We go up to the person to buy them and hand them the vouchers and they had never seen them before. call over the manger who had no idea. they call GS who tell them what it is. They come back and tell us its only for a 5x7 and the pictures we want are all larger so we have to pay the difference. Let me start by saying the pixels program is a rip off and a joke. $29 a picture + 10 if you want them to re-print or put it on a CD...yet they print out every picture anyways. Plus you have to spend a lot of time trying to even find yourselves in the pictures. We heard multiple people complaining about this and everyone referencing the disney photo program with RFID tagging. This is something they really need to fix.

 

But getting back to it-- i am not angry because my girlfriend is told these are for nay pictures yet all the pictures they took were bigger than what the voucher could do. i leave very angry. I go back to the room to cool off and my girlfriend goes up on deck.

 

While in the room I posted on John Healds wall about wanting to chat with him about some general service issues we had continued to experience on the ship.

 

I go up on deck and meet my girlfriend and then head down to our couples massage. We had a 75min hot stone massage. It was ok-- nothing great. I felt like they spent a lot of time not massaging and getting stones ready which meant a lot of waiting instead of massaging which kinda took me out of the massage zone. Not great but ok i guess.

 

That afternoon we go back up to serenity where the wind is howling today. We go in the hot tub for a while and then i decide to go try the slides before the vacation is over. They were pretty good for a cruise ship slide.

 

We decide that night the best time we had on the ship was up at the italian place so we head up there for an early dinner where we can watch the sunset. Once again the service was amazing. We had a great time with the staff.

 

After dinner we head back to the room. Well i guess John had seen my Facebook post because the GS Manager called me. So i ran through the list both good and bad and told her what our issues were. She offered us another bottle of wine which at this point we were over flowing and declined. she then offered to send up some chocolate covered strawberries. ok that sounds fine.

 

Hang up with her. and 5 minutes later the head of food services calls to apologize for the steak house and MDR experience. We thank him for calling and once again call out how great the staff up at the Italian place was.

 

10 minutes later the phone rings again and its Shore Excursions saying they had reviewed my review and talked with the tour operator and they all agreed to refund our money for that.

 

5 minutes after that a knock on the door and its the head of the cabin stewards coming down to personally apologize for the fact our mini bar was still fully stocked and the card had gone missing from our room.

 

So that was all nice and good except for the fact that it only happened because I had to go to John to have them look into it. We had lodged several complaints and that seemed to not really go anywhere.

 

Really end of day it seemed like they focused on large groups and the group of 2 who weren't really party animals got left behind. There wasn't a lot of attention to the details and everything was just just short of being good. I feel like if 1 or 2 of these things happened its not enough to get anyone really upset about a cruise and i'm sure 1 or 2 of these things happen to almost everyone on a cruise but when you keep drawing the short straw it was finally one step too far.

 

I hated the breeze. I hated it so much i do not know if i'll been another carnival ship in the future. Right now i am planning a long weekend to a relaxing allinclusive resort to try to get an actual relaxing vacation.

 

A few notes about random things...

 

1) Fun Hub App. Downloaded it. cool idea. still needs more features. Menu's should be loaded on it. Once they fix pixels you should be able to view photo's from it. You should be able to actually make reservation and see reservations you have made from it. Book and see shore excursion plans. Spa reservations..etc. right now its a glorified fun times thats hard to scan through

2) Chat on the app. They are now charging $5 to use chat in the app. You have to pay this $5 even if you paid for an internet plan. So if you have a family and you have internet but want to give you kids the chat app to chat with you will be spending an extra $5...jsut seems like bad nickel and dining.

3) $99 unlimited internet. this was great for the most part. they need a few more AP's around the ship as a lot of cabins seemed to report no or weak service in their rooms. They should build in a page when service goes down so you know service is down/status page similar to airplanes have. Overall though it worked very well and much more valuable than the $200+ for 240min nonsense.

[Lacaena]

Sorry you had a crummy time on the Breeze. My husband I just got off of the Sunshine yesterday, we had a grand suite as well. I heard a lot of people on the ship complaining and we had our share of complaints just like you guys did. The little things really started to add up. Anyway, unfortunately it seems this is going on fleet wide and isn't limited to just one ship. I'll be posting my own review soon but I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only ones. We will not be sailing Carnival again either, at least not anytime in the near future.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[zephyrhillscruisers]

We sailed once on the Breeze, and while we didn't have nearly the difficulties you experienced, the amount of people on board was at times overwhelming. Mind you, that was our 8th cruise so it's not like we were not used to crowds.

 

It's my two cents that the "Your Time Dining" is still throwing the service off kilter. Previously, the two dinner sessions ran like clockwork. The vast majority of guests were seated on time, served on time and left on time. There is a rhythm about it. From food prep to delivery, timing is everything especially when you are dealing with large numbers. Even the most experienced of wait staff has to make adjustments for people who come and go as they please. Compound that with the sheer number of guests on both levels and service is bound to be affected.

[zephyrhillscruisers]

Sorry you had a crummy time on the Breeze. My husband I just got off of the Sunshine yesterday, we had a grand suite as well. I heard a lot of people on the ship complaining and we had our share of complaints just like you guys did. The little things really started to add up. Anyway, unfortunately it seems this is going on fleet wide and isn't limited to just one ship. I'll be posting my own review soon but I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only ones. We will not be sailing Carnival again either, at least not anytime in the near future.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

We last sailed the Sunshine in May,2014 ironically after the Breeze. While it is a bit of a shock to go from the largest ship to the smallest class, it was pretty impressive how they put so much into the former Destiny Class, although they could use another pool. I await your review as we will return to the Sunshine this November, in large part because of Key West.

[Lacaena]

We last sailed the Sunshine in May,2014 ironically after the Breeze. While it is a bit of a shock to go from the largest ship to the smallest class, it was pretty impressive how they put so much into the former Destiny Class, although they could use another pool. I await your review as we will return to the Sunshine this November, in large part because of Key West.

 

Having sailed on the destiny, it was definitely amazing how much she had changed!

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[nissach]

In reading your lengthy review, sounds like there were as many or more good things about your cruise than bad.

In regards to the fridge, simply empty it yourself to put your wine in it.

The excursion in Cozumel was not really Carnivals fault. (bad service at a resort is out of their control) Good that you brought it to their attention so they can hopefully look into it.

As for not cleaning your room due to the 'snoozin' sign; maybe you did not flip it as you thought, therefore your room was not entered.

The things you are unhappy with seem minor and the things you mention as great seem more significant, IMO.

[jp12687]

In reading your lengthy review, sounds like there were as many or more good things about your cruise than bad.

In regards to the fridge, simply empty it yourself to put your wine in it.

The excursion in Cozumel was not really Carnivals fault. (bad service at a resort is out of their control) Good that you brought it to their attention so they can hopefully look into it.

As for not cleaning your room due to the 'snoozin' sign; maybe you did not flip it as you thought, therefore your room was not entered.

The things you are unhappy with seem minor and the things you mention as great seem more significant, IMO.

 

Then why did they enter my room to put champagne and a ship on a stick? Either way they would have been wrong.

 

Yes minor things. But minor things taint the entire experience

[nissach]

Then why did they enter my room to put champagne and a ship on a stick? Either way they would have been wrong.

 

Yes minor things. But minor things taint the entire experience

 

True good point.

However, it is unfortunate that you are letting the minor things 'taint' your experience as opposed to letting the positive things 'enhance' your experience.

[lisajm]

I'm sorry you left the Breeze with a bitter taste in your mouth. It's very frustrating when you have planned for a great vacation and its less than stellar. And so many small things add up to a big pain in the butt!

 

DH and I were on the Breeze in November, had anytime dining as well. While we had good service in the MDR, we did have issues getting served a drink, unless we were seated at the bar. We had Cheers, too.

 

I also felt as though the infrastructure wasn't quite right. With 4000 passengers, it seemed like 3000 other passengers were where I wanted to be on the ship.

 

Having said that we had a good experience.

 

The issue with the excursion would have upset me as well. When you pay for an all inclusive, that is what you should get. I'm glad you followed up and was refunded.

 

Hopefully your next vacation will be much better!

[riffatsea]

The Sunshine may be smaller than the Breeze but it is not "the smallest" in Carnival. The Spirit Class ships are smaller and from what I am reading they seem to have better service!

I am surprised that you have to go to anywhere but guest services on the ship to get any satisfaction for your problems.

I do agree that most of them were minor and were specific to the ship on which you sailed. I don't think that would prevent me from ever going on another Carnival ship but that is an individual decision.

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean and on NCL. We would not do NCL again for food issues but we will continue on Carnival and would sail on Royal again as well.

[airlinerob]

Sorry you had a bad cruise.

 

I love the Breeze, have been on it twice. Love the steakhouse too. On the sunshine right now having an amazing time.

 

Robert

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ObstructedView2]

Hi Jp,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience on the Breeze. Little things do indeed add up.

 

However, I am confused about a couple issues.

 

When you were in the steakhouse, why did you choose to sit there for 20+ minutes with empty water glasses & stacked plates??

 

After 5 minutes I would have simply raised my hand, catching the attention of my server, and nicely uttering the words, "excuse me'..

 

The stateroom refrigerator. Easy solution. Empty contents onto counter & ask stateroom steward to remove.

 

Sorry to hear that you will never sail Carnival again over the very minor issues you experienced aboard the Breeze.

 

Sometimes people can let the small things roll off their shoulders & manage them properly as they occur.

 

And sometimes people let the small things continue to nag at them, permitting them to chip away at one's attitude and cruise experience.

 

Even with the minor issues you experienced, I still see far more positives than negatives.

Unfortunately, the small issues won, and the positives that outweighed the negatives were permitted to gain weight.

 

Could you imagine if they would have lost your luggage; or not offered you a steakhouse refund, or additional bottles of crappy wine, or another steakhouse reservation, or the chocolate covered strawberries, or any free photos at all, or not have acknowledged any of your issues whatsoever.

 

Thank you for your review Jp.

 

 

 

:)

Edited February 1, 2015 by ObstructedView2

[ObstructedView2]

Sorry Jp, just a minor edit from my previous reply.

 

I meant to say:

Even with the minor issues you experienced, I still see far more positives than negatives.

 

Unfortunately, the small issues won, and the positives that outweighed the negatives were permitted to lose weight.

 

 

:cool:

[Surfwench]

You are a little high maintenance--nothing wrong with that. You just need to accept that and find a cruise line which matches your style better. Since you've the wherewithal to shell out for a GS, might want to try a higher-brow line like Celebrity. I'm more self sufficient when cruising so would have emptied my own mini-fridge out and grabbed a bus boy in the Steakhouse to ask for cleared dishes. But clearly that's not the type of experience you were seeking. Carnival is a very good mass market cruise line and the Breeze is her best 'boat' to date, (haven't sailed Vista yet). There is no one size fits all cruise experience so don't give up on cruising altogether. :)

[PaulMedik]

You are a little high maintenance--nothing wrong with that. You just need to accept that and find a cruise line which matches your style better. Since you've the wherewithal to shell out for a GS, might want to try a higher-brow line like Celebrity. I'm more self sufficient when cruising so would have emptied my own mini-fridge out and grabbed a bus boy in the Steakhouse to ask for cleared dishes. But clearly that's not the type of experience you were seeking. Carnival is a very good mass market cruise line and the Breeze is her best 'boat' to date, (haven't sailed Vista yet). There is no one size fits all cruise experience so don't give up on cruising altogether. :)

 

 

Surfwrench,

 

I think you nailed it.

 

Basically he was refunded and overwhelmed by wine and various gifts yet still had issues.

 

I'd say Carnival is better off without their repeat business.

[jp12687]

Surfwrench,

 

I think you nailed it.

 

Basically he was refunded and overwhelmed by wine and various gifts yet still had issues.

 

I'd say Carnival is better off without their repeat business.

 

feel as you want. however the issues should not have happened and others should not have to deal with the issues we dealt with. I get and am appreciative that we were refunded. but the only reason we were was because we went to John and they bumped it up to actually look at our complaints. They were small-- but continuous. I honestly did not see our waitress during that entire 20 minutes. she was back in the kitchen.

 

My review was meant to tell other people of these issues. i feel made whole by carnival in terms of refund-- however the service left something to be desired.

[Martini Mom]

I've only taken my kids on one of our cruises and it was a Murphy's Law kind of cruise. One embarkation day we were trapped in the atrium elevator with doors that would only partially open, our shower backed up into our cabin a couple times (flooding it), the chemicals they used to try to fix it were nasty, we had to switch rooms away from our family adjoining cabin, my son got really sick the last night and had to see the ship's doc, etc. We laughed about most of it then and share the funny memories with each other and friends now.

 

I'm not saying I want these things to happen again, but they're part of our family story now. The quote in my signature sums it up :). Hope your next cruise is everything you're looking for.

[In2why]

Excellent review. Carnival is a 3-4 star cruise line and fits the vacation needs of a great deal of people but it isn't a good match for everyone. I think reviews like this are incredibly important because it keeps expectations realistic. There is usually a balance and deciding where to vacation certainly that balance cones into play. When I travel with my kids I am looking for a different experience than when I am looking for a romantic vacation for me and dear hubby of mine. It is like looking for a restaurant for dinner. Sometimes I want to eat decent food and other times I am looking for an entire experience. Of course, the price points are drastically different. All cruising has changed and the affordable or bargain cruise lines are definitely different. Your review reminds people of that fact. That is a good thing. When I go on a cruise it is more about the people I am with and the time away from everyday life. I love the ocean and the chance to be in warm weather with beautiful sites when back home is the same old thing. I have never had a problem finding food I like, and ports I love, although some are better than others. I have never experienced a Carnival sponsored excursion and have always assumed they are a waste of money and time, but if I paid for an excursion I would certainly expect at least what was advertised and be very upset and want a refund if it wasn't.

[Frank12]

True good point.

However, it is unfortunate that you are letting the minor things 'taint' your experience as opposed to letting the positive things 'enhance' your experience.

It all depends on if you look at your glass half full or half empty.

[lido deck larry]

Don't expect a Rolex at Timex prices. Service can be inconsistent.. You get what you pay for. Go upscale if you want attention to details. Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, but it's the reality of the situation. Didn't sound like your vacation was really that bad, and they did attempt to reconcile the problems.

Edited February 1, 2015 by lido deck larry

[lido deck larry]

Oh and kudos to your girlfriend.. Seems she spent a lot of her vacation at guest services while you sulked in the casino. She's a keeper!

[CatlinSTJ]

I get where you're coming from. I wanted to read this and was prepared for a silly rant with ridiculous expectations...but it's not. We sailed the Breeze last summer and while the experiences were different, I understand and agree. For the first time, we weren't in the dining room for every dinner because of the menu choices and bad service. Our steakhouse experience was excellent, but I've been places where the waitstaff just seems to have disappeared and you're stuck sitting there, so I know that it's not always possible to just wave someone over. It all adds up. We're not done with Carnival entirely - we just booked the Vista - but we know we're getting there and most likely going to give Celebrity a try in the near future.

 

Good luck to you, I hope you find a line that fills your needs and expectations.

 

 

Next cruise: Carnival Vista - July 2016

[belles]

That really is a shame you weren't satisfied with your cruise on the Breeze. I have been on that ship twice. The first time it was great, most recently (Nov 2014), not so much. We had just a few issues with standing water on our balcony which we were unable to use for more than half the cruise. We were later moved to another cabin.

The steakhouse was wonderful. Both the service and food we had no complaints. Great service also in the MDR. Our first cabin steward was great, the second one would never leave us glasses. Not a biggie I would get them from the bars or from the cart in the hallway.

The Breeze is still my favorite Carnival ship, I will sail on that ship again.

[jp12687]

I understand everyone has different expectations. Overall i would not say it was a horrible trip and we actually for the most part had a great time. Dealing with the the small annoyances were just that-- annoyances that took away from our vacation. I have cruised carnival before and loved the experience.

 

When spending any amount of money you expect consistent service and form complaints i've both read here and what i heard on the ship itself that expectations are not crazy.

 

You are right maybe Carnival is not for me. But the reasons i had issues with this cruise others might have as well and should be aware of before booking. Sorry i am not a 100% carnival defender/lover.

[cruising maniac]

Sometimes something negative happens that sets the tone for the whole cruise and you just can't get past it. Happened to us once on a Carnival cruise and we did not sail them again for ten years. Look at it this way- the next one has to be better. :D