Review of my side by side Splendor and Breeze cruises

[JaniceB]

Enjoying your review

[cruzin Phillis]

For a long time my husband and I dreamed of doing 2 cruises in a row. We are always so sad when our cruise is over and always thought how nice it would be instead of flying home, to just get on another ship. So we booked the Splendor for 7 nights followed by 6 nights on the Breeze. We planned the trip for 10 months. When we first booked our dollar was much higher so the trip got more expensive as we went along, but we decided just to relax about it and have a great time.

Our DD and her BF were on reading week break from University so they were able to accompany us on the first cruise aboard the Splendor.

We flew out of Toronto on February 13th the coldest day of winter so far -25 degrees Celsius!! and flew into Miami.

The flights were smooth, we got a cab and headed to Fortune House luxury hotel.

Our apartment was not ready when we got there. Once we did get in, it was very nice with a lovely view. The pool area was nice as well. Customer service is apparently not a thing at this hotel and all of the staff seemed really irritated to be working. We went to Bayside Market, had a great meal and lots of fun.

We came back to the hotel and went to bed early to get ready to start our adventure from Port of Miami in the morning!!!

Glad I found your review. I am thinking of doing that next year.

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review, nice photos.:)

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

We docked in Falmouth, we had never been to this port before. Unfortunately our excursion was cancelled. We had booked the "Historic horse and buggy tour".

We decided we would just disembark and play it by ear. The immediate area is very nice. Lots of shops etc. We went to the gates to go for a walk but the area outside the gates looked VERY sketchy.

We decided not to chance it and noticed a trolley tour. We took the tour. It was one hour and took us to all of the main sights - there are only a couple. We stopped at the beach which was beautiful. I enjoyed the tour. When we got back my husband wasn't feeling too great so we just headed back to the ship.

 

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

We arrived in the Cayman Islands around 7 am. I like the early ports because I am an early riser and there aren't usually any crowds trying to disembark so early. We had FTTF but didn't need to use the priority status because so few people were up and about.

We were on the Island at 7:45. We decided it was going to be a beach day and we would walk to Seven Mile beach. It wasn't too hot yet so it was a really nice walk to the beach. It took about 45 minutes. We went to the Royal Palms beach club. There's a $2 entry fee and you have access to the beach, washrooms, change rooms and swimming pool. Great place.

 

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

We decided to just walk into town when we got to Cozumel because we remembered going into town when we were in Cozumel back in 2008. I think we should have booked an excursion because it has changed so much, we didn't' recognize anything. It's very built up now. The walk into town was absolutely gorgeous though. We had the ocean alongside us for the entire walk. When we got there it was very crowded and every shop sort of looked the same. We didn't stay long and took a cab back because it had become pretty hot out and it was a longer walk than we remembered

We had a really long stop in Cozumel because Kathy Griffin was performing so we were there from 10 am until 11 pm. We went back to the ship had a bite to eat and enjoyed the mostly empty ship. We had an early dinner and got back off the ship for some shopping after dinner.

 

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

:( I can't believe how fast the time went. It was the last day of our amazing 2 weeks vacation.

DH wasn't feeling well and spent a lot of the day in bed which was disappointing because I had waited to do a few things I wanted to try out until the last day. So I didn't get to try the thrill theatre for one thing. I could have done it alone but it's more fun doing activities with someone else. It was really cold and rainy out so I just looked around the shops, looked through all of the photos, read a magazine etc.

 

We said our goodbyes to our dining team and made sure we checked out the comedy show and spent a little time with Ben at the piano bar. We went to our room early and tried ordering from room service. Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but we tried every single day to call for room service on the Breeze. They simply never answered. I called guest services one day about it as I thought the button to call must be broken, there isn't even a message saying they are busy and you're on hold. Anyway, on the last night, I still had to wait about 15 minutes on hold but I did finally get through and we got our order. It arrived in about 30 minutes. We watched a bit of TV and went to sleep early as we had a long day of travel ahead of us.

 

The next morning disembarking was quick and easy. The longest wait we had was for the taxi. The line up took about 20 minutes to get through and we were on our way to the Miami airport

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

I was really surprised by our experience on the Breeze. It was such a beautiful ship but I thought we would like this ship much more because it's so new. In fact I would choose the Splendor over the Breeze if I had to choose between the 2

 

Ships - both were very nice but the Breeze was definitely more beautiful

Rooms - Breeze more up to date, however the balcony was rusty with chairs that could not be sat on without towels

 

Stewards - excellent on both ships

 

Room service - excellent on the Splendor, impossible to reach anyone on the Breeze

 

Shore excursion desk - didn't use them on the Splendor - on the Breeze we went to the desk because we didn't get our tickets for the excursion we purchased. It was canceled and no one told us. Unfortunately the staff person we dealt with at the desk seemed very uninterested that our excursion was cancelled without telling us and didn't even bother to apologize.

 

Overall service - staff on the Splendor really seemed like they were interested in making guests happy. We didn't see much of that on the Breeze especially at the bars. There were several times we waited up to 15 minutes to get a drink. That never happened on the Splendor

 

Shows - great on both, but there was one show on the Breeze that was the best I've ever seen on a ship. It was a 50's/60's music show and the sets and entertainers were really excellent

 

Serenity - much larger on the Breeze. Much easier to get a lounger on the Breeze.

 

Food - the menus were better on the Splendor and the food in the dining room was also better on the Splendor. Everything came out hot and tasked fresh but on the Breeze some of the meals were only luke warm.

 

All in all an excellent vacation on both cruises

[hirent]

Thank you for the review.

Enjoyed it very much.

Edited March 26, 2016 by hirent

[sjn911]

Great review...thanks so very much!!!

[pbxtech]

Thanks for the review. We are thinking of booking the Splendor

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

Thanks everyone I'd be happy to answer any questions

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[BlondieB]

I enjoyed reading your review. We were on the Breeze in December and we've got the Splendor booked for November. Service at the bars on the Breeze was definitely slow except in the night club. The best thing about the Breeze was Guy's burgers. I shoved one in my face every chance I got and was really disappointed that it wasn't in the 2.0 upgrades when Splendor went into dry dock last month.

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

I enjoyed reading your review. We were on the Breeze in December and we've got the Splendor booked for November. Service at the bars on the Breeze was definitely slow except in the night club. The best thing about the Breeze was Guy's burgers. I shoved one in my face every chance I got and was really disappointed that it wasn't in the 2.0 upgrades when Splendor went into dry dock last month.

You'll love the Splendor. Much better service than on the Breeze, no waits for anything really

[BlondieB]

You'll love the Splendor. Much better service than on the Breeze, no waits for anything really

 

Thank you, good to know!

[gfx sierra]

thank you for the insight!

[smd500]

Thank for the very thorough and unbiased opinion between the two ships! Wish more people would take the time, Kudos to you and here's to many more reviews from you, BTW little Jealous you could do the back to back ;) Good for you!!

[smd500]

Thank for the very thorough and unbiased opinion between the two ships! Wish more people would take the time, Kudos to you and here's to many more reviews from you, BTW little Jealous you could do the back to back ;) Good for you!!

 

Helps A Lot with all the negative reviews I've been seeing!!:D