Carnival Breeze vs. Norwegian Breakaway

[BirdandBaby]

We've sailed both ships - Breeze in Dec of 2017 and Breakaway in Dec 2018. Pros and cons to both, of course. Here are my thoughts:

 

* Breakaway more 'upscale' and the physical condition of the ship overall, including our cabins, better. We did balcony on both. Breeze decor dated and worn - needed some TLC. Breakaway is has a newer/cleaner/fresher feel. As far as layout/storage/comfort about equal. 

 

* we found the layout on Breeze confusing - more difficult to get around

 

* we enjoyed the atmosphere and fellow cruisers more on Breeze - seemed friendlier, not as frenetic, and not as crowded as Breakaway

 

* entertainment about equal

 

* MDR and specialty restaurants much better on Breakaway. We thought the MDR on Breeze was horrible. Didn't like the choices of speciality there either. Consistently good (if not great) food on Breakaway, and we really enjoyed the specialty restaurants we tried.

 

* Some dining venues/items actually much better on the Breeze. We thought the buffet on Breeze was far superior to NCL. Also thought Breeze had best pizza and burgers of any cruise line we've tried.

 

* embarkation/debarkation no problem on both.

 

* one reason we wouldn't do either ship again, though - smoking intrusive on both of them. On Breeze the casino was really bad and I was especially disappointed that it seemed all the "good" outdoor areas (where I would want to sit and relax/read) were filled with smokers. Breakaway also bad - casino horrible and smoke from the casino went all over the place, including Le Bistro. Cigar bar polluted a large area of another deck. Yuck. 

 

[BENHANDEL]

Carnival does a great job with food allergies. I would even go so far as to say they did better than Disney (which I know was not the contrast in this post, but seen as the "gold standard"). The reason was my 9-year old ordered chicken nuggets, fries, and plain pasta nightly on disney. On carnival, they didnt even present her the "kids menu," encouraged her to try a number of dishes and adapted them to her dairy allergy. She was more adventurous with food than ever at home. Many of the "dairy free" adaptations were far from the original, but they tried, and she had a whole new world open to her outside of chicken nuggets  and fries. We loved horizon following Disney and are booked on the Breeze at Christmas. My kids (16,14, 12) all preferred carnival over disney.