Carnival Breeze Review - My 2 cents

We just got off the Breeze yesterday out of Galvestion and here is my review.

We are a family of 3. It was myself (53) DH (53) and DD (18). We took her for her high school graduation. My husband and myself are platinum (first timers) and my daughter is gold. Our trip was to the ports of Cozumel, Grand Caymans, and Jamaica.

GAVLESTON: We left OKC and got into Galveston on Friday, August 11th. We had a room booked at the Harbor House for 2 nights. Checked in then went to eat at the Original Mexican Restaurant. It's a tradition of ours. On Saturday we went to the beach between Murdochs and Paradise Pier. Ate lunch at Bubba Gumps and then to Walmart to get soda for the trip. You are allowed one 12 pack of soda per person. We took two. One for hubby and one for daughter. We found this to be cheaper than purchasing the Bubbles package.

EMBARKATION: We arrived early (8 am) to the terminal so Hubby could take car over to Hotel Galvez to park and get shuttle back to terminal. Parking is free at that hotel if you stay at the Harbor House. He arrived back at terminal about 9am and we got in line for Platinum/Diamond and faster to the fun. They do not let you wait inside anymore and check paperwork for your arrival time. We were taken to our room and on board the ship by 11:30 am.

ROOM: Our room was 2272. This is a Cove balcony and the 3rd time we books this particular room. We love the cove balcony and this room has no life boats above it. Never did see our Stewart but was asked by another one if we wanted morning or evening cleaning or both. We chose morning. It was cleaned ok. We did have to go to purser desk to ask for sheets to change one night as they had something on them and they would not answer the housekeeping phone.

FOOD: We ate all but one meal in the dining room and did our time dining. The food was normal and not too hot or cold. They did have the Bitter and Blanc everyone was talking about and I tried it. It was pretty good. We did see some people that were asked to change clothing on Elegant night that were wearing shorts. The buffet on the Lido is what is normally expected and we did eat once at Guys. My daughter did not like the pizza and that was unusual for her. It was paper thin and the lines were always long. We also ate a few times in dining room for brunch. It was ok and the service took a long time.

ENTERTAINMENT: Mike was our cruise director and was very good. He has a lot of energy. We saw all the shows but one and they were ok. Nothing to wow about. The show "Flick" is the best one. We did do many of the trivial games. I actually one a Ship on a Stick on the Yahtzee game. We also did tea time which we usually like but they have taken it down to just black tea and green tea for free. You have to purchase other flavors for $2.00 if you want them. We really enjoyed the violinist group in the Atrium. Their name is Emerald Trio and they are outstanding. We did the behind the fun tour on the last day and that was nice to see everything going on below the guest rooms. I highly recommend it and book it on day one if you want to do it. They only take 32 people on the tour total.

PORTS:

Jamaica: We got off and just went to the little market by the terminal. We are not comfortable going out and exploring. We did a tour many years ago of the island and felt that it was enough once.

Grand Cayman: This is my favorite port to visit. (We actually have a dog named Cayman). We took a cab to Calico Jacks and stayed at the beach. Chairs and umbrellas are $5.00 each. The drinks are high. A Pina Colada was $12.00. We went back to town and did a little shopping. It's an expensive town and we knew that going in. We ate and Hard Rock and then back to the ship.

Cozumel: Been there, done that. We just went to the town Square. Picked up some meds at the drugstore and some vanilla at the grocery store. Go to the local store if you want to purchase vanilla. We got 6 large bottles for $7.25. It's about 4 blocks off the strip. No worries. We shopped, ate the best lunch at Viva Mexico and went back to the ship.

SHIP: The ship itself reminds me of most of the others. The layout is the same. Just a new color. A shade of yellow everywhere. It was clean and never really felt crowded expect when food was out on lido.

PLATINUM: This was our first cruise as platinum. It was nice to get on the boat first. Room was not ready when we first got on but was done about 30 minutes later. We did get on an early tender by going to the pursers desk and they took us down a special elevator to get on. It was nice to have the platinum line at guest services especially on the last night. We went to the past guest party and enjoyed the drinks. Same ole movie about Carnival was shown. We received our platinum gifts of ship pins and Bluetooth speaker. Some strawberries showed up on day 3. I was guessing it was for Platinum but there was no letter or note with them. We also got free laundry service and that was a big help. The biggest perk we found other than boarding early was debarkation.

DEBARKATION: Being platinum allowed us to get off first. We took our own luggage to the dining room at 7am and was off the ship by 7:45 am. It took longer for the shuttle to come pick us up and take us to our car than to go through debarkation. We got on the road about 8:30 and home to Oklahoma at 5pm.

If you have any questions let me know.

Sounds like your room steward was not up to par despite your choice of morning only cleaning.

Thanks for your feedback!

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Good report, thanks!

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

Thanks for your 2 cents.

I too just got off the Breeze yesterday.

We had a cove down the hall from you in 2322. Our cabin steward, Jose, was wonderful. He serviced our cabin morning and evening and never asked our preference. We chatted in the hall nearly every day.

Thank you for posting. I too am Platinum and ill be boarding this coming Sunday. Not sure how the new system of keys in the room mailbox ill work, esp when the Platinum rooms are not ready when you board....will see.

I sailed the CARNIVA BREEZE same tie st year and really liked it. It sounds however, that the food and MDR has gone downhill. Will see how that pans out too. Thank you for posting.

Thank you for posting. I too am Platinum and ill be boarding this coming Sunday. Not sure how the new system of keys in the room mailbox ill work, esp when the Platinum rooms are not ready when you board....will see.

 

I sailed the CARNIVA BREEZE same tie st year and really liked it. It sounds however, that the food and MDR has gone downhill. Will see how that pans out too. Thank you for posting.

The keys are left in your mailbox if you are platinum/diamond or FTTF. They are in an envelope in your box. I think this stops other people from getting into their room early. Our room was open when we boarded because they were still cleaning it. When we came back 1/2 hour later the room was closed and our keys were in the mailbox. Everyone else's keys to their room are put out at 1:30 pm.

Thanks for your report.

How was the process of getting a taxi to Calico Jacks? We are planning on going there on our first cruise this coming February, but had planned on using the bus system. Do you think getting a taxi is easier?

EMBARKATION: We arrived early (8 am) to the terminal so Hubby could take car over to Hotel Galvez to park and get shuttle back to terminal. Parking is free at that hotel if you stay at the Harbor House. He arrived back at terminal about 9am and we got in line for Platinum/Diamond and faster to the fun. They do not let you wait inside anymore and check paperwork for your arrival time. We were taken to our room and on board the ship by 11:30 am.

If you were staying locally & you had the earliest check in time of 11:00 & Carnival tells you not to arrive early & you can't wait inside, why would you arrive 3 hours early?

How was the process of getting a taxi to Calico Jacks? We are planning on going there on our first cruise this coming February, but had planned on using the bus system. Do you think getting a taxi is easier?

We got a taxi. The bus systems were running but going very slow. We wanted to get out the beach fairly quickly. It cost us $5.00 a person to get there and the same coming back. Chair and Umbrellas are $5.00 each also.

EMBARKATION: We arrived early (8 am) to the terminal so Hubby could take car over to Hotel Galvez to park and get shuttle back to terminal. Parking is free at that hotel if you stay at the Harbor House. He arrived back at terminal about 9am and we got in line for Platinum/Diamond and faster to the fun. They do not let you wait inside anymore and check paperwork for your arrival time. We were taken to our room and on board the ship by 11:30 am.

 

If you were staying locally & you had the earliest check in time of 11:00 & Carnival tells you not to arrive early & you can't wait inside, why would you arrive 3 hours early?

Because we were platinum, they have a holding room for us along with the Diamond and Suite Guests. We were the first people in right after the wedding parties. We did not have a check in time. We were checked in and seated in room by 10:30 am. We probably waited outside in line about 45 minutes. By the time we went in, it was a madhouse outside.