Carnival Breeze Med cruise - 8/26/12 - Review and Pics!

Just got off the Carnival Breeze 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Venice to Barcelona and we had the best time ever! The ship is beautiful and the quality of the food, cabins, entertainment and overall experience was outstanding. We highly recommend the Breeze to everyone! If you are considering booking a cruise on this ship, do yourself a favor and book it!

About us – we are a mom-daughter duo. Mom is in her mid 60’s and I’m early 30’s. We are the only people in our family who like to cruise – my Dad and older sibs have refused to come so far (they love to travel also, but prefer land-based travel), but we are hopeful we can break them down eventually! We went to Alaska on Holland America last year. This year, we went to the Eastern Caribbean on the Carnival Valor on an 8-day cruise which was our first Carnival cruise. We booked the cruise last minute and didn’t really have very high expectations, but surprised ourselves by loving the whole Carnival experience! My mom was really keen to do a longer Med cruise this year and as she had a big birthday coming up, this was my treat to her! We had earlier thought we would take Holland America again but loved the Valor so much, we decided to try the Breeze. We were attracted by it being a brand-new ship, plus it had a fabulous itinerary that hit most of the ports we wanted like Venice, Rome, Florence and Monaco. We have both been to Europe multiple times before, but with the exception of Rome, all the ports were new to us. The Breeze also offered terrific pricing so it was a good package deal.

We booked through a big internet travel agent and got a very nice large OBC as an incentive, which really cut down on our on-board spending.

Flying in – we left New York on Friday, August 24th and flew to Venice via London. Our connecting flight in London was late but otherwise the journey was smooth and we reached Venice on Saturday, August 25th. We had previously connected with some people via the Cruise Critic roll call and had arranged to share a private water taxi from Venice Airport to our hotel. Private water taxis are very expensive at 110 Euros so do try and share with fellow cruisers if you can. It saves you money and you have the fun of discussing your upcoming cruise! We stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky which was excellent and highly recommend it. It’s located on the island of Guidecca, and just 15 mins by water shuttle from San Marco. Hilton operates a complimentary water shuttle that runs every 15 mins. This way, you have fabulous views and are slightly away from the craziness of San Marco (important as Venice was VERY crowded when we were there). We had paid extra to upgrade our room and were assigned an Executive Room with Guidecca Canal views overlooking San Marco! Our rate also included a hot breakfast which was very good. I’ve attached some pics of the views from our room and the hotel below.

After checking in and showering, we walked all around the hotel exploring. As you can see, the hotel is gorgeous. Its located in an old flour mill and they have made the effort to really keep all the old structures. For dinner, we decided to stay on Guidecca and walked along the lovely waterfront and had dinner in a waterfront restaurant. Excellent food, wine and service! Then went back to the hotel to crash as jet lag was hitting us big time!

Sunday, August 26th – Embarkation Day! We had previously found some fellow cruisers through CC that were also at the Hilton to share a private water taxi from the hotel to the cruise port. Cost was 50 euros divided by 5, which was very reasonable and they take you right to the pier and assist you with your luggage. When we reached, uniformed porters were waiting to take our bags and we were immediately directed to the terminal. Inside, there were 2 lines, VIP to the left and all others to the right. The VIP line was super fast and we cleared security and had our sign and sail cards within 15 minutes. This was way better than previous boarding experiences in Seattle and Miami.

First impressions of the ship - the Breeze is gorgeous! We were on the Valor in April which we really liked but had found the decor a touch gaudy. The Breeze is much more chic and refined, more use of hard woods everywhere and soothing, non-neon colors. Very elegant. Lots of elevators everywhere and beautiful corridors with Caribbean themes. First snaps attached below.

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Cabin - we were in a Grand Suite which was fantastic! On Deck 7 (Empress) and super quiet with passenger decks above and below. Huge suite (345 sq ft) with a large balcony (85 sq ft). The cabin appointments were great and we both commented that the furniture and fixtures were more luxe than on the Valor. Very light and airy color scheme. We had a king bed, huge sitting area with suede-fabric sofas and chaise lounge plus another chair. We had a massive 52” TV that was positioned between the bed and sitting area and could be swiveled depending on where you wanted to watch TV. You can use the TV’s interactive menu to check on your Sign and Sail account, daily menus in the MDR, etc. There was a very limited range of channels (excluding the Carnival promo channels) but for us, it was no big deal since we usually were too exhausted by the evening to watch TV. Also had a very large dressing area with 2 massive closets and a dressing table. Here are some pics:

Wow amazing pictures. Thanks for sharing.

So looking forward to this review! There have been two previous reviews with pictures and they were great. We are on the Oct 1st sailing so ... thanks in advance for the review!

And still more cabin pics! The closet space was just amazing!

The bathroom was the best with double marble topped sinks, ample storage space and huge whirlpool tub. Excellent hot water and good pressurized shower. This was the first ship bathroom I’ve had that was comparable to a land based hotel bathroom. No amenities though aside from generic shower gel and shampoo. Shower gel was fine, but you should bring your own shampoo and conditioners, I was glad I did. Some pics below:

One tip – if you have lots of things to charge, you can rest easy. There were multiple plug points (American style) everywhere from the dressing area to the little table in the foyer to the bathroom. We had brought European adaptor plugs but they were not needed.

Great start! Can't wait to see more.

Thanks for posting the review.

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The balcony was huge with two sitting chairs and little table plus a lounger.

Overall, it was well worth having the GS on a 12-day cruise! We rated the cabin A+. Our room steward Reidi did a good job looking after us, but in fairness, we are pretty neat to start with. He was diligent about keeping our ice bucket filled twice daily which we really needed in view of the very hot weather.

I’ll break down the 12 days for you quickly:

Sun, Aug 26th – after embarking, we freshened up. We had reached the port around 12:45 pm and were on the ship by 1:00 pm. We then went to have lunch in the Lido, I really liked the layout, its very bright and airy with lots of places to sit and lots of food stations. We are hardcore Asian food fans so tried the Tandoor (Indian) option which was terrific! Then we went to check our table assignment. We had fixed late (8:15 pm) dining in the Blush (aft dining room). I had previously emailed Maitre’D to ask for a table for 2. We were assigned a beautiful table on the upper level, overlooking the downstairs as well! So much fun as we could see what was going on in our area as well as downstairs. It was actually the same time that we were assigned on the Valor which I took as a good omen!

We then wandered a bit around the public areas which were wonderful. I loved Deck 5 where most of the bars and lounges were. My favorite was the area before the casino, where you had the coffee bar, the Taste Bar that served little tapas style portions of the dishes being served in the various eateries that day and the Ocean Plaza. This is an indoor-outdoor area (you go through automatic sliding doors to access the outdoor area) where you can sit and order drinks, eat, etc. They also have the Fat Jimmy’s C-side BBQ there on sea days. Another favorite area was the Breeze Atrium. They have an area where singers perform nightly and its great fun to sit and watch. Here are some pics for you:

We then went out for a bit to explore Venice. The Alilaguna is a private water shuttle service that is a bit more expensive than the vaporettos but is faster and goes straight to San Marco. It also leaves from just outside where the Breeze was docked. We wandered around a bit – being Sunday, San Marco Piazza was super crowded. We then left quickly as Mom saw storm clouds gathering and insisted on leaving early. Good thing too! The winds started up very strong and the Alilaguna was ROUGH coming back. We just made it back at 6 pm – just in time as gale force winds then started. Long story short – the winds were so strong that a few minutes later, the Breeze’s mooring ropes actually snapped and she moved away from the dock! I felt it first and told Mom, we ran out to our balcony but had to go back in as the winds were too strong. The ship actually hit a small boat! Thankfully, no damage was sustained, either by the boat or by the ship but it was a surreal experience. We found out later that the people who got back after us were stuck in the terminal building for 2 hours, waiting for the winds to die down so the boat could be re-docked. Thank God we got back in time or that could have been us! We were comfortably ensconced in our cabins. We then changed and went down to dinner.

On to a most important subject – food! Here I would give the Breeze very high marks as the food was in a word, excellent! We were impressed by the Valor’s food in April and the Breeze maintains that same high standard. The MDR had consistently high quality entrees over all 12 days of our cruise. Even on days where we didn’t like some of the selections, we were always able to pick something on the rotating menu that we liked. We never once ordered entrees from the Comfort Menu although Mom did order the Shrimp Cocktail starter a couple of times (it was on every night and was very good). The food overall was of uniformly high quality and some of the selections were truly outstanding (the teriyaki salmon is to die for). Great desserts too! Also, the quality of the coffee served is a big improvement over the Valor. We were prepared to pay extra for espressos and cappuccinos but found we did not need to do so as we liked the free coffee. The only area I wish Carnival would improve is the quality of bread rolls served at dinner, they were terrible! Our Maitre’D was Ken Byrne, the Singing Maitre’D. Not on the first night, but on most subsequent nights he sang at least one song (I didn’t recognize them but Mom told me they were Sinatra classics) and he has a wonderful baritone voice! We also did have the singing waiter routines most nights. Truthfully, that got old pretty quick, I would have preferred Maitre’D to sing more! Some pics of Blush below:

After dinner, we crashed! Most eventful first day!

Mon, August 27th – day in Venice. We had a pre-booked small group tour of San Marco and the Doges’ Palace which we really enjoyed. Venice is beautiful, but it was super hot and also super crowded. Here are some pics:

We got back to the ship around 4:30 pm. This was the only time we experienced long waits to board the ship, it took over 45 mins in the blazing 100+ degree heat! Just in time for the Venice sail away. One tip – we had a port side cabin. I highly recommend port side for Med cruises. For our cruise, we docked on that side every single time and had the most beautiful views both sailing in and out. The Venice sail away was particularly amazing, for that reason alone, I would pick port side! Here are some snaps of the sail away:

Great start! Can't wait for the rest. The ship looks beautiful and what a lovely suite you had! Thanks for posting.:)

amazing photos we are cruising the Breeze in dec cant wait

Tuesday, August 28th - Sea Day. Here was where the Breeze came into her own. We slept in and then trotted off to the Punchliner Comedy Brunch. I had heard so much about this brunch and it did not disappoint! It is served on sea days only, in the Sapphire mid ship dining room. This was a nice change for us as our dinners were in Blush. We loved the menu! Great Flamin’ Tomato Soup, Eggs Benedict, Chicken Alla Diavolo, and salted caramel cheesecake! They also put a huge basket of muffins, croissants, etc. on your table – a nice touch. Those were so good, I really could not understand why the dinner bread rolls were so bad! Here are some pics of the Sapphire Dining Room. In some ways, I liked the décor with its cool blues and silvers even more than the Blush!

That afternoon, we had the Cruise Critic get together in the Liquid Nightclub. Actually, we had started another roll call on Facebook, and to be honest, the Facebook roll call was much more active for our cruise. Between the 2, we had over 100 attendees! Sorry, no pics as I forgot my camera! Our ACD Calvin was there, very friendly and chatty guy. It was great catching up in real life with people we had just chatted on Facebook with before. Also, we got to meet everyone who we would be on small group excursions with. This was the first cruise I’ve been on where we got to know so many people. It was really funny and nice as you were constantly bumping into familiar faces around the ship.

The ship looks great. Looking forward to more of your review!! Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Great pictures and review! Thank you for sharing your experiences and taking us all along with you.

Great review, I am planning on booking this ship to get married so these pictures are nice. Wish i could afford the grand suite, its gorgeous.

Really enjoying your review especially as we got off as you got on ! Not surprised you think the port side is best your way as we did the opposite way round ( barcelona to Venice) and felt we were lucky to have starboard especially sailing into Venice which was magical.

Looking forward to reading more

Absolutely loving this review! Thanks for sharing your experiences. We'll be on the Breeze in 2.5 months and we're beyond excited!:)

Loving this review so far keep the pics coming , the ship is absolutly gorgeous!!! Thank You for sharing!!! April can't come soon enough!

Wed, August 29th – Dubrovnik. Fabulous! We were doing a small group walking and driving tour through Viator which was great. Our guide Daniela was the sweetest, spoke great English and offered us some great shopping tips! Mom bought a beautiful necklace of Croatian coral and sterling silver. We had thought we would walk the wall, but we had already walked all around the old town, and to be honest, just seeing how steep the steps were and how hot it was, we decided against it. And we were glad we did as some of our new cruise friends told us how tiring that was. We loved Dubrovnik and are coming back with the whole family!

Thur, August 30th – Sea Day. Another huge Punchliner Comedy Brunch followed by hanging out on the Ocean Plaza!

Fri, August 31st – Messina. For all our tours, we skipped the overpriced Carnival big bus tours and went instead on small group tours (max of 8 people) with fellow cruisers we had contacted through CC. It was much cheaper and we got to see sooo much more! We used Share a Shore Excursion in Italy for our Italian excursions and can highly recommend them. New vans and excellent drivers and guides with impeccable English. In Messina, we first drove to Mt Etna and then to Taormina which we loved. Here are some pics:

This was the only port I was concerned about timings as our ship left at 4 pm and we had to be back by 3 pm. No worries as SASEI really came through! We had a nice driver Dom, who was from the area and took us to some great places.

Really enjoying your review especially as we got off as you got on ! Not surprised you think the port side is best your way as we did the opposite way round ( barcelona to Venice) and felt we were lucky to have starboard especially sailing into Venice which was magical.

Looking forward to reading more

Yes, that's true, you would have had the opposite view sailing into Venice! For us, I had done some research and everyone advised that for the Venice-Barcelona route, to do port side, just for the Venice sailaway views. And it really worked out great for every other port we were at as well! Killer views at every port.

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more. :)