purplephenom

We normally sail in the offseason, and on the Sunshine, we didn't find ourselves waiting long for much- that includes the waterslides.  The longest I ever waited for a slide was maybe 10 minutes- but I tend to let obviously nervous kids go in front of me, so they can go before they talk themselves out of it. 

The way waterworks is designed, it never looks like kids are waiting for anything- there's always another water feature to head to.  Any ship I've been on, the kids look like they're forever running around that area anyways.  

15 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

She is 17, will turn 18 on the cruise. She says she is  okay  with still going but would feel safer if boyfriend could come with us. I told her no, but if she starts to get scared, me and grandpa will hold her hand the entire time. I could feel her blush in embarrassment  at the thought over the phone. I also asked if she still wants to go and she says yes.

This is funny- nice try grand daughter! I read your original post yesterday and was hoping she was scared and would get over it once she got on the ship and started having a good time.  But what is the boyfriend going to do if something happens on the ship? LOL.  Maybe it's a good thing she's a bad liar, she wont be able to get away with much :-) 

Depending on the setup, could you turn the couch to face the wall?  

Has anyone done Snuba here?  We're interested in adding it, but hope it isn't too time consuming with a lot of hurry up and wait.  

Has anyone tried the jumping thing here?  Is it mostly kids or are adults also welcome?

Once you've had a drink is that it for you in the water?  I read something about wristbands but I wasn't sure 

On 9/4/2019 at 1:35 AM, Sea-Bos said:

Thank you so much! I will let my husband peruse it tomorrow. He will be so happy. I had been looking into the San Nicolas area because one of my favorite ball players and all things Aruba is from there (ridiculous I know). I then saw the art and thought it looked amazing. Idk. Going to check into Xander a little more. My husband said that they have a Star (like in Hollywood) for him.  Hoping to run into him. Lol... rather see him than any star in Hollywood. 

Can you let me know if you find this star?  We're not Red Sox fans, but we have done our share of looking for signs of baseball players in Curacao (funny story, many of the locals saw my player tshirt and wanted to talk about a bigger named guy from our team who wasn't from there).  We'd love to find the star and take a picture

How much more expensive are these things than just a drink? 

22 minutes ago, moondog73 said:

we ask for only morning service and always still get a towel animal.  I don't understand why people need twice a day.  If you stay at a hotel, you only get once a day.

The difference for me, is at a hotel towels seem to dry a little better and I can reuse them. Also, generally, more room to hang things. Cruising is a little different for me. But if they went to once a day, I’d probably look into brining hooks or something and adapt. Because I’m very clumsy and would pretty much be sure to trip over towels in the way. 

4 hours ago, geoffrywillhardt said:

Just out of curiosity but for those asking for service multiple times a day what are you expecting with each service. Until reading this thread its not something that I considered so I'm not sure what you want. Is it just fresh towels, bed made in the AM then turned down in the PM? With the exception of towels I think I could live with service every other day. 

For me, it’s really swapping out the towels. And I’ll usually mention as much- twice a day, but at night all we need is changing out the towels. We book inside cabins and I’ve been known to take 3 showers a day (usually 2 but sometimes 3). I’ve yet to come up with a good place to put the old towels. The bathrooms are small so I don’t like a towel mountain on the floor. We tend to use the hook in the cabin to dry things. And we can only hang so many in the bathroom without squishing them so tight that they’d stay soaking wet. So it works for us- if they ever went to once a day service, we’d probably pick evening just to reduce the amount of time we had a towel mountain. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world 

You’re just asking about game day, not full Mlb tv right? If you can get past the initial loading screen, maybe. You’ll probably have better luck going to Astros.com and using game day there. There’s a much streamed down version (I think it’s still there) that uses far less data to load. It skips all the animations from using the app but gets you the plays 

I don't have a specific ship. But, I think if I hated an experience that much, I'd be done with Carnival.  Mainly because in my experience, the ships are more similar than different.  

Not really.  I just like peeking on nearby ships to see if there are people having fun and what they're doing.

The only thing that stands out- on our last cruise we were next to a small, upscale ship.  When I got home, I looked it up, I think it was a line based out of Europe.  I did my usual peeking over to see what was going on- and my only thought was 'I don't belong anywhere near this ship." People were dressed up to hang out on their balconies- sundresses, fancy sunhats, and heels.  People on the top deck were also dressed up and looking around with binoculars while primly sitting in loungers.  Now, that was a 5 minute snapshot- maybe they were all getting ready for dinner.  Or maybe the more active people were still in port.  I have no clue and it really doesn't matter anyhow.  But that was the only thing that really stood out when we saw a neighboring ship 

I was really worried this past February after sailing the Sunshine last year (which I absolutely loved).  This year, we did the Fascination.

I don't know about rust and dirt and stuff- i'm kind of oblivious when it comes to that stuff.  I did notice a lack of planned activities.  But, I think a lot of things happened when we were in port.  That itinerary is pretty unique, and I'll always pick more port time over ship activities. 

I started off the week saying I'm never doing this type of ship again, it's too small.   

As the week went on, I realized I never really waited in line for anything.  And I could get back on the ship and have my pick of lounge chairs.  And the piano bar was never full, even though the player was great.  And getting food after getting back on the ship was easy- everyone was starving but hardly a wait to get food.

By the end of the week, I was ready to book that route again.  

Have done this route on a different ship- no clocks were changed.  I think it's very rare Carnival doesn't stick to home port time.  

Most excursions in Belize are somewhat of a long way away from the port.  So, I would choose to do ruins there- keep it to one long ride.

Also, Mahogany Bay, no need to stay close to the port if you don't want to.  Carnival has a beach at the port, but it's not as nice as the West Bay beaches (if you don't want to venture off, look at the Tabyaya beach excursion through Carnival).  

There will be some kids, but likely not tons.  School just started in a lot of places, so you're not going to have tons of families who pull their kids immediately.  But, there's always some kids, whether it be people pulling their kids, non traditional calendars, homeschoolers, kids too young for real school, or something else.  I wouldn't expect to see several huge packs of kids wandering and taking over pools, but don't be surprised to see some.

Uber/Lyft.  You can usually find a code to get a discount off your first ride, if you don't have an account.  And, since you'll have multiple people in your party, someone else can set up an account for the way back.  The person who set up the account for the first ride can share their code, and I believe you'll both get a discount on a future ride. 

Maybe I missed it, or maybe you mentioned it in a prior review.  Is your monkey something you travel with/take pictures in various spots with or is there some other significance? 

Great review so far, really enjoying it.  I may or may not be peeking in several times a day to see whats next. 

6 hours ago, dulcemariamar said:

 

I am the OP. I am a Carnival cruiser. Most of my cruises have been with Carnival. I have always enjoyed my experience with them before. 

 

Maybe be my expectations were too high. I know the Breeze is one of the most popular ships in the fleet and it is relatively new. I sailed the Elation last year. Granted, it has left the dry dock six months earlier but my expectations were lower since I knew it was one of the smaller/older ships.

 

 

The rust and peeling paint is less of an issue to me, because its a ship constantly exposed to salt water.  We all know Carnival has adjusted staffing- if they're cutting from anywhere, that is less of a big deal to me.  But I know, its a bigger deal to others- everyone has those things that just bug them.

On the dirty public areas, just a thought.  Maybe because the Breeze is one of the most popular ships, and because it's summer, a lot of families sail that ship.  It could just be on your particular sailing (or maybe a lot of the summer sailings), the ship is filled to close to max capacity.  And then you've got lots of extra people running around, and more fun things to do than the older ships, so things get set down and left, or people leave their messes behind.  Obviously, this isn't right, and it shouldn't happen.  But, it could be a partial reason why you saw all of this.  

Ultimately, we are all home more than we're cruising, so I'm not suggesting you give it another try, if you prefer other cruise lines.  Vacations are too short to "try" things you don't really want to try. :-) 

It's not really a delivery charge- it's a per item charge.  I think some cruise lines have pay a certain amount and order whatever you like- it's not set up that way.  

During the day, it is hot things that have a charge- I think this includes wings, tenders, pizza, cheesesteak, etc.  After 10, everything has a charge.  Breakfast is limited, but it is free. 

I sailed the Sunshine in 2018 when it was doing the 8 day Southern route, so a bit different from now.  That said, it is my favorite ship to date.  I was really worried before I left- I had heard the ship was stupidly crowded and the only redeeming feature was the 3 level serenity deck. 

Well, I didn't find the ship crowded at all.  The area outside the red frog pub- Ocean Plaza- became a favorite hang out. They had activities there, and if they were busy, there was seating a little further down the hall so it was fine.  The seats on the floor of the theatre weren't my favorite, mainly because I'm short and always end up behind someone taller than me.  But, we learned to get there about 10-15 minutes early and just chill, and it was fine

The waterslides were fun.  I'm glad I tried the ropes course once, but I found out it's decidedly not for me.  But, the line was short enough that those who liked it were able to go around multiple times and never a long wait.  

The buffet never really seemed crowded to me, but we would eat breakfast early and lunch late.  So it could be that it was crowded during peak times.  Guys always had long lines, but moved fast.  The taco salad (on the burrito side) at blue iguana became my favorite, and then I'd hit up both the blue iguana and Guy's toppings bars to customize.

The biggest disappointment for me, was the Serenity deck.  On our sailing, the top level was always closed, and the 2nd level was sometimes closed.  That didn't leave much room.  Also, it's right above the Lido pool/screen. This made it a great place to take pictures and watch the craziness, but it certainly wasn't serene.  This deck also has hammocks and different type chairs, but they were usually full.  We'd go up late at night when it was quiet and relax on the chairs and that was nice.  What we ended up doing was just going up a deck from Lido and finding regular chars.  Never had much trouble and it was more chill there than by the main pool.

On 8/19/2019 at 2:50 PM, mommyof3texans said:

I keep seeing references to buying discounted gift cards but only see references to AARP or some insurance company and I don't belong to either. Are there other avenues I am missing out on that I might qualify for? 

 

As for the Cheers package, I'm still on the fence for our 7-day cruise in February. I'll be going with my two sisters and both seem to think it's a good idea. Part of me thinks 5-6 drinks a day isn't that much over the course of the whole day and the other part wonders if I would spend $429 if I drank how I wanted (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).  

Ebay sometimes has sales on gift cards or coupon codes. I do Swagbucks (really casually these days, I used to do a lot more).  Depending on how much time you're willing to put in, you can get some "free" gift cards to be used to buy Carnival cards.  There are other similar sites, Swagbucks is just the one I use.  Sometimes, some of the gift card resale sites have Carnival cards- you can decide your comfort level using those.  If you go that route, just buy a new gift card right away.  

This isn't specific to this ship, but one thing I love about late dining, is when everyone leaves to get ready for early dining is a great time to swim.  This is also true with anytime, I guess, but at least some of the anytime people are also eating earlier.  Carnival ship pools are always crowded during the day, but in the calm before early dining, I can actually swim around.  Pool isn't big enough for laps, obviously, so I sort of swim in an oval.  Maybe this could be a hint for any late diners on this ship, since the size of the pools comes up a lot.  

Crowding on Carnival snorkel excursions doesn't really bother me.  I like to hang back or off to the side to see what I like and take the pictures I want- plus snorkeling isn't a race.  If you want a good Carnival snorkel excursion, look at the Ultimate snorkel- it goes to the wall and another spot or 2, and they pretty much left anyone who knew what they were doing alone which was great.  

That said, the reef and rays, seems really short to make a couple stops doing different things.  You may feel more rushed than with one of the other excursions you have listed.  As long as a lot of that time isn't eaten up in transportation (on the snorkel boat), you should end up with significantly more water time there.  

On 8/18/2019 at 8:17 AM, Earthworm Jim said:

I saw something else in the initial picture that seemed of greater concern than door decorations: You can't leave anything plugged in while you aren't in the cabin. With the multiple rechargeable battery powered devices the average person has, and the few outlets available in cruise ship cabins, that could be a problem.

 

You might only be in your room long enough once a day to recharge something, while you sleep. Then you'd have to choose which one or two out of your Kindle, FitBit, phone, electric shaver, iPad, etc., etc., etc. you want to charge.

 

I agree with this- especially if this leads to more people traveling with surge protected power strips, not knowing they're not allowed.  Then they are confiscated and not being able to charge things becomes a bigger issue. 

Although, I am always amazed at how long my phone lasts when its on airplane mode and only used for occasional pictures.  The reasons why are obvious, but its one of those little things that makes me happy when cruising. 

8 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

If you can believe Carnival their ships sail full year round.

 I'm pretty sure there are 2 different numbers- full and max capacity. I think full is 2 people per cabin, max capacity is 3 in every 3 person cabin, 4 in every 4 person cabin.  

The only reason I bring it up, is I was really nervous before I sailed the Sunshine because everyone said it was crowded and awful.  And it was my favorite cruise, and we never really felt crowded. 

Plus, whatever you think of refurbished ships, this ship is built and here now.  It would be a shame if it were a stream of constant bad experiences- hopefully there are at least some parts of the year when the reviews are good, because it means people are having a good time