Strmwatch

Yes, I know how automatic watches work. I'm an avid watch collector. My problems with watches that don't have a battery is they need to be worn daily. I don't wear the same watch every day so therefore when I would want to wear it, it would not be running and you have to change the date and time every time it stopped running. Too much of a hassle for me. Every Omega, Tag, and Breitling I've bought price wise has been compareable on and off the ship. Some brands the price is set by the manufacture and not allowed to go below a certain dollar figure. Therefore if the ship had the style and design I wanted I would simply just buy it from them due to the warranty not only offered by the manufacture but the added warranty offered by the cruise line/starboard.

 

 

Wow, taking 30 seconds to change the date and time is too much of a hassle for you? I bet you're just a "lovely" person if you have to stand in line for...anything.

 

If you were an avid watch collector like you say, you'd realize automatics are the way to go vs. having a battery die when least expected on top of the constant need to change batteries when they croak.

Friends had 2285 and loved it. Only downside might be if you have rough seas they can close the doors and then you would have an inside cabin.

 

 

Flip side is...if it's that rough to close the doors, I doubt anyone will be out on their balconies anyway!

No sense in throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

 

You chose the smallest class of ships and a ship that is 16 years old.

 

I myself HATED the Paradise and will not sail her again, however as you can see I didn't completely write off Carnival because of that single cruise.

 

Perhaps you can try one of the larger ships with a better itinerary and ammenities instead of calling it quits after one?

 

Carnival when compared to the others is still hands down the best value.

I've had no problems with my experience in buying onboard Carnival. In fact I have purchased 3 Tag Heuer watches...they were the cheapest I found with what I was looking for. I've also purchased another luxury brand watch onboard Carnival. After returning home I wasn't a fan of it not having a battery and needing to be worn daily to stay running. I sent it back no questions asked and received a full refund. Since switching most of my sailings to NCL, I have yet to purchase anything in their stores, as on there ships they are ran by Colombian Emeralds and EFY Jewelers (with EFY taking over the remaining ships this year) and their prices are higher than what I have found in ports or even back home in the states.

 

 

Just have to ask, you do know how "Automatic" watches work right?

 

Automatics last longer than battery or solar watches. When the movement isn't wound and running there is zero wear and tear on it.

 

You can also buy a watch winder in case picking up the watch and spinning it around for 10 seconds takes too long.

 

I used to make it a ritual of buying at least one watch on each cruise, I won't do that again because of the mark ups on all of the watches that are sold.

 

St.Marteen had some GREAT watch prices, best I've seen yet aside internet shops.

 

Invictas are the WORST, gaudy over priced hunks of junk. Most of the people buying those are buying them for the "bling" appeal. Yes, I literally overheard an older gentleman on my Dream cruise saying he wanted something with "Bling for his wrist".

 

I wanted to pipe in and tell him that his 40 year younger girlfriend on his arm was probably bling enough.

How long did she take to cruise out of site, you know propulsion issues and all! :-)

A Passport is never a "bad" thing to have.

 

If you break the cost down it comes to roughly $10/year. Sure you have the up front cost, but in the grand scheme of things, it's honestly VERY inexpensive. Think about it, if you drink Starbucks coffee...do the math!

 

No offense to husband, but the fact he got upset because you didn't cancel is exceptionally selfish on his part.

 

You mentioned the port of Galveston only being 1000 miles, that's roughly a 14 hour drive, easily done by two people.

 

He has the option to join you on cruises from there, it just sounds like he refuses to compromise.

 

Bottom line, get your passport and go on cruises with him, or without him.

I just spent the last week reading your review! Wow, was this helpful and amazing, so thank you so much for taking the time to post it!

 

Mom (59), sister (38) and I (35) are going on this itinerary on the Sunshine in August. I'm in the midst of my own frantic research on ports and excursions, so this review was INCREDIBLY helpful. And your pictures are amazing - I am looking into the Olympus Tough!!!

 

We are not snorkelers, and sister and I don't even particularly like the beach (I know, why on earth are we going to the Caribbean???).

 

Some things we're considering: Victor Bodden's Zip n Dip in Roatan, Cavetubing in Belize (is it worth it? Or is it incredibly crowded?), some ruins somewhere (sis was an anthropology major, no way will we be able to avoid!)

 

Not really sure what else to do! We're kind of in the middle from you - we are not GO GO GO all the time, but also get bored laying around. Moderate activity is our style...we want to see/do fun things, without having to work too hard, ya know what I mean? Any recommendations? (We are completely comfortable using non-ship excursions, used a bunch in Alaska and had a blast on those!)

 

Oh, and Sakari is ADORABLE!

 

 

We used ViV Tours in Belize for our Cave Tubing excursion...absolutely fantastic!!! Ranks as our top excursion thus far, with the Rhino Boats in St.Marteen a very close second.

 

I did the Victor Bodden Island Tour and Monkey business right there at his compound. The tour was honestly lame, they drove us around the island sort of and pointed out things like gas stations and their versions of 7-11. IF we ever do the Western itinerary again, we'll end up just staying at the port and make use of the beach and facilities there.

 

Cave tubing is absolutely worth it. Don't be put off on the roughly hour drive to get out to the cave system.

 

I suggest to NOT try walking around Belize City right at the port, it can be very dangerous. There is a reason the port area is walled, gated and guarded.

I am hoping that some one will have information, Son just got a new job but he has to be back in the middle of cruise we call on San Juan what would happen if he got off and went to the airport and got a flight back to mainland?

 

he has his passport but don't really need one at is is a a US person can fly in and out of PR without one.

 

would we have to pay a fine for him missing the boat?

 

thanks

 

 

Interesting that his new boss wouldn't work with him about starting AFTER the cruise?

No no! Coves are the "worst" cabin...ever!!! :p

 

 

(The more people that realize how GOOD they are, the harder they will be to book!)

 

 

So again...they are the WORST cabins on the ship!!!!!!

I personally prefer the "Dream" class ships at this juncture. (Go go Cove Balconies!!) Sailed the Breeze last September, the Dream this past February and doing the Breeze again this September.

 

I haven't yet sailed on a Conquest class so I can't rate them so to speak.

 

First cruise was on the Legend since Spirit class are the largest that can sail from Tampa due to the bridge. Since it was my first cruise experience it's kind of hard to rate it since I went it to it "blind" so to speak.

 

My least favorite ship was the Paradise, UGH, what a piece O'Garbage IMO.

 

It left such a bad taste in my mouth that even if Carnival offered me a free cruise on her (Or any Fantasy class) again, I'd decline.

Thanks, everyone!!! What if I add a 5 day from Tampa on the Carnival Paradise - Grand Cayman and Cozumel? Would you still say #1? Also, with the upgrades that are coming to Freedom, does anyone know if that will include more waterworks stuff? Our 2 year old enjoyed the splash park stuff and tiny slide when we were on the Dream in October.

 

 

I found the Paradise out of Tampa to just be BLAH as far as ships go. Too small, too old, too crowded, too much smoke from the smokers.

 

 

About the only decent thing is cruising under the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

I can't imagine 4 people walking around an already small room, bumping heads on a bed hanging down. I would imagine people could sit on the sofa during the day. That should not be left as a bed either. But to each his own.

 

 

Well aren't you the "cheery" type.

 

Good grief.

The Italian place only charges at dinner time.

If you go for lunch there is no charge. Just go at the beginning of your cruise before people realize it's there.

The Italian place only charges for dinner.

 

There is no charge for lunch.

 

The best time to visit is the first day or two before people realize it's there.

 

If you wait til the latter half of your cruise be prepared to wait upt to an hour for a table.

IMO the spa rooms aren't worth it unless you plan to use the spa every day.

While it was nice having additional private showers to use I didn't feel it was worth the extra cost over a regular balcony room.

The GF and I never actually used any of the amenities on our 6 day last year.

The only other advantage of those rooms is absolutely no smoking in the rooms or on the balconies.

As far as being nickled and dimed, it's not any different than any of the other ships to be honest.

As far as location of staterooms, that's entirely subjective. The ship is so large that you really don't feel the motion (exceptions being super rough weather). So it all depends...do you want to be closer to the food? Do you want to be closer to the gangways while in port?

I admit I wasn't very enamored with the ports on the 6 day cruise, chances are we won't do that sailing again because of that. We are however booked on the 8 day Eastern for September and will do the 8 day Southern at some point as well.


The Breeze is a great ship. The lone exception being the shows in the main theater. They don't use actual sets anymore, they use these huge video screens instead. Oh and absolutely SKIP "The Brits"...that was 30-45 minutes of my life I wish I could get back, it was absolutely TERRIBLE!!

Pretty sure there is a set of showers for the regular gym users and another set of showers for the "spa".

 

Had a spa balcony on my first Breeze cruise and I used the private showers in the spa area while the GF used the shower in the cabin.

I wouldn't do that to. Way too many variables outside of your control to deal with.

Just booked a cove balcony on the September 13th sailing...

 

 

Just curious why you don't like that type of room? I think they're the best!!!

 

Privacy, near the water, the lifeboats give you shade so it's not a billion degrees on the balcony. Closer to the gangways when getting off the ship in port!

 

Phooey on waiting for elevators to get off the ship!!

Attempting to wrap my brain around that one.

 

.

 

 

They dredge up sand from the ocean and deposit it on the beach, thereby making the beach larger.

 

 

Beaches become "smaller" as erosion pulls the sand back out into the water.

Splendor does not have 2.0

 

 

Not going to lie, but I'd be pissed if I chose a cruised based on a ship that has 2.0 and got switched by Carnival to a ship that didn't have it.

 

That's like paying for business class airfare and being bumped back to economy.

Would be nice if they moved the Breeze to PC to replace the Dream.

 

Yes I know the Sunshine swapped places...but in my eyes it wasn't a 1 for 1 swap with the Sunshine being older and smaller.

On our Dream cruise in February we had a guy and his buddy at EVERY single trivia game using their ipads to look up the answers. They were both Diamond and had recorded the answers to all the trivia questions on their cruises.

 

What they didn't have recorded they were using the internet to look up the answers.

 

I sat there and watched him every time.

 

The only trivia games they didn't win, were the "dynamic" ones where the host would play a song or a movie quote. It was completely random so they could look it up.

 

It got to the point groups of people were teaming up to counter these two buffoons.

Best thing to do is look at the prices for balcony cabins then add in I believe $250 per person for a spa weekly pass.

 

Unless you're going to use the spa every day, I personally don't think either are worth it. On my Breeze cruise last year we had a spa balcony, but the only thing I used the spa was for the private showers so the GF and I could get ready at the same time.

I'm really upset they did the Repo of the Dream to N.O.

 

My last cruise was on her from port Canaveral and to date has been my favorite cruise out of the four I've been on.

 

Sadly if I want a Cove balcony room (which is my favorite) I have to make the trek down to Miami for the Breeze now.

Although John Heald did post the question on his Facebook page asking whether passengers want coffeemakers in the cabins. We'll have to see what comes of that.

 

 

I hope they DO NOT put coffee makers in the rooms.

 

Wayyyyy too many chances for a fire to break out due to people leaving them on and forgetting about them.

 

If you want coffee in your room, room service or go up to the machines in the buffet area.