Just off the Breeze...a few thoughts.

[celticd1]

We sailed on the Breeze 2/2/13. This was our 8th Carnival cruise in 10 years. We had a fantastic time, the ship is amazing and we were with about 100 of our closest friends, the Cruise Waiters. Having said that, I must say that the posts about cut backs and the quality of the food and the service in the main dining rooms were spot on. Our food was served lukewarm (at best) for the first 3 or 4 nights, the area where we were seated was freezing until we complained and then it was too warm, our head waiter SUCKED and could care less about our experience and the food was no where near as good as it was even a year ago. We normally love the dining room and the food but this year we were very disappointed. It was so bad that we had the asst. MD stop at our table (was told that Ken, the head MD was more of an "entertainer" than a MD - it showed). Our asst. waiter was fantastic and tried his best to salvage our meals but to no avail. We were later told that the head waiter (Larry) was going to be demoted. One example, on the 6th night he hit me in the head with a plate and minutes later did the same to a tablemate! He messed up orders almost every night, forgot things and in general was in a poor mood all week.

 

I'll post a more thorough review once we are home but I did want to add that the Luggage Express program that John Heald posted would be available on our sailing was not and the guests services dept had no idea that he had told everyone it was ready.

[ready2cruzagain]

Thanks for the post! I also had a good time on the Breeze in Dec. but felt as though there was a lot of things that have gone way down hill in the past year.

 

[Mutumbojimbo]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We're booked on the Breeze in December, and I was thinking about moving to Ken's dining room, but I guess we'll stay in Anytime dining.

[celticd1]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We're booked on the Breeze in December, and I was thinking about moving to Ken's dining room, but I guess we'll stay in Anytime dining.

 

Good plan. I personally feel that Carnival is trying to push folks to the pay venues for dining. We will give the MDR another chance on our next cruise but if the first night is no better then we will just head to the buffet for dinner.

 

I will say that Guy's Burgers were FANTASTIC! I was skeptical that a burger could be THAT good but it was. Highly recommend!

[gelo7]

I hope that your next cruise is better.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[cruiseonthebrain]

Thnaks for the post. I will remember to duck in the MDR :-)

[celticd1]

I hope that your next cruise is better.

 

Oh, please don't misunderstand, I had a fantastic cruise! :) There were definitely areas that needed improvement but the overall experience was great. I would recommend the Breeze to anyone. I don't really think this is a "ship specific" issue but rather a company wide cost saving/revenue enhancing strategy. I was not disappointed in my cruise but I was disappointed by the dining room experience compared to just a year ago.

[celticd1]

Thnaks for the post. I will remember to duck in the MDR :-)

 

:D Thanks for the laugh this morning! Just as a warning, we sat at table 506 in the Blush dining room. Our head waiter was Lawerencio (Larry) and our asst. waiter was Ognygn (that's as close as I can remember the spelling). Ognygn was fantastic and went over and above for us. He apologied for Larry and the food over and over and over. If not for him we would have left the MDR after the 2nd night. He needs to be fast tracked to head waiter and Larry needs to go back for some additional training. :rolleyes:

[crusinpsychRN]

I now say something the first night in the MDR as water is being poured to our server about having had issues with food temps. Last cruise it worked like a charm all week.

 

Now, if they could only have the salads cold like they used to be. They must sit out for at least 40 min. before being served room temp. Nothing better than a cold Ceasar salad.

 

Something was done differently in the procedure to have so many issues across the fleet with temps. Wish I could figure out what. Maybe I'll ask that at the next Past Guest party when they open mikes for the crew.

[WES143]

Oh, please don't misunderstand, I had a fantastic cruise! :) There were definitely areas that needed improvement but the overall experience was great. I would recommend the Breeze to anyone. I don't really think this is a "ship specific" issue but rather a company wide cost saving/revenue enhancing strategy. I was not disappointed in my cruise but I was disappointed by the dining room experience compared to just a year ago.[/quote

 

You are right, it is a strategy and the only way things will change is if instead of people flocking to those pay restaurants they go to buffet. It would be feeding right into their plan to pay every night for dinner. I have cruised long enough to see the decline in service and inclusive items. I really see cruisers having to pay for every meal in the near future with the way things are going..........then what would be the advantage to cruising??? I love cruises but will stop when I feel that it is no longer a value due to nickle and diming.

[ferretface]

Thanks for the info. I was hoping you'd post some info here, celticd1 :D Glad you're back!