Just off Breeze...quick review and experience with FTTF and Cheers

[taszmom]

Just got off the Breeze on Saturday, just wanted to put my comments regarding the ship, FTTF and Cheers. I should mention I am a travel agent.

 

Summary :

1st : great cruise, great ship, great staff. MDR needs menu improvement. Boring from my previous CCL cruises. We did Your Time dining and we had a great waiter that we requested his table each night. Never waited. (Party of 4). Bar service, not so good...very slow. Need more servers.

 

FTTF - got to POM @ 9:45am. Got our luggage tagged with FTTF orange stickers. They started boarding around 10:45am. 1st Platinum, Diamond and Suites. Once they were on, FTTF started boarding around 11am. Got to cabin, all ready. Now here is where we were somewhat disappointed. We expected our lugagge before others but that was not the case. And I had packed accordingly, not putting bathing suits and lotion in our carry-ons. Mistake!!! At 1pm, I went down to Guest Services and let them know we had not received luggage. They said they would check into it for us. 2pm no luggage. Called Guest Services again letting them know we still did not get luggage. I saw other cabins already had their luggage delivered in the hallways. I came back to cabin @ 2:30 and 4 of 5 pieces had arrived. Told our cabin steward and somehow she found the 5th piece. The next day when we had checked our S&S account, we noticed we each got a $18.79pp credit. We are assuming that was for the late luggage. I had went to Guest Services on the last day and they asked how everything went and I did mention about the late luggage and they said they don't guaranty that your luggage will be delivered by any specific time but I said, others on our deck had their luggage before ours and that my understanding was it was supposed to be delivered pretty soon after embarkation otherwise I would have packed differently. So just FYI, don't assume your luggage will arrive shortly after you get onboard. During the week, they had also sent out notices that there were 2 lost pieces of luggage and to check under the beds, etc. It had specific descriptions with pics of the type of luggage they were looking for. At least they were trying to find it.

 

The other great thing about FTTF is getting to go to the VIP line at Guest Services while everyone else had to wait in that loooong line to address any issues or questions. That was well worth the cost along with early embarkation. They were very attentive so I have no complaints there.

 

Cheers - So we waited until after we had set sail to avoid the FL sales tax of 6%. But even though I had warned DH not to be buying rounds of drinks for us, he did anyway. Well so when the Cheers credits kicked in for that 1st day, he only got credited for 1 of the 3 drinks. After that 1st day, everything else went fine. We each ordered separate drinks, and they were all credited back. (They show each drink on your S&S account and then the credit for it.) You also have to sign the bill, but it also shows the amount and the credit with a balance due of $0.00. On the last day, went down to Guest Services and explained what happened on the 1st day, and asked that they moved the charges from DH to me and my MIL respectively, which they did. Later that day we looked at the S&S account and saw all the credits and we had no additional drink charges on my DH's account. Here is where we had a little glitch. Went for pre-dinner wine at the Breeze Bar later that night and was told that me and DH were at 14 drinks so this was our last. :eek: We know we had only had about 4-5 drinks that day so far so I figured when they moved those drinks over, the count for today got messed up. So had to go back to Guest Services and explain. She sent a message onto the Bar Manager. After dinner, it had been fixed and we were able to order more drinks that evening.

 

So the lessons learned are, if you plan on purchasing Cheers and you are departing from a state with sales tax, wait till after you are in open waters and don't be buying rounds of drinks for anyone prior. Yes they do tell you when you get to drink # 14 which we did one time on the 2nd sea day, which was fine because it was midnight and we were headed for the comedy show.

 

I calculated me and DH had 140 drinks x an average of $8.50/drink = $1190. Cheers cost us $689 total for 2. Savings of $500.

 

Food :

Pizza sad. No ingredients on a piece of crispy thin dough.

Guy's - excellent

Blue Iguana - excellent

Jimmy's - only open on sea days. DH said it was alright.

Lido - buffet food, whatever.

MDR - just so-so. Menu is boring. Food is not as good as it used to be. Waiters were great. Asked for same section each night. Bar service way too slow, not enough of them.

Farenheit 555 - excellent of course if you want to spend the extra $ for the food they used to serve in the MDR. We only did this because my MIL bought it for us for a anniversary gift.

Bonsai - ok, nothing special.

 

Entertainment :

Piano Bar - fun, fun, fun but it got to be the same songs being requested each night. That is not a reflection on Ben, just the guests requesting the same songs every night. He plays the request that have money attached to them 1st.

Comedy - only went 1 night. Good.

Comedy Brunch - so-so brunch, no comedy. Just the comedian going around a few tables and making fun of people. He was gone in 5 minutes.

Ovation Theatre - went to the 60's & 70's Brits and walked out after 10 minutes. Just some dancers in 60's costume swirling around the stage.

Ocean Plaza - karoake on some nights, the live band was good in the evenings.

Red Frog Rum Bar - guitar music was very good. He played throughout the afternoon (which is pool side) and when he wasn't playing, the DJ was playing music. Miss the live steel band.

Waterworks - cool, 2 waterslides, waterpark was fun. Loved squirting people when they came up the stairs. Had a blast. Twister was our favorite.

SkyCourse - not open that often. Depends on winds. Finally when we stayed on the ship in Nassau on the last day my DH & DD got to try it. They only did it once. They did enjoy the mini-golf, the pool and foosball tables up there.

Casino - n/a don't gamble

Liquid - n/a didn't make it.

 

Cabin 8237. UGH! It creeked all night! Even with ear plugs in, I could hear it. My MIL & DD in next cabin 8233 did not have that problem. We did enjoy having the balcony partitions opened. I chose these 2 specific cabins for that reason. Makes a larger balcony and you can all sit together outside. It's also fun to watch the pier runners LOL! I prefer this setup over the connecting doorway.

 

What is worth mentioning is the new decor on the Carnival Breeze. Gone is that neony glitzy, weird shaped things hanging from the ceiling and whatnot. Much more appealing. Good job CCL. Another noteworthy change is Deck 5. Lots of outdoor seating by Ocean Plaza which is mid-ship. The Cafe is there so you can sit out and have coffee. We played sand bag toss, aka cornhole?? We often went to the Martini Bar before dinner. Deck 5 also has a lot of deck chairs if you can't find space on Lido and there are 2 whirlpools as well which sort of lean out over the ocean. Yes Lido deck was crowded, but we were always able to find 2 chairs somewhere. Yes the chairhogs were hogging chairs. If there were 5 empty chairs for an hour, we would just slide there stuff over 1 chair if we needed one of them. I did not personally see any staff moving stuff off chairs, but they did have a scrolling message on the screen that after 40 min your stuff will be moved to the towel station. Some kids were getting crazy in the pool. A few times I saw staff to tell them to stop jumping in the pools. Little PIA's. I grabbed a few of them who jumped right on top of me and told them to stop. WHERE ARE THESE PARENTS????

 

I took a lot of photos of the ship's differnt areas. When I get a chance I will see if I have anything that others have not already and upload them.

[Stilles]

Thank you for the info I purchased FTTF for our cruise on the Liberty really looking forward to not having to wait to board and get into our cabin! Did you have any tender ports on your cruise if so how was the priority tender aspect of FTTF?

[taszmom]

NO tendered ports on our 6 day (Grand Turk, Ocho Rios and Nassau).

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for your review and so much looking forward to the pictures we are considering her for next year but debating Allure of the Seas or the Breeze since the Breeze does an 8 day and southern Caribbean for the sailing we want next year.

 

What exactly was creeking in the room? Was it something outside on the balcony?

 

In the buffet, did they have a daily meat carving, assortment of veggies or just one veggie?

 

What was there to eat after 11pm besides pizza, calzones?

 

Would you go on her again?

[taszmom]

Thank you for your review and so much looking forward to the pictures we are considering her for next year but debating Allure of the Seas or the Breeze since the Breeze does an 8 day and southern Caribbean for the sailing we want next year.

 

What exactly was creeking in the room? Was it something outside on the balcony?

 

In the buffet, did they have a daily meat carving, assortment of veggies or just one veggie?

 

What was there to eat after 11pm besides pizza, calzones?

 

Would you go on her again?

 

 

It was something around the balcony door frame inside the cabin that was creeking at night time. The ship moves faster at night and there was more rocking motion. I couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from.

 

Yes they had daily meat carvings. They have the Tandoor station on the opposite side of the pizzeria which was good. They had a Deli station and other food stations througout. Just didn't see anyting too appealing but I am not a big buffet person. I am happy with fish and salad for lunch. I would rather eat quality vs quantity. I did go up to Cucina del Capitano for lunch 1 day just to check it out because it was free. Lousy service. I guess cause we got there 15 minutes before it closed. Couldn't get a glass of wine and the pasta was just that mostly a bowl of pasta and the add-in items were scarce.

 

I didn't go up to the buffet after 11pm. Bonsai is open until 12:30am and then the Marketplace until 1am and it said Red Frog Pub Grub until 1am. I never got a chance to try the Pub Food but there is a small charge for it.

 

If I had to go on a Carnival cruise, I would go on the Breeze because anything less would be disappointing. With that said, I am looking forward to Princess coming to FLL next summer. I am kind of over CCL only because I've been on Princess & Celebrity. The food in the MDR is a major factor for me and I was not all that impressed with how things have changed on CCL in that area. I know that they have brough Uncle Bob back so maybe they will start listening to everyone's feedback.

[Cruisegirl6]

My father in law had the very same type of noise in the same area on the Breakaway! We couldn't figure out what it was.

 

Im sorry to hear your experience at the Cucina Im sure it was because they were closing but no excuse.

 

I have to tell you, Carnival the past few years is on the bottom of my list on cruises to take but any cruise is better than no cruise. My first choice (have not been on Celebrity we like cruising in May and celebrity out of Fl that time of year) is Royal Caribbean, we rarely can find any fault on RC ships they our favorite. We just got off the new NCL Breakaway too many negatives that add up to be a lot won't go on NCL again and the Breakaway was the most awful layout interior as well as exterior and is crowded big time overall. We are considering Allure of the Seas or the Breeze, only because the sailing on the Breeze goes to southern Caribbean and extra day at sea next May (one sailing) so we have a lot to think about.

 

Im glad to hear she had meat in the buffet, I have to be gluten free so I mainly eat meat carvings, veggies, salads and potatoes. Food is very important to us, we were on the Dream last October and we had the first night MDR after that we just went to the Steakhouse for the next 6 nights we didn't care for the food or service and that lack of beverage service in the MDR. Your correct, Breeze and Dream the only Carnival ships I would consider all others are very lacking in everything overall.

 

I do hope your right that CCL will listen to what we have to say.

[CRUISERMOMX3]

Taszmom we were neighbors and didn't even know it. We were in 8296. If you noticed the door with all the pictures, 8300, it was my mom and dad. Missed catching up with you guys.

 

Just adding a personal note that in MHO, the Breeze is a little difficult to navigate. This bigger ship is beautiful, but the addition of all the activities has created a choppy feel. I would rather have had more pool space but appreciated all the upgraded seating all over the ship. Comfortable chairs and umbrellas everywhere. No lack of places to relax.

 

Come back to the roll call and say Hi. Still some of us die hards keeping up.

[WendyVF]

We were on the Breeze in April and did the Cheers package. We purchased while still in port. They do not charge tax on the package price as they wait to run the charge until after sailaway. Any drinks received prior to sailaway received just a charge for the tax, about 80 cents each. We had orderded 1 round of drinks prior to buying the package but the bartender told us about the package and rang them separately on our cards. They were automatically credited after we purchased the package.

[riclop]

Just got off the Breeze on Saturday, just wanted to put my comments regarding the ship, FTTF and Cheers. I should mention I am a travel agent.

 

Summary :

1st : great cruise, great ship, great staff. MDR needs menu improvement. Boring from my previous CCL cruises. We did Your Time dining and we had a great waiter that we requested his table each night. Never waited. (Party of 4). Bar service, not so good...very slow. Need more servers.

 

FTTF - got to POM @ 9:45am. Got our luggage tagged with FTTF orange stickers. They started boarding around 10:45am. 1st Platinum, Diamond and Suites. Once they were on, FTTF started boarding around 11am. Got to cabin, all ready. Now here is where we were somewhat disappointed. We expected our lugagge before others but that was not the case. And I had packed accordingly, not putting bathing suits and lotion in our carry-ons. Mistake!!! At 1pm, I went down to Guest Services and let them know we had not received luggage. They said they would check into it for us. 2pm no luggage. Called Guest Services again letting them know we still did not get luggage. I saw other cabins already had their luggage delivered in the hallways. I came back to cabin @ 2:30 and 4 of 5 pieces had arrived. Told our cabin steward and somehow she found the 5th piece. The next day when we had checked our S&S account, we noticed we each got a $18.79pp credit. We are assuming that was for the late luggage. I had went to Guest Services on the last day and they asked how everything went and I did mention about the late luggage and they said they don't guaranty that your luggage will be delivered by any specific time but I said, others on our deck had their luggage before ours and that my understanding was it was supposed to be delivered pretty soon after embarkation otherwise I would have packed differently. So just FYI, don't assume your luggage will arrive shortly after you get onboard. During the week, they had also sent out notices that there were 2 lost pieces of luggage and to check under the beds, etc. It had specific descriptions with pics of the type of luggage they were looking for. At least they were trying to find it.

 

The other great thing about FTTF is getting to go to the VIP line at Guest Services while everyone else had to wait in that loooong line to address any issues or questions. That was well worth the cost along with early embarkation. They were very attentive so I have no complaints there.

 

Cheers - So we waited until after we had set sail to avoid the FL sales tax of 6%. But even though I had warned DH not to be buying rounds of drinks for us, he did anyway. Well so when the Cheers credits kicked in for that 1st day, he only got credited for 1 of the 3 drinks. After that 1st day, everything else went fine. We each ordered separate drinks, and they were all credited back. (They show each drink on your S&S account and then the credit for it.) You also have to sign the bill, but it also shows the amount and the credit with a balance due of $0.00. On the last day, went down to Guest Services and explained what happened on the 1st day, and asked that they moved the charges from DH to me and my MIL respectively, which they did. Later that day we looked at the S&S account and saw all the credits and we had no additional drink charges on my DH's account. Here is where we had a little glitch. Went for pre-dinner wine at the Breeze Bar later that night and was told that me and DH were at 14 drinks so this was our last. :eek: We know we had only had about 4-5 drinks that day so far so I figured when they moved those drinks over, the count for today got messed up. So had to go back to Guest Services and explain. She sent a message onto the Bar Manager. After dinner, it had been fixed and we were able to order more drinks that evening.

 

So the lessons learned are, if you plan on purchasing Cheers and you are departing from a state with sales tax, wait till after you are in open waters and don't be buying rounds of drinks for anyone prior. Yes they do tell you when you get to drink # 14 which we did one time on the 2nd sea day, which was fine because it was midnight and we were headed for the comedy show.

 

I calculated me and DH had 140 drinks x an average of $8.50/drink = $1190. Cheers cost us $689 total for 2. Savings of $500.

 

Food :

Pizza sad. No ingredients on a piece of crispy thin dough.

Guy's - excellent

Blue Iguana - excellent

Jimmy's - only open on sea days. DH said it was alright.

Lido - buffet food, whatever.

MDR - just so-so. Menu is boring. Food is not as good as it used to be. Waiters were great. Asked for same section each night. Bar service way too slow, not enough of them.

Farenheit 555 - excellent of course if you want to spend the extra $ for the food they used to serve in the MDR. We only did this because my MIL bought it for us for a anniversary gift.

Bonsai - ok, nothing special.

 

Entertainment :

Piano Bar - fun, fun, fun but it got to be the same songs being requested each night. That is not a reflection on Ben, just the guests requesting the same songs every night. He plays the request that have money attached to them 1st.

Comedy - only went 1 night. Good.

Comedy Brunch - so-so brunch, no comedy. Just the comedian going around a few tables and making fun of people. He was gone in 5 minutes.

Ovation Theatre - went to the 60's & 70's Brits and walked out after 10 minutes. Just some dancers in 60's costume swirling around the stage.

Ocean Plaza - karoake on some nights, the live band was good in the evenings.

Red Frog Rum Bar - guitar music was very good. He played throughout the afternoon (which is pool side) and when he wasn't playing, the DJ was playing music. Miss the live steel band.

Waterworks - cool, 2 waterslides, waterpark was fun. Loved squirting people when they came up the stairs. Had a blast. Twister was our favorite.

SkyCourse - not open that often. Depends on winds. Finally when we stayed on the ship in Nassau on the last day my DH & DD got to try it. They only did it once. They did enjoy the mini-golf, the pool and foosball tables up there.

Casino - n/a don't gamble

Liquid - n/a didn't make it.

 

Cabin 8237. UGH! It creeked all night! Even with ear plugs in, I could hear it. My MIL & DD in next cabin 8233 did not have that problem. We did enjoy having the balcony partitions opened. I chose these 2 specific cabins for that reason. Makes a larger balcony and you can all sit together outside. It's also fun to watch the pier runners LOL! I prefer this setup over the connecting doorway.

 

What is worth mentioning is the new decor on the Carnival Breeze. Gone is that neony glitzy, weird shaped things hanging from the ceiling and whatnot. Much more appealing. Good job CCL. Another noteworthy change is Deck 5. Lots of outdoor seating by Ocean Plaza which is mid-ship. The Cafe is there so you can sit out and have coffee. We played sand bag toss, aka cornhole?? We often went to the Martini Bar before dinner. Deck 5 also has a lot of deck chairs if you can't find space on Lido and there are 2 whirlpools as well which sort of lean out over the ocean. Yes Lido deck was crowded, but we were always able to find 2 chairs somewhere. Yes the chairhogs were hogging chairs. If there were 5 empty chairs for an hour, we would just slide there stuff over 1 chair if we needed one of them. I did not personally see any staff moving stuff off chairs, but they did have a scrolling message on the screen that after 40 min your stuff will be moved to the towel station. Some kids were getting crazy in the pool. A few times I saw staff to tell them to stop jumping in the pools. Little PIA's. I grabbed a few of them who jumped right on top of me and told them to stop. WHERE ARE THESE PARENTS????

 

I took a lot of photos of the ship's differnt areas. When I get a chance I will see if I have anything that others have not already and upload them.

You were just unlucky with the luggage.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for the review of your cruise.:)

[rrraydon]

Thanks for the review.

[amcjeep4life]

We just purchased FTTF when we saved more on ES price than the price of FTTF. Looking forward to trying it out, although we are usually there pretty early anyway. I'm looking forward to the dedicated line at GS, since most of the 5 of us (2 cabins) use cash for the S&S. Thanks for telling us how it worked!

[GranthamMommy]

Thank you for posting. We just booked the 8 day Thanksgiving cruise and the FTTF. Thanks for the packing tip, although we purchased more just so we don't have to lug stuff around.

[cmoore120]

Thanks for the review! We are going on the Breeze on Sunday and purchased the faster to fun mainly to drop off our carry ons and have access to our rooms. This is our daughters first cruise which makes this one feel like our first one too..even though this is our 10th.

 

 

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