FOS or Carnival Breeze

[novaLady]

FIRST: I posted this thread on the Carnival forum as I want to get opinions from both sides. I'm really looking for opinions from those who have sailed on both the Breeze and the Freedom of the Seas.

 

I'm trying to plan an August 2014 cruise with my family and extended family. Some of my extended family have never cruised before. My husband and 2 kids (5 and 7) have been on Carnival twice.

 

My dilemma: I am considering the Breeze and it looks perfect for us. Being that some of us are past Carnival cruisers, the perks/price will be good for us. However, one thing I've never liked is the crowds and the shows. The "Family" shows on our last cruise showed the thongs of the dancers a lot during the show. However, the Camp Carnival and food have been just fine for us.

 

Pros of Breeze:

Many of us are past passengers and can get better rates

Cheaper

Camp Carnival

Food

Waterpark

Ropes Course

 

Potential Cons of Breeze:

Crowd

'Un'family friendly shows

Have to fly to Miami

 

Pros of FOS:

Can Drive to Port Caneveral

Great Ports

Great Reviews

 

Potential Cons of FOS:

Too big of a ship for first time cruisers

Crowds looks more ... mellow. Videos/Reviews don't mention much of a deck party.

Some reviews say food is not that great.

More Expensive

 

 

So I know this is the RC forum but I'll ask anyways..what would you do? Breeze or FOS?

[SilkySal]

OK, I'll bite. Have never cruised Carnival but have heard toooooooo many bad things including they have bought used ships and refurbished them pretty cheaply, which may have something to do with their recent problems. Cruised NCL once and Princess way back when. Started cruising with RCCL many years ago and am now loyal to Royal!;) It's true that you get what you pay for, especially these days!:rolleyes: To me, a wonderful, memorable cruise is priceless! RCCL's prices are reasonable and affordable, and their staff have always insured us a great vacation! Thanks RCCL!:cool:

[ryano]

Freedom of the Seas if the price isnt that much more. Breeze is a "smaller ship" than Freedom with just as many passengers thus more crowds IMO.

 

Dont get me wrong. I would like to sail on the Breeze just to check out a brand new Carnival ship but Freedom of the Seas is AWESOME. Judging on the pics of Breeze, there just is no comparison.

 

Most EVERYONE here will steer you towards Freedom of the Seas. I imagine everyone on the Carnival board will steer you towards Breeze.

[cruzeluver]

FOS, by a mile.

[novaLady]

Thanks everyone! The Carnival thread is recommending FOS also.

[Paul65]

Though I haven't sailed these particular ships, I have a few comments on your specific concerns:

 

- RCCL Vegas-style production shows will likely also have some dancers in skimpy outfits. If that's too family-unfriendly for you, it's probably a draw between the two lines.

- I'd be a bit surprised if Breeze + airfare were really cheaper than FOS without having to buy airfare. Being able to drive to the port is generally a big money saver in airfare and luggage fees.

- Some reviews of both ships say the food isn't that great, others (for both) are very favorable on the food. In truth, they're probably about a tie there, unless you have a particular attachment to certain menu items on Carnival.

- I would think the ship size of FOS would be more a pro than a con, as both ships carry about the same number of passengers, but the Freedom is a bit bigger, so a bit more room per passenger.

[DonnaK]

You listed Camp Carnival as a pro. My kids (who were tweens at the time) were bored to tears with the camp (I mean that literally - they were whining "when will this cruise be over? I wanna go home". The camp was under-utilized by kids older than 8 or 9, resulting in those kids having the run of the ship without something to keep them positively occupied.

 

On the other hand, my kids have always loved Adventure Ocean right up until they "aged out". It was always well attended, even by older kids, and always plenty of fun.

[Aquahound]

Same amount of passengers, but Breeze is a good amount smaller than FOS. This is a no brainer to me. I need more elbow room. Definitely FOS.

 

And by the way, FOS does do deck parties. They do a great job with them too. There will be at least 2 of them on your cruise, in addition to an adults only deck party in the Solarium.

[cujosmom]

We did the Carnival Magic Sept 1-8 - the sister ship to the Breeze and absolutely had the BEST time. I thought the activities were better, the food better (and HOT when served) very nice staff and ship was beautiful. Absolutely loved the ropes course and the water park. They advertise a "fun" ship and it was. I'm doing a back-to-back on The Allure next month, but for our winter-get-away-from-the-cold cruise I'm thinking of booking the Magic again.

 

By the way....over 240 credits on RCL and I always bad-mouthed Carnival :o. That is until I sailed on Carnival. :eek:

[novaLady]

Well, we went during Spring Break so there were a lot of kids in the camp and the counselors happened to be really good. I'm thinking of going on FOS in Aug (our kids don't start school until after Labor Day).

[novaLady]

We did the Carnival Magic Sept 1-8 - the sister ship to the Breeze and absolutely had the BEST time. I thought the activities were better, the food better (and HOT when served) very nice staff and ship was beautiful. Absolutely loved the ropes course and the water park. They advertise a "fun" ship and it was. I'm doing a back-to-back on The Allure next month, but for our winter-get-away-from-the-cold cruise I'm thinking of booking the Magic again.

 

By the way....over 240 credits on RCL and I always bad-mouthed Carnival :o. That is until I sailed on Carnival. :eek:

 

Oh great...:p

 

This is a tough decision.

[ryano]

 

By the way....over 240 credits on RCL and I always bad-mouthed Carnival :o. That is until I sailed on Carnival. :eek:

 

You are likely not the only one ever guilty of that. :)

[HB Cruiser]

We have sailed over 20 RCCL cruises and took Breeze this past May. Carnival offers a good product.

 

With this said, I will stay with RCCL. To this day, we cannot put our finger on why other than we missed the small things RCCL gives us. When we got off this cruise, we were not rested, relaxed, and felt pampered like we do when we get off a RCCL cruise.

 

One thing that did stand out was the service in the MDR. We chose the Anytime Dining. It took us THREE servers before we ever had one introduce themselves to us or call us by name. Another thing we noticed was our server was taking care of 36, yes I said 36 passengers at once. The MOST I have ever noticed on RCCL has been 24. I think they are spreading their staff too thin.

 

Also, you state you don't like crowds, well, you are going to see them on Breeze. One thing that RCCL definitely does on the ships is know crowd control. I stood in more lines ont he Breeze than any RCCL ship EVER.

 

You will have a great time on either ship but I will not be going back to the Breeze unless I save several HUNDRED dollars.

 

Tim

[cruisetrail]

FIRST: I posted this thread on the Carnival forum as I want to get opinions from both sides. I'm really looking for opinions from those who have sailed on both the Breeze and the Freedom of the Seas.

 

I'm trying to plan an August 2014 cruise with my family and extended family. Some of my extended family have never cruised before. My husband and 2 kids (5 and 7) have been on Carnival twice.

 

My dilemma: I am considering the Breeze and it looks perfect for us. Being that some of us are past Carnival cruisers, the perks/price will be good for us. However, one thing I've never liked is the crowds and the shows. The "Family" shows on our last cruise showed the thongs of the dancers a lot during the show. However, the Camp Carnival and food have been just fine for us.

 

Pros of Breeze:

Many of us are past passengers and can get better rates

Cheaper

Camp Carnival

Food

Waterpark

Ropes Course

 

Potential Cons of Breeze:

Crowd

'Un'family friendly shows

Have to fly to Miami

 

Pros of FOS:

Can Drive to Port Caneveral

Great Ports

Great Reviews

 

Potential Cons of FOS:

Too big of a ship for first time cruisers

Crowds looks more ... mellow. Videos/Reviews don't mention much of a deck party.

Some reviews say food is not that great.

More Expensive

 

 

So I know this is the RC forum but I'll ask anyways..what would you do? Breeze or FOS?

 

FOS is a different league.

A different class of cruising.

Don't waste you time gathering pros and cons.

If you can afford FOS - do it.

[Tapi]

OP: I do believe that the Freedom of the Seas will provide a superior cruise experience. With that said, don't second guess your decision if your end up choosing the Carnival Breeze. I believe that you will have a great time on her as well (we sailed on the Carnival Dream, the Breeze's sister ship, and had a wonderful time, and that was after sailing on the Allure of the Seas a few months earlier!). No, I don't think that the experience on the Breeze will be as good as on the Freedom, but it will be far from bad as others have implied.

 

Have never cruised Carnival but have heard toooooooo many bad things including they have bought used ships and refurbished them pretty cheaply, which may have something to do with their recent problems.

 

Twisting the facts a bit there? :rolleyes: This is why people who've never cruised on a specific cruise line shouldn't be giving advice about it.

 

OP, to clarify what this poster wrote, Carnival doesn't buy older ships. Every single ship in their fleet was built new for them. Carnival, like other cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, has started revitalizing their older ships. They took one of their older ships, the Destiny and revitalized it at a cost of $155 million dollars (the word "cheaply" hardly applies).

 

What Carnival is guilty of is of choosing to change the Destiny's name to Sunshine which has been frowned upon by many in the cruise industry. But this revitalization is in no way related to the issues that the Carnival Triumph had earlier this year as this poster implied. It would be like blaming the fire on the Grandeur of the Seas on the revitalization of the Freedom of the Seas :confused:.

[akcruz]

You listed Camp Carnival as a pro. My kids (who were tweens at the time) were bored to tears with the camp (I mean that literally - they were whining "when will this cruise be over? I wanna go home". The camp was under-utilized by kids older than 8 or 9, resulting in those kids having the run of the ship without something to keep them positively occupied.

 

On the other hand, my kids have always loved Adventure Ocean right up until they "aged out". It was always well attended, even by older kids, and always plenty of fun.

 

Agreed, my kids were 9 and 14 when we made the switch from Carnival to Royal. From then on they asked us to book Royal as they both liked the activities better. Now that my youngest has aged out of the teen activities we will most likely be trying other lines, especially if it is just DH and I.

 

I will agree, however, that Carnival ships always felt more crowded to us. Royal knows how to build ships, they are their best attribute. Freedom is one of our favorite Royal ships.

[lag9122]

Freedom is a great ship !!

[kmcphee26]

Can't say anything about the Breeze but I must say that the Freedom reignited my love for cruising. Was on her about 5 years ago and had such an amazing time that I've been on 6 RCI cruises since. I highly recommend it! Unless you can do Oasis class, which I only recommend if you want to be out of your mind obsessed for the rest of time!

[sail2sea]

If you are considering Breeze's southern Caribbean itinerary, I'd say it's a tie. Aruba is an awesome port for a beach lover.

 

Any other itinerary, I'd take FOS.

[uksimonusa]

Freedom seems to be winning on both the RCI and the Carnival Boards:D

[Niquein99]

What are the ports of call for the Breeze? My son and I sailed Carnival Breeze over the Summer, after sailing Allure of the Seas for Spring Break. We sailed the Breeze strictly for the ports of call, and it was an 8-day cruise. We visited St. John, Antigua and Tortola, without having to fly and sail out of San Juan (the Breeze leaves from Miami). For my son (13 yrs old), he loved the Breeze way more than Allure. For me, I loved the Allure, because quite honestly, there is no other ship out there that beats Allure and Oasis. Did we have a 'bad' time on the Breeze. No, it was a great cruise! Albeit, different from Royal. Would I sail the Breeze again - absolutely. I really enjoy the 8-day itineraries that are offered on the Breeze and for that reason alone, I would sail on it again. We cruised Breeze during peak Summer, but I didn't find the crowds to be any more than other cruises we've been on. The entertainment on the Breeze sucked; there's just no nice way of putting it. The shows were awful! :eek: Royal really shines with their entertainment and Carnival pales in comparison.

 

If given the choice, I would choose Freedom of the Seas, only because I think Royal offers a better product as a whole, for the entire family. But I wouldn't discount the Breeze if the itinerary was one that other cruise lines didn't offer. Check my countdown clock - I enjoy both cruise lines for different reasons. :)

 

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

[halos]

By the way....over 240 credits on RCL and I always bad-mouthed Carnival :o. That is until I sailed on Carnival. :eek:

 

That's not uncommon. A CCL cruise isn't as bad as some people (usually ones who have never set foot on a carnival ship) claim. I'm glad you enjoyed your CCL cruise :)

It's a cruise after all...how bad can it be?

 

I'm not a CCL cheerleader by any means (actually giving them up for a while) but there is nothing worse than coming to a thread and seeing this response: "Well, I have never actually sailed Carnival, but I heard...."

 

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

When I did sail CCL exclusively, I read so much trash talk on these RCI boards about CCL and I thought, Wow....if I actually like Carnival and these people think it sucks, then RCI must be totally phenomenal!

 

wrong.....

 

My first (and thus far only) RCI cruise was a disappointment...it likely wouldn't have been such a big disappointment if I hadn't read all the 'superiority' threads on these boards. This same thing happened when we tried Celebrity. That was even worse because the air of superiority wasn't just on the message boards. It was alive and well on the ship.

 

RCI has gorgeous ships...CCL, not so much. But CCL still is a decent cruise.

 

I'm taking my second RCI cruise next summer. I am actually hoping it will be better than my first. After what will be six years, I thought they should get a chance at redemption.

 

OP, I am sure either cruise will be great. I think what you need to do to choose is tell people what you WANT in a cruise. Each line has their own thing that makes it special...find out if what you want is what they have.

 

I haven't sailed Royal in a while, but I can tell you that service on CCL has always been great. Despite the cuts in staff, the crew work their butts off to make you happy. The food, although not as amazing as it once was is still on par with other lines. My issue with CCL right now is the lack of entertainment. Live music is hard to find and evenings are full of passenger generated entertainment. For those that like karaoke, this is good....personally, I don't want to cruise and hear passengers 'sing'.

Think about what it exactly is that you are looking for in a cruise and then do some reading to find out which line will suit you better. Doing a poll isn't going to get you the information you really need unless people are specific about WHY they voted the way they did...and "I heard that CCL sucks" is not a good answer.

[matj2000]

You listed Camp Carnival as a pro. My kids (who were tweens at the time) were bored to tears with the camp (I mean that literally - they were whining "when will this cruise be over? I wanna go home". The camp was under-utilized by kids older than 8 or 9, resulting in those kids having the run of the ship without something to keep them positively occupied.

.

 

This is the most ridiculous response I have seen in a long time...

[novaLady]

I'm glad I asked this question in both forums because it had helped reading peoples experiences either way.

 

I'm still torn however, so I'm going to keep researching it and eventually just make a decision.

 

From pictures alone, I don't like the closed in look of FOS. I believe someone referred to it as a shopping mall. I would hate this. Also we are going during the NFL season and I know my family will want to watch the games. Apparently, there are no sports bars on FOS...

 

However, I really want to try RC to see what I could be missing out on.

 

As far as itineraries, here are the options:

FOS: 7 nt, St maarten, St. Thomas, coco cay

 

Breeze: 8nt, puerto Rico, st maarten, st Kitts, Grand Turk

 

Breeze: 6nt Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Key West

 

Price for 8nt is about $50/pp higher than FOS and $150/pp higher than 6nt

[Tapi]

8 night Breeze for sure! You should've included that in your original post.