Breeze REVIEW 1/18/2014 Southern 8 night.

[Tutankhamen]

Just a short Breeze review.

 

Sailing 1/18/2014

Southern (Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba)

8 night.

 

We have cruised several lines with the last three cruise lines being Princess, Royal Caribbean, and the last 2 cruises being on Carnival Dream. We use to be somewhat loyal to Royal. We noticed a decline in food and got a little tired of the same old same old. So we tried the Carnival Dream even tho our expectation was that it was going to be a drunk cruise. We were surprised how much we enjoyed the "fun ship" so we took another Dream cruise and now just finished the Breeze.

 

The ship:

We liked the way it was decorated. It was less glitzy and Vegas like then the Dream. It has bright colors mixed with a lot of pastel yellow is the best that I can describe the ship.

• The Market place gets a lot of attention in reviews. Here is my take. When the buffet wasn't crowded, I loved the feel of the area. Had a quaint feel to it, something along the lines of a Playa Del Carmen or a small village with restaurants lining the street. The cloth material hanging on ceiling and walls was a nice touch as well as the lights above the tables and even the palm trees. The brick walls was also a nice touch. Enjoyed walking through and getting a bite to eat UNLESS it was crowded. This is where the decor didn't work. With all the decorations, trees, cloth like tents, lamps, small fence barriers, shutters on either side of the windows and hoards of people it just looked to congested. Made me feel a bit claustrophobic. Thankfully, we rarely were up there when it was busy. So I liked the decor. Just not when crowded.
  

 

• Rest of the ship was pretty much like the dream, so I am not going to go into to much with that. My only complaint is that I really wish the ship had a bar up high, enclosed and facing the front of the ship or even the back. A place to go and have a drink INSIDE and have a great view of coming into or out of port or even when sailing in open water. I will get slammed for this, but move the gym to the bowels of the ship and make that into a cocktail lounge. Gym goers will go to the gym regardless of where you put it. Seems like a waste of a view. But that is just my opinion being that I don't go to the Gym when I cruise. Something I have missed since sailing Carnival.
  
  

Entertainment:

Not a whole lot to go over here. It is the same entertainment as any other Carnival ship. Even tho the singers and dancers are not Broadway caliber, they certainly give it their all and I enjoyed the shows we went to. Punchliners is one of the reasons I cruise Carnival, however do to the weather the second set of Comedians got stuck up north and so we only had two comedians for the first leg of the cruise. They were funny and enjoyed the shows.

 

 

Food:

I am 6'1". Weight the day I left for the cruise 185. Just weighed myself (off ship this morning) and I am a tad over 200!! 15 pounds in 8 days. So, yea.....I liked the food.

 

• Dining room a disappointment. Ate there 3 times and that was more then enough. I guess I have grown tired of the same banquet style food. Getting dressed up and having an assigned time to eat. The whole thing felt like a drag. Had the food been better, then maybe it would not of been such a drag. The Escargot, which I LOVE on land and on past cruises was horrible. Everyone at our table hated them. Tasted like soil, gritty and the butter resembled movie theater popcorn butter.
  

 

• Guys, Very Very good. Not the best burger ever, but I enjoyed the burger, the Ringer was my go to burger.
  
  

 

• Tandoori, very good. I think the Tandoori on the Dream was a tad better, but it was still very good.
  

 

• Buffet was good. I am always surprised the amount of fruit to be found there. Deserts were enjoyable and also enjoyed the different themes such as Caribbean and American
  

 

• BBQ was enjoyable.
  
  

 

• Pizza was good.
  

 

• Mexican was good.
  

 

• Deli was good.
  
  

To sum up the food, it was pretty much all good. Problem is, I could never make one choice. Start out with some fruit and cheese from the buffet, then get a guys, grab a little Curry chicken from Tandoori, need a taco, wash it down with a few Pina Colada's and top it off with some deserts.....well there is the 15lbs I gained.

 

 

Staff was great. Room stewards were ninjas. Never saw much of them, but if I stepped out for more then 15 minutes, the room was cleaned. I wonder if putting the key in the slot that powers the cabin is also connected to a board in the housekeeping area that lights up on a board so they know when the room is occupied.

 

 

There were to emergencies that we were aware of. Several nights into the cruise we were sleeping and heard a "emergency code" being called over the PA for a cabin several cabins down from ours. Then a bunch of running towards that cabin. Sorry to say the person passed away.

 

 

Second, the Coast Guard had to airlift a passenger the second to the last night of the cruise. It was truly amazing to see the skill of the CG hovering over our ship while we were still doing 10-15knots, in 50-60 knot winds. The winds speed may have been calculated using the forward movement of the ship, but even so it was amazing to see.

 

 

All in all it was a great cruise. Now to go and lose some weight. Questions? Ask away.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Tutankhamen

[inlinesick]

how was the weather? what exactly you didnt like about main dining room?

[Tutankhamen]

 

A tad chilly the first day. Plus side was we propped open our balcony door the first night and got to listen to the ocean. For the most part the weather was perfect!! 80 or there abouts everyday except the first and last where it was around 70. Just not really feeling the dining room experience any longer, and lacking flavor.

[arf2005]

We had 3 airlifted off our last cruise - seems like it's happening more and more frequently. I think they are less likely to keep you on the ship anymore with fear of a lawsuit. Not going without insurance anymore - that's for sure!

 

Thanks for the review! We are on her in April.

[Pesh]

 

A tad chilly the first day. Plus side was we propped open our balcony door the first night and got to listen to the ocean. For the most part the weather was perfect!! 80 or there abouts everyday except the first and last where it was around 70. Just not really feeling the dining room experience any longer, and lacking flavor.

 

I like the idea of propping the balcony door open! Haven't heard that idea before...what did you use to prop it?

[CorvetteLady]

Did you like Aruba and Curacao? I want to do these ports. Did you do any excursions?

[riclop]

Just a short Breeze review.

 

Sailing 1/18/2014

Southern (Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba)

8 night.

 

We have cruised several lines with the last three cruise lines being Princess, Royal Caribbean, and the last 2 cruises being on Carnival Dream. We use to be somewhat loyal to Royal. We noticed a decline in food and got a little tired of the same old same old. So we tried the Carnival Dream even tho our expectation was that it was going to be a drunk cruise. We were surprised how much we enjoyed the "fun ship" so we took another Dream cruise and now just finished the Breeze.

 

The ship:

We liked the way it was decorated. It was less glitzy and Vegas like then the Dream. It has bright colors mixed with a lot of pastel yellow is the best that I can describe the ship.

 

• The Market place gets a lot of attention in reviews. Here is my take. When the buffet wasn't crowded, I loved the feel of the area. Had a quaint feel to it, something along the lines of a Playa Del Carmen or a small village with restaurants lining the street. The cloth material hanging on ceiling and walls was a nice touch as well as the lights above the tables and even the palm trees. The brick walls was also a nice touch. Enjoyed walking through and getting a bite to eat UNLESS it was crowded. This is where the decor didn't work. With all the decorations, trees, cloth like tents, lamps, small fence barriers, shutters on either side of the windows and hoards of people it just looked to congested. Made me feel a bit claustrophobic. Thankfully, we rarely were up there when it was busy. So I liked the decor. Just not when crowded.
  

• Rest of the ship was pretty much like the dream, so I am not going to go into to much with that. My only complaint is that I really wish the ship had a bar up high, enclosed and facing the front of the ship or even the back. A place to go and have a drink INSIDE and have a great view of coming into or out of port or even when sailing in open water. I will get slammed for this, but move the gym to the bowels of the ship and make that into a cocktail lounge. Gym goers will go to the gym regardless of where you put it. Seems like a waste of a view. But that is just my opinion being that I don't go to the Gym when I cruise. Something I have missed since sailing Carnival.
   
  

Entertainment:

Not a whole lot to go over here. It is the same entertainment as any other Carnival ship. Even tho the singers and dancers are not Broadway caliber, they certainly give it their all and I enjoyed the shows we went to. Punchliners is one of the reasons I cruise Carnival, however do to the weather the second set of Comedians got stuck up north and so we only had two comedians for the first leg of the cruise. They were funny and enjoyed the shows.

 

 

Food:

I am 6'1". Weight the day I left for the cruise 185. Just weighed myself (off ship this morning) and I am a tad over 200!! 15 pounds in 8 days. So, yea.....I liked the food.

 

• Dining room a disappointment. Ate there 3 times and that was more then enough. I guess I have grown tired of the same banquet style food. Getting dressed up and having an assigned time to eat. The whole thing felt like a drag. Had the food been better, then maybe it would not of been such a drag. The Escargot, which I LOVE on land and on past cruises was horrible. Everyone at our table hated them. Tasted like soil, gritty and the butter resembled movie theater popcorn butter.
  

• Guys, Very Very good. Not the best burger ever, but I enjoyed the burger, the Ringer was my go to burger.
   
  

• Tandoori, very good. I think the Tandoori on the Dream was a tad better, but it was still very good.
  

• Buffet was good. I am always surprised the amount of fruit to be found there. Deserts were enjoyable and also enjoyed the different themes such as Caribbean and American
  

• BBQ was enjoyable.
   
  

• Pizza was good.
  

• Mexican was good.
  

• Deli was good.
   
  

To sum up the food, it was pretty much all good. Problem is, I could never make one choice. Start out with some fruit and cheese from the buffet, then get a guys, grab a little Curry chicken from Tandoori, need a taco, wash it down with a few Pina Colada's and top it off with some deserts.....well there is the 15lbs I gained.

 

 

Staff was great. Room stewards were ninjas. Never saw much of them, but if I stepped out for more then 15 minutes, the room was cleaned. I wonder if putting the key in the slot that powers the cabin is also connected to a board in the housekeeping area that lights up on a board so they know when the room is occupied.

 

 

 

There were to emergencies that we were aware of. Several nights into the cruise we were sleeping and heard a "emergency code" being called over the PA for a cabin several cabins down from ours. Then a bunch of running towards that cabin. Sorry to say the person passed away.

 

 

Second, the Coast Guard had to airlift a passenger the second to the last night of the cruise. It was truly amazing to see the skill of the CG hovering over our ship while we were still doing 10-15knots, in 50-60 knot winds. The winds speed may have been calculated using the forward movement of the ship, but even so it was amazing to see.

 

 

All in all it was a great cruise. Now to go and lose some weight. Questions? Ask away.

 

 

Do you miss Cucina del Capitano? this was the best thing on the cruise.

[CruiseHappy3]

I agree with the Gym idea. That is a great space for a nice lounge.

[HazelSmrf]

I was on the same cruise, I absolutely hated the buffet area. I mean the food was good but it was crowded, always had lines, hard to find tables etc. Did not try the escargot so can't comment, the person sitting next to me sure seemed to like it though :)