Breeze help!

[hlb76]

We are looking to book Breeze Feb 2015. I have wanted to sail her for a long time but have been nervous about a ship THAT BIG!!! I have never been disapointed with the size of any of my smaller ships.

A little back story. We are experienced cruisers, not saying we dont have lots to learn but with 47 days at sea under our belts we have a good feel on what to expect - just not on the BIG ships! We are looking at the 6 day sailing. I'm not overly excited with the ports so this sailing will be booked mainly for the ship and a week away from MN winter. Other 7 day sailing will cost us the same if not less ;) but this is BREEZE we are talking about.

So I need some advice.

- where is a good location for your state room? We are not too picky and normally booked cheap(er) rooms. With a ship this size I'm sure location means a lot.

- we are a family of 3 but would love to book a quad room. We need the couch for extra seating. We booked a triple last time and when we where all in the room it was not comfortable seating arrangements. Do all catagories have coouches on this ship?

- This ship offers Spa rooms - worth it? We are not Spa people actually have set foot in the ships spa once in 9 sailings. Though if we get a spa room we just might learn to love it?

- How will I be nickled and dimed on this ship? I know the normal - pop cards, arcade, drink packages, etc. What does Breeze have (if anything) that other ships dont?

- Any other advice to help me?

[Strmwatch]

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!!

[apdchief]

I agree with Strmwatch on almost everything except the spa, I loved it but again it is totally subjective. I used the steamrooms and spa showers twice a day. Again it comes down to what you want to spend and how much you are going to use it. We like the short trip to the Lido deck from our room and the minimal traffic on the spa deck because of the few rooms on that deck. Even though there are more people on the Breeze the ship is bigger and really wasn't anymore of an issue that on any other ship. Good luck!
[quote name='Strmwatch']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!![/quote]

[vacruisin]

Last year we did the 6 day Eastern Caribbean on the Breeze and we were not impressed too much with the ports or the ship itself. Of all 5 of my Carnival cruises, that was by far my least favorite. Some issues had to do with the ship and some with the ports.

The ship issues we had were:

1.) The floors on the lido deck from the buffet area on back are very, very slippery. I have no idea what material those floors are made of but you could almost skate on them and we saw a few people take a spill on them. I've never experienced that on any other of Carnival's ships.

2.) We've heard people complain about the sewage smell on other ships but until we sailed on the Breeze, we had never experienced that! Well, that smell was prevalent quite often throughout that 6 day cruise; especially towards the AFT bar area on the lido. And it was quite strong at time!

3.) I felt the boat movements more on the Breeze that on any other ship. And we didn't have bad weather during the whole cruise so it wasn't because of choppy water!

Overall we did enjoy the cruise (let's face it, cruising is better than being at work) but it was our least enjoyable of all of the ship we've been on.

Again, that was OUR experience. Others have enjoyed the boat so you may think differently of it if you decided to book it. But beware, the slippery floors are REAL!

Let me edit my post. We did have one bad weather day when it rained the whole time we were in Key West but the rest of the cruise we had beautiful weather and we still felt the boat swaying. Edited April 25, 2014 by vacruisin
Added last sentence about bad weather in Key West

[patz]

The Breeze is a beautiful ship but be prepared for line ups in the dining room, lido deck, omelet station, Guy's burgers etc. Unless you lined up 45 minutes before a show, you didn't get in. Because of the number of passengers, our muster drill was held in one of the dining rooms. A couple of nights in the casino, you couldn't find a slot machine to play. When we got off the Breeze, we had a b2b booked on the Conquest. We actually enjoyed the second cruised more as it was smaller and was not filled to capacity. As the Breeze is so new, we found that we over paid for our 8 day cruise ($1,169) versus the 7 day cruise ($579).

[FlyingFlip]

[quote name='hlb76']- where is a good location for your state room? We are not too picky and normally booked cheap(er) rooms. With a ship this size I'm sure location means a lot.[/QUOTE]
I'm not too picky, but my wife is a bit pickier. I'll usually arrange for something towards the middle of the ship in order to minimize complaints about walking distance if we have to go back to the cabin to retrieve something.

[quote name='hlb76']- we are a family of 3 but would love to book a quad room. We need the couch for extra seating. We booked a triple last time and when we where all in the room it was not comfortable seating arrangements. Do all catagories have coouches on this ship?[/QUOTE]
We stayed in an inexpensive interior cabin. I don't think there was a couch. However, you'll need a larger cabin than that just for the 3rd person.

[quote name='hlb76']- How will I be nickled and dimed on this ship? I know the normal - pop cards, arcade, drink packages, etc. What does Breeze have (if anything) that other ships dont?[/QUOTE]
I don't recall any unexpected charges, but we usually avoid the types of activities that generate them.

On our Mediterranean cruise, we were allowed to bring bottles of wine (purchased on our shore excursions) back on board. I don't know if this will also be true for your six-day cruise, but that allowed us to [I]avoid[/I] expenses which we [I]were[/I] expecting.

[quote name='hlb76']- Any other advice to help me?[/QUOTE]
I agree with [B]patz[/B] that some of the free specialty dining has long lines. On the other hand, the Indian buffet had [I]no[/I] lines. It was our favorite place to have lunch on the sea days.

The sewage smells mentioned by [B]vacrusin[/B] may have been specific to that particular cruise. We didn't notice any sewage smells, even when we were by the aft bar.

We had one [I]very[/I] stormy day (between Dubrovnik and Venice) where there was [I]a lot[/I] of side-to-side ship motion. About 2/3 of the passengers seemed to be having some type of problem (and my wife was just starting to feel queasy). The rest of the cruise was smooth sailing.

The entertainment was not as varied/spectacular as on the Allure (which dwarfs the Breeze). It seemed a lot closer to the smaller ships. Similarly, the layout wasn't that far removed from the smaller ships either.

The Breeze has a Serenity deck (21 and older only), which some of the smaller ships lack. Most of the people making use of it were far older, which made it live up to its name.

[okgirl]

You've been on the Liberty and Splendor both of which are only about 20K tons smaller than the Breeze, really not that much difference at all.

On the Breeze the addition of Red Frog Pub, Bonsai Sushi, Guy's, Blue Iguana and the Ocean Plaza make it seem much more spacious when really it's mostly just a better configuration.

The Breeze is 1004' long, carries 3690 guests and has 14 decks
The Splendor is 952' long, carries 3002 guests and has 13 decks
The Liberty is 952' long, carries 2974 guests and has 13 decks.

[Thebosn1]

[quote name='hlb76']We are looking to book Breeze Feb 2015. I have wanted to sail her for a long time but have been nervous about a ship THAT BIG!!! I have never been disapointed with the size of any of my smaller ships.

A little back story. We are experienced cruisers, not saying we dont have lots to learn but with 47 days at sea under our belts we have a good feel on what to expect - just not on the BIG ships! We are looking at the 6 day sailing. I'm not overly excited with the ports so this sailing will be booked mainly for the ship and a week away from MN winter. Other 7 day sailing will cost us the same if not less ;) but this is BREEZE we are talking about.

So I need some advice.

- where is a good location for your state room? We are not too picky and normally booked cheap(er) rooms. With a ship this size I'm sure location means a lot.

- we are a family of 3 but would love to book a quad room. We need the couch for extra seating. We booked a triple last time and when we where all in the room it was not comfortable seating arrangements. Do all catagories have coouches on this ship?

- This ship offers Spa rooms - worth it? We are not Spa people actually have set foot in the ships spa once in 9 sailings. Though if we get a spa room we just might learn to love it?

- How will I be nickled and dimed on this ship? I know the normal - pop cards, arcade, drink packages, etc. What does Breeze have (if anything) that other ships dont?

- Any other advice to help me?[/quote]

I have sailed on the smaller ships and I also liked them, but the BREEZE is hands down my favorite ship so far! Yes, she is huge but the layout was pretty good (maybe with the exception of the aft pool which was always very crowded durig the day). We had a balcony cabin on the Starboard side aft, partially under the main pool. The noise from above was never a factor. However, if you book a balcony check to see what is below it. We loved the location of our cabin but there was a hot tub and the BBQ place directly below us. So there was sometimes noise from the folks below, and the smell of the BBQ on sea days kept making me hungry!

Both the BBQ and the Guy's Burgers were free so no nickle and dime there. There was also a Blue Iguana cantina that served food all day long starting at breakfast and that was free as well. The Italian place and the steakhouse obviously were additional charges.

If I recall, our cabin had a capacity of 3 or four but there were only two of us, and there was plenty of room including the couch.

I think you will love the BREEZE, even if you are used to the smaller ships.

Have fun!

[hlb76]

Thanks everyone for all the advice! I for sure need to make sure it does fit our budget. I dont think its WAY more expensive than like 7 day trips but it is a little more.

I do like the 6 day option with work and school. We live in MN and always try to fly in early. Which means another day of missed school/work or a mad dash to the airport after work if we can get a late flight out.

My son LOVED Sunshine with the newer waterslide/ropes course/sky deck. He wants that again and our choices are slim with those. We will see what he thinks after we sail Freedom this fall not having the the added fun! Plus Breeze has that new movie theatre thing too.

Please keep the feedback coming!!

[MuffyKismet]

We loved loved loved the SPA rooms on the Dream and the Breeze is it's sister ship (which we have booked for Sep 13, 2014!!) The Cloud 9 SPA is like no other, we were in the SPA at least 2 X DAY and used the SPA roomy showers to get ready most of the time for dinner! Why not spoil yourself on vacation!! We are doing a 8night/9 day on Carnival Breeze 9/13/14! Looking forward to the ports and to all the sea days!!!!

[Strmwatch]

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.

[hlb76]

I did a quick check of prices for insides only (work got in the way) its $150 more for the Spa room deck 11 vs inside deck 1. $50 is the difference between deck 9 inside and the deck 11 Spa room. We normally sail insides but have lately upgraded deck location. So if I keep that in mind what's $50. Yet then again you say what's $50 over and over and the budget is blown.

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