Just did my first real Carnival cruise. Notes vs NCL.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Hey Everyone,

 

I posted this review on Carnival's page but since I'm a 95% cruiser on NCL I figured some people might find it interesting to see how I found Carnival's newest ship vs NCL. If this is not permitted to double post on two pages my apologies to the admin.

 

A few people have asked me to do a review of the Carnival Breeze so I thought I would share a few points. This was my 16th cruise overall and my third Carnival cruise. My two previous Carnival cruises were on the Inspiration and Imagination. While there were positives and negatives, overall I had a great time. I’m going to skip the ports of call on this review as I honestly was so busy leading up to this cruise that I did zero planning ahead of time.

Let me get the only real big negative thing out of the way in my opinion and that is the Carnival Entertainment.

 

Carnival has consistently delivered extremely subpar entertainment as compared to other cruise lines’ standards. They did not have a live band during the shows and instead relied on backtracks. I believe part of the problem is not the fault of the singers and dancers, but instead the poor quality of the sound system. One of their non-musical shows featured a juggler who’s main act was juggling balls then would do a little leg twirl hop to add “style.” I actually felt bad for the guy because he kept dropping balls and the crowd just wasn’t giving him the reaction he had hoped for. I assume Carnival just has a much smaller budget for entertainment and they pay less since, like I said before, the quality doesn’t even come close. I did however highly enjoy the female adult only comedian in the George Lopez Punchliner Lounge.

We watched two new release movies ‘Under the Stars’ on the pool deck, which I found to be quite enjoyable. Carnival provided free popcorn and blankets, which I thought was a nice touch. I’m glad cruise lines have added this feature. Note to Carnival: The Fault in Our Stars is such a depressing movie to show on a cruise!! :D

 

 

 

Cabin and housekeeping:

My friend and I were booked in what I believe is called a deluxe ocean view cabin, cabin number 2246. This was by far the most spacious ocean view cabin I have ever had. Carnival took a page out from Disney Cruise Line and featured two separate bathroom areas. One room had a shower stall, toilet and sink while the second had a bathtub/shower combo and a sink. This saved us plenty of time in the morning since we could both get ready at the same time. For the first time ever I never met our housekeeper over the eight days. I must say that he or she did a wonderful job, was thorough, and of course provided their signature towel animal every day. I was disappointed to see that Carnival didn’t put chocolates on the pillows at night. That was always a nice little treat to come back to. Our room location was fine with me until the last night. You could certainly hear a lot of mechanical noises coming from the theater stage above us and the service door outside or room with the luggage. Overall I thought the cabin was excellent! It’s going to be very hard going back to a cabin with just one shower in the future.

 

 

Restaurants/food including the Steakhouse VS NCL’s Steakhouse.

 

 

I’m a fan of Carnival’s food and I think their melting cake is the best thing on the seven seas. The first night we went to the steakhouse since they had a promotion where you get a complimentary bottle of wine with dinner. I had the French Onion Soup and the Nine ounce Filet while my friend had the surf and turf. Overall our meals were excellent however I think the quality was lower than NCL’s Cagney’s Steakhouse as NCL offers a better menu item variety. We had a Romanian woman as our waitress who was fine but not as polished as some of the other specialty dining restaurant servers I’m accustomed to. Again the meal was tasty I just prefer NCL’s option. We decided we didn’t think it was worth a second visit.

 

 

For the rest of the week we had the Anytime Dining and were assigned to the Blush Restaurant. Throughout the cruise we normally didn’t have trouble getting a window seat, which was pleasant. Even if you eat with just your own group they sure like to push those tables near each other. One night we had about four inches between tables so had an enjoyable conversation with them.

 

NCL has recently improved their main dining menus however I still think Carnival has better food. I enjoyed the variety and the steak that’s always on the menu was better than the NCL option.

 

I LOVE the variety of lunch locations that the Carnival Breeze offered. Guy’s Burgers were always tasty and they have that service down to an art form. We never experienced a long line there and the burgers and fries were always hot and fresh. One of my favorite Carnival offerings is their Wok Station which had the normal selection of veggies with steak, chicken or shellfish. There was normally a line however it was worth the wait. Sometimes you just needed that lunch that didn’t feel heavy and this location delivered. I didn’t make it to the Mexican restaurant for lunch however they offered tasty breakfast burritos and other options in the morning. The station was garnished with a nice selection of salsas and toppings.

 

 

Room service was ordered over the TV which was fun to do but, it’s much quicker just to give them a call. The food quality was subpar compared to the other outlets on board, so I didn’t use it that often, mainly for hot tea at night. NCL has a pizza delivery system where for $5.00 you can order a full size hot and fresh pizza. That service was definitely missed on the Breeze. Carnival did have a 24 hour pizza station on deck 10 which worked for a quick pizza fix.

 

 

The Carnival Breeze is a beautiful ship and if you didn’t know you were on a Carnival ship you would have never guessed you were on one. The glowing neon is gone and replaced with natural tone colors. The Breeze’s atrium is absolutely gorgeous with the glowing lanterns at night. We enjoyed the atrium bar for pre-dinner cocktails and of course people watching. Speaking of cocktails, Carnival, you add way too much mixers to your martinis. If you want a stronger drink and less of a HI-C or fruit juice drink go onto NCL. My lemon drops were yellower than a school bus. I am a big fan of the Fun Ship drink though!

 

We played in the casino every day and had a good experience. We passed 1,500 points so were given a free drink card for the rest of the voyage. Drink service could be slow but I never had a problem finding someone to take my order. I saw two handpays on the first day ($1,400 on a quick hits and $2,000 on Wheel of Fortune $1 machine with a five credit bet) but didn’t see any after that. I ended up earning just shy of 4,000 points and already have free cruise offers from Carnival and I’m writing this from my flight home.

 

I’m trying to put this as politically correct as possible but there was certainly a large group onboard the ship, a family reunion I believe, that probably should have stayed at home. I knew they were going to be trouble from the moment we arrived at the pier since they were already yelling and fighting with each other. In the casino two were smoking in the non-smoking area and a woman politely asked them to not smoke there. The two woman made a comment along the line of “what do you think you’re gonna do to make me?” with a few insults added. It just made the ship at times feel trashy but it certainly didn’t ruin my cruise, just an observation.

 

 

Would I cruise Carnival again? Absolutely! They offer a great value but, I might be a bit pickier with the sailing. Sometimes the cheapest can get you those crowds of people you don’t really want to be hanging out with.

 

Ok to sum it up: Food…great! Ship…great! Service…great! Entertainment..terrible!

 

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them. Happy sailing!

 

Warm Regards,

James

[Donna_In_India]

Hi - I enjoyed your review. I sailed Carnival in the 80's and early 90's when that was all we could afford. (I will say that in those days the food was very good, service was excellent, and cruising was a real "experience".) Later we sailed other lines and never went back until the Breeze. I figured we had to check it out since the neon was gone! We actually did side-by-side cruises going on the Breeze and then disembarking and walking over to the Epic for our first NCL cruise.

 

I agree with most of your comments about the Breeze. One of the things that I loved on the Breeze were the Wok Station and the other made to order stations. Have to say on our cruise (Breeze was very new) that Guy's was just okay. I was disappointed about that.

 

We also loved the movies under the stars and the Punchliner show. Our daughter loved the kids' club and although it was a little too cool for swimming when we went the waterworks area was totally cool.

 

It was - not a great cruise like we have on NCL - but a good cruise. I get what you are saying about the large group. We must have run into their cousins on our cruise. :) I'm not sure I'd go back on Carnival but the Vista looks really cool. I just have a hard time getting away from NCL because we are 3 for 3 with them. :)

[Linda the Book Lover]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My DD and I took both the 3-day/4-day on the Imagination and the Inspiration and it was just that a short fun cruise to relax. It was nice to read your thoughts on your longer cruise. It has been many years since I sailed a longer cruise on Carnival. The DD and I have spoken of trying a longer one and your review gave me a nice push to thinking about it.

[pspercy]

Ok to sum it up: Food…great! Ship…great! Service…great! Entertainment..terrible!

 

We did a CCL Triumph 5nt in Dec 2013 and I agree 100% with your summary:)

[sparks1093]

Thanks for the review James!

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for your awesome review comparing the two lines. I too, am a NCL cruiser, (have only sailed 1 other line, RCL, back in the 90's) and ventured out to Carnival back in 2013 on the Dream. I was warned, I was told no, I was given every reason why not to....AND I LOVED IT!!! We had a blast. We loved the ship. The food was fine and definitely comparable to NCL (we normally just eat the free food, so that's what we stuck to) and I'm SO GLAD that I went against the odds and decided to take my chances with Carnival.

 

This year, I decided once again to give Carnival another try...on the Pride (which was recently redone with the waterworks and slides). I thought maybe it was a fluke that we had such a great cruise on the Dream and this would be a test. Once again, WE LOVED IT!! We had a blast, loved the ship, food was fine and neither time was this a "party ship" like others had told me. Honestly it wasn't much different than NCL to us...however, it did have a lot more to do on it than most of the NCL ships in the fleet (except Breakaway, Getaway and Epic).

 

I have come to the conclusion that I do in fact, like Carnival. Yes, it is the fun ship and I enjoy it. The Breeze is one that has been on my radar for quite some time (since it's just like the Dream but with even more bells and whistles). We had friends on last weeks sailing...I want to go even more.

 

I will 100% agree with you on the entertainment on Carnival. It doesn't begin to compare to NCL AT ALL. But, if there's nothing worth seeing, we head to the casino. :D It's definitely not a make or break deal for me.

 

I have a Breakaway cruise coming up in 12 days. After that, I'm pretty sure I'll head back to Carnival for my next cruise. (I'm running out of ships to cruise with NCL...LOL. It was my goal to cruise the entire fleet. I still have the Gem and Jade to go...and then the Escape). :p

[dreamr]

Note to Carnival: The Fault in Our Stars is such a depressing movie to show on a cruise!! :D

 

Hahahahaha. Had to comment about that. YES, it is such a sad movie! But even still, it's one of my favorites. Not gonna lie, I'm jealous that you got to watch it on your cruise! XD

 

Here's to hoping there will be some good movies on my next cruise.

 

Glad you had a good cruise! :)

[legion3]

Breeze was our best overall family cruise to date.

Kids loved the ship.

Tandoor indian food was great.

 

Carnival is bringing back live bands for the lido deck.

Always like carnivals mdr food over ncl.

I also felt the steakhouse on carnival was better than cagny's but not by much. Carnival seemed more formal in style than cagnys.

Italian for lunch was kids fav.

 

Ncl entertainment is better but we do not really sail for that so, except for the supper club show on Escape, that is really a wash.

 

Ncl excells at choices to eat.

 

Thanks for the review. Wish the Breeze was staying in Fl would definitely sail her again.

 

We get Magic which hopefully we be as good.

[watchdiva]

Hey James! Great review....when did you leave NCL? I enjoyed your posts since they came from a unique perspective....

Edited September 22, 2015 by watchdiva

[mommyto3nj]

I have not sailed NCL yet. I have sailed Carnival Splendor and Disney Fantasy. The differences were huge, you just can't beat Disney IMO, HOWEVER, with the price tags Carnival was a fine vacation! I would sail Carnival again!

[bradleyk]

I thought NCL did away with the pizza delivery?

[missintuitive]

I've cruised on the Carnival Pride twice, once leaving from Long beach and the other time from Baltimore. I love that ship. The aft balcony suite was the best! It was just the right size and the food was good! The steakhouse in carnival, David's, is really, really good. The dinner rolls were excellent. I had a cowboy steak and my husband had tuna I believe. We both loved it. We did dress up but it was like date night for us. I've also cruised on smaller ships such as the Fantasy and sensation. The food wasn't great (except the pizza and wok). The worst cruise ship food I ever had was at the comedy brunch on sensation. It was some Mac and cheese with chicken or bacon dish and it was ice cold! Yuck! A young lady came around and asked us how our food was. I told her about the Mac and she said "I'm surprised it was cold" and did little else to alleviate the situation. That was the only time service was subpar. The entertainment is a joke but it's somewhat entertaining to see how amateurish the routines are. You can see the dancers counting in their heads.

 

 

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[clarkg]

I've never done Carnival but have done many NCL cruises. It looks like a dead heat to me.

Entertainment: NCL

Cabin: Carnival

Steakhouse: NCL

MDR: Carnival

Lunch: Carnival

Fellow Passengers: NCL

[mommyto3nj]

I've never done Carnival but have done many NCL cruises. It looks like a dead heat to me.

Entertainment: NCL

Cabin: Carnival

Steakhouse: NCL

MDR: Carnival

Lunch: Carnival

Fellow Passengers: NCL

 

Interesting. Hmm makes it totally up to price for me then. I'm hoping the Breakaway is a bit better than the Splendor though. I'm interested in the Sunshine or Breeze for Carnival.

[legion3]

I've never done Carnival but have done many NCL cruises. It looks like a dead heat to me.

Entertainment: NCL ncl

Cabin: Carnival CARNIVAL

Steakhouse: NCL Carnival ;)

MDR: Carnival Carnival

Lunch: Carnival Carnival

Fellow Passengers: NCL Dead heat ;)

 

Carnival by a nose. :D

Edited September 23, 2015 by legion3

[maywell]

Interesting. Hmm makes it totally up to price for me then. I'm hoping the Breakaway is a bit better than the Splendor though. I'm interested in the Sunshine or Breeze for Carnival.

Breakaway is alot better than Splendor - the poster you quoted and OP are pretty accurate on their assessment of the two lines. I just prefer NCL over Carnival due to better entertainment, more dining variety and passengers; but if price was super cheap from NY like last time, I'll go with them again.

 

 

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Edited September 23, 2015 by maywell

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I've cruised on the Carnival Pride twice, once leaving from Long beach and the other time from Baltimore. I love that ship. The aft balcony suite was the best! It was just the right size and the food was good! The steakhouse in carnival, David's, is really, really good. The dinner rolls were excellent. I had a cowboy steak and my husband had tuna I believe. We both loved it. We did dress up but it was like date night for us. I've also cruised on smaller ships such as the Fantasy and sensation. The food wasn't great (except the pizza and wok). The worst cruise ship food I ever had was at the comedy brunch on sensation. It was some Mac and cheese with chicken or bacon dish and it was ice cold! Yuck! A young lady came around and asked us how our food was. I told her about the Mac and she said "I'm surprised it was cold" and did little else to alleviate the situation. That was the only time service was subpar. The entertainment is a joke but it's somewhat entertaining to see how amateurish the routines are. You can see the dancers counting in their heads.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the remarks about the Pride as I just booked a cruise on her tonight!

 

Glad everyone enjoyed the cruise. Norwegian Epic is next up for me in December.

[moesyk4]

Agree 100%...carnival imo is a very good cruise at a very great price. I loved the food on the breeze and I am slightly obsessed with the cove balcony, one of the most innovative ideas on the seas imo. Entertainment sucked, but i knew that going in.

[setsail1975]

I used to always cruise Carnival, then went over to NCL for many years, then went over to RCCL . We just tried Carnival again on the Victory back in May after not cruising Carnival since'02. We loved it, they really won us overall on the food, room, movies under the stars and faster to the fun was a plus!!! We didn't feel like they had their hand out expecting the passengers to pay for all the little extras. We did sail in a suite for the sailing, only because they called us a couple of weeks before the sailing and offered us an up sell we couldn't pass up.... We have had the Breakaway booked since Feb for us to sail again on in November. We could not get a Family ocean view this time on the BA as they were sold out for our sailing for families of 5, so we had to book 2 balcony cabins and separate my family. We had a cruise reward we needed to use before it expires.

 

We booked back in July for April 2016 on the Breeze. We too booked a deluxe ocean view as we are sailing again as a family of 5. We are looking so forward to the sailing on the Breeze. Looking forward to the 2 bathroom set up..As Carnival certainly exceeded our expectations. I feel after our November sailing on the BA , we may be done with NCL. Too many changes happening, every time I log on to CC I discover some new charge is added and something else is taken away with NCL[emoji57]

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Thanks for the comparison! I'm platinum on Carnival and have gone on one NCL cruise with another booked. Can't wait! :D I decided to try NCL last year because I wanted to try another line and compare (though I have sailed Princess as well). I really enjoyed NCL and purchased a FCC, which I used on my upcoming March cruise on the Epic.

 

For me, entertainment isn't even a factor. I don't usually go to shows (especially when I'm solo--DD enjoys them so I go sometimes when she sails with me) and don't sit by the pool expecting a band. That said, the feedback on NCL's beating out Carnival on entertainment is consistent, and I know that's really important to a lot of people. I do enjoy the movies on deck on Carnival. I'll probably go to more entertainment venues on the Epic, but I'm disappointed the Blue Man Group is no longer with them.

 

The main reason I chose to try NCL was the variety of dining they offer as I'm a bit of a foodie. I LOVED it! I purchased UDP and ate in specialty restaurants every evening. That was SO enjoyable. I do disagree with you about the steakhouses though. I've eaten in Carnival's steakhouse on the Spirit (4 different sailings, so about 8 times), Pride, Legend, and Splendor. We usually eat in the steakhouse twice on a 7-day or longer cruise. And, of course, I've eaten at Cagney's (on the Jade). I personally found the Carnival steakhouses to be better in both food quality and atmosphere. Cagney's was very good, but IMHO Carnival steakhouses are a little bit better. Of course, I'm looking forward to eating at Cagney's on my next cruise. :D

 

In short, it's nice to hear a comparison between the cruise lines from someone who went with an open mind instead of looking for a negative experience on Carnival! Who you sail with is the luck of the draw.

 

Cheers!

[newmexicoNita]

Hey Everyone,

 

I posted this review on Carnival's page but since I'm a 95% cruiser on NCL I figured some people might find it interesting to see how I found Carnival's newest ship vs NCL. If this is not permitted to double post on two pages my apologies to the admin.

 

A few people have asked me to do a review of the Carnival Breeze so I thought I would share a few points. This was my 16th cruise overall and my third Carnival cruise. My two previous Carnival cruises were on the Inspiration and Imagination. While there were positives and negatives, overall I had a great time. I’m going to skip the ports of call on this review as I honestly was so busy leading up to this cruise that I did zero planning ahead of time.

Let me get the only real big negative thing out of the way in my opinion and that is the Carnival Entertainment.

 

Carnival has consistently delivered extremely subpar entertainment as compared to other cruise lines’ standards. They did not have a live band during the shows and instead relied on backtracks. I believe part of the problem is not the fault of the singers and dancers, but instead the poor quality of the sound system. One of their non-musical shows featured a juggler who’s main act was juggling balls then would do a little leg twirl hop to add “style.” I actually felt bad for the guy because he kept dropping balls and the crowd just wasn’t giving him the reaction he had hoped for. I assume Carnival just has a much smaller budget for entertainment and they pay less since, like I said before, the quality doesn’t even come close. I did however highly enjoy the female adult only comedian in the George Lopez Punchliner Lounge.

We watched two new release movies ‘Under the Stars’ on the pool deck, which I found to be quite enjoyable. Carnival provided free popcorn and blankets, which I thought was a nice touch. I’m glad cruise lines have added this feature. Note to Carnival: The Fault in Our Stars is such a depressing movie to show on a cruise!! :D

 

 

 

Cabin and housekeeping:

My friend and I were booked in what I believe is called a deluxe ocean view cabin, cabin number 2246. This was by far the most spacious ocean view cabin I have ever had. Carnival took a page out from Disney Cruise Line and featured two separate bathroom areas. One room had a shower stall, toilet and sink while the second had a bathtub/shower combo and a sink. This saved us plenty of time in the morning since we could both get ready at the same time. For the first time ever I never met our housekeeper over the eight days. I must say that he or she did a wonderful job, was thorough, and of course provided their signature towel animal every day. I was disappointed to see that Carnival didn’t put chocolates on the pillows at night. That was always a nice little treat to come back to. Our room location was fine with me until the last night. You could certainly hear a lot of mechanical noises coming from the theater stage above us and the service door outside or room with the luggage. Overall I thought the cabin was excellent! It’s going to be very hard going back to a cabin with just one shower in the future.

 

 

Restaurants/food including the Steakhouse VS NCL’s Steakhouse.

 

 

I’m a fan of Carnival’s food and I think their melting cake is the best thing on the seven seas. The first night we went to the steakhouse since they had a promotion where you get a complimentary bottle of wine with dinner. I had the French Onion Soup and the Nine ounce Filet while my friend had the surf and turf. Overall our meals were excellent however I think the quality was lower than NCL’s Cagney’s Steakhouse as NCL offers a better menu item variety. We had a Romanian woman as our waitress who was fine but not as polished as some of the other specialty dining restaurant servers I’m accustomed to. Again the meal was tasty I just prefer NCL’s option. We decided we didn’t think it was worth a second visit.

 

 

For the rest of the week we had the Anytime Dining and were assigned to the Blush Restaurant. Throughout the cruise we normally didn’t have trouble getting a window seat, which was pleasant. Even if you eat with just your own group they sure like to push those tables near each other. One night we had about four inches between tables so had an enjoyable conversation with them.

 

NCL has recently improved their main dining menus however I still think Carnival has better food. I enjoyed the variety and the steak that’s always on the menu was better than the NCL option.

 

I LOVE the variety of lunch locations that the Carnival Breeze offered. Guy’s Burgers were always tasty and they have that service down to an art form. We never experienced a long line there and the burgers and fries were always hot and fresh. One of my favorite Carnival offerings is their Wok Station which had the normal selection of veggies with steak, chicken or shellfish. There was normally a line however it was worth the wait. Sometimes you just needed that lunch that didn’t feel heavy and this location delivered. I didn’t make it to the Mexican restaurant for lunch however they offered tasty breakfast burritos and other options in the morning. The station was garnished with a nice selection of salsas and toppings.

 

 

Room service was ordered over the TV which was fun to do but, it’s much quicker just to give them a call. The food quality was subpar compared to the other outlets on board, so I didn’t use it that often, mainly for hot tea at night. NCL has a pizza delivery system where for $5.00 you can order a full size hot and fresh pizza. That service was definitely missed on the Breeze. Carnival did have a 24 hour pizza station on deck 10 which worked for a quick pizza fix.

 

 

The Carnival Breeze is a beautiful ship and if you didn’t know you were on a Carnival ship you would have never guessed you were on one. The glowing neon is gone and replaced with natural tone colors. The Breeze’s atrium is absolutely gorgeous with the glowing lanterns at night. We enjoyed the atrium bar for pre-dinner cocktails and of course people watching. Speaking of cocktails, Carnival, you add way too much mixers to your martinis. If you want a stronger drink and less of a HI-C or fruit juice drink go onto NCL. My lemon drops were yellower than a school bus. I am a big fan of the Fun Ship drink though!

 

We played in the casino every day and had a good experience. We passed 1,500 points so were given a free drink card for the rest of the voyage. Drink service could be slow but I never had a problem finding someone to take my order. I saw two handpays on the first day ($1,400 on a quick hits and $2,000 on Wheel of Fortune $1 machine with a five credit bet) but didn’t see any after that. I ended up earning just shy of 4,000 points and already have free cruise offers from Carnival and I’m writing this from my flight home.

 

I’m trying to put this as politically correct as possible but there was certainly a large group onboard the ship, a family reunion I believe, that probably should have stayed at home. I knew they were going to be trouble from the moment we arrived at the pier since they were already yelling and fighting with each other. In the casino two were smoking in the non-smoking area and a woman politely asked them to not smoke there. The two woman made a comment along the line of “what do you think you’re gonna do to make me?” with a few insults added. It just made the ship at times feel trashy but it certainly didn’t ruin my cruise, just an observation.

 

 

Would I cruise Carnival again? Absolutely! They offer a great value but, I might be a bit pickier with the sailing. Sometimes the cheapest can get you those crowds of people you don’t really want to be hanging out with.

 

Ok to sum it up: Food…great! Ship…great! Service…great! Entertainment..terrible!

 

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them. Happy sailing!

 

Warm Regards,

James

 

Great comparison. It is always informative when someone can objectively review or compare No reviews should be too biased. The worse experience should have some poisitives and visa versa.