Carnival Breeze review 03/26 - 04/03

[applegam]

Hello everyone, just off the Breeze and thought I would give a review of our observations. There are tons of reviews out there with pictures and stuff, so here are some of the things that stood out to us on our cruise.

 

Pre-stay at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami. Location, location, location. That sums it up. We booked it for the Friday night before the Saturday departure. Luckily , we missed the Ultra Music Festival this year. We were on the same cruise last year, and were 2 miles away at a Marriott and still heard it. It would have been across the street from this Holiday Inn. So - if you are booking a cruise for the last week of March / first week of April do check out the dates if you want to get any sleep at all. Now, as I said this hotel is about location. It was pretty prices, over $300. Across the street is Bayside Market place. Tons to do there, places to eat and such. One block to the right is a CVS which is nice if you forget anything, and one block behind is a McDonalds which is nice for a cheap breakfast before leaving. But, location is about all this place has going for it. Our room was small, and had not seen an update since the 80's. Lost of rust in the bathroom too. So, take that for what it is. If we cruise next year out of Miami, I'd probably take somewhere out a bit farther from the port that is a little cheaper.

 

OK - now the boat. Nothing new to us here really. We were on the Breeze this time last year, and in the SAME cabin - 2258 which is a cove balcony. We love this room, yes there is some noise from the ovation theater if you go to bed early but that's about it. It's right by the elevators, but no noise from above and lots of shade.

 

Here it the part that really surprised me. Going into this cruise, we had 23 nights with Carnival. So, during this cruise we would turn Gold. I think that I had read on here that it would apply to our NEXT cruise. Nope. Gold cards printed out at check in. So, that was cool. But here is that part I was not expecting. Perhaps there are those of you out there that are gold, platinum or diamond that are use to this, but we were not. Fist night, room services showed up with a fruit basket for us. OK - was not sure what to make of that at first. Next night, chocolate covered strawberries, then a $50 gift card to the spa and other goodies. Maybe this is normal, but was new to us. Thought this was a nice touch.

 

For the ports, nothing new really except for one. St. Maarten. I'll probably leave a review in more detail on that port page here on CC. We did an independent booking with Robinson Speed Boat tours. Lots of reviews out there for them. I was hoping this would be the highlight of our cruise - but no. It was a bit windy we noticed when we arrived, and make the 10 minute walk to their pier. Right when we got there, they directed us to one of their workers to "update us" on the situation. Apparently, it was too rough of seas to do the entire tour be would still offer us several beach stops, lunch, and the Macko (sp) beach stop to see the planes land. However, since it was not the normal tour, they still offered us a full refund if we wanted. What to do? It's a pricy tour, $109 a person (4 of us)for 6 hours. But, with no back-up plan we still decided to go. Waited around for about 20 minutes longer then they came back to us. Cancelled. :-( Right then and there I told my wife I would be giving them a great review. They were upfront with us the whole time, and given the conditions cancelled for safety. We got a full refund, including the %20 I had put down back in last July. Apparently there are some negative reviews out there due to this? I have no idea why. If we ever go back to St. Maarten, I would book them with no hesitation at all! We ended up walking back to the cruise port, took a taxi to Orient beach and had a great day. Not what we had expected, but good non the less.

 

Otherwise, the shows had not really change that much since last year. That was kind of depressing. Chair hogs - out in full force! On sea days, I would get out there at 7:00 AM and find all of deck 12 along the sides taken. I swear these people must get up at 6:00 AM, put their crap out on the chairs and go back to sleep because I didn't see any of them until 10:00 AM.

 

So, there you have it. We had a great cruise. The bad part - came home today to 3 inches of snow!

Edited April 5, 2016 by applegam

[BigBrust]

Interested to read your thoughts- was on same cruise!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[shellsd]

we were on this cruise too. Having a hard time adjusting back to reality! :)

[applegam]

we were on this cruise too. Having a hard time adjusting back to reality! :)

 

Amen!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise and thank you for your report.

 

Keith

[Zevo]

That's a shame your excursion was cancelled. Next time your in St. Marteen, check out Soualiga Destination. They have a really great swim and snorkel tour.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Zevo

[BrotherCraig]

Great to hear it was a great cruise. Not sure why anyone would tell you would be Gold next cruise. Sorry that someone told you differently. I believe most here on CC knows that you would turn Gold on the cruise. Will be on the Breeze for the first time in Sept and cannot wait so thank you for the quick review. Did you ever find out why you got the gifts? That is a great touch for sure.

[cruisinsly]

Thank you for your review!

[JaniceB]

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

[djkoz]

On our last cruise the chair hogs were out in full force. If you see chairs that have not been occupied for the posted times simply find an employee, explain the situation, and they will take the abandoned belongings to the towel hut. When the chair hogs returned they were not happy but the others nearby and the employees backed us up.