Carnival Breeze - 11/13 Sailing - Review by Neophyte Cruiser

[DrHfuhruhurr]

Hey everyone!

 

My wife and I just returned from our 7-day cruise aboard the Carnival Breeze to celebrate our 23-year anniversary. Because this board was very helpful to me as I planned and investigated the cruise, I decided it might be nice to give back by submitting a review of our trip. Unfortunately, I don't have the wealth of photos that lots of reviewers on here seem to have, but I will use what I can. I'm a big user of my GoPro, and I usually pull stills from all of the video we come back with, but I haven't had an opportunity to do that yet. So, all I can offer are the paltry few photos I have on my phone from the trip.

 

First, a Little Background

 

My wife and I are both pretty new to cruising. She took a cruise with her family when she was very young, but otherwise we've only cruised together, and only 3 times (all within the last five years). Our first cruise together was a 3-day cruise on Carnival (don't recall which ship) to Cozumel, Mexico, about five years ago. Our two children were also on this trip, which was a gift from some very close and wonderful friends. Unfortunately, I was sick on this trip right from the outset (fled from the dinner table to the room on the first night, and stayed there for most of the next day), and I did not enjoy it very much. I assumed I had very bad seasickness (since I had never sailed before), but I found out about six months (and -30 lbs) later that I had actually contracted giardia.

 

Anyway, I was not overly eager to go cruising again, but my wife and kids loved it so much that they convinced me to give it another try earlier this year with a 7-day cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Solstice. I brought prescription scopolamine patches on that cruise, but it turned out I didn't need them (as expected). Everything went swimmingly, and we had a great time. So great, in fact, that I immediately booked this Nov. 13th cruise on the Carnival Breeze for an anniversary surprise for my wife (no kids this time!).

 

So, I can't offer a critique backed up by much experience, but I can let you know what I thought of this trip and the Carnival Breeze as a relative noob. Following in the footsteps of other reviews I've enjoyed, I will break this review up into individual days of the trip, followed by an overall conclusion.

 

Pre-Trip

 

Everything that happened pre-trip was pretty great, with the exception of not being able to share my excitement with my wife until about 2 weeks before the cruise. I booked directly through the Carnival website, and I thought the fare was very... well, fair. Later, I learned that I had booked at a promotional price that prevented some of the changes I wanted to make as the cruise drew near, but it wasn't a major issue (I bounced around the ship a few times trying to find the best room for an anniversary cruise, and I was frustrated at one point when I wanted to book a Cove Balcony and Carnival wouldn't let me downgrade from a Spa Balcony--even if I agreed to pay the same price for the Cove).

 

One cool thing that happened pre-cruise was a call from the "upgrade fairy." About three days before I would have likely pulled the trigger and upgraded to a suite on my own (at full price), I got a call at work offering an Ocean Suite upgrade at a reduced price, "to celebrate your anniversary." I thought this was very nice, and I jumped on the deal. It was about $500 less than I was already considering paying online, so it was a no-brainer.

 

One not-so-cool thing that happened was the hold Carnival put on my debit card a full three days before sailing. Money wasn't particularly tight, but I don't like to use my debit card for those sorts of purchases (due to the weird, hold-then-release method of charging against a debit card). My fault for not switching the card out after paying for the cruise fare, I guess, but I assumed I could change cards when I got on the ship and before anything was charged to my account. As it was, we changed cards on the first day (to a regular credit card), but the initial $200 hold stayed on my debit card throughout the entire cruise. Annoying and unexpected, but not a huge deal. I'm pointing it out, though, so others can be prepared.

 

Oh, and I guess another not-so-cool thing was receiving an e-mail the night before departure informing us that our itinerary had been changed, and we would be visiting ports in the opposite order (and at different times). This caused a fair bit of stress, as we had booked all of our excursions through third party companies, but we managed to get it all resolved by the second day at sea (before arriving at any ports). In the future, I guess I will look closer at booking excursions through the ship to avoid this kind of hassle. It's unfortunate, though, because the offerings through the ship were less appealing and more expensive.

 

Day One

 

When the day of departure finally arrived, we were pretty much overwhelmed with excitement. My daughter is 19 years old, and my wife and I had not been on a vacation without kids since before my daughter was born. So, we were a bit jazzed. Since we had upgraded to the OS, we had priority embarkation and didn't worry too much about what time we would get to the port. We arrived at 10:30, and I'm glad we didn't arrive any earlier. We got through all of the lines, got our S&S cards, and were advised the computers were going up and down, so boarding was going to be delayed until at least 12:30. We also received a flyer with further changes to the itinerary, and that was kind of a bummer (1 hour less in Grand Cayman, and further hassle trying to get excursions shifted around).

 

Our very good friends who gifted us our first Carnival cruise were also sailing on this Nov. 13th trip, and we met them just after check-in. They were a group of 14, and together we made a very grand and happy group of 16. However, they did not have priority boarding, and their experience for the rest of Day One made us feel even better (though also pretty guilty) about getting the suite: While we boarded promptly at 12:30, had immediate access to our stateroom and luggage, grabbed lunch, had a nice cocktail, and then relaxed until muster, they waited hours to board and didn't receive their luggage until well after dinner. I don't know what was going on with the ship, but boarding took forever, and there was much grumbling all around.

 

As for our stateroom, it was wonderful. I had pre-purchased a decoration package to celebrate, along with a couple packs of Diet Coke and a pack of water. The water wasn't delivered until I later asked for it at guest services, but everything else about the room was fantastic. Some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we unpacked and settled in a bit, we went to lunch at Cucina del Capitana (per recommendations here on this board), and it was pretty great. Quiet, and utterly dead aside from one other couple. The food wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad. After lunch, we hit up the Red Frog Pub for our first cocktail:

 

 

That location turned out to be one of our favorite locations on the ship--a nice swing right outside the pub. On multiple occasions, we were joined by other cruisers, made friends, and rocked our cares away while the ocean sped by. Our first cocktail was also a highlight because it was one of the better bar experiences we had onboard. We had pre-purchased the Cheers program, but since we were leaving from Texas, it would not kick in until the second day. I was aware of this, and it was no problem, but the sticker shock from two cocktails made me very glad we were not going to be paying as we went (spoiler alert: I did not keep this attitude for very long). Two strong cocktails, $20. And the barman was more than happy to make something he'd never heard of, which was nice.

 

Later in the day, we asked at guest services about ordering soda and water on the Cheers program prior to the second day, and learned that it was not possible. Despite the second-day start date for Cheers being dictated by Texas law, Carnival had no method of accounting for nonalcoholic beverages. One the one hand, I knew we only paid for six days of Cheers, but on the other hand, I was also willing to pay for a day of Bottomless Bubbles or something to get unlimited soda and water on the first day. Carnival was not equipped to do this, and it felt pretty lame. We had just paid $700 for a beverage package, and the unwillingness to make any concessions did not feel like great customer service.

 

Having said that, our primary philosophy for this vacation was that nothing was going to get us down. And, this was just water and soda, after all. We made do with beverages from our room and still had a great time.

 

Dinner on Day One was in the MDR. We had YTD and sat in the Sapphire dining room, lower level. Most of the food was decent, though the Mahi Mahi was kind of disgusting, and we went to bed with full stomachs. Since we were exhausted from getting the trip started, we pretty much crashed in our room after dinner and did not step back out until...

 

Day Two

 

The second day was our first sea day, and we were instantly overwhelmed with choices of how we would spend our day. We decided to hit up the sea day brunch (again, thanks to Cruise Critic recommendations) and were not very disappointed. The food was all quite good, though it was difficult ordering anything from the bar (our waiter did not understand the "Make Your Own Mimosa" option printed on the menu). Though more than satisfied with what we ate, we were disappointed by the level of service (or lack thereof) during this meal, as we never received desserts and had to chase down the team leader ourselves to inquire about drinks ordered that never arrived. Still, we recited our mantra: "This is vacation. Nothing can get us down."

 

After brunch, we wandered the ship, finding all of the little nooks and crannies and discovering all of the things to do onboard. This included the arcade and candy shop, which I took pictures of for our kids, but which otherwise played no part in our kidless anniversary cruise:

 

 

 

One thing that really surprised us was the outdoor pool and activity area. At least compared to the other two ships we have been on, the pools on the Breeze are incredibly small. They look like wading pools for small children, and they are not inviting, at all. We're not big on swimming pools, but we do like to lounge in the shallows with a cocktail, and it was clear this would not be a favored activity for this trip. If we had kids with us and had been looking forward to the pool, I think we would have been quite disappointed.

 

I'm now wondering if we did the spa tour on the first day or the second, and I'm thinking it was probably on the first. Not much to say about that except: 1) the spa is pretty beautiful and feels like it would be very relaxing; 2) the spa treatments are very overpriced; and 3) don't be fooled by the advertised raffle for $500 in spa treatments (it's really four raffles for $50, one raffle for $100, and one raffle for $200). We never ended up using the spa due to the high prices, even though we received a total of $150 in spa vouchers in our room throughout the course of the trip. Carnival required the vouchers to be used individually, so they weren't as helpful as they seemed.

 

Around mid-day on Day Two, we headed back to the Rum Frog Pub for some relaxation and another drink. The barkeep was different this time, and we got the first hints that Cheers is not all it's cracked up to be. My wife ordered the Rum Frog beer (ale?), and thought it was pretty tasty. I, however, met resistance when I tried to order. I asked the barkeep to make me a Journalist, which is a pretty standard cocktail (essentially, a perfect martini, with 1/4 oz of triple sec and 1/4 oz of lemon juice added in). The first surprise was learning that none of the bars on the Breeze stock triple sec anymore, nor do they carry Cuantro, or even Orange Curacao. The only orange liqueur on-board, according to the barkeep, was Patron Citronge. This was fine, as I'm not picky about flavored liqueurs, but it was my first clue that drink options on-board might be more limited than expected.

 

The bigger problem came next, when the barkeep indicated she would make the drink, but was going to charge me a lot for it. "No problem," I told her, "We have Cheers." When she learned that, she refused to make the drink, at all. According to her, it had three shots worth of alcohol in it, so I couldn't use Cheers to get it. I even asked her to make the drink and "charge" my Cheers account for two drinks, but she refused. According to her, Cheers could only be used for "Carnival-approved" cocktails on the pre-printed cocktail menus. I knew this wasn't true, but I repeated our vacation mantra and ordered something off of her bar menu.

 

For the sake of keeping things coherent, I will share the rest of my thoughts on Cheers here, in one place. Those not interested in a Cheers rant should skip down a few paragraphs. ;)

 

Overall, we were disappointed in the Cheers program for the duration of the cruise. While I'm sure we managed to break even, it was by drinking things we weren't necessarily interested in. Barkeeps were, nearly as a rule, resistant to making anything other than what was printed on their bar menus, and that's a real shame. We don't drink a whole lot, but we do really enjoy visiting bars and experiencing a variety of cocktails. On Celebrity, this was no problem, as the barkeeps would make anything we wanted without complaint. On Carnival, we were stuck drinking the limited range of cocktails the barkeeps knew how to make, most originating from a plastic jug and comprised of way more juice and sugar than actual alcohol. The only exception was the Steakhouse bar, which had a wonderful selection of interesting cocktails and an incredibly friendly barkeep who would make anything we asked for (including a simple Journalist). If the Steakhouse bar were open all day, we would have made the effort to get all drinks there. As it was, we managed to hit it a few times, and each was a pleasure.

 

Given our experience on this cruise, I would only recommend Cheers to people who are happy with heavy, juice-based umbrella drinks, wine, or beer. And I would tell those people to expect that most barkeeps don't know many of the details about the Cheers program. During our trip, misinformation was everywhere. I was told, twice, that the per drink limit was $10. I was told, multiple times, that I could not upgrade to a top-shelf liquor. I never had any luck getting large-format water bottles in the MDR. The servers at Bonsai Sushi would not serve us sake by the glass because it "isn't included in Cheers." Etc.

 

I really like the freedom of pre-paying for a drink package, but on Carnival it's just not worth it, to me. It was too difficult to get served, and the selections were poor. Very limited choices of alcohol (particularly for whiskys). Next time, we will pay as we go, for sure.

 

Okay, enough about Cheers (sorry). Dinner on Day Two was formal night in the MDR, and it was, again, fine. I tried the fish again and was disappointed to find that it was, again, pretty gross. The taste was better than the Mahi Mahi from the night before, but the fillet was poorly cleaned and had large chunks of cartilage remaining. Gross. Luckily, I also ordered the lobster, which was delicious, if small (about the size of a jumbo prawn). We ate with our big group of friends on this night, and I'd say 80% of the table ordered the prime rib. It was not a hit.

 

This is a good place to mention that we sat with our friends on multiple nights in the MDR, and I was continuously impressed with how quickly they could accommodate a party of 16 in the MDR (on YTD). We always had to split into two tables near each other, but we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a table to be ready. The servers were very friendly and capable, and other than mediocre food, I have no real complaints about the MDR on the Breeze. I'd say it was on par with Celebrity.

 

We capped the night off with a trip to the comedy club and the night club, after being warned off of the Motown show in the Ovation lounge by our well-traveled friends. The comedy club ended up being our first and only visit, as the entertainment just wasn't enjoyable. The featured comedian was plenty filthy (which I have no problem with), but he just wasn't funny. I'd say a lot of newer comedians need to learn that talking about sex isn't inherently funny. You also need to have something insightful or amusing to actually say about sex.

 

The night club was a fun time, though, and we went to bed relatively satisfied.

Day Three

 

Day Three was Cozumel, thanks to our inverted itinerary. We had reservations at Nachi Cocom (once again, thanks Cruise Critic boards!), and we enjoyed the excursion very much. We had some difficulty when our credit card was blocked for suspicious activity after using the ATM at the pier, but we luckily had enough cash to pay our Nachi Cocom balance (but sadly not enough to pay for any of our planned activities, like snorkling or massage). Nachi Cocom is a wonderful little place, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quiet and affordable beach spot.

 

Once we were back on the ship, we stopped by Guy's Burgers for a quick bite to eat. We were looking forward to it, based on the rave reviews it gets, though we had our expectations in check. All things considered, I think it's good eats. A step above your average fast food burger, and a step below something like Five Guys (and several steps below a really impressive burger or something homemade). Very good for free, cruise ship food, and leagues better than anything we had eaten in the MDR at that point.

 

For dinner, we went to Cucina del Capitano to check out what was different at dinner. For $15 per person, we were very, very pleased. The service was outstanding, the atmosphere is great, and the food was some of the best we had on the ship (better than anything for the entire week aside from the steakhouse). The tiramisu was the best I've had at any venue, and I'm still sort of craving it now. It was wonderful.

 

 

 

 

We closed out the night with a trip to the Ovation Theater to watch a magic/comedy show called "Two Men without Assistance." Once again, we found the entertainment lacking. Some of the magic tricks fizzled and didn't work properly, which is forgivable, but the main problem was the show was dull. Very boring and not fun to watch. We left the theater when it was over wondering if there were any good nighttime entertainment options on Carnival (spoiler alert: There aren't).

 

When we got back to the room, we discovered our aforementioned $50 spa gift card from our room steward, which was a nice touch. There was also a plate of sweets that were very delicious (try as I might, I never could locate those cookies on the ship again--they were sort of like crisp shortbread cookies sandwiching hazelnut spread).

 

Day Four

 

Day Four was Grand Cayman, which was a tender port. We were advised the day before to head to the Sapphire dining room for priority tendering, and the service did not disappoint. I would have hated to get up early to go to the Limelight Lounge for tender tickets, and the process of exiting the ship was swift and well-organized. Props, Carnival!

 

For Grand Cayman, we took a jetski excursion through discountexcursions.com that visited three of the big draws in GC: stingrays, starfish, and snorkeling on Rum Reef. Very good day and a great excursion. Tip for those new to jetskis (like me): Bring goggles. The salt spray is killer on the eyeballs.

 

We didn't have any major ship activities on Day Four. We were tired when we got back, so we grabbed some tacos at the Blue Iguana (delicious) and chilled on the deck. Despite the number of people on-board and the size of the ship, we were pleased to find throughout our cruise that places to relax weren't hard to find. The Serenity deck was nice, and the rest of the ship was not so crowded that chairs were hard to wrangle. It's a nice ship, and it easily supported and dispersed the crowds on our trip.

 

Dinner on Day Four was in the Steakhouse, and it was wonderful. Some of the best steak I've had on vacation, including on Celebrity in its specialty restaurants (with the sole exception of the Chateaubriand in the Tuscan restaurant on the Solstice). Dessert was a little limited in the Steakhouse, surprisingly, but if you like cheesecake, ice cream, or chocolate, you will be pleased.

 

After dinner, we met our friends for some party/board games in the Library Bar. It's a nice venue, but the name is very misleading. There really isn't a tended bar there. One of the rooms offers wine via enomatic dispensers, but the actual bar is unmanned and unstocked. This was disappointing, because it is one of the few quiet places on the ship to hang out with a group after sunset. We tried calling guest services at one point to ask if one of the roaming servers could be sent up to the Library Bar for a round of drinks, but no luck. If you want a drink in the Library Bar, you need to trek downstairs to the Atrium bar, or upstairs to the Rum Frog Pub. Neither is close enough (especially if you're on Cheers and can't order a double to enable fewer trips).

 

Another issue with the Library Bar (which we frequented most nights) was most of the areas were often taken up by Carnival wedding staff and their guests. There were a few weddings on board during our trip, which is wonderful and romantic, but it was very frustrating that one of the nicer and quieter venues on board was continuously co-opted by Carnival staff. Between the two rooms, there was one lounge area with some couches, and two large tables with chairs. On many occasions, none would be usable due to parties meeting with Carnival staff to plan wedding activities or view wedding photos. Surely Carnival has actual offices they could use for this purpose, rather than impacting other guests? Perhaps the future cruise office, which is closed at night, anyway?

 

Day Five

 

Our fifth day found us in Jamaica. The itinerary for Jamaica said Montego Bay, as it had from the beginning, but we found the port situation in Jamaica very confusing. Before the cruise, we booked a tour at Hampden Estates Rum Distillery and arranged for transportation from the port through Hampden. They needed to know what port we were arriving at, so I called Carnival to ask for the specific port name. I was told "Falmouth port," which was pretty close to Hampden Estate. Since our itinerary had changed before departure, I spoke with guest services the night before Jamaica to find out if we were still going to Falmouth port. I was told we were going to Montego Bay port and had never been going to Falmouth port in the first place, regardless of what I was told.

 

I kept our vacation mantra in mind, of course, but I was pretty worried when we left the ship we would not have transportation waiting. Luckily, we did, and everything went smoothly. I'm still confused about what port we actually docked at, though. From the map, it certainly wasn't on the far west side of the island, which is where I think Montego Bay port is, but I kept being told it wasn't Falmouth. Our friends and their group of 14 were also confused, because they had been planning a walk to Doctor's Beach, which they said was near MB port, but nowhere near where we ended up.

 

At any rate, our day went well, and I enjoyed Jamaica more than I thought I would. The port itself is pretty gross and didn't bode well for the rest of the day, but once we were in our private cab, I loved the sights and the journey to our destination (about 40 minutes out into the wilds). The distillery tour was enlightening, and the included jerk chicken lunch was wonderful.

 

Once back on the ship, we prepped for another dinner with friends in the MDR. This particular dinner was better than most in the MDR. I had ordered a cake to be delivered for dessert, and the waitstaff was wonderful and very celebratory throughout. When it came time to order entrees, in fact, they informed my wife and I that guest services had told them we could order from the steakhouse selections portion of the menu free of charge. I thought that was a very nice gesture, completely unnecessary, but very welcome. We felt guilty eating steak and lobster while our friends were stuck with the MDR menu, but their food didn't look half-bad, either. (I did try a bit of the short rib off the MDR menu, though, and it did not come anywhere near the short rib from Cucina del Capitano, pictured above).

 

 

Days Six & Seven

 

The remaining two days of our cruise were both sea days, so I'm lumping them here together. Much of what I've already said applies to these days, too. Cheers continued to hinder our drinking game, the MDR continued to be mediocre, and the nighttime entertainment continued to disappoint. Having said all of that, I want to stress that we were still having a pretty great time. There were often little things that gave us the impression that Carnival is really trying to save money at the expense of its guests, but these were outweighed by the occasional gestures made by room stewards, waitstaff, etc., that struck us as pretty wonderful. I'd say we got just enough pampering to make us forgive the tiny things that went wrong, or the areas where we felt a bit fleeced (like Cheers).

 

All things considered, the only major issue we had with the ship was the entertainment. When first boarding, we were struck by how many different options there were for entertainment and things to do (especially compared to the relatively languid Celebrity Solstice), but by the end of the trip, we realized that the nighttime entertainment was a huge piece of the puzzle that makes a big difference. Celebrity may not have had a lot of entertainment options, especially for kids, but they did have really amazing shows each night. Magicians, singers, comedians, etc. that I would pay money to go see in a venue on land. They even had a crazy Cirque du Soleil-type show that blew our socks off--especially when it was performed during rocky seas.

 

Carnival, by comparison, had flea-circus level entertainment. Often boring and usually downright bad. The big production numbers vacillated between obvious lip-syncing and downright awful vocals. The comedy was unfunny, and I imagine offensive to some (when the comedian singles out a mom and her two kids to talk about mom's orgasms, it can get a bit uncomfortable). After 2 or 3 attempts, we just didn't bother going to the shows anymore, and we felt their absence. Carnival really needs to step it up in this area if they want us to cruise with them often. (Caveat: We did not see every show. Other shows may have been better. Other comedians may have been funny. Other magic tricks may have worked. Etc.)

 

I don't want to end on a sour note, though. So, I will end by highlighting two things I really enjoyed about our final two sea days. First, Tandoor. I really regret that we waiting until the tail-end of our cruise to try the wonderful Indian food at Tandoor. We live near Houston, so we don't really lack for good, authentic Indian food. However, it's always nice to eat good Indian food, and Tandoor was much, much better than I expected. One of the best meals we had on the ship, hands down. Highly recommended! (The chocolate bar on the last sea day was also a very welcome plate of food).

 

The second, and more important, thing that really stood out to me on our last days at sea was the genuine nature of the people on board, both crew and passengers. This isn't really limited to Carnival, but I've heard a lot of people complain that Carnival is just a booze cruise with a bunch of raucous people on board. There is certainly some of that (the pool area is much too loud for my taste in the middle of the day), but it's not a true representation of the crowd on our cruise. People are generally very friendly, very open, and eager to help everyone else have a good time. My wife and I enjoy getting together with others to play board games, and I was pleasantly surprised to find so many like-minded people on board each day. There was usually a game to join or someone looking to join a game whenever we stopped by the Rum Frog Pub. And while sitting at a bar our lounging on the deck, we met many people who were keen to strike up conversations and share a good time.

 

I would definitely cruise Carnival again, even if I would make some changes about how I did it. I hope this review hasn't been too long or too scattershot. I don't really "review" things generally.

 

Happy Cruising!!

Edited November 23, 2016 by DrHfuhruhurr
Trying to fix photos

[DrHfuhruhurr]

Hmm... If anyone knows how I can fix those image links, please let me know. I can't seem to figure it out.

[Clarea]

Hmm... If anyone knows how I can fix those image links, please let me know. I can't seem to figure it out.

It looks like you are linking to a site that is banned by Cruise Critic. Possibly a site that is associated with a travel agent?

 

You could move the photos to another site, such as FlickR or Photobucket.

[DrHfuhruhurr]

It looks like you are linking to a site that is banned by Cruise Critic. Possibly a site that is associated with a travel agent?

 

You could move the photos to another site, such as FlickR or Photobucket.

 

Ah, thanks for the tip. They're hosted on imgur right now... should've used Photobucket.

 

The system is saying I can no longer edit my post at this point, so I'm not sure I can fix it. Sorry.

[sid_9169]

Thanks for the review... With regard to the problems you had with the Cheers program, I would have definitely taken this up with the Beverage Manager. The terms and conditions are plainly spelled out (drink maximum $50) I would have had an issue if the bartender told me I couldn't get a "top shelf" drink, when it is clearly included...

[easyboy]

Thanks for your objective review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Clarea]

Ah, thanks for the tip. They're hosted on imgur right now... should've used Photobucket.

 

The system is saying I can no longer edit my post at this point, so I'm not sure I can fix it. Sorry.

No problem, still able to read the excellent review.:)

[canadaman111]

Thanks for the review!!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[tandemcruzr]

Ah, thanks for the tip. They're hosted on imgur right now... should've used Photobucket.

 

The system is saying I can no longer edit my post at this point, so I'm not sure I can fix it. Sorry.

 

Enjoyed your review. You were told wrong about top shelf liquor. Cheers covers drinks up to $50 (but not more than one shot at a time.)

 

For photos, can you try to post them to Photobucket and post a link to your entire photo album?

Edited November 24, 2016 by tandemcruzr

[vipteam]

Enjoyed reading such a well-balanced review, and glad the two of you had a good time overall. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

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[JaniceB]

Thank you for your review. I sure hope I don't have the problems you had with the cheers program. I do know that the Carnival classics menu had a long island ice tea that has more than one shot of liquor. I assume it is still on the menu and that it is covered by the cheers program.

[DrHfuhruhurr]

Thank you for your review. I sure hope I don't have the problems you had with the cheers program. I do know that the Carnival classics menu had a long island ice tea that has more than one shot of liquor. I assume it is still on the menu and that it is covered by the cheers program.

 

 

Long Island Ice Tea wasn't a problem, so you should be fine. My impression was that barkeeps just didn't want to make drinks they were unfamiliar with. Which is bad bar tending.

 

As someone suggested, I probably could have gotten some response by taking the issue to the beverage manager. But, we were on vacation, and bad barkeeps were not going to get me down. I'd rather not make a big stink when I'm trying to relax.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[JaniceB]

Good to hear and a great attitude to have when on vacation.

[FireboltAg]

I was on the same sailing as you OP. I agree the red frog pub was a good place to hang out and became my favorite spot. (Other than the gym and serenity deck that's where I spent my free time on the boat)

 

In my opinion Guys burgers was tasty, but they told us the first day how many calories were in it so it ruined it for me haha.

 

Boat got a little rocky the last couple sea days with all the wind - but I enjoyed the Breeze. Beautiful ship.

[DrHfuhruhurr]

I was on the same sailing as you OP. I agree the red frog pub was a good place to hang out and became my favorite spot. (Other than the gym and serenity deck that's where I spent my free time on the boat)

 

In my opinion Guys burgers was tasty, but they told us the first day how many calories were in it so it ruined it for me haha.

 

Boat got a little rocky the last couple sea days with all the wind - but I enjoyed the Breeze. Beautiful ship.

 

How funny! I guess we were at the spa raffle at the same time--the reported calories for the Guys Burger were absurd, and we joked about it multiple times after that.

 

For those who weren't there, according to the trainer in the gym, a standard Guy's burger--for just the bun, the meat, and the cheese (i.e., the "straight-up" burger)--was 2,600 calories! I'm not huge into fitness and nutrition, but I am a notorious calorie-counter, and I'm calling donkey-sauce on that calorie claim.

Let's just do the math:

 

- Guy's claims to be 80/20 beef, so that's the easy part. Carnival has also previously "shared" a recipe for the "straight-up" burger online, which is the same recipe Guy Fieri posts at Food Network. Based on that recipe, each patty is 1/2 lb of ground beef. Now, having had a few of these on this trip, I really don't think Guy's is serving up 1/2 lb of ground beef per patty, to each customer. The patties being served up on Carnival are no more than 1/4 lb. But, let's be generous and say they are giving each guest half a pound a beef. That's 560 calories.

 

- Next, the cheese. The published recipe calls for two slices of cheddar cheese and also a dollop of SMC sauce. Now, the SMC recipe is actually a sauce, in every sense of the word--made with butter, more cheese, flour, milk, etc. So the burger is supposed to have 2 slices of cheese and then a spoonful of thick sauce. This is, again, not what I experienced on Carnival. From what I could tell by watching them being cooked, the SMC on carnival is a square block of cheddar cheese, topped with a single slice of cheddar, then melted on the griddle. But, in the interest of being as outrageous as possible, let's adopt the 2 slice + sauce recipe published by Guy (and republished by Carnival). Total calories for the two slices of cheese = 160. Total calories for the SMC (sauce version) = 189. Thus, total cheese = 349 calories.

 

- The only thing left is the bread. Bread can vary a lot, based on brand, but Guy's recipe calls for a Brioche hamburger bun. Let's say, at the outside, such a bun is going to cost you 350 calories. Max.

 

Adding those three things together, (560 + 349 + 350) we come up with a not-too-healthy calorie total of 1,259. Before any toppings are added. So, yeah, I think the claim of 2,600 calories for just the plain, straight-up burger, is completely bogus. Intended to scare everyone onto the treadmills.

 

Some might suggest preparation of the burger could add some calories, and that's true. There's probably some oil used on the griddle, and I'm sure the buns are buttered. But still. You'd need to melt almost two entire sticks of butter, and soak all of that butter up into the bun--without losing a drop--to push a single-patty, straight-up burger into the 2500+ calories level. It's just not happening.

 

I'd wager a double-patty Guy's burger, with a fair bit of bacon on top, plus mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, all the fixings, plus 2-3 tbsp of mayo/sauce of your choice, is going to clock in somewhere around 800-1,200 calories. tops. It's still not the healthiest thing you can eat, but it's not the freakshow suggested by the Carnival fitness team. ;)

 

And this is how I justified eating three of them over the course of the week. (And let's not talk about the fries, which is really where the danger is).

[FireboltAg]

Ha ha, yup we must have been. I was the rather large guy sitting on the treadmill right next to the drawing. So I didn't need a guy burger anyway. lol.

 

I did think it was scare tactics especially the part where they said people could gain up to 14 lbs on a cruise. In 7 days? You'd have to eat 3500 calories MORE than you normally do PER DAY to do that.

 

I still went to town on some of Jimmy's Sea Side BBQ though.

Edited November 29, 2016 by FireboltAg

[DrHfuhruhurr]

Ha ha, yup we must have been. I was the rather large guy sitting on the treadmill right next to the drawing. So I didn't need a guy burger anyway. lol.

 

I did think it was scare tactics especially the part where they said people could gain up to 14 lbs on a cruise. In 7 days? You'd have to eat 3500 calories MORE than you normally do PER DAY to do that.

 

I still went to town on some of Jimmy's Sea Side BBQ though.

 

Yep, I ate and drank pretty freely, and I was happy to come home only 3lbs heavier. And I think most of that was retained water (due to the alcohol). I was back to normal within a week.

 

...and then Thanksgiving happened...

[JaniceB]

Who does calorie counting on vacation:D.

[Jamericannn]

All this Guys Burger talk just making me hungry. I don't care if it has 2,600 or 5,200 calories. All I care about is that it is well-prepared and tasty. lol

[TxCruiseGuy]

Thanks for the great review! Sorry to hear about the cheers program...have sailed Triumph, Liberty, and Freedom with it and only met resistance with one order (tried to go top shelf on every liquor in the drink...was not surprised when told no). Almost always ordered off menu at Alchemy with no issues.

 

As for the calories...still has me craving a Guy's burger haha

[DrHfuhruhurr]

I wish there was an Alchemy bar on the Breeze. I would have enjoyed ordering off that menu!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[scuddles]

Thanks for such a thoroughly good review. We will be on the Breeze in 42 days!:) Thought long and hard about Cheers but we also like premium and decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I figured bringing our own mixes and purchasing through Fun Shops would be a better deal and we wouldn't have to hassle a bartender that was difficult. Now I did budget for the first day/night and a few drinks each evening in the MDR. Glad you had a good time.