Just off the CARNIVAL BREEZE from Port Canaveral. Here's My Review.

[Cruisin_Husker]

REVIEW OF THE CARNIVAL BREEZE SEPT 30 - OCT 6

I just returned from the Breeze's inaugural sailing from Port Canaveral (Sept 30 - October 6, 2018). Here's my review with my respective grades on an A-F basis: (note my review has to be posted in multiple posts due to limits imposed by cruise critic on individual posts):

 

EMBARKATION Grade A

 

Arrival at the Port/terminal facilities: We arrived about 1030 am after parking in a commercial lot in Cocoa Beach. The Port itself is very busy but once inside the terminal, the new Carnival check-in process (this is the 2nd cruise we've been on that carnival has used it as the more traditional method of getting your key card at the counter) where they scan your passport upon entering the terminal is slick and flawless. My bottle of wine and case of Pepsi sailed through without any problem and no corkage fee on the wine! We waited in the platinum lounge which was well stocked with coffee and snacks. We began boarding about 1110 which was quick and easy. There are vending machines in the terminal inside the secure area that are reasonable (snacks $1.25 and sodas $2) so you can take your drink / snacks on board.

VFIP BENEFITS (PLATINUM & GOLD) Grade B:

We continue to think the platinum benefits on NCL are better, but the benefits on Carnival aren't bad either. We especially enjoy access to your cabin upon boarding for Platinum and Diamond guests. I never have been able to figure out why the free drink coupon for Platinum members has to be redeemed in the MDR during bfast, brunch, or lunch and Gold members can redeem it anywhere on the ship during the last evening. Here's the benefits.

 

Platinum & Diamond Party: Grade A. One of the best past guest receptions going on the seven seas. The free drinks were plentiful and the appetizers were excellent which included fresh Sushi. Well done Carnival!

[Cruisin_Husker]

THE SHIP

 

Overall; Grade B. The ship itself was well maintained and easy to navigate. Some of the lines can get long during peak times at some of the food areas, but overall passenger flow was good, staff was friendly and professional, and the ship was well maintained and clean. Some specific comments:

 

CABINS: Grade B. We had an inside cabin on deck 6. Overall very good. The bathrooms were large and the shower worked well and beds were very comfortable with plenty of storage space.

TV:. Grade F (for Republicans) Grade D (for Democrats). The TV remote was horrendous--most of the time it was unresponsive, or you would press the channel button 3-4x with no response then 5 seconds later the TV would change several channels at once. The menu interface is the older Carnival one without account access and your pictures like on the Vista class. The choice of channels leaves conservatives with a migraine after having to watch a week of CNN as your only news choice. (There is Headline News to watch in the morning which is good) Not sure when Carnival did away with its networks (abc, CBS, nbc) but they are sorely missed. While they have TBS and TNT, they're not live versions from what I could tell--for example the baseball playoff was airing on TBS but the TBS channel in the cabins was showing a movie of some sort (the sports bar also did not have the game on). The breeze also did not have the “sport 24” channel that is on the Vista class (which shows mostly soccer but did also show nfl games).

 

[Cruisin_Husker]

Gym / track: grade B. The track goes around the back of the ship to about mid ship. 7 times around is one mile. It was rarely crowded but very windy most of the time. The gym was one of the larger gyms I’ve seen and had plenty of equipment that was well maintained and rarely busy in the morning (the photo was taken at 7am on a port day)

[Cruisin_Husker]

FOOD

Overall Grade A. Overall I think Carnival has excellent food offerings. Their lunch offerings and variety are the best at sea in my opinion and the evening dinners are on par with all the other cruise operators. Specific venues:

 

GUYS PIG & ANCHOR BBQ: Grade A. I began my “floating buffet” on embarkation day (as my brother likes to call it who is not a cruiser) by visiting the pig and anchor on deck 5 which opens at 1130 on embarkation day. The food was excellent and may be the best BBQ at sea. The cole slaw and potato salad were underwhelming--they were still thawing out from either the freezer or a very cold refrigerator. (I made a second trip around 230 for 2nd helping of the beef brisket and chicken--they’re that good! NOTE:. PIG and anchor is only open on embarkation and sea days. The ones on embarkation day were short, the first sea day the lines were moderate, but by the last sea day the lines were VERY LONG so go early.

 

GUYS BURGER JOINT: Grade A. I then headed up to guys burger joint after BBQ on embarkation day. It was not too crowded yet and was quickly served what I consider the best burgers being served on the seven seas. The lines were generally longest when it first opened each day but quickly become short because of how efficient the burgers are served.

 

[Cruisin_Husker]

GARDEN BUFFET: Grade C. On embarkation day, after BBQ and a burger, I then meet my wife in the garden buffet and sampled several items which were all hot. The line at the first buffet line after entering from the pool area was moderate to long, but the best kept secret is to keep walking to the aft buffet because no one was there and no lines. I give the garden buffet a grade of C for two primary reasons: 1. The lines tend to get long at peak times; and 2. The breakfast does not open until 7:30 on sea days which is late for early risers leading to a big line right at 7:30 when it does open. The lines on port days when it opens at 7:00 were non-existent. It generally started getting busy around 8:00. Otherwise the food is on par with other cruise lines.

 

DELI. Grade B. The sandwiches are good and freshly made to your liking which would have received a grade of A except I downgraded because the service can be described in three words: SLOW, SLOWER, and SLOWEST.

 

MONGOLIAN WOK: Grade A. Great mongolian / Asian food and fast service despite normally long lines.

 

PIZZA: Grade B. The pizza on Carnival is very tasty--fresh made in a wood fired grill. Lines can be a bit long at peak times but it’s open 24x7.

 

BLUE IGUANA. Grade A. Another great Tex-Mex option with great tacos, burritos, and taco bowls. You can get shrimp tacos as well (although shrimp is not listed on the taco side it is available on the burrito side). Lines for the tacos are normally short and fast but the line on the side for the burrito / salad bowl can get long during peak times.

 

REDFROG PUB. Grade C on this ship (On the Vista I would give it an A) My wife and I headed to the redfrog pub on deck 5 hoping it had half off happy hour on embarkation and port days like the redfrog on Carnival Vista did. Much to our chagrin and disappointment, no such luck on the breeze. Further disappointing was the lack of self serve beer taps like the Vista. If you want to drink Redfrog beer it looked like it would be at full price the entire cruise--bummer! Also, they only served the red variety (not the IPA, wheat, etc as served on Vista)

[sanmarcosman]

" Frozen Scratch Made Slaw " ugh

[Cruisin_Husker]

MAIN DINING ROOM (MDR): I normally ask the waiter each evening what their best appetizer and entree are and 9 times out of 10 their recommendations are spot on. Most of the items below that I had were the waiter’s recommendations:

 

Day 1: swordfish (port of call entree) grade A. I'm normally a mild white fish guy, eg talapia,etc but this swordfish with a mango type relish was excellent. A couple of our table ate who had it said the same thing.

 

DAY 2. Caribbean Pepper Pot (Port of call entree) Grade B. It had very good flavor and mix of peppers and the strips of beef were good and mostly tender.

 

[Cruisin_Husker]

Day 3 (First elegant night): Prime Rib (Grade D) and Lobster (Grade A). The lobster was excellent but the prime rib (medium rare) was just so-so. It was a bit dry and tough and not nearly as good as other times on carnival.

 

Day 4: tilapia and port of call entree (la bandera) and appetizer (mangu) grade A. Both the Tilapia and La Bandera were excellent. The appetizer I had never tried before and it was also outstanding.

 

Day 5: (I forgot to take a picture of the menu--sorry!). Grade A. This was the other “cruise elegant” aka formal night. The waiter recommended the stuffed mushrooms and salmon cake for the appetizers and the filet and the jumbo shrimp for the entrees. I ordered all four and they were all excellent. Being a “corn-fed” husker from Nebraska that knows good steak, the filet was very good. While not the best filet I've ever had it was still tender juicy and seasoned just right. I highly recommend all these items.

 

Day 6: Prime Rib Grade A. This time, the prime rib was just how you would want it in a fine steak house--outstanding.

[Cruisin_Husker]

PORTS OF CALL

I won't spend much time on the ports for two reasons: there are plenty of separate port reviews on this site and two, my wife and I are at the point where we typically enjoy staying onboard during port calls. We have done many of the excursions when our kids cruised with us but now enjoy the peace and tranquility of having the ship to ourselves (which means we're getting old!)

 

Port of Nassau: Grade A We've been to Nassau many times and normally stay on the ship now Nassau has something for nearly everyone. We have thoroughly enjoyed the blue lagoon island to swim with the dolphins and have heard great things about the private island excursions from dinner mates and friends.

 

Amber Cove Dominican republic. Grade B. This is our first time we have been here. We got off to walk around and it's a beautiful facility with plenty of activities right at the port but it's not cheap (as you can see from the picture). Food and beers are tourist type prices for a private island.

 

Grand Turk: grade A. We always liked Grand Turk and it was always one of our favorites with our kids because of the fantastic snorkeling in crystal clear blue water literally right off the ship. We visited Grand Turk two weeks ago on the Vista and I'm not sure what the issue was but the water looked like it was straight out of a retention pond for three mile island! This visit though it was back to the beautiful Crystal clear blue green water we always remembered. Grand Turk has about everything you could want to do and the ship docks almost on top of the beach. Great stop.

[Cruisin_Husker]

FUN TIMES DAILYS

DAY 1: EMBARKATION DAY

Day 2: NASSAU

 

[Cruisin_Husker]

DAY 3: SEA DAY

 

 

DAY 4: AMBER COVE, DR

 

[Cruisin_Husker]

DAY 5 LAST SEA DAY:

[Cruisin_Husker]

ENTERTAINMENT

Overall grade C. Overall the entertainment was just average. One of the nights, the only real entertainment option, other than live music, was the Hasbro game show. There was no production shows nor comedy. The three production shows onboard were somewhat repetitive and just average. The comedy shows could have been better spread out across the nights. On the upside, everything we attended started promptly on time. Here’s the weeks lineup:

 

Cruise director Schwarz:. Grade A. The CD plays a key role in setting the "vibe" for the ship if you ask me and Schwarz did a great job. He's a younger guy that really did a nice job keeping the energy level up, was enthusiastic, articulate and seemed to like his job and genuinely likes interacting with the passengers.

 

Violin classics with sky breeze: grade A. A violin trio that plays modern hits on violin accompanied by recorded music. They play in the evenings in the atrium and were excellent.

 

Clue: Grade B (for families) Grade D (for everyone else) Based on the board game clue, on the first night all the suspects (Mr Green, Ms peacock, colonel mustard etc) explain why they couldn't have been the one to commit the murder. The passengers are then to gather clues the rest of the cruise to figure out “who dunit” on the last night. I only saw one other event advertised to get a clue so if you do choose to participate, you have to pay close attention during the week where to get clues. I attended the last day (right before Bingo) when the murder was solved and from the hands that went up of passengers that participated, there were not a lot of passengers that partook during the week.

 

60 minutes to win it: grade F. Many of you have probably seen this show where contestants have to complete tasks in 60 seco day or less but this was not that show. Instead it was two members of the fun squad leading various contests between two teams comprised of passengers. I'm not sure why the scheduled activity did not take place

 

Showtime motor city: grade B. While a somewhat “typical” carnival dance and singing production show, this show was actually pretty good--it was high energy, and got the audience involved in singing clapping etc. If you like R&B hits from the 60s 70s and 80s you'll like the show. The pre-show activities, which started 15 minutes before Showtime, were entertaining too. Then the end of the show “spills over” into the atrium for a final two songs and passenger dancing etc. It was a good time and recommended. I liked it the best of the three showtime shows.

 

Showtime 88 keys the rock n’ roll piano show:. Grade C. This show was billed as a piano centric show with all your rock n roll favorite piano tunes. Instead it was just another dancer and singer production show. Most of the time you couldn’t even hear the piano! (And it was all pre recorded music--not live piano). Somewhat disappointing and not near as good as the motor city show.

 

Showtime Flick:. Grade B. Very similar to the other two Showtime productions with only different music and backdrops. Of the three shows, this might have been the most entertaining from a special effects standpoint with more lasers etc. and a neat routine where a female dancer has this large scarf floating around the stage while dancing.

 

Hasbro the game show. Grade A (for families). This show is a lot of fun--especially for families with smaller kids. Two teams (teams are kids with one adult captains) compete in various Hasbro games on stage. Some of the kids say some really funny things and it's a fun one hour show

 

Dive in movies on the pool deck:. Grade A. On nice evenings it doesn't get much better sitting outside eating fresh popped popcorn (at the redfrog bar) and watching relatively new release movies. The breeze would show a matinee on port days and two in the evening at 7 and 930. All the chairs would normally fill up within 15 minutes after the movie starts so arrive early if you have more than 2 and want to sit together.

 

Park West art auctions: grade A. I put this in the entertainment category because a lot of folks, like me, go for the free champagne or drawing and to kill time on sea days. I've been to a lot of the park West auctions and the auctioneer, Vlad from Ukraine, was one of the better auctioneer--he kept the energy level up had a lot of unique auction combos and had a pretty funny sense of humor.

 

COMEDY IN THE PUNCHLINERS

John McDonnell: grade D. We attended the family show and a few minutes of the adult show. My wife and I did not think he was particularly funny. He has been on 24 of the 25 carnival ships so there's a chance you have already seen him. The adult show was very similar!ilar to his family show except the F-bomb was used frequently as a verb, adjective, and noun which didn't make the routine any funnier.

 

Kim Harrison: grade B We saw two of her family shows. She was pretty funny--she’s a heavy set woman and had fair number of self-deprecating jokes about her weight and living in a trailer park. Some of her material was a little dull but for the most part we enjoyed her and she was entertaining.

[Cruisin_Husker]

DISEMBARKATION:

Grade B. We did the self-assist early disembarkation. We arrived the port early and it was estimated we would start around 6:45 but it was about 7:15 a.m. before we had clearance to begin disembarking. Once it started, it was fast and efficient and we were to our parking shuttle a little before 8:00 a.m.

 

CONCLUSION

Carnival does a great job of making a cruise vacation a great time for a wide variety of folks--from kids all the way to the most senior of senior citizens (we sat next to a couple at dinner the last night in their 90s who loved the cruise) and the BREEZE is a great ship and terrific way to enjoy just about all the latest and greatest enhancements in the Carnival fleet. I highly recommend this cruise.

I hope you found the above information helpful in planning your cruise and have as good of time as my wife and I did!

[airlink diva]

Excellent review. Love your grading system and how you broke it down. Thanks

[Valor2005]

Thanks for posting! We were on the Breeze a couple of years ago and will be taking a first-time cruiser with us in January. Reading your review brings back good memories and I'm determined to experience the things I missed the first time around.

[Victory.Feb.29,2008.]

well written

[Lottacruises]

Is the pizza really made in a wood fired grill or oven??

 

The last time I was on the breeze, earlier this year, the deli had pre-made sandwiches. Have they changed that?

[bury me at sea]

Thanks for your thorough review. I'm glad you enjoyed the Breeze.

[Cruisin_Husker]

Is the pizza really made in a wood fired grill or oven??

 

The last time I was on the breeze, earlier this year, the deli had pre-made sandwiches. Have they changed that?

 

I may have gotten a bit carried away and eaten one too many BBQ chicken legs which clouded my description--I think it was an electric oven and I sure don't remember any wood being thrown in to be a "wood fired" grill. What I should have said is the crust had the taste and appearance of being cooked in a "wood fired oven" and it cooked fast! The server would make your pizza and within 7-9 minutes it was ready!

 

The sandwiches on the menu (I think there were 8 different sandwiches) were pre-made and heated up, but you were free to order whatever custom sandwich you wanted--which is both a positive and a negative--on the positive side you can get whatever you want custom made and the downside as you might imagine, is the time it takes for that customization!

[Lottacruises]

I may have gotten a bit carried away and eaten one too many BBQ chicken legs which clouded my description--I think it was an electric oven and I sure don't remember any wood being thrown in to be a "wood fired" grill. What I should have said is the crust had the taste and appearance of being cooked in a "wood fired oven" and it cooked fast! The server would make your pizza and within 7-9 minutes it was ready!

 

The sandwiches on the menu (I think there were 8 different sandwiches) were pre-made and heated up, but you were free to order whatever custom sandwich you wanted--which is both a positive and a negative--on the positive side you can get whatever you want custom made and the downside as you might imagine, is the time it takes for that customization!

 

Lol @ bbq chicken legs! I agree, I love that almost burnt taste from whatever that oven is '=)

I was disappointed in the sandwiches. I had them go in the back and make something but it wasn't too good. Honestly though, I didn't try another so it could have been just me.

 

Great review, Thanks for posting!

[Solo1959]

Hi Cruisin_Husker,

 

I was on the same cruise with you. I think you were spot on with your review.

 

I thought the ship was wonderful. I was on the Magic several times so the Breeze was a breeze for me to get around. It's my favorite class of ship. I do love the Deck 5 concept especially with all of the outdoor seating. The food was excellent. Service was great. One of my best cruises.

 

But I do have a major complaint about this trip (free cruise for me???): I only saw 2 flying fish the entire trip! To whom should I complain?

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[cruiznLYNN]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review. I anticipate that I will be sailing on the Breeze in the future now that it has moved to PC, so I was especially interested in your thoughts.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PhillyFan33579]

To the OP, just an FYi... the Vista class ships are the only ships with a brewery on board and have multiple Carnival beers available in the Red Frog Pub (Pig and Anchor on Horizon) and other bars on the ship. On the rest of Carnival ships Thirsty Red is the only avaiable Carnival beer.