Just off the Carnival Breeze

[vase]

Cruised the Breeze from 2/15-2/22 and thought I would give some observations.  This is our 6th or 7th with Carnival and have also done a couple with RCCL.  We had an excellent time!!  We found the servers, bartenders room stewards etc. to be very friendly and accommodating.  There are so many options for food on the ship and we tried as many as we could...and loved almost everything.  The MDR food was surprisingly good!  We saw staff cleaning the ship constantly.  

The "not-so-good"  - there were 1000 (literally) children on board.  That is one of the things Carnival caters to and we knew that ahead of time.  But what irritates me are  parents who do not teach children manners and correct them when they are not behaving. Examples - kids running, cutting lines, riding elevators up and down, purposely sliding across a wet lido deck at night.  I also would love for there to be more adult-only hot tubs and areas.  Most of them looked like kid -soup all the time.   Children do not belong  in the casino.  And later at night - children should not be at adult lido deck parties or lobby parties.   

 

My other gripe is getting off the ship in ports.  It was absolutely nuts!  They did such a GREAT job of disembarking us on our last day.  If they'd only use some of that organization when we visited the ports it would be so much smoother!   Grand Turk was a nightmare.  It was compounded by the fact that there was another ship there before us and we never arrived there until noon.  There were NO chairs available anywhere by the time we got off (unless we wanted to pay the locals for one)

 

Bottom line is that we wouldn't hesitate to book this cruise again.  There were more good things than bad.   And I would be happy to answer any questions

 

 

 

 

[TNcruising02]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed many things about the Breeze. As far as kids are concerned, in my experience if you can cruise in September there are the least number of kids on the cruises.  Other than it being hurricane season, which is a negative and can result in port changes, it's a very enjoyable time.  I definitely get how annoying some kids can be when they are running around the ship.  My only issues with them are some of them running right in front of me while I am carrying food (or whatever). 

The Breeze is my favorite Carnival ship.

[juxsta]

Thank you for sharing your opinions of the Breeze. We are sailing her in Sept. this year and can't wait. We sailed Carnival and RCCL before but this is our first on the Breeze.  What cabin did you stay in and how did you like it? We have a Cove Balcony booked for the first time ever thanks to the Youtube videos and reviews here.

[Butterbean1000]

We sailed the Breeze last Oct/Nov.  It is my favorite ship so far.  We are sailing the Sunshine the end of March and we are already dreading the kids.  It's a long story as to why we're cruising during spring break. You see bad parenting everywhere, not just on ships.

[capecruzer]

This past week was school vacation in the Northeast....definately a time to avoid a cruise unless you have kids.  I couldn't agree more with the lack of good parenting skills and those who believe that their children deserve to hang with adults.  Yeah, no.  While I let my kids stay up a bit later on vacation, it never became a free for all...who wants to deal with crabby kids the next day?  Not me.  And myself and my friends have always been clear about drawing the line between adult activities and kids' activities, thank goodness.  Much more fun for everyone.

[bury me at sea]

Thanks for your review of your recent cruise on the Breeze.  I've missed her since she left Galveston and am thrilled to have booked her for the 50 year sailabration cruise.

 

She's definitely a family oriented ship and I enjoy cruising much more when school is in session.  There are always some kids, but not nearly so many as during summer and school vacations.

[Saint Greg]

I would say 1,000 kids last week is kind of surprising.  I’ve cruised either in the last two weeks of Feb or the first week of March the last four years and the number has been more like 500.

 

That’s been mostly out of Texas though.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Saint Greg

[vase]

We knew ahead of time that it was winter break and to expect lots of kids.  And I agree with all of what all of you have said. I loved the ship as well and I actually do appreciate that Carnival is all about families.  I love watching kids have such a good time.  We stayed in 7275 - just a standard balcony.  I have never stayed in a cove balcony.  We were close to the atrium elevators and we could hear the noise when there was something was going on.  That didn't bother us at all but beware of that location. Capecruzer - we said the same thing almost verbatim!  

 

Couple of other things -Cruise director was Leigh and he was fantastic and full of energy.  Had lunch at the Italian place one day and it was very good.    The buffet for breakfast was always busy but honestly didn't feel overwhelmed by the crowds as some reviewers have said.   

[nickiefriend]

I too just got off of the Breeze. I realized there were a lot of kids on board, but did not realize it was 1000 until Leigh told the number during one of the shows. I never really ran into any children or teens that were being disrespectful, but I DID encounter several grown adults that were never taught any manners what so ever!

 

There was a group of about 6 adults (they had a lot of children too) that were very LOUD and cussing during the entire Overcomer movie. This same group rushed the elevators any time the doors opened.  Other adults have never learned to let people OFF the elevator before you try to get on. We had a balcony room and both sides of us slammed doors all dang week.  And these were adults! Children were not the problem, but it was a constant slam the balcony door, slam, slam slam.  At one point during sail away from St Thomas, it was slammed 57 times between the two rooms.

 

I have been on several Carnival cruises but I do not know if I will go on another cruise period.  This behavior is not a Carnival problem, it is a humanity problem.  Too many folks think of only themselves and it is just safer for me to stay home lol.

[Anyislandwilldo]

My daughter, granddaughter and I did the Breeze last October and had a blast.  It's a great ship.

[hkbragg]

We were on this same sailing. It's winter break for several counties in Georgia as well. If you aren't sailing with kids, always avoid President's Day week.

 

I think it's odd that no one mentioned the rough ride on our last night. I am curious if other lines went through the storm, or just Carnival. I am thankful we made it back safely, but I am annoyed that there was next to no information provided. Besides a single announcement on Friday around 5:30 pm telling us there may be a delay in arriving home due to weather and swells, not another word was mentioned. From 9 pm till around 3 am, the boat was very rocky, 16 ft swells and 70 mph winds - I'm pretty sure I caught air at several points. I think an announcement of any kind would have helped those who were scared feel a bit better.

Edited February 23, 2020 by hkbragg

[jimbo5544]

Thanks for doing the review.  This was school break week in the Northeast, so any cruise during school breaks will ensure lots of kids.  Been on the Breeze 4 times, love her

[jimbo5544]

I assume the beach chair issue was Grand Turk?

[vase]

Yes the beach chairs were the issue in Grand Turk.   And I also encountered some rude adults but fortunately none near my room.    And yes that last night was pretty scary! I also agree that an additional announcement would have helped.  Years ago we were on the Triumph and hit scary weather as we were returning to New Orleans.  The captain did give us several updates including telling us we would be safe.  But again I want to reiterate these things did not ruin our cruise!  We loved it and loved the Breeze

[Acheavacci]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I would say 1,000 kids last week is kind of surprising.  I’ve cruised either in the last two weeks of Feb or the first week of March the last four years and the number has been more like 500.

 

That’s been mostly out of Texas though.

 

 

I would say close to 1,000 is a good estimate.  We were on the same cruise there were a lot of kids aboard because NY state, many other north east states and Atlanta had winter break for the week of Presidents week.  Personally I did not see many kids mis-behaving.  I have a 14 yo son and 16 yo daughter and they did go off on their own for an hour or two but not very late since we were wiped out from doing so much during the day.  

 

 

[Acheavacci]

1 hour ago, nickiefriend said:

I too just got off of the Breeze. I realized there were a lot of kids on board, but did not realize it was 1000 until Leigh told the number during one of the shows. I never really ran into any children or teens that were being disrespectful, but I DID encounter several grown adults that were never taught any manners what so ever!

 

There was a group of about 6 adults (they had a lot of children too) that were very LOUD and cussing during the entire Overcomer movie. This same group rushed the elevators any time the doors opened.  Other adults have never learned to let people OFF the elevator before you try to get on. We had a balcony room and both sides of us slammed doors all dang week.  And these were adults! Children were not the problem, but it was a constant slam the balcony door, slam, slam slam.  At one point during sail away from St Thomas, it was slammed 57 times between the two rooms.

 

I have been on several Carnival cruises but I do not know if I will go on another cruise period.  This behavior is not a Carnival problem, it is a humanity problem.  Too many folks think of only themselves and it is just safer for me to stay home lol.

I agree with the humanity issue.  Children are not inately disrespectful or respectful.  It is a learned behavior.  And if their adult parents do not have manners and good behaviors they will not be respectful, well mannered well behaved children.  

[maryhou]

8 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

We sailed the Breeze last Oct/Nov.  It is my favorite ship so far.  We are sailing the Sunshine the end of March and we are already dreading the kids.  It's a long story as to why we're cruising during spring break. You see bad parenting everywhere, not just on ships.

Let me k]tell you the Sunshine has the best serenity area ever...... you can be assured they stand there and boot the kids out all day long & it was awesome.  They have their own pool right there and it has tons of space on all the serenity areas.  

[Butterbean1000]

43 minutes ago, maryhou said:

Let me k]tell you the Sunshine has the best serenity area ever...... you can be assured they stand there and boot the kids out all day long & it was awesome.  They have their own pool right there and it has tons of space on all the serenity areas.  

We are so looking forward to the Serenity area.  I think we'll be camping out there. 😉

[mpdog42]

Breeze is a great ship, One of my favorites!!

[hurricane0226]

Will be on the Breeze on Aug 1st, second time and also getting a cove balcony

again, luv those. Will be taking our Grandson for his first cruise, but he is well

behaved and will be close by, he is only 10, and has a mild case of autism.

he is so looking forward to this, and will be a thrill of a lifetime for him

[maryhou]

On 2/23/2020 at 9:12 AM, vase said:

Cruised the Breeze from 2/15-2/22 and thought I would give some observations.  This is our 6th or 7th with Carnival and have also done a couple with RCCL.  We had an excellent time!!  We found the servers, bartenders room stewards etc. to be very friendly and accommodating.  There are so many options for food on the ship and we tried as many as we could...and loved almost everything.  The MDR food was surprisingly good!  We saw staff cleaning the ship constantly.  

The "not-so-good"  - there were 1000 (literally) children on board.  That is one of the things Carnival caters to and we knew that ahead of time.  But what irritates me are  parents who do not teach children manners and correct them when they are not behaving. Examples - kids running, cutting lines, riding elevators up and down, purposely sliding across a wet lido deck at night.  I also would love for there to be more adult-only hot tubs and areas.  Most of them looked like kid -soup all the time.   Children do not belong  in the casino.  And later at night - children should not be at adult lido deck parties or lobby parties.   

 

My other gripe is getting off the ship in ports.  It was absolutely nuts!  They did such a GREAT job of disembarking us on our last day.  If they'd only use some of that organization when we visited the ports it would be so much smoother!   Grand Turk was a nightmare.  It was compounded by the fact that there was another ship there before us and we never arrived there until noon.  There were NO chairs available anywhere by the time we got off (unless we wanted to pay the locals for one)

 

Bottom line is that we wouldn't hesitate to book this cruise again.  There were more good things than bad.   And I would be happy to answer any questions

Did you guys spend any time in the piano bar?  Just curious if the PBE was very good.  We love spending our evenings there, but were not impressed at all in the past twice. 

 

On 2/23/2020 at 9:12 AM, vase said:

 

 

 

 

[Hoosierpop]

Going on the Breeze twice later this year, so glad you enjoyed it. And that is a lot of kids. But I also agree that adult behavior can be worse. Maybe because they should know better? But I don’t let it bother me. I’m on vacation.

 

Did you find the food areas crowded? Lido, guys, Iguana, pizza?

[ObstructedView2]

On 2/23/2020 at 11:47 AM, vase said:

 

We stayed in 7275 - just a standard balcony. We were close to the atrium elevators and we could hear the noise when there was something was going on.  That didn't bother us at all but beware of that location.

 

 

 

We stayed in stateroom 7278 during a 14-night B2B sailing. 

Never heard anything at all from the elevators or atrium noise, music, etc. 

A very quiet location.

 

 

 

✌️

[meanjean80]

Heading on the Breeze on March 21... can't wait!

 

Expecting a lot of kids as well because we chose that week because it coincided with Florida's school break, and we're sailing with my eight year old great-niece.

 

Not worried about her wrecking havoc, however...she's the kind of kid who was able to easily sit through a steak-house dinner when she was five, far better than her uncle did!

 

Wondering if you saw any of the increased sanitation Carnival has been talking about?

 

[Joebucks]

I have a hard time believing there was that many kinds in February. But if you guys say there was, then there was. I don't ever remember having winter break during then.

 

I don't mind kids on a cruise, but I do refuse to go during peak season when school is out.