Great for Value except shopping on the islands

Carnival Breeze Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

niki1972

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 31

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 20, 2015

Ship: Carnival Breeze

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 2469

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Carnival Cruise Vacation 6/20-28/2015.
If you have time please read the entire review it will be and eye opener. My husband and I were skeptical when friends told us to come along on a Carnival cruise with them. We have heard many negative reviews about this company but we decided to go thinking it will be fun for our daughter. Our group total: 46. Fun onboard (water slides, sports area, karaoke, bingo): very good. Food: Average (decent on the buffet, good hamburgers, burritos, Indian and sushi, but mostly bad on the restaurant at night). Staff was friendly and I do hope that the gratuity they charge to each person ($92.00) is truly given to them, this is extra. The app (carnival Hub) worked most of the time and was helpful. I do recommend having it before sailing away since is difficult to download later (especially for iPhone). For $5.00 per person for the length of the cruise, it gives you the activities schedule, your daily balance, and more. You can chat with your family without having to spend money on internet connection. Excursions: we decided to do them ourselves and the difference in price is substantial. In St. Kitts, a tour to an old sugar factory was about $60.00 per person, we paid to a local $15.00 per person, children under 5 free, and under 12 half price. He took us to the factory, to a garden, to a beach we did not like, and to another beach that was decent and back to the port. Very important that you pay at the end, and if you plan to eat lunch, it takes very long time; in our case, 50 min. for two tuna sandwiches. Our room was big (deluxe ocean view) it had two bathrooms (love it). Overall we were actually surprise that this cruise was better than we thought it would be. On the other hand shopping experience was awful, DO NOT BUY JEWELS or Watches if you do not know all the details. Their return policy is restricted to none or only to exchange for something else with the same or higher value. The prices are inflated so you think you are getting a better deal. The islands have internet connection so check online first for the true value in the USA. We had an awful experience and $4200.00 less in the bank account. DO NOT TRUST, I repeat DO NOT TRUST in anyone (especially the Carnival Cruise shop director or whatever his title is) charming, categorize himself as experienced and having your interest first, but at the end we felt that all he did was sugarcoating, never gave us true answers nor what to do. he did not disclosed crucial information in his workshops, such as return policy, materials use, or quality if the jewels; just check first, ask tons of questions and make sure you know everything there is to know about what you are buying. Make sure you get a certificate of authenticity form a reputable geologist, do not accept a written one. they sell sterling silver with white gold prices. I spend 5 days trying to correct the mistake. hope this helps.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

great space, 2 bathroom 4 closets, a bit noisy while docking. it may help to go to the third level and towards the middle of the ship.

Ship tip

Do not trust anyone (including Carnival Staff) about shopping on the islands. we had a bad experience dragged for 5 days and several thousands dollars less in my bank account. Bad return policies, misleading information and inflated prices to make you think you getting a good deal. ask a lot

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

1 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

3 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

24 Comments

conniec56 9 years ago

I agree with you @niki1972 that the so called shopping expert was not trustworthy and should not be used

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awesome123390 9 years ago

I agree with 1fstcoupe

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1fstcoupe 9 years ago

so it sounds like you bought jewelry and then had buyers remorse and your mad that carnival wouldn't let you return it? that's what I get from your review. am I missing something? I never once had the cruise director force me to buy anything. sounds like you made a poor decision to buy some jewelry that you were not happy with and you want carnival to take the rap for your poor decision. and since you thought the policy was like Walmart where Everything is returnable. but it wasn't and now your mad at all of carnival instead of being mad at your horrible jewelry buying decisions. I bet you voted for Obama too.

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niki1972 9 years ago

Like I said do not buy anything without checking online or asking tons of questions.

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niki1972 9 years ago

I will like to apologize for not clarifying that the shopping is bad on the island, not on the ship. My bad experience was at Diamonds International to be precise.

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1fstcoupe 9 years ago

wow you truly have no idea that this is completely your problem and had nothing to do with carnival.. they tried to help you and they have set time schedules. it's not their fault you decided it was a bad decision to pay too much for whatever it is you bought. clearly you will never understand your too stuck on it being someone else's failt. policies are policies for a reason.

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niki1972 9 years ago

1fstcoupe one more time this is not about buyers remorse, as soon as I read that the material was the wrong one I went back to the store (2 hours after the purchase) when I asked to return the items they refuse and the carnival employee, The shopping expert, who was there, told me that there was no time to do the return, still 1.30 hour left before the time we supposed to be back on the boat, that he will sort it out onboard, later he said I couldn't return them on the next island because it was trafficking, then they try to resolve my situation 4 days later by exchanging for real jewels and not sterling silver, but wait they gave me extra discounts, the one they don't give to any one to make me happy. I spent several hours on each port trying to get something for what I paid. So does it sound good to you that after i got an appraisal done it came out 1/4 of what I paid? Yes, as a company Carnival should not let the staff do this kind of things. We went to the shopping seminars to learn from the expert, he ensure us that we will get better deal than in main land, that his job was watching over customers rights. I chose to trust this gentleman, big mistake. It is true no one force me to buy anything, but false advertisement is plane wrong. And if you had the time to read my review it is fair. What ever was good I said it was. I am not bitter or upset, just very disappointed.

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noname111 9 years ago

Firstly - dl1020bellsouthnet I'm so very sorry for your loss. Can't imagine how that must have been for you... but good on ya for giving cruising another go. I hope all your sailings are smooth.

Now to the OP issue - Regardless of the review, the power to purchase or not always rests with the buyer. Caveat emptor. If I felt as if I was not getting straight answers to my questions, the last thing I would do is proceed to purchase something. I am sorry you felt scammed but I trust you learned a very valuable lesson.

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Grandmaflorida 9 years ago

thanks everyone the worst part was it was 2 days before our 35th wedding anniversary in 2007.

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Grandmaflorida 9 years ago

on all cruises if you buy jewelry on the ship and then have it appraised by an insurance appraiser and it's less than what you paid they will refund the difference. on my first cruise with my daughter after my husband died I fell in love with a ring and it was appraised for less and I hot the money back.

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1fstcoupe 9 years ago

Wait niki1972. so your telling me that you are writing a bad review on a carnival website because you had a bad shopping experience at a port that you stoppedal at? .. I am so confused. did you wake up yesterday? you do know how to make decisions on your own right? it is not carnivals job to babysit your shopping. and their so called "lack of info".. man I thought this was bad when you were blaming carnival for a bad purchase on the ship. now you are blaming them for a bad purchase at a store at the port more than likely on an island in another country NOT controlled by carnival.. you really are just mad and need someone to blame it's sad that you blame someone who had nothing to do with your crappy purchase. Hey actually I have a similar situation. I went to Mexico and bought some fake oakleys for $12 talked her down from $24. after I bought them saw the same ones sown the road for $5 should I write a bad review for carnival too?

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niki1972 9 years ago

This is not about being unhappy with a purchase, it is about misleading and lack of information. Carnival staff should never give false promises to their customers. No one likes to be scammed. Sorry for your loss!!!! Like I said the cruise was not that bad. And yes I trusted the shopping expert, who by the way was with us during our shopping, that was my mistake.

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ademascolo 9 years ago

dl1020@bellsouth.net sorry for your loss but happy that you are still happy and Going on cruises, that would probably make your hubby happy too! God bless you!

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niki1972 9 years ago

I am not exaggerating, the only reason I posted this is because i am trying to help and they do not take advantage of other people. Yes the gift shop onboard has more accurate prices. Actually they had a ring similar to the one I bought for 1/4 of the price. The shopping expert onboard did not disclosed this information. On his workshops he explained that only on the islands you could get the best deals. I just had the jewels appraised and they are worth less than half of what I paid. Save your money and spend it in reputable stores. Diamonds international is a rip off and Carnival staff helps them do it.

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Grandmaflorida 9 years ago

it was scary but not a surprise. he had heart problems and I went into the bathroom and when I came out he was.dead

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1fstcoupe 9 years ago

how did your husband die on the ship? that must have been scary

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Grandmaflorida 9 years ago

my daughter bought 4 watches and returned them 2 days later with no problems and no questions asked.

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Grandmaflorida 9 years ago

I say give carnival another chance. I said I'd never do carnival again after my husband died on a carnival ship and since November I've been o. 5 and 3 more booked before Christmas. give them another try with an open mind.

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lashae28 9 years ago

It's sad to hear that you had such a bad experience. I got my mom a charm bracelet from the carnival shop and it was really nice. I had it appraised for once I got home and it was worth. More than what I paid for.

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awesome123390 9 years ago

Your exaggerating way too much. No one buys the jewelry.

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ademascolo 9 years ago

So everything was good minus buying the jewelry?

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grantcruise2015 9 years ago

Thank you for the review! Sorry to hear about the money problem. We sail October 4th.

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niki1972 9 years ago

Yes is very disturbing how they treat people like that, I would definitely go on another cruise, never carnival, and I will never buy jewelry again. Lesson learned

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glomarrone 9 years ago

Thanks for posting your first review here. It sounds like you had some issues with shopping. Also, the food was uneven. I hope that your next cruise goes smoother.

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