Great cruise, but a little misleading
Carnival Breeze Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 25, 2016
Ship: Carnival Breeze
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9304
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
The ship was absolutely beautiful, there are no complaints about the ship itself. Some of their sales tactics onboard were very shady. My wife and two other ladies took a tour of the spa on the first day, and one of the offerings was for teeth whitening. they were told it would cost $149 for up to six shades lighter for six years. But once I got in the chair, you do get the six shades lighter, but in order to get the six year protection, that would cost another $150, and they didn't say that while on the tour, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. The carnival hub app didn't work right for me, the wifi kept dropping and would never work consistently. That was quite frustrating. We also had a problem with some of the pictures taken. They screwed up one, and we just asked for a discount, but they made a federal case over it. Again, the ship was beautiful, just a few internal issues.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
ship was absolutely beautiful
Ports of call
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
10 Comments
noname111 8 years ago
CruisingCM - you are correct. My brain wasn't in full gear at the time I misidentified the contractor. My main point is still valid, though, as you have pointed out. Carnival, as well as most other lines, does not operate the spa.
Exactly, BD. It's one of those finer points that most people don't get because everyone wears a name tag with the cruise line insignia.
noname111 8 years ago
I'm not sure who the vendor is for Carnival spa services but most of the low to mid level lines use Steiner. The only line we have experience with Canyon Ranch is Celebrity but CR is also the vendor on Cunard, QM2, Regent Seven Seas and Oceana. The cruise line companies sub-contracts its spa, photo, casino (some) and art services out. When it comes to cruise ship gift cards, it is really difficult to use it on something other than direct-from-the-cruiseline services (e.g., drinks, specialty restaurants)
glomarrone 8 years ago
For the same amount of money, you could just get your teeth whitened again. The cost of the protection policy doesn't make any sense.
I sailed on the Breeze on its transatlantic journey from Barcelona to the US. Loved the look of the ship. It is my favorite Carnival ship. I never visit the spa.
Johngold 8 years ago
First and foremost. Spas and Photos and along with the shops and many things are NOT owned by the cruise line. The line provides the ship the beds and the crew---to some extent.
There rest is private business, Is there a hard sell?--- You bet.. long gone are the days when all you had to do was relax on board. Now everything and anything is chargeable.
BDRebel 8 years ago
The spa is run by Canyon Ranch, not Carnival. They also run the spa on most other lines. I found that they seem to be way over-priced, and tend to use hard sell techniques, so I try to avoid them.
Sorry that your experience wasn't great, but glad to see you tried to make the best of it.
Datt2016 8 years ago
My wife had a very bad experience with the spa too. Carnival gave her a $50 gift card to the spa for her birthday. When she tried to use it, the spa people limited her to use it on only certain services and they all costs over$150. She wanted tho get her hair done and was willing to pay the difference but they won't let her cos it cost less than $70. It was very stressful talking to the spa people as they laugh at you and talk down to you like you are nothing to them. I went and talk to guest service and was told the gift card was actually from carnival and not the spa so not sure why the spa is doing that. But in the end, because of the stress and not liking or trusting any of the people at the spa anymore, my wife just threw away the gift card and move on. But....they were pushing for my wife to get her teeth whitening done and now it smells fishy after reading your commend.