Lots of Fun! Great Service! Many memories made!
Carnival Breeze Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 36
7 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)
Sail date: July 23, 2017
Ship: Carnival Breeze
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 2408,2412
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
We worried about bringing our 4 kids ranging from 4-12 on the ship with us. We were able enjoy ourselves and have adult time and the kids had kid time and enjoyed their trip as well. We will be cruising again.Embarkation
Very smooth on and off the ship. The only issue I would tell someone about is to make sure you eat before you get on the ship. We brought our 4 kids and so naturally as soon as we boarded the ship they headed straight to the pool. We let them swim a little bit and then we headed to grab a bite to eat. All food buffets were closing. That was really the only frustrating part. We should have planned better. Eat first then play.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The main dining room was awesome. We dined the early dinner at blush with the best wait staff on the ship. Lou and Jaison were awesome. So kind and caring. Never put out at our requests. And very kid friendly. The buffets were fine. We mainly dined at our blush restaurant. Occasionally we got a burger and pizza. The pig and anchor was a little disappointing but it was sooooo busy so the food got cold quick. Room service was fabulous however. Any hour!
Onboard Activities
We participated in as many activities as possible. So we were in the parades, the trivia, scavenger hunts, family battles, etc. we won a few medals to bring home. Being involved was definitely the way to go. The kids enjoyed the slides and spent many hours on them. I enjoyed the spa except she was very concerned about my weight. And I got my hair done by the fabulous Ricardo and he did amazing.
Entertainment
In previous ships we saw a variety of performers. One night was comedian, one night was magician, ventriloquist, etc. The performers on the ship were amazing and hardworking and extremely talented. I was seriously impressed with them. But I would have liked to see more variety on a larger scale. I did attend the comedian shows but I was unable to see any of the magician shows due to scheduling conflicts. I always like to see the big shows and they were going on at the same time as other things. I could have chose to see the magician show over something else but then i would have missed out on the other. The lip sync battle was awesome but i missed other shows and dessert because i wanted to see the battle. Scheduling could have been better so we could enjoy all the things. I would give it 4 stars for that but i think the stars go to the performers and they were all good.
Children's Programs
Five stars because for the times that I did utilize the kids clubs i knew my kids were safe. My littles had fun. My older boys did not. I think key is being involved but there was too much free play when they were there so they did not choose to be involved. More structured play for them would have forced them to be involved and I think have more fun. It was not catching enough right off the bat for the older boys to want to go to the kids club after their first day. The kids activities like dr Seuss parade and including them as jr cruisers at other activities was special .
Service and Staff
Can't say enough about how respectful and great this crew was to make this trip special. I have a hard time seeing them work so hard while i feel like a fat, lazy, American just wasting food and telling them to bring me more and clean up after me. I tried to be respectful of them too. They learned my name right away and that always makes you feel special and known. Zeindy was really great. If she isn't in management she should be. She really kept her team together and doing a great job. Lou from dining and Jaison from dining were awesome and i could tell they were sweet souls that really loved their job. Mike was great! So good at including everyone and never too good for a high five or a hug even from our 4 year old. He handled things with ease and he's really doing a fabulous job.
Ship Quality
I would ask for a center cabin next time. The places to be were either forward or aft and never where i was. That's one way to work off all the food of the trip each day was to need to be aft when you are currently forward or visa Versa or need to be on deck 12 when you were on deck 2. Otherwise I think it was great. There were smells here and there that were questionable but I think having a small city on a ship all enclosed is a huge feat as it is. So overall I felt like it was well maintained. Occasionally overuse got the best of it with the ice cream machines breaking or the tide pool buffet smelling REALLY wet to say the least. But i figure it comes with the territory. Still 5 stars.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our cabin was great. The sheets were questionable one night but they fixed it immediately. It stayed very clean and it was so nice to have them cleaned 2 times a day. We used the couch as a couch during the day and had them change it to a bed in the evening so that was nice. THe Balcony was a good view and worth the money to have it. I wouldn't have wanted to pay the extra for just a port hole so i was happy for an actual balcony.
Ship tip
Get the bubbly package. Hub app was great. The wifi package SUCKED but it was nice to have. Just think of dial up when it first came out! I got the middle package. Visit the shops, they are reasonably priced. Be involved. Get to know staff and crew. Utilize the room service at midnight :) (that was a lot of advice)
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Galveston is fine. The public beaches are not so good, but maybe I was spoiled in Cozumel! Shopping is great. The downtown district has good food,
I couldn't decide what to do here or even if I wanted to get off the boat, I had heard such horrible things. We last minute decided to do the chukka jungle tubing excursion and we had a fabulous time. The chukka crew was so nice and the tubing was so fun. We have taken the same excursion company here before for the zip line and had an equally good time. Eat the jerk chicken at the chukka place, its yummy and more trusted then elsewhere.
This is the third time i have been to grand cayman, each time i have not been super impressed. This time was no different. We took the rum point sting ray sand bar excursion and i was very disappointed to say the least. The sand bar was gorgeous. But other than that it sucked. The travel time there was long, that's fine and expected but know that it was long. The boat to the sand bar was also long. And when we got there we did see sting rays and the guides caught some but they wayyyyyyyy overbooked the sand bar. They should have staggered the excursions. They took ALL EXCURSIONS to the sand bar at the same time so it was VERY busy. Then they dumped us on rum point with MANY OTHERS. All the sea toys were reserved for the resort people. We thought it was reserved for our excursion. The restaurant couldn't help us all. She was overwhelmed and told us she had to take care of the boat people. She didn't stick around to know that we were "boat people" the boat ride back was 30 minutes late. No explanation or apologies. I was VERY disappointed. I chose a ship approved excursion thinking it would be good., It was not...
Cozumel never disappoints. It was lovely. The shopping was great. The excursion we booked was cancelled but we booked a new one "3 reef snorkel" and it was very good. The guides were friendly and great (and they said to say sexy) and the snorkeling was nice. It stormed so we got out and back in when safe. So they were looking out for our safety and we really enjoyed ourselves,. We went to three different locations and they pointed out different fish to see. Refreshements on the boat and all on time,.., It was nice.
Disembarkation
This all went very smooth as well. We checked our bags, left to eat breakfast at the buffet and sat there until our number was called. Went down, got our bags, and got off the ship. All very smooth and ahead of schedule. Very nice.
Traveler Photos
