Pretty fair for first Cruisers, more good than bad, glad we went, probably won't do another. It's just not our cup of tea. I suspect Las Vegas kind of people who would love it.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Signs everywhere, in baggage an un uniformed man took our baggage to a pile, while three uniformed workers gabbed amongst themselves and offered no help. There were a handful of workers calling out commands in other areas. The security checkpoint was run more messily than an airport checkpoint. Only the adrenaline and excitement for our first cruise carried us through, and we got there early! It was a cattle run, just follow the crowd.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We often ate in the Blush on the Carnival Breeze, I didn't fully understand the seating times. But the food was very good, plentiful, and we soon lost our resolve eat light. The gluttony is a main reason I have not cruised before.
Cucina Del Capitano
3 out of 5
The service and food was excellent but it should not have been a $15 up charge for the meal. The place was empty.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
It was nice to have live music around of different sorts, almost anytime I wanted it, I enjoyed walking the track around the ship, but didn't find the spa and health club until about the 4th day. And no one could tell me the actual hours with any certainty. I only encountered the Spa on one of my walks, when a masseuse was standing by a table in the hallway, and offered a chair massage. She offered me a deal on a full massage, and I did take it, but later saw that they had other ones I would have preferred. We used the Serenity deck, but again as no hours were posted, and we didn't have anything in our room about it, we got there after the bar was closed. Which was only about 5 p.m., I think!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The Motown show was outstanding, and I love how they brought people out into the atrium to dance afterwards. We sat through 2 comedy shows, I like JD's mockup of girls going to Las Vegas, but a lot of swearing was unnecessary. The other comedian offended my friend with his reference to gays. There were people sitting on the floor right behind us in the middle of the audience, I felt a little weird. I must say I felt like Stephen Schwartz put out his all as Cruise entertainment director. His humor was family-friendly for the most part, and hit the nail on the head ight where people live. You could not say the man didn't earn his money. And he bravely put himself out there any time there was anything wrong, as a contact point. He was very personable when I ran into him at the customer service center.
Children's Programs
I didn't bring children. I did see hordes of them, groups of 6 to 10 kids wandering the hallways late at night. And there were four or five running up and down the stairs hitting the elevator buttons. And I did see parents overly indulging, and edging on abusive to their kids. And that's not really what I want to see on a vacation. Maybe you should add some parent-child activities. Since the parents probably work, and never see their kids.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
While most of them don't fully speak English, at least for the first 5 days they were super helpful. Near the end they were less likely to ask in a hallway if you needed help, or even greet you with a hello, if they had at the beginning of the cruise.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
I thought the ship was pretty well laid out, and it was definitely kept clean. I did see random cocktail glasses as I walked the track and I bought them back to a restaurant, so that they would be spotted in washed. That was not so much a problem with the staff, as the guests being rude. But as I'm sure that it's not unusual for guests to leave glasses around so, I guess you have to have the staff walk around and look for them more. There seems to be some sort of pecking order, and some staff clearly had limited skills other than setting the deckchairs upright during wind storm, or sweeping, or hosing off the decks.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was daily kept clean, although I did find razor cap in a corner, no big deal. The shower did not drain very well. And while they gave the usual suggestion to hang up your towels if you will reuse them, and we did, they still kept bringing us more towels. I'm glad we pay the extra money for the balcony, and I think the room was adequately laid out with plenty of space for the two of us and our luggage. The use of your cruise card to turn on the power for the room was a great idea, until I learned that you could use an old Cruise card to keep the lights on even when you are gone, which overrode that great idea!
Ship tip
Spend about 2 hours watching all the TV channels, and reading all the paperwork, and calling the front desk, and so learn about the ship. I tried to escape electronics and Technology on this trip, and it's basically impossible. Without downloading the app, you don't really know what's going on, I guess. I did not download it until the very last morning, when I had to, to get the pictures I purchased. It was pretty hard for me, a non Shopper, to know if I was getting a deal on anything, so I stayed away from the shops mostly. If you think this is going to be a relaxing, stay away from schedules and time pressures, kind of vacation, you are wrong. If you just want to relax, read a book and float along, you are paying for a lot of things you won't use. Overall there was more good than bad, but I have no desire to do another Cruise. As a novice, and we did have an excellent group director, there was still a lot of apps, and websites to sort through, and decide exactly what you have to have, and what is fluff and stuffing. If you wanted to get away from the material world, this is not the way.
I spent one night in Galveston before the cruise. The most awesome thing was meeting our Airbnb hosts Jim and Lynn and her father Stan, and them showing us around, walking with us, and taking us to a wonderful Church, the first black church in Texas, which should not be missed! The Gospel music and lead keyboard man were truly inspirational and inspired.
The traditions and taste of Jamaica was a great Excursion to be on, well planned and very pleasant. Our tour guide at the plantation was delightful and impressive. In the end, it was still about half shopping, getting the American tours money, but I was glad we took
We did not do an Excursion, we took a taxi to Carlos and Charlie's, and sat with a pleasant couple on the beach. Traffic getting back to the dock was horrible, and they say it is all the time. I believe they were 8 to 10 ships in Port that day.
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