It was one of the best vacations I have ever taken.
Carnival Breeze Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 50
7 Night Western Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 19, 2019
Ship: Carnival Breeze
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 9226
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
For our first cruise, this vacation was incredible. We had so much fun going to all of the ports, and seeing some of the shows. I wish we could have done a little more with regards to the night club or other party hot spots, but I was so tired from all the ports and excursions I ended up going to bed early every night (like 9:30 or 10:00 PM). I was highly impressed with everything, and the best part was disconnecting from everything. I did pay for the chat feature on the carnival hub app, but honestly, we probably could have gotten away without it. I may have used it more if I had kids.Embarkation
Port Canaveral Streamlined the process so much, that when we arrived an hour early to the port, they had already called our boarding group and we were ushered right onto the ship. My mom has limited mobility and literally the longest line was for the elevators.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was really good. There were a couple of days I got things that I didn't like as much. Carnival's steakhouse was incredible, and worth the money. We absolutely recommend getting the table art.
Onboard Activities
There was a good diversity regarding activities for everyone. I was kind of hoping they'd have more arts and craft type of events, but that was my personal preference. There was a lot of party-type events and this seemed to be more in line with the demographic. Overall, it was really great; and our cruise director, Schwartz was fabulous. I wish that the Clue event didn't take place during the ports of call/dinner.
Entertainment
I really enjoyed the musicians, DJs and the other performers. They sang and played music that was enjoyable for everyone. The comedy club was hilarious, and I enjoyed it.
Children's Programs
I don't have children.
Service and Staff
Our room steward, George, was incredible. He treated us like family, and helped us out with practically everything. My partner got super lost on board the ship, and George found him wandering the halls, so he brought my partner back to the room. He even let me back into my room when I was carrying too many things in my hands. Our room was always clean, and the towel animals were a great touch. George focused on the details; was super organized with how he led his helpers; and made sure we wanted for nothing. Additionally, Edenia was one of our waiters. She was fabulous and made sure that we got our drinks from the bar and stepped in whenever there was some confusion on our part. She really went the extra mile in helping our dining experience be as great as possible.
Ship Quality
Overall, everything was excellent. Everything was clean, and things made sense once we got oriented onto the ship. One area of improvement would be designing another walkway that did not go through the casino on the main promenade deck (floor 5) because it was super smoky with everyone smoking cigarettes. Having to go down to floor four to come back to 5 was a bit frustrating, especially for those with mobility issues and having to wait for elevators.
Cabin / Stateroom
So we made the mistake of visiting our parent's cabin 11203 before going to our cabin. Their cabin was so spacious, it was almost like a suite. It gave me a bit of hope that our room was going to be a bit bigger than it was. My partner and I joked about the room being the size of an apartment in New York or San Francisco. That being said, it was still plenty of space for the two of us, we had plenty of space for all of our belongings, and it still felt a little cozy. You could not put a wheel chair in this room. However, it was as big as advertised, so I can't fairly put anything less than 5 stars. Again, our room steward, George was amazing and kept everything immaculate.
Ship tip
If you have mobility issues where you need to use a scooter/wheelchair, you may need to be flexible with where you take elevators. They were always packed as things were ending (i.e. dinner, comedy shows, shows in the big theatre).
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Embarkation and disembarkation were incredibly streamlined. Getting on and off the ship was super easy. (I also love the area, and hung out at Cocoa Beach the night before. I recommend getting the Publix Buffalo Chicken Tenders Subs for dinner).
It was clean and there was a lot of opportunities for shopping. You could find anything that you wanted here. We ended up swimming with the dolphins at Dolphinaris with the VIP experience. It was an incredible trip. Our guide, Reyes was fun and took great care of us. The VIPs got to see the baby dolphin that was 12 days old; and our time with the dolphins was a bit more intimate since there were less people on the VIP portions. We also got the opportunity to snorkel with stingrays and hang out at the infinity pool. It was magical.
The water tender thing was a little weird, but I get why it's done, and I appreciate it. We did the starfish island and great barrier reef snorkeling. The water was a bit rough for inexperienced snorkelers, but that's not the excursion's fault. We saw such beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish. It was a great time. Then we were dropped off at Starfish Island which is a beautiful private island off the coast of Belize. It was a lot of fun. My only wish is that we could have actually also seen Belize City, but the duration and timing of everything left no time for this. It's good reason to go back.
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
We loved Mahogany Bay! Isla Roatan has breathtaking scenery, and I really enjoyed the shipwreck. There was also a lot of shopping, but not as much as Cozumel. We didn't do any excursions here, but hung out at the beaches. The beach was great. I am only rating it four stars because the food was really expensive--they wanted $10 for a hotdog and $17 for buffalo wings. There were also a lot of flies hanging out at the trash cans. I'd love to rate it 4.5 stars if I could.
Costa Maya was an interesting port. You could tell that was built up based off the tourism of cruise ships, but as you went away from the port itself the money didn't make it that far. The excursion lines actually made sense, and reminded me of Disney. We ended up going to the Chaccoben Mayan Ruins. Our tour guide, Cruz was incredibly knowledgeable and gave us great insights at the ruins. There was enough time for pictures and everything. It was probably my favorite excursion. We ended up running a bit late (arriving after last call for the ship), but since we booked through Carnival, they waited for us. It would have been good to look through the shops, but we didn't have the chance as it was a short day at port--to be fair, we could have stayed an hour or two later than we did and made it back to Port Canaveral in time for an on-time disembarkation (not the fault of the port).
Disembarkation
They started disembarkation about 50 minutes earlier than anticipated (would have rather had that time in Costa Maya). But since we were doing self-assisted disembarkation, we planned ahead for this. We ended up getting off the ship right away. Customs was a breeze because while you were at the ports, the shops would record what you bought and assign it to your room number. This way, customs already knew if you had to declare anything before you got off the ship. The facial recognition process is something I'm uncomfortable with on a "minority report" level, but it did make getting off the ship very easy. We off the ship and waiting for our rental car in about 10 minutes, with the longest line being for the elevator since we went with someone who had limited mobility.
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