We drove down from Jacksonville, Florida the day before. We stayed at the Hampton INN on Commercial Blvd. That is close to the Sawgrass Mall with lots of nice restaurants and such. It is not that far from the port and we like the staff. We have stayed in that Hampton Inn when we are in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami since 2005.It was a clean and as welcoming as we remembered it.The next morning we drove to Miami. When we boarded, and were sent to the VIP lounge, I knew something had changed. All of the seats in the large lounge area were filled. Chairs, rows of them, were set up outside of the lounge, and they were full. People were standing by the wall. We joined them after we checked in with the carnival employee. New FTTF folks, who did not know how to sign in apparently were back logging the line. It was mass confusion. A person came over to lead the priority boarders to the ship. I was stunned to see literally hundreds of people, lots of small children running everywhere, line up and march off to the ship. We kept up as best we could. We found our cabin. Meet our Steward. We were in Cove Cabin 239. it was perfection. So was the Cabin Steward. You simply could not have asked for better service. We did not have a single issue with anything in that cabin for the entire cruise. Everything worked. Service was excellent. Room Service was on time , or before, and excellent. I liked the décor of the ship.We had anything dining. I only ate in the Lido Buffet once for breakfast. My eyes are bigger than my stomach up there, and I wind up eating hundreds of calories I don't need. And I know we are on a cruise, but I still save my splurges for dinner. I don't gain weight on cruises either, but I think a lot of that is due to the walking I do. We ate breakfast in the Ocean Plaza once. I liked it. There was a selection of cold breakfast foods, cereal and milk, cold ham and cheese, pastries and hot oatmeal. Coffee, tea, water, O.J. and Cranberry juice was available. I liked it. Two other couples were dining in there. it was quiet. The food was good. We also ate in the MDR most mornings. The food was excellent. We asked for a table by the window and got one. Then for the rest of the cruise, we were given that table if available. The wait staff was charming. Funny and charming and I don't know a better way to phrase it. Just delightful. Our food came on time. It was hot or cold as required. Not a single issue there either. Anytime dining worked like a charm for us. We are early diners. Usually we are dining at six or soon after.We took excursions with Carnival. On Grand Turk we took the choo choo Trolley. That went to a museum, where we chatted with a worker there. She gave us a lot history on the islands. I liked that island a lot. It reminded me of the Bahamas. The Island was flat and flooded with sun. White sand made a lovely view everywhere you looked. St. Thomas was bus tour. We have been there many times. We still enjoyed the tour. I wish I had left more time for shopping. I am not much of a shopper, but the stores around the ship had good quality items and good prices. And Tortola was a mistake. I wanted to go back to Pusser's landing, but could not remember the name. So we went on the wrong tour. I have to say the Bus we rode on was small. Very clean. The Driver was also charming and funny. It was a nice tour. I felt we received good value for the money spent.Now the bad. We play activities a lot. or rather we play Trivia. We enjoy it. My husband is more dedicated than I am, but we still share the interest. We also enjoy meeting very nice people there. The first Activity session, the person in charge came in dragging a big book. She would ask a question, then have everyone wait while she looked up the answer.TOO LAZY to write down the questions. And the answers. I felt that she picked an easy question for groups she "liked" and hard ones for those she did not. I felt like I was back in Junior High School with the one really bad teacher. After the first round of Super Trivia..most of the groups dropped out. I can see why.it was that way for all of the activities. No one in charge. No one worrying about doing a good job or making the passengers have a good trip.I have sailed 94 days on Carnival. We are sailing one more in March which will put us over a 100 days. I have never written a review that was not highly complimentary of the Activities Staff. I have waited this long to write one, because I wanted to be honest, but not harm anyone. Well, someone on that ship needs shaking up. Whoever is the cruise Director is doing a rotten job. From getting on the ship, to getting on the ship, to the games and activities.....the total lack of organization and any pride in doing a good job was gone.I saw all of the Production Shows. I liked them all. I enjoyed the electronic backgrounds, but I prefer the singers and dancers. Still, I enjoyed it. I did not see any comedy shows. Just not enough time. I did shop some. The stores were all nice. The staff was nice.I did donate to the Casino. I loved the new machines. They did not love me back.I did not get to play bingo.The Lido deck restaurant had an issue with some passengers. They set up a gambling game on one side of the Lido Restaurant, inside the door where high seats are located. I think it was craps but I could be wrong. It was hard to get by them. They would glare at you when you came by. No one ever said anything to them. And I think, other than sleeping, that was where they stayed. 24/7. They spoke a dialect of French. So it was hard to say anything nice or un nice to them. I just kept my head down, said thank you when one of them moved. I resented the ship for letting that happen. It put passengers in an awkward situation when they were trying to get to lunch. The group could have been moved to tables around the pool and no harm done, I thought.The Ice Cream on the Lido deck. Twice I went to wait staff and asked them to come see the unsupervised Ice Cream machines. Cones mashed into the screen. Ice cream and debris everywhere. I have never complained about anything in the Lido Deck before. It was nasty. it was disgusting. Some one should check on those machines every few hours or so. Getting of the ship. Picture the scene. The MDR. Emerald ( I think. or Sapphire) DR. FTTF. many, many of them. children running everywhere. VIP, Plats, Diamonds. Most older. some very fragile. Hundreds of self assist, some pushing suitcases and trunks as big as twin bed mattresses,.....all streaming into that one MDR and all going down...ONE Escalator. One was out of service.So one the escalator. Only there because someone came into the dining room and said we have to get the Priority people off. Up hopped the younger, faster FTTF, and thundered to the escalator. Then the elderly plats and diamonds....well, the self assist were not taking that. They just came around and got in the same line on the same escalator. I almost fell. I could feel the stair behind me crawling up my leg when I caught myself. The huge suitcase behind me almost cold cocked me. I am not making this up. Threads ran on Cruise Critic for weeks after that disaster. other cruisers wrote in that they same or similar situation had happened in Miami to tthem..to those in New Orleans..Tampa. I did go to the first Carnival Rep I saw and told her that someone was going to get hurt. Then I filled out the survey form and turned that in. I called after a month and talked to customer service about it. That some limits had to be put on getting on and getting off. Or to just let people sit in their zone areas if they were fragile and could not fight those rude, pushy crowds. Nothing. No call back. No we will try to do better as others have reported it too. And No. I asked for nothing. Wanted nothing but for it to be fixed.So......the Cruise Director's Office seemed to be in charge of everything that was wrong with the Breeze. And I found out that a bad C.D. can definitely ruin parts of a cruise.To sum up.......The Breeze is a great ship that needs a good Cruise Director, who will instill some organization and respect for passengers among his/her staff.And I am a Carnival Cheerleader. We had planned a cruise in March on the Dream with our daughter's family. We will sail that one, but our booking made since being off the ship is with Princess. I was that rattled by it.

This was our first Cove Balcony. My husband, who likes to chew on a cigar, not smoke it so much, loved it. And I have issues with that too, but he took it up late in life and I am too tired to fuss with him. And he seldom lights it. and then only in the Cigar Lounge.

He uses the balcony more than I do. he felt it was more relaxing with more privacy. The water was closer and gave a different view. Read more