We just returned from the Breeze, 8-night Eastern Caribbean. We are a family of 4 with 2 teens and this is our 10th cruise, 6th with Carnival so we're experienced cruisers. Embarkation and debarkation was literally a breeze with very little waiting on either end. We were in a floor 9 balcony stateroom that was maintained better than any I've ever experienced thanks to Ikentut and his team. Really amazing job that will result is a letter from us to Carnival to commend them.

We did any time dining and there was a small wait to be seated in the MDR each night but nothing excessive. The food in the MDR was exactly the same quality we've experienced on other Carnival cruises. It was good but not exceptional. We dined both for lunch and dinner in the Cucina Italian rest and felt the complimentary lunch was just as good as the "for fee" dinner option. Overall, the service we received was friendly and good but so slow. We wondered if it was the "cheers" program and if the gratuity factored in was insufficient to motivate the staff to provide good service so we began adding additional gratuity which resulted in slight improvement. The one exception was the crew at the Red Frog pub. They hustled and provided speedy service and delicious drinks with a smile. The other issue that was most prevalent on day one in the Port of Miami but remained in certain areas was the smell of sewage. This is a HUGE issue that Carnival must address. It prevented us from ever being able to take advantage of the aft pool, pizza and late night snacks. Disgusting. We just stayed away from that area as much as possible.

Going to comment on things I was looking for prior to choosing the breeze: Read more