Embarkation: We did a family cruise (9 people) on the Breeze from April 20-27. We all had priority status thanks to FTTF. I know some people think it is a waste of money, but for us we love it. We all arrived at the port at 9:30 am (2 of us from Radisson at the port shuttle, the rest by car) which was 30 minutes prior to the terminal opening. Once it opened at 10am, only the priority line was allowed inside. There was a huge line for the EARLY/LATE arrivals. I assume once the priority was done, they allowed some of them inside. After going through security, we took a seat and waited until about 10:45am to board. Unlike cruises in the past, it was not just a free for all when boarding started. They had agents tell which rows of seats to board so it was much more organized. As soon as we boarded, we went to deck 9 immediately to our rooms to drop off our carry on items and to pick up our sail and sign cards which are now left in the mailboxes. Only priority rooms had the room keys in the mailbox at this time. We then headed for deck 5 to eat Guys Pig & Anchor before the masses began boarding. After lunch we went to our rooms to unpack and then on deck to do the ropes course and play mini golf. Around 3:00 we cleaned up a bit and headed to the Ovation theatre for Muster on deck 4. It was much nicer to have Muster inside. It was about the typical length with them calling out names of missing people. If you can’t make Muster, I say escort them right back off the ship!!!! Why keep everyone else waiting? After Muster, we all went out to the front of Deck 9 for sail away. We were trying to get on the Fishlips Sail Away Web Cam. You could see us but they did not zoom in on us.

Room: We all had balcony rooms on deck 9 forward port side. Rooms were the typical cruise ship rooms. We met our steward, Gede, and told him we only needed morning service but my wife wanted a towel animal each day too. I just don’t understand the reasoning for needing your room serviced twice a day. Some argue it is a luxury of cruising, but I say I can turn my own bed down when I get tired. This is 2019 not 1930. I just don’t find that sort of service a luxury. We had brought extra hangars with us but there were already a large number in the closet. We did learn one trick the night before our cruise. We read to take wooden clothes pins to put on the bottom of the shower curtain to make it stay down in place while showering. It worked!!!!

Other Passengers: We did not really encounter too many lines or rude people. About the only bad apple was one evening we ate at the lido buffet. My brother was in line and was waiting as the cook was replacing the penne pasta. Before my brother could take a portion, a large man cut in line and scraped all the cheese crust (the best part) off the top. I guess they just could not wait their turn in line for fear of losing a pound. It was spring break in Georgia and North Carolina but the ship did not really seem inundated with kids. I will say the ice cream station was always a mess. Small kids would get ice cream and make a huge mess. Carnival really needs to place the machines higher up so an adult has to help. We did read online of some unruly kids, but we never witnessed it. Also, the CHOGS (chair hogs) were out in force on sea days. Carnival again needs to address this. Their current system of putting a sticker on your chair for 40 minutes before removing items is a complete joke. My wife said they did that the last sea day and about 20 mins later a lady came and took the stickers off 8 chairs. A really simple solution would be one person in a chair can save one empty one right next to them. That way people can use restroom, get food, go down slide, etc. No butt in chair….no saving!!! Also they should walk around the decks at 8am and collect all the towels, shoes, books, etc that are saving seats. Do it once at the beginning and then it is not a problem. Read more