Carnival Cruisin' - Too Crowded, Too Casual

Just got back from a 6-night western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Breeze, from January 11-17, which sailed out of Miami, to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.   Carnival is probably the most recognized brand name in cruising.   Some of you may know that the Carnival Corporation also owns Princess Cruises, Holland America, Cunard, Seabourn, and Costa Cruises (yes, that Costa – the Costa Concordia struck rocks and sank in Italy in 2012), among other lesser known brands.

Carnival is considered a “contemporary” cruise line, which is industry speak for the lower priced brands.  Princess and Holland America are “premium” lines, i.e. more expensive, and Seabourn is a “luxury” brand. A discussion of the differences, beyond price, in each of the categories is a subject of its own, and we won’t go into that now.

The other major contemporary brands are Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines.  Between Esther and me, we have been on all three many times, as well as several on more premium lines.   So, full disclosure – Carnival is our least favorite.  Of the three, we have always preferred Royal Caribbean.   

Giant screen on the Lido deck

Our opinion of Carnival has less to do with the ships and the features and entertainment, and more to do with demographics.  As we have now become firmly entrenched in “middle age” (although we like to delude ourselves and believe we look and act much younger), we have outgrown the atmosphere and prevailing attitude on Carnival Cruises.  Carnival uses the slogan “The Fun Ship” and for the most part it looks like they deliver on that – if you like a rowdy crowd, hairy back and belly flop contests, lots of noisy kids running around the ship unsupervised, and an overall less mannered clientele.  

One of the better dressed passengers

You will definitely feel at home on Carnival if you have multiple tattoos, wear your baseball cap backwards, and don’t own any shirts with sleeves.  You will also be less likely to think the dining room dress code and “formal nights” apply to you.   You will order your beer in buckets, drink heavily, whistle and holler from your balcony at passengers returning to the ship, stand in long lines to buy overpriced bingo cards, and believe that the finest dining experience on the ship is three full plates of food from the buffet.   

Now, to be fair, other contemporary lines have hairy back contests, buckets of beer, and buffets.   And we should confess that we have played bingo, eaten to excess, let our kids run around ships, and have done some heavy drinking on many of the 20+ cruises we have taken over the years.

I’m just saying that now that I am in my 6th decade of life, I’m not crazy about my fellow passengers wearing flip flops, shorts and a T-shirt that says “Big Johnson Bar and Casino – Liquor Up Front and Poker in the Rear” (fully illustrated, of course) to the dining room on formal night.  I tend to get a little annoyed when the elevator door opens and people rush in before we can get out.  I’m not as patient as I once was with drunks playing blackjack at the same table as me and berating the dealer and the pit boss and sometimes other players.  I am surprised by the couple sitting at the table next to us when we go to the steakhouse on board that costs an extra $35 per person (they call this “specialty dining”).   They have brought their toddler, who is tired and not hungry, so they pull two chairs together and the kid sleeps through their (and our) dinner.  Isn't that special?

I will admit that the cruise did provide some outstanding people watching, especially at the formal night photo sessions.  We saw some outfits that made our jaws drop, mainly in disbelief that a spouse or friend did not prevent the person from leaving the cabin dressed that way.  Yet they not only posed for the camera, they did it with attitude!

The Carnival Breeze is the newest ship in Carnival’s fleet, christened in 2012, with a capacity of 3,690 passengers.  The capacity is based on double occupancy in all staterooms; however, many staterooms hold 3 or 4 people.  We heard the ship had almost 4,200 passengers. It carries 1,386 crew members.  That’s a passenger-to-crew ratio of 3 to 1 – more about that later.

I rode the Drainpipe - the orange slide in the water park.

We thought the Breeze was a very nice ship – pleasing tropical décor in the hallways and the Lido Marketplace (the buffet restaurant on deck 10).  It has a well laid-out theater for the main shows, a central atrium that extends from deck 3 all the way up to deck 11, with glass elevators that look into the atrium, a pretty extensive water park with slides, a sports deck with lots of activities including a ropes course, a hot dog stand, and the typical assortment of bars and lounges.   In addition to the Lido Marketplace, there are two main dining rooms, the Red Frog Pub, the Blue Iguana Cantina (great fish tacos), Guy’s Burger Joint, Bonsai Sushi (rarely saw more than one or two tables occupied), Fat Jimmy’s Barbeque (we never got there), and two specialty restaurants (we ate at both).

Farenheit 555 is the steakhouse and we had dinner there the first night, enticed by the offer of a complimentary bottle of wine.  The food was excellent, but the atmosphere was more like a Denny’s than a Morton’s – no tablecloths, and tables were within inches of each other.   We also ate at the Italian restaurant, Cucina del Capitano, which is only $15 for dinner vs. $35 at the steakhouse. We ate there at lunch, when they have a complimentary pasta bar, but were told by other passengers that the family-style dinners were quite good.   

Food as art - also delicious!

The dessert course

We had no complaints about the food anywhere on the ship.  In fact, we paid $75 each to dine at the Chef’s Table, which was worth every penny.  Limited to just 12 guests, the Chef’s Table is a culinary delight consisting of an incredible, artfully presented 7-course tasting menu created by the Head Chef for this one meal only.  The meal is preceeded by champagne and hors d’ouvres in the main galley, and includes a galley tour and demonstration of how to make the chocolate melting cake, Carnival’s best dessert.  Unlimited wine is poured all through dinner, the ship’s close-up magician performed for the table, and guests were presented with photographs and a commemorative menu.   This was by far the best experience we had on the ship. 

The shows were just OK, although the cruise director was the one of the best we have seen in a while.   Carnival has the George Lopez Punchliner comedy clubs, and we went to see both comedians – OK, not great.

More people than chairs around the pool

Our biggest complaints on this ship were the lines and service.  We selected the anytime dining option, and the first night headed down to the dining room at about 7:30.  We waited in the line that extended into the atrium for 15 minutes, and when we got to the entrance, we were given a pager because they were too busy to seat us.  Got in 20 minutes later.   When we tried to go to the comedy club the first night, we couldn’t even find a place to stand.   We had to go a half hour early on subsequent nights and stand in line to get into the two comedy shows we saw.  Even boarding the ship, we were told to sit in a lounge area until our number was called.  And good luck finding a deck chair on days at sea!

Service, with a few exceptions, was mediocre.  Staff were not especially pleasant or helpful, probably because they were overworked.  Waiters had too many tables, stewards too many cabins, bartenders had too many customers.  Everything seemed to take longer than it should.   That 3-1 passenger-to-staff ratio makes a difference.   Compare that to the 1.57-1 ratio on the Oceania Riviera, and it’s easy to see why we were so impressed with the service on Oceania.

Although we are unlikely to book a Carnival Cruise in the future, for many people the price and atmosphere are a good fit.  We spoke to one young couple just before we got off the ship.  It was their first cruise, and they loved it – they said it “exceeded expectations.” 

For us, we have reached that stage of our lives where we would rather pay a little more, enjoy better service, and mingle with a smaller crowd that has sleeves on their shirts.

We would love to read your leave comments about your own cruise experiences and preferences.