We booked the Breeze out of Galveston after having lucked-into a fantastic deal on airfare and finding only two choices available for our dates; the other being RCCL's Liberty of the Seas, which we have sailed before as well as having sailed it's sister, the Freedom, recently. We thought to change it up a little and with 3 previous Carnival cruises under our belts, we felt like we knew what we were getting and could be satisfied with it. We were mistaken.

The Breeze, although one of Carnival's largest and having many of it's "best" features, was a big disappointment. I've always objected to the rather nasty characterization of Carnival as being the WalMart of cruiselines (and hey, I'm a frequent WalMart shopper myself), but this ship makes it hard to deny. The Breeze is an ode to cheap ceramic tiles, fake woodgrain and miles of plastic wall paneling. It's honestly the least attractive ship we've ever seen and although wear-and-tear is to be expected, it appears to have been abused by passengers in some unique ways. Worse, it's NOT CLEAN and there's really no excuse for that. I've seen nicer and cleaner public bathrooms in truck-stops and the pool and sundecks were grungy and gross. The art installation in the atrium consists of multiple levels of fabric "lanterns" suspended on wire cables - they maybe should have thought about how to keep them clean before putting them up. Visible very plainly through the glass elevators, the lanterns are filthy and stained with splashes and splotches of god-knows-what and the cables are fuzzy with accumulated dust. Grafitti and willful damage to surfaces is everywhere and in the spa, rather alarming large chunks of the ceiling surface is falling off in the steam rooms.

One very bright spot is the quality of the food - we ate in the MDR almost every night as well as one SeaDay Brunch and one regular breakfast. Absolutely everything we were served was of very acceptable quality and preparation and we don't hesitate to commend it. We did find the over-hyped Guy's Burgers and Pig-n-Anchor BBQ to be poor, but that's a matter of taste, I guess. Afternoon Tea on sea days was really quite lovely! On the downside, the buffet is extremely limited in selections and although there are many separate lines - they are all just a repeat of one another. It does serve to move people through quickly, but there's definitely no feeling of abundance and a lavish spread, it is NOT. Read more