Carnival Breeze Ocean View Balcony 8248 (Cruise deets in description)

Any cruise is a great cruise, IMHO, but here are some details on this one. This cruise was from June 30 - July 5th, 2025. Embarkation: We arrived in Galveston right at 10:15 for this Monday morning embarkation. Traffic was very light on the island given the ship was the only one in port. We made it through check-in rather quickly and immediately got to board the ship at 10:30 AM. We dropped our carry on bags in our cabin and headed to deck 10 for an early lunch. We grabbed fish tacos from the Blue Iguana Cantina. Yum! The ship began filling up by 11AM. SHIP: The Breeze was our favorite ship about 10 years ago, but not anymore. It is now quite dirty with soiled carpets, drapes and furnishings. The cabin we were in had dirty walls and tile grout. Even the balcony was grimy. I feel like if something could be easily cleaned, it SHOULD be! The ship is in need of a major makeover. PASSENGERS: Many have complained about the clientele on Carnival for the past several years shifting to a thug mob. We typically just sail Jubilee when on CCL now, but this cruise on the Breeze is definitely one where I witnessed a majority low-class crowd, myself. I was shocked by the lack of basic courtesy and the constant chaos of the youth and adults, alike, just running about in trashy attire and using the most vulgar language with zero filter. No, it wasn't everyone, but it was a huge turnoff for hubs' and me. The security was overwhelmed and did not appear to have control if something terrible happened. The only true fight we witnessed was a loud, lengthy, late night verbal bashing (female on male) full of the most colorful language ever on a balcony that sent security searching for culprits from the outer deck. Carnival has definitely changed for the worse. If you want to avoid this chaos, avoid the shorter, cheaper cruises and stick with 7 day cruises. PORTS: We have been there done all that, so we never got off the ship in this summer heat CASINO: It was busy the entire cruise, and we witnessed multiple jackpots including a 10K winner. We had a little luck on Money Balls (1st bet level on 2 cents), Rakin' Bacon ($288 on an 88 cent bet), Carnival Jackpot, Flaming Pots (also witnessed a man get nearly 3K on repetitive hits at 2nd bet level) and Zeus (nearly $600 on $3 bet). While the main casino was in really good shape, the nonsmoking casino had beaten up furnishings leaving me feeling unimportant as a nonsmoker, and it had no vibe. The games available at that casino on deck 4 were just too limited for our liking and we hated having to dodge all of the rowdy preteens and teens hanging out on that deck. The casino on deck 5 was full of smokers breaking the rules and using it as a smoking room. They would roll in on the regular and light up without playing. Some would pretend to play by putting their card in a machine but then just sit there and smoke while others were actually looking to play the machine they were hogging. I really wish CCL would actually enforce the smoking rules and push all non-playing smokers outside to the smoking deck location. The casino staff was not at all proactive or friendly. They seriously gave me the impression they hate their jobs. SERVICE: Cabin Steward and Breakfast Service were completely lacking, but service at dinner was wonderful! The cruise director, Louie, is fabulous. We were super annoyed when checking in for sea day brunch and automatically put at a shared table despite requesting a private table. Once we arrived, we had to wait longer for the private table we requested. We noticed this was happening to everyone checking in on the app. Bad idea, CCL, but great way to piss off passengers! We ended up eventually walking out after waiting 45 minutes after ordering for our food and it still being out of sight. CCL has a lot of work to do for breakfast/brunch service! FOOD: Every meal we ate was fantastic, though! We enjoyed the buffet, tacos at Blue Iguana, pizza and Guy's. I loved the eggplant parmesan on night 4. BAR: this is the first CCL cruise after 30+ years where years we actually got consistent and timely bar service, and the drinks were great! ENTERTAINMENT: We stayed in the casino and did not venture into other entertainment options. DEBARKATION: We had priority debarkation, but general debarkation had already started once we finished breakfast. We were in the car and on the way home by 9AM. OVERALL REVIEW: We still had a great time and met some great people, but I doubt we will cruise anything less than a 7 day cruise on CCL from now on, and the Breeze is not a ship I would choose, even for a 7 day. It has just become too risky a proposition, so we will stick to RCCL for any cruises less than 7 days. The best service we received on the ship was from an officer named Primo. Kudos to him!