Carnival's New Breeze. Carnival Breeze

A few days ago the world witnessed the miracle of conception….the conception of a cruise ship that is! That’s because Carnival’s new baby, the Carnival Breeze has been put in the oven…in more technical terms the keel of Carnival Breeze has been laid in the dry dock at the Fincantieri Shipyards in Monfalcone, Italy.

Breeze will be the newest ship in Carnival’s Dream Class of ships being number 3 in the group and number 17 of the Destiny Class of ship, from which the Dream Class evolved. Sized at 130,000 grt (gross registered tons), the Breeze will be the largest ship ever built at Fincantieri and will feature all of the staple features of the Carnival Dream and the currently unfinished Carnival Magic as well as a few of her own features that Carnival has yet to release. (Picture below - Side view of Dream Class ship)

This is great news for Carnival and the industry as a whole. Why? Well, because its means even in our tough economic times the cruise industry continues to grow and that Carnival is strong enough to be able to support additional ships and passenger capacity. In the last year or so ship building has really slowed down so it is good to see at least some ships being built. Hopefully shipbuilding will pick back up to its pre recession glory!

Back to the Carnival Dream, I do have a few comments I would like to put out there. I will start with the negative ones, that way I can leave you on a good note. First of all, I have a problem with the way Carnival builds new ships because they repeat the same design over and over and over and over again (in the shipgeek world this is call cloning). For example, the Breeze is the newest in a long line of Destiny Class ships and their derivatives (Carnival Destiny was the first in the class FYI), Breeze is number 17 in fact. The reason for this repetition actually makes very sound economic sense. By not designing new ships all the time, Carnival is saving hundreds of millions of dollars because designing new ships is not cheap. One other benefit is that it gives Carnival a very consistent product. (Photos at above- Breeze's keel bing laid in dock)

I guess I really shouldn’t complain too much about that though. The Dream Class ships are very close to the Destiny Class in terms of design and layout but even so they are different enough that they can’t really be considered clones of the Destiny Class. They are quite a bit larger and have many things that the Destiny Class dose not, like wrap around promenade deck, “cove” balcony cabins, new public spaces and cantilevered whirlpools, just to name a few. Also the exterior appearance of the two classes is similar but also quite different. So basically, while I can’t complain I do kind of wish that Carnival would design something really new for itself.

Other then that there is really nothing to complain about. The ship will do very well for Carnival and many new cruisers and Carnival loyalist will love her. The Carnival Dream, Breeze’s older sister, already seems to be doing well so I imagine that this new ship will be just as popular.

One thing I haven’t decided if I like or not is her insides. Carnival hasn’t released pictures of what they will look like yet but they have said that the bulk of the interiors will not be designed by the legendary Joe Farcus, the man who has designed the interiors of all Carnival ships since Carnival’s first ship the Mardi Gras. His designs are colorful and whimsical and really are very Carnival Cruises-ish.

To be completely honest, I have never really been a fan of his design’s. I mean, I like them well enough, I am just not crazy about them though and I never really have been (actually there are a few spaces I do really like). But now with this new ship and its new designers I suddenly feel un-sure and surprisingly sentimental over Mr. Farcus. How can it be a Carnival ship without Joe Farcus?? Will it seem like a Carnival ship?? I don’t know. Now I kind of feel sad that old Joe seems to be on his way out from Carnival. My only consolation is that he will continue to design Costa Cruises new ships (Costa Cruises is a European line that Carnival owns).

(Photo at right- Joe Farcus)

Who knows, maybe this ship will turn out to be great! I hope so!

At the end of the day, despite the issues, though I am very excited about this new ship and her sister ship, the Carnival Magic, which will be out sailing this coming year (then again I am excited about every ship as I love them all!!). They are going to be very nice ships and will definitely provide the great cruise vacation experience that Carnival is known for.