wido78

So... Here I am sitting in the airport after our 6-day cruise on the Breeze with my family trying to capture a few thoughts about the trip. However before I get into the details, I feel it is good to give some background info on the family. On our trip we have myself (35), Wife (35), Son (9) and Daughter (6). My wife and I have been on 5 cruises in the past (Princess, NCL and Royal) and typically travel to Vegas at least twice a year and I travel another 7-10 times throughout the year for business conferences, etc. We always take the kids on at least one vacation a year, sometimes it is short and simple other times it can be longer and more elaborate.

Overall, my wife and I felt it was a "good" trip while our kids felt it was their best vacation ever, including Disney World a few years ago.

We left out of Kansas City on Saturday, November 16th bound for Fort Lauderdale so I could use my SWA points. Needing a bed forSaturday night, we chose to stay at the Best Western Plus ($60 through Priceline) and it served its purpose, but no more. The hotel was adequate at best and the free morning breakfast was an adventure. The food was terrible at best and the number of people caused it to be an absolute zoo. Based on a recommendation from this board, we booked our transfers with SAS Transportation and all I can say is... THANKS!!! SAS was super easy to use and even adjusted our pick up time after we scored FTTF passes.

We got to port around 11:00am and flew through security and check-in, allowing us to be on the ship and into our room no later than 11:30am. We booked Balcony Stateroom 11266 and couldn't have been more pleased with our selection - unless of course we had a suite. But seriously, the location was awesome as we were only ~60 paces from Waterworks, Pool, Dive-in Movies and the bar. We all had soda cards and the location proved very beneficial when we wanted a quick drink. Our stateroom was always kept picked up and tidy by our Room Steward, so no complaints there...

Next up was lunch at the Marketplace Buffet, which I can honestly say I wasn't impressed with all cruise. Thank goodness, we had FTTF and were able to get our food ahead of most as it quickly became reminiscent of our breakfast earlier in the day as everyone crowded the buffet with luggage, etc. Given we arrived on board early, we were able to enjoy our lunch and then get changed and head to the pool and water park. This was the beginning of a match made in heaven for our kids as it quickly became one of their favorite attractions.

After some time in the pool, it was time for the Safety briefing, which was unlike any we had ever participated in before. Instead of taking our life jackets to the muster station and a roll call we all gathered in a few areas and watched a video along with a lecture. Interestingly there was no roll call taken? How do they know who participated?

After the muster drill, it was time for the Sail Away Party on Lido, which was well attended and enjoyable. The crew had everyone dancing and getting prepped for a fun week ahead. We had rail space on Deck 12 overlooking both Lido and Miami as we sailed out of port.

The family was pretty hungry and decided that we would use the flexibility of our YTD to catch an early dinner in Sapphire. We asked to be sat next to a window and were placed in a quite area towards the back of the restaurant where we dined for the remainder of our trip. I know that one of the more visited discussion points on CC recently has been the food service and menu in the MDR. The following are my observations regarding the MDR service and food:

- Our service was very good the entire trip in the MDR.

- The head waitress called us by name from the second night on and had learned and adjusted to our tendencies.

- As soon as we were seated each night our preferred drinks were prepared and on the table, including sodas and chocolate milk for my daughter.

- One of the criteria I use to judge dinner service is whether or not my drink goes dry and not once did anyone have to ask for a refill all cruise.

- Another criteria is the pace of the meal and whether or not the service adjusts to the speed of the guests. With the kids, we tend to prefer a quicker meal and never had a meal last more than an 1:15 - PERFECT!

- The menus have been well published across the boards and were as expected. All I can say after dining on the cruise is Carnival must get one heck of a deal on Shrimp because they prepared them a million different ways.

- I would describe the food "quality" as average, not bad but not great either.

Overall, the MDR met my expectations for this cruise and maybe even exceeded them based on what I have read on the boards recently. It certainly wasn't the best MDR experience I have had, but it matched the cost of the cruise.

After dinner was time for Camp Carnival orientation Son (9) was luke-warm at best regarding Camp Carnival and the Daughter was excited as soon as we told her about it... The orientation was held in the main theater and was successful in getting them both excited about the various options for the week ahead. We had preregistered both of them and only had to check them in the first time. We allowed our Son to check himself in and out without us once he became accustomed to the ship. Both kids ended up really enjoying their time in Camp and loved the new friends they met. During the cruise, we witnessed a couple different ways in which Camp was utilized. The first being similar to us where the family would use it to augment kid activities and allow their kids to use the service as they saw fit. The second was one where the parents used it as a home base / kid-sitting service while they spent time doing other activities. The second wasn't really something that was for my Wife and I as we wanted to take a family vacation. I can certainly understand it when the child is younger but our Son met several "friends" at Camp where the parents and kids split in the AM and met again at dinner? Obviously works for some, but not us... Overall, Camp Carnival was a great win for the trip and something that both kids really enjoyed!

The next day was our first Sea Day and we started it off with Brunch in the Blush dinning room where the service was nowhere lose to what we experienced with dinner. I only received one soda during all of brunch and had to wait on a bartender to come to the table for that one. The brunch was again mediocre, but the kids enjoyed their Fruit Loops French Toast. We spent the remainder of the day mostly at the pool and Waterworks with a little mini-golf and Sky Course throw in. This is when my Son decided that he had a new favorite activity and the irony was that he was scared to death of doing it before we arrived but I made him try it and he did it at least another 35 times. My daughter on the other hand was really looking forward to it, but was about an inch short. When she found out, she was devastated and broke down in front of the staff. They saw her and immediately came to her side and told her to come back at closing so they could personally accompany her around the course. She did awesome and was told to come back each evening at close so they could take her out again. This generosity made her trip and it became the highlight of ours each evening. Major KUDOs to the Carnival team member who helped her each night. The other thing we did was to attend our first Thrill Theatre movie - Sponge Bob and Mumbles Wild Ride. I went ahead and bought week long passes with all intentions of attending several more times... Well the seats obviously move around as a part of the 4D experience, but I would describe them as more of an ejection seat than anything. They had so much pressure in the movements that I had to hold my Daughter with my arm to keep her from flying out of the chair. The good thing is that the theatre "broke" the next day and was down for two days so all week long pass holders got a full refund. Problem solved and no chance of whiplash.

Next up on the first Sea Day was "formal" night and our first show. The number of people that participated in the "cruise elegant" night was disappointing and even more disappointing was what people determine to be "elegant". Overall a fun evening, but nothing like our previous cruises. After dinner it was off to the first production show "Motown". The show was actually decent and as mentioned in other reports, the back drop was awesome!!! HINT: sit as close to the center of the stage as possible or the effects are not nearly as cool. I would also suggest sitting on the lower decks.

Tuesday brought our first Port Day at Grand Turk. That is such a beautiful beach and an awesome place to swim that we just hung out at the beach all day. We were the first of two ships in port that day and able to get lounge chairs in the first row so we could easily watch the kids. It was impressive to see how many people ended up on the beach by the end of day. Unfortunately it rained most of the morning, but when the sun finally broke through it was perfect beach weather. Once back on board, the kids wanted to hang out at Camp so Wife and I decided to do some shopping and spend some time in the casino for a while. Tuesday evening brought a relaxing evening around the ship and an early retreat after a second long day in the sun for the kids.

Wednesday was our day in Ocho Rios and a planned day on the boat for us. My wife and I have been to this port before and never really enjoyed the port or excursions. I did take an opportunity to get off the ship and walk around the shopping area to remind me how bad it really was. Only this time it was worse than last time we were there. One of the shopping districts had turned into a ghost town with only a Margaritaville and one or two other small shops.

Later this evening, we attended our second production show (Divas) and sat in the upper sections. The show was just OK and the seats weren't great by any definition. We did however have a very interesting event during the show when a fight broke out and traveled across one of the sections. I have no clue what precipitated the incident, but I can tell you there was one very big dude involved. They had to stop the show, turn on the lights and get security involved. This delayed the show about 15 minutes and seriously impacted my daughter as she became very scared after people started scattering. I ended up asking one of the security officers to talk with my kids and explain that the idiot was dealt with and they were safe. This helped a bit, but we had to fight with my Daughter to get her to the theatre the next day. Interestingly the officer told me that they had locked the individual in his room with a "padlock". I would have guessed that they would have placed him in a brig of some sort? Sure enough my curiosity got the better of me and I found them on Deck 1 with two officers outside his room.

Thursday was our second and final Sea Day. We again spent significant time at Waterworks and the pool. We also decided to attend Hasbro The Game Show since we missed it the first time. In the kids' words "that was stupid!" The kicker was when the Monopoly Money Machine broke and they had to manually determine the winner. SPOILER ALERT: If anyone picks the Battleship card, they win!

With this being our second Sea Day we also got to partake in the "Chocolate Extravaganza". Not sure how I would describe this event, but Extravaganza doesn't quite match up for me? Of all the cruises we have been on, this was by far one of the weakest attempts at a specialized dessert buffet we had seen.

The evening obviously included another elegant night, which drew less participation then the first. After dinner, the family decided to go see "The Brits" along with my scared to death daughter. This show was better than Divas but not as good as Motown. In my opinion they relied much to heavily on the effects of the screen and didn't showcase the performers much. After the show my son and I decided to watch Moneyball at the Dive-In Theatre - Very Cool!

Friday was our last real cruise day and we were in port at Nassau. We arrived around 8:00am to a cloudy and rainy port with the Fantasy already in port. Shortly after we arrived, so did the Sensation, Disney Dream and NCL Epic. A busy day in port and the shops didn't open until 9:30 or 10:00? We spent some time shopping for a bit before it was time to go to Atlantis for the aquarium tour. Judging by some of the other tour guides, I think we scored big time. Ours was very engaging and did a lot to keep the group entertained. My Son really enjoyed this tour.

After we returned to ship it was time to relax a bit and then get ready for dinner. While doing so, we watched some impressively drunk pier runners trying to make it onto the Fantasy in time. HINT: the officers don't like waiting for these type of people and the fellow cruise ships will make fun of you!!!

After dinner we started packing and let the kids crash in prep for our early morning.

Overall, the vacation was a good one and most importantly the kids loved it!!! A couple of observations about the trip that I didn't work in above:

- Carnival is a good value but is by no means a luxury cruise line and they don't pretend to be either. I would classify them as the Holiday Inn of cruise lines. They met my expectations for this vacation but didn't exceed.

- The Carnival crew should be more knowledge about the cruise in general. On several occasions, they (incl. Guest services) couldn't answer some basic questions.

- The number of rude and inconsiderate passengers was impressive. Lots of people that thought they were entitled to everything and very few manners. Hard to teach kids manners and respect when no one around them displayed the same in return.

- FTTF was well worth the $$$.

- The Breeze is a great ship, just needs some better polish and a different Cruise Director to be the total package.

Hopefully this review is of benefit and I will upload some pics when I get them organized later this week.

Yep... We got ours about two weeks out from the cruise. We are scheduled for this Sunday.

I kept checking every other day or so and one day it showed as having one available so I took it!!!

Good luck

I have seen a few posts lately about an email that members have received prior to their cruise which advises them to not show up until 1pm for one reason or another.

Well... We just got a similar email and I was curious as to what the real impact has been as it relates to FTTF and the timing for when people are actually able to get on board.

We are scheduled to sail the Breeze on Sunday and have transportation scheduled to pick us up from our hotel in FLL at 10am. The email says not to get there until 1pm. I am stubborn and going to show up whenever the driver gets us there, but was curious as to other's experiences.

Thanks in advance

We are set to sail on the 17th on the Breeze in a balcony room category 8G maybe? The cabin is on Deck 11.

Would be willing to pay for a suite at a discounted rate.

I'm sure it's a long shot, but hey I'm not afraid to ask.

Cruising is something that I don't do a lot (6 times in the last 15 years) but I do go to Las Vegas A LOT and one thing I have learned in those travels is you will never get something you don't ask for and the worst they can say is "no" So... I am curious has anyone tried to request an upgraded cabin while they are checking in on cruise day?

I know there are several threads about the "upgrade fairy" but I don't think what I am asking quite fits that scenario. I would certainly be willing to pay for the right upgrade if the value is there.

If you have been successful, what do you think was the factor that helped score the deal?

Thanks in advance