Gumbo4Life

While your question has been answered I thought I'd share that we have had two meals in the steakhouse and my wife has had the filet both times and I had the surf and turf and the ribeye. All of the meals were excellent and honestly I never knew that a ribeye could be so tender and flavorful. I don't think you will be disappointed. :)

Our first cruise was the Super Bowl cruise on the Breeze this year. Had a blast. As others have said, the game was shown on many of the big screens around the ship. We watched a good portion of the game from the main theater and the overtime from the Lido deck. You are gonna enjoy it!

Thanks for your review, we will be on the Valor for the first time in August and are really looking forward to the trip. Your review was very informative and more importantly it was FUN! Good luck getting the BF hooked on crus'n, I think you are making great progress! :)

We will be going back to Cozumel for a 2nd time in August. The first time we rented a car and had a leisurely drive around the island and made many stops, ate some food, took lots of pics, etc. had a great time. In August we are going to have our kids (24 year olds) with us so we are going to still rent a car but plan to stop at Paradise Beach http://www.paradise-beach-cozumel.com/ for a few hours then proceed on our leisurely drive. It is very easy and not so expensive ($15-$18) for a taxi and the entry fee for the beach is $3. We stopped here on the first visit and thought it would be a good place to go if we were to return. For us it will be a good time. Can't help you with Progreso though, we are headed there in August and still kinda scratching our heads on that one...

We have been using Kroger gift cards and getting the gas points, every little bit helps! Also shopping at Kroger more ;)

We would get room service breakfast each day to get the day started plus some fruit picked up the day before. If I got up earlier I'd go get coffee and juice from the buffet. Was very nice.

Thanks for your non review, review. Quite informative!

:)

Thanks all. Have found "Yucatan Cenote Eco-Adventures" and they seem to have what we are looking for. Haven't decided exactly what to do but there are many options. Now to decide!... :)

Enjoying your review. We are on the Valor in August. We base out of N.Texas and a stop at Bucee's is mandatory!!

:)

Is it possible (or even advisable) to hire a taxi or private guide to take us to either Uxmal or Chichen Itza instead of the bus excursion? Have read reviews and not exactly thrilled about 2+ hours (each way) on a hot/crowded bus.

Thanks!

You are both going to have a great time. The Breeze is a nice ship and I'm glad we took it for our first cruise back in February (liked it so much we booked her again for Feb '18!)

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but once I got in my vehicle to start the long drive home, I was over it and thinking of our next cruise. :cool:

Isn't that the TRUTH! We completed our first cruise in February and quickly booked our next cruise for February '18 BUT have since booked a cruise with the kids (well, most of them) for August. I understand what you are saying!!

OP - thanks for your update. We were also on the Breeze and I thought only 2 pools (and not that large either) seemed odd for a ship of that size. Being February and the DW is not a swimmer so it didn't matter that much but I do see your point. :)

Can you order a drink and a bottle of water?

 

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Yes, I did that every time. Only one time, at the comedy club, the waiter didn't want to do that. Otherwise, stock away.

We enjoyed the Ocean suite on the Breeze, deck 7. When I booked it I saw that there was a deck on 5 beneath us and thought it would be a problem but it wasn't. Honestly most of the time I didn't even see it. When you sit on the balcony and look out you only see water. There was only one time I even heard anyone in the hot tub but that might have been since we sailed in February! The hot tub closed about 10:00 so there was not any late night noise to worry about.

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I am just wondering if anyone was hassled about bringing that large of a bag as a carry on.

In Galveston in February we completely missed where to drop off the big bags and ended up taking all of our bags through security. DW had a 28" bag and I had a 25" bag, no issues either fitting or getting on the boat, no hassles either from anyone, but a few folks did laugh at us (in a fun and caring manner) for having so much stuff!

We had an OS cabin so boarded fairly early. We did go to our room and explored a bit and had lunch then went to the excursion desk to sign up. I didn't get the feeling we were in any danger of not getting a slot at that time. But, I am a data point of 1 so take it FWIW!

Enjoying your review! We were on the Breeze 2 weeks before you and had the same ports of call. Weather was great also like bwellen posted above. Looking forward to the rest of your review, like reliving our cruise!!

:)

We didn't have an excursion planned so we waited about an hour and the rush was over and like was posted above we just went down and got on the tender, no waiting at all. We hired a driver in Grand Cayman and had a wonderful tour of the island and even had time for lunch at Margarettaville and shopping. We got in line for what I thought would be the last boat but there were actually 2 more after ours so like was posted above, get in line and you will be good. I liked not being in a rush to get off the boat and not having to battle the crowds.

I have them but unfortunately am not at home at the moment. I think in my review I posted some (not all) of the fun times, check it out (link in signature). Was a great cruise btw...

edit: oops, actually I posted a few pics on someone else's thread per their request. I can post this weekend if no one else has.

:)

Ok, I'll join the crowd (not that I typically join crowds, I generally do the opposite), but you have me hooked, like a serial novel, I must stay tuned to see what the hero's get themselves into, and out of...

Actually, that is not true, you had me with the sheep...

Oh and by the way, we drove to Galveston from N. Texas, near Dallas, and Texas IS a VERY large state!

:)

For us, we got a muster location assignment (there are several) in the MDR, all were inside. Having never done a muster outside and having nothing to compare it to, I thought Carnival did an excellent job keeping it organized. Everyone could hear and they scanned your S&S card so they knew if you were missing or in the wrong location!

I used their shampoo but wife did not (she brought her own as well as her own conditioner), I thought it was fine but I don't have much hair either :) .

We did bring a bar of our own soap which worked out ok. We brought an extension cord with 4 outlets but didn't need it. Our room was an ocean suite and it had 3 outlets and for us that was enough never to need the extension cord. We also brought a fan but didn't need it either (Feb cruise though, might need it in July!).

Thanks for the tips.

:)

Excellent advice from everyone. I definitely know what I will be doing this weekend! :)

We enjoyed our first cruise so much we are looking at booking our next cruise (yes, I see all of those grins out there :) ). The first cruise we booked through a travel agent and used their "trip insurance" which I was assured was "better" than the Carnival insurance. Now, I'm not sure what using a travel agent really got us, no discounts, no on board cash, no discounted deposit, etc. Just wondering if it is worth using a TA for their trip insurance? Anyone use the Carnival insurance? I read it (fairly quickly I have to honestly say, not being a lawyer) and while I'm sure I'd have to provide a truck load of documentation to show someone was sick, and kept us away from our vacation we booked 10 months in advance, and we will not be flying to the port, I'm more concerned with my work or schedule commitments getting in the way of the cruise than anything else and from what I've read that is NOT covered. But would get a 75% credit on a future cruise at best (which is ok w/me). Thoughts, opinions?

Yes, lots and lots to do. You didn't say what ship you are looking at but I've attached one day of the "Fun Times" for one of our port days. I noticed that there was more to do during the day on "sea days" even above what you see on these. The earlier shows tend to be a little tamer (you will see the "PG" rating on the early comedy show for example). The trivia was fun, a lot more fun than I thought it would be. AND we went out to watch the sunset each day which is a favorite activity for us. We learned about watching the "runners" which are those coming back to the ship right at the last minute. A lot of folks were watching and as they came running up you would here the cat calls (all in fun I must say). There was so much to do honestly we didn't get to several of the things we wanted to do and it was not for trying