Cool Breeze Cruiser

We booked the Dr. Suess breakfast as soon as we got on the ship & it was wonderful! It is held on the last sea day & is just $5 per person & worth every penny.

There was also a Dr. Suess parade on the 1st sea day.

Carnival really goes all out with the Green Eggs & Ham breakfast!

YAY!!! Juli is doing a review!!!! I can't wait to relive our vacation through your pictures... AGAIN!

We love you & Chris & had soooo many fun times together! Even all day at the airport flew by! Don't know if we will let J.R. & Chris go in the ocean again when the fish are biting though! :p Lots of great memories!!!

Juli

I guess we could have asked our cabin steward for a door prop but we imporvised!

I actually liked being on deck two & so close to the water.

Lynn made us a collage for our doors & I made signs with all of our ports so we had 'twinsie' doors that we let the guys decorate.

My review is a little mixed up at this point because I usually do a day by day but we got back off the ship in San Juan so I am going to review our time on the ship & then move on to the ports.

We had to be on-board by 8:30 for our 10PM sailaway. We barely made it back in time to get ready to go to our roll calls M&G at 8PM (we were a little late) & then we had to go to the Muster drill. Muster drill was pretty quick & painless. We went to the late night Comedy Club & really enjoyed both comedians so it became our 'go to' place for the rest of the cruise.

We then headed to bed to get ready for St. Thomas the next day!

We booked an ocean view cabin at what I thought was a great rate for a 10 day cruise with an amazing itinerary but in November Carnival came out with an incredible sale on guarantee cabins for our cruise & since it was before final payment we decided to be gamblers & let Carnival pick our cabin for a savings of $500 which dropped our cruise rate down to $1012.36 total!!!

The bizarre thing was that Lynn & Mitch booked this cruise about a month before we did & they also switched to a guarantee cabin a few weeks before we did. Lynn text me one day & said they got their cabin assignment & they were in cabin 2429. I checked ours & told her we were ‘almost’ neighbors because we were in 2425. Lynn looked at the ship plans & said we had adjoining cabins! How ironic!

I had always been leery of adjoining cabins especially since we had a bad experience in a hotel with adjoining rooms with rowdy ‘neighbors’ but Lynn & Mitch were not too bad! :p

Seriously there are two adjoining doors between the cabins & we did not hear any more noise from the adjoining cabin than we did from the cabin on the other side. And since we had almost all of the same excursions it made it very easy to just tap on the door when we were ready to go.

We actually liked our cabin location because it was almost a straight shot up to the Lido Deck & being on a lower deck made getting off the ship very easy. The only negative with our cabin was it felt like the ship was being torn apart when we were pulling in to port! But we had to be up & off the ship every day anyway so it was no big deal. A few times we did hear music coming from somewhere but we never could figure out where it was coming from.

Cabin 2425 is really spacious!

There is no longer a fridge in the cabin but there are two outlets. I brought an adaptor but did not even need it.

The adjoining door

And our door stops!

Looking forward to your review!

Thanks! :)

What was that white stuff on the ground in your first picture!:D

We were happy to swap it for beautiful white sand! :D

Tennessee shuts down at the mere mention of the 'S' word but we had several crippling ice storms lately playing havoc with everything. My daughter's connecting flight home from San Juan was in Orlando & she got stuck there because of ANOTHER ice storm in Tennessee! SW told them it would be Sunday before they could get a flight home so they had to rent a car & drive!

Cool Breeze Cruiser, I just noticed we are on the same cruise. I sent an e-mail just now and will let you know what I get as a response. As of now we are the only ship in port that day so I hope we can reserve one of the 10 cars.

Thanks. We have sent them several emails over the last month or so but they keep telling us they are only offering the 8 hour tour for cruise ship passengers & I don't think we are interested in that. I think there are 8 of us in our group interested in the 4-5 hour tour if they offer it.

Of course on vacation the thing you are always thinking about is what should we eat next. :D We passed Café Puerto Rico & though we were not super hungry yet we decided to stop & eat to keep from getting hungry! What a GREAT choice!!!

It is kind of a little hole in the wall place but everything we ordered was delicious & the service was excellent!

If you go you have to try the Café Puerto Rico Special drink. Wow!

The four of us split corn sticks for an appetizer & they were very unique & tasty. We ordered a bowl of Black Bean soup & it was delicious & huge! J.R. & I shared the Skirt Steak Mofongo Rellenos & Lynn & Mitch got the seafood one. Our check was very reasonable too.

Café Puerto Rico will definitely be on our list next time we go back to San Juan. It was probably the best meal we had the whole trip!

Corn sticks

Mitch & Rich (AKA J.R.) trying to split the check & figure out the tip after two Cafe Puerto Rico Specials!

Lynn & I should never have left J.R. & Mitch alone!

First stop was Fort San Cristobal. We have visited it before but Lynn & Mitch had not & it is a wealth of history & offers such stunning views.

All too soon it was time for Lacey & Charlie to head to the airport & us to head to the ship so we walked back to the hotel & gathered up our luggage. The Sheraton let us have a 12PM checkout so it worked out great since their flight was at 2:20.

We went to the CVS right down the street the night before & stocked up on Coke Zero & bottled water & a few other last minute things so our suitcases were full!

We walked across the street to the ship about 12:30 & Carnival sent us to the Platinum lounge for just a few minutes. It only took a few minutes after that to get through security & on the ship. We went straight to our cabin & dropped off our carry on. We grabbed some lunch & met Lynn & Mitch to go back out & explore San Juan some more.

We walked around with Lacey & Charlie exploring Old San Juan. What a perfect day!

The next morning our daughter, Lacey & SIL, Charlie got off the Triumph & stored their luggage in our hotel room (one of the reasons we booked the Sheraton again since it is right across the street from the pier) & we went to eat breakfast at Café Mallorca.

The food was WONDERFUL! It is a good thing we were not in a hurry though because the service was very slow. We had a great time catching up & hearing about Lacey & Charlie's cruise so we were fine with the wait. The waiters were working hard but they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off! We had been through eating for a good while & finally pinned our waiter down & asked for our check & he looked at our mostly empty plates & wrote down what we had & figured the prices in his head. No calculator or anything. :eek:

They look like fun. Wee have just booked them for our Pride cruise in January 2016. What. Beach did you go to at the end of the tour.m It was $75 for the driver and $35 for the second adult. Thanks for the suggestion. I had never heard of this tour before ou posted?

You were able to book the 4-5 hour tour for $110 per couple they have advertised on their website? We have emailed them twice but they said they do not offer the 4-5 hour tour to cruise ship passengers unless it is within a month or two of sailing. They are only offering an 8 hour combo van/Twizy tour for $90pp that is not even listed on their website.

Thanks

Subscribing now, can't wait to hear about your trip.

:):):)

Thanks for the review! We are booking the Nov 4, 2015 sailing while on board the Freedom in 23 days!

Lucky you! We have to wait 234 days until our Glory cruise October 31st!

Thanks for sharing. I was on this cruise, and it'll be nice to relive some details from it.

It was a great cruise! Our only real complaint was that they made us get off the ship March 2nd! :mad: I thought with the fog in Galveston & the Captain & Cruise Director's comments the day before we might be delayed a day or two but they still made us get off the ship & only gave us a couple extra hours!

Juli...you do the best reviews!!!!! can't wait to relive our amazing cruise!!!!!!!

Thanks Lynn! Our cruise would not have been nearly as amazing without you & Mitch! I will 'try' to not embarrass you to much in my review! :p Love you both & so looking forward to our Glory cruise with the other 'pirates' & Robin & John!

Loving your review so far, and looking forward to more. I would love to do an itinerary like this some day. Maybe next year after my retirement. Also, I love the Triumph, and San Juan!

Thank you. Our 10 day cruise was an amazing itinerary but 1200 people did it as a B2B with an almost totally different first leg! I didn't even feel sorry for them trying to find their sea legs after 21 days on the Triumph! :p Enjoy your retirement!

The 11 day cruise before us left from Galveston & since our cruise returned to Galveston there were 1200 B2Bers on our cruise! We had really active roll calls but we did not get to meet as many people as we would have liked to because we had no sea days until late in the cruise. Our daughter & SIL were actually on the February 9th cruise & got off the ship as we got on.

I 'borrowed' several pictures of the ship from our roll call members! Thanks guys! I lOVE pictures of the ship & I have no idea why I didn't take any & had to 'borrow' these! :D

I thought this early morning shot was cool especially since I was still asleep when it was taken!

The bathroom was very modern with the toilet on one side behind the glass doors & the shower on the other side.

The rooftop at La Terraza with the tiny infiniti pool.

The view of the ship the next morning.

We were all about to crash at that point since we had all had very early morning flights so we called it a day & J.R. & I walked back to the Sheraton. It was less than a 10 minute walk.

Juli

Lynn & Mitch were staying at La Terazza’s & we went by to check out their room. WOW as Lynn always says! It was amazing & quite a bit cheaper than the Sheraton. It has all these little hallways & stairs & is very quaint. It has a great rooftop bar with the tiniest inifiniti pool I have ever seen. We will definitely check it out the next time we stay in San Juan.

Is this gorgeous or what?

Mitch being Mitch!

What a balcony!

We booked this cruise with our dear friends Lynn & Mitch who we met on our cruise to Hawaii last September. They arrived in San Juan a couple of hours before we did.

We were starving by the time we got checked in so we met Lynn & Mitch at the Parrot Club. It gets great reviews but we were not overly impressed with the food or drinks. It must have been pretty unmemorable because Lynn & I usually always have a camera in hand & neither one of us took a pic!

We left the Parrot Club & went to Barrachina’s for one of their famous Pina Coladas. It was sooo yummy!

Our adorable bartender at Barrachina's.

We arrived in San Juan at 4PM & caught a cab to the Sheraton Old San Juan. The cab fare was $19 plus $1 per person & per bag so our cab fare was $24.

We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan a few years ago & we lucked up that time with an upgrade to a huge balcony room overlooking the ship. We were not as fortunate this time & received a regular room with a partial view of the bay but mostly overlooking the roof. The Sheraton is all about location, location, location though & the bed was very comfortable.

My husband J.R. & I usually do an after Christmas cruise plus we were having cruise withdrawals after our Hawaiian cruise so we booked a cruise last October on the Carnival Triumph for February 20th-March 2nd, 2015.

We arrived in San Juan one day before the cruise & stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan.

This was our itinerary & what we did in each port…

Day 1… St. Thomas-taxi to Sapphire Beach

Day 2…St. Maarten-private tour with Joyce Prince

Day 3…Antigua-See Antigua by Sea booked through Carnival

Day 4…St. Kitts- tour with Royston; one of my favorite tours EVER!

Day 5…St. Croix-Gecko ATV/jetski/time at Rainbow Beach package

Day 6….Sea Day

Day 7…Falmouth Jamaica-All-inclusive day pass at Jewel Runaway Bay Beach Resort

Day 8…Sea Day

Day 9…Sea Day

Day 10…Arrive in Galveston

It was pretty questionable if we would be able to get to San Juan with all the ice & snow we had in Tennessee the week before our cruise. It was 2 degrees when we left home so we were beyond ready to head to the Caribbean! The Nashville airport was shut down the Monday & Tuesday before our Thursday flight so it was a little stressful but we made it with only a few flight delays.

Juli

I'm looking for reviews of the new Triumph itineraries, 10 or 11 day to/from San Juan. Have any been posted yet?

We did the 10 day February 20th leaving from San Juan & returning to Galveston. We went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Croix & Jamaica.

It was a great cruise with wonderful weather & we did what has probably been my favorite excursion ever in St Kitts with Royston.

The Dr. Suess breakfast was great & the comedians were really funny!

I have sorted & downloaded all my pics & if I can get caught up I will do a review.

Juli

Hey Juli, All the best to you and JR for a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Lots of memories every day from our fabulous Hawaii cruise. Counting on you to give us the updates on the Triumph since you're sailing on her way before us. Any thoughts of that Caribbean trip in October?Cheers,

Jacquie (Don too)

Thanks Jacquie. Hope you & Don have a wonderful Christmas too! I am spending it in the hospital with my dad who has the flu. I am just so grateful they had a bed for him. The flu is running rampid here!

We booked the Glory October 31st 14 day cruise out of Miami along with several others from our Hawaiian cruise. Robin & John canceled their Triumph cruise & are cruising with us too. It is an AMAZING itinerary. Check it out! I was able to score one of the Grand Scenic Ocean View cabins. Super excited about that! :D:D:D

Juli

I loved your review of Hawaii. Please tell me what type of camera that you used.

Thanks. Some were taken with our 'big kid' camera that we use as a point & shoot. :p It is a Nikon D3000. The pics with the dates on them were taken with our Olympus X-560WP water camera. A few were taken with J.R.'s I-Phone & we 'borrowed' some pics from our friends Lynn & Mitch. My favorite little camera broke the first day of the cruise :( so we had to make do with what we had.

Juli

Hi ... we are taking this cruise in 2 weeks ... I was just wondering are there any close beaches by where the ship docks .... We have plans in Honolulu ... but would like any advice for other islands ...

Thanks, J

I am really not the one to answer your question because we had a 'plan' for every day & did not stay near the pier.

Our friends went to the beach near where we tendered to in Kona though & enjoyed their day.

Kalapaki Beach is the beach that is part of the Marriott in Kauai & is close to the pier. Since all beaches are accessible to the public this beach can be enjoyed by everyone.

This pic of the Marriott was taken as we were leaving Kauai.

Hope you have a great time on your cruise! :):):)

Juli

The next morning we got up & were off the ship in no time. Easiest disembarkation ever! We went down & gathered up our luggage & went to find the shuttle to the airport.

We had a 12:25 flight out of LAX & I wasn't sure what time we would get to Long Beach just in case we had any issues with the propulsion problems so for the first time ever I booked the Carnival transfers to the airport. It was $30pp & worked out GREAT!

Carnival provided nice big buses but they were only filling them about half full so we did not have to wait at all. We pulled out within a few minutes of boarding the bus.

I don’t remember how long exactly it took us to get to LAX but it was a lot faster than I expected. I think we were there in less than 30 minutes. It was a Saturday though & there was hardly any traffic traffic.

We lucked up because Southwest was the shuttles first stop & J.R. & I were through the airport & sitting at our terminal waiting for our flight within a matter of minutes. Unfortunately we encountered long delays waiting on our flight but we made it!

What an incredible trip we had!!! :):):) We really enjoyed our time in Vancouver & Hawaii was beautiful. Mary Lou’s Tours in Hilo & Kona & the flightseeing with Air Ventures were some of the highlights in Hawaii.

Obviously since we have cruised on the Miracle four years in a row we love ‘our’ ship! The crew were all wonderful & in high spirits to be going to Hawaii & their enthusiasm was contagious. Did I say how great we think Music Unlimited is? :D Talk Like a Pirate Day & Hawaiian Night were an absolute blast!

What really made the trip so special though is all the wonderful new friends we made. We went on the cruise not knowing anyone but each other & came away with so many new friendships that we will always treasure! The sea day LCR games gave us a great time to visit & provided a lot of laughs & the M&G cash bar & cocktail party were way too much fun! I never dreamed 18 days could fly by so fast!

Juli