6/15 Carnival Breeze Review

Carnival Breeze: First Night

Sail away party out of Barcelona.

We left off when I was leaving the ship to go explore Barcelona, and boy that was fun! So much history, little cafes, landmarks, shops and places to stay connected. I’ll write something separate on that. I returned to the ship at 4pm and was one of the last people to board which was nice because I already had my picture taken, so I just walked right on. Expect to pay between $9-20 euros to/from the cruise port, depending on where you want to go in Barcelona. Research the port before you go, I was charged $22 when the closest Starbucks could be seen from the port (I need to follow my own advice).

The mandatory safety drill happened around 5:00 and we went to our assigned muster stations, ours happened to be the main dining room. I think every cruise line has really tightened up their safety drills after January, Carnival now as an animated video that makes it that more visual. The drill lasted around 20-minutes and on top of that, the cruise director, John Heald, made mention of the dangers of fire onboard and to wash hands every chance you get. Afterwards I went to shoot video around the ship during sail-away. Sailing out of Barcelona really isn’t that eventful; the ship spins around in the harbor and makes a direct line for the ocean.

The sail away party aboard the ship, now that was a different story! There was all types of dancing, drinking and the social element was really there. It was an awesome way to start a 12-day Med cruise. What I really enjoy is the outdoor movie screen. You can watch events from the main show lounge from the comfort of the bar. I haven’t made it over the tequila bar yet, only the Red Frog Pub, a big fan of that beer. Dinner was at 8:15 in the Main Dining Room and was the typical fare. Your standard every-night menu and the menus with dishes available for that night. I went with sweet and sour shrimp, shrimp cocktail, salad and crème brule, all so good!

Motor City was performed last night and was a big hit. If you’re wondering what Motor City is, it’s a one of the new playlist productions that starts in the main show lounge and ends in the atrium.

After Motor City was over (1030p) a lot of people moved to the Red Frog Pub to listen to some live acoustic music. The guitar player is from South Carolina and is very talented; he knows songs from every genre and even country! Red Frog Pub will NOT run out of ThirstyFrog Red this cruise because they loaded up 50-kegs. One of the VP’s of the company said, “whoever taps the last keg, I’ll pay their bar tab. We’re not running out of beer.”

The night club aboard the ships seems to be a happening place. I was surprised that the venues were so packed with people last night after a lot of people making the transatlantic flight. By the time I went to bed last night I was up for 36 hours.

There’s still so much more to check out like the thrill Library Bar, theater, sports area, spa, other dining venues and more shows.

Bonjour from France

I am still stuck in the Eastern Time zone, but slowly getting adjusted to being six hours ahead. We were in Marseille, France today and it was cool. I’ve yet to do breakfast on the ship but will soon. You disembark on deck 0 forward in two lines so it makes getting on and off the ship very easy.

Since I never been to Marseille before I just took the shuttle into down. The downtown area was very cool and The round trip shuttle was 12 euro and ran about every 20-minutes. Once getting downtown I walked around for a couple hours, checked out some of the local cafes and shops and then went to Starbucks to work for a little bit. The town is under a lot of heavy construction, but very easily navigable.

Back on the ship we had an interview with CEO of Carnival, Gerry Cahill. We were able to talk to him about 15-minutes and learned a lot of the insides of why Carnival went to more of a contemporary design verses the flashy Vegas look. I’m sure he thinks that Matt and I are nuts, or he’s just a very kind person to tolerate the interview. We had a blast with him!

Carnival Breeze leaving Marsielle, France.

After the interviews we went to Guy’s Burger Joint where I managed to scarf down two more burgers – The Pig Patty and the Plain Jane, both with the hand cut fries. If you’re a burger lover, the whole menu will make you drool.

At 5:30, we had a media briefing with a lot of the VP’s and execs from the company, along with the CEO, it lasted about an hour. During the press conference it hit me that I was slowly fading and the coffee couldn’t keep me awake. I wound up going to the cabin afterwards and passing out, sleeping through dinner and the comedy show. Matt came in the room around midnight and woke me, at that point I was sleeping for five hours, a much needed five hours.

Got up, went to the RedFrog Pub to hang for about an hour, went to get pizza, took a couple of videos and then went back to the room.

Balcony stateroom on the Carnival Breeze.

Tomorrow night we are going to check out the new steakhouse aboard, try out the ropes course, and make a stop by the sushi place. I’m still waiting to try Fat Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ, it’s only open on sea days. They are still work-shopping when to open it. Right now, it’s on sea days because that’s when the Lido area is the most crowded.

Livorno, Italy and steakhouse

Carnival Breeze departing Livorno, Italy

We docked in Livorno when the sun started to rise and were cleared to leave the ship around 7am. To get into town the best suggestion is a shuttle, 5 euros for a round trip transfer downtown. A couple of people were telling me you could walk to the downtown area but it would take about 40-minutes, forget that! We’re in port for 12 hours. This is the port where you can do the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Florence, we did Pisa last year and is quite the motor coach ride.

I’m still lagging and I have a feeling it’s going to last for another day but I had the same thing happen to me last year – the jet lag stuff sucks.

Once I got downtown I noticed it was half shutdown because it was a Sunday. I went to an internet café and worked before meeting a colleague for lunch at a little sidewalk café. There was definitely a language barrier. If you aren’t fluent in Italian, my suggestion is to download at pocket translator or at least have a cheat sheet with some of the basics. If you want to buy cheap designer glasses then this is your port, they are everywhere for five euro! I hung around downtown (there wasn’t much going on) and then went back to the ship around four. Where the shuttle drops off and picks up is pretty convenient to everything in the downtown area, there isn’t much downtown except some cafes and shopping.

Pizza in Italy.

Sail away from Livorno was pretty cool, there are two statue like figures outside wall of the port and of course, what’s a sail-away without a trip to the Red Frog Rum Bar? Dinner was in the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse and was very good. It was formal night on the ship, so people were dressed up but any other night the steakhouse isn’t really a formal venue, you could get by with smart casual dress. If you want to check out the menu to the steakhouse and some pictures, I uploaded it here.

After the steakhouse, it was too late for us to catch the playlist production show “The Brits!” so we just went out to the Red Frog Pub and had an after dinner drink before calling it a night. Tomorrow is Civitavecchia (Rome) and it’s expected to be a rough day for everyone. We are there for about 13-hours. I didn’t make my way into Rome last year but instead hung around Civitavecchia (a free shuttle ride from the pier).

A couple people asked me about the Thrill Theater and though I haven’t done it yet, there is a fee on it and they’ve been playing Happy Feet, Bamboo Express, Speed Racer and Extreme Log Ride. You can buy an all access pass for the theater or pay a one-time fee to check it out, it’s located on deck four, midship.

I had to call my dad for Father’s Day and was surprised how cheap it was to call home on the land line (verses cellular at sea on my iPhone). It was only $1.99/minute, enough to make a couple minute phone call and be on my way. Last time I ever thought about using the phone in the room it was $9.99/minute.

Rome

Towel Animals takeover on lido.

My day started, well from when I woke up yesterday morning. It was either the double espresso I had at the steakhouse at 10:30pm or the six hour nap I had earlier in the day.

So to get to the lido deck from our deck we have to go up to deck 10 and then across the pool deck. When we crossed to pool deck there was about 300 towel animals sprawled out from the pool chairs, laying poolside, on the bars and cabana areas. It was real cute and out a lot of people in the great mood. Between that and watching the sunrise over the port, it was a great start to the day.

I finally got to eat the breakfast in the Marketplace on the Lido Deck. I was hoping to check out the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast, they are supposed to have killer breakfast burritos but they don’t start serving until 7am and we had to be in the Ovation Theater at the time for our “Rome on your own” excursion (cost $69). Overall the breakfast wasn’t bad, as you know I’m not a huge breakfast person. A great selection of fruits, meats, breads, cereals, yogurts and pastries were there to choose from. A full report from the Blue Iguana Cantina breakfast is coming soon.

The sun rising as the Carnival Breeze approached Civitavecchia.

We got into the Ovation Theater and it was packed. They said some 1500 people were doing excursions in Rome and it was one of their most popular ports. *Tip* If you’re a big group going into Rome and all want to ride together make sure you all go into the theater together and give your tickets together, otherwise you maybe on separate busses. We sat in the theater for about 20-minutes and then walked out to the buses, loaded up and left.he sun rising as the Carnival Breeze approached Civitavecchia.

The ride into Rome took a little over an hour, the tour provided maps and detailed directions to exactly where you want to go. Carnival has a new “Rome on your own” train excursion that you can take from Civitavecchia to Rome, the train takes less time and by passes the local stops (cost $99). If you want to by-pass the ship excursion all together, you can take a train into Rome on your own for 14 euros each way. Speaking of the euro, I learned this yesterday, the ATM in the main lobby on Carnival Breeze has an ATM that distributes euros but with the service fee, it’s still cheaper to get your money from a land ATM.

Room Service

Rome is a mostly walking city so make sure you wear comfortable shoes when heading there. We were able to check out the Coliseum, Pantheon, ancient ruins and Fontana di trevi. We didn’t go over to the Vatican because the line usually takes 45-minutes and I’m impatient. Matt has a friend that lives in Rome and works as a tour guide so we were able to get a one-on-one with Rome and eat at an off the beaten path café.

We had to be back at the buses at 4pm, so we headed back around 3:30. We loaded up and it took about 1.5-hours to get back to the ship because traffic was really bad in Rome.

Once back on the ship I was beat, in fact, this is where my day pretty much ended. I took a shower, laid down and when I woke up it was way past midnight so I took advantage of Carnival’s room service. All done from the television, room service was simple and the selections aren’t that bad. They have hot/cold sandwiches, sweets, salads, beverages and you can even order from the bar up there. Tomorrow night we’re eating at the Italian joint on Carnival Breeze, Cucina del Capitano.

Carnival Breeze docked in Salerno.

So I was told that Salerno is a port that serves as an alternate to Naples, and I thought it was much better than Naples. We arrived into port at 8am and were able to get off immediately. If you want to beat the excursion rush then you’ll want to get off the ship right when it clears customs or wait an hour or so til all the excursions are gone.

We were told that there was a free shuttle into town but turns out it cost 5 euro, no big deal – beat walking in the heat of Italy. The shuttle ride dropped us off right in the heart of downtown and my first goal was to find an internet café. Travel writer Chris Owen was with me and we were able to find an internet café above some electronic store. It cost 2 euros an hour.

We decided to take a city bus up to the castle that overlooks the island. We got on the wrong bus, wound up in a town where no one knew English and my Google translator wasn’t working because of the lack of signal – it was an interesting position to be in. We finally learned that a bus would soon come through again. Sure enough a bus came through a few minutes later and we went back down to Salerno. It was a crazy situation to be in but life’s all about adventures, right?

Little town in Salerno.

Sail away from Salerno was cool and I was able to get a bunch of cool pictures before going to eat at the Italian venue Cucina del Capitano. Our seating was for 8pm and when we went up there to sit down there was a cool view from our table of low clouds in the mountains of Salerno.

Cucina del Capitano is located deck 11, aft, upstairs in a quaint little area above Lido Marketplace, open daily from 5:30-9:30p ($12 for adults and $5 for children). The whole premise is based on American-Italian dishes that were inspired by captain’s and officer’s childhood meals. This premium venue is decorated like an Italian home complete with the wooden chairs and checkered table cloths. *Tip* Cucina del Capitano is open for complementary pasta lunch.

Chicken Parm at Cucina del Capitano

The food in Cucina is served family style, I went with the calamari, caprese salad and chicken parmigiana with a side of pasta. I had to skip dessert because I was so stuff from the portions but they had awesome dishes like tiramisu, cannoli and limone sorbet. The chicken parm was almost as big as the plate. They also have singing and dancing in the venue every 30-minutes or so, your typical Italian music. Overall the experience was great and Cucina del Capitano promises to be an awesome meal (at least if you love Italian food like me).

After dinner I made my way to the Ovation Theater where this incredible young lady named Claire Gobin was playing the violin. I’m not much for classical music but she had the show band backing her and it was spot on. Very impressive! Afterwards I went to crash out – still exhausted and well past being dehydrated from back-to-back days in Rome and Salerno. I’ll figure this stuff out one day.

Towel animals having their own party.

Oh, when I got back I had three towel animals on my floor so I couldn’t resist the photo opportunity!

Carnival Breeze continues to wow me day after day – I can’t wait to check out even more of the new features.

Coming up tomorrow: Thrill Theater, the Punchliner Comedy Brunch Presented by George Lopez and we’re going to check out The Taste Bar.

Sea Day + Thrill Theater

Thrill Theater screen.

What’s the best thing about a Fun Day at Sea? Being able to sleep in. All those port days kicked my butt after flying transatlantic last week and hopping from port to port, but it was a good intense.

Our day started by checking out the Thrill Theater, this is Carnival’s new 24-seat theater located on deck four. There is a cost to this but in my opinion it’s worth the $7.95 or the unlimited pass for $14.95. The whole area is set up like a box office; you pay and get a pair of 3D glasses and take a seat. Everyone who was in the theater with me said sitting in the front row was awesome. Two short movies played, SpongeBob and Happy Feet. You will get sprayed on the thrill experience and there is a lot of seat jolting. The kids absolutely loved it – I thought the SpongeBob appealed most to me. They also play Mumble’s Wild Ride, Planet Earth and a couple others that I’ll have to get for you later.

Punchliner Comedy Brunch.

After the thrill ride we did the Punchliner Comedy Brunch Presented by George Lopez. This brunch happens on sea days between 10am-1pm. We did the 10am seating in the Sapphire Restaurant and the menu was very broad and covered everyone’s taste. Personally, I thought it was difficult for the comedians to perform that early because they are used to the late night drunk crowd, instead of the early morning hung-over crowd. You can see the menu for comedy brunch here.

The day at sea was very nice out which brings me to the Lido deck area on sea days. I didn’t feel like the Lido deck was all that packed through-out the day. I hung out at the Red Frog Rum Bar listening to music for about three-hours and not once did I see a line for Guy’s Burger Joint, the taco bar at Blue Iguana Cantina, there was however a small line at the burrito bar but that’s expected because those are done to-order. The Lido Marketplace had a couple of decent lines. *Tip* If you choose to dine in the Lido Marketplace, usually the buffet lines in the back instead of up front, a lot of people have yet to find them. Also, a lunch tip is Cucina del Capitano, you can enjoy complementary lunch up there whereas at night time there’s a $12 per person charge.

Lots of candy in Cherry On Top.

Dinner was nice, we dined in the Blush Restaurant and I did prime rib and lobster. There wasn’t a surf and turf on the menu but I was able to order one of each (because I’m fat!). But before dinner we checked out The Taste Bar, a little gathering place before dinner.

After dinner I checked out one of their new shows apart of Playlist Productions called “Divas.” I have to say having a background in radio, I’ve been to a ton of concerts and I’ll put the new Playlist Production shows up against any big concert I’ve seen. The LED boards, lasers, lighting and technology behind this show reminded me of the Kenny Chesney show I went to recently. The Divas show incorporated Madonna, Katy Perry, Prince, and others. The cool thing about these new shows is they aren’t over 30-minutes, perfect for someone who has the attention-span of an ant, like me. I took a stroll through the new specialty store Cherry on Top.

Tomorrow we’re gonna be in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I was able to get a tour through that third party excursion company Viator. I’m stoked to get out and explore the town. The private tour we booked was to check at Cavtat and old town Dubrovnik.

Carnival Breeze docked in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Dubrovnik, Croatia is one of my favorite ports because of the stunning views and history of the whole area. My goal was to get off the ship early before our 9 am private-tour excursion so I could get caught up in the internet café. Turns out the internet café was there but they only had desktop stations and that did me no good having everything is on my laptop.

Someone emailed me and asked me if cruise lines still did trivia or if that was a thing of the past like shuffleboard. There is trivia played on Carnival Breeze, today they had 80’s trivia. You can still find shuffle board on some ships.

You will rarely catch me doing a cruise line excursion because I’m not a big person for crowds, I like to venture out by myself of catch or do like I did for today and that was to book a third-party excursion through Viator.

Viator is a tour company that’s been around a while but has recently started going after cruise excursions aggressively. Not going to lie, I am usually skeptical of third party shore excursions because the cruise lines have basically scared the crap out of everyone against booking them. This excursion was excellent and the peace of mind that if you miss your tour on a Viator excursion, they will personally get you to the next port of call.

The tour I booked was Cavtat, a city outside of Dubrovnik. Once I got off the gangway, a driver was standing there holding a sign with my name on it (fancy huh?). He gave us a rundown of the five-hour tour and we headed outside of the cruise port. Since there was only two of us, where ever we wanted to go, we went.

Old town Dubrovnik, heading to Cavtat.

The first stop was to a lookout point where we could take a picture of old town Dubrovnik, then went to a small village called Cavtat, then to the old city of Dubrovnik where we walked inside the city walls and ate just outside the walls. The tour ended at 1:30 and we were dropped back off to the ship. Since we had a driver and a tour guide, I extended gratuities to both of them.

After the tour I went back to the internet café and did the basics that I could from a desktop computer and found a $1000 Nikon camera just sitting there. I stayed at the café for about an hour and no one came back to claim it. So I brought it to my room, looked through the pictures to see if I could find a picture of the owner. After searching the ship for thirty minutes deck by deck, there was no luck. My balcony overlooked the cruise port so I stayed on my balcony and I spotted the guy going into the internet café. I found him! I raced down the stairs and asked him if he was missing a camera, he was, and I returned it to him. Turns out him and his wife lived right down the street from me when I lived in Nashville. Small world. He said I saved his vacation because they had 1200 pictures on that camera. Glad I could help.

The sail away out of Dubrovnik was spent at the BlueIguana Tequila Bar trying a variety of different drinks. Personally I’m not a big tequila person because it gives me heartburn but the Blue Patron Margarita wasn’t that bad and pretty strong. After that we had a couple of beers with the couple from Nashville, interviewed them and then took some photos of sail away.

Bonsai Sushi table set-up.

Dinner tonight was in Bonsai Sushi, I dined there with a colleague from Cruise Critic. If you like sushi and want the best deal buy the sushi ship, two ships of sushi, two salads and two soups. . There is a surcharge at this venue but it isn’t much. They also served sake by the bottle for $12. You can spend from $1 to $15 there depending on your appetite. My bill was like $9. Bonsai Sushi gets crowded but there’s usually a table open and if there’s not you can always sit at the sushi bar where they make the rolls right in front of you.

After dinner we were able to check out the Library Bar on board. Wine dispensers for you do-it-yourselfers and also a bartender was also available. I think we were a little loud in the library bar but that’s what happens when you put booze and hyperactive people together. A great location on deck four though.

After the Library Bar I headed back to my room.

Tomorrow is Venice, Italy. I was in Venice last year but it was all a blur because I was up for 36-hours. Looking forward to St. Marks and venturing out in the city.

Last year I was in Venice but my day was a blur because my cruise originated there and I was up for 36 hours by the time we got there. So this year, I was bound to make it happen. We arrived in Venice and the ride in was so picturesque.

Beautiful day in Venice, Italy.

There was a little issue in Venice when we got there but it really wasn’t at all. It seemed that the lovely folks in Venice decided to strike the day before we were there and were gonna throw down a 24-hour strike. We almost missed the port of call all together but they scrambled to get us some boats to shuttle us down to St. Mark’s Square. If you choose to go on the boats, it was eight euros round trip. There was also a people mover (that was supposed to be closed) for 1 euro each way. I decided to walked into town, it took about 20-minutes, I’ve gained way to much weight the past week.

The ship cleared customs around 10 am and we were able to disembark the ship and head into town. Since there was the strike and tons of people waiting to catch the shuttles into St. Marks, I stayed on the ship and had lunch at the BlueIguana Cantina/Guy’s Burger Joint before venturing into town.

By the time I was done with lunch I was able to walk off the ship and walk into to plaza from the ship. The walk into town took about 20-minutes and wasn’t bad at all, you just had to cross a couple of bridges.

Venice has city-wide wifi for 8 euros a day so I was able to do some work from under a bridge in Venice while people watching and then went to venture out. I did all the touristy things like St. Marks, walked the channels and used the bathroom in the train station that cost a euro and was disgusting. One cool thing about Venice is that you can catch a train from anywhere in Europe from there and there’s a lot of backpackers. I should have done more research for Venice but I was so busy getting ready for the trip and doing video/audio that it was almost impossible.

Blue Iguana Cantina.

When I got back on the ship I skipped the main dining room and went to eat in the Lido Marketplace and tried the wok. The Lido Marketplace is completely redone from the past Carnival ships. I mentioned that the new Carnival is very Caribbean and this venue is no exception. There’s almost like little picnic tables with umbrellas set up inside along with new little nooks and cranny’s to eat. The Marketplace closed at 9:30 and I cut it close but was able to eat everything I wanted.

After dinner we wound up in the Red Frog Pub, as usual. The sail away out of Venice was awesome and just like I remembered last year – very picturesque. We hung at the Red Frog Pub til about two and then crashed out. We don’t have a port tomorrow so we’re able to stay out late!

We interview Senior Cruise Director John Heald at 2:30pm tomorrow in The Library Bar.

Fat Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ.

Being a BBQ freak and living in the south I was excited for today, getting to try Fat Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ.

Yes, it can be done, a cruise ship can make great BBQ, just like they do in the South and I was actually impressed. Going into the whole thing I was trying to figure out if they could duplicate great BBQ, they can. Since I slept in today, my day started with the BBQ joint, located deck five, outside, starboard side.

Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ is open every sea day (for now) and it’s best to try to get there on the first sea day because by the end of the cruise everyone knows about it and the secret’s blown. You start with some fixins like coleslaw, potato salad then move down the line to a selection of meats like sausage, pulled pork and boneless bbq chicken breasts. They also have jalapeno cornbread, garlic bread, beans, corn and a drink station at the end. By far one of my best lunch meals on there, even beating out those awesome burgers from Guy’s Burger Joint!

At 5pm I went to check out Hasbro The Game Show, this was the third game show this cruise and it was cool watching a board game come to life. The game played this installment was Connect Four. Audience members got to participate and they divided the audience into two different teams, the Blue and Red team. Every cruise they play four different games and they were all a big hit. It’s a real game show setting. They have cameras, a game host, graphics and give away prizes worth like $150.

The Taste Bar theme tonight was from the BlueIguana Cantina, a nice tortilla lime soup and a spiced pulled pork. Dinner in the main dinner room was okay. Maybe because it’s a new ship but there’s been a couple of hit and miss nights in the main dining room. Some of the food has been outstanding and other times have been just OK.

Interviewing Cruise Director John Heald.

I got an email asking about Cellular at Sea and the cost of it. If you want to use your cell phone it’s $2.39 a minute when on the “Cellular at Sea” network and .50 cents a text. Over the years I’ve the price of calling home from the ship go way down. Back in 1999 when I was on Carnival Destiny it was $9.99 a minute to call him, then went down to $6.99, now it’s $1.99. Either way MTN is taking you to the bank but having satellites zooming around the earth can’t be cheap either. Fair enough.

We had a chance to do a video and radio interview with John Heald today — he gave us some good advice on where to go in Europe and some tips.

Tomorrow we’re in Messina, Italy. Excursion time!

[/url] View from the cliffs of Taormina.

We have about eight-hours in port today. I booked an excursion to Taormina , a city located on Sicily about 45-minutes up the coast from Messina. We met for the excursion at 10:15 in the Ovation Theater and boarded the bus to headed to Taormina . Last year when I was in Messina I just walked the down and had lunch at a little café, much different this year.

On the ride from Messina, Italy to Taormina we got to see Mount Etna, an active volcano and we were lucky because it was a clear day and we could see plumes of smoke coming out of it. About 10-minutes later we arrived in Taormina and were let out to explore. The first thing we did was grabbed lunch from this cafe overlooking cliffs and the bay, it was breathtaking. The pizza’s served there were very affordable, I want to say like 8 euros.

Since we were on one of those “on your own” type tours we took the funicular down to the beach.

The active Mt. Etna as seen from Taormina.

*Tip* If you want to check the beach out, take the funicular down, it runs every 15-minutes and cost $6 round trip. Just don’t cut it close because everyone on the beach takes it down and if you get caught on the beach you may get a great picture of Carnival Breeze sailing into the sunset. We went down to the beach, had a beer and made our way back up. We had to be at the meeting point at 4pm so that gave us about four hours in the area. The ride back wasn’t that bad. The broken English sometimes makes it very hard to follow along so I rocked out to Kenny Chesney.

I met a group for pre-dinner cocktails at the Ocean Plaza bar. There was a lot of dancing, music and the social vibe was really hopping. The Ocean Plaza bar is always where they do Superstar Live, where you karaoke with a live band. Great concept.

For dinner I went to Bonsai Sushi again – we bought a bottle to sake and a bento box. I fell in love with the shrimp tempura there, the crab roll, not so much. A $12 bottle of sake was awesome, served warm or cold. Loved! My bill was like $20 for a bottle of sake, bento box and a 1.5 liter of water – not too shabby. So far I’m really loving the dining venues aboard Carnival Breeze.

Pizza for lunch in Taormina.

Tomorrow is our last sea day and we are slammed with interviews. This is the fun part, doing back-to-back-to-back interviews. We’ll be doing video and audio.

Sea Day

Doing video/audio interview with Calvin.

One of the cool parts about doing Cruise Radio is being able to talk to a lot of different people and delve into their position on-board. Today we started out with John Heald’s assistant Calvin, we did a video interview with him in the night club inside one of the cages (yes, the night club has two cages in it, very South Beach). He was a riot.

After the first interview we went to The Punchliner Comedy Brunch presented by George Lopez. The comedians this go-round were very funny. The first one was from Toronto and the second one was from Las Vegas. We interviewed both of them after brunch. I went with the filet and eggs on this one, both delish. After we interviewed the comedians we did some video stand-ups around the ship and interviewed the host of Hasbro, The Game Show, Butch. I actually interviewed Butch back in December on Carnival Liberty. They picked the right guy to host Hasbro, The Game Show, he’s slick. Butch is full of energy and plays the role well.

View from the navigational bridge, deck 8.

We got to tour the navigational bridge and interview the captain at 3pm, that was cool, basically standing on the bridge of the newest cruise ship in the world (at the time I write this). The captain hails from Sicily and said it was quite the experience bringing Carnival Breeze into his homeport.

After interviewing the captain, we went down to the Red Frog Pub and ordered every menu item to try it out all. The conch salad was super spicy! The chicken wings, sliders, grouper fingers, mini-burgers, shrimp and conch fritters were all very good. All the snack size items run $3.33 each.

Earlier today I used the new Sail and Sign kiosk to manage my account. It’s a neat feature, I’ve seen them on different ships for about a year but you can pull your folio, apply cash payments, other credit card payment. I used it to apply $100 to my sail and sign account.

Food from the Red Frog Pub.

Someone emailed me about the smoking areas on the ship and they are as follows: the entire portside lania , deck five from forward to aft, deck 11 near sports square, Liquid nightclub when open and the port side of the Winner’s Luck Casino Bar. You can still smoke on your stateroom balcony but not in spa suite balconies.

Tomorrow we are in Palma de Mallorca. This will be my first time to this port so I’m excited to check it out. They have this really old cathedral dating back to the 1200’s.

SportsSquare on Carnival Breeze.

When I woke up this morning we were pulling into Palma de Mallorca, Spain. I didn’t opt for an excursion on this island but chose to walk it by foot. There was a five euro shuttle bus available into downtown if you didn’t want to walk. The walk into town takes about thirty minutes and lots of people did it. Great exercise.

The bus dropped us off at right at the downtown area. Right across street where we were dropped off from there was that famous cathedral that has been around since the 1200’s. There was an abundance of sidewalk cafes, trendy stores and souvenir stores. I stayed in town for a few hours, had a couple beers at a sidewalk café and headed back to the shuttle. Soon as we boarded the shuttle it left to take us back. Great timing.

Went to The Punchliner Comedy Club presented by George Lopez after dinner in the main dining room. The club is located in the Limelight Theater and had a packed house. A lot of people thought the comedians were hysterical. In my opinion if a comedian has to use the F bomb every other word or talk super vulgar, it’s a lost cause. The comedians were Smiley Joe Wiley from Las Vegas and Jason Blanchard from Toronto (we saw them in the Punchliner Comedy Brunch earlier the week). Didn’t Bill Cosby teach comedians anything?

Palma de Mallorca Cathedral.

Someone asked on the Cruise Radio Facebook page about the Seaside Theater on Carnival Breeze and when it was used. It’s used quite frequently throughout the voyage. Every sea day John Heald has a morning show or afternoon show with assistant Calvin, that’s shown on the big screen as well in the evenings they have a family movie nights at 7pm and 9pm. They also broadcast the Miami Heat earlier in the week at like 3 am our time. Aside from ship programming they show concerts and the pool area activities live feed on there.

What shocks me is no matter where you’re sitting or how bright the sun is, you can see the screen from anywhere. Princess Cruises was the first ship to put a seaside theater type venue on the open deck.

Tomorrow we disembark in Barcelona, Spain, where we started the journey 12-days ago.

Disembarkation in Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain sunrise.

Well it finally comes to an end. Carnival Breeze’s 12- night sailing through the Med is officially over and done. We had baggage tags put in our room last night and the bags had to be out by 10:30 if we wanted to check them and pick them up pierside. I carried mine off the ship – pretty heavy with my video gear, audio, computer and luggage but made due.

John Heald started the disembarkation process at 5:30, super early! The announcements were not broadcast in the cabin but it was enough to wake you up. Our transfer was at 8 am so we had to meet in the conference center at 7:30am. The Carnival transfer from the ship to the airport was flawless.

We waited in line at the American Airlines ticket counter for over an hour just to check out bags. It was very strange because everyone was already checked in and just had drop bags off and the line moved at a snails pace. I purchased the $49 upgrade on American Airlines on the return flight. I was booked in row 41 but I was able to snag row 10 and get moved to boarding group 1, well worth the investment.

Flying transatlantic is still a killer for me. The flight to Miami was 9.5 hours. No plugs, internet, and not being comfortable enough to sleep was a killer but that cruise rocked and made it all worth it.

So long Spain!

Overall the trip on Carnival Breeze was great. 12-night was definitely a good amount of time to scout out the whole ship, eat and do everything. This is Carnival’s last new-build for now. Next up is more of the Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades and Carnival Destiny transforming into Carnival Sunshine next spring, that’s going to be a huge project!

Awesome review! Thanks so much for the time you took to write this up! I am on the Breeze is under 2 months and your review was so informative and balanced. Hope you recover from the jet lag soon.

YaY ! Thank you.

I know I am not alone in saying I've been waiting anxiously for a first full review. I won't see for myself until March 2, 2013 so I'll just have to enjoy reviews until then.

You did a great job of giving your overall impression with just enough to want us to see and ask for more. Thank you very much. I really enjoyed the entire review and photos.

Very good review! I had read parts of it, so seeing all of it at one time was really nice! Thanks!

Thanks for such a great review.Doing the transatlantic in November and this has made me even more excited.:D

This is great! Thanks so much for posting it!

Can't wait for my turn in September.

Holy cow, thanks so much for the all-inclusive review and photos! We will be aboard the Breeze in 9 days, and now I cannot wait. I thought that we had done our homework preparing for our cruise, but now I know that I will pour over your summaries, and learn a lot more about the in's and out's of the Breeze. Thanks again! (PS Loved the towel animal party!)

Awesome job and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Fantastic review! A Med cruise is on my bucket list. Will be on the Breeze in December for Christmas, (Caribbean) and can't wait! Maybe I missed it - but on what deck was your balcony cabin, and did you like the location?

Thanks Doug, really enjoyed the full read. Just wondered where & when are you might be posting the video footage?

Thanks for the review - really enjoyed it. Can't wait for our turn - jsust over a month to wait!

Pam.

Great review! Thanks for sharing. I'm thinking of booking the Breeze for December. Did you eat at the Tandoori Station?