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Live From the Carnival Breeze - US Inagural

Kokomo_Man

By Kokomo_Man,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Kokomo_Man

Kokomo_Man

Posted
Posted

Day 0

 

 

For that are new to my writing, I always call the first day on a cruise “Day 0” partly because I spent more years than I will admit as a digital design engineer before turning to writing… digital engineers always start counting from “0”. The other reason is because the day you board a cruise ship isn’t really a full day, so it seems to make some kind of perverted sense to make it Day 0.

 

Ok… those of you that know my other reason for calling this Day 0 can chime in. (Tee Hee)

 

There’s nothing different to tell you about for boarding and such. It was the standard stuff. I’ve done more than enough cruises with Carnival to always have VIP boarding. So it was zip through, get on board, go to the pool deck, and get a frozen concoction to help me hang on.

 

As I write this I’m sitting on deck 11 overlooking the pool in nice comfy cushioned chairs. I have to say, WOW!!!! This is quite a ship. I fully expect all the Carnival marketing to say glorious things about their newest flag ship… but I have to say it again. WOW. I was on the Magic this spring and expected about the same thing with a little bit different decor. But I’m completely surprised. While it does have the same basic layout as the Magic, it’s completely different. Over the next couple of days I’ll be taking some pictures and telling you about the ship and of course the adventure. But just for now… WOW!!!

 

I’m going to stop for now and get this posted to get things started while I still have free internet. Ok… the main reason for stopping is I can’t wait to try out one of the Guy Ferengie burgers. I've been hearing about those burgers for an eternity.

 

I’ll write/post more later this afternoon/evening.

 

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

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mississauga

mississauga

Posted
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Hi Bob,

 

Thanks for the Live! Knew you would do one...lol.:)Can't wait to see the Breeze for myself and will join you on the Bloggers cruise in January. Doing a b2b starting on Jan. 13. Say hi to Butch from Serge and Mary.

 

Enjoy and look forward to hearing more,:D

Mary

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scott_gallant

scott_gallant

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Just got off the Breeze yesterday - did the 15 day transatlantic - and I can add my WOW!! The ship is beautiful - well designed and laid out - with lots of fun spaces to visit!

 

Have a great time onboard! :)

 

Froufie, can we expect another great review from you? Always enjoy your reviews.

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SkyMaster

SkyMaster

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I am cruising on the breeze next year and am very excited. I look forward to your posts, and am hoping for good reviews now that the Breeze is in the U.S. The reviews from the mediterranian sailings were mostly negative.

 

The lovely Mrs. Jones (Vita) just got off "Breeze", where she did the last Med Cruise, and then the Trans Atlantic. She LOVED BOTH cruises, and is ready to book again for next year. She's still raving about "Breeze", and even though we've taken many, many cruises, I think this has been her favorite. (HMMMM,,,maybe because I wasn't there with her?) :eek:

 

"SKY"

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bluwes

bluwes

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I am cruising on the breeze next year and am very excited. I look forward to your posts, and am hoping for good reviews now that the Breeze is in the U.S. The reviews from the mediterranian sailings were mostly negative.

 

We were on her inaugural sailing out of Venice in June. We loved the ship and had a great time

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Kokomo_Man

Kokomo_Man

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Day 0

 

 

V2.0

 

 

I’m writing this while sitting at the “Fire Drill” (Live boat/ Emergency drill). I’m trying to keep this as “LIVE” as I can.

 

This is all very civilized. My lifeboat station is A3 which means that we gather in the main theater. It’s amazing. The actual briefing hasn’t started and people around me are all texting, talking on their phones, and of course me pounding away on this.

 

I was on deck 11 overlooking the pool when they blew the horns for the “Fire Drill”. I was amazed by the number of people who seemed to just stay there enjoying the pool oblivious to the fact that the ship may be sinking. Maybe they all have had one too many “drink of the day” beverages.

 

They even just had an announcement for people in the Lido buffet to come join us in the “fire drill”. How fast everyone has forgotten the Concordia.

 

I always promised to write about “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly as I see it on a cruise. (As you know, I’ve never seen truly ugly on a cruise.) So here goes a couple of things so far.

 

First, the drink of the day: This can be seen as either good or bad depending on your point of view. What I want to tell you about is the “Drink of the Day” (DOD). They do not spare the booze in these drinks. I’ve had two over the last four hours and my fingers are barely working to write this. They do not skimp on the booze. They are a tad expensive at a bit over $9.00 including mandatory tip, but you sure get your money’s worth and then some when it comes to the booze part. There’s so much booze in these that if I had another DOD, I would need a wheelbarrow to get me to dinner tonight.

 

They have a new multi-media presentation for the evacuation procedures. It is by far the best I’ve seen on any ship and any ship-line. I even stopped typing to watch. Everyone else got quiet too. I don’t know what the hole ship is hearing or seeing, but this is what all cruise lines should move too.

 

Now that the “Fire Drill is over, I’m gonna let the hoards clear out and tell you a little bit about getting on this cruise.

 

I really wanted to go on this cruise. But… even getting booked for the eight day cruise was crazy. Since it was the US inaugural… and since it was thought to have the “naming ceremony… and it was thought to be having big “to do” activities.. and since it was billed to have Carnival’s Senior Cruise Director & Brand Ambassador on board… the cruise was sold out way back in last June. I don’t think Carnival ever officially said there would be big happenings, but everyone really thought there would be glorious things on board.

 

The best I could do when I tried to book back in June was to get on a wait list. Then, day after day I checked the internet to see if a cabin was available. I’m sure my PVP got tired of my calling her all the time. (My PVP Bonnie is really very good. She has taken care of me very well on more than one occasion.)

 

Finally about six weeks ago they had some cancellations down in the bowels of the ship. I was able to get the lowest category for the price of… YEOOOOOWWWWWWW! I don’t want to cut those off!!! (Get your mind out of the gutter… I mean an arm and a leg.) But I paid it. I really wanted on this cruise. Of course I was expecting a lot of special activities.

 

Well... except that it is the first US sailing, there is none of the implied “to-do” stuff will be happening. Not even the Brand Ambassador is going to be here for the eight day. I guess that since carnival sold out the cruise six months ahead of time… at premium prices, there was no reason to have the big goings on. They could save that for some other undersold cruise.

 

It doesn’t matter. As I’ve posted in other places… we don’t need no stinkin’ “Brand Ambassador”… we don’t need no stinkin’ ceremony’s and big “to do” stuff. Any time I’m on a cruise ship, I’m having a glorious time. And with the way they are porin’ the DOD’s I may not even remember it anyway.

 

Everything has cleared out now, so it’s time to go up on deck to find Floatie and her band of Funatics.

 

Oh Waiter! Oh Waiter! I’ll have another DOD and a wheelbarrow please. …

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

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Froufie

Froufie

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Froufie, can we expect another great review from you? Always enjoy your reviews.

 

Most definitey - first I have to unpack :), then download the thousands of pictures I took and start writing the review - stay tuned! ;)

 

I must say this was my BEST CRUISE EVER EVER EVER (and those that were on the TA will understand that LOL)...EVER

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mississauga

mississauga

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Froufie, can we expect another great review from you? Always enjoy your reviews.

 

Most definitey - first I have to unpack :), then download the thousands of pictures I took and start writing the review - stay tuned! ;)

 

I must say this was my BEST CRUISE EVER EVER EVER (and those that were on the TA will understand that LOL)...EVER

 

I too am waiting for another great review from you, Froutie. Have read one or two others you have written and found them always well balanced and interesting.

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HB Cruiser

HB Cruiser

Posted
Posted

Bob

 

Thanks for the live thread.

 

Noticed in your sig your sig you have cruised the Freedom of the Seas. We have never done a Carnival cruise but am booked for May 2013. Once you are back, could you please post the "major" diffs of the ships, not if food is better, staff better, the normal comparisons just some things that you noticed that are different between them.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tim

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Kokomo_Man

Kokomo_Man

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I just want to post a couple of notes to folks that have posted.

 

The first is to Mary (mississagua)... Hi Mary... I sure am happy that you will be on BC6. I missed you on BC5.

 

To "nodogkisses"... thanks for your encouragement. And I still love your screen name.

 

Tim... I did a "compare and contrast" type of "Live From..." when I was on the Freedom of the Seas. You can find it by looking at my posts. For most of the cruise I posted on both the carnival threads and RCL threads as I went along. Check those out and if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them as best as I can.

 

That's all for now. I'm working on one more post for this evening.

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

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