Live From the Carnival Breeze - BC6

[brandn03]

I'm not sure if you have a Cheddars where you live. It's a casual dining place but they have a painkiller drink on their bar menu.

 

 

Melissa

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It's funny that you mention that. I just got home from cheddars and I had a painkiller! It was good, but there is just something about drinking one in the Caribbean that makes it taste better.

[daijayx2]

It's funny that you mention that. I just got home from cheddars and I had a painkiller! It was good, but there is just something about drinking one in the Caribbean that makes it taste better.

 

Am I remembering right, does the menu say your only allowed to purchase 2 of them?

 

I have yet had my chance to get one at the Soggy Dollar but hopefully soon!!

 

 

Melissa

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brandn03]

Am I remembering right, does the menu say your only allowed to purchase 2 of them?

 

I have yet had my chance to get one at the Soggy Dollar but hopefully soon!!

 

 

Melissa

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yep, they still have a limit of 2.

[Kokomo_Man]

Last Day – Nassau

 

 

 

There’s not much new to write about Nassau itself that I haven’t written about either in my book or in my recent “Live Froms….”. This has been my third visit to the island since last September. I was here during the Breeze U.S. Inaugural 2 day in November and posted the “Live From…” then.

 

Today I did almost the same walk-about I did last November… first to Jukano Beach, then to Fish Fry. On the way we stopped into the Duncan Donuts for some good coffee and an internet fix. The internet used to be good there, but now the place is filled up with people and the internet is marginal. They also limit your internet time to 30 minutes. Although the coffee and donuts were good, it’s time to find a new place for internet.

 

Since I have seen mixed posts here on CC for Junkano Beach, I walked out on the beach to see if the beach is in as good of condition as my last visit. I’m glad to say that it is. And this time there were quite a few more people than the last time. Although I had my walking shoes on, it would have been no problem barefoot.

 

On the way back, I stopped in at a place next door to Duncan Donuts. It’s called “Conch Fritter”. I looked at the menu and it was a bit pricey. I hoped to get a little jerk chicken, but that was $16.00. All I wanted was a little lunch. Just as I was about to move on, I noticed a “special” menu. No jerk chicken, but they did have lasagna. Now it doesn’t make sense to have lasagna in a place named “Conch Fritter” so I was about to leave.

 

Then I took a look at my iPad and found a wireless that let me log in. Shizam! It was fast. I don’t know where it was coming from… probably one of the nearby hotels or something. I didn’t care. I just knew that I had a good internet connection. Since I don’t like conch if any kind, I ordered the lasagna.

 

When the food came, I expected “patooy”. I figured I would just stir the food around once in a while so they wouldn’t throw me out right away. I took a little taste and hummmmm… it was pretty good. I took another bite and it was very good. Another bite… this time a big bite and it was very, very good. It turned out that this may have been the best lasagna I’ve ever eaten. Who woudda figured?

 

The last time I was in Nassau I wrote about being disappointed at the new “Straw Market”. It had lost all of the character of the old, rundown place. Also gone were the “Cooch” bags… you know, knock-offs of Coach bags. When I mentioned this in my last “Live From…” someone commented that there was now another place with the knock-offs. I made a mention of Coach bags to one of the ladies in the market and she said we can’t have them here any more.

 

I wandered through the market a little bit and mentioned it again. This time the lady said to go out the front of the building and I would find someone there. When I got out front, there seemed to be nothing. I milled around for a little bit and didn’t see anything. I was with my daughter Wendy. We were about to continue on when a younger lady came up to her and said, “are you looking for a handbag”. She said yes and we were led across the street and down the alley way in front of the Straw Market.

 

Then we were led down an even smaller, sort of seedy alley way. About this time all the orifices of my body were starting to “pucker-up”. We went into a run-down building and started up the stairs. I was just about to say “never mind” when three ladies that were obviously “grande touristas” just like me started coming down the stairs. So I ventured on up the stairs.

 

Once inside the “show room” I saw four or five more Grande Touristas”. There were also thousands of “knock-offs and not just Cooch bags. There were Goouchi, Michael Koors, Louis Pecan, and a bunch more. Wendy kinda wanted to get something for her daughter but didn’t see anything she liked. So we were escorted down stairs and then into another “store”… with thousands more bags. After being shown around to two or three more stores, our escort gave up on us.

 

On the way back toward the dock we ran into a marching band forming up right in the middle of the main street. For a marching band, it was a sorta rag-tag looking bunch of kids. As we watched, several more marching bands joined up in the street along with the first band. I asked a shop owner; along the street didn’t about what was going on, but she didn’t seem to know anything about it.

 

The best I was able to figure out is that there is some kind of 100 year celebration tomorrow (Sunday) and there are 16 bands coming from the islands all over the Bahamas to participate in the event. Today, they were just practicing for tomorrow’s festivities. The traffic along the street and in the whole area was snarled up. They had a policeman in a spiffy uniform to direct traffic, but it didn’t matter… everything was jammed.

 

Just as we were getting ready to pass through the security check to get back on the dock, a guy from Senior Frogs brought a woman to the check point. Hummmm… “brought a woman” doesn’t describe it. He was almost carrying her. She had an arm over his shoulder, and he had an arm around her waist to hold her up. He said he couldn’t go beyond the check point and dropped her off. Everyone around thanked him for helping her and off he went.

 

The woman tried to find her ship card, but I’m sure she couldn’t see… or perhaps she saw hundreds of them in her purse. The security person moved her to the side while she searched her purse to let Wendy and I through. Other people started passing through too. I looked back to see if she was OK… she wasn’t. I was worried that she wouldn’t make it back to her ship. I urged Wendy to go back to try to help the woman.

 

So, Wendy went back to help. Wendy started to search through the woman’s purse. Wendy asked her what ship she was on… she didn’t know. Finally, Wendy found her ship card. She was on the Rockwall of the Seas. When she got through the check point she was walking on her own, but we were afraid that on the way back to her ship she might fall off the dock and into the water. So once they got through the security check, Wendy an I escorted back to her gang-way.

 

Along the way we found out that her husband… make that ex-husband divorced her just before the cruise. She did say that she liked Nassau a lot and had a good time. Several times she said she had a lot of fun there. It’s a shame she won’t remember any of it

 

By the time you read this, I’ll probably be off the ship and on my way back to the “frozen tundra”. So this will be my last post until I do my wrap-up in a day or so. We’ve got one more night, but as usual the cruise is coming to an end too soon. In a way, it’s good that this cruise is ending when it is. At the rate I’ve been going, I don’t know that I could last many more days. I’ve got to go back to work to rest up.

 

Now it’s time to get in the last night of the cruisin’ stuff.

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[jolyroger]

So sad for us to see your cruise come to an end(as I'm sure for yourself), its been fun reading it every day!!!! 75 more days till I get to sail on that glorous ship!

[mbmbird]

Sorry your cruise is coming to an end.:( But, as a mother, thank you and your daughter for helping that young lady. I don't have a daughter, but I have nieces, and I would hope if they were ever in that situation someone would help them and not take advantage.

[Cruise Cat]

Bob - I didn't realize that was you in the drink contest. We were sitting on the second row of loungers.

 

So is that why Ken was not in the MDR last night? We wondered why there was a different Matre'd

 

My MIL and her sister were having the same problem with room service throughout the cruise. The first time it happened the guy even told them they had tried to deliver it an hour earlier. Apparently the room service staff can't tell the difference between 8:30 marked on the card and 4:30.

 

As the TV reception was terrible throughout the cruise, the internet had to be terrible too.

 

The reason the elevators were so screwed up is because the banks of elevators are not sychronized. If you push a button on one set of elevators, it does not light up the ones across from it as well. The when the elevator comes, it does not shut it off either. As a result, the elevators are stopping at almost every floor. Since it takes so long, even if there is only one person, they get tired of waiting and go hit the other button as well. We found the atrium glass elevators to be the most responsive.

 

Linden and the Crew in the Red Frog were simply awesome!

 

Not sure I want to go to Antigua again after all the cab drivers. It might have had something to do with us being the only ship in port.

 

I think the number of jewlery stores in Naussa tripled since the last time we were there as well as the high end womens clothing/shoe stores. That was not a Parade, but a Protest against "The Referendum". Tomorrow (28th), the vote whether or not to allow gambling (not just at Atlantis).

 

Might have met you in Red Frog. Were you with Ray drinking the tube after the crawl?

[tracyvansmith]

can't wait to read more.

[LHP]

Great writing!!

 

Yes, we had a wonderful time on BC6....

 

It was made even more special since our oldest son Josh got to come with us before reporting to Charleston for Nuclear Propulsion School.

 

It was our last real "family" vacation....before he starts his official career in the Navy.

 

And yes, he was one of the pirates with a real costume. He bought it for Halloween years ago in college and has really gotten a lot of use out of it...lol

 

He was also in the pub crawl (doing the push ups) and had a BLAST with y'all!!!

 

We also went to Jost Van Dyke through the Carnival Excurions and it was super!!

 

LOVED the Red Solo cups in the Piano Bar....THANKS!!

 

Hope you got to hear the Parody that Candace and I did at the Farewell Party. "Blogging John is Mine" to the song "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCarthy....

 

it was hilarious!!!

[Kokomo_Man]

Hi All,

 

I'm finally working on a wrap up. I started coming down with "the crud" my last night of the cruise. I'm glad I didn't get it until then and it didn't ruin my cruise.

 

When I got home Sunday night I went to bed and stayed there for two days. So I'm just now sitting down to my computer again and I've got some work -WORK - to do before I get back to finishing the wrap up. Just time now to respond to a couple of posts.

 

LHP - I know our paths crossed several times during the cruise. I wondered about the push-ups during the pub craws... now I understand. Good luck to your son in the Navy and tell him “thank you for your service” for me.

 

Chuck (Cruise Cat) - I “ditto” your comments about Linden and the Crew in the Red Frog pub. Their service was first class, but more than that, I feel like I made friends of them all. I hung out there a lot in the afternoons, but not the time you’re talking about.

 

I saw the “referendum” demonstrations in Nassau too, but the marching bands were something different. I got some pics of the bands and will be posting them as soon as I catch up a bit.

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[Snowbath]

Hi Bob-

 

Ou mentioned a book you wrote in one of your post. Can you give me more details about this book.

 

Thanks.

[Kokomo_Man]

I have to be very careful about advertising here on cruisecritic. It is against the rules and I don't want to be sent to the naughty room. But, since you asked... I have two books and you can find them on Amazon. In both cases, the "book description" does a pretty good job of telling you what it's about. You can also use the "look inside" feature to see if you will like either. The titles are "Memories of Naked Fanny" and "Searching for Kokomo".

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[mickiemac]

I recommend both!!

 

 

 

I have to be very careful about advertising here on cruisecritic. It is against the rules and I don't want to be sent to the naughty room. But, since you asked... I have two books and you can find them on Amazon. In both cases, the "book description" does a pretty good job of telling you what it's about. You can also use the "look inside" feature to see if you will like either. The titles are "Memories of Naked Fanny" and "Searching for Kokomo".

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[Snowbath]

Bob, would you know if Ron Pass is going to be on the Mar 2nd Breeze sailing?

[Kokomo_Man]

Yes, Ron Pass is scheduled to be on board into May with a possible extension to June 2. That said, these schedules are always subject to change.

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[Kokomo_Man]

BC6 – Wrap-up

 

 

I usually writer my wrap-up on my way home, but this time I was coming down with the crud and didn’t feel up to doing anything. Well... it’s been a couple of days since I traded in the frozen concoctions to help me hang on and the good food for nasal spray and chicken noodle soup. Instead of watching some entertainment on board ship, I’ve been watching “Days of Our Lives” between my toes. So today it was time I get my butt out of bed and get some work -WORK - done.

 

With some time to contemplate the cruise I’ve come to realize that it’s not the things I did, nor the places I went that made this a very good cruise. It’s the people.

 

I didn’t do many of the BC6 activities. The Bloggers stuff has become almost too big. Of course no one is made to walk the plank if they don’t attend events. I think I only attended three… one of the tea times with cucumber sandwiches (yuck), the welcoming party and the goodbye party. All three of these were more about seeing and meeting the people than they were about John.

 

Oh yes… there was the “Cigars Under the Stars” too. Like all the blogger activities this one has also grown too big. Just the same, it had almost nothing to do with cigars and was a get-together of the people. Maybe that’s why I still like this the best of the bloggers events.

 

The ship is a great ship, make no mistake about it. But it too may be too big. With 4000+ passengers on board, the facilities are strained. Nothing bad mind you... but I always had the sense that lots of stuff was on the verge of overload. The first example that comes to mind is the elevators that I already “spewed” about. But it’s also places like the buffet, and a few of the bars at peak time. We had no tenders on this cruise, but I suspect that the ship would “bust” at a place like Belieze with 4000 people trying to get to shore..

 

I always promise to tell about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ve rarely had any ugly on any cruise and there was none on this one. But, as usual, there was lots of stuff I liked... and some I didn’t like. I’ll get the stuff I didn’t like out of the way first.

 

 

Stuff I don’t like.

 

The list is short, but there are a few things to tell about. First and foremost, I don’t like how much my pants shrunk this cruise! ‘Nuff said on this subject.

 

The elevators are awful. I just had to say it one more time... they are that bad.

 

I don’t like the time of the year that is now being chosen for the Bloggers cruises. It’s clear to me that Carnival is using the Bloggers cruise to fill up otherwise under subscribed ships. This cruise in the middle of January was to close to the Holidays… any cruise in the middle of January is too close to the holidays, but this just gave them an excuse to raise the prices on a cruise that would have otherwise been under booked.

 

The same goes for next year. BC7 will be the middle of February. That’s better, but I wish it were back out into March like it was in the past. It’s unlikely that I will book the BC7 cruise… that is unless Ron Pass in the piano bar and even then I may not book it.

 

Carnival has eliminated future cruise credits. Now in order to get the equivalent is to book your cruise while you are on board. To get the best deal you need to book “early saver”, but… if you have to change ships or dates for any reason, it costs $50 which negates a huge chunk of the advantage of the booking. If you book one of the other rates (old folks, etc) you completely negate any advantage. So to me this program is almost useless.

 

Everyone on the ship was great... except for one person. She worked at the “future cruise” kiosk. She seemed like she was too harried to take the time to work with folks. She wanted to make an appointment to do anything. Instead of working with you on figuring out your plan she verged on rude when trying to get you to book. She even made Floatie mad and that’s a hard thing to do. Oh… and there is one more thing. They need to have a desk where you can sit and discuss things instead of just a counter to take your money if you already know what you want.

 

Carnival seems to have discontinued the “Rock and Roll bands”. I really liked those bands... especially if the piano bar entertainer wasn’t good or it was their night off. In the past I would be on my way to bed when the Rock & Roll band would catch my ear. I would have a frozen concoction or two to help me hang on and listen/dance to the band. On the Breeze, the place where the band would have been playing now has Karaoke... and most of the singers can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Now unless I’m in the piano bar, I suspect I’ll just go to bed.

 

Some Likes

 

I really can’t begin to list all the likes. It would make for an unbearably long post. If you have been reading my posts for this or other cruises, then you know that I like almost everything. Yea... there were a few dislikes, but overall, I think cruising gives you the most bang for the buck. That’s probably why most of you are reading this.

 

Probably the single biggest reason why I like Carnival is the night life. All the other lines go to the same places, they all have about the same variety of cabins (except Carnival doesn’t have high end suites.), they all have good food (very subjective) and they all have good service throughout. So for me what separates out Carnival is the stuff at night. For me the comedians and the piano bar are places I go to every night. It’s one of the reasons I lament the loss of the rock & roll band... some of the night life has been lost. Still, compared to those lines where everyone is in bed soon after dinner, Carnival can’t be beat.

 

For me, cruising is becoming less and less about where I go… more and more about who I’m with and the friends I meet. I almost didn’t go on BC6 because it’s not my favorite itinerary. I really don’t care if I ever go back to any of the places we went to. Well… I take that back. I really want to go back to the beach at Soggy Dollar. But even there I think it was the friends that made the trip there and back so enjoyable. It’s the friends I already knew and the new friends I met are what made this cruise a good one.

 

I especially like the Red Frog Pub. As you know, that became my hang out a lot this cruise. During the day it was my “office” where I would sit and write about stuff. More important than the writing, folks would come by and sit down to chat. There’s that “people connection” again. The Red Frog Pub was a good place for people to get together.

 

I also liked the Cuchina del Capitano. Even though I love eating in the main dining room, it was a nice change of pace to sit with friends and have a different kind of dinner. Hummmm… there’s that “friends connection” again. The food was good and the price was quite reasonable.

 

Ron Pass in the piano bar. I’ve raved on him already, but I wanted to say how good he is one more time for those that are jumping to the end without reading the previous posts. Ron is simply the best. Whenever you are in his piano bar you are made to feel like his friend. And it doesn’t take long for everyone around his piano bar become friends… another “friends connection”. I made a pile of new friends in the piano bar. I’m going to miss Lulu and Alice.

 

I liked the way Carnival and the crew of the Breeze handled the two medical emergencies we had on board. First, they did whatever it took to see to it that the people were put first, and profits second. I’m sure the two diversions cost Carnival a ton in extra fuel costs, pilot fees and docking fees. What is more amazing is that in this case, these emergencies were handled almost without missing a beat. No activities were canceled and no ports were delayed or missed. A tip of my cap to all involved.

 

Before I go...

 

Some of my friends were missing in action. I know you’re reading this and you know who you are. Fooey on money and the realities of the world. Life is too short… spend your kids inheritance, dig into your retirement or do whatever it takes to join me on a cruise. Those of you that know me know why I say this and know why I know it’s true. You’ll never get tomorrow back.

 

This will be my last cruise for a little bit... at least until the fever starts to set in again. My friends have concocted up three more cruises that I really want to take, but I can’t make a firm commitment to any of them yet. I have taken two cruises in the last three months and as a starving writer I’ve run out of excuses to my publisher for being behind on my next books.

 

That said, it’s likely that the fever will strike sooner than later. When that happens I’ll be back on the board regaling in the adventures. Until then...

I bid you all "fair winds and following seas".

 

Bob

Kokomo Found

[FloridaGram]

Enjoying your TR. How do you find out a head of time who the piano player is? We went on the Freedom last August and it was the piano guys first cruise EVER. He was not very good, I imagine it takes awhile to get used to it. We tried it one night and did not stay too long, the place was deserted. We watched the people from the comedy show walk by after no one stayed. Then later in the cruise we were in the comedy club masses leaving and observed that no one stopped.

 

The piano bar is one of the things we enjoy about Carnival too.

[Snowbath]

One last question Bob, where can I find KokomoToo?

[pe4all]

Thanks for another entertaining review! BTW- I thought I read somewhere that the next Blogger's cruise was in mid Feb? (this caught my interest because I thought it was during my Feb. recess teaching break, and I could actually go if I wanted to cruise out of NOLA, which I really don't want to in Feb!)

[1stTIMECRUZER]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Hope you are feeling good as new soon. I bought one of the things ;) you aren't supposed to talk about for Kindle last night and am looking forward to reading it on my Breeze cruise in a few days. Thanks!

[crewsweeper]

One last question Bob, where can I find KokomoToo?

It's on that other social media site that won't be named but starts with "F" and ends in "K" (6 letters between, not 2:D).

 

 

Thanks Bob. As usual a great report--pro, con,abstain--on your cruise and an nice refresh of the joys and tears of sailing on the Breeze. BTW, the Dream has done Tendering in Belize with 4k+ folks on board. Went fairly smoothly. Belize tenders can be very large (200-400 peeps ar a whack) not like the smaller ones at HMC or GC and they line up like in-comings at O'Hare.

[English Tim]

Thanks for your review and how kind to help the 'distressed' lady back to her ship.

 

One question re the 'pain killer' and similar Caribbean cocktails, what should we expect to pay on average for this type of drink? I paid nearly $10 at Jacks Shack on GT and thought this to be very expensive.

[LHP]

Bob:

 

If you were at the Farewell Party, I was the lady in the Cowboy hat that sang with Candace the parody she wrote about "Blogging John is mine".

 

Candace was the red head and very talented at "rewriting songs" to fit the situation!!

 

I love Karaoke and I love to sing, but as my son always says "folks come to karaoke for the same reason they go to Nascar....to see the wrecks". lol

 

But on this cruise, we have more good singers than not. And even the not so good singers were very entertaining (which is what it is all about)....

 

Yes, Josh (the push up guy) just graduated from Officer Candidate School at the top of his class and "push ups" was the one thing that he struggled with (being 6' 3") ..... lol

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for the review...I think it's Guy Fieri...Ferengie's are those aliens from Star Trek, aren't they? Maybe it's spelled Ferengi. :)

[Kokomo_Man]

I just posted the last set of pics at facebook.com/KokomoManToo. (Snowbath, had asked) The latest pics are in the BC6 3 folder.

 

Cruiseclews. Those are ferengie burgers... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

LHP - Yes, I did see you and Candice at the farewell party. I've also got a pic of her with her hair covering a bald guys hair. I'll post it later on.

 

English Tim - I think booze price depends on where you are. Jack's Shack is a buck or two more than most places, but a lot of folks like it there. I've paid as much as about $14 for Frozen Strawbery Margaritas in a couple of Margaritavilles (Grand Cayman in particular)... but they are mmmm-mmmm good.

 

Florida Gram - There is a thread here on cruise critic that discusses piano bar schedules... along with discussions about the good and bad entertainers. Here's the link. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1490867

 

Enjoy the pics everybody

 

Bob

Kokomo Found