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Carnival Breeze 9/8 Review with Pictures

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

By CruisinSinceIwasBorn,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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becky11111

becky11111

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Gapearl

loved your review on the Valor we sailed a few weeks after you did, it was so fun to read. Hope you will do a review of the Breeze since we are sailing Oct 12 for 8 nights You have quite a following.

 

Me too I have read 2 of your reviews gapearl. We sail on the breeze in 7 weeks.

Looking forward to more of this review. We are Packer fans too, we live in Green Bay.

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CruisinSinceIwasBorn

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

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Day 4 Continued - Full afternoon on the Breeze

 

After we set sail from Grand Turk, both the wife and I passed out for a good nap. On the balcony, there is one chair that allows you to recline the back to nearly flat. That's what I did while the wife went into the A/C cabin and slept.

 

As I stated earlier, DW and I hit Gold during this cruise. The welcome back party was at 4pm in the Ovation Theater. There were not that many Gold/Platinum/Diamond cruisers. I would say about 300. One couple was celebrating their 500th day onboard a Carnival cruise. All of the senior officers came on stage to thank them and have their picture taken with the couple. I love cruising, but I don't think I could ever do half of that! There were plenty of drinks and appetizers and they entertained us with music and dancing and a review of Carnival's history. Unfortunately they didn't give any news on Vista. The party lasted about 45 minutes. Because we had the Cheers program, we only enjoyed 1 drink while others were pounding them as fast as they could.

 

After the WBP, we made our way to the bar at the aft pool to have a drink on this beautiful evening. There are some very friendly bar tenders at this bar.

 

Drinks at the Aft Bar:

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One of our favorite things about the Dream and Breeze is the promenade/lanai deck that goes completely around the ship. We love starting our evening walking around the deck with a cold drink in our hand. The sunsets and the ocean look absolutely beautiful

 

Walking the Promenade

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We decided not to go to dinner at our normal time because we had appetizers at the WBP and instead went to the Red Frog Pub (RFP) to listed to Tom before trivia

 

Tom playing at the RFP:

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Once again we played trivia at 8. This time we teamed up with a couple that had also been there every night. We had a great time but unfortunately did not win. We got 2nd place again. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day! After trivia we made our way to the Lido Marketplace for dinner. The food was actually pretty good and hit the spot after a few Thirsty Frog Reds. (btw, the Carnival Beer, Thirsty Frog Red, is in my opinion, a great beer!)

 

Tonight was the Red Frog Caribbean Beach Party at 10pm. It was extremely humid out, but nonetheless, there was a huge turnout. Butch and his staff have a TON of energy and people were having a great time. The party lasted until around 11, but even after the staff left, everyone stayed and continued to dance until very late. It was a lot of fun.

 

Beach Party:

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After the deck party, DW and I were exhausted from all of the line dances so it was time for pizza and off to bed to find another friend waiting for us

 

Towel Animal:

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Next Up: Day onboard an empty ship in Ocho Rios

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amcjeep4life

amcjeep4life

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Gapearl

loved your review on the Valor we sailed a few weeks after you did, it was so fun to read. Hope you will do a review of the Breeze since we are sailing Oct 12 for 8 nights You have quite a following.

 

Pssstttt...you should check out the roll call here for your cruise. It is VERY active. We have a great bunch of people sailing!

 

Dude, GREAT REVIEW!!! Can't wait to read the rest!

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CruisinSinceIwasBorn

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

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Thanks for the nice review....i miss the Ringer....my favorite to and our whole gang hung at the Red Frog Pub on our 8/31/13 sailing also. The only thing i don't agree with you on is the male guitar player played well but constantly forgot the words to some songs! We loved the female guitarist Angie!

 

I thought Tom was the weakest of the three (Brad's first cruise was our sailing). Tom did some neat things with looping though. Angie was great and one night we stayed until very late to hear her whole set.

 

I think the RFP was the best 2.0 addition on the ship. I really enjoyed it.

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CruisinSinceIwasBorn

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

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Day 5 - Day Aboard an Empty Ship in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

 

Today was September 11th, and Carnival marked it with a comment in the Fun Times and a beautiful flag in the lobby.

 

9/11/2013

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DW and I had determined ahead of time that we did not want to get off the ship in Jamaica. I had been there many times before on cruises, and we spent our honeymoon at Sandals Whitehouse. We were not very keen on being hassled for a tour of the island or some crap gifts, so we decided we would sleep in and enjoy an empty ship. I woke up on the earlier side and went out onto the balcony to read while my wife slept in. I wish I read more often, but it seems like I only do so on vacation. It was extremely peaceful reading while watching the sea go by. We had a late arrival in Ocho Rios (11am) so DW and I watched on the balcony as we made our way into the port. We were the only ship. At exactly 11, Butch made the announcement that people could disembark. A large number of people booked tours for Jamaica, so there was a max exodus leaving the ship. We joked that it looked like ants marching away from the colony.

 

People Leaving the Ship:

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After we watched people leave, we made our way to the empty beach pool. We hadn't eaten breakfast, but wanted to wait until noon so that we could hit up Blue Iguana Cantina. After struggling to make it, the clock finally hit noon and DW and I attacked the Cantina. Fish tacos for her, and chicken/pork for me. I also grabbed some food from the Tandoor (Indian) and a pasta salad from the buffet. Oh, and what better way to wash it all down than with a Corona?

 

After lunch we decided it would be a great time to try out the miniature golf course and ropes course. We played a round of golf. Yes, I won. When we finished, we saw the ropes course was empty, so we went back to our cabin to put on sneakers, which are required. When we got back to the course, it was closed due to "high winds." We were bummed and never made it back there. Disappointed, we grabbed our books, some frozen drinks and read in the pool. The water was its usual warm temperature, but it was great to have it almost completely to ourselves.

 

Empty Pool:

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There were a couple of concerts playing on the big screen before the DJ came on. (I will let you know my opinions of the DJ/Big Screen in the summary review at the end)

 

At around 5, the pool deck was getting more crowded as people made their way back on board. DW and I had been at the pool for awhile, so we thought it would be a good time to head to the spa and get ready for dinner. Once again, Cloud 9 hit the spot. No better way to end a day in the sun then sweating out the sunblock in the steam sauna and then washing off in the rainforest showers. After cleaning up, we strolled the promenade and then made our way to the Sapphire to sit at one of Jasmina's table. Sorry, no food porn.

 

Isn't she beautiful?

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In typical fashion, we had a cocktail or two at the pub and played trivia with our trivia buds. We were completely off our game tonight and finished mid-pack. Big disappointment. There was a showing of "The Brits!" at 9, so we figured we would go see it before the Blue Iguana Mexican Fiesta. Bad decision. The show was terrible. There are so many great British artists and songs, and they picked the worst of em. My wife struggled to stay awake, I struggled not to get up and walk out.

 

After that mess, we made our way up to the Lido for the BlueIguana Mexican Fiesta. The party was your typical deck party. The attendance wasn't as great as the night before, but something happened that made it awesome. Right when the staff was signing off, a sudden down pour started. Instead of people running off, more people ran onto the deck and the music kept playing. The staff didn't flinch and continued to lead a dance party. Everyone got soaked and it was awesome. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I didn't want to ruin my phone.

 

Because they have the BlueIguana Cantina, there was not a Mexican Buffet (bummer). They only had some chips and salsas, which we still happily ate. Soaked, full and tired, DW and I made our way back to the cabin to find a new friend. I thought it was a crab, wife thought it was a frog. Apparently she was right, but I'm still not sure.

 

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Up Next: Best Day Ever

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CruisinSinceIwasBorn

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

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Looking forward to the rest of your excellent review.

Will be on this itinerary as part of a B2B2B adventure and your review is just the fixin I need for those pre-cruise jitters.

 

 

Wow! Thats a LOT of cruising. You will have a great time. I would recommend not doing the Cheers! for 21 days though!

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CarnivalBreeze319

CarnivalBreeze319

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[quote name='CruisinSinceIwasBorn']
After that mess, we made our way up to the Lido for the BlueIguana Mexican Fiesta. The party was your typical deck party. The attendance wasn't as great as the night before, but something happened that made it awesome. Right when the staff was signing off, a sudden down pour started. Instead of people running off, more people ran onto the deck and the music kept playing. The staff didn't flinch and continued to lead a dance party. Everyone got soaked and it was awesome. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I didn't want to ruin my phone.
[/QUOTE]

That's Awesome! THIS is one of the many reasons that we love Carnival guests and its staff.
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alreadypacked

alreadypacked

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[quote name='CruisinSinceIwasBorn']Thanks for the kind words. Believe me, the decision to purchase Cheers! was a HUGE struggle. I did the math many many times and constantly changed my stance all the way up until we arrived at the port. $690 charge as soon as you get on board for two people is a lot of money, but having sailed so many times before, I knew that it's very easy to get to that amount.

I know some people are really opposed to the Cheers program because they think it fills the ship up with drunk people. I would say for us, it did the opposite. When we would pay for drinks, we often tried to get them all at once so we could keep a great buzz going. With the Cheers, we would have a few beers at the pool, then not drink for awhile, have a drink with dinner, a beer at pub quiz, and a couple at the club/piano bar. Never were we "wasted" or falling over like some people think Cheers people do. People think 15 drinks is a ton, and it is a lot, but I hit the cap twice. Oh my gosh! 15 drinks! It was over 12 hours as I explained before. I didn't drink 15 all at once!

Would I purchase Cheers again? Possibly. I loved that DW and I could try so many different drinks and all of the different bars. The Breeze has a huge assortment of branded bars that offer all different drinks and beers. By far the best selection of any cruise I have been on. What I enjoyed most is that I knew exactly what my Sail and Sign account would be. I didn't have to nervously check every morning to see what the previous night's damage was.[/quote]

Great review!! Thanks for posting.

My experience with the all-inclusive beverage package on another line was pretty much the same as yours. No rowdy drunks and personally I didn't drink any more than I normally would--perhaps even less. I did consume more bottled water, though, as that was also included. Wish Carnival would include bottled water in their package!
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CruisinSinceIwasBorn

CruisinSinceIwasBorn

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[quote name='Bernie388']Awesome Review! Congrats to you both. We are excited about the Breeze next September. After reading your review, we booked a spa balcony. We have always had an aft balcony so we are excited.[/QUOTE]

You will absolutely love it. DW and I kinda wish we had never done it because now we are spoiled and will only book a cloud 9 cabin.

let me know if you have any questions. I will be happy to answer them for you.
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