MikeyA53 Posted September 27, 2013 #1 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Background info: Mike (58), occupation- Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mountie), Tracy (40) Formerly a Paramedic now a Mountie, originally from Wales, UK. Arielle (18), Mitchel (17). Like most cruise critic members I start counting the days from the time I booked these cruises which was over a year ago in July of 2012. I love to research and plan everything from the restaurants along the way, the shopping malls we will be visiting, our itinerary, things to do on the ship and in ports. I do run most things through Tracy before finalizing anything. Tracy on the other hand started getting excited about two months before the cruise. Work has been very stressful lately. Summer is our busy season. Arielle will be turning 19 this fall. She’s a planner like me. She has a boyfriend back home and plans on spending a lot of time with Mum and Dad. Mitchel is different from the rest of us; if he got excited he never showed it. As on previous cruises he asked me on what ships we would be cruising on a couple of days prior to leaving. The ports visited on our Liberty cruise included: Cozumel (Mr. Sancho’s all Inclusive Resort) Belize (Ultimate adventure: Zipline, Rappel & Cavetubing) Roatan, Honduras (Best of Roatan Private Tour with Victor Bodden) Grand Cayman (7 Mile Beach) Ports visited on our Breeze Cruise: Grand Turk (Power Snorkeling) La Romana, Dominican Republic (Altos de Chavon) Curacao (Irie Tours) Aruba (Jolly Pirates Excursion) I will also be reviewing our nights at the Diamond and Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouses, as well as the Chef’s Table on Breeze, the Cucina del Capitano, Bonsai Sushi, Fat Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ, Red Frog Pub and Guy’s Burger. The Behind the Fun Tour on Liberty, the Thrill Theater on Breeze and much more. In addition, we turned Platinum on our Liberty cruise since we reached our 10th cruise before the Dec 31st, 2013 deadline. I took over 3600 photos of which I’ll be using about 2000 photos for the review, along with a few videos. Cameras used were my old Nikon D50, my new Nikon Coolpix AW100 underwater/ shockproof and our Ipads. Pre-cruise: Aug 20th, 2013 We departed on August 20th, 2013. Four days before our first cruise. We drove to Warwick, Rhode Island, a distance of 444 miles. Normally we fly out of Boston but we decided to try a different area for several reasons, we had never been to Rhode Island, the airport was smaller and the airfares were cheaper. We stayed at the Best Western, 2138 Post Road, Warwick. We got it through ParkSleepFly for $129.29, taxes included. This included 14 days of free parking, free shuttle, free breakfast and free Wi-Fi. Even though our vehicle was parked for a total of 21 days we were not charged the extra $8 a day, after 14 days. We had dinner at the Iron Works Restaurant, very good food and service. Our evening consisted of going to the movie theater followed by watching another movie in our hotel room. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccersharon Posted September 27, 2013 #2 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Hi Mike & family! I've been looking forward to your review :) Subscribed! Breeze will likely be our next CCL cruise. Hope all is well with you and your family. Sent from my GT-S5830D using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poptart Posted September 27, 2013 #3 Share Posted September 27, 2013 So excited to see a new review from you. Let the good times roll. :D Sent from my SM-T310 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 27, 2013 Author #4 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Aug 21st, 2013 Tracy and I started off the morning by going to the gym. As usual the kids slept in while we enjoyed a hearty breakfast. Our flight wasn’t until 5:10 pm so we went to the mall to pass the time. We had a late lunch at Legal Seafood, which was conveniently situated across from our hotel. Good food, everyone enjoyed their meal. We arrived at the airport at 3 pm. I purchased some sandwiches to bring on the plane, since we would be skipping dinner. Video conferencing with her boyfriend. Our direct flight on Jet Blue took 3 hours and arrived on time in Fort Lauderdale. We took a taxi to Gallery One by Doubletree situated on East Sunrise Blvd. Cost $28, including tip. Gallery One is conveniently located next to the Galleria Mall, Publix Grocery store and several good restaurants. The Fort Lauderdale beach is a 5 minute walk and you can board the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi right outside the hotel. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naomi John Posted September 27, 2013 #5 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Can't wait to see your review!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 27, 2013 Author #6 Share Posted September 27, 2013 (edited) . I booked our 3 night stay through Hotwire for $237 which added up to only $79 a night. We had a king bed with pull out sofa for the kids. When we arrive at a check-in counter, Tracy and I usually put on the charm and sometimes it pays off with an up-grade. It was our lucky night, I asked the hotel clerk, who happened to be Canadian, if it was possible to change our room from King and sofa to two queen beds and she responded “I can do better than that”. We got a corner, two bedroom suites, overlooking the waterway. Kitchen & Living room Balcony . Edited September 27, 2013 by MikeyA53 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldeya Posted September 27, 2013 #7 Share Posted September 27, 2013 So excited to see another review from Mike n 'family!:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 27, 2013 Author #8 Share Posted September 27, 2013 . Master Bedroom . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 27, 2013 Author #9 Share Posted September 27, 2013 . Second bedroom Needless to say, the hotel clerk (Amanda) received a nice tip which in turn resulted in us getting free Wi-Fi without even asking for it. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naomi John Posted September 28, 2013 #10 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Ever consider cruising out of New Orleans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #11 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . Aug 22nd, 2013. I’m usually the first one up in the morning so off I went to explore and photograph the property. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russianmom Posted September 28, 2013 #12 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I love reading your reviews! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #13 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #14 Share Posted September 28, 2013 (edited) ... Edited September 28, 2013 by MikeyA53 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisenk Posted September 28, 2013 #15 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Looking forward to the rest of your review. We went on the Glory after your summer cruise and found your feedback incredibly helpful and interesting. Can't wait to read more! Congrats on a fabulous (and very lucky) upgrade. Beautiful hotel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #16 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . View from balcony . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardwalkBabe Posted September 28, 2013 #17 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Super excited to see a trip report from you! Geez, it's been a while and your kids look all grown up. We're sailing on the Liberty in November so I look forward to hearing your perspective on her. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oncruisecontrol Posted September 28, 2013 #18 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Looking forward to reading another Mikey and family review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #19 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . When Tracy got up, we went to the gym. Then we went to Publix to get groceries, which would take care of our breakfast, lunch and snacks and we would eat out for dinner. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeing this world Posted September 28, 2013 #20 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Mike and Tracey welcome back, nice to see the family sailing together again.. wow the kids are growing up. looking forward to your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted September 28, 2013 Author #21 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . In the afternoon Tracy, Arielle and I went to the beach, Mitch is not a beach/water lover and he stayed in our hotel room with his Ipad and bedroom television. It took about 5 minutes to walk to the beach. Looking at our hotel from the drawbridge Almost there . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinpsychRN Posted September 28, 2013 #22 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Wow! The hotel clerk should show this to her boss and she'd get a raise for all the really good publicity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsgal Posted September 28, 2013 #23 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Woo Hoo a new Mike and family review!! Love following your reviews. We cruised the Breeze in May and it's our favorite ship of 18 cruises to date. Can't wait to see your pics of her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oncruisecontrol Posted September 28, 2013 #24 Share Posted September 28, 2013 . . Looks like it was a really windy day at the beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilMermaid75 Posted September 28, 2013 #25 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Love reading your reviews! Thank you for all the time you put into writing them. Looking forward to this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now