A Christmas at Sea (Breeze)

[Wrinks22]

I just got off (well yesterday) an amazing 8 night cruise that GaPearl did a while back. I shall be posting my review up in the next few days. The itinerary was: Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, and ARUBA!

[Wrinks22]

Background

A bit of background: We are a family of four from Toronto, Canada. Our last cruise was in February onboard the beautify Carnival Ecstasy. We had so much fun on it we booked another cruise. We decided to splurge on the brand new BREEZE.

Last cruise at HMC!

 

PRECRUISE

We drove down which took us three days. I won't bother going into which hotels we stayed in because I doubt many people on cruise critic will take the same journey! The night before the cruise (and for a night after the cruise) I stayed at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon. The night before the cruise I stayed in suite #1000 which offered a separate bedroom with a king sized bed, a kitchen, pull out couch, large updated bathroom, two flatscreen tv's, and a cot. The hotel looked a little dated decor wise but I could not recommend it enough. The staff were helpful and accommodating. The room was very clean and everything was in working order. I suggest you go to the Cuban restaurant across the street, you can get a 10% off coupon from the front desk also.

 

Hampton Inn sign!

Edited December 30, 2013 by Wrinks22

[PittsburghGirlee]

Can't wait....doing the BREEZE in March..

 

Subscribed :)

[Wrinks22]

Day One-Boarding (Miami)

 

Even though I went to bed late repacking my suitcase, I woke up early as I wanted to be to the ship early!!! I used the hotels shuttle which was free for the first two people and $10pp after. So it cost cost us $20 for the four of us to get to the port of Miami. This was our first time using this sort of thing and I was not happy with it. As we found out afterword, the driver we had was new to the company. We left the hotel at 10:45am and didn't get to the terminal until past noon! This issue has been dealt with so have no fear in using the service. However due to this I missed the 2pm cruise critic meet and greet. :( Anyway this was our first experience sailing out of the port of Miami and it was a great experience. It was fast, friendly, and efficient. There were no lines and we were on the ship in about 15 minutes (including the obligatory embarkation photo). Also docked with us: Celebrity Silhouette, MSC Divinia, Carnival Liberty, Norwegian Epic.

 

Is that a whale tail? :D

 

Following the boarding we went to our two staterooms. Our first inside cabin and a balcony cabin. We had cabins 6442 and 6424. Do not book 6424, the balcony is about 10 feet away from one of the hot tubs!!! Also these cabins were above the nightclub but the music did not bother us. However the lack of privacy due to the hot tubs may bother you. We met our wonderful steward Dewu and his assistant. One tip (which I read on CC) is to bring a spare magnetic card for the lights. If you did not know the Breeze requires a magnetic card [Room Key] for the lights to work.

 

Inside cabin.

 

*I apologize in advance for the small image size but my internet is VERY slow*

Edited December 31, 2013 by Wrinks22

[Wrinks22]

Day One- Miami

 

After we put our stuff in our cabins we checked them out. We all agreed that the subdued design in the cabins was very nice. We had a suite on the last cruise so we did not have a bathtub our walk in closet this cruise. However we had two bathrooms and two showers! For lunch we had: Tandoor Grill and Guy's burger. I LOVED THE FOOD. The Lido Marketplace food was amazing. Shout out to all the hard working staff there! One thing we and everyone else noticed quickly- the floor is very slippery. I witnessed several people fall/almost fall. The pizza was excellent also. We were enjoying our late lunch so much that I missed the Cruise Critic meet and greet at 2pm that was in the tequila bar. Oh well. In my opinion the muster drill was to relaxed. Given the recent sinking of the Concordia, it should have been more through. After that three of us head up to a "secret" deck at the very front of the ship.

 

Watching the sail away. Bye bye Miami!

[mum2bradley]

Day One-Boarding (Miami)

 

Even though I went to bed late repacking my suitcase, I woke up early as I wanted to be to the ship early!!! I used the hotels shuttle which was free for the first two people and $10pp after. So it cost cost us $20 for the four of us to get to the port of Miami. This was our first time using this sort of thing and I was not happy with it. As we found out afterword, the driver we had was new to the company. We left the hotel at 10:45am and didn't get to the terminal until past noon! This issue has been dealt with so have no fear in using the service. However due to this I missed the 2pm cruise critic meet and greet. :( Anyway this was our first experience sailing out of the port of Miami and it was a great experience. It was fast, friendly, and efficient. There were no lines and we were on the ship in about 15 minutes (including the obligatory embarkation photo). Also docked with us: Celebrity Silhouette, MSC Divinia, Carnival Liberty, Norwegian Epic.

 

[ATTACH]296859[/ATTACH]

Is that a whale tail? :D

 

Following the boarding we went to our two staterooms. Our first inside cabin and a balcony cabin. We had cabins 6442 and 6424. Do not book 6424, the balcony is about 10 feet away from one of the hot tubs!!! Also these cabins were above the nightclub but the music did not bother us. However the lack of privacy due to the hot tubs may bother you. We met our wonderful steward Dewu and his assistant. One tip (which I read on CC) is to bring a spare magnetic card for the lights. If you did not know the Breeze requires a magnetic card [Room Key] for the lights to work.

 

[ATTACH]296861[/ATTACH]

Inside cabin.

 

*I apologize in advance for the small image size but my internet is VERY slow*

you didn't miss the meet and greet because no one showed up!!! I was at the Blue Iguana at 2:00 and there were only a couple others there but no one said they were there for the m & G

[Wrinks22]

continued... I have trouble uploading pictures LOL.

After watching sail the sail away we explored the ship and tried out the sky course.

 

Sky Course

 

South Beach

 

Panorama of the Balcony Cabin

 

 

The Celebrity Silhoutte was the first ship to leave. I can't get over what a beautiful looking ship the Divinia is.

Photos are not uploading... I will try later.

[Wrinks22]

snip

Well thats too bad. We had a fairly active roll call. I saw you were on the victory, how did you like that? We are considering booking the 6nt Breeze or 5nt Victory. I think I would prefer the Breeze. The price isn't bad $650 for balcony.

[ruag8tr2]

Subscribing.

 

Thanks for the review. Great so far...

 

QUOTE=Wrinks22;41102655]continued... I have trouble uploading pictures LOL.

After watching sail the sail away we explored the ship and tried out the sky course.

 

Sky Course

 

South Beach

 

Panorama of the Balcony Cabin

 

 

The Celebrity Silhoutte was the first ship to leave. I can't get over what a beautiful looking ship the Divinia is.

Photos are not uploading... I will try later.

[dst]

Great start -thank you! We leave on Saturday.......this has me entertained until then :)

 

You mentioned a magnetic card, did you just use one form a previous cruise? I wonder if a hotel one would work

[Wrinks22]

Great start -thank you! We leave on Saturday.......this has me entertained until then :)

 

You mentioned a magnetic card, did you just use one form a previous cruise? I wonder if a hotel one would work

 

You are going to have an amazing time. The Breeze is a beautiful ship. I just used the key from the hampton inn I stayed in. I will start going over Grand Turk later tonight.

[dst]

You are going to have an amazing time. The Breeze is a beautiful ship. I just used the key from the hampton inn I stayed in. I will start going over Grand Turk later tonight.

 

 

Thanks - I will have to bring an extra hotel key :)

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review

[pirate4me2]

Your review has me missing Breeze! Loving the review so far, thanks for posting it!

[blondietink]

Can't wait to hear more. We are also driving down from near Buffalo, NY starting 2 weeks from tomorrow (YIKES!) and have not decided which route we will take due to the weather. We are also taking the Breeze with the same itinerary as you did and have not booked any excursions yet. Anxious to hear about the ports.

[Wrinks22]

Can't wait to hear more. We are also driving down from near Buffalo, NY starting 2 weeks from tomorrow (YIKES!) and have not decided which route we will take due to the weather. We are also taking the Breeze with the same itinerary as you did and have not booked any excursions yet. Anxious to hear about the ports.

 

EEK So sorry for not posting in a long time. We took the I-75. It took longer but we were more satisfied on that route.

 

Day 2- Sea Day

 

I think I had a pretty average first full day. Not that I am complaining. You know the feeling that oh I am finally on vacation. I slept in and headed to the lido deck for breakfast. I explored the ship and tried out the waterworks and sky course. Lunch I think I went to Cucina. I thought the pasta was excellent. I believe the show that night was The Brits. I had already seen it and thought it was pretty bad so I skipped it.

 

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This was a panorama I took during sail away.

 

[ATTACH]297959[/ATTACH]

Is that not beautiful?

[Wrinks22]

Day 3- Grand Turk

 

The first port of call was Grand Turk. This is one of my favourite ports. I love the beach. Seeing as I have already been to the island and we had a short day I spend the day at the beach. And what a beach that is :D. I decided to go snorkelling not through an excursion but just going straight from the beach. Its pretty good quite a lot of fish far our and along the right. I also walked all the way right to an industrial looking pier and paid a visit to jack's shack. I thought I took a picture of the dog :( but I can't find it.

 

Saw this, very nice.

 

snorkelling in Grand Turk

 

I was quite sad that we were only there until 1:30pm. Joining us was the HAL Westerdam. (Sailed on her in 2010 and called on this port as well)

[Wrinks22]

Westerdam and Breeze. Interestingly enough Crystal Serenity was there to the right of the Grand Turk sign. Various pictures/panoramas from when I was in Grand Turk.

 

[Wrinks22]

Sorry for the multiple post's I am still getting used to using Cruise Critic.

 

Day 4- La Romana

Originally I thought that La Romana was not going to be any fun. I could not be any more wrong. We decided to book a shore excursion. I wanted to do the speedboat to Saona Island but decided to go against it and to the Bayinne (sp?) Beach Break. Basically you get off the ship and walk up a pathway to a bunch of busses and take the new air-conditioned bus for 30 minutes to a beautiful resort. I can not stress the need to book something hear of some sort. The port area has nothing. There was a car rental place, duty free place, and a place to get taxis at the port as well. The Canao (the hotel we went to for the beach break) was a very pretty all inclusive. It seemed to attract lots of European/ Spanish speaking tourists. I will warn you that topless bathing is allowed. There is two options for the excursion one with buffet lunch and one without. I opted for the one without. My first impression of the resort was :D:D:D . It was a large open building with people dancing and staff handing out tropical (non alcoholic) punch with pineapple in champagne glasses. You could get as many towels as you need and received a wristband. The beach is amazing. Large cabanas, umbrellas, and plenty of loungers were available. The hotel also had a HUGE pool with swim up bar. The place was huge and beautifully maintained.

 

Anyway I went snorkelling today (Can you sense a theme) and managed to get this picture:

Someone who had the food package brought food out and fed the fish near the artificial reef. There were hundreds of fish.

 

 

Just beautiful!

 

Also on the resort was gift shops, clean washrooms, and two hot tubs larger then pools on the cruise ship. LOL

 

We headed back to the bus for 1:30pm departure. With a tropical downpour coming we wanted to head "home" (the ship) but were forced to wait half an hour for seven people who could not follow instructions. We eventually left the beautiful resort sans seven guests. Note: The trip includes drinks however they had no coke/diet coke and booze were watered down. Still liked the trip over all.

Merry Christmas (it was christmas eve that night)

[Wrinks22]

Awe guys common I am sad no one is replying. :p

This was a picture of the ship from the bus that took us there on the first day of the cruise.

[lele100]

Great review I will be on the Breeze in 11 days can't wait. I was on it in June absolutely loved the.ship different itinerary. How was the piano player did you get a chance to see him?

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Forums mobile app

[Wrinks22]

Great review I will be on the Breeze in 11 days can't wait. I was on it in June absolutely loved the.ship different itinerary. How was the piano player did you get a chance to see him?

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Forums mobile app

 

I am hoping to get in the breeze again in February(6nt). I listened to him for about 5 min and he was really good and everyone seemed entertained.

[<3_2_Cruise]

Thank you for your review. We have looked at the Breeze....and really hope to book a trip on her in the next year.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

I love the Breeze! I am booked again June 15, 2014. Please continue with your review!

[mickeyAB]

We are enjoying your reviews as we are sailing the Breeze in March and debating excursions. Did you enjoy Jacks?

[mum2bradley]

Well thats too bad. We had a fairly active roll call. I saw you were on the victory, how did you like that? We are considering booking the 6nt Breeze or 5nt Victory. I think I would prefer the Breeze. The price isn't bad $650 for balcony.

 

The Victory was good. Smaller ship. We did it because of the itinerary and that it left out of San Juan.

 

We are booking the Breeze for NY's this year!