Breeze Review - 6 night to Key West, Grand Cayman & Cozumel

[Kel040]

Before I continue on with MDR for this night, I just wanted to add - one of the funny things Matt the CD said - he made a joke to all the husbands that he bets all their wife's digital cameras have pictures of towel animals on them... which I should point out, this is the first cruise I only took one picture of our fluffy friends (in the cabin, that is) - I'll post at the bottom...

 

MDR dinner –

 

Before I get into this part of the review, I want to tell you about our head waiter and his 2 assistants. They were awesome. The head waiter’s name Ferdinand. This was his first week on the Breeze but he’d been with Carnival 11 years (I think that’s what he told us). His assistants were Wayan (why-ann) and Wayoman (why-o-man). They spoke to us not only to take our orders but to ask how our day was – told us a little about their experiences while working on a ship and all the many ports they’ve been to.

 

Tonight the first thing Ferdinand asked us was “How was the Steakhouse ? “ I just made a jesture, like saying so-so… He seemed very concerned, I didn’t make a big deal about it, just said the steak wasn't that great but said the DH’s enjoyed his. Long story short, since I still had OBC, I decided to order the $ 20.00 NY Strip. It was very good, but it was a little rare for me and so I didn’t finish it. After one of the waiters came and cleared my plate, Ferdinand came to me and asked did I enjoy my steak – I said yes. He said I noticed you left some on your plate (about ½) I said, it was a little rare for me but okay – he offered to bring me another one – I said no, no, thank you though.. After dinner, dessert & coffee, just before we were to leave – Ferdinand came to me and said “Kelly, I am not going to charge you for the steak and maybe we can try again ??” I thanked him and smiled.... I had all intentions to pay for that steak and was very surprised and appreciative that he did not charge me.

As we were leaving Wayan came to me and said he made me something - he gave me a little duck made out of a napkin... I told him it was very cute - he insisted I take it with me... :)

 

Here is my one towel animal picture with my ducky..

 

 

Edited October 7, 2014 by Kel040

[Kel040]

Day 5 – Cozumel

 

I went out on deck to take a look at the starboard side and I was surprised to see all the towels creature out on all the chairs.... so cute ! I've seen other CC'er with these pictures but to see it for yourself is pretty neat !

 

Towel animal chair hogs

 

 

 

We went out on the balcony to watch the ship docking. There was a Carnival Ship ahead of earlier - when we got to Port we saw it was the Triumph already docked.

 

Triumph

 

 

 

[Kel040]

This day started out dry but by the time we were ready to leave the ship, it was pouring rain. We tried to wait it out but by 11am or so we decided we'd join the blue rain poncho club and head into port.. We walked around a bit, did some shopping, then went back to the ship.

 

Duty free - Triumph & Breeze

 

 

Three Amigos

 

 

 

Fat Tuesdays

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Nice review, I am enjoying so far and I am eagerly waiting to see what else you have to say. I just got off the Breeze this past Sunday on the 8-day southern rotation. I too dined in the blush, late seating and was all the way in back, against the back window of the ship. Mdr food was good. I have to say other than the fact the steakhouse 18-ounce ribeye was seasoned better than the mdr flat iron steak, it wasn't anything special and the crab cake app was better to be honest. It was very fatty and tougher than a premium ribeye cut should be. The flat iron steaks were pretty good and no upcharge. Guy's was pretty good and rarely a long line there. Matt Mitcham was an ok cruise director but a little too abrasive a style for what I'm used to seeing in a cruise director. The comedy club setup absolutely sucked if you ask me and it sounds like you guys had the same issue with overcrowding that we did. They should have the shows in the main theatre but I understand why they don't. Just rearrange the seating setup and you could get way more people in there. Hard to want to buy a cocktail when you have to stand up for an hour or more in the lounge. I'm planning on beginning a review of my own shortly and I can't wait to write it up. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with all of us.

[Kel040]

Every afternoon DH and I walked the lani lap (deck 5), but this day we skipped it due to the rain. He said he was going for a nap and I went with DD and her BF to the arcade to check that out. Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures. It was very typical of the ones I’ve seen on other ships.

Back up on the balcony we watched passengers coming back to the Triumph. The 2 ships had a horn battle. (Socccersharon posted a video on another social site – Sharon, if you can post here too, that would be great !). Triumphs’ sailaway was an hour before ours. It was fun watching their passengers run to the ship as the horn blew…

 

Triumph

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just loved how blue the water was..

 

[Kel040]

Nice review, I am enjoying so far and I am eagerly waiting to see what else you have to say. I just got off the Breeze this past Sunday on the 8-day southern rotation. I too dined in the blush, late seating and was all the way in back, against the back window of the ship. Mdr food was good. I have to say other than the fact the steakhouse 18-ounce ribeye was seasoned better than the mdr flat iron steak, it wasn't anything special and the crab cake app was better to be honest. It was very fatty and tougher than a premium ribeye cut should be. The flat iron steaks were pretty good and no upcharge. Guy's was pretty good and rarely a long line there. Matt Mitcham was an ok cruise director but a little too abrasive a style for what I'm used to seeing in a cruise director. The comedy club setup absolutely sucked if you ask me and it sounds like you guys had the same issue with overcrowding that we did. They should have the shows in the main theatre but I understand why they don't. Just rearrange the seating setup and you could get way more people in there. Hard to want to buy a cocktail when you have to stand up for an hour or more in the lounge. I'm planning on beginning a review of my own shortly and I can't wait to write it up. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with all of us.

 

Hi - Glad you are enjoying my review. I'm realizing I didn't really take enough pictures, but I am enjoying putting this together. I agree with you there about the comedy show. On one of the nights the magician / comedian show was in the Ovation Theatre - but we missed that show. Looking forward to your review !

[Kel040]

Dinner in the MDR was quiet – it looked like our waiters only had about 3 tables to tend to. Our head waiter Ferdinand asked did I want to try a steak again.. after looking at the menu I decided I would. I love steak and since I was on holiday – I thought why not.... I ordered the NY strip again and Ferdinand even waited in the kitchen to bring it out as soon as it was prepared. When he served it to me he stood waiting for me to cut into it to see if the doneness was right – and it was – spot on. I told him it was perfect.

 

We had a early night, spend some time in the casino.

 

CASINO

 

 

[soccersharon]

I'll upload the horn wars video to YouTube, and get it on here ASAP!

 

Keep up the great work, Kelly!

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[soccersharon]

Here it is! Breeze v. Triumph horn wars!

 

 

[YOUTUBE]nOMAaZeO1gM[/YOUTUBE]

Edited October 10, 2014 by soccersharon

[Pizzaeater!]

Very cool, Sharon! Thanks. Will you be doing another review of your recent Breeze cruise? Still going on BC8. Karen is now in a Spa balcony but I still have my favorite cabin from 2012's cruise. Karen and I fight the impossible fight everyday! lol

Edited October 10, 2014 by Pizzaeater!

[soccersharon]

Very cool, Sharon! Thanks. Will you be doing another review of your recent Breeze cruise? Still going on BC8. Karen is now in a Spa balcony but I still have my favorite cabin from 2012's cruise. Karen and I fight the impossible fight everyday! lol

 

Don't think I'm doing a review :) Have a great time on BC8!

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[Kel040]

Here it is! Breeze v. Triumph horn wars!

 

 

nOMAaZeO1gM

 

 

This is awesome !! Thanks so much Sharon !! :D

[soccersharon]

This is awesome !! Thanks so much Sharon !! :D

 

You're welcome! I'm sorry that I stopped filming so abruptly, though.

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[Kel040]

Day 6 –Sea Day

 

Last day – we slept in – no coffee order put out for this morning – not quite sure what happened but when DH got up, he found the order tag on the floor. At about 7am we went down to the buffet and I grabbed some cereal, milk and a banana and DH went to the omelette bar and got some eggs. After that, he got a coffee, I made a tea and we went back to our cabin to sit out on the balcony.

 

Later we went to the Sea Brunch with DD & her BF and to our surprise, our MDR waiter team were our servers for brunch ..that was a nice treat for our final full day.

 

In the afternoon I read out on deck, met up with DH at the Red Frog Pub and we did our did Lani walk. We went down to deck 4, and looked at all the photos that had been taken throughout the week by the photographers throughout the week. We didn’t pose for an special photos, just the standard ones that they take at embarking and at dinner – we didn’t buy any.

 

Our final dinner in MDR was very good. DH showed our appreciation to our great waiter team with nice tip at the end of the meal and we said our goodbyes.

 

That evening we also gave Putu, our cabin steward a little something extra. He did a good job throughout the week but we didn’t see him very much. Ice had to be requested a couple of times but not a big deal..

 

 

DISEMBARKMENT DAY

 

DH was up early, and had the tv on with the forward camera view watching the mainland come … We pulled in to Port of Miami 6-6:30am… we all went to the buffet for breakfast at 7:30am, after that we went back to the cabin, gathered all our things and found a comfortable spot on the Lido deck, to wait for our zone (18) to be called.

 

 

POM

 

 

[Kel040]

The announcements for disembarking started about 8:00am.. they called the self assist one deck at a time, and it seemed that they were calling the VIP’s and FFTF alternately with the self assist decks .. then there was about a 15-20 minute wait, nothing called – then Matt the CD came on and said he they apologized for the delay but that things had backed up and they were trying to get everyone cleared and would start calling more zones in about 10-15 mins. About 9:15 they started calling the zones again and within about 15 more minutes our zone was called.

 

There was no delay at the elevators, we got on the first one that came and went directly to deck 3 and on our way to the ramp off the ship, heard that final ding of the S&S card reader and we were on our way into the port building and joining the group waiting for the luggage to roll by. TIP look at the TV monitor to see what baggage carousel your luggage will be on.. we watched on “A” for a few minutes till we realized the zone number tags weren’t anything close to # 18.. Here’s another TIP once you have your luggage from the carousel - use a porter to help you take it outside. Its worth the $ tip – he will find the quickest line through customs so he can get your stuff outside and he get back in to get the next one… our porter took our luggage all the way to our carin the open parking lot and it was hot outside… DH tipped him $ 20.00. The porter thanked him very much.. It was 10:00am as we got into the car and I could hear Matt the CD making his final announcement that ALL ZONES can come down to deck 3 to disembark.

 

Final thoughts to come…

 

LIDO

 

 

[Kel040]

Final thoughts –

 

My favourite ship is now the Breeze. Hands down for décor, food choices were the best and crew were awesome. The ship was clean and never felt crowded. :)

 

I loved the Breeze. We have sailed 3 times on the Fascination and once on the Dream. We loved the Fascination and were so impressed with the crew and its great attitude and service, it brought us back. The Fascination is still DH’s favourite ship but after sailing on the Breeze, he says only because of the size..

 

I would say that MDR on all 3 ships were close to the same – but, if you don’t have a good waiter team it can affect the entire MDR experience. On the Dream, we did not have good MDR service at all. On the Breeze, aside from our night at the Steakhouse, we ate in the MDR every night and also had brunch on both sea days, the service was excellent.

 

Getting on and off the ship was a “Breeze”. We had concerns because this Port was so much bigger and busier than the others we’ve be to, but no worries, it was all easy to get and well marked out..

 

I met some really nice people from the Roll Call and hope to run into them again sometime. I learned the Thriller Dance and can’t wait to try it on my own… my very own – like when no one is home… LOL…. :D

 

We had an OBC of $ 640.00, which was awesome !

 

Our plans for the next cruise is going to be on the Pride out of Baltimore, then if I have my way – we’ll be back on the Breeze next !!

Edited October 12, 2014 by Kel040

[soccersharon]

Kelly, really enjoyed your review :)

 

Next time I sail the Breeze, I will be sure to bring my family. They would absolutely LOVE this ship!

 

Keep in touch!

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[mississauga]

Great review Kelly. Thanks for taking the time yo do it. It is a lot of work.

 

It was nice meeting you.

 

The Breeze is our favourite ship. Going on her again in January.

 

Sharon, thanks for posting the video. Nice to hear the horns. Never thought to do a video myself.

[javamom]

I just knew you'd love the Breeze! It is our fav by far and our second is Fascination also.

Looking forward to Breeze again in March!

Thanks for a great review. Hope to sail with you again someday.

[soccersharon]

Great review Kelly. Thanks for taking the time yo do it. It is a lot of work.

 

It was nice meeting you.

 

The Breeze is our favourite ship. Going on her again in January.

 

Sharon, thanks for posting the video. Nice to hear the horns. Never thought to do a video myself.

 

Hi Mary! When date are you back on the Breeze? I was looking at January 3rd - but the airfare is ridiculous for the 4 of us.

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[Kel040]

Kelly, really enjoyed your review :)

 

Next time I sail the Breeze, I will be sure to bring my family. They would absolutely LOVE this ship!

 

Keep in touch!

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

 

Thanks Sharon! And thanks again for posting the video here... we were out on the balcony for that horn battle, it was great to be there for that !! Will definitely keep in touch ! :D

[Kel040]

Great review Kelly. Thanks for taking the time yo do it. It is a lot of work.

 

It was nice meeting you.

 

The Breeze is our favourite ship. Going on her again in January.

 

Sharon, thanks for posting the video. Nice to hear the horns. Never thought to do a video myself.

 

Thanks Mary !! It was fun doing the review - I took pictures with just my phone - I wish I had taken them with the camera and also had taken more around the ship... I was too busy having fun !

 

Great meeting you and your hubby too !! :D

[Kel040]

I just knew you'd love the Breeze! It is our fav by far and our second is Fascination also.

Looking forward to Breeze again in March!

Thanks for a great review. Hope to sail with you again someday.

 

Hi Doris - Yes, you were right ! You were right too about the Lido too - loved staying on that deck.. I'm sure we'll cruise again one of these days :D

[soccersharon]

Thanks Mary !! It was fun doing the review - I took pictures with just my phone - I wish I had taken them with the camera and also had taken more around the ship... I was too busy having fun !

 

Great meeting you and your hubby too !! :D

 

I have pics from around the ship I could share :)

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[soccersharon]

Thanks Sharon! And thanks again for posting the video here... we were out on the balcony for that horn battle, it was great to be there for that !! Will definitely keep in touch ! :D

 

A lot of chatter on FB tonight ;)

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.