Diamond Cruise 4/5/15 aboard the Breeze

[jimbo5544]

The wide decided to go to the Seuss T sea party with her sister a d her sisters daughter and grandson. Having experienced it on the Breeze on our 12/28/14 NYE cruise, I took a pass and went out to the pool. We stayed out at the pool till about 2 and headed in to get ready for our cocktail party.

[jimbo5544]

Our cocktail party was in teh limelight lounge. We like to get there early, make sure everything is all set (it always is....so why;)) People wandered in and we spent a good hour of socializing with our enitre group. Here are some pics.

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

Here is the group of kids that the cruise was based around.

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

After the cocktail party, we headed back up to the room to pack and get ready for dinner. We packed as much as we could, then changed and headed down to the Red Frog for a cocktail before dinner. We met up with some of our group there and then headed up for the last meal in the MDR.

 

It's kind of funny, that I always feel most comfortable (not that I ever felt uncomfortable) with the MDR staff right as the cruise ends. This cruise was no exception.

 

After dinner we said our goodbye's to the MDR team and the Asst. Maitre'd and headed out to enjoy our last night on the Breeze for a good while. We ended up spending most of the evening in Oceans Plaza listening to Deja Vu. We stopped in the Piano Bar for a while and then headed up to put our bags out, spend a little time out on the balcony and then hit the sack.

[jimbo5544]

About 3:45 AM our partying neighbors came in, either having been shut off or after the last bar closed. There were more of them (woohoo....:(), they were louder and were not only out on the balcony but in the room.

 

At first, it was just talk, then they started playing music, then started singing (I don't want to hear "it's all about the base, about the base" for a good while. After about 15 minutes, I called guest services and explained the situation. They said that they had had received 4 other calls, and that security was on the way up, which they arrived about 2 minutes later.

 

It took a bit for them to answer the door, there was some heated discussion and everyone else left. My new best friend neighbors settled down.....:cool:

[jimbo5544]

First time in 33 cruises...... go figure.:eek::(

[jimbo5544]

We woke up in the morning (again) and got dressed and went up for our last breakfast. I always find debarkation morning to be very interesting. Lots of people are ratcheted up for their journeys home, everyone is on their smart phones, catching up with their extended families and friends.

 

About 8:00 Matt came over the speakers, announced that while Customers officials were on the ship, we had in fact, not been cleared and asked everyone to please not come down to the lobby. Of course, that is exactly what the did.

 

They also did something I cannot remember them ever doing before which was around 8:15 he came on and asked people to vacate their cabins as they had a charted cruise (Tom Joyner....I did not know who he was till I googled him - what would we do without smart phones.....) and they needed to do a quick turn over of the cabins.

[jimbo5544]

We had made arrangements with guest services to have our entire group meet up in the lower level of the Sapphire restaurant and they would come release us at 9:30. There was also some people needing wheelchair assist that were in that dining room as well.

 

They were still doing self assist debark and someone came in and said your group is cleared to go. I looked out at the winding line, looked back at the guest services rep and asked "are you sure" she said yes, so I fired up the group.

[jimbo5544]

She short cut us across to one of the exits where we started to get off. Matt, who was supervising the debarkation process was saying close that lane.... She said no it's the Lovelace group, he looked at winked and said OK, asked how many there were of us and I said 105. He laughed came over shook my hand, I told him how much I enjoyed the cruise, and we got off.

[jimbo5544]

Once we got our bags, cleared customs we met up again outside and proceeded to put our group on 5 transfers to two airports, and 3 hotels (for day passes) and said goodbye to our favorite ship, the Carnival Breeze.

 

Coming up: Final thoughts.......

[jimbo5544]

First some comments on cruise length (in terms of days). Our last three cruises were 6 - 5 - 6 days. We usually do 7 days or longer. The NYE cruise and this cruise (both on the Breeze) were 6 days, but we chose them for when they were happening. Those cruises just happened to be 6 days. The 5 night on February was strictly because of the deal, it was a great price.

 

All that being said we enjoy at least 7 days of cruising. On each of these cruises over the last 4 months, when getting off, I felt a little cheated (because I wanted the additional days we were accustomed to having on a cruise.

 

I do appreciate however the rotating schedules where ether mix up the days. It gives people who might not be able to go (especially on the newer ships) on Carnival's best ships. Hopefully we can do a Carnival Journey soon, another really good idea.

[jimbo5544]

Both the wife and I feel the same way when getting on a cruise ship as when we started to cruise. That is part of the rush and hope we never lose it.

[jimbo5544]

I will close out the review tomorrow night with some thoughts on the cruses we did in getting to diamond status.

[Avril]

Hey Jimbo, congrats on becoming Diamond!! :D That is my cruising mission in life, haha. To get that Diamond S&S card. I'm Platinum now and am just over 1/2 way to Diamond with 111 VIFP points and 17 Carnival cruises (also looking forward to my 1st Milestone cruise). :D I'm adding 21 more days (2 cruises) next year. I'd like to get to Diamond by the time I'm 40 (I'm almost 31 now), it's good to have a goal I think!! Do you think that's doable or should I add a few more years? I'm so happy you like the Breeze, she's my favourite ship I've been on!! :D I'm looking forward to trying the Vista and Sunshine next year. Couple of questions for you. Do you by any chance have a picture of your Diamond S&S Card? I've always wanted to see one so I know what I have to look forward to, haha!! :D Also, do the Milestone cards look different from your regular Gold/Platinum/Diamond card or is it the same card?

[momof3cruisers]

I will close out the review tomorrow night with some thoughts on the cruses we did in getting to diamond status.

 

That will be fun to read. I always remember you because according to Tapi, you and I are the only people in the world who would rather be on a smaller Carnival ship than Allure or Oasis. ;).

 

I wonder if you could post a link to your earlier Breeze review. We are sailing her in Jan and I am sooo excited!

[Hose A De RR]

I was lucky to have a cruising family! I was platinum by my first out of college cruise!

 

On our last cruise on the Freedom, we met a 7 year old who was Platinum!

[jimbo5544]

That will be fun to read. I always remember you because according to Tapi, you and I are the only people in the world who would rather be on a smaller Carnival ship than Allure or Oasis. ;).

 

I wonder if you could post a link to your earlier Breeze review. We are sailing her in Jan and I am sooo excited!

 

Tapi has said that about me (and I like him), but my opinion on that has never wavered. Here is a link to our NYE cruise on the Breeze.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2148277

[jimbo5544]

On our last cruise on the Freedom, we met a 7 year old who was Platinum!

 

We saw a similar thing on the Magic a couple of years ago. John Heald called the young lad up on stage and asked him to show his silver card. Asked his age and how many sailings he had. At the end he asked him if he wanted to thank mom and dad for taking him on all the sailings, he said no Grampa paid, so he thanked grampa.

[jimbo5544]

Hey Jimbo, congrats on becoming Diamond!! :D That is my cruising mission in life, haha. To get that Diamond S&S card. I'm Platinum now and am just over 1/2 way to Diamond with 111 VIFP points and 17 Carnival cruises (also looking forward to my 1st Milestone cruise). :D I'm adding 21 more days (2 cruises) next year. I'd like to get to Diamond by the time I'm 40 (I'm almost 31 now), it's good to have a goal I think!! Do you think that's doable or should I add a few more years? I'm so happy you like the Breeze, she's my favourite ship I've been on!! :D I'm looking forward to trying the Vista and Sunshine next year. Couple of questions for you. Do you by any chance have a picture of your Diamond S&S Card? I've always wanted to see one so I know what I have to look forward to, haha!! :D Also, do the Milestone cards look different from your regular Gold/Platinum/Diamond card or is it the same card?

 

Thanks for the congrats!

 

I will scan it tonight and put the picture on here. It is the same as Platinum, only it is white metallic in color instead of silver metallic. The only cards I am aware of that are different are milestone, where it says milestone on the bottom of the card.

 

Your goal is doable, but remember it's a journey, not a race.

Edited May 4, 2015 by jimbo5544

[love my grandkids]

We saw a similar thing on the Magic a couple of years ago. John Heald called the young lad up on stage and asked him to show his silver card. Asked his age and how many sailings he had. At the end he asked him if he wanted to thank mom and dad for taking him on all the sailings, he said no Grampa paid, so he thanked grampa.

 

Kid calls it like it is:)

[jimbo5544]

Kid calls it like it is:)

 

They sure do, and the parents readily agreed. I think John then asked who wanted to be adopted grandkids to the grand parents and got a rousing ovation.:)