Just off Breeze 8 night southern

[mediccruzin]

We will be on this Saturday and glad to hear Muster was in the dining room! Thanks!

 

All Dream class ships do this. The rest you are still nutz to Buttz for muster.

[2boys2girls]

Will try to go over some things about the Breeze that we experienced while on the ship. We do not gamble but did walk through the casino several times. It is a little smoky smelling but nothing horrific. As an ex-smoker who can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke anymore, I wouldn't want to spend too much time in that area of the ship though!

I tried the taste bar one night before dinner and it was fine...just a little plate of appetizers. My kids loved the burritos, both the breakfast and lunch variety and had them at some point almost every day. The Guys burgers were also very good and the toppings bar was great. My daughter tried some pasta which is served at the Italian restaurant during the day, free of charge, and said it was really good. Just FYI, there is a charge of $15 per person to eat dinner there, which we never did.

We ate in the Sapphire dining room every night except for when we were in Curacao, and always found something good to eat. There was always a bread basket and a carafe of ice water on the table. We all usually tried something different and shared and we all were happy, but I do have to say that across the board, none of us are picky eaters. I feel that the selection was good and varied. Our main waiter and our drink waiter were wonderful and always had a smile on their faces.

[2boys2girls]

We only saw one show in the Ovation Theatre, which was a comedy magician kind of act. Three out of the four of us enjoyed the show, with the exception of my older daughter who thought it was boring. :) I enjoyed the piano bar one of the first nights while my daughters went to the 18 and older late comedy show. I thought the piano player, who was a cute younger guy, was very good and very entertaining with the crowd. My daughters actually joined me there on the last night and wished they had gone more often as they really enjoyed it!

With regard to the comedy show, I ended up going with my daughters on 2 different occasions and it is definitely for 18 and older. They do make several announcements about this before the show starts and they also say if you are easily offended, this show may not be for you. One mom and dad brought their young son, who I would guess was around 11 or 12, and the comic pulled him up on stage and completely harassed him and than his parents for bringing him. I felt bad for the kid but the parents deserved it...this is a show definitely not for the faint of heart and the language was really raunchy so just FYI...do NOT bring your children to this show!!

[2boys2girls]

Just FYI, for the 1st time we decided to decorate our cabin door, so I brought some cute tropical stuff from the dollar store. Once we got settled in, I set to work decorating our door, with the help of one of my daughters. We had such a positive reaction from fellow cruisers walking by and I'm glad I decided to decorate. There were a lot of door decoration that I noticed on our floor, from graduation celebrations to anniversary celebrations, to mother/daughter trips to just "happy to be cruising" trips.

I know there is a mixed reaction to decorating your doors on the ship. I have to say that I really got a kick out of decorating the door of our home away from home and so did a lot of other people. I know that your cabin number is there but I don't know how many times my kids and I would have probably walked right by our cabin if not for our decorations!! So all I have to say about this is, if you want to...go for it and enjoy!

[2boys2girls]

With regard to the Carnival employees we met and became friends with on our cruise...thank you! Our cabin steward was a lovely young lady and I'm sorry that I am drawing a blank on her name, which makes me feel awful as she always knew mine!! I honestly don't know how she remembered!! She always took the time to say hello and ask how we were doing and she always talked to my kids and was there in a matter of minutes if we needed her. Seeing how hard that the Carnival employees always work, with a smile on their face, really amazed my kids on this cruise. Because they are older, at 19, 18 and 14, they can understand what a hard job these people have and appreciate that hard work. They were the 1st ones at the end of our cruise to make sure that I was going to tip above and beyond the regular service gratuity and they all wanted to and did say thank you on our last day!! My only comment on this is that, for the most part, we as cruisers are appreciative of this hard work but my kids all saw instances of rudeness towards these hard-working Carnival employees because they had to wait too long for their slice of pizza or some other minor issue. Please be kind!!

[2boys2girls]

Well folks, unfortunately my kids have been way too busy to help me figure out how to post pics so that won't be upcoming. If anybody has any specific questions they want to ask about the Breeze 8 night southern Caribbean route that we were on, please don't hesitate to ask.

My son was just chosen to play on his little league's all-star team and since there doesn't seem to be much interest in my review, I'm gonna focus on that which is starting to take up a lot of time. Again, for those leaving this Saturday who might have any questions, I'll check my review from now until than but I'm going to have to leave this review as is...thanks for those that did check it out!

[dmdiver]

We'll be here if/when you get ready to come back to it!

[Multik]

Hi, do you know if library on the ship has any books or dvd's for kids?

Did you notice if tv has channels for kids with cartoons?

We are going with my 5 years son and I have to entertain him :)

[dacsmom]

It is your review and of course you can do what you want, but in four days your thread has had more than 1,800 views. To me that shows interest. Just because people do not post and interrupt your review does not mean no one is interested. I am looking to come back to Carnival and book the Breeze or the Vista and the Breeze reviews help me make up my mind.

[2boys2girls]

It is your review and of course you can do what you want, but in four days your thread has had more than 1,800 views. To me that shows interest. Just because people do not post and interrupt your review does not mean no one is interested. I am looking to come back to Carnival and book the Breeze or the Vista and the Breeze reviews help me make up my mind.

 

I appreciate your comment. I was an English lit major and I sometimes get too wordy and so I thought maybe my review was kind of boring, especially because I'm not posting any pictures! I will certainly put some more thoughts and comments in tonight about the ports of call!

[2boys2girls]

Hi, do you know if library on the ship has any books or dvd's for kids?

Did you notice if tv has channels for kids with cartoons?

We are going with my 5 years son and I have to entertain him :)

 

We didn't use the library on this cruise, so I can't help you with that but there were 2 cartoon channels on the tv in the cabin.

[2boys2girls]

1st Port of Call - Grand Turk

 

I had read a lot here on these boards before our cruise and so we had decided to go to Jack's Shack for the day. Maybe I should say that I had decided as my daughters thought it would be a better idea to hang out at the pools in Margaritaville!! Anyway, I convinced them to go to Jack's Shack first and than maybe later we'd head back to Margaritaville.

Let me just say that we ended up spending our whole port day at Jack's Shack and the girls, along with my son and I, loved it! We were the 1st people to arrive there and a really nice guy set up our chairs, which were free, along with an umbrella that was $15, only if you wanted it. So four chairs and a nice, big umbrella for $15 for the day was so worth it.

I ran into Jack inside their little gift shop and chatted for a little bit. Topher, their adorable labradoodle, was still sleeping in. There were a few excursion type boats in the water in front of Jack's Shack but they soon left leaving a wonderful view of the beautiful turquoise water and our ship in the distance.

We ended up having some nice tropical cocktails, which my 2 daughters enjoyed as they are 18 and almost 20, so with the drinking age in the islands being 18, this is the 1st time they've been able to do this! We also ordered some wonderful jerk chicken and my son got a burger and fries, which he enjoyed.

Topher finally woke up and came around visiting and what a cutie! One of the guys who works there showed us that if you make a ball out of wet sand and throw it, Topher will go crazy digging in the sand to get it. Too funny!! Anyway, needless to say, we never did make it to Margaritaville and I would highly recommend going to Jack's Shack in Grand Turk!

[2boys2girls]

2nd Port of Call - Dominican Republic

 

Just a real quick note on this port...can't give any info as we decided to stay on the ship this day. We had an excursion booked the next day while in Curacao and another excursion booked the day after that while in Aruba. Since there was nothing at the port to even get off the ship for, shopping-wise, we just enjoyed a less crowded Carnival Breeze for the day!

[Hillman23]

We leave Saturday. Thanks for your tip on Jacks shack.

[2boys2girls]

3rd Port of Call - Curacao

 

We did a 3 hour tour, booked through a private company on the island. Again, we found this tour through other reviews and recommendations. The company is called Irie Tours and we did the 3 hour East Side Tour. I sent them an email prior to our cruise, which reserved our 4 spots on their tour bus. They sent an email back to me very quickly with our confirmation and telling us where to go to meet our tour once getting off the ship. Because they don't ask for payment in advance, which is $25 per person, they ask that you meet at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the tour or they may have to give your seats to other guests.

We found the tour with no problem and the bus was really cute and brightly painted with no windows. It was comfortable, temperature wise, with the wind blowing in through the windows, so no issues there. They had beer, soft drinks and bottled water, free of charge, in a big cooler at the back of the bus. The bus was full and we took off for our tour!

We drove through town while getting an explanation of where we were and what we were seeing. We stopped at the Curacao Liquor distillery where we were able to sample various liquors and purchased some of their famous blue Curacao liquor.

We stopped at a beach that had shops, restaurants and an aquarium, although the aquarium was an extra charge (sorry, can't remember what the charge was as we didn't go there). We didn't have enough time that we wanted to go in the water so we just grabbed a drink and did a little shopping. We were dropped off back in town near the Riff Fort, which is right outside of the port and has lots of shops and restaurants. This is when you paid the driver, who we also tipped as he did a great job during the tour. My kids did notice one couple who got off the bus and just walked away, so I'm hoping they paid the driver earlier, because he wasn't paying too much attention.

Anyway, we went back to the ship to take showers and change as the ship was in port until 10pm. We figured as a change, we'd get off the ship to grab some appetizers and a drink, just for a change. We ate at one of the many places within Riff Fort and the one negative of the day was the place we chose. It was all outdoor eating so I don't remember the name of the place. We ordered a couple appetizer dishes that were the like a child's serving and even though it wasn't crowded, had trouble getting service. The icing on the cake was when my daughters asked for water and they brought them bottled water. I later asked for ice water and they brought me a glass with ice and water. When I got the bill, they charged $5 for each bottle of water, but my glass was free. When I called the waiter over, he said they didn't ask for ice water like me. My reply was that they didn't ask for bottled water either. He was very rude and when I asked to speak to the manager, he said he was the manager!

Yikes!! Anyway, he took one of the $5 charges off the bill but for $50 very the smallest portions of food and a couple drinks, we wished we just stayed on the ship and eaten with our wonderful waiter!! Oh well, you live and you learn and our day in Curacao was still a wonderful experience!

[2boys2girls]

We leave Saturday. Thanks for your tip on Jacks shack.

 

You're welcome...this was one of my favorite ports because of Jack's Shack. It's just a 10 minute or so walk down the beautiful white sand beach. Even when another people showed up, it never seemed crowded. They played good music according to my kids...not live but still good. We talked to some locals there and everyone was so nice. For all 4 of us, with food, umbrella for the chairs, and several drinks, it was a reasonably priced place with lots of local charm. Like one local said, don't pay for the overpriced food and drinks and the swimming pool at Margaritaville when you can have this wonderful setting with food cooked fresh on the barbeque and a natural, crystal clear swimming pool called the Caribbean Ocean!

[2boys2girls]

Last Port of Call - Aruba

 

This port was one my favorite ports of any of the 4 cruises that I've taken. I think part of it was the island and the friendly people and part of it was the wonderful excursion that we took here. I actually booked this excursion through Carnival a few months prior to our cruise, based on so many positive reviews of this excursion, and I'm so glad I did. The excursion is called the North Coast Jeep Safari and it was a blast!!

When we got off the ship, you wait in the main building for your ship excursion. They will be holding signs with the name of the excursion and you wait with that person until they are ready to start. As we were waiting, I chatted with a father and daughter who were also taking this excursion. They said they had been in Aruba last year and had taken this same excursion and loved it so that made me relieved, as the excursion next to us was packed and my kids were asking if I'd made a mistake. They should know by know that I research the heck out of our vacations and with cruises, I live online reading reviews and getting advice prior to leaving!

Your tour is in an open-air 4WD Land Rover that seats 8 per vehicle. We had 5 vehicles total on this tour, all of them full. Not a large amount of people given the amount of people on the ship, but as it ended up, a perfect size. Again, because of talking with this father and daughter, who wanted to be with Eduardo, the lead driver and captain of the tour, we also requested the same vehicle and so, with the 2 of them, the 4 of us, and another great couple, we were off!

You definitely need to wear those seatbelts...that's not even an option. Even the in-town driving was crazy. Anytime our captain, Eduardo, who was a great but really fast driver, had to pull over to wait for the other 4 slowpokes it was an experience. Going through the roundabouts trying to keep the 5 vehicles together was a riot. We stopped at the Ayo Rock formation, which you could climb through. Very cool. Perhaps the funniest part of that stop was when my 18 year old daughter got stuck in the bathroom and I had to get Eduardo and a couple of the other drivers to help her escape...again, everyone was laughing, which was the theme of this tour!

We visited an ostrich farm where everyone got a chance to feed these huge birds and get a cute picture in a cute wooden frame, for a $10 charge if you wanted to purchase it. We also came around a turn in the road and almost took out a whole family of goats. They were running and bleating and the vehicle horns were honking and again, everyone was laughing. Just FYI, no goats were injured in this excursion!

When we actually got to the north coast, it was so cool. Very dry and sandy with lots of cactus and beautiful cliffs with gorgeous water. Again, we made some stops along the way with some great photo ops and another funny moment when we came across a small group of horseback riders with a stray dog following them. When our guide assured us that the stray dogs were friendly, my older daughter called it over to pet it and found out it must have been rolling in horse poop. Again, more laughs and thank goodness my younger daughter had her hand sanitizer with her!

As I've mentioned, the ride in these vehicles is so much fun, even in town. When we got out to the north coast, all I can say is wow!. In between our stops, the off-roading was so much fun. My son had his Go-Pro and took videos and all you can hear is screaming (in a good way) and laughing. The lady in the back, across from my son, caught so much air time it was a riot!

Our final stop was a small beach with some of the prettiest aquamarine colored water I have ever seen. We had time to get in the water and even some of our tour guides joined us and and we all just relaxed and floated for about 45 minutes.

After the beach, we headed back into town and were dropped off just outside the port, where you could get back on the ship or continue to shop. I do want to mention that our guides gave us all an informative and funny talk at each stop, which was nice. During one stop, I spoke to another of the drivers who said he was born and raised in Aruba and loved it there. All in all, it was a great day, a great excursion and a great island that I would love to go back and visit again someday!

[2boys2girls]

I will be back to talk about our last 2 sea days on our return to Miami. One of my daughters who was finally around enough to see me typing away and asked what I was doing, promised to figure out how to post my pictures so that I can let everyone who is reading my review see how beautiful the ship and the ports truly are...so fingers crossed!

[2boys2girls]

You're welcome...this was one of my favorite ports because of Jack's Shack. It's just a 10 minute or so walk down the beautiful white sand beach. Even when another people showed up, it never seemed crowded. They played good music according to my kids...not live but still good. We talked to some locals there and everyone was so nice. For all 4 of us, with food, umbrella for the chairs, and several drinks, it was a reasonably priced place with lots of local charm. Like one local said, don't pay for the overpriced food and drinks and the swimming pool at Margaritaville when you can have this wonderful setting with food cooked fresh on the barbeque and a natural, crystal clear swimming pool called the Caribbean Ocean!

 

BTW I have to stand corrected, according to my son Grand Turk and the Turks and Caicos is located in the Atlantic Ocean, not the Caribbean! :)

[Nolefan95]

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to the rest.

[2boys2girls]

This is just a test to see if my pictures are posting

[Roscoe13]

This is just a test to see if my pictures are posting

 

 

Yes, I see NO pictures.

[js]

Yes, I see NO pictures.

 

Neither do I. Sorry OP. Can't wait to read and see more! :)

[2boys2girls]

Still working on pics...my daughter was able to get a thumbnail pic but it was so small so I think she deleted it. She is very computer smart and she's having trouble figuring it out too. Will keep trying!! :)

[marshalljm]

We are booked on the Breeze July 4th. QQ, we haven't sailed on this big of a ship, especially this late in the summer. How crowded were the common areas, pools, buffet, shows, and getting off the ship in port?:confused: