Just off Breeze 8 night southern

[2boys2girls]

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:

 

Given that our ship sailed full, I never felt it was that bad anywhere, even the main pool on the Lido Deck. With that being said, anytime there was something special going on at the main pool, like the Hairy Chest Contest, the Ice Carving Demo or the Miss Carnival Breeze Contest, things got a little packed. But that was just during those special occasions...once they were over, everything cleared out.

We only went to one show in the Ovation Theatre and had no trouble finding seats. I would say the most packed place that you need to get there early was the adult comedy shows. They were always packed. The buffet was never too bad but we almost always had to wait to get pizza. It also seemed to get quite congested outside of the Sapphire Dining Room if you went before the 8:15 time because right outside was the place with all the pictures so there were people waiting for the dining room to open, people looking for their pictures and people listening to music in the atrium.

We never had an issue with bad lines getting on or off the ship in any of the ports. We had to wait in line for maybe 20 minutes or so on Deck 1 when we were in Aruba but that was only because we had an early excursion. My advice for getting off the ships is if you don't need to, don't try to get off right when the ships docks because it has to get clearance first. So, for example, if the ship docks at 8am, wait until about 9am if you can, and you should be able to just walk off the ship!

Have a great cruise!!

[2boys2girls]

So our last 2 days were sea days coming all the way back from Aruba, which I found out from talking to one of our tour guides there, is only about 15 miles away from Venezuela, so we were a long way from home!

I like getting off the ship on port days but it's also nice to have those sea days where there is no urgency to get off the ship and get going. I will mention here that we never seemed to have a problem on any day, sea or in port, getting 4 chairs together. Later in the day, there were definitely slim pickings and many chairs did have towels on them but rarely were there people using them. Other that the 1st day, I never saw Carnival trying to enforce any chair hogs but there are so many places to be on this ship that it never seemed to be that big of a problem.

The only thing that ever seemed to play on the big screen on the Lido deck during the day was ports of call pictures...over and over again. Sometimes, they had some kind of show going on with the cruise director. I would have honestly preferred just to have music going, which is what happened those last 2 sea days. They mixed it up with a live steel drum kind of Caribbean band on the deck above the pool and a live guitar/singer over by either the Blue Iguana Cantina or the Red Frog Pub.

These last 2 sea days is also when they had the ice carving contest and the Miss Carnival Breeze Contest. Have seen the ice carving contest on our previous cruises but the "beauty pageant" contest was new and quite funny.

It went from 8 or so women of all ages competing down to the final 3, who ended up pairing up with the respective 3 male judges and the finale was the women trying to dress the guys up as best they could as women so they could strut their stuff! The guy who won was about 6" 4" with red hair and ended up wearing the girls green sarong bottom and top with bright red lipstick! Needless to say, it was fun to watch.

Ended up going to the piano bar a couple more times, which was fun and also going to the adult comedy show, which was also fun. We also watched a band play inside on Deck 5 past the promenade a couple times that played all kinds of music and was fun to watch.

Dinner the last night in the dining room was good again and of course, the waiters all put on their final show. Again, I know some people like this and some don't but the kids and I have always gotten a kick out of it. I actually got up and danced with them to Gangnam Style on the last night, which my kids took a video of...hey you only live once, right?!!

[TLC535]

Thanks for the review...photo tip...to post your pics (larger than the thumbnails) you first have to upload them to a photo sharing site like Snapfish (or others) then you can just right click on them & copy from that site & paste them into the post you are composing...hope that helps ;)

[2boys2girls]

http://images1.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp93232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv39777%3Enu%3D3369%3E669%3E763%3EWSNRCG%3D376959%3A%3B7233%3Anu0mrj

[2boys2girls]

http://images1.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp93232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv39777%3Enu%3D3369%3E669%3E763%3EWSNRCG%3D376959%3A%3B7233%3Anu0mrj

 

Ok I just can't figure this picture thing out!. I have already uploaded my pics to snapfish so I went over and right clicked on a pic and than came back here to my review and pasted it and all it does is give the snapfish image which you still have to click on to see the pic...what am I doing wrong??

[TLC535]

My apologies...:o I forgot to tell you once you copy from Snapfish, come back to you post, click in the "insert image" (yellow square in tool bar) another small box will come up, delete the "http" and paste your photo link in there...then you can preview your post before you submit to make sure it shows up correctly....you can do that for 6 photos per post....here's your photo...;)

 

 

ps...great looking family ! :)

Edited June 20, 2015 by TLC535

[2boys2girls]

My apologies...:o I forgot to tell you once you copy from Snapfish, come back to you post, click in the "insert image" (yellow square in tool bar) another small box will come up, delete the "http" and paste your photo link in there...then you can preview your post before you submit to make sure it shows up correctly....you can do that for 6 photos per post....here's your photo...;)

 

 

ps...great looking family ! :)

 

Thank you so much for all of your help and the compliment. I might try to do one more myself just to see if I can do it and go from there!!

[2boys2girls]

[2boys2girls]

 

Ok I'm officially an idiot! I tried to do it myself and it still comes out as a small picture so I'll show this to my daughter again tomorrow and try again. I am now determined to figure this out, whether anyone cares or not, because I won't give up until I figure this out! :)

[2boys2girls]

[2boys2girls]

[2boys2girls]

 

Did I finally figure it out...please let me know and tomorrow I will start posting my pics!

[2boys2girls]

 

This is my last picture of the night and I hope that someone says it's coming through and if so, I will post more pics tomorrow!

[JohnIII]

Pictures coming out great now.

[TLC535]

You got it...YAY...Love the door decorations ! :D

I always decorate ours as it is so fun to see how it makes other pax smile when they see it...:D

[Jenner9]

Thank you for coming back and doing more! You are doing a great job!!

[Jenner9]

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!

 

Do you walk on the beach to get to Jack's Shack?

[levon10]

Loving your review. Got 3 pics so far. Beautiful family and ocean shots and the great door decorations. Thinking I should do that for our next cruise. We are going on the same itinerary minus DR. in Jan on the Carnival Conquest. Thanks for all the great info.

[2boys2girls]

Do you walk on the beach to get to Jack's Shack?

 

Yes, once you get off the ship, you go left and walk down the beach, past the first big group of chairs. It's not a bad walk at all...maybe 10 minutes. Like I said, we were the 1st ones to get there so look for the volleyball net set up as Jack's Shack is not a big glitzy place. If you go online to their website, you can print out a coupon for a free shot of rum...just FYI!!

[KPfromCT]

WooHOO!!!! Houston, we have PICTURES!!!!:D:D

Great review and beautiful family.

We did this same itinerary last July on the Breeze.

Hands down, our favorite cruise:D:D

 

Keep up the great work.

Cannot wait to see more pictures!!!

[2boys2girls]

You got it...YAY...Love the door decorations ! :D

I always decorate ours as it is so fun to see how it makes other pax smile when they see it...:D

 

Thanks again for all your help!! Did the door decorations for the 1st time and it was fun. Lots of positive comments from other cruisers and it did help us from walking right past our door many a time!

Off to baseball practice but will continue to post more pics later today!

[TLC535]

Happy to help...looking forward to seeing more great photos :)

[2boys2girls]

Thank you for coming back and doing more! You are doing a great job!!

 

Thank you!

[2boys2girls]

WooHOO!!!! Houston, we have PICTURES!!!!:D:D

Great review and beautiful family.

We did this same itinerary last July on the Breeze.

Hands down, our favorite cruise:D:D

 

Keep up the great work.

Cannot wait to see more pictures!!!

 

Thanks for the nice comments...will start posting more pics this afternoon!

[2boys2girls]

Loving your review. Got 3 pics so far. Beautiful family and ocean shots and the great door decorations. Thinking I should do that for our next cruise. We are going on the same itinerary minus DR. in Jan on the Carnival Conquest. Thanks for all the great info.

 

Thanks...just back from baseball so will be posted more pics shortly!!