Carnival Breeze- 6 Day- Review

[Jenner9]

Fantastic review. Thanks for sharing!

[tradewinds traveler]

Thank you for the review. Wonderful pictures.

[Crusin Karen]

Very nice and looks like you had great weather. You are such a cute couple!!! Hope the stingray brings you luck the rest of the cruise in the casino! :p;)

[JAXCRUISER]

I'm enjoying your review. Thanks!

[mickide]

I'm loving seeing what's in store for me :). Thank you for taking the time to post this!

[greeneyedancr89139]

September 10- Cozumel, Mexico

 

We wouldn't dock until 10 am so we slept in a bit. The DH had bought the unlimited premium wifi so we went down to one of the fun hubs to login to ESPN. We needed to get our fantasy football in order. On our way we passed over the Lido deck and saw the towel animal presentation on the deck chairs.

 

 

 

 

After that was finished we went to Blush for breakfast. Everything was good. We had to meet in the Ovation theater at 9:45 for our excursion. The place filled up fast. I believe this was all the people who were going over to the mainland. It was quite a long wait but we finally were able to get off the ship. We had to walk through town and catch our ferry. Cozumel looks pretty awesome and we wished we had more time there to explore the shops. Carnival Triumph was already there next to us.

 

 

 

A little fuzzy. I took the picture through a window.

[greeneyedancr89139]

The ferry ride is about 45 minutes long. The boat is a nice size with a bar.

 

 

Playa del Carmen

 

Once we got off in Playa del Carman we followed our tour guide to Xcaret. My boss recommended Xcaret to us and it look pretty awesome. It is an ecological theme park. Once everyone was in with us we got on our bus. Our tour guide spoke Spanish and then English. The ride was suppose to be about 10 minutes to the park but there was construction so it took longer. Finally we arrived at the park at 12:30 pm. The tour guide explained that we would have 5 minutes to change and then he would direct us to the cave river float. After the float he would meet us at the end and bring us to a restaurant to eat and then it would our free time. I didn't really like that idea so we just went off on our own. I had done a lot of research prior and knew where I wanted to go. We were told to meet out front at 4:10pm. That gave us a little over 3 hours, which is not very much time for Xcaret. I had a list of just a couple things I wanted to see and everything else was just extra. So we head right for the river.

 

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

You have to wear a life jacket and they have these big bags that you can put your stuff in. They then locked it up and give you the key. I had my phone with me and our selfie stick. We got into the water and we did the Mayan River. The water was a little chilly but we hustled. We didn't want to be caught in the big group that was coming. The river was so awesome. You go through caves, mangroves, a building, and are out in the open. Most people had flippers. We didn't and wish we did. We did have water shoes on though. After awhile we tried using the selfie stick and realized we killed it in the water. Oops! Oh well, it treated us well for the 3 days we had it

 

The entrance to the river.

 

 

 

 

 

There were exits every so often, so you don't have to do the whole thing.

 

In a cave.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Sorry for the picture overload of Xcaret. I had such a hard time finding reviews from cruise ship guests.

 

You can see the yellow area is a camera. They were scattered all over the park. You could scan your wristband it would take your picture. At the entrance you could then view all your pictures from the day. It was a cool concept. I don't think it worked with our wrist bands though and I am unsure of the cost.

 

 

 

 

Bats!

 

Came through a cave into this building.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Which way to go? We went right.

 

Right before the husband said "Snake!" I swam and squealed like a little girl. There was no snake.

 

Almost to the end.

 

After about 30 minutes we reached the end of the river. We got out and returned the life jacket and got our backpack. There are maps every where and they have the pathways color coded so you can easily find things.

 

 

 

Most paths had colored stones like this. It helped you follow certain paths to get places. Very helpful.

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

Snuba course. This was extra cost.

 

We walked around like crazy people. We didn't stop to long in front of the aquariums and animals. We knew we were going to the San Diego Zoo in 2 weeks so we figured we would see all these things there. That left us more time to just breeze by and get to the places we really wanted to see.

 

 

 

 

Sea Turtles

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

DH and I both work in the construction industry and we were so shocked at the lack of railings. It was so awesome. We kept saying you would not find this place in America. It is not very ADA accessible and people would be suing because their kid fell in the turtle water. So if you bring your kids, you will have to watch them constantly or strap them in the stroller. (Which could be hard to navigate on the paths)

 

 

There were different turtle tanks with the babies.

 

 

Shark tank

 

People were just about to get in the water with them. It was extra.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Iguanas everywhere.

 

We walked through the aquariums quickly.

 

Going to Tulum was something I wanted to do but decided Xcaret instead. Xcaret does have some Mayan ruins and that was on my list of things to see.

 

At night they do shows. Unfortunately we were not able to stay. I have heard they are awesome.

 

We did stop to see the monkeys. They even swung on the rope for us.

 

For lunch we ate at one of the Mexican buffets. It was $30 a person and it was very yummy. There was a lot of selection.

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

There were bird areas like this, that you could take your picture at.

 

A top view of the river

 

Inside one of the caves, they had bones and an alter.

 

Gift shops were scattered through out the park.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

Cemetery

 

We started to walk towards the Aviary. I didn't really need to go the DH is not a fan of birds but we walked through it anyway. I am so glad I did, it was amazing. Probably one of my favorite areas of the park. It reminded me of Jurassic Park. There were waterfalls, bridges, pathways all the way to the bottom. It was gorgeous.

 

Baby birds getting there feathers.

 

 

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

Almost done with Xcaret.

 

 

 

 

More ruins

 

 

Inside the gift shop at the entrance they had big incubators and you could watch quail hatch.

 

It was time for us to meet back at the front to go back to the ship. We shopped for a little bit and bought some ice cream.

[greeneyedancr89139]

The ride back to the ferry boat went quickly. The ferry left after 5 pm so we knew we were going to be late to the ship. That is why I booked this one through Carnival. We arrived right at 6 pm and were one of the first ones off the ferry. We didn't want to have to wait in line to get on the boat and plus our MDR seating was at 6 pm. Once we got on the ship there was a family that was worried that there son was going to miss the boat. We assured them that about 150 people were about to get on that went to mainland.

 

 

Pretty empty pier.

 

 

 

We ran up to our room to change but of course had to go to the balcony to watch Carnival Triumph leave.What a party that was. Everyone was waving, they were blowing the horn and the music was blasting.

 

 

 

 

Once they took off we went down for dinner. The menu had a section for Cozumel, so I had the steak tacos and spring rolls for an appetizer (Spring rolls are not on Cozumel menu). You could probably guess what we had for dessert. Chocolate Melting Cake but with double the ice cream.

 

The first football game was on this evening. Craig and Casey went to the Red Frog Pub to save us a table so we could watch it together. The place started filling up once the game started. DH ordered chicken wings and loved them. We stayed until half time and then went back to the room. DH was still hungry and ordered some more more chocolate cake and I ordered a grilled cheese. Then it was bedtime.

[greeneyedancr89139]

September 11- Last day at Sea

 

 

We woke up and I ran to the buffet to grab some food. We leisurely got ready for the day. We had to meet at the steakhouse at 8:45 for our Behind the Scenes tour. You have to wear close toed shoes and cannot bring your phone or camera with you. The tour is about 4 hours long. We toured the Galley, giant fridge rooms, meat room, engine room, trash room, laundry room, staff cafeteria, staff lounge, learning room, bridge with Captain, front of the ship, and the backstage of the theater. It was a very fun and informative trip. There is a lot of walking involved and stairs. At the end we were given some free things and we also got free pictures with the captain and group.

 

 

We were pretty hungry by this time so we went to grab some food. DH had a burger and I got a burrito from Blue. It also so happened to be the chocolate buffet so we grabbed some things. We tried gambling and lost again. At 2pm it was Harry Potter Trivia. I had plans to meet Diana there. It was a lot harder than we thought.

 

We went back up to our room and there was two sets of Chocolate covered strawberries from the Behind the Fun. I recommend that everyone should at least try it once. It is a little pricey at $95 per person though.

 

 

We changed into our tennis shoes to go try the ropes course. Boy that was a lot harder than it looks. We were walking to go check out the shops on board when we found Craig and Casey. They were on there way to Bingo so we joined them. They were wrapping up the Q&A with Matt when we arrived. We bought the $30 package and used a pencil to mark it. There were 4 games and we didn't win any of them. No one won the $5,000 jackpot but a few people won $400 and $700.

 

 

 

We went back to our room and then did some gambling. I should probably clarify we don't gamble at home in Las Vegas. :) We went to dinner in the MDR again. I had Caprese for an appetizer and tried frog legs which were not to bad. For the main meal we had Prime Rib. The wait staff preformed the farewell dance and then danced to Gangham style. One of our waiters who didn't look to happy had the biggest smile on his face when he was dancing. We asked our waitress Diane about it and she just laughed and said he is new.

 

 

 

They put up the flag again for Patriot Day.

 

We said goodbye to our new friends and found each other on social media. DH and I went to the future cruise desk and were interested in booking another cruise but ended up not. We went to watch the Diva Show. It was fun and we had a new eye for things after the Behind the Scenes tour this morning. DH wanted the wings one more time from Red Frog, so we went and ate some more. Then it was time to go back to the room to pack and go to sleep.

[greeneyedancr89139]

September 12-Disembarking

 

Such a bittersweet day. Sad for the cruise to be over but I was so excited to see our daughter. We chose to do self disembark. The schedule said our floor wouldn't be called until 8:30 am. We decided to just get off early when they were calling Deck 7. We waited probably 15 minutes in total before we were out the front. It was a wonderful trip and we had so much fun. Carnival Breeze is a wonderful ship and the staff was all very friendly. We will probably sail her again when she goes to Galveston, TX.

 

Coming into Miami.

 

 

Carnival Glory was in Miami

 

Sorry its fuzzy. NCL Getaway

 

We flew out of Fort Lauderdale at 6 pm. I am pretty sure that is the Oasis of the Seas out the airplane window. She was in Fort Lauderdale during the day.

[DaisyGirl55]

Great review so far...I am sailing on the Breeze next month, and I am reading every review I can! If I ever figure out how to post my pictures I may try a review of my own!

[acceber32]

Thanks for the review! We will be on the Breeze in 2 1/2 weeks and are so excited.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Thank you for reading. I hope it gets some of you excited for your upcoming cruises. Here is some of my after thoughts and tips.

 

- I fully recommend Xcaret but just be prepared you don't have that much time to do things, 4 hours at the most.

 

- I wish I would of invested in a water proof camera. I took all my pictures with my Iphone 6 and when I used the waterproof cover things would get fuzzy. It was the cheaper route though.

 

- Use your TV for everything! Not very many people utilized there TVs. You can book excursions, check your SS account, order room service, and see the MDR menus for the whole week.

 

- I didn't want to carry around a lot of stuff on the cruise. So I bought a new Iphone case that holds 3 cards. I would keep my SS card in there and when we went on land my ID.

 

- Use the new Carnival Hub App. Our SS card balance was wrong on it but it was nice to look at what was going on around the ship. You can favorite certain events and it will notify you 15 minutes before hand. There is also lots of helpful information on there. We used it to find out where the ironing boards were located.

 

Well thanks again for reading.

 

 

Side note: Our daughter was very happy to see us. She even gave me a welcome home present! She threw up all over me and my side of the bed. I told her she can come with us on our next cruise, which is going to be Alaska again. Just have to book it. :):)

 

Thank you!

[greeneyedancr89139]

Great review so far...I am sailing on the Breeze next month, and I am reading every review I can! If I ever figure out how to post my pictures I may try a review of my own!

 

It took me a few tries to get it. Posting pictures is the most time consuming of doing this review. Thank you for reading.

[jcearth]

Thanks so much for the review! Sounds like you had a great time - did they show the football games in the Redfrog Pub or in the Casino bar or both?

[greeneyedancr89139]

Thanks so much for the review! Sounds like you had a great time - did they show the football games in the Redfrog Pub or in the Casino bar or both?

 

Both and it was on in our room too.