Carnival Breeze 8 Day Eastern Carribbean 1/30 Detailed Review

[thehappierhomemaker]

I've been reading these forums for years but never left a review but I told my husband I wanted to leave a detailed review when we recently went on our fifth cruise-an 8 day Eastern Caribbean on the Breeze. I tried to include all the information I wish I had before my cruise-it will probably take me a day or two to get through it all!

 

Embarkation Day

 

This was our second time leaving out of Miami and unfortunately we didn’t have Faster to the Fun this time like we did our first. We arrived at the port a few minutes after 10am, parked in the garage and carried our luggage to the porters. Checking in and going through security was efficient with minimal lines. We like to arrive early because we travel with three children ages 4-9 and it’s infinitely easier to deal with waits sitting down than when the terminal becomes standing room only.

 

Our previous trip debarking out of Miami we had arrived about 1pm and with Faster to the Fun we were permitted to walk directly on the ship-no lines at all. This time we boarded around noon after waiting but it was not too bad. The terminal did seem on the small side compared to other cruises (our last was out of Cape Canaveral) and the terminal was quite packed by noon and the lines very long-I would not have been a happy camper standing in those lines and trying to find a spot to wait with three kids had we arrived then-parents arrive earlier than later and come equipped with entertainment for the kids!! Ours were terribly excited to get their Kindles to play with once we got to the port (a present from grandma this past Christmas).

 

(to be continued..)

[thehappierhomemaker]

Once on the ship the vacation really began. Get this party started right-drinks for the adults! We love getting the Cheers program because it allows us to try new drinks (and not feel guilty if we don’t like them) and because I like red wine which gets pricey. It also helps me relax more on vacation to not mentally tally how much I’m spending which I definitely did before we started getting Cheers!

 

 

After purchasing the Cheers and getting a drink we headed up to the Lido for lunch. The ship was just starting to get crowded-we lucked out getting into the Blue Iguana and Guy’s burgers right off the bat but two of our kids wanted things on the Lido Marketplace and the lines were pretty bad. We muscled through and headed to the Waterworks afterwards. We are talking sun, water slides and the joy of 72 degree weather (made that much warmer because we knew it was snowing back home!).

 

 

We had to patiently wait through the muster drill before leaving port which was held in one of the dining rooms-our first time not being lined up like sardines on an outer deck so that was nice…then it was off to the sky course and putt putt golf for my husband and 3 boys while I went to the spa raffle. Although we didn’t win any spa treatments she did tour the facilities, purchase the spa thermal pass and scheduled a manicure/pedicure for the next day (the first sea day).

 

I was pretty shocked on the way back from the spa to my family on the sky course to see 3 girls dressed in heels and thong skimpy bikinis “twerking” during the sail away party. This was our 5th Carnival cruise and I’ve not seen anything like that before but it was pretty provocative and not anything I would want my young boys around-I could see after 9 at a nighttime adult party but this was before dinner on a family friendly party. Older men were stopping and taking pictures-so much attention was on them I could barely get by the walkway, I had to move a lounger to pass by. Not very classy.

 

When we returned to our state room our luggage had arrived and we unpacked a bit before heading to dinner. We chose any time dining (5:45 to 9 whenever you want) and usually go on the early side. We ate as a family in the formal dining room and it a nice change to take a leisurely dinner with everyone. Our waiter Vladimir was very attentive but it did seem like a slower pace-this could just be because I’m not used to dining out in a nice place with three young kids!!

 

We checked in with Camp Ocean where the boys will hang out on and off throughout the days. It was quickly and painless without waiting as we had registered the boys online before departure. By the time that was over we changed and grabbed some lounge chairs to watch a movie, eat some popcorn and swim on the Lido for the Dine In Movie-tonight was The Minions which my boys loved despite having watched it 5 times on the 2 day drive down from DC! The breeze made it feel chilly so lounge towels were necessary to cover up. There was plenty of room and available chairs. The boys loved swimming while watching the movie and we were able to get popcorn at the bar to snack on.

 

By this time the boys were chilly from swimming in the cold and we headed back to our stateroom for bedtime…I must mention that one drawback for us of the Cheers program is that they’ve recently changed so that you have to be present to get your drink…so my husband can’t go up to the bar and buy us both drinks at night once our children are sleeping, he can only buy one then walk back to the room and then we switch and I walk to the bar to buy the other. Not a huge deal the entire cruise but the first night when there is no child care it’s annoying-especially as we were on the opposite side of the ship this time from the atrium bar.

[thehappierhomemaker]

I was really curious before we left about the new room service menu with extra cost options so I took pictures to share:

 

 

 

 

Overall I thought the extra cost items added to the value of the menu, there were no big deal breakers for us, but we don't do room service a ton.

 

I also liked that we were given an entertainment schedule for the entire week the first day-it was nice to see an overall view of what would be happening and we had never had that before.

 

We had room 1421, a deluxe oceanview room with double bunks. While the Carnival site said that you couldn't have the beds as a king with both bunks down I still requested it and it was honored for us. The only issue is the bunk over the king bed doesn't have ladder access when you push the lower beds together but my 9 year old had no problem climbing up via the other bunk or the window ledge.

 

(and I of course neglected to take any pictures of the room!)

 

This was our favorite room yet-much more storage than other oceanview rooms and more room for the kids. Previously in other oceanview rooms we've had one kids on a trundle like bed next to the couch/bed which really cuts into the space. The extra bathroom with a sink and tub was awesome as well-this will be a must for future cruises!

 

Our room attendant was Cecil and he and his team were fantastic and super attentive.

[brookeq]

We were on the same cruise. I am working on our review. Hope to start tomorrow. Look forward to reading yours.

[thehappierhomemaker]

Our room was at the back of the ship right where the hallway opens to the elevator but I was pleasantly surprised to have little to know noise from the elevators and foot traffic-much less than when we stayed midship on other trips. It was also convenient to go straight up to the Lido deck to eat and hang out at the back pool and hot tubs. We headed there with the kids first thing in the morning to eat and swim most every morning of the trip-it wasn't crowded by the pool that time of day.

 

The first sea day we took the kids up to Camp Ocean at 10 when they opened and it was pure chaos. Apparently there was a form to fill out in the folder we were given that you had to turn in before dropping your kids off-a muster agreement that we had never seen on previous trips, wasn't available as part of the online check in, and was never mentioned the night before when we went to the registration/open house. There was a girl at the central desk at the entrance to camp that was just sitting there watching the growing line of parents and not doing a thing to help. Counselors came out and asked her to make sure parents had the form before letting them up to the camps for drop off and she still did nothing-she looked like she was just completely shutting down.

 

There were also numerous kids screaming bloody murder not wanting to be dropped off and angry parents trying to force them-it was awful. Thirty minutes later we got our boys checked in and thankfully headed up to the Serenity deck to recover from the madness.

 

Ermie at the Serenity deck bar was our go-to guy and makes a mean spicy Blodoy Mary. He also offered us great advice about what to do at the various ports during the trip.

[thehappierhomemaker]

Our youngest was in the Penguins-he wasn't loving that his older brothers were together on the other side of camp!

[cruiselife4me]

Great review, can't wait for more!!u

[brookeq]

Once on the ship the vacation really began. Get this party started right-drinks for the adults! We love getting the Cheers program because it allows us to try new drinks (and not feel guilty if we don’t like them) and because I like red wine which gets pricey. It also helps me relax more on vacation to not mentally tally how much I’m spending which I definitely did before we started getting Cheers!

 

 

After purchasing the Cheers and getting a drink we headed up to the Lido for lunch. The ship was just starting to get crowded-we lucked out getting into the Blue Iguana and Guy’s burgers right off the bat but two of our kids wanted things on the Lido Marketplace and the lines were pretty bad. We muscled through and headed to the Waterworks afterwards. We are talking sun, water slides and the joy of 72 degree weather (made that much warmer because we knew it was snowing back home!).

 

 

We had to patiently wait through the muster drill before leaving port which was held in one of the dining rooms-our first time not being lined up like sardines on an outer deck so that was nice…then it was off to the sky course and putt putt golf for my husband and 3 boys while I went to the spa raffle. Although we didn’t win any spa treatments she did tour the facilities, purchase the spa thermal pass and scheduled a manicure/pedicure for the next day (the first sea day).

 

I was pretty shocked on the way back from the spa to my family on the sky course to see 3 girls dressed in heels and thong skimpy bikinis “twerking” during the sail away party. This was our 5th Carnival cruise and I’ve not seen anything like that before but it was pretty provocative and not anything I would want my young boys around-I could see after 9 at a nighttime adult party but this was before dinner on a family friendly party. Older men were stopping and taking pictures-so much attention was on them I could barely get by the walkway, I had to move a lounger to pass by. Not very classy.

 

When we returned to our state room our luggage had arrived and we unpacked a bit before heading to dinner. We chose any time dining (5:45 to 9 whenever you want) and usually go on the early side. We ate as a family in the formal dining room and it a nice change to take a leisurely dinner with everyone. Our waiter Vladimir was very attentive but it did seem like a slower pace-this could just be because I’m not used to dining out in a nice place with three young kids!!

 

We checked in with Camp Ocean where the boys will hang out on and off throughout the days. It was quickly and painless without waiting as we had registered the boys online before departure. By the time that was over we changed and grabbed some lounge chairs to watch a movie, eat some popcorn and swim on the Lido for the Dine In Movie-tonight was The Minions which my boys loved despite having watched it 5 times on the 2 day drive down from DC! The breeze made it feel chilly so lounge towels were necessary to cover up. There was plenty of room and available chairs. The boys loved swimming while watching the movie and we were able to get popcorn at the bar to snack on.

 

By this time the boys were chilly from swimming in the cold and we headed back to our stateroom for bedtime…I must mention that one drawback for us of the Cheers program is that they’ve recently changed so that you have to be present to get your drink…so my husband can’t go up to the bar and buy us both drinks at night once our children are sleeping, he can only buy one then walk back to the room and then we switch and I walk to the bar to buy the other. Not a huge deal the entire cruise but the first night when there is no child care it’s annoying-especially as we were on the opposite side of the ship this time from the atrium bar.

 

I did not see the girls twerking but most of my family did and they were very disturbed. My husband thought they may have been older girls from brazil. But when he saw them later he realized they were just American teenagers.

 

Did you see the lady at Grand Turk with the huge...in the skimpy thong bikinni?

She was also at Reggae beach and people were lining up to take pictures with her.

[thehappierhomemaker]

Stingrays Schedule-our 7 year old was a Stingray but our oldest son was in the sharks and the schedules were identical other than the option for a few unaccompanied Scavenger Hunts for the Sharks. We didn't let our 9 year old sign himself in and out so he wasn't allowed to participate in those, he just stayed in with his brother and played video games (which was about all he wanted to do anyways!)

 

 

 

[thehappierhomemaker]

 

Embarkation Day Highlights:

 

[thehappierhomemaker]

I did not see the girls twerking but most of my family did and they were very disturbed. My husband thought they may have been older girls from brazil. But when he saw them later he realized they were just American teenagers.

 

Did you see the lady at Grand Turk with the huge...in the skimpy thong bikini?

She was also at Reggae beach and people were lining up to take pictures with her.

 

I don't remember seeing the girl at Grand Turk but I was pretty ornery about the twerking girls for much of the trip-the last few days I finally had the revelation that they were always on the lower decks and I realized they were probably not yet 21 (so never ont he Serenity Deck). We saw them up close in St. Maarten and yes, they were quite young. It was really kindof sad to realize how young they were and that's how they were presenting themselves....

Edited February 12, 2016 by thehappierhomemaker

[brookeq]

I don't remember seeing the girl at Grand Turk but I was pretty ornery about the twerking girls for much of the trip-the last few days I finally had the revelation that they were always on the lower decks and I realized they were probably not yet 21 (so never ont he Serenity Deck). We saw them up close in St. Maarten and yes, they were quite young. It was really kindof sad to realize how young they were and that's how they were presenting themselves....

 

If you saw the lady at grand turk you would have remembered. They were the size of melons in a small triange bikinni top. My son was staring and asked me if she was a robot!

 

My family kept running into the young girls like every day. I wanted to see their parents.

[thehappierhomemaker]

This was our third time visiting Grand Turk. The first time we did the stand up paddle boarding excursion and it was really fun, after that we ate and hung out at Margaritaville which has a great pool and DJ, etc.

 

 

The past two times we've been to Grand Turk we've actually just walked off the ship and played at the beach with the kids-the public beach is right there at the end of the dock so it's super easy and it's a great beach for the kids. The water is pretty shallow and they have the swimming area roped off with buoys. My 9 year old got some great snorkeling in (I think he took over 300 pictures on the GoPro in about 20 minutes!

 

 

I had bought some sand toys in Miami before we left so we made sand castles and snorkeled for a few hours then walked back onto the ship for lunch and a rest. We ended up taking the kids out for round 2 of beach time in the afternoon, this time we went on the other side of the dock where the beach wasn't as crowded (no chairs over there) and there was a big whale sculpture my sons thought was really neat-more sandcastle building and snorkeling until we had enough sun and went back on the ship.

 

 

 

This is actually one of my favorite ports just because we have so much fun as a family and it's inexpensive because we don't have to pay for an excursion to have a great time!!

 

[thehappierhomemaker]

San Juan is our favorite port-we lived in Italy for a few years when we were first married and San Juan has such a European feel to it. This was our second time in San Juan and we did the same thing this time around as last time-just walked around the old city enjoying the scenery.

 

 

Last time we walked through the forts but this time we stayed on the inner streets. We had lunch at this cafe that we had visited before-a few coronas and some nachos while a man played guitar in the background-very nice! I also like to shop a bit in the old town. The old church is a must see as well as are the numerous statues around.

 

 

I love seeing all the cats around the streets-a sortof funny story though: There is one cat park near the church that has quite a few of them, even a statue of a cat in the park. The cats are everywhere...there are bowls of food and water for them on the streets. We were walking towards the park and heard a woman scream bloody murder behind us-she saw a cat laying on the sidewalk and was absolutely terrified. We cautioned here that she definitely did NOT want to keep going down that road as that's what it's known for so she turned around. It would have been funny had she not seemed so truly terrified.

 

 

Before we left we had to go to the place where Pina Coladas were invented to have one since we missed that last time-it was very good and again, great atmosphere-they had numerous macaws that were squawking SO loud!

 

 

After walking around enjoying the atmosphere for a few hours we returned to the ship where the gate to the dock was closed while another ship was being tied in. People were yelling at the port officials and generally acting awful...I was embarrassed to be around them-they were the people that make tourists look like fools. It amazes me that people go on vacation and act like that.

 

 

Once we got on the ship my husband continued a tradition he started last time and took our 9 year old off the ship just the two of them for an ice cream and sight-seeing.

[celticd1]

If you saw the lady at grand turk you would have remembered. They were the size of melons in a small triange bikinni top. My son was staring and asked me if she was a robot!

 

My family kept running into the young girls like every day. I wanted to see their parents.

 

Yep, we saw her at Grand Turk. Was getting a LOT of attention but none of it complimentary. ;)

[MNKEITH]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Breeze in 8 days. Your review is helping me get in the mood - as if I really needed help with that!

[19cruiser59]

I did not see the girls twerking but most of my family did and they were very disturbed. My husband thought they may have been older girls from brazil. But when he saw them later he realized they were just American teenagers.

 

Did you see the lady at Grand Turk with the huge...in the skimpy thong bikinni?

She was also at Reggae beach and people were lining up to take pictures with her.

 

I guess i am officially 'Out of touch' as i have no idea what 'Twerking' is. But somehow i think that may be a good thing :rolleyes:

[nessz79]

Following along :D. We are on the Breeze on a Southern itinerary in March. Our boys are older than yours now (13 and 11), but we started cruising when the youngest was 4 and it's nice to reminisce!

[josieallen]

Great start.

 

 

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[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to the rest.