Knocked one off the bucket list: Cruisin' at Christmas - A Breeze review

[JaniceB]

It seemed normal - all 3 of the excursion times for our particular tour got on a tender to the mainland with other tour groups mixed in and then once at the pier, we were to all find our respective excursion hosts holding signs with the names of our tours. Once all of the 9:30am departures were present, we departed from the mainland in a water taxi to Caye Caulker. The 9:30 departure time turned into 10:30 by the time everyone arrived, so we were an hour late leaving and an hour late getting back.

 

It was much more disorganized and stressful than the last Belize excursion we took, which took us straight from the ship to Bannister island without having to tender to the mainland.

 

Thanks, I was hoping this one did leave right from the boat.

[banzaitrey]

Great review!

[WeatherGeek]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I hope y'all had a great weekend!

 

After the BAB workshop, we dropped our kiddo off at the Lido Deck with Camp Ocean for dinner and then headed down to our own meal in the Sapphire. One thing I noticed about YTD is that since we like to eat early, we usually arrived between 5:45 and 6:10 and the dining room was fairly empty, but within 10 more minutes, it's as if there's an influx of people and it'd rapidly fill up and go on a wait. Each night we left between 7 and 7:15 and they'd be dispensing pagers to folks showing up to eat since there weren't any open seating left.

 

After dinner, we'd been dying to have a drink and play a game of Pokemon cards (I TOLD y'all we're a little nerdy!), so we did just that. My one and only mixed drink of the trip, a Miami Vice.

 

 

I'd drank the wine in the steakhouse on the 2nd night, plus we brought 2 bottles of wine we opened and took with us to dinner on 2 other nights, but this was it for me and alcohol on board. I also only gained 1.5 lbs on this trip and this is the first time I've really made an effort to cut way back on drinking. Since my average weight gain is 6+ pounds per cruise, I don't think this was a coincidence! I didn't even miss the drinking all that much....my sail & sign bill thanked me.

 

I believe this was the evening we then went and hung out in the hot tub on the serenity deck. We happened to enter the serenity deck on the starboard side and there was a party of 4 sitting in the hot tub and as we were getting in they were getting out, so we had it to ourselves for a bit before another couple came and reported the port side hot tub was filled to the gills, so we lucked out picking the other side. We chatted with them and some other folks that got in about our days in port. We stayed til we were so wrinkly we couldn't stand it.

 

We checked our daughter out of the kids club and headed back to the room to put our Christmas jammies back on. I'd been wanting a picture of us in our jammies by the big tree in the atrium, but when we'd tried the night before, there was a music trivia game going on and a lot of people dancing in front of it so there was no room. I was determined to keep trying until we succeeded, and tonight would be the night!

 

 

While there, they had stationary and a mailbox set up so the kids could write letters to Santa. We listened to the Polaris string trio while my daughter wrote a full page letter to him. Here's a snippet of what we listened to every day. They are playing Green Day's Holiday in this one.

 

 

Once the letter was written, Lido helped mail it.

 

 

We'd stayed up a little later than normal on this night, so it was then time to retire for the evening. We had no real plans for Costa Maya the following morning, but nonetheless, we still wanted to be rested up for it.

[WeatherGeek]

We docked in Costa Maya on day 6 - our final port day. Normally this would bum me out, but with Christmas Eve and Christmas being our last 2 sea days, the fun was really just beginning - and that says a lot considering we'd been having a blast up until now anyway. Not that we wouldn't have a blast in Costa Maya! It was not an exciting port day by any means - nothing like the excitement of the excursion we did in Belize - but it was my favorite beach day of the 3 beach days we did.

 

We were of course up early for breakfast and we were ready to head off the ship as soon as they made the announcement that we would go. No lines again to get off the ship - and we soon found out why. Thank goodness I'd packed a small, compact umbrella because we needed it! We felt the raindrops as soon as we stepped off the ship and they didn't let up until we were leaving the port. We knew the rain wouldn't last as we could see sun and blue sky all around, but it was definitely a morning with spotty showers.

 

We weaved our way through the port shop maze and bought tickets to the shuttle to town.

 

 

A short 5 or 6 minute ride was all it took before we hopped off and made our way to the walking path through town. This was our first time back to Costa Maya since our honeymoon in 2005 and the hurricane had happened since then - we were pleased to see that it had changed for the better after rebuilding, but still retained that small fishing village charm. I adore this port for the shops on one side and the beautiful beach on the other side.

 

We made a quick stop into a pharmacy for a bandaid - my daughter had gotten a boo-boo on her finger - and we grabbed one of our favorite things to drink, mexican coke out of a bottle. Not sure if it's the sugar or what, but it really is better than our coke bottled here in the US. Then we set off to find a quiet section of the beach to call our home for the morning. Along the way, we saw this cool bar with swings and dogs.

 

 

I'd made a mental note to come back later, but by the time we left, we were ready to just get back to the ship so unfortunately, we didn't. NEXT TIME!

 

We knew the farther south along the beachfront we walked, the less crowded it would be to start the morning off, so we'd walked quite a ways down and came to El Fuerte. We chose this place for literally no reason at all other than Juan, one of the beach attendants, wasn't as pushy about us using their beach as the other beach vendors were - they were relentless, but Juan wasn't and we value that!!

 

The view of the ship from the beach near the shuttle stop. You can see how it was still a bit rainy at this point, but it'd clear up before too much longer.

 

 

See?? Sun's out! I could really get used to this view on a daily basis.

 

 

We were then hammered by a string of beach vendors selling their goods, but a simple, polite "no thank you" would suffice. The wifi was free, the signal was strong, the drinks were huge and just $5, the bathrooms were clean, the massages were $25 for 30 minutes. My husband ordered a strawberry daiquiri and a pina colada. I stole sips of both and they were delicious. We just relaxed on the beach all morning, going back and forth from the water to the chair. Pretty soon, we noticed company was coming. It was the Dream!

 

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review and the nice photos.

[JaniceB]

Nice Christmas PJ photo!

[WeatherGeek]

Thanks y'all!!

 

The Dream ported sometime around noon it seemed. Within the hour, the beach started getting very crowded, which was our cue to head out. We hadn't eaten yet, so we opted to head back on board for lunch. We grabbed a taxi back to the port for $2 per person, looked in a couple of shops there, but ultimately we were hungry and ready to get back on board. We grabbed lunch on the Lido - tacos for me of course - then I headed to drop off a load of laundry and hit the gym.

 

The laundries were packed on this trip. Not sure because it was an 8-day or what (we are more used to 4 and 5 night itineraries for nearly 10 years now), but there was never not a line for a washer. Thankfully, I was the first in line for a washer once it was freed up and it only took about 10 minutes. I dropped my stuff in and headed up to get in 30 minutes on the elliptical and when I returned to put my clothes in the dryer, it had exactly 1 minute left - great timing! The line had also grown considerably longer and was now out the door - that meant people were literally standing there for 2 hours waiting for a washer. Insanity! I did send off a bag of laundry through my platinum perks earlier in the trip, but I had so many clothes and I didn't want a lot of them thrown in with that, so I opted to just do one large load myself. You can only use your S&S card for these machines.

 

My husband had taken my daughter up to the ropes course and I was trying to get up there to snap some photos of them for our memory book, but they'd already finished and left. She wasn't too keen on the experience, so they did one small portion of it and she said no more!

 

While I was up there, I got a picture of the Dream docked next to us. It was really cool to see it from this angle.

 

 

Soon, we all returned back to the room for some quiet time and napping. We all showered and got ready for dinner and decided my kiddo would join us on this evening since she'd been at the kids club dinner all week. She also brought her new pal Lido. We were seated on this night at table 157 with Christopher. He turned out to be so wonderful! He could see how attached my daughter was to her brand new bear, so he gave the bear a little treat. He made a bow out of a napkin and placed it on it's head, then pulled out another napkin and like magic created this little swan out of it and placed it on the table. My daughter watched in wonder and was giddy with glee that Christopher had done that for her bear.

 

 

There was no dedicated kids menu and she is a picky eater so every night she had chicken nuggets and mac & cheese, plus tried new foods off of our plates. I have to say the mac & cheese was very good, it's the same one offered as a side on the regular menu and has bacon and a mix of different cheeses.

 

Tonight was my favorite night at dinner for no reason other than bitter & blanc: my favorite Carnival dessert.

 

 

My husband inhaled his bitter & blanc because he wanted to get up to the dive-in movie and get a seat. Captain America: Civil War was playing and he's a big fan of the Marvel movies. I took our daughter back to the room to get on her swimsuit and join him.

 

 

I did not join them, but I did grab them some items off the lido buffet to snack on while they'd watched the movie. And then I saw it. Bitter & Blanc on the dessert buffet. I knew I was probably in trouble and it was the first time I really lost my desire to keep my eating in check - I happily served myself another plate of it! I had immediate regret in the form of a stomachache, but YOLO or something, right?

 

While they were at the movie, I browsed the shops and settled in at the atrium to listen to Polaris play and I stayed parked there for probably an hour/hour and a half or so. I then headed up a deck to purchase our embarkation and Christmas jammies photos. After purchasing 1 photo, you get a free code to get a customized luggage tag from Shutterfly and a reward card to bring back every time you make a future photo purchase.

 

While up there, I spied this adorable photo frame. Such a perfect frame to commemorate a beach day. I resisted buying it this time, but knew I'd probably be taking one home by the end of the cruise.

 

 

After the movie was over, we wandered the ship for a while, then headed back to the room to settle in for the night. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and we were so excited to see what the atmosphere would be like on the ship. Everyone was already so festive and in the Christmas spirit, we knew the next 2 days would be incredible.

[missholly24]

Hi, I love your review! My husband and I play cards and drink Miami vices by the pool with the kiddos at Camp Carnival as well. I thought we were the only ones! haha :p

[JaniceB]

Great poolside movie picture of your husband and daughter. She looks like she is really enjoying herself.

[suebee53]

You are an excellent writer, Tonya! I'm savoring your review having just gotten off the Breeze (my new favorite ship) 4 days ago.

 

During the safety drill on our Jan 1 sailing, I was chatting with one of the Entertainment staff about the previous two cruises. I said it was my understanding that holiday cruises can be brutal for the crew because so many of the passengers are grumpy people who don't want to be with family over the holidays so they bring their grumpiness on board with them. He said, "ABSOLUTELY TRUE! It was pretty bad! But we can already tell a difference with the passengers on this cruise."

 

Obviously, he didn't talk to YOU, with your sunny and grateful disposition!

[tdh8359]

Following, great job so far.

[Crusin Karen]

We are in drydock for the time being after being spoiled by YEARS of cruising

:( and sometimes you just need a cruise fix! I was fortunate to find your review and you have done the job for me! :) Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas time cruise and I look forward to reading the rest. First time I have ever seen the potato you had in the steakhouse! :eek:

[WeatherGeek]

You are an excellent writer, Tonya! I'm savoring your review having just gotten off the Breeze (my new favorite ship) 4 days ago.

 

During the safety drill on our Jan 1 sailing, I was chatting with one of the Entertainment staff about the previous two cruises. I said it was my understanding that holiday cruises can be brutal for the crew because so many of the passengers are grumpy people who don't want to be with family over the holidays so they bring their grumpiness on board with them. He said, "ABSOLUTELY TRUE! It was pretty bad! But we can already tell a difference with the passengers on this cruise."

 

Obviously, he didn't talk to YOU, with your sunny and grateful disposition!

 

Oh no, I hate to hear that those cruises are the hardest for them - especially when they're away from their own families :(

 

And thank you for your kind words, but believe me, I had my moments of high stress and crankiness! My daughter can be very frustrating at times with some of her behaviors relating to her autism, and it puts us all in high stress mode and we can get tense. Overall, we had a great cruising experience and didn't let that stuff get us down too much.

 

However, I do always make a conscious effort to be polite and respectful to the crew regardless of whatever is going on within my own family. For goodness sake, they work for months and months away from their families so I can have this great cruise experience with mine and that hit me especially hard during this cruise, knowing they were all away for the holidays. Sometimes I felt outright guilty that here I was having a wonderful time with my family but they don't get to do that. My husband has been deployed during the holidays before and I unfortunately know what it's like to go through the holidays with nothing but spotty wifi service connecting you to your family.

 

It did sadden me to see cruise guests occasionally treating the crew like garbage. From yelling at the guest services desk to yelling at the cruise director about the fog on the last day (more on that adventure later!) to just blatant disregard for them - one guy on an elevator even referred to them as "the help" in what came across as a derogatory way....I just try to be kind to all of them, especially on the holiday cruise, because whether they want to be there or not, they have to come across like they're there to make our holiday experience a memorable one.

[easyboy]

Oh no, I hate to hear that those cruises are the hardest for them - especially when they're away from their own families :(

 

However, I do always make a conscious effort to be polite and respectful to the crew regardless of whatever is going on within my own family. For goodness sake, they work for months and months away from their families so I can have this great cruise experience with mine and that hit me especially hard during this cruise, knowing they were all away for the holidays. Sometimes I felt outright guilty that here I was having a wonderful time with my family but they don't get to do that. My husband has been deployed during the holidays before and I unfortunately know what it's like to go through the holidays with nothing but spotty wifi service connecting you to your family.

 

It did sadden me to see cruise guests occasionally treating the crew like garbage. From yelling at the guest services desk to yelling at the cruise director about the fog on the last day (more on that adventure later!) to just blatant disregard for them - one guy on an elevator even referred to them as "the help" in what came across as a derogatory way....I just try to be kind to all of them, especially on the holiday cruise, because whether they want to be there or not, they have to come across like they're there to make our holiday experience a memorable one.

I am gladdened by your compassion. I have also witnessed similar situations and feel so sorry for the crew. It is sad on how some privileged few are treating those who are simply just striving.

[WeatherGeek]

On day 7, we awakened to Christmas Eve! Also, our first sea day after 4 port days and I wanted to have as relaxing of a day as possible. For me that doesn't mean spas, massages, lounging on the serenity deck getting a tan. Nope, for me that means playing our pokemon cards, playing trivia, working out, listening to Polaris, and of course eating!

 

We did wake up early to head up to the Lido for breakfast. We donned our Christmas jammies on this day for as long as we could stand before the heat and humidity forced us out of them - they are long sleeved with fleece bottoms after all. I was thrilled to see countless other families wearing their matching Christmas jammies as well! So festive!

 

After breakfast, we headed down to the Promenade deck to secure a table for trivia. By this point in the trip, we'd learned that if we didn't stake out a table early, we'd never get one. So we got there about 45 minutes before trivia started so we'd have time to nibble on a plate of 2nd breakfast (the Taste Bar area there always had a few items out at that time of day) and play a round of Pokemon cards. My husband was not very happy that my daughter's Articuno was beating up on his Moltres this morning.

 

 

I also want to say that if you ever do a Christmas cruise, buy some unique Santa hats at home and take them with you. We got compliments all week on our Disney themed hats, although only one person all week picked up on the fact that my daughter's hat was Stitch ears, not Eeyore or bunny ears.

 

We played a round of trivia and had to head back to the room to change. We knew we'd lose our coveted trivia table, but not a big deal - there was always the floor to sit on if we needed haha. My husband eventually headed back for Game of Thrones trivia, which he was very excited about because he happened to bring his shirt that says "I Drink and I Know Things" which is so perfect for him because if there's 2 things he loves, it's GOT and trivia. GOT trivia was right up his alley. While he was at this, I dropped my daughter off at the Ovation Theater where Camp Ocean was meeting for Towel Animal Theater. She said she liked it a lot.

 

My husband and I then did some wandering and some gambling, eventually ending up on the Lido for lunch, which we did sign my daughter out of camp for so she could join us. I enjoyed my last Guy's burger of the trip and then something happened that we got a huge laugh out of.

 

My husband and daughter elected to eat off of the buffet - my husband actually just got one plate and piled it with enough food for the 2 of them, but I was about halfway through my burger when my daughter decided she wanted her own dedicated plate of food - 8 year olds can be so particular about things sometimes! So she and I got up and I took her through the buffet line so she could get her own dedicated plate with the exact same food that was on her dad's plate, haha.

 

We headed back to the table and I saw my husband was gone to who knows where. Thankful that the table with my delicious half eaten burger had not yet been cleared now that no one was sitting at it, I sat back down to chow down. I had just pulled my chair out when a crew member, Luis, came running over slightly panicked and informed me I could NOT sit there, that the family who was sitting there was not done with their food.

 

A little confused, knowing it was my table and my burger, I quizzically looked at him and just said "huh?" He explained that I could not eat that burger because it was someone else's and "the man said he would be right back and to not let anyone take their food."

 

At that point it became clear that my husband had let Luis know that we weren't done eating and to please not clear the table while he went wherever (to get dessert it turned out). Luis was guarding our table with his life at this point - he was determined to not let me sit down and continue eating some random person's half eaten burger! The table right next to us immediately caught on to what was happening and all at once, we all erupted with laughter knowing Luis thought a random person was trying to eat someone's half eaten food. I explained to Luis that this was my table - I even showed him my daughter's beloved Lido bear and the picture that was still on the table that she'd colored while in Camp Ocean - and made sure he knew that was my burger and I'd never sit down to eat any random person's half eaten burger. Luis sheepishly grinned and finally we got a giggle out of him and he said "ok, yes, you may proceed!" He came back by a while later when we were done to clear our plates and we all had another laugh about it. He gave us a cheerful "Merry Christmas" and went on his way.

 

After lunch, I dropped my daughter back off to Camp Ocean and got dressed in my workout clothes. I did a lot of walking around the ship and outside on the Promenade deck that circles the ship. It was such a gorgeous day to be out there!

 

 

Unfortunately, it was too crowded to keep a good pace, so I headed up to the gym and did a little weight lifting, then finished walking on the treadmill. Really, not a bad view from the cardio machines up there - yes you're inside, but you're overlooking the beautiful clear blue sky and wide open sea.

 

 

I'd headed back to the room to relax for a while and catch a catnap and my husband had said he was going to play more trivia and then get our daughter from the kids club - this was the only day she spent long chunks of time in there and while she has a blast, I also know she needs breaks from the chaos. One day while I was waiting to check her out of there, I counted up all of the name tags for the Stingrays (the 6-8 age range) and I know I miscounted by a couple, but I ended up with 126 name tags - SO MANY KIDS registered for the club! On the sea days, Camp Ocean was pure chaos.

 

Unfortunately, our parental instincts were a bit off this time - she'd needed a break sooner than we went for her. I had just gotten out of the shower when they called me to come get her because she was having a meltdown that she could not recover from. We decided to pull her out of the club for the rest of the day - we'd planned to send her back for dinner, but didn't want to risk another meltdown on the heels of that one - so she came with us again to dinner. Of course, we loved having her, so it was no loss for us.

 

I think dinner on this night was prime rib, which if I'm not mistaken they normally have on formal nights - there was some confusion whether Christmas Eve or Christmas would be formal night due to misprints in the fun times, but Leigh, the cruise director, came over the intercom earlier in the day and said it would be cruise casual this night and formal on Christmas night.

 

We were delighted to be sat with Christopher again at the exact same table, #157, without even requesting him. He'd remembered us from the night before and of course he remembered Lido the bear. He was just as wonderful on this night as he had been the night before. My daughter was excited that we were in there late enough for showtime (most nights we were long gone by showtime since we eat so early) and she happily waved her napkin around and danced along with the staff.

 

 

This is Mr. Christopher - if you are on the Breeze and you get in his section, he will take excellent care of you!

 

[WeatherGeek]

After dinner, we headed straight to the atrium for Christmas caroling and Santa's arrival. I knew this was going to get packed fast, so we got there as early as possible after the last bite of food had been eaten to get a prime spot - and that we did! I don't like being in the middle of the giant crowd, but rather overlooking everyone and everything, so I was thrilled that this spot on the landing of the staircase between Deck 4 and Deck 5 was still open so we claimed it as our own and it was the perfect vantage point for everything!

 

 

The cruise director even spotted our hats at one point and said something about them and suddenly we realized everyone was looking at us! They also were passing out Santa hats that said Carnival on them as well as little jingle bell bracelets and caroling books.

 

There were tons of families in their matching Christmas pajamas sitting around the tree!

 

There was an ugly sweater contest!

 

There were what felt like 1000 of my closest cruising friends jam packed into that small area singing Christmas carols!

 

Then it was the moment all of the children on the ship had been waiting for - "SANTA! OH MY GOD!" That's a reference to the movie Elf for those who aren't aware ;)

 

This was honestly the most fun evening of the cruise. We had a great time at this event.

 

I'd spied one more great photo op for our Christmas jammies, so I made everyone go back to the room to change into them again and go back to the photo backdrop. There was a long line so I thought I'd go over to the guest services desk while we waited to take a moment to check on our reservation for the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast. I'd gone to guest services on embarkation day and they'd sent off an e-mail requesting the reservation and then said we'd get an invitation to it, but we never did. It turned out we were never placed on the list. How disappointing. But not to worry! They saw that the request had been sent immediately on embarkation day and that it was not our fault for the oversight, so they went ahead and allowed our names to be added to the confirmed reservation list rather than the wait list which was a mile long at that point. Thank you guest services! My daughter would be so excited to wake up on Christmas morning and be able to go to this awesomely themed breakfast.

 

We went back over and did the photo op, then headed up to the Lido Deck to settle in to watch The Secret Life of Pets at the Dive In Movie. Finding 3 seats together for this proved to be rather difficult even though we got there as soon as the prior movie ended to try to grab seats from those leaving. I was starting to get annoyed and was ready to just scrap the entire thing, when the stars aligned and a woman flagged me down and offered her and her husband's seats to us as they were done - she said she'd seen me struggling, so thank you kind lady! It wasn't 3 seats, but it was 2 and we'd take it. Not long after that, a 3rd seat opened right next to us so we all had our own seat and settled in to watch the movie, which for some reason started 25 minutes late. It's one of my daughter's favorites, so we stuck out the wait.

 

After the movie it was almost 11:30 and we had to get to bed - after all, we had to get to sleep so Santa could find our room and bring my daughter her gifts!

Edited January 12, 2017 by WeatherGeek

[JaniceB]

Can't wait to read about Christmas and special breakfast.

[JimAOk1945]

I am really enjoying your review and pictures. You excitement and happiness comes through every entry. We have gone on several Christmas cruises as you can see, and have had fantastic experiences on all of them.

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of you voyage.

[WeatherGeek]

Day 8, our final full day of the cruise, was Christmas day spent at sea. Probably due to the late movie and late bedtime, my daughter only woke up with the help of our alarm - we weren't about to miss the Dr. Seuss breakfast on this morning! She awakened to find that Santa found our room and even wrapped her gifts in wrapping paper from her favorite movie of the moment, Trolls. Santa had also raided the candy shop on board and brought her a "stocking" (that's what the bag is - something she decorated in the kids club) full of candy.

 

 

My daughter never asks Santa for much - this year it was emoji jeans and legos. She was over the moon that Santa brought those jeans. Santa also brought the legos, but she was most looking forward to the jeans.

 

 

I'm pretty sure this may be her last year for Santa. The jig was up when she said "Awww thank you mommy! I love my emoji jeans!" I told her Santa brought them. She said "No mommy, you're Santa."

 

Well. This took a turn for the awkward.

 

Having been awake for all of 5 minutes, I was not coherent enough to muddle my way through that one, as unexpectedly as it'd come. It's probably my own fault, because I know she's going to be my innocent little girl forever and ever, right?!

 

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Green Eggs and Ham brunch. At $5 per person this is a great value! I highly recommend it but make sure you get that reservation in on embarkation day and stay on top of it to make sure you're on the confirmed list!

 

The fun started outside of the dining room where some photo ops were set up, but when you walk in, it's just so well decorated. Very fun and festive!

 

 

 

[WeatherGeek]

Breakfast is not a meal I generally eat much of. I'm usually good with a protein bar or a piece of fruit, so this breakfast was food overload for me. I do like breakfast foods, I just prefer to eat them for dinner....you know, brinner!

 

I ordered the french toast.

 

 

My daughter ordered the pancakes. We'd decided we'd each eat half of our meal and switch so we could both have pancakes and french toast.

 

 

We ordered a plate of green eggs and ham for the table to share, and by share I mean for my husband and daughter to try a few bites because I don't eat eggs and I don't eat ham! I definitely do not like them Sam I Am. I've tried them before and I said no more for I do not like eggs and I do not like ham so I do certainly do not like green eggs and ham, no sir I do not like them Sam I Am.

 

OK OK I'll stop.

 

 

My husband ordered a less festive breakfast, but it was certainly filling.

 

 

What's a meal on a cruise ship without dessert?

 

[WeatherGeek]

I can't say enough good things about this breakfast. Hands down the best, most fun Christmas breakfast I've ever had! They brought a few characters out - Thing 1 and Thing 2, The Cat in the Hat, Sam I Am and of course he had a prop-platter of green eggs and ham, and also the Grinch - they told us the Grinch only comes out for the sailings in December, so what a treat!

 

 

We got that cute picture frame to go with that picture - it was just $4 in the Pixels Gallery! What a steal.

 

They entertained us with a song of course.

 

We were so reluctant to leave, but it was eventually time. We went to go play a game of morning trivia, then we headed back to the room to change. There'd be a digital scavenger hunt at 10:45 and we didn't want to miss it. We didn't come anywhere near the winning spots for that, but it was a lot of fun trying to get people to cooperate for your photo - I guess the stress of Christmas with family was getting to some people, because I asked a huge group of people - probably 8-10 of them - all waiting in line for something if any of the guys would be willing to hold up my swimsuit top and let me take a photo of him with it and they all looked soooooo mad, like how dare I have the nerve! I wasn't asking them to wear it! Some nice lady voluntold her husband to do it and before he even knew what was happening, he had my tankini top and was demoing it for a picture. We had a lot of fun doing this scavenger hunt and it really makes you get out and see different parts of the ship.

 

After that, we dropped my daughter off at the kids club. With the huge breakfast she'd had, she wasn't hungry for lunch, so we let her stay through lunch. Not long after we dropped her off, we went to grab our own lunch and then I saw it:

 

 

Chocolate for as far as the eye could see on the buffet. I'm pretty sure on this day that my lunch was chocolate and my dessert was the 2 tacos I got from the Blue Iguana Cantina before I realized it was the Chocolate Extravaganza on the forward buffet lines.

 

 

 

 

I did show considerable restraint after the much larger than normal breakfast I'd had, but at some point I realized I was just eating because it tasted good, I wasn't hungry at all....and I was totally fine with that and kept eating haha!

 

I think there was one more trivia game we played after this before all kids had to be signed out of the kids club to get ready for the holiday show in the Ovation theater.

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review and cute photos

[Coralsea4me]

I'm loving this positive upbeat review with your great pictures and adorable family! Thank you to your husband for his service and thank you for taking the time to write this!

[WeatherGeek]

I'm glad y'all are enjoying the review! Sadly, it'll be coming to an end soon since we've got less than 24 hours to go on the ship at the point where I last left off.

 

 

We headed to the Ovation theater around 2:30pm for the 3:00pm holiday show. The kids had been practicing all week in Camp Ocean to sing a song during it and we wanted a halfway decent seat for it, but more importantly, we needed to be able to get to the stage quickly if my daughter went into a meltdown while participating. She'd been having an OK day at that point so we let her do it, but we always need to be nearby just in case.

 

The holiday show opened with cruise director Leigh talking about the importance of a particular Carnival Breeze holiday ornament. Of course he was setting the stage for the Grinch to sneak out and steal the ornament straight out of his hand!

 

 

So of course, we had to show the Grinch what the holidays were really about so he would return the ornament. The production show singers and dancers came out and did a couple of numbers, Leigh read a story by the fireplace, the kids all got up on the stage and sang their various songs.

 

 

The Grinch realized that maybe Christmas did mean a little more after all and his heart grew 3 sizes and he returned the ornament to Leigh.

 

 

After that, we got ready for dinner early so we could get our elegant night photos done. My daughter was ecstatic it was her turn to come to elegant night because she'd brought a formal dress for her stuffed bunny as well - if you're familiar with the movie Frozen, you'll recognize the bunny's dress.

 

 

Around 5, we headed to the Promenade Deck to get our family portrait done.

 

 

We then wandered down to the atrium where we were going to see about getting another photo done, but the line for dinner was already wrapping around toward the elevators and it was only 5:15 at this point! We went ahead and got in the line and opted to do one more photo after dinner.