Detail review: Carnival Breeze with a toddler

[Tjcalley]

We just got back today from our 7 day Eastern Carribbean Cruise on the Carnival Breeze May 18-25

About us: I have been cruising since I was a little kid and this is my husbands 4th cruise, 3 with Carnival and 1 with Royal. We were married on the Carnival Magic in May 2017. We went on the Magic again in 2018 and I went on the Liberty in 2018 as well for a girls cruise. Our son who is now 3 1/2 has been on 4 cruises. Two with the Magic, Breeze and 1 Royal Caribbean this past January with just me. We really enjoy cruising! I am hoping to include a lot of pictures in this review if I can figure it out. Let me know if you can’t see them!

 

[Mr and Mrs C]

I can see your pic, looking forward to your review!

 

[hotsauce126]

I was on this too! 

[Tjcalley]

We booked this cruise right after we got off the Magic last April. Our cruise countdown had begun and a little over a year was a LONG time to wait! When we booked the Magic last year it was last minute so there was only about a 60 day wait. 

 

My husband and I are both in our 30s and our son is 3 1/2. 

 

We joined a group online for our sailing which made the time go by faster. Someone from the group posted a daily countdown and the group was very active especially the last 30 days or so. 

My mom and stepdad originally booked this trip with us but at the final payment date decided to cancel. My mom decided she wanted to move and thought the stress of the move would be to much with an upcoming cruise. In the end they regretted not coming. While we were upset they changed their minds we were somewhat relieved. My mom and stepdad like to eat in the MDR every night with no exceptions. My husband and I wanted a little more leeway this time around. 

 

My in-laws decided to join us along with their two friends. My in-laws sailed the Breeze this past October and loved it.

 

The week leading up to the cruise was very hectic for us. My Sister decided to schedule a back surgery and my brother flew in the week before with my niece. The time we would normally spend packing and doing last minute shopping was spent visiting with my brother and sister. Every night after work we would pack a little and clean a little. I would make trips to the store before work for little odds and ends that we needed. 

 

Throughout the year I purchased AARP gift cards and random cruise cash to use onboard. This year we also prepaid all our gratuities and made sure to bring singles for tips! We don’t drink or gamble so we didn’t need to bring to much cash with us. It felt nice going onboard and not seeing the bills add up!

[Tjcalley]

4 hours ago, Mr and Mrs C said:

I can see your pic, looking forward to your review!

 

Thank you! I don’t know why I find posting here so complicated sometimes 😂

[Tjcalley]

3 hours ago, hotsauce126 said:

I was on this too! 

How did you like it!

[Tjcalley]

Embarkation 

 

We live in Melbourne, Fl which is about 40 minutes to Port Canaveral. My mom let us park our car at her house beachside and they dropped us off at the Port. We had a check in time of 11:30-12:00. We pulled right into the Port and dropped off our luggage with the porter. Walked over to the arrival lines and headed inside. There was a bit of a wait but nothing to bad. Once they checked our passports and boarding tickets we were on the boat! From drop off to getting on the ship was maybe 20 minutes.

 

interesting side note: my in-laws friends that were traveling with us tried using an expired passport to board (expired 5 days ago). They of course denied boarding. His wife drove home to get his birth certificate and ended up not finding it. They allowed him to board with the expired passport, drivers license and concealed weapons permit. He did have to do some type of special debarkation though and I’m not sure how it ended up. Always check your passport expiration date before the day of! 

[Tjcalley]

*I ended up not buying this picture *

 

for us getting onboard with a toddler is easiest with a stroller. He is to easily distracted and walks way to slow. Also it is nice since you can hang your bags off the handles. 

 

We had been hyping up this cruise for the last year so our DS was extremely excited. He had his own Paw Patrol suitcase and Pirate backpack. We tried to limit the toys and books that we bring since the rooms are so small. We allowed him to bring a few action figures, crayons, coloring book and a paw patrol book set with a tablet that reads them. He mostly read those books and didn’t play with any of the toys. 

We also loaded up on his favorite snacks. Goldfish crackers, animal crackers, fruit snacks and Pringle’s. These were a life saver for when we went to different ports, the pool and just snacks before dinner or lunch. 

 

Another life saver for us was his swimming vest water wing combo. It is less bulky than those vests they offer on the ship and we took it off when going to different ports when swimming was involved 

 

Next stop the LIDO BUFFET!

[Tjcalley]

Our favorite thing to do is eat and that is why we love cruising so much. I watch what I eat all year long just so I can indulge all I want on the cruise.

 

We normally like to eat at Cucina in embarkation day since no one is usually up there but we made reservations for the first night there so Lido it is!

 

as expected is was extremely crowded but we were able to find a seat right away. I’m not sure how I feel about the set up of the Buffett area seating on the Breeze. While it is pretty to look at it seemed a little disjointed to us. 

 

The buffet had the usual stuff you find for lunch so we decided on our favorite Guys Burgers! We don’t eat red meat normally so these burgers are always a treat for us. My son of course wanted ice cream for lunch! We always like the lunch meat and cheese selection for our kiddo!

We hung out at the lido for a little while and then decided to roam the ship and look for my in-laws. You can usually always find them in the Casino.

 

By the time we found them and chatted for a few it was time to go to our rooms. It was just a little before 1:30 and the doors were open and people were going into their rooms.

 

[Tjcalley]

We enjoy getting the Deluxe Ocean View room on deck 1 since it has a window and two bathrooms (one toilet) and a bathtub. When cruising with a toddler that bathtub is a godsend. We also like that the room size is the same  as a balcony room. 

 

Our room keys were in the mailbox in an envelope when we got there. The couch was not made into a bed though for our son. We figured we could let the steward know next time we see him. We had ordered a 12 pack of water online and that was in the cabin when we got there. 

 

Our room was ICE COLD and that seemed to be a theme on this ship. For some reason I didn’t pack a sweatshirt and had to buy one in Puerto Rico. 

 

Since our luggage wasn’t here we decided to explore the ship some more and sign up our son for the Suess Breakfast and kids club 

[Tjcalley]

We always love waking around Deck 5 by the Ocean Plaza. This ship has chess and checkers which was a nice addition. The corn hole was a lot of fun to by the Red Frog! The picture of the cage is from the liquid night club 🤣

 

After exploring more we went back to the room to see relax and check on our luggage. It wasn’t there yet but within the hour it arrived. We unpacked our packing cubes and hung up our dress clothes and by that time is was time to go to the Muster Drill. We were in the conference room on Deck 4 (C4). It went surprisingly fast! 

 

After muster we walked around some more and then it was time for dinner. We had a reservation for Cucina at 5:30. 

 

It was soooo good! 

 

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the food. I had mamas meatballs for the appetizer and then a Veal pasta dish. My son had the macaroni and cheese off the kids menu and it was soooo good. Everyone at the table was eating it. We had an uneventful dessert since i cannot even remember what it was. 

 

We walked around for a bit more and then decided to head to bed! Check out the sunset !

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review.  Your son is very cute.

[Carolina Girl 99]

Nice start and your kiddo is adorable! I'll be following along as we sail on Breeze in Sept to Bermuda and Grand Turk - First time Carnival cruiser here

[1metfan]

Great job on the review so far. Man those Guys Burgers were darn good!

[Tjcalley]

8 hours ago, cincicruisers said:

Enjoying your review.  Your son is very cute.

Thank you!

[Tjcalley]

8 hours ago, fyree39 said:

I have to say, that little nugget of yours is absolutely adorable! I'm really enjoying your review.  We were on the Breeze a few years ago and really enjoyed the ship.

Thank you! We did too!

[Tjcalley]

6 hours ago, Carolina Girl 99 said:

Nice start and your kiddo is adorable! I'll be following along as we sail on Breeze in Sept to Bermuda and Grand Turk - First time Carnival cruiser here

Thank you! You are going to have so much fun!

[Tjcalley]

4 hours ago, 1metfan said:

Great job on the review so far. Man those Guys Burgers were darn good!

I could eat them every day!

[stosto52]

Great review so far... we are traveling with our 4.5 and almost 3 year old in August.  Any thoughts on the Kids Club?

[Tjcalley]

1 hour ago, stosto52 said:

Great review so far... we are traveling with our 4.5 and almost 3 year old in August.  Any thoughts on the Kids Club?

The last few cruises we went on he hated the kids club. This time we hyped it up a lot and he never wanted to leave! He ate lunch and dinner with them a few days. He really enjoyed himself and they were so sweet to him 

[kyleg2949]

Following

[stosto52]

22 hours ago, Tjcalley said:

The last few cruises we went on he hated the kids club. This time we hyped it up a lot and he never wanted to leave! He ate lunch and dinner with them a few days. He really enjoyed himself and they were so sweet to him 

Awesome... my oldest loved the Kids Club on the Oasis last year.  My youngest went to the nursery and did not enjoy it as much.  I am hoping they both enjoy it this time.

[Tjcalley]

Day 2 First Sea Day:

 

I’m an early riser normally even on the weekends so I was up at 5. I decided to go running before it got hot out and used the track on deck 12. I use an app, couch to 5k and that worked with the social media plan that I had purchased. 

 

I love being out and about on the ship this early since there is barely anyone around. After my run I grabbed some coffee and went back to the room. We thought we put the room service thing out but my husband put it in the mailbox for some reason so they never saw it.

 

By this time my husband and son were up so we got ready and went to breakfast at the buffet. I don’t normally buy any type of sugary cereal and I only allow it on cruises so my son was in heaven eating fruit loops! We like to get to the buffet early because if not it gets crowded quick!

 

after breakfast we got ready to go swimming and it started looking a little overcast. My little guy made it in the pool a whole 20 minutes before saying he was to cold. We went back to the room to change and by then it started raining and I don’t think it ever stopped the rest of the day!

 

We ended up dropping our son off at kids camp and explored the ship some more.

 

I forgot to mention that they gave us two sail and sign cards for my son and one for me and nothing for my husband. We had to go to guest service for that after the mister drill. The lines were crazy! People were just walking up to the desk as if they didn’t see the long line of people waiting. Fast forward to the next day and I check my account and notice there was a $100 (forgot exact amount) bar charge on our sail and sign card. My husband and I don’t drink and we weren’t even on the ship when the charge was put on so off we go again to guest services. They took care of the charge but told us they would need to open an investigation. 

 

Tonight was elegant night and my in-laws said they would dress up with us for pictures. I use these pictures as our family pictures for the year instead of going to a photographer. In our past cruises the photographers were always great, this year not so much but we did get some good shots. 

 

We had early dining in the Blush dining room but our in laws never requested to change their singing time from anytime dining. We went to the dining room before they opened and allowed us to sit with them. The food was good as usual for elegant night. My husband ordered 2 of everything and we had to roll him out of the dining room! Service was great as well.

 

We made it to a Motown show I believe (unless I’m confusing my days) and we stayed for a short time before our son got cranky. After that we turned in for the night. 

 

Next stop Amber Cove! We were keeping are fingers crossed for some sunshine!

[Tjcalley]

I forgot to mention we also checked out the Thrill Theater on deck 4 since it was raining all day. We paid $5.00 each and the crew member told us if we decided to get the unlimited package they would refund the $5.00 and just charge for the unlimited. 

 

We went to the fun for everyone show and it was a lot of fun! They played 3 short movies and it was like a movie theater type setting. The seats moved A LOT. Like if you have back problems you should probably avoid this. They give you 3D glasses to wear and also you get “splashed” and air blown onto you. 

 

We ended up never getting the chance to come back to this. We were going to bring our son but the time always conflicted with something we were doing 

[tinkr2]

fun reveiw