Willdra's Bodacious Carnival Breeze April 27-May 4 Cruise

[willdra]

4 hours ago, MEUB1112 said:

Following along, you have the best reviews.

 

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the feels! 😁

[stellarose]

thanks. we used an old gift card/ Wawa card for the safe so we can do the same for the light slot. 

[willdra]

4 hours ago, Jenn1974 said:

Your pictures are amazing.  Your review is fabulous too.  What camera are you using?

 

Thank you so much! I have a Canon Rebel T6 that I absolutely adore (except when I leave the whole battery unit at home). It was nice that I could get replacements fairly quickly tho. 😉

https://amzn.to/2IGEIUo

 

[willdra]

2 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Willdra, this is for you my friend! 😃  (hope this works). Groove for St. Jude

 

LOL, that was awesome, thanks!!!! Now I really need to take another cruise!!  

[willdra]

1st Sea Day

 

We woke up around 9ish to get ready for brunch. We so look forward to this first breakfast, it's a non-negotiable for reals. There wasn’t much of a line, which is normal for the first brunch. We stepped up to the desk fast, and Ilona was the hostess who showed us to our seat. Or she did her best to. She got lost lots of times. Lots. She kept apologizing, but I told her no worries. It was way too early to be angry about anything, and maybe we needed to take those extra steps. She said “yes make room for brownies”. Ok she totally gets me, now I really couldn't be mad at her. When we sat down, our server Alexander, said that he would send the bar waiter to get our drinks. We were redeeming our free drink coupons at the first brunch, since we are prone to bouts of forgetfulness as the cruise goes on. When the bar waiter came over, W tried to give him his food order. Apparently, we are prone to bouts of misunderstanding too. The bar waiter and I looked confused and he said “ No I’m here for your drinks”. We laughed, and I told Nyoman to forgive W since he hadn’t had coffee yet. W got it together after that, and ordered a Blue Moon and I ordered my blue margarita on the rocks no salt.

 

When it was really time to order food, W ordered the bagel breakfast with steak and eggs. I got the cheddar grits (heavy on the cheddar), chocolate pancakes, bacon, and a cheddar omelet. You can never have too much cheddar. It's in the bible. Right after the passage that says "Thou Shalt Let Thy Wife Shop As Much As She Pleases, and Thou Shalt Not Count, Nor Judge, Her Boxes of Black Shoes When She Returns.

[willdra]

Meanwhile, W got our coffee started, and suddenly all was right with the world. Birds were chirping, and I know I saw a unicorn, and a rainbow. Except they never brought us spoons, so we had to stir our coffee with our knives. I told W I felt like a barbarian, and he said there were worst things that we could be doing. Like picking our teeth or scratching with the fork. He was right. I continued to stir. While we were waiting for our food, W went to look for our dinner table since we didn’t go the first night. He came back a long time later, and stated that it was a table for 8. Ok den. Let’s see how that goes. It should be interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We ate slow since we really didn’t have an agenda yet. When we were done, we passed by 2373. Heru was cleaning it (of course) so W just dropped off his can of beer, and we kept it moving. We walked up to Serenity to check the stats, and it was crowded. It was overcast out, but there was a  breeze that felt great. Not too hot. We walked around twice and didn’t see anything. You already know our next move was to The Lanai, which is our backup destination. There were tons of seats out  there and we sat out for a while. I forgot to bring my Funtimes, so I went down to Guest Services to get another. It was crazy crowded down there, and I was glad that I didn’t have an emergency that needed handling. Actually, the whole Promenade area was low key jumpin. There were people milling around everywhere. I glanced at the FunTimes, and saw that the Lip Sync Battle was about to begin at 12:30. We went back to the cabin to get our stuff and went up to Deck 11. We basically had the same loveseat that we had for Sail Away. This might be our spot.

 

The Lipsync Battle was great. It was way better than the one on the Horizon Mediterranean Cruise. It took a minute to get contestants, but once they did, it was very entertaining. W even watched it with me this time. Just an FYI if you plan on auditioning, it helps to know the songs. In my experience they’ve played the same songs for the semi-finalists. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), Party in the USA, Play that Funky Music, and Black Or White. Learn 'em.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Around the time that they were getting down to the last eliminations, W went up to go see if Serenity was any better. He didn’t come right back, so I figured he’d gotten lucky. Not that kinda lucky. I meant, "with a clamshell lucky". I walked up shortly thereafter to check on him, and yes he found us a spot for the day. #Tenacity

 

 

 

 

I think all of the years W spent in the Army helped him to be able to sleep anywhere. He was literally out 5 seconds after I sat down. He earned it by stalking Serenity, so I tried not to wake him, while I made some notes for this review. Eventually W got up, looked at his phone, then proclaimed that it was lunch time. I decided to eat around 3 because I totes overdid it the day before. Shame was my middle name. That day I would do better. The way my body is setup (my beach body is on back order), I can’t eat anything unnecessary or my clothes will be cutting off my circulation by Wednesday. There was no wiggle room.  None. Zero. Zilch.

 

Almost right as I finished that thought, W came back to our spot with a plate of Guys Pig and Anchor for himself. And one for me. I swear this man’s love language is food. Every time I say I’m not eating or overindulging, he must only hear clicks and gurgles while I’m speaking, cuz he definitely doesn’t hear what I am saying. Welp, due to the fact that he went thru all the trouble of getting me food (he just walked down and asked for it), and due to my adoration of collard greens and food in general, I accepted the plate and dug in. There's something about food that you don’t have to do anything for, that makes it taste better. Lazy living gives me life.

 

[willdra]

When lunch was done, we laid out for a few hours and W even got in the hot tub. At around 4:30, I figured I could still take a decent nap before dinner. We packed up quickly, and went back to 2373. W and I were extra tired again (from just being on vacation), and it didn’t take long for us to knock out. W got up before me tho, cuz he wanted to iron his shirt a little. He was actually showered and partially ready before I woke up. Amazingly, I wasn’t wearing my earplugs, and I still didn’t hear a thing. I got up and got ready at around 7:15.  It didn’t take but a few minutes for me to wash the stench off and get dressed. You wouldn’t think it, but sitting out all day has us smelling like a monkey cage. Ick.

 

Since I was early for a change (W didn’t sigh heavily or roll his eyes once, that I know of) we took a couple of pictures in the cabin before we left.

 

 

 

[willdra]

We were seriously early too, cuz they weren’t even letting folks in when we got there. We waited on the stairs a few minutes before they opened the door. We thought we were gonna need help finding the table (yes I know W checked it earlier, that’s another story for another time) but we found it on our own. As soon as we sat down, the gentleman to my left for real said “where were you last night?” I was startled a little, I must admit, and I don't easily startle. I laughed, and told him we were at the Cucina. To that, he replied “ok but promise you will be here every night”. Huh? Are you my cruise daddy??? Boy Bye. I didn’t want no smoke with this very mature man, since we would be sitting with them every night, so I smiled and agreed.  After that, we met the other table mates, and we hit it off immediately. It’s always fun when everyone talks more than W and I. He is extremely introverted and I’m about 50/50 so sometimes conversing with us is unnecessarily hard work. Our servers were Samson, Magiting, and Hazel. More on them later. 

 

I didn’t even really get good pictures of the menu, cuz we were all cutting up. Dinner was lightning fast which was a good thing. I can only hold my stomach in for so long. #Waiting To Exhale

 

I had Shrimp Cocktail, Lobster, and the Malted Chocolate Hazelnut Cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After dinner, W and I went back to change, then we went to listen to Motown Sounds in the Ocean Plaza. The band was good, and we stayed for the whole set. Even tho they were playing Motown Music there were some ladies who kept doing a line dance, that kinda sorta looked country. I thought it was cute, and I enjoyed watching them having fun. It's your cruise too, do you Boo. There were other couples sprinkled in here and there as well. When the band was done, we went down to wait for the Comedy Show that started at 11. We sat at the Piano Bar for a few minutes then W went to the seating in the Limelight Lounge. By the time he got in, there were really no seats left. It was standing room only. The comedian was the same one from the night before, and I didn’t want to stand up to watch him. He was good, but not stand up in the back looking remedial, good.

 

The shops and stuff were still open and there was music playing in the Lobby. We walked through there, and did some window shopping. I found a couple of things that I wanted to purchase to take home. Since there was no one at Guest Services at that time, we went there next to add our gift cards to our Sail and Sign account. Collecting Carnival Gift Cards throughout the year really helps us to cut down on our cruise bill. I'm also not mad at those fuel points that we get at Kroger for buying the Gift Cards there. My fam knows to give me Carnival Gift Cards for every occasion from birthdays, to Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and even Arbor Day!

 

At the conclusion of our trip to Guest Services, we strolled around a little before going up to get water for my tea. On the way, I gave myself a pep talk to not go nuts if there was food on the Lido. That talk must’ve been in another language that I don’t speak, cuz as soon as I saw food, I lost it. Like I'd never eaten in my whole life y'all. I got tons of pizza and chocolate ice cream. I was out of control.

 

Before I fell asleep, I said a prayer thanking God in advance for cauliflower, broccoli, and kale. I will have to consume mass quantities of that stuff, to lose this cruise weight, when I got back to GA. I also asked God, if it wasn’t too much trouble, to make the veggies taste like the Hazelnut Cake that I had at dinner. Please and Thank You.

[Jerseygirl1416]

I’m loving your review. You’re soooo funny!!! Thanks for the laughs😊

[willdra]

11 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

I’m loving your review. You’re soooo funny!!! Thanks for the laughs😊

 

I really appreciate this!! 😁

[purplephenom]

I'm only thru your parking competition and I'm literally LOLing at my desk.  I think i'll save this to read at home tonight.  I'm so excited to read more!

[JnK]

Following...I love reading your reviews.  DH & I are cruising on the Breeze in 2020, but from Ft Lauderdale. I love all pictures thus far & looking forward to the rest of your review!

[MzShae]

Right after the passage that says "Thou Shalt Let Thy Wife Shop As Much As She Pleases, and Thou Shalt Not Count, Nor Judge, Her Boxes of Black Shoes When She Returns. THIS! LOL! This is me all day!!!

[patrice1]

Not only are you a fantastic writer, but you look amazing! You and your husband are such a handsome couple. Enjoying the read.

[pghsteelerfan]

19 hours ago, willdra said:

 

Thank you so much! I have a Canon Rebel T6 that I absolutely adore (except when I leave the whole battery unit at home). It was nice that I could get replacements fairly quickly tho. 😉

https://amzn.to/2IGEIUo

 

That's what you're using?!?!  Awesome!!!  I JUST got one a few months ago, so I am very happy to hear this.  I forgot to mention, I just love your pictures, from ALL your reviews I've read.  🙂

[Ideb]

I'm enjoying reading your latest review. Love your formal night dress and pictures. You look great.  Like you, I found myself wanting to be good and not eat all the time on my cruise but with food everywhere and such a short time to try it all, what do you do?  Thank you for taking the time to write this wonderful review 🙂 

[willdra]

8 hours ago, purplephenom said:

I'm only thru your parking competition and I'm literally LOLing at my desk.  I think i'll save this to read at home tonight.  I'm so excited to read more!

 

Thank you! 😆

[willdra]

8 hours ago, JnK said:

Following...I love reading your reviews.  DH & I are cruising on the Breeze in 2020, but from Ft Lauderdale. I love all pictures thus far & looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Thank you so much 😊 

[willdra]

4 hours ago, patrice1 said:

Not only are you a fantastic writer, but you look amazing! You and your husband are such a handsome couple. Enjoying the read.

 

This is so sweet!! Thank you 😊!!

[willdra]

4 hours ago, pghsteelerfan said:

That's what you're using?!?!  Awesome!!!  I JUST got one a few months ago, so I am very happy to hear this.  I forgot to mention, I just love your pictures, from ALL your reviews I've read.  🙂

 

Thank you! It’s a great camera, and I’m so glad that I chose that one as my first “grown up” camera. 🙃