Cruise Review - Carnival Breeze Dec 6, Costa Maya-Cozumel

[freezerburn]

Hi all,  its been a few years since we cruised and a few things have changed so I jotted down everything I could think of.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Enjoy my review 🙂

 

2 days prior to the cruise, we took the Rapid Covid test from Walgreens.  We're vaccinated so that test is allowed.  Results were emailed to us about 3 hours after the test.  Take a printed copy, along with your passport and vaccine cards.

 

Onboarding went pretty smoothly.  We had no problems taking 5 cans of Coke onboard.  They aren't allowing plastic bottles so don't try.  Once aboard, we made our way to the room where our key cards were waiting in the mailbox.  More on the key cards later.  An interesting change is that before walking into the gangway, your face is scanned at one of several stations setup in a row.  It takes moments to do but your picture is stored for getting off the ship in ports and more importantly getting off after the cruise.  More on that later too.  Another awesome change is the safety briefing.  You no longer have to stand in massive groups outside the ship as it sails away.  Instead, you now report to your muster station (printed on your card) at anytime during the first few hours.  This ensures that only small groups form and the instructors are doing their drill over and over every few minutes.  The entire drill takes about 5 minutes and you're free to go.  They scan your key card so they know who's done it and who's trying to get out of it so don't try it. On a personal note, we just got back from spending time in Romania and it was a pleasant surprise to meet Alexa aboard, who hailed from one of the cities we visited.

 

Day 1 - at sea.  We familiarized ourselves with the ship.  Its pretty much the same as its always been.  The largest concentration of people was in the pool area on Lido.  That being said, the ship was limited to 70% capacity which meant there were always tables and no lines to serve at the buffet. Make a note to get the Carnival app before leaving your cell range because you need it to check-in at the "anytime dining".  We had the app so it wasn't a problem.  Wait times were usually less than 10 minutes and the the app would tell us our table was ready.  Note that if you want bottled water in your room, the best thing to do is call room service and ask for a package of water.  They will deliver a 12-pack of bottled water for around $5.  Its a bargain and convenient to have.  The water dispensed on Lido next to the ice was also excellent.

 

 

Day 2 - at sea.  Food and relaxation mostly.  We had sushi from the restaurant on deck 5.  It was excellent, as was the sake sangria.  Later on we had Guy's pulled pork and sides, also on deck 5.  It was very good, though I'd skip the bread and beef brisket next time.  The pulled pork, chicken, sausage, potato salad, and beans were pretty good.  Since we've been on a bunch of cruises before, we skipped pretty much all the shows in the main theater.

 

 

Day 3 - Costa Maya.  I hadn't been to this port in years and its changed from what i remembered.  This time around, we were only in port from 1pm-8pm or thereabouts. There were 2 other ships in port with us but the crowds were manageable.  We had done some research before cruising on what to do and decided to bypass the corralled area and make our way to the parking lot and rent a gas powered golf cart.  It ran us $60 for the entire day and gas was included.  They kept my drivers license, so keep that mind.  A couple ahead of us stopped on the road, turned back in a panicked look, and asked if they kept our license too. After hearing that we left ours with them, they seemed relieved.  The golf cart rental gives you a map of the area and there's a white patrol car with their logo driving around in case there are issues.  We pulled off to the side of the road at one point to review the map and 30 seconds later the white car had pulled alongside asking if we needed help or directions.  Big credit to them.  Their carts look a little run down but  worked perfectly, including the headlights.  We never had issues.   We drove all the way to the end of the mapped area before making our way back.  Stopped at a beach towards the end and got a couple's massage.  30 minutes cost the 2 of us $40.  I gave them $50 since it was a nice massage under the palm tree shade. We stayed there and had a margarita for around $6 before heading back to the main shopping area around Krazy Lobster.  We didn't buy much, except a blanket that we bargained down to $12 and some string bracelets for around $2 each.  Krazy Lobster gives a free margarita to golf cart renters but its just a tiny sample glass and there wasn't much alcohol in it.  Still, it was hot out there and free is free.  We had some nachos and guac.  I think the total was around $20, meh.  On the way back, we stopped at the lighthouse for some pictures and then stopped at a supermarket for some chili powder and hot sauces.  Returning the carts was a breeze.  We pulled right back to where we started and they immediately gave me my license and that was that.  We had paid in cash so there was no issue of credit card receipts or anything else.  We wandered thru the touristy areas but didn't find much we hadn't seen before in other ports.

 

 

Day 4 - Cozumel.  There were 2 other ships with us at our port, 2 ships at the next port over, and 2 more ships at the port by El Centro.  We decided here to hop a cab from Porta Maya to El Centro to stop off at a pharmacy and an ophthalmologist before wandering thru the back streets of El Centro.  We found Wet Wendy's pretty easily, thanks to ATT service working in Cozumel and Costa Maya.  2 tourists (us) were having a pina colada at around 9:40am that day.  It was glorious.  We wandered thru some other shops and found some trinkets that we later confirmed were much cheaper in El Centro than in the port shops.  We stopped by the supermarket La Mega just to look around and bought a couple of t-shirts.  The cashier asked why we had shopping bags because security was supposed to have stopped us at the entrance.  She asked if she could check the bags, we said sure and there were no other issues.  We paid with a Visa here.  After leaving La Mega, we decided to really walk off the beaten path and headed to Asador El Billy, which has great reviews online and is an outdoor grill/restaurant.  It's about 1.8 miles from El Centro so beware before embarking on this trek thru empty streets and neighborhoods.  I say its safe, nobody bothered us, except 1 dog that almost nipped us thru the gate.  Once there, we were rewarded with a delicious plate of chicken, pork, sausage, baked potato, onion, corn tortillas and beans.  The food was amazing.  The owner used to live in Houston, TX and said some tourists make their way to him but not many.  The entire meal, with 2 bottled drinks cost us around 500 pesos (or $25 USD).  We had converted cash to pesos before the cruise in case some places didn't take credit card.  After seeing that Google Maps said the ship was about 4 miles from Asador El Billy, we decided to find a cab.  We started walking along a busy street and stopped under a tree.  Looking back up the street at the red light, we saw a cab flashing his lights.  As soon as the light turned green, we waved at him and he pulled right over.  The cost back to the ship was $9.  He was an amazing guy, struggled to find work when covid shut down cruises.  We got back to the port, did a little shopping there and called it a day.

 

 

Day 5 - at sea.  This day was mostly uneventful.  We finally tried the rope course and water slide.  The crowds were sparse everywhere.  It was pleasant finding a table on Lido at anytime.  For dinner, we checked in via the app as usual but after 15 minutes there was still no notification so i walked over to the Sapphire dining room entrance to inquire what had happened.  I'm glad i did because their system had gone down and i was never going to get a notification.  I asked that they seat us with our usual waiter, Franklin, since he was amazing and they found us a spot.  The dining room was never full, which I really liked.  

Day 6 - off boarding.  It should be noted that by this point, our room key cards were both beginning to curl and peel.  It made getting into our rooms tricky since the card reader wouldn't pick them up. Somebody else in the elevator was speaking to her friend about the same issue.  Getting off is the standard fare.  If you have all your luggage, u can get off before those who left their luggage outside their stateroom door the night before.  Sadly, they don't deliver the alcohol you purchased to your staterooms anymore.  You have to pick it up in person from one of the dining rooms.  We didn't find prices to be more than $2-3 cheaper than our local Total Wine or Specs so we didn't buy anything and got spared that extra stop.  When you finally make it off the ship, things couldn't be any easier.  You walk up to one of the many facial recognition stations (the same ones from onboarding day), where your face is scanned and you are given the green light to keep walking right out the building.  Super easy and super fast.

 

 

Notes about the trip:
  - Covid numbers are way down in Cozumel and Costa Maya.
  - Tourist numbers are slowly going back up according to all the locals we spoke to.
  - All locals and workers wore masks 100% of the time.  Tourists wore them probably 60% of the time.
  - ATT cell service works in both cities.
  - Ship time was off by 1 hour from local time in Mexico.
  - Gold membership gets you 1 free bottle of water onboard, free pin from the photography area, and free alocoholic drink on the last day, after 5pm from any bar.
  - the Carnival app now shows you the pictures that have been taken of you.  The photographer will ask for your room number after taking the pictures and moments later they are available to see in the app.
  - our stateroom had a refrigerator that didn't cool and a remote control that stopped working.
  - the outdoor workout equipment next to the basketball court was kind of fun to use.
  - newspapers are no longer delivered to your room with the next day's schedule, its all in the app now
  - no belly flop or hairy chest contests (thankfully)
  - no more walls of printed pictures where you spend hours hunting for yours, they are all in the app

 

Cheers all!

 

[mcgore83]

Great review!  Thank you!

[grammybto7]

Some ships still have the walls of photos. We were on the Valor in November and the photos were all printed. Was on the Conquest before Covid and the Pictures were on the app....love that feature and wish all the ships had it.  I read where they were having issues with some of the sale/sign cards that had been in storage during the shutdown were pealing and they have new ones ordered. Glad you had a good cruise......we loved being back on a ship!!!

[Halo19]

Great review!  

 

Can you confirm the covid test from wWalgreens was the Rapid Diagnostic Test (ID NOW) and not the Rapid Antigen Test (Binax NOW)?  

[freezerburn]

Hi Halo19,  you are correct. I just looked at the page I printed from Walgreens email with my results and it says "Rapid Diagnostic Test".  They will want to see that when you first walk into the building.

[CruiseBro16]

Thank You for the review. The Breeze is my favorite ship and I can't wait to get back aboard. 

[CruiseKidHelp21]

I hate to ask this... but how strict are they about checking vaccination status at the Costa Maya/Cozumel ports? 

I'm traveling with a 7 year old, and I booked through a 3rd party so I had no clue he had to be vaccinated to get off at the ports. The vaccines just got approved for his age last month, and I just found out about him not being able to get off at ports yesterday whenever I got my vaccine exemption approval for him. I booked excursions for kayaking in Costa Maya & a submarine in Cozumel, and he's really excited... I feel terrible, especially because I could have had him fully vaccinated by our cruise if I had known. The excursions themselves don't care about vaccination status, it's literally just the cruise line holding us hostage on the ship.

I'm not sure if the excursions will let me cancel & get a refund or not, I'm going to try and get a refund so I can book bubble excursions... but if they don't, do you think I have any chance of making it off the ship with him if he has only had his first Pfizer shot? I am fully vaccinated.

Thanks.

Edited December 12, 2021 by CruiseKidHelp21

[freezerburn]

Hi CruiseKidHelp21,

I wish I had a definitive answer for you.  From my personal experience, getting off the ship was the same as it always has been.  You walk towards the ship's exit and the crew scans your card, they look down at their tablet to see a picture of you, and then wave you thru.  Nobody beyond that point ever asked to see anything.  I never saw anybody holding a vaccine card on land and none of the shops had capacity limits or signage asking to see a vaccine card.  Coming back onto the ship, local security at the pier asked to see the sign & sail card, but not photo id and they waved us thru.  At the ship's entrance, again we only scanned our sign & sail card like always and were waved thru the metal detectors.  I hope this information somehow helps.

[golfntob]

Absolutely amazing review so far and the menus are wonderful!  Any idea where to find a recent menu for a 5 or 7 day cruise?

[freezerburn]

4 hours ago, golfntob said:

Absolutely amazing review so far and the menus are wonderful!  Any idea where to find a recent menu for a 5 or 7 day cruise?

I think they're only in the app now.  I also saw them posted at the restaurant entrance but I didn't take pics of them. Sorry 😞

[peteandpris]

Great review, Thank you.

 

[Roses88]

On 12/12/2021 at 5:07 PM, CruiseKidHelp21 said:

I hate to ask this... but how strict are they about checking vaccination status at the Costa Maya/Cozumel ports? 

I'm traveling with a 7 year old, and I booked through a 3rd party so I had no clue he had to be vaccinated to get off at the ports. The vaccines just got approved for his age last month, and I just found out about him not being able to get off at ports yesterday whenever I got my vaccine exemption approval for him. I booked excursions for kayaking in Costa Maya & a submarine in Cozumel, and he's really excited... I feel terrible, especially because I could have had him fully vaccinated by our cruise if I had known. The excursions themselves don't care about vaccination status, it's literally just the cruise line holding us hostage on the ship.

I'm not sure if the excursions will let me cancel & get a refund or not, I'm going to try and get a refund so I can book bubble excursions... but if they don't, do you think I have any chance of making it off the ship with him if he has only had his first Pfizer shot? I am fully vaccinated.

Thanks.

Random question but how did you apply for his exemption? Did you do anything special or was it just by filling out the health assessment they said “no I do not have my vaccine”?? I’m terrified I’m missing something to apply for my 4 yr olds exemption