Just off the Breeze...Some Random Observations and Thoughts.

[Badfinger]

Just off a Breeze 5-day that stopped at Cozumel and Progresso.  My 8th cruise.  Last 5 on the Breeze.  4000+ passengers on board. Spa Balcony Deck 12

 

Lido/Continental at Breakfast:

- No small boxes of cereal on the two days I checked.  Cereal in MDR.  Weird.

- Cottage Cheese disappeared after day 1

- No chocolate mini muffins.

- Saw bacon only on one day of the two I checked.  Available in Sea Day / MDR all days.

 

Italian Restaurant

- No menu changes.  Lasagna good as ever.  But only open three times...lunch on embarkation day and two sea days.  Crowd seemed to discover it by the second sea day.

 

Lunch on Lido:

-  Very long lines at Mongolian, Deli and Guys.  Guys moved fast.  The other two...no so much.

-  In general lido lunch buffet was just blah.  Maybe just too familiar to me.

 

Sea Day Brunch:

- Menu seemed a bit smaller. 

- The Salmon Salad is OUTSTANDING!

-  By observation, the Skillet Cake must be horrible.  The three people seated with us at our table took one bite and that was it.

- Parfait made me feel I was eating healthy..needed more yogurt though.

 

MDR Breakfast on Port Days and last day:

- Smoked Salmon w/bagel..A+

- Broken Egg Sandwich was very good...but the panini bread crust makes for a tough eat..worth it!

- Avocado Toast was very good...but nobody seemed to order it.

 

Pizza, Anchor BBQ, Seafood Shack, BlueIguana: 

- Did not try.  Really wanted to try the $5 clam chowder, but just ran out of time.

 

Guys:

- Same old same old.  Good of course.  Did not eat the fries...because I don't eat fries.

 

Evening MDR

- Again for me the grilled salmon was the best item.

- Melting Cake.  Good grief..first night it was overcooked by 5 minutes..no melting at all.  Second night..pretty runny.  Third night..back to overcooked.  I guess I struck out.

- Baked Alaska was hugely different than what I remember.  Very good. Huge improvement!

- No Lobster...or pork chops!

-  Reports that all the steaks were pretty good.  

- I surprised myself and ordered the bean enchiladas the final night.  Flavor was great.  Filling was a bit light in volume.  Cheese on top was overwhelming. Give them a try.

- The mushroom and roasted broccoli soups were very good.

-  Striped bass and grilled tilapia surprised to the upside.  And I am not a tilapia fan at all.

- Lasagna Bolegnese (sp?) was just awful.  No..beyond awful.

 

Comedians:

- Saw some guy named Alex Elkin.  Very course and vulgar.  At times made me laugh really hard.  But I felt bad about it!

 

Shows:

- We killed some time watching Deal no Deal in the theatre.  Lady won the big prize.  Good for her.  But it seemed she was going to win all along.  Not implying anything.

-  Flick.  Saw it before.  Took a pass.

- Some passenger doing Karaoke brought down the house.  I guess she was good.  Not my style of music though.

 

Embarkation (12:00-12:30):

 - I carried on a small cuticle scissors and very small 1.5" blade pocket knife.  They took it.  Bummed.  I should have read the rules!

- Lines moved along just fine.  There was a boarding pass check about 50 yards before entering the terminal which gave the appearance of huge slow line.

- We immediately went to the Italian restaurant to dine with about 8 other people total.  Our tradition. So relaxing.

- Room keys ready at 1:30 as advertised.  Luggage arrived about 3:30 or so.

- Muster was just checking in at your muster station location and watching a 3 minute live life jacket presentation.

 

Debarkation:

- Could have been worst ever. Seems to be a lot of first time cruisers and the glass elevator lobbies on decks 4-6 were packed with people and suitcases by 0730, well before any announcements.  Had a very hard time making our way through that mass back to the Casino.  Cluelessness and Ignorance ruled the lobbies. We had checked luggage zone 12 and they finally called for us about 0940.  Took another 30 minutes to get off the ship.

- Suggest everybody get a passport.  Getting off is so much easier and faster.  The birth certificate line once in the terminal was about 20 times longer than the passport line.  And moved much much faster.

 

Spa:

-  As expected.  Everything nice and warm and clean.  The two hot saunas might have been too hot.  Rarely anybody else in them.  A few times could not get in the T-Pool, but 10 minutes later, no issues.  A few times I was in it by myself for 15-20 minutes. Mid afternoon Sea Days busiest times.

 

Cabin:

- I knew it, I knew it, but did it anyways.  I booked a balcony on deck 12, knowing it is uncovered.  Never again.  Back to deck 11 for me.  Every time I wanted to sit out there, the sun was pretty much directly over head, just grilling me.  What a stupid I was booking deck 12 balcony.  I knew it, I knew, but did it anyways.

 

Ports:

 

Cozumel:  

-Wave Runners at Islands Beach Club.  Always a good time.  Same old crap for sale in the shops.  Bought a tank top.

 

Progresso:

- Uxmal Mayan Ruins. Long 1:45 bus ride.  Bus was fine with AC.  Ruins site was very hot. More shade than expected.  We knew this, but really enjoyed it. We were on site 3 hours and the formal tour lasted 90 minutes.  Most others went to the only restaurant to eat and drink after that.  We just re-explored everything.  Felt like we were the only ones there at times.  Great for pictures with no other tourists in the background.   Glad we did it, but don't need to see any more Mayan ruins.  If you do this..get in the front row of seats on the bus as we did..you can see so much more because the seat backs are pretty tall.

 

 

That is all...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

19 minutes ago, Badfinger said:

 

That is all...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 What? No pictures or related food topics?  At least tell us how the ole girl is doing (Breeze) 🙃

[Bgcruising]

Those cereal boxes have been gone for a while. They arent coming back.

[BallFour4]

We sailed the Breeze in November, our first return to cruising. Here are some of my photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/d6DHtHHjYrjNobtd9

 

Agree with some of your observations, especially the comedians. There is little excuse for no real material. Picking someone(s) from the audience and being vulgar and rude to them is measure of poor talent. 

•  We go to Nachi Cocom in Cozumel every cruise and it never gets old. 
• The Italian restaurant for dinner was the best decision on our cruise. Superb meal. 
• Breakfast lines were long for those that slept in. The omelet stations further back were never crowded.  
• The past guest party was well attended and they had plentiful drinks. They took orders and had the galvanized tub of 16 oz aluminum beer selections. They loaded my arms with four of them for our friends when we left. 
• Debarkation was a mess for the family that decided to carry their own bags. We were home using priority self-debark before they got to their car. 
• Alaska is next!

[mondello]

Last 5 on the Breeze. You know they don't serve free lobster on 5 day cruises?

[sokal]

I don't see Uxmal tour listed on the CCL web site. Did you book this from an outside company? If so which one ?

 

[ABQrobin]

Agree with your food assessments....our trip on Splendor in Alaska -  Salmon is always good but the veg side dishes every meal was either raw or mush.  Totally disappointing.  The Splendor has the Indian food at lunch at Masala Tiger which turned out to be the best food on the ship.  Ate there 3 lunches and the line was always long after Day 1.  Deli, Pizza, and Mongollian Wok lines were long and slow, no way I stand in line that long!  Wish there was a Blue Iguana on this ship!

We did Uxmal several years ago.... so totally worth the long bus ride!!!  We loved it, even though it rained and we didn't get to walk around at the end.  It was perfect otherwise.  We did the ship's excursion as it is such a long trip and we got back with only about a half hour to spare for shopping at port, which was fine.  

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by ABQrobin