rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 #1 Share Posted December 4, 2012 BACKGROUND Well, we are back to reality after a great 14 days between Miami, 10 days on the Breeze, and in Miami Beach before we came home. This review will include many pictures of the ship & ports, but unfortunately not very much food porn (I forgot to take the camera to dinner most times). We had planned the cruise in early January 2012 and spent the next 300 plus days counting down until we could go. During that time, we met many people on CC and also the other-site-that-shall-remain-nameless (OSTSRN) and enjoyed getting to know them through cyber-space. In addition to cruising on a brand new ship, this would be our first B2B, first time in Miami, first time with John Heald as the cruise director (or so we thought) and the first time we were active in meeting new people. Just DW (Kimberly) and myself (Randy) went this time. This was our 3rd/4th cruises. PRE-CRUISE When we started looking for flights, we really wanted the cheapest non-stop flight we could get. We booked on American Airlines out of Columbus (which was two hours from our house). Between the hotel & parking and flight cost, it was cheaper and quicker than flying out of Cleveland, which was only an hour from our house. We had only planned one excursion (SeaTrek Helmut Dive in Aruba) and I did contact the Steak House for the first night of the eight day, and to reserve the Chef’s Table. A group of us also scheduled Cucina for one night also. We left on the afternoon of November 19th to drive to Columbus. We checked into our hotel and had dinner with some friends that we used to camp with. Didn’t get much sleep that night and we were both up around 3AM! Our flight was to leave at 6:20AM, so we headed over to the airport around 4:00AM. For anyone flying out of Port Columbus Airport they don’t open the check-in counters until well after 4:30AM. We also parked in the Blue Long Term parking, which picked us up at the car and dropped us off at the departing terminal. We checked our bags, got through security, and grabbed some coffee to wait for our flight. We boarded about 15 minutes before we were supposed to and they were wanting to get us out of there because another flight was delayed due to mechanical issues and would be ready once we left. The flight to Miami was uneventful, and once we got our luggage I called Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon and their shuttle came and picked us up. One thing I was concerned with was not having a room until the afternoon because we were so early (after 10:00AM). No problem, they got us checked in (geez I didn’t take pictures of that room either)! Homewood Suites is not near the port at all, but is across from the airport. DW is addicted to watching planes takeoff and land so she was really happy that our room had a really good view of the airport! The others from our group weren’t set to arrive until later in the day so we walked around the hotel then walked outside of the hotel. Homewood Suites also has a dinner Monday through Thursday, so we took advantage of that on Tuesday & Wednesday nights. Pretty good food along with beer on tap (Miller Lite) and wine. We walked to the Publix market (about 1 mile away from the hotel) and bought water for the cruise and some snack stuff. Once the others had arrived, we had a meet-and-greet during dinner. Pkrchkr (Karen) brought some great wine and shared that with us. After we went back to our room, we watched some more planes coming and going, then hit the hay for the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pe4all Posted December 4, 2012 #2 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Keep the review coming! We leave on the 22nd, and can't wait!:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #3 Share Posted December 4, 2012 DAY IN MIAMI The Breeze came into port VERY early on Wednesday. I was able to screen capture a couple pictures of her from the Port of Miami webcam as well as the Breeze’s web cam. After breakfast in the morning, a group of us decided to go to Miami Beach. It was around $30 in cab fare to go from Homewood to Ocean & 5th. There were seven of us, but the first grouch cab driver (in a van) said she couldn’t take seven, so we had to get another van to take all of us. One the way back, we had no problem with another driver in the same size van in taking seven of us back to the hotel, go figure! Along the way, we caught our first glimpse of our future home for ten days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipq Posted December 4, 2012 #4 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Lovin it so far...keep the good stuff coming. http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglinc@msn.com Posted December 4, 2012 #5 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Did you have to get off the ship between the cruises or were you able to get your new cards and stay onboard? Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #6 Share Posted December 4, 2012 They had setup a HUGE inflated turkey in Sports Square so we did catch a glimpse of that when we went by! Having never been to Miami Beach before we walked along Ocean Drive and I took a bunch of pics of the old buildings. Our DS’ name is C.J. so I had to take a pic of this and send to him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #7 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Did you have to get off the ship between the cruises or were you able to get your new cards and stay onboard? Doug Stay tuned! I will tell about our experience doing that! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #8 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4hunters Posted December 4, 2012 #9 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Great review so far... subscribing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #10 Share Posted December 4, 2012 We also walked toward the beach to get some pics Along the way we stopped at the Pizza Bar and had lunch. The pizza slices were huge (as you can see from the size of the pies). DW and I shared one slice (I’m normally a pizza hound and can eat a lot). We then returned back to the hotel, and had Meet-N-Greet round #2 with the group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglinc@msn.com Posted December 4, 2012 #11 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Really nice pictures, thanks. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbug Posted December 4, 2012 #12 Share Posted December 4, 2012 This is great! I'm excited to read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHP Posted December 4, 2012 #13 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thanks for the pictures...someone on our Jan 19th cruise was just asking about pictures....so I am sending them this way to take a look!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whisker2193 Posted December 4, 2012 #14 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Love the review so far! Keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare crewsweeper Posted December 4, 2012 #15 Share Posted December 4, 2012 WooHoo! Leave it to Randy to start the ball rolling on what could be a watershed of pictorial reviews (but not related to the waterfalls above the urinals in the men's on board:p)! Nice going! Great pics! I'm waiting to see if Kim watched the planes taking off from Aruba! Must have seen 4-5 leave and 2 land before sailaway! Carry On! Crew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #16 Share Posted December 4, 2012 WooHoo! Leave it to Randy to start the ball rolling on what could be a watershed of pictorial reviews (but not related to the waterfalls above the urinals in the men's on board:p)! Nice going! Great pics! I'm waiting to see if Kim watched the planes taking off from Aruba! Must have seen 4-5 leave and 2 land before sailaway! Carry On! Crew She sure did! When we were on our way to De Palm she saw the airport and the planes. Figured I had to leave her there instead of doing the helmut dive! :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #17 Share Posted December 4, 2012 EMBARKATION Well after over 300 days the embark day FINALLY arrived!! We were up early and anxious to get going! One of the ladies in our group was kind enough to arrange a shuttle for us at 10:30am and it only cost $8.00 per person (thanks Dale)! One other thing I forgot to mention is that we were known as the Breezer Bees and had t-shirts made and some other flare was worn by us. It was a lively and fun group and hopefully we can cruise together again in the future! We all gathered in the lobby early and sat around and talked until they came to pick us up! DW & I in our Beez wear... We arrived at the port around 11:00AM, handed the luggage and some $1's to the porter, and made our way into the terminal. Once we did the amusement park styled queuing, we made our way to do the check-in desk and then had to do the security thing. We brought a 24 pack of water and they just about shook all of them. Sorry no booze in those! We were handed a Zone 12 card and were given our S&S cards. One step closer!! Here is the view from the terminal of the Breeze Here is a link to the first video I made of the embarkation: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefyo Posted December 4, 2012 #18 Share Posted December 4, 2012 LOVING this!! Thank you for taking the time to write this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #19 Share Posted December 4, 2012 We were very excited to learn that we could go directly to our cabins. Once we got there, our luggage was waiting for us! We were able to get unpacked and organized and get the cruise started ASAP! It was also very nice to not have to haul around our carry-ons until we could get to the cabin. We had cabin 2362 (Cove Balcony) and were fortunate to get it for both legs of the B2B. We were worried initially because it was 1) under the galley, and 2) had an adjoining door to the next cabin (2358). No worries! Didn't have enough noise from either to mess up the cruise. Here are a couple pics of our cabin: I had pre-ordered some roses for DW, she was surprised and they actually looked great for the entire cruise! Here was our view of Miami from our cabin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #20 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Here is how the luggage mats look on the Breeze (instead of the brown colored ones): The next thing on my to-do list was…. A Guy’s Burger! I can’t tell you how many of those I ate in the 10 days on board, but I know it was A LOT! Here are some first pics I took of the ship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #21 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #22 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Found the coin! It was in the same spot as the Dream’s coin This view never gets old: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #23 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Destiny was in port also: The Breeze atrium: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #24 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Enjoyed watching the ocean from our balcony! We ate in the dining room tonight, but I’ll be darned if I took pics or remember what we had. I do remember it was GOOD! Here was our first towel animal: The next day was Nassau! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw68 Posted December 4, 2012 Author #25 Share Posted December 4, 2012 11/23/2012 - NASSAU We had been to Nassau before and didn’t have any plans for excursions. We got off the ship for a while and walked around and then enjoyed the partially empty Breeze! Gotta love the sunrises on a cruise (and sunsets)! Heading toward the inlet and the lighthouse: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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