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Chrissandra's Carnival Breeze US Inaugural B2B Review (11-22 thru 12-2)


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WOW, I don’t even know where to start with this. We booked this cruise over a year and a half out and had over 500 days to wait and get to know our fellow Funatics. This was our first time joining a group for a cruise and it can really make all the difference in the world. What an amazing group of people. We had several, yes several, very active roll calls and it got really interesting in the FB threads with early shenanigans. So after a very long wait, a few other cruises, and an engagement (a lot can happen in 500 days) we were in single digits and everyone was giddy as school kids at Christmas.

 

For those of you who haven’t read our previous reviews, I am Chris and my lovely fiancée is Cassandra (ardnassac79). We have been on 6 previous Carnival cruises together (this was 7 & 8), mainly on the Pride out of Baltimore. We love cruising and try to have fun with our reviews. This one might take a while to get through so hang in there with us and we’ll try to keep you informed and entertained. And of course we will have lots of pictures and Cass will post links to all the Fun Times.

 

We decided to fly on Thanksgiving due to limited vacation time. We didn’t love the idea of flying in the day of but bought trip insurance through Carnival for the 2 day just in case. SW had an early flight out of Baltimore to FLL. We had never flown into FLL but it was by far the cheapest option. After considering the cost of parking, and the dread of finding a spot, we decided to get a private car to pick us up and take us to the airport. Unfortunately that meant getting up a little earlier than planned since they’d pick us up at 5:50 am.

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Thursday – Embarkation : Cass woke up at 4 to get ready and I thought I’d stay in bed but was a bundle of excitement so I just got up with her. We got everything finalized and waited for the car to pick us up. He showed up a little early which was fine and we were at the airport right at 6am. We had already checked in and got a good boarding # (SW flight so no pre booking seats). The airport was actually more crowded than I had seen it in a long time. Thought for sure it’d be near empty. I was surprised that most of the TSA people working had smiles on their faces. I don’t think either of us would be that happy to be working on Thanksgiving at 6 am. While we were waiting to board we had crying babies and a little Chihuahua (thinking this will be an interesting flight). We boarded the plane on time and then had to wait about 20 minutes on the tarmac. It wasn’t an issue as we still landed 10 minutes early. SW was offering free Bud Light for Thanksgiving…(according to the Menu folder – the stewardess certainly didn’t offer up the info freely) As much as I like free booze, it was way too early to start drinking. We landed in FLL and I texted our friends Dave and Linny from the roll call. They were also early so we grabbed our luggage and got into a SAS van. Now we were ready to roll but the SAS guy was waiting for another family and drove around for about 15 minutes until they were ready. It was kind of annoying but we knew that they hadn’t started boarding yet so we just dealt with it. It was a 40 minute ride to POM and we walked right into line.

 

Our first glance of the Breeze

 

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Apparently boarding had been taking longer than normal because there was an issue with the first set of room keys and it took them about an hour to fix it. We said good bye to Linny and Dave as they got to go through Platinum check in. I was even more envious when we saw our good friends Ron and Linda pass right by us as well. Just told myself to remember this for our next cruise when I’ll finally be able to do the same J . They used a new procedure for this embarkation where they scanned your passport and used that photo as the photo for the cruise (instead of taking the photo after you get your key when you’re about to board). We got our S&S cards and then had to wait while we were getting texts from friends to ask us why we weren’t having a drink with them on the ship yet……brats. At least there were some nice people “trading up” their Zone number cards so we took a #29 and passed along the favor by giving our original #34 another family with a higher one. After about a 35-40 minute wait our zone was called and vacation was about to start!

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I’d seen pictures of the Atrium Lobby but it truly is stunning. The color scheme on this ship was by far our new favorite. A lot of warm, soft colors that just make you feel relaxed. Not like the dark décor of the Pride (which I personally really like).

 

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Looking up

 

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We were told that our rooms were ready so we dropped off our luggage and took a couple quick photos of our new home for 10 days. We were in stateroom 2305 which is a Cove Balcony.

 

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It was about 1:30 by this point and we were both hungry so we headed up to Lido (deck 10) and had a Guy’s Burger. Sooooooo good!

 

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And of course we had to get our first drink so we both ordered a DOD (The Funship)..... SOCIAL!

 

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No cool drink cups on this cruise, just pint glasses. We have a whole collection so I’m fine with it as you get more booze for your buck in a pint glass anyway.

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Looking down the open Atrium from 10

 

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They had the Serenity area closed off at this time so we walked from Water Works (Forward) to the Aft Pool (you guessed it, Aft).

 

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The Rope's Course (more on that later)

 

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Funnel or Whale Tail if you prefer

 

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Basketball Court

 

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Yay I can't wait read love it!!:D

Hi Taylor! Thanks!

 

Yay!!!! Love ur reviews:D

 

You guys made me want to sail the liberty western route! Loved that review n shared it with my girls to get them excited for their first cruise!!:D:p

 

Awww, thanks!! :o We loved the Liberty and can't wait to be back on her for the other route for our honeymoon in April, but this trip was amazing - the ship was great, and the ports were breathtaking. Stay Tuned!!

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We didn’t have any plans until sail away so we walked the ship a bit to get a feel for her since this was our first time on a Dream Class ship. We ran into a few other CC’ers from our roll calls and then accidentally stumbled upon John Heald taking photos.

 

 

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We also ran into Janet (NYRsHOCKEY) who has a fantastic Mediterranean Breeze review but was only on the 2 day this time. We commiserated about no hockey for a bit and she walked around the ship showing us around and got a nice picture of me and the little lady.

 

 

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We found the Red Frog Pub and walked outside on the Lanai.....look what we found! FUNATICS!

 

 

 

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This side of deck 5 was smoking and the other side was non smoking. We really loved this added outside area. It was great to grab lunch and just enjoy it on these lower decks.

 

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Love, love, love your reviews!! I read your Liberty review before our last cruise and am looking forward to the rest of this review to enjoy during the long wait until our next cruise.

 

Hey! I remember you from our Lib review as well... still irks me that half my photos are blacked out from silly Picasa (the photo hosting I use), but at least the direct link is in my siggie now. Hopefully we can help your wait (or make it worse!:eek::p)

 

Thanks so much for posting a review. Keep it coming!

 

Thanks! We are hoping to get at least 1 day done each day, but with work, and, well... Ugh real life... I hope we can keep that pace! :o:D

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We checked the room for our luggage but it wasn't there so we headed to our muster station for the always fun muster drill. We were surprised that it was actually held inside the dining room since all of our others have been outside. Well it is what it is and we decided to check the room again. Luggage was there and WOOHOO, the booze made it through! At least Cass was smart enough to not try to smuggle pocket shots this time.

 

We were unpacking and before we knew it, we had started to move. We made our way up to Lido Aft for our sail away party but no one was there. We went up one deck and found everyone. You can't smoke on deck 10 but you can on 11.

 

This was only our second sail away out of Miami and it's so much nicer than Baltimore. Not to mention warmer.

 

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Hottie

 

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After sail away several of us were hungry for a snack and decided to go to the Red Frog Pub to try out some of the new appetizers that are offered ($3.33 each). And of course some liquid refreshment.

 

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We both shared the wings which were delicious and probably the best thing on the menu. I had a Strongbow/Guinness mix (can't remember the name) and Cass had a Painkiller (both very good).

 

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I really love the appetizer options in the Pub and they make a great snack if you're hungry and have late time dining or if your significant other would rather have sushi.

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