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4-27-13 8 day Breeze review- a bed, my birthday and leisure sickness


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This was our 11th cruise and 5th on Carnival. We now pretty much cruise CCL and NCL, like them both. We do not usually go out, but save all our money for our 3 weeks vacation throughout the year. Both my DH and myself are 41. Vacations are where my copious amount of overtime goes. Everyone (neighbors, family, co-workers) know I live for my vacations. Cruise vacations just have everything my DH and I are looking for in one spot.

 

Work is crazy and before I go on vacation I usually try to prep all the work for the week, I am gone and make everything idiot proof, and everytime the limits of idiot proof are tested. So I run around like a crazy person, I got sick this time and previously got sick on our New England/Canada cruise. There is a name for this "Leisure Sickness" the body when it tries to slow down has a problm with adrenaline and you get sick. Next time, I will not do this to myself. Ok, now this in writing I must follow through right? Ok Leisure sickness doesn't happen until the second half, so enough with the foreshadowing.

 

We booked a cove blacony in October, so we had ES. I had a $100 future cruise credit for the last week they were selling them on the Glory in September, so we had $100 credit. Before final payment, there was a price drop. A couple of weeks before we left CCL had massive sales and we received $600 OBC. HooRay!

 

We live in Tampa, when we booked the cruise in October the airfare was $260 a person, I figured we would drive, we both hate the drive, but $520 plus cab fares etc. No. Well when we got closer I saw it dropped to $160, my DH said book it.

 

I did, when I went to check in online they offered an upgrade to first class for $49 a person, neither of us have ever flown first class, so I jumped on it. It was great, plus no fee for the bags, so it was not that big a difference, plus those seats... oh and the drinks in the glass and the mints...and... anyway

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I love my Ipad, i use it for the pictures, I stay connected to work via wi-fi, and check on the dogs etc. My books and music are on the Ipad. So shortly after we had a chicken biscuit at the airport we sat down and I logged into cruise critic and had thought about doing a " live from" within 45 seconds I dropped the ipad and could not get it to work, so now no internet, no camera, no books to read. Arrrgh. I enjoyed the first class flight (less than an hour), but never could get the ipad to work. So when we got off the plane, I was searching out a computer store and this woman did the exact same thing but got my Ipad to work yay. I bought a $60 unneeded accessory, because otherwise it would have cost me a ton of money.

 

At this point my husband was huffing and puffing, he does not get ibooks, the ipad nor my addiction. WE then upon his assistance had to run to get our luggage, and guess what, the belt had not even started. Dirty look at dh. At this point I noticed a large group of CCL Breeze people, they were doing the CCL transfer and did not seem to going anywhere fast. We took a cab to the pier.

 

Alright, I did not purchase FTTF since I did not think we would get there until at least 1 when I thought we were driving, well we got there at noon, so it still would not have been worth it. My husband asked about 40 times if we had priority booking. The answer each time was no. When we got to the first check in area there were 2 line regular and priority, the regular line was long and the woman waved us over to the priority one, I told her we told her we were not priority, she told me for us to go there anyway. Do you know how much I hate it when DH gets his way, even when I am right?

 

We were through quickly and then to the next area, there was a long line, but it moved quickly and before you know it, we were on the beautiful Breeze. Even though there are positives and negatives, let me say how much I love this ship and would have a hard time going back to pre 2.0 features.

 

Oh, also my DH kept his carryon with him from the house until we got to the room. This will come up later.

 

Next buying Cheers program and Guys Burgers.

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Yes we like to drink. DH likes Bud light and BBCs, I like my martinis. We had the OBC so I knew we would buy the Cheers program. There was a table set up before you got to the Lido deck, well the guy in front of us only wanted to pay for 7 days (it was an 8 day cruise) after 15 minutes of arguing they bought it and then he said they put it on wrong card, another 10 minutes or so. Then they came to us, here charge it and we are on our way. We were done in a couple of minutes.

 

Next we were off to get a guys burger. Our cruise tradition is to have cheeseburgers and hot dogs and our welcome beverage, then the vacation has begun. The plan find a table, order drinks, then each of us individually would go to guys and get the burgers. Well we couldn't find a table, we finally sat at the Blue Iguana Tequila bar, I had a margarita, and paid $0.70 for tax since we were still in port. Cheers included gratuity, but every time I tipped at least a dollar, even if I just got a Coke. Then the burgers, yum, every time I got the burger I had it the same way, bacon, mushrooms, sauteed onions, and ketchup and ranch dressing for the 5 fries they gave you.

 

Also I have some pictures, but not as many as I would have liked.

 

Now we go to our room.

 

Okay a picture of Miami from the balcony.

 

ejin2h.jpg

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We had a cove on the Dream and loved it, my husband saw a dolphin, plus they are cheaper. As people say "I used to think I was cheap, then I met you." A picture of our Cove Balcony.

 

y2q85.jpg

 

We had a thermal suite on the Epic and ever since then if we are on a ship with a thermal suite we always get a pass. Both of us love the Thalassotherapy pool, plus it is nice to get away from crowds on big ships, so we get the pass which also includes steam room, sauna, heated tile loungers, heated chairs and huge showers.

 

After we went to the muster drill which started late, a girl there had tourettes so it was a little of a distraction, but as this was the 11th one, no new information.

 

Wanted to dance at sail away, but instead went with my husband to Red Frog pub, he is a smoker (I am not) so there are places he likes with ashtrays, we were late leaving but, we had a drink and were sitting in the sun, so it was all good.

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Great start. We sail exclusively out of Manhattan because we live about 20 minutes from the cruise terminal there. Sailed the Miracle a few times and the Dream when she was here for 3 cruises during her inauguration sailing before relocating to FL. Now that Miracle is out on the west coast, we are sailing on Splendor. All great ships, but I want DESPERATELY to sail on a ship that has a Guy's Burgers! :pThanks for sharing your cruise with us. :)

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Great start. We sail exclusively out of Manhattan because we live about 20 minutes from the cruise terminal there. Sailed the Miracle a few times and the Dream when she was here for 3 cruises during her inauguration sailing before relocating to FL. Now that Miracle is out on the west coast, we are sailing on Splendor. All great ships, but I want DESPERATELY to sail on a ship that has a Guy's Burgers! :pThanks for sharing your cruise with us. :)

 

Thanks, I am not a huge cheeseburger person, normally just the one for embarkation lunch, but I had them 4 or 5 times. Its nice to customize.

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Thanks for the feedback, it is nice to know people are viewing it.

 

So after the sail away and drinks at Red Frog Pub and maintenance was in our room waiting for us. Oh no, we just got here what could we have done?

 

They showed us a bug that they put in a glass and covered to show us. They said it came from my husband's carry on. Before I could even say anything the maintenance officer (I don't know if that is the correct title) whose name was Rosa, who was great, said that everytime this happened people got upset and said it was not their bug, so I didn't bother. They said they were going to check out the room and requested we come back in an hour.

 

We went to the Taste Bar, I planned on going every night they were open, but this was the only night I made it. I had the meatball and bruschetta with ricotta cheese, they were good, the meatball was a little spicy. We went to the casino, I like to gamble mostly the slots and roulette once or twice during the week, it is my husband's favorite bar, because he can smoke there. I have also noted most of our favorite bartenders have been at casino bars.

 

We return to the room, they say we need to wait for our luggage, still not there, FTTF would have been a good idea here. We were to call them when it arrived and we would dump everything on the white sheets to see if there were any more freeloaders.

 

We normally eat about half of our dinners together, I like people to bring me shrimp cocktail and steak and he wants to stand and eat a sandwich at 10 at night, we eat together half the time and enjoy our dinners together much better. This was one of the nights where I was dining solo, originally I was debating between the dining room and Bonsai Sushi, well it was about 7:30 and no luggage, I was going to the buffet and when I got back DH was going to take his turn, but for liquid refreshment.

 

When I got back Rosa was there, they were going through all of our clothes, no new friends. They were going to take all of our clothes and suitcases and have them sent to the laundry and washed for free, just in case. Ok, but it would have been better at the end of the cruise so I did not have to do all the laundry when I got home.

 

We were told to gather clothes and they gave us a clear plastic bag, they were moving us to another room for the night. It was on the 7th floor, it was an upgraded room, plus it was right outside the midship elevators. We then had to go to guest services and get a new card, they put the cheers card on the cards and told us they emailed the spa and they would give us new stickers when we went there.

 

We are huge bingo players, DH more than mine, I scheduled a massage on the Glory and he said, but its during bingo. I like Bingo, but not as much as I like a massage. Bingo was at 9:30 and at this point it was after 9, we skipped bingo and went to the casino for drinks and slots. We went back to the room on 7 (7343) and went to sleep, it was a long day, we got up at 6 for all the flights and other traveling.

 

I often have time sleeping, but that is one of the things I love most about cruises, it is the best sleep, I feel like someone is rocking me to sleep. DH said I was out after 30 seconds. Next Day 2-Sea Day.

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I love love love sea days, I enjoy the ports, but it is nice to relax. I got the internet 100 minute plan as I seem to spend more when I have to add on at a higher rate. I started the day reading and highlighting the fun times and getting on the internet on the balcony. My husband really likes to sleep in, we leaves notes for each other and since bingo was at 11 or 11:30 told him I would meet him there. I put on my swimsuit which I put in my plastic bag from the night before and some other clothes and grabbed my ipad and headed to the punchliner brunch after telling DH I was off.

 

I love eggs benedict, but hate runny eggs so I always order them well done.

 

My welcome croissant:

 

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Part of the menu:

 

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Eggs Benedict and Cheese Grits, also OJ and coffee (not pictured)

 

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I know a lot of people don't care for the comedian's 5-10 minute routine, but i enjoyed, even if it was typical "obviously your wife dresses you" schtick.

 

kdwm6c.jpg

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Next off to the spa. I went to the spa, I had to talk to a few people to strightne out the sticker, but I got in and it was wonderful, the T-Pool is my favorite. Great, the thermal suite was never busy.

 

 

124v7f4.jpg

 

Normally I would lay on the heated thermal loungers (that were never very hot), but I was off to change, can't stand to wear a wet swimsuit. I went back to the room, and DH and I were off to Bingo.

 

Bingo was $20 each, and I did not know before but the Bingo guy said they were required to wait for 15 minutes after start time in fun times before they could start, so this explained the delays.

 

After not winning at bingo it was the casino and lot of trivia in the ocean plaza, I love trivia and even though I never won a ship on a stick, which I desperately wanted, but I played throughout the cruise and was glad they offered it so often.

 

We played for a while and since I heard about lines at Jimmy C-Side BBQ, I thought I would be smart and go on first day before everyone discovered it. Ok good one. I got in line after finishing a session of trivia and stood in line for the time between trivia and almost the next full session. It was good, I had a little of everything except bake beans and cole slaw, the grilled veggies and pork were good, the BBQ was a little spicy but good. When I returned my husband go in line. He is a huge BBQ fanatic, he said it was good, but his food was cold, maybe they turned down the heat, or maybe he is just a whiner?

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We were on the BREEZE in December for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean trip. Ship was beautiful and staff fantastic as always. But experience paled by comparison to previous cruises for the following reasons.

 

1. No adult pool. Kids cannonballing 24 x 7. Although there were adult jacuzzi's.....we are not jacuzzi people.

2. Some of the dining options had HORRIFFIC lines. The BBQ option was only open on "sea days". We waited in a single file line for over 35 minutes and it was the middle of the afternoon. Same thing for the Mongolian BBQ....over 30 minutes there.

3. Main dining room options were very disappointing. Seemed more like college dorm food only with impressive names.

4. The thing we were most frustrated by was the "cocktail" program that we were not told about. It's no surprise that your cocktail expenses can be something that can get out of control before you even get a good buzz on. On day 3 we met someone at one of the smaller bars who took advantage of a new program Carnval was trying out. $40 per day with a few restrictions confirmed by our bartender. 25 cocktails per day. No closer than one drink in 5 minutes. I know....WHO CAN DRINK THAT MUCH? Having said that at $10-$14 per martini we spent far more than $40/day. When I went to guest services they said We both would have needed to prepay on the first day for each of our 7 days. I would have been happy to, if I had only known....but they refused.

5. Lastly, carnival changed their loyalty program this past year which had a negative impact on an upgrade that we should have been eligible for this year.

 

All in all....we have decided to forfeit our history with Carnival and start over with another cruise liner......

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I agree ship also smells like ****. Sewage smell is really bad. After you get on from port no real food just dam burgers. Guest services 800 number rude after they broke our beds.

 

 

Enjoy life make everyday a fun day

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We were going to meet for Bingo which they were doing on the outdoor screen/Lido deck. I played in the casino and met DH on 11 (Lido deck was non-smoking due to the food). He had a table, he was watching hairy chest concert, bingo was due to start at 2, but it was nearly 2:30 when hairy chest contest ended, I was half watching it, but the man in the wheelchair won. It may be silly, but people were having a good time, and on vacation, that is what counts.

 

We played bingo, but I did not care for it outside, it was harder to see and here, did not win...Back to the room. Rosa called we would be staying in room on 7, so much for cove, but as I explained to my husband it was actually an upgrade. She said they would deliver the laundry, but I had some damaged clothes. I had bleach stains on some of my t-shirts, yeah I clean in t-shirts, a swimsuit was faded, yes chorline, and the wheel came off my larger suitcase, it happened between the house and Miami airport, she needed permission to go ahead since they did not want to be responsible for damages. Yes, I know, no one except for maybe a bug would claim our clothes or suitcases.

 

Shortly afterwards, clothes began to arrive, the wash and fold was nice, DH kept going on that they unbuttoned his shirts and ironed in between buttons. I told him not to get used to it, I don't iron. We did not get everything back and DH did not have his jacket for formal night, he had button down shirt, but we thought he would have clothes back before dinner, but it was fine.

 

That's its for tonight, next elegant (lobster) dinner and post-dinner entertainment.

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Yes we like to drink. DH likes Bud light and BBCs, I like my martinis. We had the OBC so I knew we would buy the Cheers program. There was a table set up before you got to the Lido deck, well the guy in front of us only wanted to pay for 7 days (it was an 8 day cruise) after 15 minutes of arguing they bought it and then he said they put it on wrong card, another 10 minutes or so. Then they came to us, here charge it and we are on our way. We were done in a couple of minutes.

 

Next we were off to get a guys burger. Our cruise tradition is to have cheeseburgers and hot dogs and our welcome beverage, then the vacation has begun. The plan find a table, order drinks, then each of us individually would go to guys and get the burgers. Well we couldn't find a table, we finally sat at the Blue Iguana Tequila bar, I had a margarita, and paid $0.70 for tax since we were still in port. Cheers included gratuity, but every time I tipped at least a dollar, even if I just got a Coke. Then the burgers, yum, every time I got the burger I had it the same way, bacon, mushrooms, sauteed onions, and ketchup and ranch dressing for the 5 fries they gave you.

 

 

 

That's so funny. We were on the cruise JUST before you. Although I read on here over and over that they serve five fries, we ALWAYS got more. Without asking. I had Guys twice; my daughter had it probably five out of the six days. We were always given more than five.

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So what kind of bug was it?

 

i don't know, I didn't look closely, but did not appear to be a roach. Living in Florida and growing up in Florida, bugs don't really bother me. When I was growing up we would have spiders the size of your hand. And the big cockroaches, but this was not one of them, it looked small, maybe the size of a fly, but no wings.

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It was one of dinners together, we were eating together in the MDR for the two formal nights, La Cucina after we left the Dominican Republic and the steakhouse the last night. I like to book the steakhouse the last night, because it is a great way to finish a cruise.

 

We always do ATD when it is offered (our first 2 carnival cruises, they did not have it but all others cruises have). On the Dream, we waited quite a bit, the first formal night I think we waited for about 40 minutes, but they sent us choc. covered strawberries, ok apology accepted. Beverage service in the MDR, as well as other parts of the ship was hit or miss and it was the same on the Breeze, I don't understand since it is a revenue stream, but more on beverage service on other parts of the ship later.

 

I had prebooked la cucina for 7 and the only reservation they had at the steakhouse was for 8, so DH got to decide when we would eat in MDR. I like eating around 7, but if he ate anything heavier than a sandwich he wanted to eat around 6.

 

We got to the dining room at 6:15 and were seated right away. The drink waiter was there before they could even pour the water, and my moscato was on the way. My husband made some comment about needing to hurry up so he could watch the basketball game, but one of the women at the table next to us turned and made a face and looked like she was going to say something. Yes the tables are way to close, on a different night I was by myself and the table next to me, kept talking, I was trying to read my book, but they were nice. Point being you conversations become communal, there were a ton of open tables, so when the DR is not full it would be nice to not be on top of other people, when the DR is full I understand it.

 

I had the stuffed mushrooms, good, the lobster and shrimp real good, I did not think the lobster was tough at all. DH had alligator fritters and the fried chicken, he liked both, and we both had cherries jubilee for dessert, for some reason, I had not had cherries, outside of marashino cherries for 20 years, but always loved them growing up.

 

We were done in an hour, at one point my husband went to men's room and he said there was a long line at the hostess stand even though the dining room was mostly empty?

 

We were going to meet at 9!5 in the casino to go to the comedy show. I was off the the red frog pub, they had adult trivia and the winner received a fishbowl drink, however when I got there it was for teams with a minimum of 3 people. When I told DH about it later he said I should have joined someone elses team, but it is not really my thing. So I had a drink and sat for a while, at other times I listened to the guitar player.

 

A lot of people were not happy about, no bands, but as long as i can listen to someone sing and play guitar, I'm good, plus I loved the piano bar. When we embarked there was no steel drum, but there was a DJ playing 80s Madonna, so for this 80s girl, that was wven better.

 

2uqg2z9.jpg

 

I liked the atmosphere both inside and out of the pub, I thought it was a great addition to the ship, I never played any of the games, maybe next time. Then I played in the casino until it was time to meet DH. At 9:15 I said lets go, oh no what's your rush...you know where this is going don't you? At 9:25 we go and it is SRO for the 9:45 show, ok no, I am not standing for the next hour to watch a show. The comedy show manager told us to be there 30 minutes before the show started. We would try for the 11 show, maybe. The piano bar was getting ready to open, so I went there, had the tiramisu martini, that I had been wanting to try, Ron Pass was the piano player, I enjoyed him and was at the piano bar several nights. Before 10:30 went back and the lobby including area around the elevators was packed, there were more people there than were going to get in. Would have to try it another night.

 

I went to the Lido deck and had a slice of the 4 cheese pizza, I love the thin crust, sat on the open deck with my pizza and a coke, and then was off to bed. I only had pizza twice, but one of the times, this woman who had waited got her pizza and promptly dropped it on the floor. There were two guys working the pizza area, so there were waits, but nothing like on the Dream, where you would wait 15-20 minutes. It was hot, but since it was a slice and such a thin crust not something that would stuff you before bed.

 

Today was better, had a home, had most of my clothes, now I was ready for another good night of sleep, tomorrow was Grand Turk and it was an early morning arrival.

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Our cove balcony was 2273, but only for a few hours.

thanks - we are going to be next to that.. shame they didn't let you stay!! I guess deck 7 is an upgrade but I want the cove.

 

not letting you stay in the cove for the sake of one bug?? that's very odd. either it didn't matter and you moving balanced out the numbers for the stewards (and I was offered an upgrade to a higher balcony a couple of weeks ago for $40 so its not too much of an upgrade in their eyes!!) or the problem was a little deeper than one bug that you brought on board and they needed to deep clean the room.

 

I think I'll do a little investigation when I get to the cabin :D.

as you say - one bug when living around here isn't going to bother anyone!!

 

thanks for the review - especially the pictures of the brunch - my and my eggs benedict breakfast are gonna get on just fine...

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Next off to the spa. I went to the spa, I had to talk to a few people to strightne out the sticker, but I got in and it was wonderful, the T-Pool is my favorite. Great, the thermal suite was never busy.

 

 

124v7f4.jpg

 

Normally I would lay on the heated thermal loungers (that were never very hot), but I was off to change, can't stand to wear a wet swimsuit. I went back to the room, and DH and I were off to Bingo.

 

Bingo was $20 each, and I did not know before but the Bingo guy said they were required to wait for 15 minutes after start time in fun times before they could start, so this explained the delays.

 

After not winning at bingo it was the casino and lot of trivia in the ocean plaza, I love trivia and even though I never won a ship on a stick, which I desperately wanted, but I played throughout the cruise and was glad they offered it so often.

 

We played for a while and since I heard about lines at Jimmy C-Side BBQ, I thought I would be smart and go on first day before everyone discovered it. Ok good one. I got in line after finishing a session of trivia and stood in line for the time between trivia and almost the next full session. It was good, I had a little of everything except bake beans and cole slaw, the grilled veggies and pork were good, the BBQ was a little spicy but good. When I returned my husband go in line. He is a huge BBQ fanatic, he said it was good, but his food was cold, maybe they turned down the heat, or maybe he is just a whiner?

 

Thanks for the review. We sail on the Breeze on Sept. 14, 2013. We have won the Super Trivia three day contest twice. If you by any chance might be on that cruise, please play with us. My DH is the good looking older man with a Georgia hat on..a lot. We have some moxie..some lucky star..something that it seems the best Trivia players in the world...either join our team...or we join with them. It is uncanny. Last time..a retired school teacher from Vermont, A computer tech from S.C. , A Florida recent Grad with her musican husband...that made our six. When the cruise was over..I felt like crying. We bonded..match after match..every day..What fun. Please...anyone who likes Trivia as much as you do..and we do..you would be at Home with us......Look for the Old Good looking man..Georgia Hat and his chubbette wife. Looking happy to be on the boat..playing trivai and not cooking for eight days. Hoo-Ray!!!

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