A Frightful Time on The Breeze! Halloween Cruise 2013

It was a dark and stormy night, long and frightening. The bells going off should have been my clue but they didn’t register in my tired brain. Then finally, reality kicked in and I realized it was the alarm on my cell phone and it was finally VACATION day! Get up, get up, get up – you’ve got a plane to catch and a ship to meet and things to do!

WooHoo, my dream of a trip to Aruba on the Carnival Breeze was coming to fruition and I needed to get my silly butt out of the bed and headed to the airport! Surprisingly DH was already up and showered and far further along in the getting ready process than I was.

Little background on us, we are a mid-50’s, early 60’s couple but trust me when I say we aren’t the usual middle aged couple that comes to mind. We still like to think of ourselves as young and fun loving, although the body sometimes doesn’t cooperate. We like loud new rock and roll, we like motorcycles and drag racing and we also like to cruise!

Anyway, we get this party kicked off with a couple of Monster Drinks and off to Charlotte Douglas International Airport – about a 45 minute drive! It is about 38 degrees but we are headed to Miami and we get parked just a stone’s throw away from the shuttle bus in the parking lot. Jackets or not, that is the question and we choose not. That could have come back to bite us in the end but it didn’t. We got lucky but we also looked funny coming back into Charlotte after dark in flip flops and shorts – we didn’t care!

The wait at the airport wasn’t bad, our flight was uneventful and we like to people watch plus was have all our electronic devices (laptop, tablet and a couple of cell phones) to keep us occupied. We landed at Miami International Airport and caught a taxi in short order to the Holiday Inn, Port of Miami. We did encounter a girl in the airport who was sailing on Carnival that very day who had missed her shuttle and was having a small meltdown in the terminal, we felt bad for her and hope that she made the cruise OK (shouldn’t have been a problem, even a taxi would have had her there in a few minutes and it was only about 1pm).

We did stay at the POM Holiday Inn, it was our second time there and no, I wouldn’t want to spend a week of vacation there but it is highly adequate and very convenient for a night before a cruise. There is a CVS down about a block away that sells wine and beer and most anything else you could have forgotten or needed for a cruise. The Bayside Marketplace is across the street and is a pretty cool place to hang out, get a drink (or many, many drinks), a meal and go shopping! I wandered down to the waterfront and checked out the pretty boats, checked out the ships leaving that day (one Carnival and a Royal Caribbean ship) and got to see the Bimini Super Fast cruise ship too. DH wandered down to the waterfront also but we kept missing each other, I think I was on the upper level and he was on the lower level or visa versa and we had two extremely dead cell phones with us, not doing us a bit of good! (Reminder, turn your wireless off on your phone before you climb on the airplane or you won’t have a battery left when you land – blonde moment, but DH must have done the same thing!!)

We stepped way out there and ate at Hooters (but if you read my Legend report, we didn’t have a repeat of the stupid waitress event) and it wasn’t too bad. I guess DH would say it was pretty good but I’m not sure he could tell you what he ate! I think what will stand out in his mind was the Hostess, DH is 6’2” and the Hostess was pretty much eye to eye with him! Long day, too many frozen drinks complete with the obligatory Brain Freeze and we were beat! I lay down and took a short nap on the bed and woke up, DH was fast asleep sitting up the very tiny and uncomfortable chair! I guess you could say Day One of our Vacation was successful!

Last time we stayed at POM Holiday Inn, we had a beautiful Port facing room but this time we had a lovely view of the heating and air conditioning systems, so on Day Two we did not wake up, pull the curtains back and get our first glimpse of the Breeze Whale’s Tail, but I am sure somebody in the hotel did! What was most frustrating about the hotel was the lack of vending machines that actually worked. I already knew that the one on the 7th floor didn’t work but in my quest for caffeine I didn’t find a single one on any floor that would give me a Coca-Cola. I did go to the front desk asking for change so maybe I could fool one into giving me a coke using change instead of dollar bills but they were aware of the issue and went to the restaurant, procured me two cans and didn’t charge me a dime! Customer Service at its finest!

We had picked up Diet Soda and a bottle of wine at CVS the night before so we shuffled a few things around so we had one rolling suitcase with our drinks with us, our backpacks and checked the others with the porters. The taxi was easy and painless, took us about seven seconds after we strode out of the front door of the hotel until we were seated in the taxi, port bound! Goody, goody, goody!!!

I purchased FTTF, so we breezed through the security line, right up to the counter and within a few minutes we had Sail and Sign cards in our hands! Gold for me, Red for DH and both of us dreaming about a probably never to be obtained Platinum card! We waited about twenty minutes in which time they boarded the Special Events (weddings), Diamond and Platinum Members and then it was time for us! My first look at the new décor and I love it! DH said he missed the massive chandeliers and didn’t like the colorful lanterns but I really liked them.

Our cabin was 11258 and it was ready when we boarded! Of course we dropped our bags immediately and I headed to Guy’s Burgers and DH headed to the Blue Iguana Cantina. I could do almost a whole report about Guy’s Burgers and I’m never going to admit how many I had but they were good! The fries, oh my, the fries. I don’t eat fries in my real life so I’m not going to admit to eating any of them but doggone it – Guy’s Burgers can do a REALLY, really good fry! The crispy bacon, the sautéed mushrooms, the Chipotle Sauce, Guy’s BBQ sauce, oh my, oh my, OH MY!!

The Hard Rock Cafe at Bayside

This was one of the first sights we encountered in our Cabin. Totally cracked me up! We aren't going to any of those places - at least I hope not! I've been watching the weather pretty close - did I miss a storm or something? Nope, they just hadn't changed to the right screen yet!

One thing I did like, the TV is on when you first go into your cabin and the ships deck plans are right there so you can get a feel for the place! I thought it was a great welcoming gesture and one of those little touches you don't normally associate with Carnival.

That is the Bimini Super Fast. I would really like to go on that once they get the kinks ironed out. If I lived in Southeast Florida it seems like a no brainer - would be a great way to spend the day!

And the Royal Caribbean building

Keep it coming!!!!! :D. Loved the Breeze!!!!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the ship, snapping pics and getting the general feel for the layout. I mistakenly thought our Meet and Greet was on this day and we kept going by Liquid Nightclub wondering where everyone was, it was the following day! Dummy!

We had dinner in the Blush Dining room, Any Time Dining and it was, well, awkward. The tables where we were seated are two inches apart, not three, but two and it resembles more a table for six. But it is a table for two. I didn’t like it, as part of the reason we use ATD is for a table for two. DH is hard of hearing and it made conversation awkward, I remedied this on the one other time we ate in the MDR by asking for a more private table which they accommodated. We didn’t have a wait either time we ate there but the MDR experience isn’t one I appreciate any longer. It takes too much time, the food is decent but isn’t worth the long dining time. There isn’t a reason that dining should take two hours. There is a whole ship out there that requires our attention and I’m not keen on spending two hours having a so-so meal in an awkward setting. It just isn’t my cup of tea when there are so many other alternatives on the Breeze. I can’t tell you what I had other than the Shrimp Cocktail which is back on the menu full time but I really wouldn’t pay two dollars for it on land. It should be renamed the Tiny Shrimp Cocktail or the Miniature Shrimp Cocktail as that would be more realistic. No thumbs up on the Main Dining Room experience from me. That doesn’t negate the fact that the waiters are great while overworked. Always smiling, always polite but the whole dining experience isn’t as personal as it once was. There just seems to be a whole lot of hurry up and wait and it just doesn’t flow as it used to.

We stopped by and picked up our tickets for the Thrill Theater. What a cool addition to the ship! We saw the entire list of movies they show and tonight it was Ice Age! The chairs move, up and down and front to back, there are dangly things that stick out from the front of the seat and brush your legs, the chair will poke you in the back and blow sweet breezes down your shirt! All in all great fun and an amazing way to spend 24 minutes – just a great idea and we thoroughly enjoyed the Thrill Theater each time we visited. It is $7.95 per showing or $14.95 for unlimited visits! Unlimited is the way to go!

I spent the remainder of the night in the casino. Didn’t have any luck and pretty much blew my gambling budget for the night pretty fast. DH went to bed early and I spent hours after that on the balcony reading a book on my tablet. I read 2.5 books on this cruise and I just love sitting out on the balcony with a cold drink and a Kindle book. My favorite place on the ship!

Some would call this the Rain or Overcast Cruise! I would call it wonderful! We didn’t have sunny skies except on one port day (Curacao) and the last sea day which suits me fine. I like the Caribbean and I like the cruising experience but I am not a sun worshipper by any means. I like the overcast days and we had plenty of them! We had rain too but it wasn’t bothersome.

Our first sea day was spent touring around the ship again. Here however is where we met our neighbors, well, actually we never actually met them but we sure met their music. In the cabin forward of ours they thought it was their duty to provide our side of the ship with music – Pop music and you can bet your sweet bippy that Pop music isn’t at the top of my MP3 playlist. I don’t know if he was using a phone or an iPod but I am pretty sure he didn’t know where the volume button was. 8:00AM and we are listening to Rhianna or Miley or Demi or someone at top volume. Noon and he is back there again. Playing Suduko (I could see the book in the reflection of the balcony glass) and grooving on the music. I finally had to call Guest Services and ask that they inquire if he could use headphones. I think that they got the message to him later that day as the volume was turned down considerably from then on. I can’t image what he was thinking – sheesh there is a ton of music on board but I don’t understand why he felt he could just blast away with no thought to his neighbors. To Guest Services credit, they did follow up with us the next day to be sure everything was fine.

Another funny neighbor story is the neighbor on the other side of us. We decorated our door, well, we put a couple of things up on our door (there were some AWESOME door decorations on this cruise!) and one of the decorations was a simple sign that said Kids at Play. This being a Halloween Cruise and an 8 day at that, there weren’t many kids on board at all. It was something we planned on, thinking people wouldn’t take kids out of school for a 8 day, or take them out of town for Halloween and we were correct in that thinking. And evidently our neighbors thought the same thing. The absolute horror on their faces when they saw that sign for the first time on the first day was a Kodak moment! We had to explain that we were the Kids at Play and that we didn’t have any children in our cabin. The look of relief on their faces was the second Kodak moment!

Here are just a few of the spectacular Halloween decorations provided by your fellow passengers! There was thought that went into a lot of them!

A Cabin Steward gets in on the action!

These weren't all the cool doors - there were so many of them! Such creative geniuses I cruised with! :D

Our wonderful stewardess - Daniele from Bulgaria. She did a most excellent job! Always kept our cooler full of ice and our room immaculate and always smiling in the process! Hats off to Daniele - she is an asset to the cruise line!

Monday, our first Port of Call was Grand Turk. We had never been to any of the ports on this cruise and although DH likes familiarity I was keen to visit four new countries. Everyone told us that the water in GT was beautiful and everyone was right! We didn’t plan an excursion, my plan was to spend my time in the water and snorkel a bit and that is exactly what I did.

Not a lot of fish but a Flounder and a Barracuda made my day! I’ve a great video of the Flounder and tried as I could but I couldn’t get the Barracuda to pose for me. I was far too busy trying to put distance between us! He actually scared the bejesus out of me as the swimming area in Grand Turk has lots of rocks and he was hiding down in a large bowl in the rocks.

By the time I saw him the visibility was poor because of the mass amount of people walking around and churning up the sand and I was amazed that he was just sort of sitting there, like he was used to us tourists and just biding his time until we got out of his water and could let him get back to his regular fishing program. I was snorkeling by myself and once I saw him I came up and said Barracuda to the couple of men in the water around me but no one seemed to care. I spent most of the day underwater and we walked around in the port for a bit before reboarding.

Here are a couple of links to boring Flounder videos! I was pretty fascinated with this little guy. He could move his eyes independent of each other and it was wild to watch him keep one eye on me, they stupid human following him and the other on where he was going!

The crew got the life boats out and I'm assuming that they were practicing a life boat drill.

Sampling the local brew

Awesome pics, almost like I was there.

He's trying to get me to point out our cabin. We were close - right deck, a few doors too far to one way or the other! :D

There is a little sand trick - if you don't like it on your feet you can put baby powder on your feet after the sand starts to dry and the sand will fall right off! Great I guess if you are wearing socks and shoes but if you are wearing sandals you will end up looking like me! :eek:

I got really tickled at the name of this boat! It was the Prince of Whales!

And that fast, we are back out to sea!

That night we had a Steakhouse reservation. The food was excellent but the Steakhouse is tiny and once again we were seated with a shoehorn in between two couples who I am sure had no interest in me turning up the volume so I could converse with the DH. Again, the food and service was excellent! I had the Surf and Turf and so did DH. And the Chocolate Sampler!

Our second Port of Call was Dominican Republic. We had originally planned to go with Seavis to Saona Island but after looking again and again at what was provided for shade on their trips, I decided that six hours in the blazing DR sun wasn’t the way I wanted to go so I booked a day at Dreams Resort instead. I had loaded Google Translate in my phone as I had read that none of the Taxi drivers in DR spoke English. I had preloaded a phrase that said “Dreams Resort, two passengers, will share” and didn’t encounter anyone right off when we went into the Taxi area that I heard English from so I pulled out the phone and started to show it to drivers when I heard, “Where do you want to go?” in perfect English! I was so shocked! I told him where we wanted to go and he headed us off to his almost brand new immaculate vehicle! Meet Tony Mercedes!

Tony is from the Dominican Republic but spent a long in the US and still goes back and forth. In the States he is an installer for Time Warner Cable and in DR he works for Casa de Campo (http://www.casadecampo.com.do/) in addition to working with the Taxi Service. He is a fantastic tour guide and if you are looking for a great way to spend your day, he will take you on a great tour of the DR half of the Island! Tony is articulate and intelligent and full of pride and history about his country! I wouldn’t hesitate to book him for a private tour, I can guarantee you will love DR if you can see it from his tour! You can find him on Facebook or you can email him direct (PM me for the email address) and he will take absolute wonderful care of you – I wish we had known about him before we went!

Instead we had him take us to Dreams Resort and all I can say is that Dreams is a Dream! (http://dreamsresorts.com/la-romana) There was a bit of a hold up at the front gate as the employees argued among themselves as to who was going to open the gate and do this and that at the guard shack but Tony set them straight and told them to settle it later but to open the gate now so that we weren’t held up any longer and that arguing amongst themselves was no way to treat guests – another exemplary Customer Service experience!

We were met at the reception desk with a glass of Champagne, check in was painless, they took our payment and gave us towels and a map of the resort. We had full run of the place with the exception of the Preferred Areas (trust me, you don’t need the Preferred Areas) and I’m here to tell you it was amazing! We spent most of the day in the Infinity Pool at the Swim Up Bar, some time sitting under the swaying Palm trees at a wonderful little beach table and the rest in the fantastic buffet for lunch! Just an amazing day in a beautiful spot with the man of my dreams! Dreams is an AI resort, all food and drink included and I have to say that we took full advantage of it! I left Dreams feeling like I had spent the day in Fantasyland!

Yep, it is a VERY good margarita! :D

At the edge of the infinity pool with the Fruit Boat barely showing in the background. They served fresh fruit from the boat! One of many places you could get your favorites right on the beach whether it was a drink, burger, fruit - whatever, you really never need leave the beachfront!

A closer look at the Fruit Boat!

This was the main pool - we bypassed it on our quest for the swim up bar at the infinity pool!

The open air lobby at Dreams and the reception desk.

Great review. Same IT we will be on in February. Can't wait to read the entire review.

How mush was the day a Dreams Resort? Also did that include drinks?