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!!! BREEZE !!! Western Caribbean ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide


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This is my first time aboard a Carnival ship!

As always I have a lot of material to share with everyone.

My reviews are loaded with fun times, great pictures and as always an unbiased point of view.

I have been told that I have a great eye for detail, and it will be all here for you to enjoy.

I welcome again all of my fans and new followers as well. Thank you kindly for being a part of this ^_^

 

I invite you to come and sail with me on my first SOLO Cruise!!!

 

 

Introduction

 

Hello everyone it has been quite sometime since my last review. I have been extremely busy since I started college again and had to put cruising on the back burner until I could get some time off. For those of you who are not familiar with me, you can check out some of my old reviews so you can get a feel of my review style. I am known for going all out and documenting every possible aspect of a cruise. From the pre-cruise planning down to details on how to log into their internet service onboard and everything else in between. I will attempt to do the same with the Carnival Breeze in this review.

 

In the past I have said that we have been jumping from cruise line to cruise line to find the one who fits us best. Now things have changed, I now realized that there is no such thing as the best cruise line for us. We have thoroughly enjoy each and every cruise we have been on, and it is now that I noticed that each cruise line offers something in particular that we enjoy and cherish.

 

For example, Celebrity was not precisely the most active cruise line for us. However with the high level of luxury, fine dining and service it would be the prefect cruise line to sail to Alaska or in Europe in style. Disney on the other hand is a cruise line that all children should travel on at least once. If you can manage to save money for a Disney cruise, you definitely should! I can guarantee you that it will a vacation that your kids will never forget. Disney offers an unparalleled cruising experience. Cliche or not, our Disney cruise was magical in every possible way. Last but not least, although I know many disagree with me, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian both offer similar experiences. With very active and varied cruises that will accommodate people from all age groups. But I will say that RCCL stands above Norwegian in several aspects, that might change in the future, who knows. Now I am here, and I am trying out Carnival cruise line to see where it stands and how it compares.

 

 

Why Solo?

 

So lets get this party started, this cruise was very different from my other cruises. When I say different, I refer that this was my very first time sailing Solo. Every other cruise I have been on I have traveled with my mom and on some with more people. I have to admit that I was very tempted to canceling this cruise several times because I was not sure of the idea of sailing alone and even more so without my mom. Like I have said in my past reviews, a cruise is not a real cruise unless my mom comes with me. Call me a mama’s boy if you like, actually that won’t be far from the truth :D. I get a lot of joy from sharing cruising with my mom, and I consider myself very fortunate that it is possible to sail with her often. It was a real shame that she could not come with me on this sailing.

 

So why did I sail solo this time around? Well it is kind of complicated. Between college and family issues, we were unable to match our vacations together for this cruise. And as it turned out that was the only week that I could take off from both college and work. It was a real unfortunate situation, as it would of been very nice to be able to share this cruise with her. My good friend Sarah was also unable to come with me, since she had other prior obligations and needed to use her vacation time wisely for this year. And since you last heard from me other aspects of my life have also changed. I am now single, since last November my bf and I decided to part ways. I can honestly say that is the best decision that I have made in the recent years. Some people are just not meant to be together, he was a good person, but we did just not click in any way possible. Either way it is not like I would taken him on the cruise, since he really did not like the idea of cruising that much on the first place. Other than the usual group of people that I sail with I could not think of anyone else to bring with me on this cruise. I have not yet started dating, mainly due to a lack of time and I also wanted sometime for myself. That is the story of why I finally went on my first SOLO cruise, I guess it was due to happen sooner or later.

 

This was not only first solo cruise, but it was also my first solo vacation ever in general. As you could imagine my mind was racing with thoughts and questions. Personally I never saw the benefit of traveling alone, but we grow, mature and learn. I think with my old mentality traveling solo was something that would have never happened. However, in the past 7 months I have made significant changes in my live and the way I think. I think I have fully adopted the YOLO mentality, life is too short to obsess over things you can’t control. I guess ill go more in details as the review develops.

 

 

Cruise Details

 

The main reason I decided to go on this cruise was because Carnival was having a great sale that allowed single cruisers to pay only for one person. This was just what I needed to catapult me into booking my first Carnival cruise. But as the day got closer the price drops were insane, I think I would have ended paying much much less if I have waited until the very end. From my knowledge now, I think I am done booking cruises in advance. On most cases I have lost substantial money with the price drops. Oh well what can one do, live and learn, right?

 

One thing that I was not crazy about, was that this would be my third western caribbean cruise. But the bright side of it, is that it was stopping on my favorite western ports Cozumel and Grand Cayman. And in addition to those two ports, it was also calling port in Key West one of my personal favorite land vacation destinations. So all in all it was a great itinerary after all, I just had to get a little creative and explore new things in each port.

 

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Stateroom Selection

 

When it came down to booking the room I gave it lots of thought. Of course I wanted the lowest rate possible and that meant booking an inside stateroom. While I have done it in the past, and I have nothing against it. There is simply no comparison to having your own private balcony. Ocean view was out of the equation, since I never personally saw the benefit of it. Like I have said in the past different folks, different strokes. In the end I decided to book a nice balcony stateroom for myself.

 

So here is were I stop and give Carnival an excellent review for the pre-cruise customer service. I have never dealt with a cruise line that is so focused on making the customer happy. Like I said before the price drops were substantial and I was originally booked on a balcony room on deck 7. The main problem with my particular reservation was that I did not have a price guarantee and I was tied to a Florida booking rate that had me locked in. Anyway, long story short, they were nice enough to grant me an upgrade to Lido deck. Overall I was very satisfied. They were not able to get me any on board credit, but had I been a past guest they said more could of been done. In any way it was a true pleasure dealing with them under the circumstances.

 

This is the first cruise line who has showed me true interest in making the customer happy before they board the ship. RCCl, X and NCL are ok, but not to this level. Props to you Carnival, you have done a great job in this department. Special thanks go to my personal vacation planner Kevin for pushing through for me.

 

I would like to say that if anyone from MSC is reading this, you should really look into how to run a real company and learn from Carnival on how to treat a future potential customer in the pre-cruise experience. The bottom line is not always the way you want to go, and you always consider special situations. Carnival made me very happy prior boarding the vessel, which is the total opposite from what you has done to me so far! Not that it matters now since MSC decided to pull out of the US market next year...

 

Great Job Carnival, Thank you!!

 

 

Carnival Website

 

Let me tell you something, Carnival’s website is by far the best cruise line website that I have ever used. Let me explain, while celebrity, Norwegian, Disney and Royal Caribbean have decent websites that let you modify some parts of your cruise. Carnival goes all out and lets you modify pretty much everything about your cruise. From bed configuration, dining time, easy comparison of price drops and stateroom bar setups. There are just so much more options, and the site is so much easier to navigate. The site just flows and at great speeds, this is one of those sites that you're tempted to keep checking, even if it is just for the cruise countdown. Carnival’s website is the perfect example of how a website should run and operate. Well done Carnival, keep up the good work!

 

 

 

Welcome Aboard The Carnival Breeze!!!

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Budgeting Change

 

 

This section targeted mainly for new Carnival guests. Something that was very different from all my other cruises is that this time around I was traveling on a strict budget. Let me tell you something, traveling while you’re a college student takes some serious budgeting. That meant that I had to keep an eye on affordable shore excursions, drinks and food. Anywhere I could save a few bucks, I would go ahead and do it. I could still do most of what I did in the past, but just in a different way. It would definitely be a different experience than what I was used to. Now don’t get me wrong, I am by no means wealthy. I work extremely hard for everything I have, and live on a tight budget. But in the previous years when I was not in school, I had a bit more disposable income to take aboard on my cruises. Anyway, that was not going to stop me from having an amazing time!

 

 

Carnival Secrets and Tips!

 

Not really secrets any more, but it is useful information for first time Carnival cruisers. My reviews usually try to target new cruisers, and since this is my first carnival cruise, I did a lot of research. Keep in mind I did not personally test all of these, so some might work and some might not. I am going from research that I did prior my cruise.

 

1. When you order one of their 'Classic Drinks' - save your receipt, go to the Casino Cashier, show your receipt and get $5 match table casino play for every Classic drink you ordered. Please keep in mind this only for table play and you have to match each coupon with your own money. These drinks are the Long Island Ice Tea, The Cruiser, Ultimate Margarita, Mai Tai, Mojito and Sex on the Beach. The total cost per drink is $10.06 tip included. If you end up wining in the casino this could help pay for your drinks.

 

2. If you book the steakhouse for the first night of your cruise, they give you a complimentary bottle of wine to go with your dinner at no additional cost. But keep in mind that this is only for the first night of your cruise. A few of my fellow cruisers booked it get the complimentary bottle of wine.

 

3. When you board, go directly to the casino (it will be closed) and get the free lanyards that are in the slot machines. Sometime during the cruise go to the pursers office and have your sign and sail cards hole punched and attach them to the free lanyard.

 

4. This is not commonly made known, but there two saunas and two steam rooms available in the spa free of charge aboard the ship. I found this information on a site and I emailed Carnival to make sure about it. I was clarified that they are indeed free, you still need to pay for the hydrotherapy pool and the heated lounges. Either with a spa room or by purchasing the spa pass.

 

 

 

Specialty Restaurants

 

I am well known for venturing out of the MDR experience and trying out all that each cruise line has to offer with their specialty dinning venues. I guess it was a good thing that the specialty dinning venues on the Breeze are rather limited :D. It would help ease my temptation to try more venues, like on my prior cruises. The Breeze really only has the Steakhouse, which I was not planning on visiting since I am not a big steak kind of person. But things changed towards the last days of the cruise and I ended up going there.

 

The other for a fee restaurant is the Italian restaurant Cucina Del Capitano. But here is the thing, the venue is free for lunch and for a fee for dinner. Of course most people claim that the food is much better in the evening, and I am sure they are probably correct. But in my case I was happy with the free lunch, maybe I will try their dinner version some other time.

 

Now I did however have interest in the Red frog pub snacks and the sushi bar. But the good thing is that both venues are A La carte and you can get in and out without spending much money at all. The amazing thing about Carnival is that it is loaded with free dinning options, which I will get into later in the review.

 

 

Mixed Drinks, Wine & Soft drinks

 

Carnival is now offering an all you can drink package just like the other cruise lines. The program allows you to buy from a selection of soft drinks, mixed alcoholic drinks, beers and wines for a set pre-cruise price of $49.95 per person /per day. A 15% gratuity will also be added to the total. Also keep in mind that there is a limit of 15 drinks per day. Only you know if this program is the best option for you or not, it really all depends on how much you drink and what you drink. Also note that all the adults in the cabin must purchase the package, so if you have one heavy drinker and one that is not, then this might not work for you. Another good option to consider is the In-Room bar setup that you can order from Carnival. Bottles range from $40 for light liquors, $60 – $80 for rums, vodkas, whisky, tequilas and more expensive bottles can climb to $95 . This is still a very good option if you know how much you consume and your limits. This is possibly my favorite option, and Carnival is the line with the most reasonable prices.

 

Also keep in mind that Carnival allows you to bring one bottle of wine 750ml per adult on embarkation day. However there is a $10 corkage cost if you want to have the bottle opened for you on the main dinning room and other specialty restaurants. You're also allowed to bring a 12 pack of your favorite soft drink or water per person on board on that day. Each bottle has to be 20oz or less. Overall I think that Carnival is the most lenient cruise line when it comes to these rules, well never mind Disney takes the price there, but you pay a premium for the cruise.

 

Here is an amazing spreadsheet to help you see if the Carnival drink package is for you or not.

 

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Wifi

 

While I was not planning on using the internet much, I still had to research it just to be aware of the cost. I am sure that my mom was expecting me to report to her at very least once per day. And after Key West I would have to start paying wifi to contact her. Overall I thought I could manage just doing the by the minute plan and maybe logging a total of 20 minutes or so. If you have a Mac, I suggest you get Sparrow as this is the fastest way to send and receive emails. You can be in and out in one minute and send about 5 emails.

 

The initial activation fee is $3.95.

By the minute cost is $0.75 per minute.

100 minutes for $55.00 ($0.55 per minute)

250 minutes for $100.00 (0.40 per minute)

 

 

Gratuities

 

Gratuities aboard a Carnival ship will run you $11.50 per person per day. That goes along the lines with the rest of the industry, although maybe on the low side. I usually tip more on drinks and food, as I know how hard the crew works at making the cruise a perfect vacation for everyone.

 

 

Shore Excursions

 

Carnival offer price match guarantee with any shore excursion that you book with them. I have noticed in the past that Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and specially Celebrity love up charging you and making quite some profit in this department. I was wondering why Carnival shore excursions were priced so tempting, then found out that they basically monopolize the contracts of some shore excursion. This is not exactly a great practice, for the end user, as is in any other monopoly. But in the end if you want to a specific shore excursion, that is in their list of excursions, you will have to go through them. This was my case and I used them for one shore excursion. I usually do things on my own, as you can save a lot of money that way.

 

 

Trip Insurance

 

When I buy trip insurance for my cruises I go to Insure My Trip and shop around for a travel insurance. On this trip I went for Atlas insurance, you really can’t say no to an insurance plan that covers 100k medical and costs you less than $10. Also includes bag loss and medical evacuation, that is just a simple no brainer.

 

 

Parking in Port of Miami

 

I did a lot of research on this, I usually park on port nearby parking and never had an issue with Ft. Lauderdale and port Canaveral. However Miami is a bit complicated. Due to the port proximity to Downtown Miami, most parking lots get mixed reviews. To be honest I could not find a lot, with solid 4 star reviews, they just fluctuated too much for me leave my car there and sail away without a care. I highly suggest you do your research. I will also add that about 4 months ago, there was a story in the news. The passengers got to the lot one day, I think it was a sunday and the lot had mixed all the keys by accident and lost half of them. It was a real mess! Cars blocking cars, some people with keys, others without. It took them a couple of days to get that cleared out. Just saying… Anyway, in my case I had 2 options. Pay $120 for port parking, or contact a friend. I went for the later one. While I really dislike bothering my friends with tasks like this one, this time was one that I could really use their help. But to my surprise mom made it in time to drop me off in the Port, so that was easy :).

 

 

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My Camera Equipment

 

 

Sony DSC-RX100

 

I bought this camera prior my Disney Dream review, I did so mainly to try to find a more compact camera to carry around more easily. Simply put the Sony DSC-RX100 20.2 MP Digital Camera is possibly the best point and shoot camera that money can buy. The image quality of this camera is so great that this is now my main camera during my cruises. The main problem with this camera is its very high price tag, that is something that might push the average consumer away from her. But for photography enthusiast and professionals this is the way to go. I am very glad that I know own one, because with my new budgeting there is no way that I could afford to buy her again. But if you’re looking for the best picture quality in a small package, this is your girl!

 

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Sony NEX-F3

 

This used to be my main camera, but as time told I grew tired of carrying her along with me all the time. Now don't get me wrong the RX100 can not come close to the picture quality of the NEX, but it is good enough for me to leave the NEX in the room most of the time. I am currently using the NEX for food pictures in low light situation, zoom pictures, fisheye pictures and the video narrations at the end of the cruise.

 

These are my lens I own:

 

The Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar 24mm F1.8. What can I tell you about this lens? This is my absolute favorite piece of glass! This is my #1 lens. If I was told that I could only travel with one lens, then this would be it. If you see interior pictures, the odds are that they were taken with this lens, as it is very fast and it delivers very good pictures (even during the most unpredictable situations). Of course, all this comes at a high cost, but unfortunately that is the sad part of photography… good equipment is just not cheap.

 

The Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 is my only zoom lens. It is a pretty basic lens and nothing really special to write about here. As long as there is enough light it performs pretty well, however, it does tend to struggle when light becomes scarce. Hopefully, Sony will soon release a faster zoom lens, but until then I am very happy with this one!

 

The Rokinon 8mm F2.8 Fisheye lens is just a really fun toy to work with. This time around I really did not use this lens at all, I am not sure why. Maybe it was because I was not carrying my bag like I usually do. I am also considering selling this lens.

 

How does the camera perform with the provided kit lens? For those of you wondering, she does very well. She might not have the capabilities of low light that the Zeiss has, but the overall pictures are excellent. If you are thinking of buying it, I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed with the results!

 

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Underwater Camera

 

I purchased the Olympus Stylus TG-2 iHS Digital Camera prior my Disney Dream cruise as well. I hold a very high standard for my pictures, and in a way I compare all my pictures to my NEX camera results. I know this is not fair as the sensor of the cameras simply don’t even compare in any possible way, but still it is just something that I do. Not only does this camera offer good picture quality, but she is also a dream to operate! Everything about her is just PERFECT! I guess you would have to play with it to really see what I am talking about. I highly recommend this camera for those days when you find yourself in a shore excursion on a boat, or snorkeling around in your favorite island. Oh I forgot the GPS in this camera is possibly the BEST one that I have ever used to date! Not to mention that it has a really fast F2.0 lens, that allows you to shoot pictures with poor lighting without a flash. If you’re looking for an all around great rugged camera that is a blast to use, this is your baby!

 

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Software & Image Hosting

 

For most of my picture editing I use Lightroom, like I said I am not a pro. I use this software for some light color correction and sharpening, it is also great at compressing 5mb files into 400kb files with minimal quality loss. The one thing that I don't like about lightroom is that it is not capable of doing panoramas on its own, for that you will need Photoshop CS6 (you can also use the in-camera software or other tools). And last for collages I use Picasa and Paintbrush for adding arrows and text to some images. All these images are hosted by photobucket, I have the 20gb account and pay $3 a month, I don't really need the 20gb, but I do however need the unlimited bandwidth as I use a lot of it.

 

 

Videos

 

I will be posting a few videos in the process, to view the videos just click on the SMALL pictures or click the link. If some you are just looking at pictures, keep in mind that any small picture will be a video. Once in youtube don't forget to change the quality of the video to 720p or 1080p HD, it makes the video so much better.

 

 

Here is an example:

 

I love this video with the Love Boat theme song!!!

 

 

 

 

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Important!

 

 

I know I have said this in the past and gone back on it, unfortunately this time I have to stick by it. I am currently working full time and taking Physics + lab dunning a summer A semester. I am crouching time like never before. In order to deliver a strong review like I have done in the past, I will have to sacrifice the responses.

 

On all my past reviews I addressed each post personally, but that won’t be possible now. I will however answer all the question, so no worries with that. If you have a question just shoot it out and I will get to it.

 

I am expecting a lot of readers in this review as I bring a lot of loyal followers from other cruise lines boards, RCCL, X, NCL and Disney.

 

Comments are still appreciated as that is part of the fuel that us reviewers need to keep going strong till the end.

 

One more thing to keep in mind is that I won’t proof read the review, so please excuse me if you see more grammatical errors than usual. I will try to keep them at a bare minimum, but just keep that in mind.

 

I appreciate everyones understanding with this matter, this is only being done so I can dedicate most of the time to the review itself.

 

Thank you :)

 

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Pre-Cruise Week

The week of the cruise was insanely busy for me, I had like 3 finals and I did not want to loose any of my A’s by performing poorly during those examinations. So to say that expressed that week was a real understatement. But everything went as planned and my hard work and determination payed off quite well.

 

Once Friday came and all my class were finished I was exhausted, and pretty much spend that entire day in bed relaxing and working at night. The big problem with that is that up to that day I had done ZERO packing, usually I am very lucky that my mom packs for me in advance but since she was out of town well… The funny thing is the she actually flew in from Colombia that day, but still that just left me with saturday to pack and finalize everything. That is not usually the way I like to go, but given the circumstances it actually played out pretty well :D.

 

 

Thanks Mom :)

 

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Day 1

 

 

Well the day was finally here, and I was 100% pumped and ready to board the wonderful Carnival Breeze! I don’t think I have mentioned this so far, but our roll call for this cruise was absolutely fantastic. There was an incredible level on energy and excitement that just kept building up each day. I really did feel like I knew a lot of people going on the cruise already. I think this is by far the most active and energetic roll call out of all of my cruises and that including Breakaway which was brand new at the time, so that alone says quite a bit.

 

So anyway, my anxiety level was already sky rocket high, keep in mind this was after all my first solo cruise and while I was already set with the idea, I still had high anxiety that day. Usually I tend to get sick prior my cruises, I believe is my anxiety fault, but this cruise I had no time to get nervous, I was simply too busy to even think about it.

 

So back to the story, I got ready packed everything and went over my list one last time to make sure I had everything in place. We had to leave early because my mom was going to drop me off at the port of Miami and then she was going to hit the road on a short road trip. Funny that I got a letter from Carnival saying to get to port at 1:00pm, I was like “Yeah that’s not going to happen”. Just to be safe I contacted Carnival and told then that there was no way that could happen, they said it was ok, I could arrive early and wait. I could be wrong here, but in my opinion the letter is simply a number game to thin out the masses, they must send it to quite a few cruisers, and if 50% obey the letter then it makes things much easier for them. Again I could be wrong here, but that is just my personal thought.

 

But honestly this is the first time this happens to me on a cruise, well, not true. With Disney they assigned me a time, which I completely ignored and got there 2 hours before the assigned time. They never said a word about it. The way I see it is that I am paying good money to go on this vacation and I will make sure that I get the most out of my $$$. If I want to get early to port then so be it, that is exactly what I will do. I will take a gamble and wait in the terminal area if I have, but at least I know that I will be one of the first ones to board the ship once the process begins. Ironically this time, I was getting there earlier because mom had to drop me off early.

 

The drive to port was uneventful, I tend to avoid Miami as much as I can. To be honest I am not crazy about it, just too much traffic for my personal taste. But it was pretty quick, with little to none traffic.

 

You know you are in Miami Port when you see this!

 

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I admit I love port everglades, however the Miami line up is like no other. Specially on Sundays when the variety of ships is so great. That Saturday we only had 3 ships on port.*

 

Mom dropped me off early, I forgot what time it was. But my guess is around 10am, security check and check-in were incredibly fast and painless. A very efficient check-in, I can only compare it to my Disney Dream experience, I was very impressed. So with time to burn I sat down and pulled my computer, and finished some work before I lost internet for the rest of the week.

 

The terminal is simple but nice, it also flows well and allows for lines to be formed without affecting the other areas. No complains here, I thought it was very confortable while I waited to board.

 

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Note: There will be a lot of pictures like this one on this review. These pictures are made by my RX100 camera with a mode called "Illustration mode". I usually get a lot of question about this, so I figured I get out of the way now. Anyway I am aware that there are other Sony cameras that have this mode, but not sure which models are the ones. I guess if you go to the sony site you could research it. Just look that the camera says that it also does "illustrations or illustration mode". So far I only know of Sony. I don't think anyone else does it.

 

I love these type of pictures, you will see many in this review. It is almost as if they are partially telling a story, and just want more of it. They leave so much open for your imagination to play with.

 

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I was given “Zone 5” I thought that was going to be a long wait from Zone 1, but what else could I do…

 

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By the way just a side note, I saw a lot of weed sniffing dogs in this cruise. I saw several that day in the terminal and I also saw some in Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Definitely a lot more than I am used to seeing on my other cruises, not sure why.

 

Around 11:20am they started boarding the Platinum members, according to another CC member there were over 1,000 of them in this cruise. And I think that sounds about right, because it took quite some time for them to get on board.

 

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At about 11:45am Faster To the Fun FTTF started boarding. Several CC members of our role call had purchased it, I had not. I think this is a good time to talk about FTTF, I 100% DO NOT ENDORSE this program on the Carnival Breeze. While it may seem very tempting and like you’re getting a good deal, let me tell you something. It is not a good deal at all. FTTF boarded at 11:45am, Zone 1 boarded at 11:50 and Zone 5 boarded at 11:55am. I kid you not, I took notes of the times and it just does make any sense to me why anyone would purchase this option.

 

Also not to spoil the review, but I also got my bag in the room very fast. I think faster than any other cruise I’ve been on. And getting off ship in Grand Cayman (Tender) was so fast that I did not even have time to process how quick it all happened. Great props go to Carnival for having such great systems deployed in this aspect of the cruise. They really have their act together. So unless you want to have your room ready immediately after you board, there is really no reason to buy it. Oh wait a minute, all rooms were available at 12:30, so basically I only waited 25 minutes to get in my room. So you’re paying $50 to drop off your bags 30 minutes earlier? Anyway, just my opinion and nothing more, good thing I hesitated about buying it on the first place.

 

Anyway back to the review, Like I said I boarded the ship at 11:55am.

 

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When you board the Carnival Breeze you arrive to the atrium. My first impression was a positive one, the colors were mild and pleasant to the eyes. While not the most impressive entrance I have seen, it was none the less a very nice first impression. This is also the first time that I saw a bar immediately as you walk in, well the Allure has one but it is to the side. On the breeze the Atrium bar is dead on waiting for you.

 

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I was pretty hungry since I had not eaten breakfast so I decided to head up stairs and look for food. I took the elevators up to the lido deck and started walking towards guy’s burger.

 

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Personally I wish instead of this cabanas they had a couple of jacuzzis there. But that’s just me, I am sure many enjoy them.

 

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That is the “Beach Pool”, here is were all the main activities happen. Like hairy chest contest, late parties, Movies at night, etc. I will admit that I did not spend much time here, I will get into why later on. But overall it is a nice area and one that I am sure you will frequent a lot during your cruise.

 

 

 

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Ok, so lets see I think this is a good time to talk about Guy’s Burger. The venue is nicely located in the Beach pool area. I never really experienced a long line there, although I saw some lines at peak times, however they seem to move very fast and with no issues. The burgers are really good! One very important thing for me is that the burgers are not too thick and then they break apart when you eat them. Guy’s are just about the perfect thickness. You can add lettuce, caramelized onions, mushrooms, pickles and some other condiments and sauces.

 

I have to say that the appearance of the burger is rather lousy, it just seems to be thrown on a plate and thats it. Oh, by the way the plates are conveniently made of thin metal, they actually work really nice as they are wider and can fit a lot of food in there. So anyway, I guess in conclusion, they are great burgers that look kind of bad in opinion. I think they are definitely on my top 5 burgers, and this is coming from a burger snob :D. Maybe that is why I been getting fat lately, lol. Oh, the fries were just ok, I think most of the time I got old batches and that is probably why I did not care much for them.

 

Anyway, I got in line and then I noticed on of the CC members walk by me. I said hi introduced myself, and he told me were the group was.

 

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I fixed up the burger the way I wanted it and headed toward the table. I met a few of the CC members there, I have to say this is the best roll call by far! Everyone was so friendly and nice, I had a great time with everyone every time we saw each other.

 

Please don’t mind the bite mark on the burger, I forgot to snap the picture.

 

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That’s it for now, I have to go get ready. Just water to launch the review before heading out =).

 

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In the past I have said that we have been jumping from cruise line to cruise line to find the one who fits us best. Now things have changed, I now realized that there is no such thing as the best cruise line for us. We have thoroughly enjoy each and every cruise we have been on, and it is now that I noticed that each cruise line offers something in particular that we enjoy and cherish.

 

Gambee,

 

Glad to see you started your review on the Carnival Dream. I'm looking forward to reading it.

 

I think you bring up an excellent point -- I also enjoy trying out different cruise lines. They all have their similarities and differences, and I can enjoy each cruise line for what it is. For example, I've had great cruises on both Carnival and Cunard, and there are some major differences between the two.

 

Regards,

-karl

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When we decided to take our first cruise on Allure I found CC and happened upon your fantastic review-among so many awesome reviews. This year we decided on the Breeze and once again I have devoured as many reviews as possible--in awe of how awesome the folks on CC are and how much I love every review I have read-I won't list them all because I don't want to forget anyone. Just my luck when I need another review to read, Gambee pops on here with a Breeze review!

 

Lisa

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Great review so far, however, I don't see any pics?????

 

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? I tried it out on several browsers and it seems to be fine from my end.

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