MamaParrotHead

Just off 12/24 sailing. The only time I felt crowded was the mess for tender tickets. Other than that, we noticed a real improvement in use of public spaces.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Do they have they newer version of Camp (penguins, stingrays, sharks) and the Dr. Suess theme, or is that something that is planned for next year's dry dock? Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Earned a trip to Cancun, would finally like to make it to Xcaret. We're staying at Moon Palace and would like to hire a driver for the day to take us down and bring us back. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!!!

They have the menus on their website, but no pricing. Thank you!

Thanks, Bubba! Not going until mid-June. :)

Been two Nassau twice while cruising, now I won an incentive trip to stay at Atlantis for 5 days. I'd love some info on a close, nice market (we have a per diem and prices being what they are at Atlantis, I'd love to get some snacks and breakfast foods to keep in the room). Any other tips for staying at Atlantis and making the most of our trip? We'll be in the Royal Towers.

Thank you!

Yes, it's a 6M, 2 showers per cabin. It WAS awesome.

Thanks for the review. Do you remember which venues were open for lunch during embarkation?

 

Also, do you have any pics of your cabin? Especially the bathroom set up.

 

Thanks.

Sure. Guy's, Blue Iguana, Lido Buffet, Deli, Pizza were all open at embarkation.

We were in 2231/2235.

Regular bathroom

Bonus bathroom (sink, tub, shower)

My dad was in 2217 (in a porthole cabin, incase anyone is interested in that too). Double bed, no bonus bathroom but a decent chunk of change cheaper.

Thanks for the review....a few questions...

 

Returning to the ship from Palm Beach Aruba...

What time did you leave Palm Beach to get a taxi back to the ship?

How easy was it to get one?

How long did you have to wait?

Was there a long lineup of people wanting to get back to port?

What was the cost?

 

Did your older child attend the older kids club (Circle C?)? Just wondered about those really late parties that they have...starting at like 10:30pm :eek: Did she attend any of those? Seems a bit late for the kids to be out that late.

 

Thanks

We left around 1:15 from the beach. Glad we did because there was a decent amount of traffic. Our taxi driver who dropped us off gave us a card with the company's number on it, and the beach attendant called them for us when we were ready to go. No line at all. It was like $17 for 5 of us one way.

My kids haven't ever attend the FULL late night party. We are SO SO active during the day, we're ALL ready to crash by 10-11 p.m. ONE time she stayed until 1:00 when we had arranged to meet up and then we BOTH went right to bed, LOL.

Thanks for your review. We will be on this itinerary at the end of December.

Did your younger child participate in Camp Carnival? By chance would you have the schedule for the 9-11 group? Also, I need 6-8 if anyone out there has it.

 

Did you have any trouble getting the taxi from the ship to the Seavis launch point? I have read that a few people were having trouble because the port taxi folks didn't want to cooperate with getting people to Seavis.

 

I'm a little worried about Curacao for the same reason as you -- 2:00 to 11:00 does not leave much daylight time (especially when we will go in December). It's also Christmas that day, so I'm imagining there will be nothing to do besides walking around. Was it fairly easy to get around to at least see interesting buildings/places, or were the distances super far? (We have 9 and 6 year olds.)

 

Thanks for any insights!

Kids did not attend Camp Carnival this sailing, no particular reason, we just ended up spending a lot of time as a family. We actually did miss the taxi set up by Seavis, but took another legit company and they paid when we arrived. Just tell them you're on the Seavis Saona tour and they'll direct you to the right spot. Curacao was easy to navigate and an easy walk to the bridge and shopping district, no problem.

Aruba was gorgeous. We cabbed it to De Palm Beach. Great vibe, friendly locals, loads of amenities, not too crowded. We’d totally go back there for a land vacation as well.

Halloween was this night and they decorated the ship a bit, which was fun. Offered some fun Halloween-themed desserts in the dining room. I also participated in dressing up with some fellow CC’ers and we all dressed up as Waldos, LOL. Kind of disappointing for the kids though...not a whole lot planned for them. There was a 13 stop Trick-or-Treating map that Camp Carnival put on, but they got like one piece of candy at each stop. Then there was kind of a lame dance party that followed, where we were all cramped into Club O2 and there weren’t any prizes or games or anything.

If you have any questions, please let me know, I’m happy to answer them.

Curacao we had odd port times, 2-11 p.m. Given the fact that although we’re beach bums, it was a heck of a ride and hassle to get to a beach for such a limited amount of time, we took a break from the rays and just explored on our own. Rif Fort is run and provides some good photo ops. The floating bridge is pretty cool and shopping in the Punda offers a variety of goods. We made pit stops here and there along the way for some beverages and the prices were decent. We were back onboard by 5 or so, grabbed some lunch, put our swimsuits on and used the rest of the evening to swim and enjoy the ship.

PORTS:

Grand Turk we just rolled off the ship and went to Jack’s Shack for a relaxing beach day. Food and drinks are good, but prepare yourself for a long wait on the food. WAY better pricing than Margaritaville.

La Romana D.R. we booked through Seavis tours. The BEST day of our trip. The $60 they charge is a BARGAIN for what they provide. Taxi from La Romana to Bayahibe, the speedboat to Saona Island (stopping to check out a few things along the way and learn a little bit about the DR), gorgeous beach, tasty and plentiful lunch, FREE DRINKS all day, trip to the Piscina Natural to find some sea stars and wade in gorgeous water, yummy poundcake and pineapple for dessert (and more free drinks). I cannot recommend them highly enough. We’d definitely go back to Bayahibe for a land vacation.

Quick review of our 10/26/13 sailing on the Carnival Breeze, 8 day exotic southern Caribbean sailing.

We’re a family of 4, with kids age 10 and 13. This is our 6th cruise, all on Carnival.

Flew in the night before, stayed at Holiday Inn POM, where we’ve stayed previously. The convenience is the biggest draw, second being the service at the hotel. Ate at Bubba Gump’s, where we’ve eaten previously, mostly because we know it’s good and weren’t feeling adventurous and had done the South Beach thing and didn’t want to pay to cab it down there.

Embarkation was SMOOTH. Carnival has improved the process, taking boarding pics at the time you check in rather than holding everyone up as you board the ship. Plus they run the card you have on file for your Sail & Sign that morning, so you don’t even need to present it at the check in desk. Present your ID, they give you your Sail & Sign and off you go.

We LOVED the ship itself. The variety of seating areas, the lay out of the ship, the fact the decks are wood anymore, lay out of the main pool area, variety and QUALITY of the music onboard, the lay out of our room (deluxe oceanview) with the additional shower/tub/sink area AND the best food/service of any ship we’ve sailed on. The Cucina del Capitano was very good and worth the money, we ate in there twice.

The only cons we found, which aren’t unique to the Breeze, is the limited hours of the specialty eateries on Lido (Guy’s burgers, Blue Iguana burritos, Mongolian Wok) none of which are open for dinner. And the Guest Services desk being severely understaffed on the last sea day (3 employees at the desk for 5000+ guests isn’t cutting it).

We have cruised out of FLL - Port Everglades; 6 times and never had this experience before...

Our CD said that FLL was notorious for it. We purchased the "Luggage Express" program (meaning we pay $20 pp, set out our bags early and are supposed to be escorted through Customs in a separate line from those who just do general debarkation). Didn't happen. There was no separate line, we wound through the luggage maze with everyone else, right past where we could have just picked up our luggage, and it took us almost 2 hours to get off the ship and meet our shuttle. Nightmare city. I complained to Carnival, who said that a lot of it had to do with the way FLL ran the cruise terminal (versus POM) and refunded our money.

Debarkation was a nightmare for us in FLL on our Freedom cruise this fall as well. I don't think it was unique to your cruise, our CD told us that FLL is notorious for crappy and slow Customs agents/processing. One of the main reasons we will avoid sailing out of FLL any time in the future. It was a TOTAL PITA.

Enjoying your review. Just booked the Breeze last week. Looking forward to the rest.

The price depends on the length of the cruise. I've also found how cost effective it is for me depends on how many sea days there are. 2 sea days, it doesn't really make it worth it for me. 3 sea days I come out ahead. Do a search for "soda cards" here, the price ranges will pop up. The only price I'm familiar with is for a 7 day sailing, it runs about $45 for adults.

I wonder if Keens would be considered "closed toe"?

I wasn't able to download a few of the Fun Times, I think because my antivirus/antispyware software was fighting with the website. Next time, I'd suggest box.net. I've used it successfully for large files (like books and music) for a while now. Thanks for trying!

If you buy the soda card, will they give you more than one can at a time?

No, with the card you don't even get a whole can. They load up about a 12 oz. cup with ice and then fill it with about 2/3 of a can. I've done it previously and not done it...my personal theory is that if you have 3 sea days or more, it's worth it. Otherwise, and I'm a pretty big Diet Coke drinker, you have to REALLY be tossing back sodas to break even.

Loving your review. As you can see, I have a bit of time until it's my turn. :D Can you tell me how your Hilton Honors membership got you a discounted rate on the Embassy Suites? I'm an HH member, I didn't know that it afforded me discounts (though I've only used it a few times).

We're also destination cruisers. This cruise, our fifth, we're not even planning to hit the MDR more than once or twice. We really enjoy the steakhouse and the menu in the MDR isn't worth the hassle and packing space for nice dinner outfits to us.

I use OPI or Sally Hansen for the colors and an OPI top coat. Mine not only lasted throughout the cruise, but a few weeks after the fact. I just couldn't bring myself to change them. :(

The same, boring menus they've had, with few exceptions, since I started cruising in 2005 (and maybe beyond that).