ntourtelotte

We just got off the Breeze with two boys (10 and 13) with similar ports. After some research, here is what we did.

Cozumel-took a taxi to Chanknaab. It was good as in intro to snorkeling for our boys as they had never done it before and we didn't know if the younger one, who isn't very adventurous, would do it. We had a great sun/hang out in the sand/snorkel day.

Belize City-Did a Mayan ruins and river boat excursion by Carnival. It was good, but a long day, especially when you include the tender boats! Our boys expected to really enjoy the ruins (they like history/museums) and I think they liked the boat ride better.

Roatan-We did a half day island tour with Daniel Johnson's and went to their Monkey and Sloth hangout. We really enjoyed the monkeys and sloths and the island tour was good, too. Nothing special, but it was a good way to see the island. We then went back onto the ship for a relaxing lunch and then went to the beach within the cruise port area.

On the ship, we did Your Time Dining so that we could have flexibility and ate in the dining room most nights. The boys enjoyed trying new foods in a no-pressure situation and it was a good chance to chat as a family. We went to the all ages comedy show at 8:00 after dinner 3 times. We watched some poolside movies--one night we hooked the boys up with Lido dinner to watch Wonder Woman and then we at in the Dining Room without them.

They weren't really interested in the youth activities at all-everyone is different, but spent a ton of time on the Sports Deck (mini golf, ping-pong, ropes course, pool, etc) and that is where they liked to just sit and hang out as well. They also spent a lot of time at the water park/slides/splash pad.

We also found the HUB app to work well for messaging. Things did not go through 100% of the time, but the app always told you if it failed so you knew it didn't go through. Overall, was well worth the $5/person.

One other silly highlight for them was that we bought the Bottomless Bubbles soda package. We are generally more conservative on soda and they really enjoyed the unlimited soda. I've heard some say that their kids have had trouble getting served soda at the bars, but we did not have that issue at all. They got to know the bartenders on the Sports Deck and regularly used 2 other bars on the Lido deck near pools and had no problems.

Enjoy!

Again, thank you for the responses and I know a watch is easiest. I also know that there is one day on our cruise that we will connect to local wifi as I have told my students that I will respond to emails on that day. Just want to be able to make sure we are accurately keeping track of time when taking the phone off airplane mode and connecting to wifi.

Sorry for the question for which the obvious answer was a watch. I guess I should have said that no one in our house has a traditional watch and I was looking for other solutions. I am trying to avoid having to go buy a watch just for this purpose and bring one more thing along. But, thank you to those who said that the phone could be set to stay on one time even when you connect it. I will try to figure out how to do that.

Am I correct that ships will not change time with the time zones, but rather will stay on their own time regardless of the time in port. So, if we are out and about, we need to keep track of the ships time on our own, not look at public clocks? And, if we connect our phone to wi-fi and the phone updates to local time, we need a different way to keep track of ship time? Suggestions?

We are going to spend a day at Chankanaab in a couple of weeks. I'm currently working on figuring out how much cash we need for each of our ports days. It says on their website that they take credit cards. Is that just for admission? What about if we want to rent snorkel gear or kayaks? Or buy food? Do we need cash for all that other stuff?

We drive to Canada regularly so my kids have had passport cards for years. My husband and I have had real passports because we have used them for other travel and they last 10 years. We did chose real passports for our upcoming cruise simply due to the possibility of emergency. We decided that if an emergency were to arise, we would want to be able to fly immediately. Not likely, but worth the money to feel secure.

We are about to cruise in April. What is considered 'cleaning'? I don't see us needing our room cleaned twice a day, but I do know we will frequently shower and need towels twice a day.

I get the Dining part. My concern was the excursion. Have others had the experience that we can stay together even if our reservations aren't linked?

We are parking at Galveston Park N Cruise

We are traveling with my husband's parents and they made their own reservations. We are planning to do ATD do didn't think we would need to link our reservations.

We are booking one excursion through Carnival. Do we need to link our reservations to ensure we are on the same bus or in the same group?

It looks like we need a PIN to do that?? They need to call to get a PIN. Then I call with their PIN and reservation # and then they get linked and then I can make excursion reservation for all 6 of us?

When you say one outlet of each kind, does that mean one outlet with 2 places to plug in? Or just one place to plug in?

In terms of water bottles--you can't fill those in the Lido buffet before an excursion?? I swear we saw people doing that on our last cruise. We were planning on that. Is it a no-no?

We are heading out on the Breeze on April 1st. Our family is my husband and I and our two boys-ages 10 and 13. Husband and I went on one short cruise on the Triumph a year ago, but this is our first family cruise. We are staying in a 4-person interior room, which we know will be small, but we don't plan on being in there much.

Based on lots of reading here, I'm put together a packing list to help keep our room organized and charge devices, etc. Are there things on here we don't need or that I should add?

Power strip and/or charging port (not surge protected) --How many outlets actually are there?

Nightlight

Battery clock

Sticky notes and marker to leave messages for each other

Over the door shoe storage to put things in and hanging shelves

Heavy duty magents

Maybe 3M hooks

Other important things-

Empty water bottles

Tide pods and some quarters for a laundry emergency (how many quarters?)

Beach bag/backpacks

Sunscreen/bug spray

Question-where are we going to hang wet swim suits? Is there a line for that in the bathroom or should we bring hooks for that?

First afternoon plan--

We embark during the 12-12:30 window and plan to have lunch right away. We don't have FTTF. We will drop all of our luggage except a bag with swimwear with the porters.

Eat somewhere other than Lido buffet? Guys burgers, Italian place, Mexican place?

Swim?

Get room organized when it is available

Where should we hang out during the ship sailing so that we can really see? We learned on the Triumph that there are some places that are better than others to see the fun at that time.

And we've heard that they boys should go to their age-group hangout places that first night to meet people and learn the ropes. Around what time? We have ATD and are hoping to eat together as a family most nights.

Any tips are appreciated!!

We arrive at 2:30 on Sat afternoon for a Sunday cruise. We are renting a car (using points) as the rental taxes and parking is way cheaper than shuttle service both ways for our family of 4. So, this means we have flexibility on what to do. Then we fly out at 4:30 after debarkation.

So, we have a few hours in Houston on Sat afternoon/evening and a few hours in Galveston or Houston before flying home.

Any suggestions? We've looked about Buffalo Bayou Park and know that the seawall in Galveston might be places to visit.

Thanks!

Thank you for the link! From further reading there and on TripAdvisor, it looks like we could do the Daniel Johnson's Monkeys and Island Tour and then have them drop us back at the port. From there, we could go to the Mahogany Bay Cruise Center/Beach for lunch and for beach time in the afternoon. If we wanted to save on lunch and not carry our beachwear around, we could walk back onto the ship for lunch and to put on our beachwear after being dropped off and then go to the Cruise Center/ Beach.

Does this make sense?

We are coming in on the Carnival Breeze in early April so I believe our port will be within walking distance of the Mahogany Bay beach. We will be with our 2 sons (10 and 13) and their grandparents. We would like to go to Daniel Johnson's and would really like an island tour so will do the Island Tour with them.

Their tour can end with a trip to the Parrot Tree Resort for lunch and beach time. On TripAdvisor, the reviews for the beach there aren't great. Would it work to skip Parrot Tree Resort and have them bring us back to the port area and go to the Mahogany Bay beach for the afternoon? Is there options there for lunch? And, am I correct that it would be just a 10 minute or so walk from the port?

Also, would any of these places have wifi available?

My question is about when we will debark in Galveston. I apologize for being unclear. We have a flight home out of Bush at 4:30 so are not in a big hurry.

Our only other cruise ever was on the Triumph out of Tampa. For that one, we sat around on the ship for quite a while after the time they said to be ready to debark and then stood in a customs like for about an hour.

It sounds like maybe this will be more efficient than that? I could put that we want a 10:00 shuttle?

We are thinking about this excursion. Can anyone tell me more about the river boat ride? Did you see much wildlife? Was it worth adding the boatride? Was the ride smooth? And you need to purchase your own lunch at a stop?

Natalie

Would a day a Chankanab be a good choice for an easy day with our kids and their grandparents? We are hoping for a general beach day with the ability to rent snorkeling gear and snorkel from the shore. Our kids (ages 10 and 13) have never snorkeled before and we just want to do something casual. Not sure if both grandparents will even want to snorkel so don't really want to book a snorkeling-focused excursion.

Taxi rides to and from Chankanab should be easy? And we should be able to get lunch there?

Natalie

I looking at information about booking private shuttles and for some it looks like I need to select a time. What time should I expect to be off the Breeze? We don't have FTTF and no special status.

Natalie

We are sailing the Breeze in April going to Cozumel, Belize City and Mahogany Bay. There are six of us. My family (2 boys ages 10 and 13) and my mother and father in law.

We are thinking of going to Chankanab in Cozumel for a beach day and then Mayan Ruins in Belize City.

Thinking about Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth hangout in Roatan. I was just reading their options about city tour, beach, and snorkeling.

Here are some questions-

I think we will pay to snorkel once, either a Chankanab where we can rent snorkel gear or add that to the Daniel Johnson tour. My boys have never snorkeled before and I don't think my husband's parents have either. Which place would be better to snorkel? Thinking better both in terms of what there is to see and where someone can guide/help out those who haven't done it before.

It sounds like there is a free beach in Mahogany Bay? If we decide to snorkel in Cozumel, can we swim there after Daniel Johnson if we decide to just do the Monkey Hangout and not the city tour that includes beach? Is there advantages or disadvantages to that?

Other suggestions of things that would be fun and affordable?

Is Cucina del Capitano for lunch an extra cost or is it only an extra cost for dinner?

I have read that flying into and out of Hobby is easier, but flights are so much more expensive for us, so Bush is what we are working with to cruise out of Galveston on Carnival on April 1st.

We will be flying in the day before, but out on Sunday after we arrive back in Galveston. There are 6 people (4 adults, two tweens).

I have multiple questions-

What is the earliest suggested and safe time to return on Sunday?

It looks like I could do Galveston Limousine for about $50 round trip pp. Is that the best I'm going to find?

Can we have them do airport to Galveston hotel on the day before and then cruise port to airport on return day? We should then be able to take a hotel shuttle to the port the day we leave?

Are we better off using the Carnival shuttle?

How do we select a time and project when we will be getting off the ship? Or do they just have shuttles waiting as people get off?

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. Can anyone tell me--if a Carnival excursion says the departure time is 8:45, does that mean meeting at 8:45 ON the ship and then tendering or does that mean standing in the tender line and meeting OFF the ship at 8:45? If the latter, what time do we need to get in the tender line?

I'm very new to this and starting to think about making plans for the port days. We are sailing the Breeze the first week of April.

I've heard that sometimes lines to tender into the port can be long. If I book an excursion through Carnival, how long before the excursion is scheduled to start do we need to get in line to tender? Where do we actually meet the group?

If I book an outside tour, how long before we are scheduled to meet our tour guide do we need to get in line to tender?

Is this a port where I am better off booking through Carnival than a private tour because of logistics? I'm partly thinking about my tween/early teen kids who aren't particularly early risers in the morning so don't want to set up a disaster where we miss something. I am thinking about either cave tubing or visiting a Mayan site.

We are going to be on the Breeze in April and are thinking about beach visits on 1 or more of our port days. Are there towels that we can take with us off the ship to use at port beaches? How does this work? I'd like to not have to pack this and have our own beach towels take up space in our cabin all week.

Thank you!