cruisinqt

I haven't been on the Breeze yet, we will be on her over spring break. But I've been on her sister ship, the Dream, that has the same deck plans and layout. We were on deck 9 port side and never noticed any smoke at all from deck 5. :) I've actually never smelled smoke out on our balcony on a moving cruise ship because of the wind. However, I have smelled smoke from people on the balcony next door while we were docked in port. But now that smoking isn't allowed in most rooms and you have to smoke only in designated spaces that shouldn't be a problem.

Everyone always says it depends on which pier you dock at and how the captain pulls the ship in. That being said, all of our cruises but a couple have been on balconies and we prefer port side because that side tends to face the port. We have tried both sides but it seems like the captain tries to make sure the port side faces the port. You will hear the naysayers say otherwise but our experiences seem to favor port side facing the port. We love people watching and seeing the last minute runners getting cheered on as they try to make it on the ship before it leaves. Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise. :)

We rented a car in Grand Cayman a few years ago. It's a really nice island and we didn't have to worry about ending up in a bad area of town because it's really nice there. But driving on the left hand side of the road was a little challenging. My husband (who was driving) kept forgetting to drive on the left side of the road. Thank goodness I was there to remind him. It was an adventure to remember. 😊

Carnival has the small cereal boxes at breakfast that are perfect for snacking and are ok to take off the ship. We've done it ourselves. Some ports are picky about fresh fruit or unsealed unpackaged foods like homemade sandwiches. I didn't see anything like that in Grand Cayman. But most all ports are okay with new unopened packaged food like bags of chips, candy bars, cereal bars, or the small boxes of cereal on the ship, just as long as its new and unsealed. When our kids were little and we were budgeting a lot more we brought food like this with us. We hated paying ten prices at some restaurant while in port for our kids that would pick at the food and barely eat it then get hungry an hour later. :rolleyes: We would bring boxes of cereal bars, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, etc. I hope this helps. :)

Putting your phone in airplane mode is the first thing Carnival suggests you do...[ATTACH]374172[/ATTACH]

Thanks that's exactly where my info came from. I always put my phone in airplane mode when I'm on my cruise. Not because I don't trust myself in regards to my internet usage :rolleyes: but because I don't want to accidentally get charged. We usually call AT&T and tell them about our cruise and have them block all roaming charges for us just to be safe though.

This is simply incorrect about being required to put your phone in airplane mode. If you put it in airplane mode and then activate wi0fi, all you have done is turn off the phone call part of your device, and CCL doesn't really care about that.

What are some tips to improve the experience?

Once you board, turn Airplane Mode ‘On’ and connect to Carnival Wi-Fi. By using Airplane Mode, you avoid roaming fees charged by your carrier. Airplane Mode is typically found in your phone’s Settings.

This is recommended by Carnival when you connect to their wifi. The statement above comes straight from Carnival in regards to their wifi plan. I was just quoting Carnival.

If you're on one of the newer ships there's newer more affordable internet packages.

Social ($5 per day) - Access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, WhatsApp, & snapchat but no internet.

Value ($16 per day) - Internet access including email, news, sports, weather, banking, and finance. ( No Skype or music streaming.)

Premium ($25 per day) - emails, Internet, Skype, at the fastest possible connection speeds up to 3 times faster than the value plan.

All of these plans require that you put your phone in airplane mode (so you don't get any crazy charges on your phone) and then you get onto Carnivals wifi. We plan on doing the value plan on sea days. It's pretty reasonable compared to past Internet plans. I hope this helps. :)

The internet plan costs money. You can put a spending limit on your kids accounts. We limit our kids spending by only putting a little bit of cash in their accounts every couple of days.

We've stayed lower on the ship and its much smoother and quieter down there. Our last cruise was deck 12 forward and we felt movement much more there than on lower decks. The deluxe ocean suites are supposed to be really nice, I would go for it.

We plan on using the value plan for $16 on some of our sea days so we can check on my parents. It won't cost too much if you just get it for a couple of days to touch base and make sure everything's ok back home. :)

There's also snapchat and kik that are apps that allow you to text each other. If they're on the social package then you could do that. Just make sure your family has the app and knows how to use it.

I can deal with those speeds and those prices. 😊 I'm so glad they've improved their internet options. I won't have to hear my kids whine about not having internet, though I will be limiting their usage. And both of parents are in their 80's with not too great health so it will be nice to be able to check in on them.

We were on the Sunshine and I assume the Breeze may be the same way. I had heard the $5 a day and was prepared to pay that. But once onboard if you bought for the whole cruise it was cheaper. So on a 5 day cruise it was only $18. I believe the medium tier was $40 and the premium tier was $70 for the 5 day cruise.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when it worked out less than $5 a day!

Wow those are great prices! Our cruise is 8 days so it will be more but it's still a huge improvement over what it used to be.

We are also looking forward to the fun hub app where we can chat with each other, see deck plans, check out the daily activities, and be reminded of events we're going to. I'm really liking some of the improvements Carnival is making in this area.

They are sister ships with the same layout and deck plans but the Breeze is newer. They also have a choice on balcony types on these new ships. You can choose from a regular balcony and an enclosed cove balcony. I'll be sailing the Breeze in March and I'll do a long thorough review. 😊

Thanks that what I was wanting to know. I didn't know if it would be worth it upgrading to the premium package. But it sounds like it's a much better system and works fine either way. 😊

I always give my kids an allowance to spend on our cruise. It is up to them how to spend it. When they were really young it was spent on candy or the arcade. As they got older it was spent on shopping or the spa. But now that the wifi plans are so much more affordable they want to spend their money on that. But is it worth it? Has anyone used it with the new plans?

They have 3 plans. The basic for $5 per day. The value plan for $16 per day. And the premium plan for $25. Is there that much of a difference between speeds between the value and the premium plans? They will probably just use it on sea days but I'd like to research this so I can make an informed decision. Has anyone used the new plans on the Breeze? Any info will be much appreciated. 😊

Why not try asking the dry cleaner to clean and fold them for you and possibly use tissue paper when folding and see if that works and maybe you can skip the ironing on cruise next time. Do you have the packing cubes? I resisted them at first but being Type A and efficient, I wouldnt pack any other way. They really work.

I didn't really plan on using the dry cleaners any time soon. I have a diy dry cleaning kit I use at home that works great and is a fraction of the price. What are packing cubes? I've never heard of them.

Yes there really are lines lol. But it's only on formal nights. Any other time is ok. And I just need to iron my husbands dress shirts or an occasional dress. I usually try to get wrinkle free skirts and blouses though.

All ships have a laundry room with free irons and ironing boards. I iron our formal stuff the morning of arrival and hang them in the closet. That way I avoid the line of people waiting to iron their stuff on formal nights. It's much easier than lugging an iron on board or spending money on something I'll only use occasionally on trips.

Inflatable? Now that's what I need for cruising. The big bedrest type pillow I've been taking on past cruises is so big it takes up an entire carry on bag by itself. It would be nice to eliminate a bag. Where would I find an inflatable one?

I found it on Amazon for around $30 and it came with a pillowcase. 😀

Do you feel the 7" sufficient? I have reflux really bad and worry it isn't high enough. I noticed on the website they offer a 10" version as well.

I got the 7" wedge pillow too and it's perfect. It seemed like it wouldn't be enough of a lift but all of the reviews I read online said the 7" was perfect and the 10" was too drastic of a lift and made it difficult to sleep. I love my pillow. I even got an inflatable wedge pillow to take on trips. It works nicely and folds up real small. :D

BUT, if CCL actually holds to a 12:30PM start for boarding, how does staggered check-in help individuals that choose a 10AM check-in?

Is Carnival starting to enforce a 12:30 pm check in time now? Is this something new? I've always been able to board much earlier regardless of FTTF.

This is true it's early check in not boarding. But you have to check in before you're allowed to board. So it would be reasonable to assume that if you're checking in at the earliest time possible you will board at the earliest time possible. And even when I've had FTTF I've always had to wait for wedding parties, gold, platinum, and diamond members anyways. This would just add one more group (FTTF) that would board before me. And it's a limited number group and not all of them will show up super early.

And we don't lug our carryons around. We bring our swimsuits and hang out at the pool. I'm fine watching the luggage and enjoying a " kiss on the lips" while people watching. No lugging just chugging lol. I'm thinking I'll just pass on the FTTF for this cruise because of the staggered check in and no tenders. I'll just use that $$$ on foofoo drinks. 🍺🍸🍹🍻

It's funny because I see this completely different. With staggered check in they don't tell you when to board, you get to choose your check in time, you choose when you check in and board. If you want early check in, choose that. If you want later check in choose that. You tell them when you want to check in and board. When I booked my cruise I got to choose my check in time and I chose 10 am. It's just like choosing your dining time in the MDR. I don't see it helping FTTF, I see it hurting it. One of the perks of FTTF is early boarding but if you choose 10 am check in / boarding then why the need for FTTF? And if the crowds are staggered during the check in process then it won't be so crowded when boarding early. It sounds like a good idea to me. 👍

Just to clarify, this isn't another one of those "is FTTF worth it?" type of posts. I'm sick of those too. Either you like FTTF or you don't. I've used it before and liked it.

What I was trying to say was do I really need it/is it worth it now that there's the new staggered check in, especially if you have all tender ports. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to get FTTF on most any cruise but this situation is unique.

Thanks for the input guys. 😀

We are sailing the Breeze in March and I just received an email about staggered check ins for my cruise. We are going to Aruba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk. None of these ports need tenders. There are kiosks to manage my cruise account on the ship. And now we have early check in/ boarding scheduled. So do I really need FTTF? I'm wondering if this new staggered check in thing will will adversely effect FTTF sales.

Thanks for all of the info guys. I feel better about the weather now. 😄

It sounds like a lot of people like to cruise this time of year and the weathers great.