Newbie41

Thank you for your replies. I will check both the NCL website and the online TA's.

Hi All,

In the past we have only cruised on Carnival. When I booked a carnival cruise I called Carnival directly and booked through one of their personal vacation planners. Does NCL also have that option or do I need to use a travel agent?

We are considering 2 different cruises with a toddler. I'm not concerned about sea days, but am concerned about excursions. The bus ride getting to some excursions is very long, so that would not work well with a toddler. The two cruises we are considering are:

1. Dream going to Montego Bay, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel

2. Dream going to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel

Any thoughts on which cruise would work best with a 2 year old. Any great excursion ideas that don't involve a long bus ride.

I did this same itinerary in 2012, but it was on the Victory. It is a great itinerary. I especially loved St. Lucia, go to the pitons. St. Martin was also beautiful.

I'm not sure what time the bars close. Around 2 AM I had enough and had to be up early to enjoy the island. The night before our only sea day, the bars were still full at 3 AM.

Hi thanks for your replies. You indicated that Bahamas are cooler at that time of the year. What is the weather like in other Eastern Carrib islands?

Hi,

We are taking a cruise in early to mid January departing from either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We are undecided on the itinerary. At that time of year is it warmer in the eastern carib (Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Thomas) or the western carib (Cozumel, Belize, Grand Caymen)? Or is the weather similar in both?

Thank you all for your responses. We still haven't decided, but will soon.

Hi,

DH and I have only cruised on Carnival before. We will be in Miami in January and are considering taking a short (4-5 day) cruise. The only Carnival ship that fits our schedule is the Victory, and we have already cruised on that ship. We would like to try something new. We are considering RCI or NCL. Any thoughts on either of those lines compared to Carnival would be appreciated.

Boulders, thank you for your reply. It is a group of 8 adults ranging in age from mid 20's to mid 50's, plus the 3 year old. None of the adults are disneyphiles, but I thought a disney cruise might be a good idea for the 3 year old. My kids did enjoy Camp Carnival, but they were a little older when I took them on their first cruise. So I guess we will stick with Carnival because they have much more to offer as far as ports of call are concerned.

When my kids were younger we went on Carnival cruises and they loved camp carnival. Now they are grown and we want to take a cruise that will include several adults without children and one three year old. We are wondering what Disney cruises are like? Is there enough adult friendly entertainment and options for people without children? I know they don't have a casino, but how is their other entertainment? How is the food? Does it compare to other cruiselines, or is it mostly food kids prefer? I realize there will be a lot of kids on a Disney cruise. Are they mostly in organized activities or running wild?

Great pics. Enjoying your review and looking forward to sailing on the Breeze in November.

We took Amtrak home from our cruise once. Miami to NYC. 31 hell filled hours. Never.Again.

I agree with you 100%. For our first cruise back in 2002 we took Amtrak from Chicago to New Orleans because DH thought our daughter should experience a train trip. It was the longest 18 hours of my life. Don't base the cost just on train fare versus airfare. If you take the train and it is a long ride you need to factor in the cost of food. Food in the dining car on amtrak is on the pricy side. With our ride from hell we lift Chicago at 8 PM and arrived in NOLA the next afternoon at 2 PM, so we needed both breakfast and lunch on the train. Returning home we left NOLA at 2PM and arrived in Chicago at 8 AM the next morning, so we had to have dinner on the train. Besides eating there is absolutely nothing to do. You can only play cards for so long before that gets old.

We didn't purchase FTTF and boarded in Zone 1 on the Liberty earlier this month. Our rooms were ready by noon. It would not have been worth it for us.

This is exactly why I asked this question. I am sailing on the Breeze and was wondering if I would be able to board quickly if I didn't purchase FTTF?

Nope!

Can you please elaborate and tell my why you think it wasn't.

Hi,

I was reading about FTTF, and it sounds like a good idea. Our ship leaves at 4 PM, but I would like to get on it as early as possible. I've also heard that boarding in Miami is a nightmare, so anything that would make it easier would be great. If I purchase FTTF am I really guaranteed early entry to the ship.

I finally got through reading all 21 pages of this review and loved it. After I was done reading this I wanted to kick myself for booking this ship so far in advance. It's 30 degrees in Wisconsin, and over the next few months the temp is going to get even lower. I want to be on the breeze right now sitting by the pool, and enjoying a frozen fruity concoction. I want to thank everyone for your great posts and am looking forward to reviews now that the Breeze is in Miami.

I will be on the Breeze next year and am looking so forward to reading all the responses from those who have Breezed before me.

Thank you for restarting a new thread. The old was was too long and out dated.

 

The thread evolved from "Carnival Secrets" to alos include tips and ideas from seasoned cruisers. I found those actually more helpful than the "Carnival Secrets"

 

Heres one i started doing on my last cruise. With Digital cameras, we all end up taking hundreds of pictures. My problem was that after the cruise when I got home, I would go through my pics and have a hard time remembering where a pic was taken, when, and what it was!

 

So now each morning, before I leave the cabin, I take a picture of the front page of the Fun Times. It has the date and port of call on it. I now know that every pic taken after that one is in sucn and such port and taken on such and such date. Makes organizing our photo albums much easier.

At every port I've been to when I get off of the ship there is a "Welcome to _____________" sign, so I always take a pciture of that and it helps me keep my photos organized.

DH and I want to eat at the steakhouse on the Breeze to celebrate our anniversary. I don't eat steak or any other red meat. So how are the other entrees? I would probably be most interested in the lobster tail or the rosemary infused chicken. Has anyone had either of these items in the steakhouse?

Anyone have a copy of the menu?

http://www.carnival.com/onboard/cruise-food/~/media/CCLUS/Images/pdf/Steakhousemenupdf.ashx

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the elegant night food, but I HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE having to get dressed up in monkey suits.

 

To me, the perfect "elegant" night would be a "cruise casual" dress code with the "elegant night" menu and servers walking around with dessert carts containing the "Chocolate Extravaganza" type desserts.

As I was reading through this tread I was thinking the exact same thing. I love elegant night because I love lobster, but getting dressed up not so much. I didn't think of a chocolate extravaganza dessert cart though, that is a great idea.

Hi,

I've seen recent posts about all things magic, allthings valor, etc., but have not seen one about all things victory. I know it is very old, but I'm glad someone brought it to the top because I will be on the Vicotry in just under 4 weeks.