Carnival Breeze Superbowl Cruise 2018

Carnival Breeze Super Bowl Cruise, February 4, 2018

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Breeze during the 2017 super bowl and we had so much fun we quickly booked the same trip for 2018! Even better as the eastern Caribbean with ports of Key West, Freeport and Nassau Bahamas on the schedule the decision was pretty much a no brainer! We traveled from North Texas to Galveston and stayed the night before at the Hilton Garden Inn near the beach on what happened to be Mardi Gras in Galveston. I’m glad I booked the room well in advance!

Earlier in the year the Breeze received a facelift in dry dock and we were excited to see some of the changes while happy that some of our favorite places remained!

Cabin: We had the Ocean Suite, room 7350 just a few doors down from where we stayed last year. No complaints about the room at all although there was strange noise that sounded like a loud sliding door opening, never really figured out what it was and once we determined that no one was trying to get in the room we just ignored it. Our room steward “Denys” was great, always kept ice in the bucket and he seemed to be there when needed. I think he said he had a few months left on his contract before going back to the Ukraine. Good luck to him.

Highlights that may be of interest:

The room refrigerator actually kept the drinks reasonably chilled this year. Not as cold as home but for a dorm fridge quite respectable. I had read somewhere (on Cruise Critic I’m sure) that the fridge worked better if you left the cabinet door open which we did. I don’t know if that was the solution, but why argue with success?

We purchased the Value internet plan and it worked pretty good and quite fast very early in the morning (when I’m guessing most smart people are sleeping) and good enough during the day. In contrast we purchased the Premium plan on the Valor in August and it didn’t work very well. The internet also worked on the balcony most of the time.

We only caught a few shows, but they were all good. Early in the cruise it was noted that the Playlist cast were new and did their first show together on our cruise. That said we watched the 88 keys show and they did a fantastic job, looked like they got along very well. The lead singer was very good as well and I suspect they will get kudos for their performances. We did not see the Motown show but did go to Hasbro which was funny and the Love and Marriage show which was absolutely hilarious! CD Swartz did a fantastic show and pushed just enough on the couples, including the newlyweds... Other than that, we did see two comedians and both were good. We did not go to the piano bar but those that were there looked like they were having fun. We heard singers JD and the duo Buck and Oz and they also seemed to have a pretty good following on the ship.

Sorry, no report on the Casino except to say it was quite popular, seemed crowed most of the time when we went by there. I can’t talk about payouts though…

We ate at Guy’s burger joint a few times, the DW absolutely loves the burgers but I think they are ok for a snack. Fries are good though.

We use Your Time Dining and generally eat after 8:00 pm however on the last night we went right as the doors opened about 5:30 pm and have to say we enjoyed the meal more, not as crowed, bread was hot, etc. When we ate later it seemed that the food was a little overcooked (steaks, chicken, etc.) but all was perfect at the earlier time. Not to say that is why, only a data point of one but will check that out on future cruises.

We had quite a few (a hundred or so) sign up for the Meet and Mingle and we met in the Limelight lounge on the first sea day. We didn’t get a notice in our box but did see it listed in the Fun Times as well had others tell us about it during another scheduled get together. We had a good crowd of Cruise Critic folks and Carnival setup drinks and snacks for us. A few members of the staff showed up and walked around talking to folks but a pretty low key gathering.

I have to say that Carnival really has improved embarkation and debarkation in Galveston since our first cruise a year ago. In both August and this trip it took about 30-45 minutes to get on the ship once we arrived at the port, very nice. Getting off was equally smooth. In our case we were Zone 5 so were out of the cabin by 8:00 and went to the Lido for breakfast. They were running a little ahead of schedule and called our Zone at 9:10 instead of the scheduled 9:30 time so we were able to exit, pick up our bags, get the bus to the parking lot and started driving home by 9:30. We had considerable discussion the night before about keeping our luggage or leaving it out the night before for the porters to take to the customs area. In the end let the porters have our bags and we noted the next day that we wouldn’t have been able to get off any earlier had we taken our bags so it worked out better not having to carry our bags in the morning.

We are now looking for the next cruise. The DW wants to do the Panama Canal but we really don’t have the time to do the full 14 day cruise and I wish that the 9 day would stop at least one more port. Decisions, decisions…

Ha, I got through the review and didn't mention the Super Bowl! We watched the SB in the Ovation Theater and there was a good crowd there cheering their teams along. Well, let me say there were probably more Eagles fans there. All in all a good time was had by all. This actually was the first full game we saw all year but since we always turn the SB into a party it makes a good excuse for a cruise!

Excursions:

We basically did our own thing on this trip. We rented a car (Avis) in Key West and drove north for an hour or so to check the place out, may want to come back one day… After returning the car we took an Uber to the most Southern point and walked back to the ship on Duval and Whitehead streets and catching all of the tourist stops along the way. Stopped at Sloppy Joe's for food and heard some pretty good live music while we were there.

I hope this mini review has been helpful. Before our first cruise I spent a lot of time on CC reading, learning and asking questions that really helped us enjoy our first cruises and I hope this helps someone else, even if just a little, get the most out of their Carnival Cruise!

Happy cruising everyone!

Ocean Suite

Carnival Breeze in Key West

Guy's burgers

End of US 1 in Key West, Florida (or is it the beginning?)

Freeport, Bahamas from the top deck

Beach in Nassau, Bahamas (actually a very nice beach down the way a little bit)

I reached my 6 picture limit so here are a few more:

Towel Critters

Dessert Art at the Steak House

Baked Alaska on the last night of the cruise

The ship coin - anyone else know where it is located?

Last night sunset, until the next cruise!

Awesome- thanks for posting! We loved the Breeze. Unfortunately our Eastern Caribbean cruise was messed up by Hurrican Irma, so I still haven't seen Key West! Some day!

Enjoy your next cruise!

Thanks for the review and pictures!! Glad to hear the Breeze is still holding up well. Our cruise on her back in 2015 was one of our best Carnival cruises!!

Thanks for the review.

How annoying did you find the ESPN commercials during the Super Bowl? I was on the Magic and really got tired of ESPN Cricket and ATP tennis tour spots.

I reached my 6 picture limit so here are a few more:

 

Towel Critters

 

Dessert Art at the Steak House

 

Baked Alaska on the last night of the cruise

 

The ship coin - anyone else know where it is located?

 

Last night sunset, until the next cruise!

We leave on march 25.... thank you for a bit of a review! I'm super excited to go look for the coin! I found the Freedom's after a tonne of searching! I now know to look in the day lol