Carnival Breeze, Toddler Style!

There are plenty of detailed Carnival Breeze reviews out there. So I won't go in to too many details unless someone has a specific question for me. I'd be glad to answer anything I can about the ship. The information I will include revolves around cruising the Carnival Breeze with a 16 month old boy. I've recently taken to mommy-blogging about how to travel with kids because we travel so frequently.

For a little background, we tend to cruise more often on Royal Caribbean (2 cruises from Diamond). However, DH sailed on Carnival a lot as a kid so he has a little more "status" than I do on Carnival. This was my son's 3rd cruise. He was on the Carnival Glory at 9-months old and Enchantment of the Seas at 14-months old. We sailed on the Breeze July 27th, for a 6-day cruise.

To let everyone know before the end of my post, we had a wonderful time on the cruise and we'd be happy to go on the Breeze again some day. However it wasn't perfect.

here goes...

Travel Gear

For this trip we didn't bring many extras like we have in the past. My suggestion, if you like to travel, is to invest in a good umbrella-style stroller. We used to have The First Years Ignite, but since upgraded to the Chicco Liteway. I actually prefer it over my full-sized stroller these days! The Chicco fit great in the back corner of our stateroom. We saw parents will full-sized strollers struggling to get around in the ship.

We did not bring a pack n play this time because they provided us with a crib. However we learned you cannot request the crib in advance on Carnival.

I had to call Guest Services once onboard to request it. Their policy, apparently, is to deliver it during evening turn down service. We had to wait until 7:30pm for it to arrive in our room. Not cool when you have a 16-month old who needs an afternoon nap and does not sleep on a bed! My son is sleep trained a little too well and cannot sleep with us in the room, but we have a simple solution. A dark colored shower curtain and some magnetic hooks for the ceiling! As you can see below there was plenty of room in the stateroom, even with the crib.

Stateroom

On the previous two cruises I lucked out with balcony cabins. I do mean lucked out, as we rarely pay for a balcony. Both were free upgrades. This time I booked a category 6M Oceanview stateroom, no upgrade- but in the end I was very thankful. Carnival has been offering these nice "family" staterooms on their newer ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze). So you're probably thinking what is so special? I'll show you.

Yes, a bathtub, a window seat, and four closets! Those three things are rare on a cruise ship. All of them came in handy for traveling with a 16 month old. There were two bathrooms in the room. One was the regular toilet, sink, and shower combo. The other was a tub/shower and sink. The two bathrooms have separate water heaters as well. The tub was a life saver each night. We were able to keep a regular routine with bath before bed time each night. The window seat was great when we were in port because he could people watch. He actually loved it when we were at sea as well because he was fascinated with the water and waves. Finally, the closet space. We never even used the last closet. We each took one to store our clothes, the last one was where we kept the third suitcase, the other two were under the bed.

Dining Room

We ate in the Main Dining Room, Blush, on 5 of the 6 nights. We chose to eat in the buffet on the second formal night because we didn't feel like dressing up. Service was adequate, our waiter made some napkin animals on a few nights to help entertain the little guy. We requested a high chair on the first evening and it was automatically there on subsequent nights. The first ten minutes were challenging each night because we had to order a fruit plate for my son, to keep him occupied. On another cruise we took they would bring fruit as soon as we sat to help keep him busy.

On another note, I was extremely happy to eat from the "old menus." We had sailed on the Carnival Glory the week that American Table and American Feast debuted. We came home lighter than ever on that cruise. This time, we came home heavier :)

Camp Carnival

Carnival's childrens' programming does not begin until age 2. At two, you can send your child to Camp Carnival and enjoy your day on your own! The only thing offered for the under-2 crowd is Open Play in the mornings on sea days and "group babysitting" on port days. Both are limited to about 3 hours each time. If you want to leave your little one, it is $6.25 an hour plus tip. We attempted to leave our son there on one occasion so we could go on the water slides without having to take turns. My son wouldn't have it. He cried for 30 minutes straight. He used to be so good about going to daycare, but he's now out of that routine since I left behind 10 years teaching in June to be a stay at home mom. We used the open play once for my son and he enjoyed the variety of toys available.

Forget the toys, this thing is awesome mom!!

Suess at Sea

Carnival recently partnered with Dr Suess to provide onboard activities and entertainment. It is being rolled out on various ships right now. On the Carnival Breeze they offered green eggs & ham breakfast ($5 per person), story time, and a parade. We were able to catch both storytime and the parade on the afternoon of being in Key West. It was cute, although you could tell it was a new program as there were not very many people in attendance. The parade began in Liquid Nightclub. Entertainment staff handed out props to hold and introduced the characters with music and cheering. The Cat in the Hat was supposed to come out last but didn't so the parade was actually an "adventure hide & seek." We marched through the ship until we reached the theater where the Cat in the Hat was hiding! This led in to the story time, which was really nice for slightly older kids. They invited all the kids on stage and had some kids and parents participate in the story telling adventure. My son was watching for 10 minutes then wanted to run around on the stage, so we left!

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad168/sunkissedadventures/Carnival%20Breeze/IMG_5643-Copy_zpscc71e3f6.jpg

Overall

We felt the ship was okay with young toddlers and babies. As a parent you have to be willing to spend all of your time with your child unless you bring along a grandparent or babysitter. We're okay with that because we travel so frequently. I did find Royal Caribbean to be more accommodating to families with very young children. Had it been just DH and I we would have had an entirely different experience. We were still able to use Water Works and the Ropes Course and all the things we wanted to do, just in a modified way. We'd take turns watching each other!

Here are a few shots of yours truly and the family. I'm a first time mom, so I think everything my son does is amazing and adorable!

Oh boy, I can hear the crickets chirping!

Not sure if my "review" had no interest or if it fell to page two overnight.

We are cruising in October with our little guy (18 months). Love your pictures! Also really like the shower curtain and magnetic hook idea. Where did you get the hooks and was he able to pull it down?

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Enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to post it and your photo's.

The magnetic hooks are by Learning Resources. They sell them on amazon or via the learning resources website. I used to use them in my classroom on doors and the white board. They are fairly heavy duty and can hold 13 pounds each, so I doubt my son would have been able to pull them down. Instead he poked his head out the side to get our attention.

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I loved your review. Thank you. We are cruising next month with our just turned 2 year old. I will find some magnetic hooks and a curtain to bring to hide the crib. The sleeping is the part I'm most anxious about.

Hi! Loving your review so far. I'm not a mom yet (trying to get my bachelor's degree first) but I plan to travel and still live life once I am, so I love reading blogs and reviews about traveling with kids. I've been picking up lots of tips to save for the future.

Your son is too too adorable! :)

Subscribing and looking forward to more!

-Holly

Enjoyed your review and pictures. Looking forward to the Seuss breakfast and parade on Splendor this October. Thanks for posting!

You might also want to post your review on the family board too so yours can add to all the good info over there.

You might also want to post your review on the family board too so yours can add to all the good info over there.

I never even thought of that, thanks. I'm just trying to help out because I find kid-friendly reviews hard to come by.

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Thanks for the review-I wish I would have thought of the shower/hook combo! I traveled on Carnival a few times when my son was an infant/toddler and found it very frustrating they would not deliver a crib until the evening. Did you do the Dr Suess breakfast? Just wondering if it is worth the money. Going on the Breeze with my son who will be one month shy of 4 y/o. It gets easier as they get older!!

We did not do the breakfast. I had heard it was normal breakfast food with some dyed green. We're not big on cruise ship breakfast anyway unless it's something different than the norm. We did try Dreamworks breakfast on Royal Caribbean and it was cute for kids. I probably should have gone to the Dr Suess breakfast to compare :(

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Just saw your review. It was a wonderful account of how to cruise with a toddler and still have a grand time. The shower curtain idea was awesome. I will share with others we were on the Miracle in July of 2013 and had requested through our PVP a crib. It was in the room when we got there. I was great being able to lay the little diva down for a quick nap before the safety drill.

Thanks for the report!

I thought it was a great review with a different spin.

Loved it!

Just saw your review. It was a wonderful account of how to cruise with a toddler and still have a grand time. The shower curtain idea was awesome. I will share with others we were on the Miracle in July of 2013 and had requested through our PVP a crib. It was in the room when we got there. I was great being able to lay the little diva down for a quick nap before the safety drill.

That's great that you were able to get one early. I too called and they told me they put in the request. Wasn't there when we got onboard. Maybe each ship has it's own policy as to when they bring them?

thanks very much for your review! I am a first time mom as well, with a 14 month old son. We will be traveling in april of 2015, although our sweet little peanut will be staying at home with the grandparents. We have contemplated taking him with us (hubby and i went to Disney World alone for a week this year when he was about 9 months) and always plan a trip somewhere he could come along, just in case plans change and he needs to come with us. So I will be saving your review "just in case." The shower curtain is a brilliant idea.

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I am due with our first child next month. Thank you for all the information. Are you allowed to put the link to your travel blog on here? I would love to read that too.

I am due with our first child next month. Thank you for all the information. Are you allowed to put the link to your travel blog on here? I would love to read that too.

Congrats!! I can't post it here due to rules, but we can swap emails and I will send it to you.

nicolesmileyperry at gmail dot com

Congrats!! I can't post it here due to rules, but we can swap emails and I will send it to you.

nicolesmileyperry at gmail dot com

Thank you! I emailed you.

Enjoyed the review my lo will be going on her 3rd cruise in January at 18 months, the other two were enjoyable but in getting worried reading about how difficult they ate at their age. I really hope we will still be able to eat in the dining room without too many problems. BTW also love the magnet idea