The Family Circus at Sea - a BREEZE BC6 pictorial review - 1/19/13

[wrigley80]

nice review

[ILCruzr]

Nice review. My parents sailed the breeze in the med and loved it. But ure Miami pics made me excited. I'm flying sat morning. Cruising on Sunday on the glory....can't wait for guys burgers and blue iguana!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[cruiseclues]

Great review and great photos...guess you must have realized how good that first photo was...since you put it first. :)

[tkotis]

What did you take for your motion sickness?????

[jolyroger]

Ok I havent even made it past the first pic and I LOVE IT!!! Had to make it my background (hope you dont mind)!!!! And the Title, I love it!!! Ok now I gotta read , but can already tell its gonna be good!!

[jolyroger]

And your daughter is an absolute doll!!! I miss that age(well sometimes, lol) But beautiful family pics!!!

[portlandpete]

I love this review!! So detailed and your photos are beautiful. Your daughter is adorable and the photo of your family is beautiful. So nice to get a formal portrait.

[jimbug]

What did you take for your motion sickness?????

 

I start taking herbal ginger (in capsule form) the day before we travel. 2 capsules, 3x/day. On embarkation day, I add in chewable Bonine tablets. 1 tablet, 2x/day. It seems to work really well once the meds have time to build up in my system.

 

 

I realized that two of the pictures from my last entry did not post, so here they are...our little water park baby!

 

 

[jimbug]

We met the rest of our crew at the dinner table, and things were looking up. All four highchairs were waiting on us, and our waiters were pretty good at getting the kids some fresh fruit and beverages in a timely manner. Everyone was happy, and we were all having such a good time. We made it all the way through dinner, and even got to experience dessert without any toddler meltdowns or seasick moms.

 

Another of Liz's pictures. The three of us at dinner on the first formal night.

 

The waiters performing for us that night. It was difficult to see from our table location.

 

After eating, Aaron and I decided we would try to take Zoey to the big production show in the theater. We weren’t sure how she would do, so we chose seats in the back, on the aisle in order to make a quick escape if needed. Well…I should not have worried at all, because it turns out she LOVED the show! Carnival recently debuted a new program of Playlist Production shows—they have three shows per weeklong cruise, at 30 minutes each. I’m not usually one to enjoy the singing-and-dancing shows, so 30 minutes was about all I could tolerate anyway…and it was also perfect for the toddler attention span. The show on this night was called “The Brits”, and it was, as you would expect, a bunch of British pop from the 60s and 70s—songs most everyone would recognize.

 

Zoey and I called it a night after the show, and Aaron ended up going to the basketball courts with Chad for a late night game of hoops. Just a side note here--I believe the posted hours for the fitness center were until 10 pm, but Aaron frequently went there well after midnight and it was always unlocked. (He wasn't aware of the hours--just assumed it was open 24/7.) He said there were usually lots of crew using it that late at night, but no one seemed to mind that he was also there.

 

Monday, January 21 – Second Day at Sea

 

It rained off and on during our second sea day, but the sun eventually came out and it was a beautiful (albeit rocky) day. We did an early brunch today, and had decent food, but really poor service. It was starting to become a theme, but we were not going to let it ruin our vacation, by any means.

 

After brunch, we headed back to the water slides for awhile, then I decided I would take Zoey into one of the big pools.

 

 

On my previous Carnival cruises, I was always disappointed with how busy the pools were on sea days – two tiny pools on a ship full of 3,000+ cruisers, and you can imagine how that turned out. Well, for some reason, the main pool on the Breeze was never really THAT busy! It worked out perfectly for us…Zoey and I swam and played for quite some time, just enjoying the water.

 

We changed clothes and headed out to try one of the Guy Fieri burgers for lunch. It was delicious—probably not what Guy intended, as burgers for the masses are never really that good, but it was, by far, one of the better options onboard. We then got the kiddo down for a nap, and just relaxed in the room for awhile. Shortly after Zoey woke up, it was time to go to the Build-a-Bear workshop. Camp Carnival offered a choice of several different stuffed animals to “build” for a fee, and it was available usually for one hour each afternoon. It was a fun little activity—Zoey chose a cat she named Ramen (like the noodles—no idea where she got that!). We were then able to walk next door to the 2-5-year-old camp room for the open family playtime. The kids had a blast playing with all the toys and running around, and we looked forward to coming to open playtime hours on the rest of the cruise, but it was not to be. We never received notification of the open hours for any other day. On the final sea day, I decided to just stop by there during the hours they were open previously, but it was locked up tight. Bummer!

 

 

 

Playing with "dinowhores" (as Zoey calls them), in the Camp Carnival room.

 

Shortly after that was dinner—nothing memorable, but we got faster service since it was just the three of us plus Liz and Jeff who showed up this night. The rest of our crew was out on deck watching The Lorax on the big movie screen. We caught the end of it after dinner, and then Kristen and I hit up the thalassotherapy pool in the spa for awhile. Ahhhh, heavenly! Had I been on this trip sans kids, this is a place I would have spent a LOT of time.

 

Oh, and I accidentally left out that we went to John Heald's marriage show on this day. It was held in the afternoon, in the theater, and it was not that well-attended, I am sad to say. Nonetheless, John was a riot as usual, and it was hilarious to watch. This was technically one of the blogger events, but it was open to the public. Great job, John! I loved it!

[jimbug]

Tuesday, January 21 – St. Thomas

 

I was so glad we finally had a port day! I normally really, REALLY enjoy the quiet, relaxed pace of sea days, but it was getting a little monotonous trying to entertain a toddler with limited space and limited toys/activities! I was also kind of excited because today was mama’s “day off” from Zoey duty. Kristen, Liz, Jeff, and I had scheduled an adult-oriented shore excursion together. Aaron and Zoey decided last-minute to buy a Carnival excursion to the national park on St. John, and they were really looking forward to that, as well.

 

Breeze docked in St. Thomas.

 

After saying goodbye to Aaron and Zoey, I met up with my shore excursion buddies and we had breakfast in the Sapphire dining room. Real breakfast, not brunch. It was delicious, and we had really prompt service. Our shore excursion tickets instructed us to meet outside on the pier. We found the Champagne Catamaran group, and the lady instructed us to go hop in one of the cabs pulled aside for this tour. I love the open-air safari truck-style cabs in St. Thomas. So much fun, and such a wild ride! I’d be a little nervous with a toddler in one, but otherwise it is a total blast.

 

The next few pics are from Liz, as I sent our camera with Aaron and Zoey...

 

 

I should also say that probably 90% of the time, I do my research and book my shore excursions independently of the cruise line. Usually, you will find a better value and more intimate experience that way (i.e, not a cattle-call excursion with 150 of your fellow ship passengers). However, this time we booked Carnival’s Champagne Catamaran Sail to St. John, simply because of all the awesome reviews. Daysails are plentiful on St. Thomas, and they are not cheap. This one was “only” $94/pp, but that also included roundtrip taxi transportation to the marina, which would have run $20/pp otherwise. So, coupled with the great reviews and the value for the money, it was a good choice.

 

We had a 20-or-so-minute ride to the Compass Point marina, where our catamarans were waiting for us. There were probably 60 or so guests going on the same excursion, but the company used two large, identical catamarans, and it never felt crowded at all.

 

Our crew was AWESOME! I forgot our captain’s name, but he was young with hipster glasses and a great smile. Molly and Garren were our bartenders/hosts/tour guides, and they were so great!! We motored across Pillsbury Sound toward the island of St. John. We passed lots of high-dollar yachts, including one belonging to Eric Clapton. We eventually reached our destination, Honeymoon Beach, where we dropped anchor. The four of us donned snorkel gear and cannon-balled into the water. It was awesome! Liz and Jeff went off in search of undersea life, while Kristen and I headed into the beach. Along the way, we saw a couple of sea turtles…now THAT was pretty cool! We got to the beach (just below Kenny Chesney’s house, haha), and just vegged in the sand, letting the waves lap at our feet. This was the life…they could have left me on that island for the rest of the week, and I would have been a happy camper!

 

Molly giving her entertaining history of the area.

 

On the sail out to St. John.

 

Honeymoon Beach. It's kind of hard to tell from this picture how idyllic it really was, but it was just gorgeous.

 

We had about an hour or hour and a half to do our thing at Honeymoon Beach. Kristen and I decided to head back sooner so we could start partaking in the “booze” part of our booze cruise, but the bar wasn’t open until everyone was back onboard. Dang! Nonetheless, we were able to find great spots onboard near the nets and basked in the sun while we waited for the others to return. When everyone was back, Molly opened up the bar and started pouring rum punch for everyone. We thought it was pretty weak, then we realized she was just a really good bartender—it snuck up on you with no warning! Halfway through our sail back to St. Thomas, she brought out the Champagne and topped off our rum punches (we lost count by that point), making them her signature “Rumosas”. Honestly? Maybe my new favorite drink. I could get a little messed up if I had too many more of those.

 

A $40M carbon-fiber catamaran. Yes, please!

 

We, um, stumbled our way back to the taxis, where we all realized we had to pee, and BAD. We should have listened to Molly and just peed in the marine toilet onboard the catamaran, but we didn’t, and now we were paying for it. Crap! I think it was Kristen (she was our mostly-sober babysitter, lol) who got us on the first taxi that showed up, thank goodness. Traffic was heinous headed back into the port, and I seriously thought I was going to have to jump out and pee on the roadside. Fortunately, that never became necessary, and as soon as our taxi got back to the ship, Liz, Jeff , and I took off in a near-run towards the bathroom sign in the port shopping center, while Kristen headed back to the ship. Relief obtained (lol), we were drunk-hungry and in search of a Bushwhacker, one of the famous St. Thomas frozen drinks.

[jimbug]

We stopped at the first place we came to, which was Havensight Café. Their Bushwhackers were SO good, and they had a pretty extensive menu. Liz and Jeff had a cheeseburger and some mozzarella sticks, while I got adventurous and tried their curried chicken roti. Zomg, it was heavenly. If you’ve never had a curry in the Caribbean, it is unlike curry anywhere else—it’s definitely a fusion of African and Asian influences, and hmm, wow, my mouth is watering thinking about it right now. It came with peas and rice, and it was all so tasty!

 

 

 

After finishing up our meal, we made our way back to the ship, and I went back to the cabin to wait for Aaron and Zoey to return from their excursion. They came in just a few minutes later, and they had a great time. We originally thought the excursion would basically just drop them off at the National Park entrance, and then they had to meet back 2 hours later or whatever, but in fact, it was a safari taxi tour of the island of St. John (since most of it is national park). Aaron really enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t quite what he was expecting—Zoey’s favorite part was the “red bus” they rode.

 

Zoey getting ready to head out for her daddy-daughter day.

 

From the ferry they rode, pulling into Cruz Bay, St. John.

 

The "red bus" that Zoey loved.

 

One of the shots Aaron got from their tour. Is this Trunk Bay? He couldn't remember.

[jimbug]

I love this.

 

We still had several hours before the Breeze would sail from St. Thomas, so we decided to load Zoey up in the stroller and go back onshore for a bit. We stopped by Havensight Café and got Aaron a Bushwhacker to go. Best part of the islands? Walking around with booze is totally legal. :D (Actually driving with booze is legal on St. Thomas, but maaaaybe that’s not such a good idea…) We then made our way up the street to K-Mart to get Zoey some new coloring books and crayons. Like I said, we were hurting for indoor activities! The K-Mart looked really close, but it was actually a good ways away…and it was HOT. By the time we got back to the ship, we were all pretty worn out.

 

Sailing away from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, at sunset.

 

We watched sailaway from our secret deck again, and then got ready for dinner. I *think* we all went to the main dining room again...and I believe it was on this night that as we were finishing our meal and walking out the restaurant door, Aaron turned to me and said, “You know, I haven’t really been that impressed with the food on this cruise so far.”

 

My initial response was to try and defend Carnival—I mean, after all, I pushed for him to go on this cruise, and I had a huge say in choosing which cruiseline/ship we went on, so I felt like I had an obligation to make the trip as perfect as possible for everyone who decided to come. Then I realized, who was I kidding…the food had pretty much sucked! I know I’m talking about food a lot in this review, but it really is (usually) a big part of cruising, and getting to try new and different things is one of my favorite parts of being on a ship. This time, I felt really let down in that department, but it was honestly not that big of a deal. We were there with our friends and our kids, and we just had more going on. We certainly did not starve, and it’s not like we were being served bowls of crap-flavored mush or anything…it just wasn’t up to the usual par for a cruise. At the end of the review, I’ll talk about which meals/restaurants were particularly outstanding—like I said, it wasn’t all bad!

[jimbug]

Oh, I almost forgot! The morning of the first sea day on the cruise, we were at the splash park and ran into our Texas friends there. We were talking, and Jessie told me that she woke up early this morning and saw that we were docked at a port. Huh…we had no idea! I assumed it had been a medical emergency, but no announcement had been made at that point. Later in the afternoon, Butch (cruise director) informed us that we had been to Nassau to drop off a sick passenger, but that it would not affect our itinerary in any way.

 

Tuesday, January 23 – Antigua

 

We had another early morning planned for this day – Aaron, Zoey, Liz, Jeff, and I had booked the lobster lunch cruise with Creole Cruises (http://www.creolecruisesantigua.com). I booked this tour after reading Host Faith’s review of the same tour on CruiseCritic sometime last year, so a big thank you to my fellow CruiseCritic members for posting reviews with lots of details and pictures—they are really helpful!!

 

(The rest of our group booked Carnival’s excursion to Dickinson Bay Beach. They all seemed to really enjoy it, despite two of them getting stung by jellyfish while in the water.)

 

Breeze docked in Antgua in the rainy weather.

 

We met Liz and Jeff at the Sapphire dining room once more for breakfast. They were a little slower today, but nothing to get too excited about. We got ready to disembark the ship and noticed it was pouring down rain—hmmm. Well, we remembered Creole’s website said that they go out rain or shine, so off we went! Actually, by the time we got outside it had let up to a light drizzle. We walked the ~200 yards or so to Exotic Antigua, the clothing store located right by the cruise ship pier, where we were instructed to wait for our tour.

 

Katja (from Creole) had been very friendly and quick to respond to our e-mails and inquiries about the tour, and we were really looking forward to it. There was a boat dock just outside of Exotic Antigua, and they were supposed to pull right up and pick us up from there. Well, they were due to pick us up at 9:45, and by about 9:55, they still hadn’t shown. I was starting to get a little worried, so I went inside the store and asked the shopkeepers if they were usually on time. She assured us not to worry, and that they would call Creole for us if they hadn’t shown by 10:00. Just as soon as I walked back outside, we caught a glimpse of our boat, headed straight for us. Yay!

 

Mario and Travis were our guides/chefs/captains for the day, and when the boat arrived, it already had 6-8 other guests that had been picked up from resorts. They helped us down into the boat, and Mario found Aaron, Zoey, and I a seat in the middle where it might be a little safer for Zoey. Their boat was a 40-foot motorboat, and it was built for speed! It seemed to be fairly new, and the guys took great care in keeping it clean and comfortable for their guests.

 

On the Creole Cruises boat.

 

We idled through the harbor and then picked up speed a little as we cruised by Dickenson Bay and the Sandals Resort, where Mario stopped for a bit to tell us about our day. He warned us that the 20-25-minute ride across the Atlantic to Bird Island could be a little rough. We had no idea just HOW rough! It was so much fun! We never felt unsafe at any point—even with Zoey riding in my husband’s lap, we were not worried. I just probably wouldn't recommend it for anyone with back problems or for pregnant women. There was one passenger on our tour who was pregnant, and I could tell she was really worried about all the bumps and jostling.

 

Dickenson Bay and the Sandals Resort are just to the right of this picture.

 

We soon arrived at Bird Island, where Travis unloaded all the lunch supplies and got set up for cooking. Those of us who planned to snorkel remained on the boat, while those who just wanted to hang on the beach got out there. Aaron, Zoey, and Liz got out to chill at the beach, while Jeff and I decided to stay back and snorkel. Our snorkel location was just on the other side of Bird Island, and the current was really strong. I consider myself a pretty experienced, strong swimmer, but it had me a little nervous. Turned out to be just fine! The reefs were pretty beat-up, but we still managed to see tons of fish and some interesting coral. Oh, and we saw two squid—talk about creepy!

 

Our boat pulling into Bird Island.

 

After about 45 minutes of snorkeling, we hopped back in the boat for the short ride back to the beach at Bird Island. Zoey had discovered her love of playing in the sand, and Aaron had already hiked the trails to the top of the island and back. It was a beach paradise there, and it was plenty large enough that everyone could spread out and do their own thing without feeling crowded. I think there maybe only 12-14 people total on our tour. Once during the day on Bird Island, a group from Adventure Antigua stopped, but their boat dropped them at the far side of the island, and their presence didn’t affect our day whatsoever. They weren’t there for long anyhow.

 

Zoey playing on the beach. You can see part of the lunch area behind her.

 

A little while later, lunch was served! Prior to the trip, we were to reserve our choice of: lobster, fish, chicken, hamburger, or vegetarian. Well, none of us have ever been very big on lobster (though this lobster looked absolutely decadent, and I wish I would have tried it!), so I chose chicken, and Aaron and Zoey got the fish. Both were amazing. Possibly one of the better meals we had all week on vacation! Accompaniments included a garden salad, homemade pasta and potato salads, garlic bread, and all the wine you could drink. There was also a table set up with a cooler of VERY strong rum punch and a few other bottles of liquor/juice to mix your own drink.

 

Bird Island, taken from one of the hiking trails Aaron took to the top.

[jimbug]

Our snorkel spot. Aaron took this from his hiking adventure.

 

We still had another couple of hours to play on the island, and it was a great time. One of the Creole guys led a guided tour on the hiking trails, but we chose to stay back. I sat in the shade and drank wine while Zoey played in the sand...just a really perfect, picturesque day.

 

Zoey in the sand. It was so beautiful there!

 

Awwwwww.

 

A hermit crab one of our fellow passengers found.

 

It was finally time to load up in the boat and head out. We didn’t have far to go, however, as our next stop was Maiden Island, home of all the starfish you could imagine. We pulled right up onshore, and those who wanted to go out to look at/touch/play with the starfish. They were pretty amazing! Zoey had fallen asleep in my arms, though, so I had to watch from afar. Aaron got out and got some great pics, though!

 

 

 

The ride back was rough, but not as bad as the morning. The winds/seas had calmed down significantly, and we were back at Exotic Antigua right on time. The only hangup of the whole day was when we were trying to leave. There was quite a bit of confusion regarding everyone’s payment for the trip. When you reserve with Creole, Katja asks for you to provide your credit card information, and the information conveyed to us was that she would charge our card the day of the trip unless you wanted to pay in cash. We just wanted our card charged, our friends wanted to pay in cash, and two other Breeze passengers on our tour wanted their card charged, but they didn’t have the card with them. We thought that was the point of giving the info in advance – that we didn’t have to bring the card later. Nonetheless, it took about 10 minutes and about 10 phone calls between Mario and Katja, but all was eventually well.

 

Aaron, Zoey, and I browsed the shops at the pier for a little while before heading back to the ship and cleaning sand out of places we didn’t know sand could get.

[ciera123]

Loved your pictures of the Champagne Catamaran excursion! We've been on it twice and are booked again for May 25. They do such a great job and one of the very few ship excrusions we take. :)

[wb3690]

Great pictures and ohhhh I could go for a Caribbean Colada right now! That was one of my favorite drinks!

[gelo7]

Great pictures and review.

[Purplehaze21]

Loving your review and the pictures are so amazing! You have a

beautiful family.

[flgatormom29]

Question about the Champange Catamaran tour....

We are about to book that excursion, I'm just curious if you thought it was a good excursion for a family. We have an 8 and 4 year old. Want to bring them with us.... Whatcha think?

[Mizzouaholic]

 

On the Creole Cruises boat.

 

 

At first glance it looks like the dude on the left isnt wearing any pants. lol! I had to point it out.

[jimbug]

Question about the Champange Catamaran tour....

We are about to book that excursion, I'm just curious if you thought it was a good excursion for a family. We have an 8 and 4 year old. Want to bring them with us.... Whatcha think?

 

Definitely not. In fact, I think Carnival's minimum age for this tour was 6? Though I could be wrong on that one. Nonetheless, it is an adult-oriented tour. At nearly $100/pop, I would not bring a child. They do not dock the catamaran at Honeymoon Beach--you have to swim to shore, and I'd be a little nervous about a 4-year-old doing that. Also...big emphasis on the drinking on the way back. It's just not something I think would be appropriate for young kids.

 

At first glance it looks like the dude on the left isnt wearing any pants. lol! I had to point it out.

 

Haha, my friend said he looked like the Dos Equis guy. "I don't always wear pants, but when I do..." LOL!

[Mizzouaholic]

The review is looking good so far! :cool:

[flgatormom29]

Definitely not. In fact, I think Carnival's minimum age for this tour was 6? Though I could be wrong on that one. Nonetheless, it is an adult-oriented tour. At nearly $100/pop, I would not bring a child. They do not dock the catamaran at Honeymoon Beach--you have to swim to shore, and I'd be a little nervous about a 4-year-old doing that. Also...big emphasis on the drinking on the way back. It's just not something I think would be appropriate for young kids.

 

 

hmmm. that sucks. That was the only excursion we are interested in... the site says there is no minimum age.

Thanks for the advice!

BTW-great review! getting me excited for ours! :-)

[jimbug]

hmmm. that sucks. That was the only excursion we are interested in... the site says there is no minimum age.

Thanks for the advice!

BTW-great review! getting me excited for ours! :-)

 

If you don't mind shelling out the $$, book with Simplicity Charters. They have a BEAUTIFUL boat, and with there being a max of only 6 guests, I think your kiddos would have more fun since the boat wouldn't be full of drunkies. :D The guys who run the Simplicity daysails can cater the itinerary to your liking, I believe, but they were at Honeymoon Beach the same time we were, so you can get a similar experience. http://www.simplicitycharters.com/charter.html