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

[pinkiesue]

Great reveiw so far. Can't wait for our turn in April. Awesome pictures and your daughter is just so cute!

[oncruisecontrol]

I'm enjoying your review so far. Nice photos.

[flgatormom29]

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

 

 

wow! thanks! I have never done a non-carnival excursion, but this isn't much more expensive than carnivals. I will look into it! And look for reviews. My biggest fear is being late to port and missing the boat :( Thanks a lot and cant wait to read more of the review!

[jimbug]

wow! thanks! I have never done a non-carnival excursion, but this isn't much more expensive than carnivals. I will look into it! And look for reviews. My biggest fear is being late to port and missing the boat :( Thanks a lot and cant wait to read more of the review!

 

Oh good, I'm glad you're looking into it! This was our second-choice for booking, but the folks in my group decided we wanted a shorter excursion than Simplicity's full-day sail. Just remember that these tour operators depend upon cruise ship business and word-of-mouth for their living, so they will do everything in their power to return you to the ship on time. In my experience, if they think their tour is not appropriate for a cruise ship passenger with a limited schedule, they will be up-front with you about it and inform you about the risk. Have fun--be adventurous! :D Our favorite excursions have been with independent operators, as you saw with our day in Antigua with Creole Cruises.

[lovestocruise19]

Gorgeous photos and your daughter is adorable! :)

[jimbug]

Reflecting back on our day with Creole Cruises, I just have to say that we had the perfect day in Antigua with them. I have a rule – I do not take crowded shore excursions with lots of people, even if I have to pay a little more for the intimate experience. Aaron agreed this one was totally worth every penny, and we would go with them again in a heartbeat. Before our trip, Katja had told me that the tour was appropriate for kids of all ages, and that our almost-2-year-old would certainly be welcome. Even with her encouragement, I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t be so family-friendly, but I shouldn’t have even given it a second thought! This excursion really is appropriate for all ages. If you don’t snorkel or don’t drink? No big deal—plenty to do otherwise.

 

After getting cleaned up after our excursion, we decided to go to the lido buffet to feed Zoey and Aaron – I had a “girls night” planned with the other ladies in our group. We went around 4:00 pm, and were disappointed to see that the only things open were the deli, pizza counter, and Guy’s burgers. Don’t get me wrong—for an adult, it’s no big deal to make a meal out of what was open, but it was hard to feed a toddler. She doesn’t eat burgers and pizza and that kind of thing very often at home, and I couldn’t find any fresh fruit or cheese (two staples of her diet, haha) at that hour. We made do, of course…but we wished that there was at least one regular buffet line open during daytime hours…maybe a salad/dessert bar to accompany the deli?

 

I said goodbye to Aaron and Zoey—their big plans for the night included going to the second production show. It was the Latin one—I can’t remember the exact name, but Zoey loved it, and she got to meet the “princesses” (what she calls the dancers) after the show.

 

I met Liz, Kristen, and Jessie down at the Breeze Bar on Deck 3, where we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink and celebrated our freedom. ;) The Breeze Bar ended up being a favorite meeting place for our group throughout the week. It was hardly ever busy, but there was enough activity in the atrium area to provide some good people-watching. Jessie’s husband joked with us, saying that he already talked to Carnival security, and they would be watching the lifeboats extra-carefully, making sure the four of us didn’t try to make a run for it, kid-free!

 

We had 7:00 reservations at the Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, and we were all quite excited for a more upscale meal. We had high hopes, and they came through. I should add that I don’t know if our sailing was an anomaly, with BC6 and a couple of other groups onboard, but the steakhouse was mostly sold out before we ever boarded the Breeze in Miami. I made our reservation back in July, so I recommend e-mailing them as soon as you have an idea of when you’d like to go, especially if you have a large group. I know several of the BC6 folks were disappointed the steakhouse couldn’t accommodate a group when they tried to make a reservation just a couple of weeks before sailing.

 

Anyway, we were seated right away, and Kristen and I chose a bottle of sauvignon blanc to share. It was the most inexpensive one on the menu, and it was good. :D Our waiters brought around bread and menus, and we placed our order. Now, when I was at the steakhouse on our Carnival cruise in 2008, I remember our waitress encouraged us to order as many items as we wanted off of each course, though we were limited to one cut of meat. Not that anyone can ever eat more than one item per course, lol, but I do specifically remember that they were very generous with the appetizers and sides. On this night, I ordered the crab cakes and the French onion soup, intending to “skip” the salad course. Our waiter cut me off very abruptly, and sort of talked down to me like a child, telling me I could only order one from each category. When he realized I wanted to have the soup in lieu of my salad, instead of in addition to, he backtracked quickly and apologized. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, but I just didn’t like his attitude. Ehh, whatever. Our assistant waiter and sommelier were both fantastic.

 

We started with an amuse-bouche, compliments of the chef. Two at our table got a roasted red pepper bisque, and two of us received some kind of lobster something-or-rather with a pickled raspberry. Not really my style, but I like the effort. Next were the appetizers—I had the aforementioned crab cakes, and they were exactly as I remembered them from the 2008 trip. Second was the soup/salad course, and the French onion soup was TO DIE FOR. Whatever you do, do not order the French onion soup the night it is offered in the main dining room—it tastes like onion-flavored water compared to the soup in the steakhouse. Next were the main courses, and I had the filet mignon with three peppercorn sauce and steamed broccoli. The broccoli was not seasoned (I assumed it would have been at a steakhouse), but the steak was excellent. Our meal was well worth the $35 cover—this would have been a $100+ meal in a land-based restaurant. When we thought we could not eat another bite, it was time to select our desserts. On my 2008 visit, I had the chocolate sampler, and it was amazing…but I wanted something different this time. I picked the cheesecake, and when it came out, I about fell out of my chair. It was comically large…like half a cheesecake large, haha. It was pretty good, too, but it came out at a weird temperature. Should have been colder, in my opinion. Nonetheless, the meal was every bit as awesome as we had hoped, and I was wishing I had booked an additional night there so that Aaron could experience it, too.

 

When we finished our meal, we thought we would hit up the piano bar for a little while so we could kick back and experience the illustrious Ron Pass. Well, we walked in, and there was a guitar player leading the shenanigans. That wasn’t Ron! Must have been his day off… We decided not to stay, and went back to our favorite spot in the Breeze Bar, and just sat to have a beer and visit the rest of the night away.

 

The girls on our night out!

 

Funny thing…when I went back to our cabin around 11:00 pm, Aaron and Zoey were also just getting back from their adventures around the ship. I turned around, and she had a mouth full of something blue. I had no idea what it could have been, and then Aaron and I found that at some point, the steakhouse had delivered a little box of French macarons to our room and Zoey had been the one to discover them! Whoops! At least it was something edible. ;) The other girls in our group did not get the macarons, so we concluded that only the person who makes the reservation gets them. And so ended quite possibly my favorite day on our cruise.

 

PS...how could I forget? When the steakhouse called my room earlier that day to confirm our reservation, the lady made it a specific point to tell me "no flip-flops". Hmmm, okay. I only brought flip-flops, tennis shoes, and black dress heels...and the casual dress I was wearing to the steakhouse that night would look awful with the dressy heels. Soooo, Kristen and I wore our "illegal" flip-flops and no one said a word or even noticed. In our defense, they were the dressier, work-appropriate flip-flop sandals...not the rubber ones from the $2 rack at Old Navy.

[88Wildcat]

Great review! Thank you for taking the time to post! :)

[lovesublime]

I'm sorry to interupt your review which I'm enjoying very much by the way. Great photos also. I would like to know if you had early or late dining in the Blush dining room. We'll be on Breeze in two weeks and are stuck with late dining (we booked late). We're traveling with a two year old and a ten month old and I just don't know how it's going to work out. I guess there are other dining alternatives. Thanks for any tips you may have.

 

Your daughter is simply precious. Good call on taking lots of pics of her :)

[jimbug]

I'm sorry to interupt your review which I'm enjoying very much by the way. Great photos also. I would like to know if you had early or late dining in the Blush dining room. We'll be on Breeze in two weeks and are stuck with late dining (we booked late). We're traveling with a two year old and a ten month old and I just don't know how it's going to work out. I guess there are other dining alternatives. Thanks for any tips you may have.

 

Your daughter is simply precious. Good call on taking lots of pics of her :)

 

We had early dining (6 pm). There is no way our kiddos would have made it to (and through) the 8:15 dining. I would probably ask to switch to "my time" dining or just plan on hitting up the buffet/specialty restaurants. Good luck, and I hope you have a great time!

[San_Antonio_Ex]

What a cutie pie your daughter is!!

 

I just have a question about being able to take her in the pool. I assume she is not yet potty trained so I was just wondering if carnival made the pools on Breeze chlorinated? I know the policy on the ships I've been on has been that children need to be potty trained to use the pools since they are not chlorinated. I would like it if they switched to chlorinated pools!

 

Thanks!

[july128]

Great review! Your daughter is adorable! The picture of her and your husband on their excursion reminded me of one of my favorite pictures ever of my daughter and husband taken when she was 4 and her and her daddy went on an excursion together on our cruise to Alaska. Can't wait until we get to sail on the Breeze!

[jacksmom09]

Great steakhouse review! I have it booked for our upcoming cruise, but had 2nd thoughts! After your review, we are looking forward to it! :D

[jimbug]

What a cutie pie your daughter is!!

 

I just have a question about being able to take her in the pool. I assume she is not yet potty trained so I was just wondering if carnival made the pools on Breeze chlorinated? I know the policy on the ships I've been on has been that children need to be potty trained to use the pools since they are not chlorinated. I would like it if they switched to chlorinated pools!

 

Thanks!

 

I just saw this, so I apologize for the delay in answering. Well, here's the thing. Prior to the cruise, I saw buried somewhere in the Carnival FAQ's on their website that swim diapers were not allowed in any of their pools, slides, or splash parks (Waterworks). I was really disappointed because although we are in the beginning stages of potty-training, we are just not there quite yet. Then, a former cruise line employee told one of the girls in our group that they actually chlorinate the hell out of the splash park, and that the only time they really enforce the 'no swim diaper' rule is during or right after a GI illness outbreak.

 

We decided to give it a shot. There were quite a few Carnival employees manning the slides and splash park areas, and there were TONS of kids in obvious swim diapers. Nothing was ever said, although we definitely would have left if Carnival employees had asked us to. We actually never saw it posted anywhere onboard the ship that they were forbidden, so I am now wondering if it is even a rule? I can also attest that the Waterworks area is chlorinated--I could smell it, and my eyes burned after getting in it. The big pools are salt water, though.

[rhcpchika1]

In April, we followed the rules and didn't let our 26 month old swim (even though he potty trained fully the week we RETURNED). It was sooo hard since we have 2 older kids who wanted to swim ALL the time.

I am super excited to not worry about this in nov :)

 

Can i ask the prices of the antigua tour? I planned on doing a tour like this in DR, but we may switch spots........

[sanmarcosman]

I see you with a towel animal mascot. Do you know if Fun Ship Freddy been retired ?

 

[meliss4503]

We're taking our son (who will be 20 months when we sail in April!) and I was starting to freak out about taking him. You're review is awesome, and you're helping to ease my fears! :)

[mom22tinks]

Great review so far....I am anxiously awaiting more :). About the food...I agree that it's quality has gone down hill. I think I ate the same thing at each meal on my last cruise since everything seemed so bland and boring. We did Creole Cruises in December and absolutely loved it as well. The starfish garden was soo cool. Sorry you didn't get to go in :(. And we also had the same issues with the credit card.

[okgirl]

I just saw this, so I apologize for the delay in answering. Well, here's the thing. Prior to the cruise, I saw buried somewhere in the Carnival FAQ's on their website that swim diapers were not allowed in any of their pools, slides, or splash parks (Waterworks). I was really disappointed because although we are in the beginning stages of potty-training, we are just not there quite yet. Then, a former cruise line employee told one of the girls in our group that they actually chlorinate the hell out of the splash park, and that the only time they really enforce the 'no swim diaper' rule is during or right after a GI illness outbreak.

 

We decided to give it a shot. There were quite a few Carnival employees manning the slides and splash park areas, and there were TONS of kids in obvious swim diapers. Nothing was ever said, although we definitely would have left if Carnival employees had asked us to. We actually never saw it posted anywhere onboard the ship that they were forbidden, so I am now wondering if it is even a rule? I can also attest that the Waterworks area is chlorinated--I could smell it, and my eyes burned after getting in it. The big pools are salt water, though.

 

It is still a rule and should be enforced whether the pool is clorinated or not.......but unfortunately the rule isn't enforced and sadly prevents many of us from enjoying any of the water activities on the ship......I'm not about to jeopardize my vacation because SOME Carnival employee's choose to take the easy road and not enforce the rule until AFTER there is a GI outbreak.........

 

I appreaciate that the young ones really want to get into the water and cool off and have a great time. And on ships where the rule is enforced it must be difficult to have a child that isn't potty trained, but the rule is there to protect all of us.

[mephistoles]

Loving your review (and your little girl is tooooo cute). We're sailing the Breeze in August and I'm truly looking forward to it. (Now if only I can somehow manage to not let DH see that "Mouse" ship)

[grovesteve]

Hi,

I love your review. We were on the same cruise. My only problem and it is a major one is Carnival's cut back on main show room entertainment. The music for the production shows is all canned and so loud it drowned out the singers. Also I did not appreciate two nights of Hazbro The Game Show as the prime show.

Steve R from Illinois

[jimbug]

I see you with a towel animal mascot. Do you know if Fun Ship Freddy been retired ?

 

We didn't see him anywhere on the ship, now that I think of it!

 

We're taking our son (who will be 20 months when we sail in April!) and I was starting to freak out about taking him. You're review is awesome, and you're helping to ease my fears! :)

 

I'm glad this is helping--don't freak! It was really fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I would just pack or plan for more downtime-type activities since the Camp was not open for playtime as much as I had expected.

 

And for everyone else, I apologize for the delay in posting more of the review, but I promise it is coming! Busy Monday!

[jigger]

wonderful !!

[jimbug]

Okay, sorry about the delay! Here is most of our day in Tortola, with even more to come before the end of the day today (Tuesday).

 

Thursday, January 24 – Tortola

 

 

We had one more busy day planned for Tortola! Aaron was up by 7:00 a.m., and heading out on his solo adventure. He reserved a mountain bike through Last Stop Sports, located on the opposite side of the Road Town harbor from the cruise terminal. Sally at Last Stop was awesome to work with—before the cruise, there was some confusion on our docking times, and she was willing to open the shop early so that Aaron could set out on his bike trip as soon as possible. As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary, but she was so nice and helpful.

 

 

 

 

Aaron ended up riding 19.69 miles during the ~5 hours he was gone. He even made it up to the top of Mount Sage, which is the highest point in the Virgin Islands.

 

 

I’m just kind of piecing together this part of the review from what he told me, but I thought one thing that was really cool was that the proprietor of the mountain-top restaurant on Mt. Sage was also the president of the VI Mountain Biking Association, so he and Aaron had a good little chat.

 

[jimbug]

 

 

I, on the other hand, was scared to death that he would be run over by one of the crazy island drivers, or that he’d get caught up in what he was doing and wouldn’t make it back to the ship on time. Luckily neither of the above happened, and he made it back onboard just a few minutes after Zoey and I returned from our day out. In fact, Aaron says that the traffic was a complete non-issue once he got out of Road Town—traffic on Tortola is nothing like the insanity that is driving on St. Thomas!

 

 

So, while he was off cycling across the island, Zoey and I had plans of our own. We had pre-booked a dolphin swim with Dolphin Discovery online. Chad, Jessie, and the twins were also joining us. Now, if you try to book online, the form will tell you that if you are coming in on a Carnival or a Royal Caribbean cruise, they are not allowed to sell to you directly, and that you should book the shore excursion through the ship. As we all know, the ship charges WAY more, and on top of that, Carnival wouldn’t allow us to bring the toddlers. We went ahead and booked directly, just marking “other” under hotel/cruise ship name, figuring it wouldn’t make a bit of a difference once they had our money. We were right. Best of all, we were able to book during one of their sales, getting our excursion for a tiny fraction of the Carnival price!

 

 

Dolphin Discovery allows one toddler age 3 and under (I think, you might want to double-check the website) to swim for free with a paying adult. This worked out perfectly for us. I had been telling Zoey for weeks that she was going to get to play with a dolphin, and really hyping it up. I wasn’t sure if she would love it or hate it, but I knew we had to give it a shot.

 

Our instructions from Dolphin Discovery told us to meet at their facility at the Prospect Reef Hotel by 10:30 a.m. I met the rest of our group at the Breeze Bar at 9:30, and we disembarked together. The taxis in Tortola are all set up on a flat-rate system, and it was $5/adult for the very short ride. We all crammed into a Toyota Highlander, and the driver gave us her card so we can could call her to pick us up when we were finished. It took less than 10 minutes to get there, and would probably be less than 5 if there was no traffic.

 

We checked in at the gift shop, and they instructed us just to walk around, get comfortable, whatever, and that they would come find us whenever it was time for our swim. The dolphin facilities were nicer than I expected. It probably helps that they essentially dammed off part of the ocean, so that it looked like the dolphins were kept in their natural habitats, rather than in pools, but the captivity part still bothered me a little. Nonetheless, the views from Prospect Reef were AMAZING!

 

 

There was a covered picnic area where we sort of made our home base for the morning, as we walked around a bit and got drinks from the snack bar. Just before 11:00, a huge group of cruise ship passengers arrived for their Carnival-sponsored excursion. It was pretty chaotic, and we weren’t sure exactly what we were supposed to be doing. Finally, an employee came over to our group and marked our wristbands with a “G”, then instructed us to the pavilion area where they would show the orientation video. We sat there with 100 (at least) of our closest friends and watched the 8-minute “dolphin movie” (according to Zoey). The staff members started calling off groups alphabetically—there were about 12 people per letter, and each letter went into a different dolphin tank for their experience. When they finally called “G”, we realized it was just our group left, and we were ecstatic because we thought that meant it would only be us getting to work with our dolphin. Nope, just kidding. After being issued our life jackets, we were led to the tank with all the “F” participants. There were probably 16 or so people in our tank. The only saving grace is that the trainer assigned to our tank LOVED the kiddos and spent way more time with us and the kids than with anyone else. I actually kind of felt bad for the other participants, so I apologize if any of you were with us that day!

[jimbug]

These next two pics were taken by Chad's mom as she watched from the viewing area...

 

 

 

Zoey was in absolute heaven, and all she can talk about now is her dolphin. They got to kiss, shake hands, pet, hand the dolphin a ball, and a few other things that I can’t remember. Altogether, I think we were in the water about 30-40 minutes or so. Of course, Dolphin Discovery has their own photographers documenting your experience. I knew the pictures would be pricy, but I was prepared to pay it. Zoey loved it so much, that I was excited to show the pictures to Aaron and have them to remember our experience. I shouldn’t have been too excited…we must have been in the exact wrong spot for the photographers to catch us, because almost every picture they took was of the back of Zoey’s head. You couldn’t really see anything. I was so disappointed! I ended up just buying a single print for $25. Chad and Jessie got some really good pics taken of their family, so they decided to buy the CD. Now this whole thing is kind of a racket—the CD changes price depending on how many people are in your group. I guess this prevents one person from buying the CD and then splitting the cost with 5 other people or whatever and sharing the CD. But anyway, the Dolphin Discovery employee wanted to charge them the 4-person rate (which was over $200, I believe) for the CD. We thought that was ridiculous, but luckily Chad was able to argue with her and told her that since they only had to pay for two participants (kids were free), they shouldn’t be charged for 4-participant rate for the CD. The lady relented, and the CD was purchased. Bonus – she accidentally put mine and Zoey’s pictures on there as well, and told them it would be too much hassle for her to remove them, so we got them for free…not that there were any great ones to begin with.

 

 

The pictures were ready fairly quickly, and the gift shop was glad to call our taxi driver for us. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to come pick us up, so they arranged for another taxi, and he was there as promised, within about 10 minutes or so. He gladly dropped Zoey and I off in the shopping area before taking the others back to the ship. We did just a little bit of shopping, and decided to find a place to get a bite to eat—Zoey and I were both famished.

 

I looked up, and we were basically right across from Pusser’s Pub (home of the famous Painkillers), so Zoey and I stopped there and found a seat on the patio. There were very few other patrons when we arrived, and we were brought menus and our drink (a banana smoothie, yum!) very quickly. We decided on the “Great Dog”, and man, oh man, that was a great decision. The Great Dog is a footlong all-beef hotdog, batter-dipped and fried. Certainly not health food, but we were on vacation. Zoey was content with the smoothie and a couple of fries – she was worn completely out by that point, and was nearly asleep in her stroller by the time the food arrived.

 

I ate what I could of the Great Dog (you could easily share it between two adults), and waited (and waited), and waited some more for the waitress to reappear so that we could get our check and pay. By this point, the patio was full, and they were turning people away from the inside of the restaurant because it, too, was at capacity. We finally caught the attention of another waitress, and settled our check, then walked back to the ship. Zoey was out like a light before we even got to the pier. Fun fact: When you return from port, if you have a sleeping child in a stroller, Carnival security will not make you remove them to go through the metal detector. I really appreciated that, because we brought back a sleepy little one in both Tortola and Nassau.

 

Leaving port after our day in Tortola.

 

An Aaron and Zoey "selfie" in the ship window.