My Island Breeze Picture Review. (4/7/13-4/13/13) Carnival Breeze

[SPKEMO]

I'm so loving your review. I can't wait to read more!

 

Glad you are enjoying it. We are about at the half way point so, lots more to come.

[SPKEMO]

Coming up Ocho Rios, Cucina del Capitano, Grand Turk, and Fahrenheit 555 times two.

[fofita01]

I'm loving your review and pictures. You have me so hungry with the wonderful descriptions that accompany the food porn.

 

I was debating doing the Chef's Table, now the decision is which cruise I will do it on - the Imagination or the Breeze... Decisions, Decisions. I'm doing the Steakhouse, Cucina, and Behind the Fun on the Breeze in September, so maybe I'll do the Chef's Table on the Imagination in May.

 

Questions: I may have missed this, but what is your background? Are you a Chef? You mentioned that Ferran Adrià was your mentor - that is way cool! How did you get that gig?

 

My sister is in Culinary school and the other is studying Hospitality Management - I would love to take them on a cruise and do Chef's Table and the Behind the Fun Tour.

[SPKEMO]

Questions: I may have missed this, but what is your background? Are you a Chef? You mentioned that Ferran Adrià was your mentor - that is way cool! How did you get that gig?

 

My sister is in Culinary school and the other is studying Hospitality Management - I would love to take them on a cruise and do Chef's Table and the Behind the Fun Tour.

 

I worked with Chef years back for a season in his test kitchen in Barcelona. I was fortunate to have some well respected chefs fighting to get me in there.

 

Glad you are enjoying my review.

[fofita01]

I worked with Chef years back for a season in his test kitchen in Barcelona. I was fortunate to have some well respected chefs fighting to get me in there.

 

Glad you are enjoying my review.

 

That's awesome! Was this post El Bulli? I was in Spain in December 2012 an loved the food/restaurants in Barcelona.

[DEBnGAB]

Loving the rest of the review and your feedback on the Chefs Table. We too did the former menu and debated trying the new menu.

 

We just booked the Inspiration from Long Beach June 3 so we may try it!

[SPKEMO]

That's awesome! Was this post El Bulli? I was in Spain in December 2012 an loved the food/restaurants in Barcelona.

 

This was during.

[SPKEMO]

Loving the rest of the review and your feedback on the Chefs Table. We too did the former menu and debated trying the new menu.

 

We just booked the Inspiration from Long Beach June 3 so we may try it!

 

You should for sure try it.

[SPKEMO]

After the amazing meal we headed over to piano bar to hang out with Ron Pass. We ended the night there and headed back to our room.

 

 

This little guy was waiting for us along with my platinum gift.

 

We woke up early and made our way to the lido deck to check out the view of Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

 

 

The view was beautiful

 

We decided not to book anything through the cruise and just book on our own. Always better IMO and a lot cheaper. We booked the Dunn's River Falls because we heard everyone on the ship talking about doing it. We really didn’t know what to expect.

 

We arrived at the location and we were ready.

 

 

We had a blast at the Dunn’s River Falls. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Booking excursions off the ship you will pay around 50% less than what the Carnival price is for the exact same thing. This was no different, we saved about $50 per person by booking on our own.

 

After that, we had our taxi take us on a tour of the city. We ended up stopping at a bar that overlooks the port. It was beautiful.

 

 

There’s the Breeze on the left.

 

More to come from Jamaica…..

[Mrs.C05]

Did you use Peat Taylor for your excursion? We did this same excursion in March. Tobs of fun and yes, we saved a lot of money doing it on our own!

 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[SPKEMO]

Did you use Peat Taylor for your excursion? We did this same excursion in March. Tobs of fun and yes, we saved a lot of money doing it on our own!

 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

No, we just got a cab for $20 round trip and paid, I believe, $20 to get in. So we paid $40 pp when Carnival was charging $100 pp.

 

We gave to cabbie an extra $20 to do the city tour after. Is was great.

[Leesa05]

OK, so far you have convinced us to to do the Chef's Table and Dunn River! I am always a little afraid of doing my own excursion due to safety, but you seem pretty confident, plus my husband is a big guy too!!!

Thanks again

[SPKEMO]

OK, so far you have convinced us to to do the Chef's Table and Dunn River! I am always a little afraid of doing my own excursion due to safety, but you seem pretty confident, plus my husband is a big guy too!!!

Thanks again

 

As far as safety goes, doing the Dunns River on your own is the same as doing with the cruise. Most of the people that hiked up the river with us were people that purchased it through the cruise.

 

Do your homework and you should be fine. Right here on CC is a great place to get information on your ports of call. Booking on your own will always save you a ton of money. Just be smart with time and you will be fine.

 

Glad I could help with the planning of your next cruise.

[gapearl]

Great review of the Chef's Table. Picky eater here will never try something like that, so I enjoyed reading about your experience.

[TrqoisWtrs]

Interesting info about the tomato dust. I roast a lot of tomatoes from our garden, and usually blanch and peel off the skins first, so I might have to try baking them. Cool - love funky cooking tips like that :D

 

Great review by the way. :)

[SPKEMO]

Great review of the Chef's Table. Picky eater here will never try something like that, so I enjoyed reading about your experience.

 

Glad you liked my review of the CT.

[cuted126]

Great Review! Hopefully the Breeze is in my future!

[SPKEMO]

Interesting info about the tomato dust. I roast a lot of tomatoes from our garden, and usually blanch and peel off the skins first, so I might have to try baking them. Cool - love funky cooking tips like that :D

 

Great review by the way. :)

 

Never throw things away. You can always find a use for them.

 

Glad your liking my review.

[SwellBee]

I'm really enjoying your review. I don't have plans to cruise on the Breeze yet, but it seems like it should be in the books! Can't wait to read the rest!

[SPKEMO]

After the Dunn’s River Falls it was time for some Red Stripe beer!

 

 

 

We relaxed for a few at the lookout spot and then had our driver take us to the “best Jerk chicken” the town had to offer. We made our way over to the Jerk Centre.

 

The atmosphere was pretty cool. Mainly locals and some live music.

 

 

I ordered the Jerk chicken, pork, and ribs! All were great.

 

The chicken and pork were juicy and well seasoned and the beers were nice and cold. What more could you want?

 

After a couple more Red Stripes and a plate of food later, it was time to head back to the ship. We took a quick nap before dinner at Cucina del Capitano.

[SPKEMO]

After our nap we got ready and made our way over to Cucina del Capitano.

 

 

This is a pretty casual restaurant, you can wear really whatever you please.

 

The décor was perfect for this type of family style restaurant.

 

 

 

 

This place reminded me of a place in my area called Buca di Beppo.

 

All the pictures on the wall are mainly of old Carnival ship captains and their families. I thought that was a cool touch.

 

 

Next-----

[SPKEMO]

As we were seated a waiter arrived with a deconstructed bruschetta that consisted of grilled/toasted crusty bread and a side of hand whipped ricotta.

 

 

I loved the roasted garlic and tomatoes but, the hand whipped ricotta is to DIE for!!

 

My wife ordered Parmigiana di Melanzane or, Eggplant Parmigiana.

 

 

All the familiar flavors were there. Parsley, oregano, thyme, basil, and red pepper flake. The mozzarella did overwhelm the dish slightly so I would scale that back slightly if I were Carnival. All in all, my wife really liked it and I liked what I had of it as well.

 

I ordered Nonna’s Linguine & Meatballs.

 

 

This was a pretty good standard Italian dish. The meatballs had a good about of fat in them. The sauce, from my taste, had been allowed to simmer and evolve for a couple hours at the very least. The linguine was cooked al dente. This was a pretty great dish.

 

We also ordered a carafe of Chianti (not pictured but finished by the end of the meal nevertheless.)

 

To end the meal we ordered the Sicilian Cannoli and the Magic Tiramisu.

 

 

The name I found funny because cannoli’s come from Sicily to begin with. Any who, the cannoli was pretty darn good and authentic. The sweet ricotta and mascarpone cream were perfect. I hate when people fill the shell with custard and then claim it’s a cannoli. My only knock on the cannoli would be that I prefer the more traditional ‘golden shell’ versus the ‘chocolate shell’ they serve theirs in. No biggie.

 

The Magic Tiramisu was a very pretty dish.

 

 

This was a very good dessert again. There was a great coffee/liqueur flavor and aroma. The chocolate ruffles were beautiful.

 

At the end of this meal I would give it a solid A. For only $12 pp this was far superior to anything you can get in the MDR. I would highly recommend Cucina del Capitano to all.

 

After dinner, we partied it up until the wee hours of the night and made our way back to our room.

 

This little guy was waiting for us.

 

 

Time for bed! Up next was Grand Turk.

[Mrs.C05]

Great review!!!! I love the way you've done your photos. Question: Is the burgers at Guys Burger free or are they a small fee? I keep hearing people talk about them and how good they are but didn't know if they were free or not. Just curious. One day we'll make it on one of these larger ships, haha!

[SPKEMO]

Great review!!!! I love the way you've done your photos. Question: Is the burgers at Guys Burger free or are they a small fee? I keep hearing people talk about them and how good they are but didn't know if they were free or not. Just curious. One day we'll make it on one of these larger ships, haha!

 

Guys is free.

 

Really glad you are enjoying my review.

[caramel65]

They look great!