4-27-13 8 day Breeze review- a bed, my birthday and leisure sickness

[queenL]

We, everyone we told the story to and everyone that has responded on CC have all come to the same conclusion, the bug was a pre-existing condition. I'm not surprised they tried to play it off, but when they kept contacting us 4 days in a row to make sure we were ok, that is when we felt our suspicions were confirmed. Wished we could have gotten moved to a wrap around balcony. We were just so glad to be on vacation, bug or no bug, it did not matter.

 

 

Ahhhhhh! A pleasant attitude. This is a rare thing on cruise critic. I was waiting for the complaining (some of which you would have had a legitimate right to) the I'll never sail Carnival again.....

Sorry for that inconvenience, but I'm glad you didn't let it ruin your trip. :D I think it was a bed bug too.

[alrichards4003]

Wine from the machine in the library bar??? :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

 

Unfortunately I never made it to the Library Bar, but there are wine machines that you slide your S&S card and it dispenses a certain amount of kind of wine based on your choices. I understand, (but have not been on them) that the CCL Sunshine and NCL Breakaway have the as well. I don't know why but it is something I want to try.

[alrichards4003]

this just cracked me up, do you often hit kids with grocery carts? I'm not being mean, I just thought, seriously... how many kids have you hit? I must be in a goofy mood.:cool:

 

Not yet, but it feels like it is only a matter of time, since some people let the kids run around the store, I hate to be "in my day" however, if we (as kids) ever ran around a grocery store aisle, we would have been begging the cashier to let us stay and not go home.

[alrichards4003]

LOL- and I shouldn't have used my favorite term, bqhatevr, without a reference: http://gawker.com/5979218/scott-browns-message-to-the-haters-bqhatevwr

 

On the 15 drink Cheers issue, I've seen some people say that they start paying for drinks after their 14th cheers drink so they won't be cut off.

 

I stay up on the "hip" terminology on twitter.

 

As to the 14th drink, good to know still since DH cannot remember what he had for dinner the night before, so I don't think him remembering to count to 14 drinks is very likely.

[alrichards4003]

We were not expected to arrive in Curacao until 2 and our shore excursion, susnset sail and beach did not leave until 3:30

 

I had breakfast at the buffet, nothing spectacular but no long lines. Egg benedict, sausage potatoes, choc. croissant. The off to the spa.

 

 

 

The heated tile loungers:

 

 

 

 

Then trivia, the casino, guys burgers and back to the room. My husband never left the room, he had room service and watched movies.

 

My husband ordered room service several times throughout the cruise, when I would go to dinner alone, he normally had room service. I know he liked it and liked eating in the room.

[alrichards4003]

The port and waiting for our tour to start:

 

 

 

 

We then had the boat ride which was about 30 minutes, it was a little bit of a walk, since only certain chairs were available for our excursion, there was a bar nearby. The water was great, it was a beautiful beach. But the best part was watching this woman who was around our age, she kept drinking her drinks and then she would start drinking others as well, she was trying to do it on the sly, but that was our entertainment watching her for the day.

 

Going back:

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Sunset Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

We were given the choice to be let off in the city center/downtown or go back to the pier. I told my husband since we were wearing swimsuits we were not dressed properly.

 

 

The skinny bridge which reminded me of Amsterdam:

 

 

The Breeze at night:

 

 

[alrichards4003]

I had earlier talked about buying some blue curacao, and they did not really have a shop at the beach, but after wearing the wet swimsuit for a few hours, all I wanted was to change clothes. I was starting to feel a little run down. Got back to the room and had this towel animal

 

 

DH was off to the pub and to walk around. I went to dinner. Langostino cocktail for an appetizer:

 

 

Dinner was spinach lasagna:

 

 

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, then back to the room, this was the end of the day for me. I really liked Curacao, very beautiful, wished we were at this port earlier.

[alrichards4003]

Decor The Farcus colors and decor never bothered me, however, I much preferred the new tropical colors, especially the wood in the room and the trees in the Lido buffet area and the pub.

 

Ocean Plaza The Pub, the trivia, the hot tubs, the coffee bar, close by the casino. A great area, that splits people up from the Lido, its great having two areas and makes the ship feel less crowded

 

Pizza I like the old pizza and I like the new pizza, with the thinner crust it is less "filling" I mean that in a good way, I did not feel like I was eating crust with a little bit of sauce. Also the two times I went there were two guys working the area, when we were on Dream and Glory there was only one person, and it was not crowded but on the Dream you could easily wait 20 minutes. Do miss the Ceaser salad.

 

2.0 Additions Guys, the pub, blue Iguana, Red Frog, Blue iguana burritos and tacos, taste bar, Jimmy's C-side, punchliner brunch, La Cucina, plus ones I did not get to try, Library Bar, Sushi etc. I have said I would have a hard time going back to a ship without 2.0 features. I would like to try Alchemy Bar and the Sports Bar which were not on the Breeze.

 

TV Typical channels, movies which they had previously shown on the outdoor screen. My favorite though was the interactive features, yu could review S&S balance, get messages rom cruise director, see shore excursions, order room service, they had the different restaurants, but did not have menu for MDR for each night, which I thought would have been a plus. My favorite channel was the lido deck where they had the camera and music. Both DH and I cannot sleep without the TV on, so we kept it on overnight.

 

I am sure I will have more random thoughts, but this is what I have for now.

[alrichards4003]

I had already planned to get my breakfast burrito on the Lido deck, but when I looked at the Lido deck channel, I saw the towel animal menagerie, I grabbed the Ipad to take some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the towel animals.

[sjn911]

i don't know, I didn't look closely, but did not appear to be a roach. Living in Florida and growing up in Florida, bugs don't really bother me. When I was growing up we would have spiders the size of your hand. And the big cockroaches, but this was not one of them, it looked small, maybe the size of a fly, but no wings.

 

Really enjoying your review kicking back with a coke & Sat afternoon..you sure are patient and don't sweat the small stuff...ok back to review...Sarah

[alrichards4003]

Aruba was my day to choose the shore excursion, I kept on debating between the party bus and DiPalm Island, by the time I booked them they had sold out the party bus, so we were going to DiPalm beach. DiPalm beach was an all inclusive with with lunch, drinks, snorkelling, beach chairs and they had a water park for kids.

 

There was a bus ride and once you got there then a boat ride over. They gave you two wrist band a non-alcoholic one and an alcoholic one, they said when you are finished with the snorkeling and watersports then you could take non-alcoholic one off and then had drinks, they had a restaurant on the opposite end from us and then burgers and chicken strips near us.

 

We go chairs with some shade:

 

I love the water and kept trying to get in, but it was way too cold.

 

 

Because my throat was bothering me, I started drinking orange juice. After trying the water a few times, I knew the snorkeling was not going to happen, so I took off the non-alcoholic wristband.

 

They had a premade multi liquor fruity drink and I had couple of those.

 

 

 

We had hamburgers and chicken, there was the first long line to get the food and a second long line for condiments, pumping the ketchup was a herculean task. I know that I was not feeling my best, still not real impressed.

 

We then went to the pier and waited for our ferry boat to take us to the bus. We waited a while and then the complaining started, I am not a fan of a bunch of complaining and I believe that people who may not have much in common bond over complaining. They were all Breeze people and complaining about the excursion and about the Breeze. Where is that boat? We were on our way back to the pier and before the pier they had a shopping area and you would have a 10-15 minute walk back to the pier. I told my husband to go if he wanted, but I wanted to get back to the ship. Once we got to the pier we walked around the shopping area inside on the way to the gangway, eh, nothing much there. My husband saw a mask he liked and when he asked the price, I think she said something like $300, I liked it better than the one he spent $25 on in the DR but not that much.

[alrichards4003]

Really enjoying your review kicking back with a coke & Sat afternoon..you sure are patient and don't sweat the small stuff...ok back to review...Sarah

 

My DH never remembers anything and I have to repeat myself all the time. I work in a law firm and the work I do really requires patience with attorneys and clients. Working on big venture capital and mergers and acquisition deals, and filings with the SEC where it can sometimes be very stressful and mistakes become meltdowns, I am not worrying about cold french fries.

[sjn911]

i don't know, I didn't look closely, but did not appear to be a roach. Living in Florida and growing up in Florida, bugs don't really bother me. When I was growing up we would have spiders the size of your hand. And the big cockroaches, but this was not one of them, it looked small, maybe the size of a fly, but no wings.

 

Unfortunately I never made it to the Library Bar, but there are wine machines that you slide your S&S card and it dispenses a certain amount of kind of wine based on your choices. I understand, (but have not been on them) that the CCL Sunshine and NCL Breakaway have the as well. I don't know why but it is something I want to try.

LOL..I LOVE the way you put things and your dry humor..I don't know why either..LOL..but I want to try those tasting bars with wine where it is arranged like that and why not start on the newer Carnival ships!!

 

I had ONE bug coming home from NYC on a suitcase 3 weeks ago...still good...checked my mattress before i got all in when moving in due to reading especially bad in NYC..it was a "buget" hotel at 277 a night including taxes..sigh..and clean but old..I am watching and so far so good and think past "the time"..i think there is no way in heck but to keep on it constantly on the hoteliers and cruises side and they did pass the buck..

 

We have so many flies and horse flies here..but not like the tropics..LOL I remember my first dance with both city and tropic cockroaches...LOL..you are just cool...sarah

[sjn911]

My DH never remembers anything and I have to repeat myself all the time. I work in a law firm and the work I do really requires patience with attorneys and clients. Working on big venture capital and mergers and acquisition deals, and filings with the SEC where it can sometimes be very stressful and mistakes become meltdowns, I am not worrying about cold french fries.

Double LOL...Love it just saw this...thanks..this is so much fun!!! OMG..the pain of those kind of things..current banker, rancher, geology, teacher, counselor family here...some multi positioned...I get it!!!

[alrichards4003]

Back on ship and to trivia. Not really a fan of frozen drinks, but since my throat was a little sore, I started drinking Miami Vices. They had bookworm trivia, I have a degree in literature, I have to win this one. Damn you Harry Potter! The question I missed was about some book in the series, I did not know and someone else did, no ship on a stick for me.

 

My DH sat with me and gave moral support though no knowledge of Harry Potter. When we played trivia, he usually knew 1-2 of the answers, I never said I married him for his massive brain, and in the words of Forrest Gump, "That is all I am going to say about that."

 

We then went to the Pub, I was drinking the red frog's version of the pina colada, we asked to see the menu, we thought we might have a snack. The waiter never brought it, so I grabbed one from inside. DH had grouper fingers and I had the sliders with fried onions, at $3.33, it was well worth it, and it was a nice change of pace. We stayed a while, then I was off to the casino and we were to meet up at bingo.

 

We went to bingo, where I did not win, the game was coverall and took quite a while. It was after 9, I went to the MDR and had the quickest service ever, I had the mushroom soup, oysters rockefeller and the shrimp and fries.

 

I had enough for the day, we had two sea days coming up, which I was ready for.

[alrichards4003]

Double LOL...Love it just saw this...thanks..this is so much fun!!! OMG..the pain of those kind of things..current banker, rancher, geology, teacher, counselor family here...some multi positioned...I get it!!!

 

Thanks I really appreciate your great (positive) feedback. I always say when I get out of bed everyday, my goal for the day is to amuse myself, everything else is gravy.

[alrichards4003]

I slept in late, DH and I went to the Punchliner brunch. Since we were gold we had a free drink coupon, I had a strawberry bellini, DH had Bloody Mary made with tequila. Why did he get it made with tequila, I don't know and neither did he, and consequently did not care much for it. Stare-breathe through nostrils-sigh.

 

I had my eggs benedict and cheese grits, DH had blueberry pancakes. He complained to me that there were too many blueberries. Seriously, see stare above. Since there were two of us we got a nice assortment of breads, whereas when I was by myself they bring a basket and let you choose one, they come back around, but there seemed to be a better assortment in this basket. The food took a while, but I had bread and pastries, bellini, oj and coffee, I was in no hurry. The able next to us had ceaser salads and then one had mac and cheese and the other had steak and eggs, it all looked good.

 

We then went to the future cruise presentation, I always go to these, I was curious to hear about the Sunshine, but i took about 30 minutes to get past the Carnival mastercard talk, I like the idea of the waterfall in serenity, I am still debating beween Sunshine and Breeze for next year.

[alrichards4003]

Next I am off to the spa, since the sore throat turned into a cough, I thought the steam room would help and it did, plus love the T-pool and heated loungers. So after laying around the spa, I decided to go to serenity and lay around up there. I walked around to see if there were any chairs available, there were. I checked out a towel, he asked how many I wanted, I got one, but when I got to my chair I saw why you might want two. I got a drink from the bar since cocktail service was kind of hit or miss.

 

I found a chair by the hot tub, I considered getting in the hot tub, but there were too many people already in it for my liking. Ouch, the chairs on the top of the ship in the caribbean were hot, the towel covered half the chair, I used my other clothes under my legs so I could stand to lay on the chair. I enjoyed Serenity, very relaxing. I noticed all the clamshells had belongings on them, but no people on them. At some point someone sat on the edge of one, I had the feeling that it was not their clamshell, because when her husband came he did the same thing, sit on the very edge of the clamshell.

 

I am not a fan of charging for every little thing, but maybe if people paid some sort of minimal rental fee they might use the clamshells.

[alrichards4003]

I had lunch at the buffet. Mac and cheese is one of my favorite foods, I have several favorite foods. With the home cooking section of the buffet, I figured that they would have mac and cheese, the line for that section was long as sometimes they have the same food in the back of the buffet, but people don't venture back that way and stand in line instead. Well they did not have it but the food of the day in back was french, I had gotten some seafood and a veg. casserole, I stood in line for the home cooking and got mac and cheese and some chicken tenders. There was a guy in front of me who loaded his plate with chicken, I mean 8 chickens died for this guys lunch, even one of the carnival personnel said you must really like chicken. The favorite thing I had was the vegetable casserole.

 

So afterwards, trivia and the casino. DH and I were to meet for bingo at 3. I was close to getting my free drink card. I won some money in the casino, but recycled it. I did however get points and that afternoon got free drink card for the casino. Now I know I have the Cheers program, why should I care about a free drink in the casino? I wanted the casino to buy me a drink since I had recycled my winnings. I won the card on the Glory on the last night about 11:45 and got a coke, I wanted them to buy me a drink. On the Glory I recycled money and one night the casino sent choc. covered strawberries to the room. I spent more this time, but did not receive anything. I guess it varies by ship.

 

This was the second formal night and this time my husband had his suit.

 

I had the escargot and shrimp with marinara and DH had corn chowder and fish. I normally would have gotten the chateaubriand and it is one of my favorites, but since we were having dinner in the steakhouse I did not want to have steak two nights in row, however, I had escargot 2 nights in a row. The shrimp was fine, it was just that I would have enjoyed the chateaubriand more. The food was fine, but the drink service was slow, I got my glass of wine toward the end of the entree and my husband got his during dessert, we had ordered before we ordered dinner. The drink waitress was nice, just inexperienced and overwhelmed.

 

They were showing Tower Heist and J. Edgar on the outdoor movie screen, I wanted to see J. Edgar but it did not start until 10:30 so I did not think I would make it up. I did go the shop to buy some cold medicine $18.50 for dristan, I did not even know they still made dristan. The rest of the night was listening to pub music, casino and relaxing the off to bed.

[sjn911]

I could not make it without having the split apart time...this way you two do it gives me hope too..Nice suit and hubby..form another 80's gal..thanks will be checking back and sorry you got a darn cold..I fear a tad bit more to come there...but you took it in stride i can tell..Sarah

[NW Native1]

Unfortunately I never made it to the Library Bar, but there are wine machines that you slide your S&S card and it dispenses a certain amount of kind of wine based on your choices. I understand, (but have not been on them) that the CCL Sunshine and NCL Breakaway have the as well. I don't know why but it is something I want to try.

 

There is a movie theater here in Vancouver, Washington, that has one of these. I has dozens of different wines you can try, from just a little taste to a full glass. It's a great way to try wines without buying a full bottle.

[okgirl]

LOL- and I shouldn't have used my favorite term, bqhatevr, without a reference: http://gawker.com/5979218/scott-browns-message-to-the-haters-bqhatevwr

 

On the 15 drink Cheers issue, I've seen some people say that they start paying for drinks after their 14th cheers drink so they won't be cut off.

 

I've done the Cheers program on 3 or 4 cruises now and I'm not sure you can do this. When they swipe your card it brings up a screen that automatically counts the number of drinks you have had and then charges it against the cheers program to produce a 0.00 receipt. I think the only exception to this is if you also have the "On Us" Players Club card they can switch it to that form of charge so you are not being counted for those drinks.

 

However since the Cheers Program also gives you 25% off bottles of wine. I suppose you could purchase several of those at the beginning of the cruise and then only open them when you were at or near your limit.

 

And as for being cut off after 15 drinks, I never have yet even though I've exceeded the limit. The bar manager is suppose to evaluate how drunk you appear to be and make a decision based on that.

[alrichards4003]

We had one cruise on Royal which we were not crazy about, we had 2 on princess, which were fine, but now there is no smoking on the balcony. I am thinking about Quantum, but would want more details released before I book, and it is possible we will book princess in the future and DH will have to just go to the open deck for his morning and evening cigarette. Right now we like CCL and NCL and that is where we take all of our cruises. I thought I would do a comparison of the lines. Obviously you can't compare an older CCL ship to a newer NCL ship or vice versa.

 

Favorite Ship: NCL Epic and CCL Breeze. Epic beats out the Breeze, Blue Man Group, Legends in Concert, Bowling, Martini tastings.

 

Rooms: CCL. The rooms on NCL are smaller, not dramatically but still, we like the space to move around. When we were on the Dawn in Feb. only one outlet, I thought CCL had at least 2 on every room we have been on.

 

Entertainment: Tie. On CCL we like the outdoor screen and the comedians, we were not able to get into comedy show on breeze. NCL on Epic has blue man group etc, but the shows on other ships are enjoyable, but no outdoor screen.

 

Pizza: CCL. The pizza is 24 hours on both, which is great. NCL has the pizza delivered and it costs $5, it is a full size pizza and enough to share, but they only have cheese, pepperoni and veg. but the flavor is kind of meh. You have to stand in line for CCL, but better flavor, more choices and it is free.

 

Buffet: NCL. NCL buffet is open more hours, loved their burgers in the afternoon. On Dawn the seating area was never crowded, the tables were preset with napkins and silverware and condiments, there was less to juggle, there also seemed like there was more space to walk.

 

Specialty restaurants: CCL for Italian and Steakhouse, NCL for others. Steakhouse and Italian on CCL were better, but as French food is a favorite, the French restaurant and Brazillian steakhouse on NCL.

 

Room Service: NCL. Liked being able to get a cheeseburger through room service.

 

MDR Food: Thought they were both good, wished both lines would change their menus more often for frequent cruisers.

 

24 hour restaurant: NCL. CCL doesn't have one, and its not that you will starve, but the 24 hour restaurant on NCL are nice.

 

Formal Night: NCL. They don't have one. If we go on CCL we dress up but on NCL we don't.

 

Casino: CCL. You can put money from S&S to machine, I have heard they are doing this on Breakaway. But I have gotten free drink card from CCL, but seems only about half the points on NCL cards.

 

Trivia: CCL. The last time we were on NCL they had one regular game and everything else was progressive and I did not want to commit to going to trivia every night at the same time. On Breeze they had more trivia in 2 days than NCL did on the whole cruise.

 

Martini Tasting: NCL. CCL has four mini martinis for $17 among a choice of 8. NCL has a martini tasting for 4-5 martinis for $15, a bartender gives history of martini, tells jokes and it is a big social event. They also have margarita, wine and beer tastings.

 

Thermal Suite: NCL. Even on the older ships I prefer the thermal suites on NCL.

 

Outdoor movie theater: CCL. NCL has an outdoor screen at spice on Epic, but not on their other ships.

 

Deal or No Deal. This is only on NCL, but it was a good time and we won a picture. I guess the Hasbro game would be similar, but I don't think they have the same kind of cash prizes.

 

Itinerary's: CCL for Caribbean. NCL Alaska and Pacific Coast. Now that CCL pulled out of Europe for next year that would also go to NCL. CCL goes to a larger variety of ports in the caribbean.

 

Both of the lines are great and I think the prices are comparable, it just depends on what features are most important to you.