GAPearl's Big BREEZE Review! 8 Day Southern Itinerary 9/28/13.

[gapearl]

For full appreciation of this post, GAPearl, you MUST post the corn bread picture from your previous cruise. Those of us who read that review know just how far Carnival has come. LOL

 

OOPS, I didn't quite copy this to include your words about Carnival finally getting the corn bread right.

 

Haha I went to dig up that picture just for you! The original cornbread post that started it all! :D

 

Two years later, I say THIS IS STILL NOT CORNBREAD!!!! You can't just put corn on top of bread and call it cornbread. :rolleyes:

 

[gapearl]

and I had the C-side bar-b-q twice on our cruise in September and we liked it. But like Gapearl has posted get there early or you may be stuck in a long line. We got there early both times and when we looked behind us the line was long and growing. They did have someone from one of the shows doing card tricks for the people in line one day though.

 

I wish I had eaten there second time later in the cruise. I wonder if they had people entertaining the line later after I left.

 

You are brave holding a baby alligator and doing the tour. I am the biggest wimp when it comes to animals. Don't like them at all!!! Off to a great start on your review!

 

The alligator was another notch on my list! I've swam with baby sharks, manatees, sting rays, and it's on my bucket list to go cage diving in South Africa with the great whites! Be sure to come back for the La Romana posts. I'll have another surprise there. ;)

 

As usual, I have had to subscribe to your review. I was so glad when I saw that you did another one. Please go on and pull the trigger on a short cruise so you can hit Platinum this year....it is so worth it:D

 

Thanks for coming back again to read! I'm debating one more cruise. We'll see!

 

The first night I ordered it with 2 ice creams and when our waiter delivered it he would say "mickey mouse" and turn the plate so the 2 ice creams were at the top... For the rest of the cruise we just ordered the mickey mouse..lol

 

I heard someone else call it Mickey Mouse. I had never heard that until this cruise. LOL

[Winterstale]

Haha I went to dig up that picture just for you! The original cornbread post that started it all! :D

 

Two years later, I say THIS IS STILL NOT CORNBREAD!!!! You can't just put corn on top of bread and call it cornbread. :rolleyes:

 

 

OMG I remember this!! I remember reading this and LMFAO!!!

[gapearl]

Really enjoying your review and pictures, can't wait to find out if you made a love connnection!

 

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

 

Absolutely loving your review!!! Your body looks fabulous as well!!! I'm hoping to take the breeze next year, its 1 of the 3 narrowed down. But, unfortunately, my Son has to get braces so that might put a damper on the cruise...hoping not tho :confused: Glad you had a great time and can't wait to read the rest!!!

 

Thanks for reading and for the compliment! Bummer on the braces. :( I hope you decide on the Breeze. You'll enjoy it!

 

your mom gets the queen of efficiency award.. you knew I had to come back to read your review.. you are slowly tempting me to try a carnival cruise..

 

Welcome back! So wait, you've never taken a Carnival cruise? Well what are you waiting for? What's your cruise line of choice? (not sure since you don't have a signature?

 

Lol@ the toiletries.

 

What can I say, I'm a bit of a princess. LOL :o

[gapearl]

Seriously love this thread! I'm deciding between the Breeze and the Dream at the moment and this thread has me leaning towards the Breeze.

 

I think you'll be booked on the Breeze by the end. :)

 

That corn bread post was a classic! (Hi Jane....from Yvette -FB)

 

Hahaha! :D

 

Love the Breeze! We'll be sailing her again in January, with this itinerary, and cannot wait!

 

For now, I'll just live vicariously through your awesome review. :)

 

Thank you!

 

January is right around the corner. You'll have a fabulous time! Thanks for reading!

 

I'm loving your review. On the Breeze next month. So excited. And you look fantastic.

 

Woo-hoo! Have fun next month! And thanks!

[gapearl]

GAPearl...you look great !

 

I could tell from the 1st pic you posted that you had lost weight.

 

Way to go !

 

Thanks so much! All that running and slinging weights has paid off! :) I knew I had gained a bit of weight last year, but finally decided to get on the scale not long after my Valor cruise. Let me give you some advice- NEVER get on the scale on April 1! The joke was on me! :eek:

I'm a little behind in my reading - but, you had a video at your muster drill???? I was in the Sapphire DR and WE didn't have any videos!:( I feel cheated - NOT:D

 

Hey Jill! :D Yeah I was surprised to see a video. Guess you need to book another cruise to see it! Haha

 

OMG I remember this!! I remember reading this and LMFAO!!!

 

A classic moment in cruise critic history! :D

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Monday, 9/30

 

It’s a beautiful day in Grand Turk! We had a short port day today, so we had to hurry off the ship and get the day started.

 

 

This was our second trip to Grand Turk, the first being two years ago on our Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Valor. Grand Turk is a very small island with not much to do besides lay your bum on the beach all day. Last time, we took an island tour and I had some beach time after getting my mom back on the ship. That was pretty much the plan again for today, only I wanted to see anything on the island we didn’t get to see last time. I did a lot of research and found a couple of little museums I thought would be interesting to visit.

 

We were off the ship around 8 am and went in search of a taxi.

 

 

 

We saw a stand in the cruise center area offering rides on a hop on, hop off bus for $19. I think it’s that little train trolley, not really a bus, because I never saw a bus on the island and it would be billed to my sail and sign card. I told the guy selling the rides where we wanted to go, and he showed us their locations on a map. We could easily get to them all from where the stops were located, but it would still require a bit of walking. Plus they only ran every 30 minutes. I didn’t want to have my time restricted at any place, nor did I want to miss my ride by 1 minute and have to wait another 30 for the next one. A taxi driver heard everything and offered to take us around for $25 each. I asked if he’d take $20 and he said yes. A couple of people from our Facebook group, Nicole and Hugo, were there looking for a ride the same time as us. Nicole recognized me and the two of them joined us as well.

 

Our driver had to take us in his personal car. He was far from being next in the taxi line for customers. We had to walk to the road just beyond the cruise center and he picked us up from there. If he didn’t do this for us, he said he might not have made any money today at all.

 

 

He showed us the space craft thing that John Glen landed in Grand Turk in after orbiting the earth.

 

 

Grand Turk is the capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands, and we passed the governor’s home. Grand Turk is so small, he said our ship had more people than the island. Gas was $6.10 a gallon!

This house is supposedly haunted.

 

 

Just beyond the haunted house was a ton of land Venus Williams recently purchased. I’m sure she’s going to build something spectacular here. I asked as I did last time about the American actress Lisa Raye marrying the country’s former Premier Michael Misick. He said yeah, she was definitely a gold digger. He said he thinks that she thought he OWNED the islands, and was disappointed when she found out that wasn't the case, lol. After all the scandals surrounding Misick, he fled to Brazil, got caught there, and is currently in a Brazilian jail cell. Sucks to be him right now!

 

 

Read all about his oopsie here- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/turksandcaicosislands/10022501/Michael-Misick-Turks-and-Caicos-premier-facing-extradition-from-Brazil.html.

Edited October 10, 2013 by gapearl

[gapearl]

Our first stop was Her Majesty’s Prison. Nicole was like you’re going in? Well, yeah! She thought it was a real prison, haha. Admission is only $3, and you only need 20-30 minutes to look around.

 

Read more about this place here- http://www.visittci.com/hm-prison

 

 

 

Her Majesty’s Prison was built back in the 1800’s and used until the 1990's. When a big hurricane came through in 1866, prisoners were temporarily released so they could go tend to their homes and families.

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

Where the cells are located.

 

 

 

 

HEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!!!!! Don't leave me in here!!!!!!

 

 

[CaribbeanH2OLover]

Thank you for writing this review! We will be on the Breeze next month.

[gapearl]

From there, we headed to the Turks & Caicos National Museum. Admission is $5 for cruise ship passengers. We were shown a 7 minute video about the local shipwreck. Our guide was excited to tell us all about his country’s history. There were a few exhibits we were able to read about on our own. There’s a gift shop as you exit with a few handmade items. Again, about 30 minutes is all you need here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

My mom as we're leaving.

 

 

[angelofsin]

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and for the compliment! Bummer on the braces. :( I hope you decide on the Breeze. You'll enjoy it!

 

 

 

Welcome back! So wait, you've never taken a Carnival cruise? Well what are you waiting for? What's your cruise line of choice? (not sure since you don't have a signature?

 

 

 

What can I say, I'm a bit of a princess. LOL :o

I have only taken one cruise this past May on Celebrity Cruises.

[gapearl]

Up next was the lighthouse, where there were tons of donkeys roaming free.

 

 

There was a cute baby donkey I had to take a picture with. The mama sure did stay close, though. They were all friendly.

 

 

 

 

[paulahauser]

I'm so enjoying reading your blog! Im going on the 6 day Breeze next month and love hearing all about the ship and your adventures!

[gapearl]

Have you ever seen two donkeys fighting? Me either! Click below for video. Haha :D

 

 

Our driver said it was probably two male donkeys in heat fighting over a female donkey. Stupid men. :rolleyes:

 

Horseback riding excursion.

 

 

This is the oldest church on the island, built in 1823.

 

[margaritaman]

you are so beautiful and hot. Love your reviews. Heading on our 4th Pride cruise in just over 2 weeks for Halloween..would love to see you on a cruise sometime. keep it up

[gapearl]

Next up was the Salt House. It was free to roam here and read the few signs posted about how important salt has been to the local economy. There's also a gift shop with trinkets and locally made salt products (scrubs, etc).

 

 

Flamingos.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The gift shop.

 

 

Lots of salt.

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour was about two hours. It was a very enjoyable morning. I got to know a little more about Grand Turk’s history and culture, something I try to always do when I travel. We were the only guests at the first two museums, and only a few people were at the Salt House. I guess no one really knows about these places. If you're heading to Grand Turk soon and would like to get to know the island a little more, be sure to check them out.

[gapearl]

Our driver dropped Nicole and Hugo off at Jack’s Shack. He took my mom and I back to the ship. I made sure she got back on ok and then headed down to Jack’s myself. To get to Jack's, make a left when you leave the ship, and keep walking all the way down the beach past Margaritaville and all the beach chairs. It's a 10 minute walk.

 

There's our ship! What a beauty!

 

 

Food and fun. Yeah, looks like LOTS of fun. LOL

 

 

 

 

I had the jerk chicken with fries and a mosquito bite to drink. Jack's has probably the best jerk chicken I've ever had in my life.

 

 

Before coming to Grand Turk, go to Jack's website and print your coupon for your free rum sample.

 

[gapearl]

Jack's Shack. They have free internet. You'll get the best signal if you go inside their gift shop.

 

 

This is Topher, Jack's dog. Topher loves swimming and playing in the sand. I wonder if he knows how famous he is?

 

 

 

Me!

 

 

And me again with Topher.

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

Back at the ship after an awesome first port day.

 

 

Back on board was 1:30 pm for a 2 pm departure. I left Jack’s at 1 pm and headed to duty free to buy a couple bottles of local rum. I believe they were two for $32. Once coming back onboard, I was hoping to get them past security. Didn’t happen. Typically, the table where you drop off your booze is beyond security. It was set up today to where you had to go back out of security, drop off your stuff, and then go through again. Literally seconds after I dropped off my purchases, they were breaking down the metal detectors X-RAY machines. Oh well.

[poptart]

Yippee I'm loving your review. So glass I found it this evening! Thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

Sent from my SM-T310 using Forums mobile app

[gapearl]

I immediately went to the Cloud 9 Spa for some quality time in the steam rooms. As soon as I made it back to my cabin, G called me. We met up at the jacuzzi on deck 5 (same one I was in yesterday that was cold, and it was hot today) and spent some more time together talking. We hung out for about an hour and left around 4 pm to go get cleaned up for the past guest party for gold guests and above. He’s been on 10 or 11 cruises himself. A man that loves cruising as much as I do? He might be a keeper! :D

 

 

G, his brother and I sat together at the party. Service was a bit lacking. When I walked in, I asked a server for a drink. Instead of allowing me to take one, he told me when I take my seat one would be brought over. Okaaaaaay. The row where we were sitting and the row in front of us appeared to be the only rows in the room that had not been served, and this was about 10 minutes into the party. G was at the end of the row and flagged down someone from the entertainment staff passing by, and someone finally came over with drinks. Only one round of appetizers was served. It was some kind of bacon cheesecake thingy. I don’t eat pork, but G said it was disgusting.

 

They showed the video of all the ships and you cheer when a ship you have sailed on comes up. There was also some singing and dancing on stage. Butch acknowledged the passenger onboard with the most days sailed- 667!

 

 

 

Don't get tricked into coming on stage to dance like these folks did when they say they have a prize for the first 100 people to come up. Your prize will be free pizza and ice cream the rest of the cruise. haha

 

 

We only had one drink each. I'm used to getting 3 or 4 or however many I want. As we were leaving, G noticed someone drinking something that looked really good and asked what it was. It was the mocha chocolate getaway that everyone raves about. At the past guest party, a drink server will bring you a special order, if you ask. G asked a drink server if she could bring us one, and she said no they were done serving. The assistant cruise director, Brittany, was standing in the area and heard it all and had her bring us each the drink. It was really nice of her to step in and do that for us!

 

Me with my mocha chocolate getaway.