Living Breezy: Carnival Breeze review (with a 4 year old and 15 weeks pregnant!)

[moesyk4]

We are freshly back from our 6 day Carnival Breeze cruise leaving January 12th stopping at Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel! I don't give those fantastic minute by minute cruise reviews that are so much fun to read, but I like to review things that I think others would really like to know. Specifically, about pros and cons of the ship based on us (as mentioned I was 15 weeks pregnant and also with a 4 year old and my husband), the excursions and ports, cove balconies, FTTF, and a few other things here and there. I will try to answer questions as I can and add some pictures if I'm smart enough :). Hope you enjoy!

Edited January 21, 2014 by moesyk4

[moesyk4]

Ok, on to the cruise! Here is the family...this is my 6th cruise and DH's 5th. We have sailed everything from the Carnival Paradise to RCCL's Freedom of the Seas and have had everything from upper and lower staterooms to a balcony. Whatever can get us on the ship!

 

Edited January 21, 2014 by moesyk4

[moesyk4]

Sorry for the short post, getting used to adding photos! We live in Indianapolis and had endured 50 below wind chills and massive storms the week before, so we were ready to fly out bright and early Saturday morning. It was our son's first time flying and he was sooo excited. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale (flying Southwest) around 11:00 am and were greeted by nice warm, sunny skies! Parent Note: Southwest does not allow reserved seating both those with children under the age of 4 can use family priority boarding, which boards after the "A" group and before the "B" and "C" groups. I've seen posted many times on this board concern about getting to sit together. If you use that family boarding, there is at least half the plane empty when you board. You will have no issues whatsoever!

We used SAS transportation as recommended here to transport us to Miami. It was more than adequate...we called them after we had all our luggage and they were out front within 5 minutes. We were fortunate that we were the last ones picked up and the first ones dropped off, because the van was full and squishy! The trip was less than 40 minutes though and we were pleased. The cost is $15 per person and well worth it.

We arrived in Miami and were staying at the B2 Miami downtown. We have stayed in Miami two times before this and have been really underwhelmed by the city and the locations of our hotels (always purchased on Hotwire or Priceline). I was actually dreading going there again. I cannot, however, say enough good things about the B2!!!! The hotel is nice, clean, and the staff was friendly. Even though we were there several hours before check in, they let us get a room. The room was tiny, but clean, and the view was amazing! Could see all the ships in port as well as Bayside Marketplace. We were able to walk to sooo many little bistros along the street. There is a CVS directly across the street and a Walgreens, Starbucks, and several other local stores within a 3 minute walk of the hotel. The free people mover was right behind the hotel, although we did not use it. Bayside Marketplace, full of shops and places to eat, was directly across the street.

Here are some pictures from Miami....

The view from Bayside Marketplace

We ate at one of the little bistros for lunch, Mr. Porchettas. The most amazing penne with red sauce I have ever had!

The hotel at night!

The only downside I found was the elevators...they were too small for the size of the hotel and extremely slow. But the price through Priceline was less than half of the cost of staying downtown otherwise, so we were very pleased.

[purplemusik]

Nice!

[moesyk4]

Day 1: Time to cruise!

We got up bright at early and got breakfast at one of the French bistros behind the hotel. We then caught a taxi over to the port a little after 10. From our location, the taxi ride was about 5 minutes and around $15. Miami, unlike other cities, does not appear to charge extra based on the number of people, which is nice if you are traveling in a larger group.

The taxi driver dropped us off on the wrong side of the check in area, so it was mass confusion until we were directed to where people arriving were. Even though it happened throughout the cruise, I'll give my full FTTF review here.

FTTF Review:

Because we were traveling with a 4 year old, I thought it would be nice to drop our car seat off in the room and not have to wait in lines. We got there around 10:30 and when we let the porter know we were FTTF, he put the orange tags right on. Miami has the FTTF process down to a science...there are large signs everywhere directing you to the correct place. You go through security up front, down the hall to the main check in area, and someone checks you off a list and lets you in a special line to get your cards. You then sit in the general area with everyone until you are called. Platinum/Diamond have their own separate lounge and they are personally led in a line to board before the FTTF, so there is no pouting there :).

We were boarding by 11:15 though. Our room was indeed ready when we boarded and we were able to drop off our stuff and head to the Lido which was still about deserted at that point. Our luggage arrived earlier than normal, but I noticed our neighbor's luggage was not FTTF and there at the same time as us, so not sure that was FTTF related. We went to Guest Services about 3 times during the week and each time there was a huge line on the "regular" side, so it was fantastic to get right up there.

We also used it for tendering. We went straight to Guest Services and they personally led us down to the tender and on board. We did not use it for debarkation.

Would I get it again? Probably not, unless we had kids along again. The time we were at the port (10:30 am), there were no lines anywhere, so it didn't make much of a difference there. By the time we were boarding at 11:15, there were getting to be some long lines so if you arrive later, I think it would be worthwhile, but we were always easy. We would've been zone 3 without it, so not too far behind. Getting to the room and the buffet early was nice, but not a necessity. With the tender, a larger group of "regular" people followed us in the elevator and she told them they had to go to the Ocean Plaza to wait, but then changed her mind and let them come with us. No one checked IDs down there, so it seemed if you just didn't follow the rules you could still get on board.

So in summary, the perks were nice, but if it was just the two of us, I don't think I'd spend the $50.

Here are some pictures...

You can see in the background the lines are nonexistant at this point...

This is right before we boarded and you can see it's starting to fill up more.

Ok, both kids are sleeping so I'm going to take advantage, but will be back later with my thoughts on the ship and our cove balcony review!

[Birdiegirl]

We will be on the same ship/itinerary in May...and in a Cove...

 

love your pictures!

 

Thanks!!

[moesyk4]

Alas, no rest for the weary, the baby got up. Oh well, on to more of the review!

As I said, I am not the "minute by minute" reviewer as was evident by my lack of actual cruise ship pictures when I returned from the trip. I got none, nada, of the actual ship unless it happened to sneak in the background behind our dear son. So...I will not be doing a ship overview (I know there are plenty of those already) but will instead list our thoughts, pros, and cons of the ship itself and then specifically of our room.

For a summary, we have sailed on the Paradise, Triumph, Ecstasy, Freedom of the Seas, and Majesty of the Seas in the past. We have had one upper/lower room, two insides, one promenade, and one balcony room previous to this. We really enjoyed our balcony, but it definitely wasn't a dealbreaker to go back to the insides for the price.

Carnival Breeze: The pros!

1) We really, really enjoyed the ship itself, second only to the FOS. The ship is very tastefully decorated, there is plenty to do onboard (so much so that we felt like we didn't get to experience it all), and it is well laid out.

Our son never got bored, and neither did we, despite how little laying out time you actually get with a preschooler :)

Shuffleboard at the Red Frog Pub

Karaoke!

Minigolf...that's about it. Did I mention I have almost no pictures of the ship?

2. The staff...our room steward, waitstaff, and everyone we encountered was very friendly. As always, they kept the ship in excellent shape and we always felt well taken care of.

3. The food. I know this is relative, but I thought this was the best MDR food we'd had on board. The red meat especially was always perfectly cooked. This is the first time I've enjoyed the lobster on board a ship. There are TONS of places to eat at lunch. I never had a Guy's burger (didn't sound good with the pregnancy) but my DH enjoyed several and I took a few bits of his and it was excellent. I tried Mongolian walk on the first day and it was fine, not worth writing home about. Same with the pizza. The deli, BBQ, and burrito places were excellent though. Breakfast was just ok, but we ate in the MDR the last three mornings and that was great, including brunch, a must eat IMO.

We never did get to try the Italian or Indian place or the steakhouse.

4. The shows/entertainment. This has always been a big part of our cruising experience in the past and I was dreading it after the 2.0 upgrades and what I had heard. I was pleasantly surprised...the production shows, although not like they used to be, were still very good and fun to watch. The comedians were some of the best we have heard and not too raunchy at the adult shows, which was refreshing. We had a comedic juggler who was great as well. My only complaint is each show has a LOT of talking/intro, which was tough for our 4 year old. We came as early as 30 minutes before and as late as after a show started and never had an issue getting a seat, although of course the quality varied.

5. Cove Balcony- I'll expound on this next.

[moesyk4]

One more pro...the spa! I purchased the spa access package for my husband because he has back issues, and he utilized it for at least an hour everyday. He really enjoyed it and when we took the tour, it looked amazing!

 

The cons: None of these were dealbreakers or detracted from the cruise, but just things we noticed:

1) Timing/location of events and shows: There were several things that were only shown once and the timing would've only been convenient to some MTD. We would be showing up late to it and the later diners would have had to leave early. We also noticed that the location of some events were not ideal, most noticeably the comedians. They were in the Limelight Lounge and despite having about 12 shows over the course of the trip you had to get there 45 minutes early to get a seat. After every show, they cleared out the entire room so a new group could get in, which is only fair, but then there was little chance you could see the next comedian because the line was huge. This should be moved to the Ovation theater, pronto. Other things, like karaoke, were placed in locations that weren't ideal and caused shorter times. For instance, it was from 6-8 pm in the Ocean Plaza bar one night while the nightclub where it had been previously sat empty until almost 10. It had to end at 8 because of the band that comes to Ocean Plaza then.

2) Camp Carnival- Everyone raves about it, but I thought it was just ok. Maybe I'm weird, but I consider this my son's vacation too, and so I wanted Camp Carnival to be a fun, bonus part of his vacation as opposed to feeling like I was shipping him off to be babysat. He enjoyed it, of course, but it just felt like a babysitter to me. Although there schedule was full of activities, we never walked into the room to drop off/pick up and saw them actively doing anything with the kids. Movies/Wii was on the schedule at least 4-5 times a day. On the sea days, they closed down for a good chunk of the afternoon for paying activities. My son went to a pirate party at night, and while they seemed to do something pirate themed, it didn't involve any of the fun activities listed he was looking forward to (face painting, tattoos, etc.) We did use it a few times, but I kept him with us much more than I thought we would.

3. The weather. I know, that can't be helped, so I only mention it here because of how it affected the ship experience. Our week was chilly (mid 60s to low 70s) pretty much the whole week and also very breezy. Because of this, I found several areas of the ship to be unusable. Waterworks were extremely cold with the breeze, as was the Serenity deck. The breeze was so strong you could barely talk on the Serenity deck. Also, Sportsquare was closed both sea days because of the wind. Even though we were deck 2 and midship, it was difficult to sleep most nights.

Edited January 21, 2014 by moesyk4

[moesyk4]

Ok, so our final big pro was the cove balcony! With our last balcony , we enjoyed it and utilized it often, but it wasn't a dealbreaker not to have it. I don't think I could sail on a ship with a cove balcony, however, and not get it. Particularly with a 4 year old who still needs occasional naps and goes to bed earlier, we were out there constantly.

Being so close to the water was amazing, I loved the sound of the water. Our location (2333) and the one next to us towards the back happened to be by a small break in the lifeboats, so we had plenty of sunshine as well. If you look at a deck plan and count 5 cabins forward, that cabin and the 4 or so in front of it or also under a huge break in the lifeboats.

We loved the privacy as well. Not enough good things to say about it. I've heard complaints about not getting to see sunsets and it being to dark and dreary, so I'll include several pictures! We are not big "party" people, so there were times that I would be up on the deck relaxing and realized I would rather be on the balcony and would go back to our room.

Breakfast on the balcony!

A little sunshine through the clouds our last sea day...

Another sunset from our balcony!

Looking down...several people mentioned they didn't like being surrounded by metal, but besides the fact that it is only a short part of the balcony, there are four separate cut outs in the metal so we could easily see the water while sitting.

We watched sailaway from our balcony because our son was sleeping, I chose this picture because you can see the lifeboats and their location. I will note, between our cabin and the one right next door there is a camera. Right there. Not sure which direction it faces and it didn't bother me, but it might bother some.

 

[moesyk4]

As I mentioned, I won't do a full review, just highlighting parts I thought others might be interested in. Since I've already listed our pros/cons about the ship itself, I won't go over the schedule, except to mention that the elegant nights were on the first sea day (the first full day) and Grand Cayman (the third full day). If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer!

 

So, that being said, I will move on to our ports! Overall, we chose private excursions based on reviews from fellow CC members :)

 

Ocho Rios:

The couple we were traveling with wanted to do an excursion day with us and we decided on Courtney Taylor tours. Because of my pregnancy, we had to keep it fairly tame and decided on river tubing, a beach break, and an authentic lunch. We got off the ship soon after arriving and went to the dispatcher, who had us wait while she called him. We waited less than 5 minutes before he came up. We had Courtney himself and we were very pleased with the entire experience. It was just the 5 of us in a very nice, air conditioned van and we left right away. He was very genuine and talked about the highlights of Jamaica as we drove around. We asked lots of questions, some personal, and he answered them all happily.

We did the river tubing first and it was amazing...beautiful scenery, great guide, and very private. We saw no one on the actual river and only encountered one other couple when we stopped for a break. Very relaxing and an easy excursion for our son as well.

The stairs down to the river...

Our little group, including the guide's dog who joined us!

Our view for most of the trip...there are some small, fun "rapids" the first half and then the second half is just relaxing.

\

Our son enjoying the river swing at our break stop.

It was $25 a person, which was well worth it.

[moesyk4]

For the beach break, Courtney took us to Bamboo Blu beach. I had heard nightmare stories about vendors in Jamaica and because of using him, we experienced none of this, which was amazing. Nothing at the river, and then at the beach there was one private vendor who asked us once about massages and moved on. The beach was gorgeous, the sand in the water was soft, and there's a nice little restaurant if you are hungry. He will stay as long as you like and return when you are ready. There are also nice bathrooms...

Our final stop was Scotchies for some authentic food. The food is very reasonably priced ($4 for a 1/4 pound serving of the meat plus around a buck each for the sides) and amazing! Loved it.

The meat being cooked...

The sitting area...

He had us back in plenty of time to get to the ship. We highly recommend it!

[jerseytomato]

great review! thanks! :-)

[moesyk4]

Our second stop was Grand Cayman. We grabbed an early tender thanks to FTTF and headed to Captain Marvin's for our beach lunch excursion! He has a shopfront at the Waterfront Centre, which is not in the "main" area when you get off the ship but right outside of it and to the left. We just asked someone and they pointed us.

There were only 9 of us total in our group, which was fantastic. We took a quick shuttle ride to this little channel where the boats are parked. We had a beautiful two story yacht to ourselves. They serve fruit punch and water onboard which is nice. This excursion is 5 hours total on the boat...we first did a 35 minute boat ride out to our first stop, which is conch harvesting! They bring you to a spot where the water is about 10 foot deep and you try to bring in your own conch. Between a skittish 4 year old and sensitive ears to the depth, I didn't make it all the way down, but my husband did. All in all, our boat gathered about 7 or so live conch.

On the way to our next stop, the guide showed us how you actually harvest conch. Our next stop was a snorkeling stop. Our son didn't want to get off, but my DH and I took turns snorkeling. They fed the fish scraps from the conch so there were tons. We were also given squid to feed them as well, so there were plenty of fish as well as sting rays. We were there about 30 minutes.

Our boat ride

He didn't get much farther than this, but he tried at least!

Harvesting the conch....

That fish in the middle stole my squid...

[moesyk4]

After that, we headed over to Stingray city. It was very crowded of course, but our boat had its own area and we had lots of one on one attention. They don't take any of their own pictures to sell, they take your cameras and take pictures for you. Just wonderful!

He brought over a sting ray for pictures and then we fed them and watched them swim around. My only complaint was I wish they brought more food for the stingrays...they are well trained and known to move on if there is no food or a boat arrives. Overall, it was amazing though. Because our group was so small, we had extra time and they took us to Starfish Point. My son loved hunting for starfish with the help of our fellow boaters.

Our final stop was to a yacht club where we enjoyed our fresh conch as well as a very good beach lunch. We could stay there for awhile and enjoy the beach if we wanted, but it got rainy and very cold and breezy then so we didn't linger.

 

Overall, it was a fantastic trip!

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

great review. we are doing this same itinerary in Sept.

[moesyk4]

Our final stop was Cozumel. Because of our son, we chose Playa Mia. You used to have to go through the cruise ship exclusively, but now they allow you to purchase on their website. This was nice, because we were able to get the all inclusive package for my DH and just the beach break for my son and I, which saved us a lot of money. It was a very relaxing day and a great way to end our ports. The place has plenty to do...a big kid's area, water slides, two pools, a big beach, a water play area, kayaks and paddleboats, hammocks, plenty of alcohol and food, etc. Very clean and beautiful. It was a breezy and chilly day, so we didn't go in the water much, and didn't use the water toys at all. We still had plenty to do. They have a menu for purchase if you didn't get the all inclusive pass, which my son and I used.

The beach area...it never got more than a 1/3 full all day. The ship's excursions came an hour after us and left about 45 minutes before us, so it was nice to go independently. Cozumel's taxi system is very user friendly. A taxi ride over was $16 plus tip and there were plenty of taxis waiting when we left.

It also had a playground area, which was very nice, and a little kid's play area with toys as well as plenty of beach toys.

[moesyk4]

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, private excursions recommended on these boards are almost always the best choice!

Just a few more notes, and I'm done!

Regarding being pregnant and cruising...I think you need to know yourself. I was 15 weeks along when we left and had literally just finished the first trimester morning sickness and exhaustion about two days before we left. Besides staying extra hydrated and napping a little more, it didn't affect our cruise at all. We spent a lot of time, however, with someone who unexpectedly ended up pregnant and was only 8 weeks along when we were there. She still had a great time, but it was very much augmented by morning sickness, exhaustion, and sensitivity to the foods and the rocking. I think for a second trimester trip, cruising is awesome.

We spent 3 days in Orlando after the cruise to visit Disney and I'm not including it in our cruise review because it isn't relevant to most (being that it is 4 hours away), but if you do need a rental car in Miami, hop over to the Florida departures board and search for a thread regarding "Budget rental car code". They have a great code on there that works on one way rentals, which is rare. I didn't want to bother with shuttles, so we took a taxi van over to the Budget downtown. It cost about $12 to get there for all 5 of us, and les than 5 minutes. The rental car code from here brought our total down from $421 to $121 for a 3 day one way rental with unlimited miles in a mid size SUV. It was a great tip.

I think that's about it...would love to answer any and all questions!

[1kaper]

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, private excursions recommended on these boards are almost always the best choice!

Just a few more notes, and I'm done!

Regarding being pregnant and cruising...I think you need to know yourself. I was 15 weeks along when we left and had literally just finished the first trimester morning sickness and exhaustion about two days before we left. Besides staying extra hydrated and napping a little more, it didn't affect our cruise at all. We spent a lot of time, however, with someone who unexpectedly ended up pregnant and was only 8 weeks along when we were there. She still had a great time, but it was very much augmented by morning sickness, exhaustion, and sensitivity to the foods and the rocking. I think for a second trimester trip, cruising is awesome.

We spent 3 days in Orlando after the cruise to visit Disney and I'm not including it in our cruise review because it isn't relevant to most (being that it is 4 hours away), but if you do need a rental car in Miami, hop over to the Florida departures board and search for a thread regarding "Budget rental car code". They have a great code on there that works on one way rentals, which is rare. I didn't want to bother with shuttles, so we took a taxi van over to the Budget downtown. It cost about $12 to get there for all 5 of us, and les than 5 minutes. The rental car code from here brought our total down from $421 to $121 for a 3 day one way rental with unlimited miles in a mid size SUV. It was a great tip.

I think that's about it...would love to answer any and all questions!

 

 

Thanks, I was going to post earlier but decided to let you finish before posting. I will also be around 15 weeks when sailing. I am pretty sure I'm over the morning sickness now and the tiredness is getting much better.

I was curious if there was anything else you did different or avoided? Someone on here mentioned not drinking the ships water?

 

Love the pics. We did StingRay City in Grand Caymen a few years ago and have similar pics :D We also sailed the Breeze last September in Europe.

[moesyk4]

Thankfully, there really wasn't much else we altered. We picked our excursions specifically to be "pregnancy" friendly...I didn't drink any of the water on the islands except the water we brought with us off the ship. And of course, avoided the usual food pitfalls of rare meat, uncooked eggs, etc. So there were some favorite foods I had to skip. I had no issues with ship water though...I did avoid the hot tubs as well. My husband said they weren't terribly warm so I may have been ok, but didn't want to risk it.

[pirate4me2]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and vacation pics. Sounds like your cruise was fun.