Breezed thru our second cruise July 27

[FMZ]

Great looking family! Loving the review!

[BigRed93]

Thank you for this review. Doing this same itinerary on Breeze in 13 days! :)

 

 

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[nursepixie]

I guess you figured out or someone told you that the basketball court shuts down at 5:00 pm so the diners at Cucina del Captiano aren't disturbed. They are paying a surcharge so I guess it they'd be p.o.'d by the noise. Carnival really knows how to plan things well, don'tcha think? You have a very nice family. The shot at the Southern Most Point came out brilliantly. It was a good idea to have the kids sit in front of it. Just standing right next to it is kind of boring.

 

Do you remember if the Thrill Theater unlimited pass is still $14.95?

 

 

In mid July it was still $14.95.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BigRed93]

Oops double post

Edited August 12, 2014 by BigRed93

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, what a beautiful family, love your photo's.

[Brenda62]

I was on your cruise. Loved see the pics--beautiful family. I am going back on the Breeze on October 5. Love that ship.

[pelona357]

nice pics, beautiful family and nice review im doing the same itinerary on 12 days, I can not wait to read more....:)

[erewhon]

Enjoying your review, super photos, thank you.

Edited August 12, 2014 by erewhon

[mom2mnem]

Thanks, again for the comments. I didn't realize how much time went into these reviews!

 

Cruise Pup-I did know the ball courts closed at 530, but didn't tell my son. I didn't want him to have any negativity prior to even sailing. he wasn't a big fan of these courts anyway. As I mentioned, with the limited time that it was opened, the 18+ tournaments going on, the wind, and the wet floors he was not a fan.

 

My son's impression of BBall: when we were on the Allure, pretty much the same kids went to the courts every day. We had so much fun. On the Breeze, there wasn't really any group of regulars showing up. It wasn't as much fun and we hardly had any space to play. Too many people doing other things.

 

And yes, the Thrill Theater is still $14.95

 

I have a pic of the shows:

 

 

 

and basketball....

 

 

[mom2mnem]

So now it's Tuesday and we wake up completely surrounded by the open seas.

 

I really wanted tho sot be a no rush , relaxed kind of vacation. Dh and I woke up and took showers and let the kids sleep late. Dh had been waking early and watching the sun as he had some coffee. I am not a coffee drinker. I just sat out on the balcony for a bit then hopped into the shower. By the time everyone woke up and was dressed, it was a bit later than usual. Mike wanted to go and find friends, maybe eat a little breakfast. DH and I took our Emily and Nick to Bingo. It was only one game so the cost wasn't as bad. I don't remember the price tho.

 

I found it to be a little disorganized. We went to the ovation theater and didn't know what to do or how to get bingo cards. Finally lines started forming. They announced the price at, I believe, $30. They sold a few cards then realized it was only one game and had to refund money to those who already bought. $30 was for the games later in the day with more cards per person. On the Allure, you waited on line outside the theater and cards were sold prior to sitting down. I think it was more efficient that way. Bingo was supposed to start at 10am , but they didn't start selling the card until about 10:15-10:20. There was another activity happening at 10:30 , so some people entering the theater were getting confused. Then they saw the bingo cards and would get online--delaying things even further.

 

After Bingo, my son went to eat something and find friends. Dh and I took Emily to the Cooking Demonstration. It was held in the Steakhouse and had limited seating. I wasn't sure how MS. Picky Eater would do , and felt bad if she wasn't going to eat and I took a spot from someone else. They gave us a menu with recipes! Each chef spoke about his dish, how it was made and how to plate it. They gave us a small taste of each dish. They started with a mushroom cappuccino appetizer ( I don't eat mushrooms, but this was totally pureed and no chunks to chew on) My daughter gave it right to my DH. I thought it was really good and so did he. Then they presented us with a spinach salad with berries and bleu cheese or gorgonzola. We all loved it-even Emily ( she does love her cheese tho). We were then presented with the main course which was chicken with a side of roasted potatoes and mac n cheese. Emily took one bite of chicken and handed it over to DH ( nothing wrong with it , but she is not a huge fan of chicken). However--she is a HUGE fan of potatoes and of mac n cheese and both were delish. I think she would have licked the plate clean if she could! Last but not least, we were given Tiramisu. Well, that was good enough for lunch for me! LOL Oh --and did I mention that it was FREE.

 

Today seemed to be all about the food. After the demonstration, my daughter wanted a Guys Burger. Surprised me because she doesn't really eat burgers. She usually cuts one in half and barely manages to eat half of that. And when we went to a new gourmet Burger joint for my bday last year --she ordered a salad! She kept seeing the burgers pass us by on everyones plate and had to have one.

Dh and I tried to split one ( oh so messy to do that!) Emily managed to finish all but 2 bites of hers! She wasn't a fan of the fries as she said they were too spicy for her ( yet she managed to eat not one , but 2 helpings of the short rib croquets at the taste bar the previous night--and they had some spice to them!)

 

Verdict on Guys Burgers: pretty much what you have been reading for everyone else's posts. Me and Dh: delicious would have them again

Emily: OMG that was so good I HAVE to have another one one day

Nick: Those burgers are awesome , I think I had 2 or 3 one day

Mike: Those were the best burgers I ever ate.

 

 

So now we are so stuffed we can barely walk. And did I mention we had booked the Chefs Table and it was for this night! Oh boy. Dh was a bit nervous because he would be diving the next day and prefers to eat lighter before a dive. HA HA not going to happen this time!

 

Now my daughter wanted to look at the pictures. She loves doing that. so we took her over to look.

 

Another comparison: RCI has a company that you can go online an purchase a package. I purchased it prior to sailing and pad just over $350. It would get me every picture taken on disc to do with what I like. for $50 you could buy the prints. I chose not to but the prints , just the disc. ( we ended up using some pictures for our christmas cards). When we were on the Allure, the same package price was $600+. Towards the end they offered the purchase of all prints for only $25. I asked if I could take advantage of that since I ha already purchased the package prior. Yup-no problem. I made sure wherever there was a camera we were in front of it. they had photographers roaming the ship at the pools, by the carousel etc.... They they had kiosks. you insert your card and all you pics are right there-by facial recognition. The prints are in folders assigned to you. All you had to do was pull your folder. It was a much better system. They did accidentally have 2 young ladies on our disc ( which we could delete from the kiosk, but the print had already been made) If you saw these young ladies you could see why they got in our files. They could have easily been a part of our family. We walked around the shops, showed Emily the candy shop, and then took her to the arcade.

 

I don't remember everything that we did, but at 3pm we headed to Blush for Tea Time. LOL. More food!. It was interesting. They had a decent selection of Teas. They brought a tea sandwiches and then a cart with some cakes, fresh strawberries, scones..... they also had tray service for some of these items. When the cart came to us there was some items completely gone and they didn't restock yet. When the tray service for the macarons went around, they skipped us completely. They refilled our cups with fresh hot water, but didn't offer another tea bag. It was a nice experience for us , but not something to wow about.

 

I tried to get Emily to go on the slide since last cruise she complained that she saw other ships with lids and ours had none. She had no interest in the slides and said she hates closed tubes. The boys did go on the slides and said they were pretty fun. No one tried the ropes course. I thought for sure Emily would and she said she might at some point, but it never happened.

 

Dh took Emily to the water park area and they had fun splashing around there. Then she came back and wanted to just lay out for a while. With a coffee. We headed to Ocean Plaza to the coffee bar to get her an iced latte with a shot of caramel.

I like ocean plaza--thats where the taste bar is as well as sushi and coffee bar ( with real scooped ice cream and some fancy desserts) They also had plenty of seating and live music going on.

 

So we get the coffee and Emily lays out, goes in the pool and lays out some more. The kids hated the pools. Hated the salt water. Hated the crowds. Mike liked the Allure better because serenity was 16+ and he was able to go there and have some quiet time in the pool and hot tubs. He likes some time away from the kids too. We left Emily to sunbathe and Dh and I went to try the Martini Tasting. We went to the piano bar and tasted 4 of the martini choices. They were so good. We went back again later in the cruise to try the other 4 and hear some piano music. These were a little stronger tasting and not as much my favorite.

 

By 630 we had to meet for our Chefs Table. Emily decided to meet up with her brothers to have some more of that pizza. From there she went to the Variety Show at 7:15 then the arcade for a little while. She said the variety show was so much fun( it was the only showing so we kissed it completely)

A not on the arcade--they suggest you set some limits for the kids. FYI--they do already have an automatic $60 daily limit. I found out because my sons card kept telling him "zone limit" I had to go to the casino to lift any limits. Turns out they told me there was a $60 limit, but he hadn't reached it. His card stopped him because he was using it too fast and would reset in 4 hours unless I gave permission to lift the 4 hr limit. I was fine with that. I don't care how fast he uses it -the faster he spends it --the less time he has to spend in the arcade. I just made sure the $$ limits were in place.

 

Sh and I went to the Lobby Bar to meet for the Chefs table. We each had a glass of champagne--and who do we meet-Shay and Everton from our roll call. It was a nice night spent chatting with them. We were lead to the kitchen where we gathered around and they gave us appetizers and on overview on how things work. We were seated in the kitchen to begin our meal and offered glasses of wine. Mid way through the meal, we were led thru a different area of the kitchen to see how it all comes together, how the waiters place orders etc. Then over to where the WCMC is made and a demonstration of that! We were then led back to the tables for more food. I was stuffed and couldn't finish it all.

 

we ended up finishing around 9:30 and met Emily at the thrill theater for our 10pm show. From there we just went back to our room and relaxed on the balcony--too stuffed to move!

 

Lisa

 

Cooking Demonstration

 

 

more cooking demonstration

 

 

and more

 

[loveysbydesign]

Great update!

[mom2mnem]

guys burger

 

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Latte time

 

 

martini

 

 

we went back later in the week for some piano music

 

[mom2mnem]

a little taste of Chefs Table

 

 

 

 

[paminohio]

Great review! I'll be on the Breeze first week of December :-)

 

Was the rope course being painted while you were on board?

 

Thanks!

 

Pam

[mom2mnem]

Was the rope course being painted while you were on board?

 

I didn't notice the ropes course being painted paminohio. I didn't notice much action actually. I thought for sure my daughter would want to try it, but she kept saying -maybe later- and it never happened. They boys didn't try it either.

 

Lisa

[annao]

Thanks for the awesome review! We are sailing on her in March 2015 and can't wait! I was wondering if fee for Thrill theater was per person per cruise or family? And for Chefs table did you have to sign up for that once you got on boat?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[mom2mnem]

Ok. I am trying to get as much done before I have to leave for work. Sorry about the typos. I was in between baseball games the other day.

 

Today was the only day I wanted the kids up early. I had booked a tour through NativeWay called Reef, Rays and Rum Point and the meeting time was 9:15 EST. I had read reviews and some people had trouble with meeting the tour due to time confusions. My reservation clearly stated 915 EST. Grand Cayman time was an hour behind, but ships time stayed EST. I made sure my watch was correct, which it was as I am from NY and EST is my time.

 

Dh had booked dives for both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. He usually likes independent companies, but because of the later arrival in Cozumel he was having trouble coordinating an early dive and was afraid to miss the ship on a later dive. He ended up booking all of his dives through Carnival. He did go to guest relations to see how many divers there would be. He is not a novice, but not super experienced either and likes smaller, more private dives. I believe they ended up with 12 divers in Grand Cayman.

 

My DH skips breakfast before his dives. Emily and I had little boxes of cereal that we grabbed from the buffet in the past days and we munched on those. The boys , I think, skipped breakfast. Dh left before we did as he had to meet for his tour in one of the venues--don't remember if it was Ovation theater or one of the other ones. By 830, I made my way to guest services with the kids as I had FTTF and that is what was noted in the Fun Times. When we got there, they radioed to the gentleman in the elevator. We arrived by the elevators and one was showing an X instead of a floor number. There was a gentleman in there waiting to take us down. While we were getting in a few people asked if he was going down and hopped in. I don't believe they were FTTF, as I heard him radio to guess services that the Volpe family was here and he was going down, no mention of the others names. We got down to the tenders and it was crowded. I showed my FTTF and was pointed in the direction of a gentleman who then said his tender was full and pointed us back over to the other line. It really wasn't a long wait for a tender. We were brought around the line, but still had to wait a bit to get on. I believe most people in that line were on the tender with no problem. I probably could have done without FTTF. I thought it would be much more complicated getting on.

 

As soon as we got off the tender there was a huge covered waiting area where all the tour guides were standing. I saw NativeWay immediately. She said she thought we might be the only ones on tour that day and might leave early. She called the captain of our boat to see if he was ready and he indicated another family might be joining us. No problem, we hung around to wait. She kept apologizing, but really it was ok 915 was the official meet time and we were early. Every time a tender pulled in , she walked to the gate with her sign. No one claimed her.( if only I could remember her name!) We waited until about 925 then off we went. Only problem was......there had been an accident on the road that would best take us to the boat and the road was closed. Traffic on the other roadway was backed up. We barely moved for 20 min until she finally had an opening where she could turn and get us moving better.

 

We lost about 20 min time due to this issue. Again, she kept apologizing. It wasn't her fault. I assured her all was good. We met our captain-Chris. At that point he gave us options, we could eliminate rum Point ( our lunch stop) or we could do it all , but shorten the time at each stop. He did not want to risk us missing the last tender. The kids all agreed they wanted to go to Rum Point and I figured with only 4 of us it would be easy to shorten each stop--how long would we really need to snorkel and to play with sting rays--not as long as if he had 20 people on board!

 

Chris took us to our first stop to see the sting rays. He said he prefers this first as it gets even more crowded later on. I couldn't believe how blue the water was--as clear and as blue as a swimming pool! Chris gave us instructions and we all got into the water. He had some food for us to feed then with and they came right over. We each got to hold one and he gave us time to snorkel with them as well. At one point a family from a much larger tour wandered on over and Chris helped them to hold the sting rays and talked to them and answered their questions. We had already had a lot of time with the rays, so it was OK and it didn't bother Chris that they weren't a part of his tour -he treated them just like they were! Finally we left and moved on to snorkel. Again, so clear and blue and so much to see-at least compared top other snorkel trips we had been on. Chris would point out which direction to swim to so we could see the most sea life. Finally, off to Rum Point. Chris presented us with a menu and we made our sandwich choices anything else we could pay for at Rum Point. The boys had wraps ( buffalo chicken for one, jerk chicken for the other. I had a grouper BLT and I forgot what my daughter had-LOL) They came with fries and Iced Tea. I had no idea what to expect at Rum Point.. It was really nice. Chris said we would have about an hour to stay there. We sat at picnic tables and had our lunch. There was a food shack and a bar there. Bathrooms and gift shop available too.

 

Rum point was more than I expected. Lunch was good. It had a small area to snorkel and my kids stayed there pretty much the whole hour. There was some sea life there- enough to keep the kids interested. I would definitely recommend this tour.

 

Ok. I have to stop. I have to get ready for work. Time flies when you write these. Ignore any typos today as well, sorry. so little time. I will add pictures.

 

Lisa

 

getting to know the sting rays

 

 

 

Captain Chris

 

[mom2mnem]

Snorkling

 

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Rum Point:

 

 

 

 

[mom2mnem]

Thanks, Annao!

 

Thrill theater was per person. it was $7.95 per show or $14.95 unlimited. For Chefs table, I sent out an email about 2 months prior to sailing with the name of my ship, my booking number, cabin number and how many in my party. The email address I sent this all to was : brsteakhouse@carnival.com

 

I had a reply in less than 24 hours

 

Lisa

[annao]

Thanks Lisa!

[mom2mnem]

We finished up Rum Point and headed back to our boat. captain Chris got us back in plenty of time to make our tender. We ran into DH at the port and he said he enjoyed his diving.

 

We got back to the ship, cleaned up and rested a bit. Tonight was elegant night and I promised the kids we would only do 1 elegant night and 1 casual night. The rest would be whatever we wanted. So we ended up heading to the Lido deck and decided on the deli. Sandwiches were good. We all pretty much had Reubens or pastrami. The boys went to find friends and we took Emily back to the arcade. Nick ended up meeting a young man who had recognized him from the Key West trolley tour. He was home pretty early every night and this night he actually ended up joining us in the arcade for a while and finally relented and went to the Thrill Theater and loved it.

After the arcade we walked around the ship and ran into Guess that 80's song in ocean plaza. My daughter had wanted to sit outside at the tables with the umbrellas ( right outside ocean plaza) so we sat out there with some drinks and could still hear the music from guess the 80's. It was a sing along/ fill in the words kind of thing. Emily loved it and said she wishes there was more of that.

 

As you can tell, we haven't seen any shows yet. I don't know what happened, but we would either forget or be doing something else. I went to the casino for a bit while Dh took Emily into the hot tubs. I didn't win any big money, but I didn't lose much. I played the penny machines and I would win then lose then get it back etc... Of course, as I mentioned, we did the Thrill Theater then off to our room. A little balcony time and then bed. I feel so old--I was constantly tired and went to bed early! The sun and sea air ( and a drink or two) always gets me like that!

 

 

Another thing I forgot to mention--I wanted to do luggage express. On Tuesday I had gone down to guest services and inquired. I was given the forms and asked to have them back by Thursday. We were checking in 5 bags and then holding 2 for packing on the morning of debarkation. Luggage express worked great for us as we were getting a 745 pm flight home from FLL ( the only direct I could find) and we would have a car for the day. But only a reasonably priced car , not a van or truck so 2 pieces of luggage would be my limit. I needed the rest to be brought to the airport.

 

 

Lisa

Lisa

[mom2mnem]

Today was Cozumel. I booked Mr. Sanchos all inclusive ( hey-I had 2 growing teen boys!). I also paid extra for the water toys. Dh booked his dive and requested a private dive master because when he inquired at the excursion desk he was told it was a larger group on this dive. He had read on some message boards that its best to get a private dive master. Turns out he didn't need it as there were cancellations and the group ended up being smaller.

 

The day was starting later as we didn't dock until 10am. I knew there would be a day where the towel animals would be placed on all the chairs by the pool. I thought it would be Cozumel day as I remembered reading it on Gambees review. My Dh liked to watch the TV and the live cameras so I told him to find it on TV and see if towel animal were out. They were!!!! I had him run down to take pics while I woke my daughter up. I got her down there and she was so excited.

 

While we were there we decided to stay for breakfast. My daughter went to the buffet and had her usual. French toast, potatoes, fruit. I decided to to mexican and have the Arepas as I read about them from another review. I added some sour cream and other toppings from the toppings bar. Delish! My daughter tasted them and actually liked them too. Finally we headed up to get ready and get the boys.

 

The boys and some breakfast and off we went. We were going to grab a taxi to Mr. Sanchos. we got into port and I saw the huge taxi line and was glad to see it was covered and kept us somewhat out of the heat. I wanted to take a picture at the Porta Maya sign. There were a few people waiting to take pics. As the last family went up to take pics, I tried to get my kids to wait in the open area for their turn. When the last family left my kids started walking up and some younger kids ran past them . I looked at the mom next to me and nicely ( at least I thought) stated that we had been waiting patiently in line to take our picture. She replied that her kids were already there so she might as well just go first. And they wonder why this generation of kids is so self -centered. Its not just social media. Take a look at the parents. Sorry to get off topic!

 

We got on the line for a cab , and it moved rather well. We were put into a cab with a mom and her son. They were dropped off and then Mr. Sanchos appeared. It was a nice place. Our waiter was Juan and e was always on top of things. Of course, my kids heard the words "wi fi" and" it works better under the buffet area" and they were off. I grabbed a table and got comfy with my kindle. I should mention that we had a quinceanera tour group on our ship. We had one on the Allure and turned out there were 26 girls celebrating with that group. When, at boarding, I saw the familiar blue shirts I thought -Oh No , not again. But really I'm kidding--it wasn't a problem ever -on either ship. I don't know if Mr. Sanchos always has music blasting, but the quinceanera group was at Mr. Sanchos and they were having a good ole time. They hung out pretty much at the pool area and by the music.

 

I ended up ordering the guacamole and the salsa and chips for our table. I had a Dirty Monkey Drink and later a tamarind daiquiri. I introduced the kids to the miami vice and they all loved it. I also ordered coconut shrimp. Now, remember, I have 2 teen boys 17 and 15 and they ate.....almost nothing. Nick ordered the carribean fries and juan brought him a mixture of regular and carribean. Mike ordered fries and then went to the buffet and added some chili and melted cheese to them. Emily ordered a plain cheese quesadilla. all of them tasted the guac and the salsa- but I ate most of it. We also kept ordering bottles of water that I packed in my bag to take back with us. Of course the sky got dark and we had some lightening and thunder. It rained briefly but we were kept dry by the tables.

Nick took some fries into the water to lure some fish over --and it worked.

All 3 of my kids loved the bouncy water toys. No one went in the pool . It ended up being too crowded. People hanging all over the sides like it was a giant hot tub.

My original plan was to stay until 3. Mike had said he wanted to leave early as he had enough beach for 2 days. I figured 2pm would be good. Well, once they discovered the fun of the water toys I couldn't find them at 2. We ended up leaving at 3 after all. There were plant of taxis lined up and waiting. Easy to get back to port.

 

 

Lesson learned--I could have skipped the all inclusive as they hardly ate or drank enough to need it. But how am I to know? Some days they eat so much and other days nothing. They also did pictures with lizards and parrots and I am a sucker-I bought them --they were so cute!

 

Once back in port we decided to explore a bit. Mike saw a 7-11 and just had to go. He likes finding different foods. Even in the US when we visit other states we have to find fast food that we don't have in NY--Krystal in Tennesse, In and Out Burger in CA etc. Well 7-11 in mexico just had to be a gold mine! He found some different sodas and a few fun snacks.But I must say, Mexico was my least favorite port areas. In the other ports , if I wanted to go into the shops I did otherwise it was easy to keep walking. In mexico the vendors were all sitting outside of the shops calling you to try and get you in.

 

We had planned on eating in the dining room again this night. We went back to the ship and cleaned up. Then we watched from the quiet area of deck 7 for late comers. I like when the crew claps for the late comers! While on deck 7 security came by asking if I saw anyone else up there or leaving the area as there were reports of someone throwing candy at people.( This wasn't the first I hear of a problem like that. Earlier in the week I was told about a problem with kids throwing down fruit at people. )

 

After people watching, we sailed a bit after 6. We decided to head to the ovation theater and finally catch a show. We saw Latin Nights. Ok, so the shows aren't broadway quality, but overall they were entertaining. It was something to watch. Not great , but not really too terribly bad that I had to leave. After the show we went to dinner. We were sat in a different area and had Atila as our head waiter. He was a good waiter. The whole group was. Nothing amazing, but nothing to complain about either. The food, once again, was good. I think all 3 of my men had the filet mignon with short ribs, my daughter had the salad, and I had the vegetarian cinnamon pumpkin,squash, yam pie. It was different so I had to try it. It was like a pot pie but with the above names mashed veggies. A little dry, but ok. For dessert Me and Emily wanted WCMC. Nick wanted fruit. Dh wanted apple pie and Mike wanted pumpkin pie. One of the assistant waiters warned him that is wan't pumpkin pie like we were used to , that it was more jello like. So mike ordered WCMC and dh told them to add pumpkin pie any way to taste. We got our desserts and after they ere served, we were asked if we wanted any extra ice cream. When the assistant brought the pumpkin pie he presented it saying " and here is the worst dessert in the world". The flavor was ok , but he was right about the jello -like consistency.

 

After dinner we decide to go back to the ovation theater to see the Brits show. Same deal. A bit cheesy, songs were good, but it was entertainment. So we finished the show and headed to thrill theater only to find the last show filled to capacity. Dh took Emily and Nick to the arcade while I went back to the casino. Then by 1130 we were fast asleep!

 

Lisa

 

Edited August 15, 2014 by mom2mnem

[mom2mnem]

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Can you tell who likes having her picture taken?????

Edited August 15, 2014 by mom2mnem

[mom2mnem]

 

 

[mom2mnem]

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