An overdue Breeze review

[summercruisin']

Loved your Embarkation photos, it was pouring rain the day we left in Feb and had just stopped when we started to leave. Spent most the time in the room getting things unpacked before Muster and then meet up for a quick meet and greet during sail away

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review and looking through the pictures. Thanks for posting [emoji2]

 

Thank you for checking it out!

[summercruisin']

Love your review already! Can't wait for more!! Thank you for taking the time. The upper bunk in your cabin....did it have a rail?

 

Loved your Embarkation photos, it was pouring rain the day we left in Feb and had just stopped when we started to leave. Spent most the time in the room getting things unpacked before Muster and then meet up for a quick meet and greet during sail away

 

Thank you both for reading and commenting! :) The upper bunk did have a rail that folded up and down. It wasn't very high, though, if I remember correctly, so I wouldn't trust it to keep a little one safe.

[summercruisin']

Sunday - Our first day at sea :)

 

As I mentioned before, something in the decks below us kept us tossing and turning most of the night. When the sun came up, I gave up trying to sleep and went ahead and got up. Our cabin location was very convenient for catching the elevator and getting pretty much anywhere we wanted to go pretty easily.

 

I enjoy green tea in the mornings (a particular kind) and I had brought my tea bags for it, but I knew that Carnival's coffee mugs were too small to hold the amount of tea I like. So, first stop was the 5th floor to visit the shops in hopes of finding some bigger mugs. I found a pretty good deal on two mugs (one "traditional" one and one travel one), but one of them was marked wrong. The result of this was that I had to wait about 20 minutes (no exaggeration) while the clerk tried to get help fixing the problem. Had I known it would take that long, I would have just left without them.

 

Then, I went up to the Lido deck for some breakfast.

 

 

It was this morning that I really started to notice just how big, clean, and pretty the Breeze is. :D I'm genuinely worried that all the older ships will fall short from here on out....but I digress.

 

I can't remember what I had for breakfast, but by the end of the week, I had tried the make your own omelette stations multiple times. The ones in the middle of the marketplace always had a long line and often had single people ordering numerous omelettes, which is fine, of course. It just made the lines look deceptive and made guessing the wait difficult. One lady in front of me one morning ordered 12....yes, 12! :eek: Anyway, this particular morning, I didn't want to eat a real heavy breakfast. So, I had something from the buffet...probably some pastries or pancakes with bacon.

 

After that, I went back up to get DD because I remembered there was something going on in Camp Carnival that morning that she really wanted to do. I am sorry that I can't put my hands on the Fun Times or the Camp Carnival schedule, but I know DD really likes the magic show, face painting, candy making, coloring t-shirts, game time, and story times. She tries hard not to miss those.

 

But first, a little breakfast on the mid ship deck.....

 

[summercruisin']

With DD happily all set in Camp Carnival, I headed to the Steakhouse to get in line for the cooking demo. I remembered from the last one I went to that the cooking demos get crowded pretty quickly, and they only take a limited number of observers (maybe 40 or so?). There was already a line of about 15-20 people 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin (at 11:30), so if this is something you want to do, you should get there pretty early. Also, if you want to go to the wine pairing that takes place early afternoon (you SHOULD go!) and did not sign up in advance, it is easy to sign up during the food demo.

 

The demo started a little late, but it was really good. There were four chefs demonstrating cooking and plating techniques from behind the counter, and there was a hostess explaining the process. Several servers passed out tastes.

 

the hostess

 

 

First up was a yummy mushroom cappuccino, which was a multiple types of mushroom soup topped with cream, served in a small mug (so it kind of looked like cappuccino). Some people had a hard time getting past the name and presentation, so they didn't like it, but I thought it was good. The picture didn't turn out pretty though.

 

Next was the spinach, bacon, mushroom, and blue cheese salad......delicious and pretty!

 

 

The salad has a blue cheese vinaigrette that some people find a little overpowering, especially combined with the additional blue cheese crumbles on the salad, but I think the sautéed mushrooms balance it nicely.

 

After the salad, the chefs prepared a fantastic dish with 6-cheese mac n cheese topped with grilled chicken. All these bowls have cheese and other bits of deliciousness in them....

 

 

This dish was served with a side of roasted potatoes, which were really good, although I couldn't see any real need to serve potatoes with pasta....but whatever.

 

Edited March 30, 2015 by summercruisin'

[summercruisin']

And last, the chefs put together a really pretty dessert....a yummy tiramisu.

 

 

 

 

After the demonstration, we were allowed to get up close to see the food plated all fancy, like they would do it in the Steakhouse.

 

 

We were given the recipes, and the chefs answered questions. They were very friendly. :)

[nybumpkin]

We passed some other ships waiting for their turn to head out

 

 

We were aboard Glory on August 2 and watched you sail away. I don't see us on deck' date=' but we were in the deck 8 aft wrap on the starboard side. Nice to see our cruise - here's one of Breeze sailing away:

 

DSCF1753 by baxted, on Flickr

 

We're sailing the 8-day Southern itinerary on Breeze in July, so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review!

[summercruisin']

After the cooking demonstration, I went to Camp Carnival to check on DD. She was having a great time and didn't want to leave, so I went back to the cabin to check on the boys. They were finally up and about.....and starving!! :eek: They insisted that I join them for lunch :cool:, so despite being a little full, back up to the Marketplace we went. It's not too difficult to convince me to eat while on a cruise LOL.

 

On the buffet this time, Carnival had a delicious looking salad with arugula, pears, bacon, and blue cheese, so I got a little bit of that. It was really good. I followed it with my favorite buffet dessert. Okay, I'll admit that it's really the only one I can tolerate. For some reason, Carnival's desserts on the buffet never are that great to me. But, I do enjoy the almond napoleons, so that is what I had. DH had soup and a salad. DS really enjoyed a Guy's burger, despite having to wait in this line to get it...

 

 

It was crowded!!! :eek: But the line moved pretty quickly.

 

After lunch, DH and I headed back to the Steakhouse for the wine pairing. The sommelier, Milica, was delightful! She really knew her stuff and was very personable. For a $15 cover charge, tasters get to try 5 wines and learn how pairing them with different foods changes the flavors. It was really neat. I am a lover of wine, especially reds, so this is a treat I look forward to on every cruise.

 

The food plate....you pair your wines with different fruits, salmon, beef, and some cheeses.

 

 

After the wine pairing, I decided to go back to the cabin and nap. DS decided to join me. DH was kind enough to get DD from Camp Carnival and take her to the water park for a while so I could catch a few zzzzzs before time to get ready for the first formal night!

Edited March 30, 2015 by summercruisin'

[summercruisin']

We were aboard Glory on August 2 and watched you sail away. I don't see us on deck, but we were in the deck 8 aft wrap on the starboard side. Nice to see our cruise - here's one of Breeze sailing away:

 

DSCF1753 by baxted, on Flickr

 

We're sailing the 8-day Southern itinerary on Breeze in July, so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Oh, that's so cool! I'm glad you shared that! I know right where I was standing. If I remember correctly, when we passed the Glory is when our cruise director was trying to get everyone shouting and getting loud to try to prove we were more fun :p

 

I've never been on the Glory. Did you enjoy it? I've also never been lucky enough to get an aft wrap balcony! Jealous! You will love the Breeze! Since you are going in July on the Southern itinerary, our paths will very nearly pass once again, as it looks like you will be leaving her as we are waiting to board. Very cool!

[summercruisin']

As I mentioned, the first day at sea was the first elegant night. I don't remember for sure what we ate, except for the only thing I took a picture of (because it was so pretty!)

 

 

This dish was the beet carpaccio, which, alas, did not taste as great as it looked. It was okay, but I would much prefer real carpaccio! :p DH probably had the stuffed mushrooms and some soup as well, and then I think he may have had the spaghetti carbonara. I am sure I had the lobster, and I think DD did as well. I think DS had prime rib. I have no idea what we had for dessert, if we even had dessert! Our servers were friendlier that night and started to interact with us a little more. They would just get better and better (but still a little slow moving, unfortunately).

 

We also met some really nice women who sat next to us. They were sisters travelling together, and they were so nice to my children <3. Unfortunately, my mom passed away before my DD was born, and she really struggles with not having a grandma (we aren't in contact with DH's family). So, she is fascinated by grandmother types, and she gravitates towards them. It is bothersome for some people, I am sure, so I try to discourage it, but these two wonderful ladies were so kind to her all week. They even promised to watch over DS on the night of Chef's Table, because, if we are onboard, he always insists on going to the dining room every night, even when his parents aren't there! We encourage his independence, and we think these types of things help build his confidence.

 

After dinner, we returned to our cabin to find some goodies...

 

 

our platinum gifts - mugs with Carnival stickers on them :cool:, our pins, and a cute towel animal.

 

Here's my start at modeling for Carnival. Just call me Vanna :D

 

 

After having sipped on wine most of the day, I headed to bed soon after, hoping for a better night's sleep (no luck there!). We could have gone to the show, the piano bar, or the comedy club, but we were not good at being party animals! But, this summer, it's on!

Edited March 30, 2015 by summercruisin'

[nybumpkin]

B

Oh' date=' that's so cool! I'm glad you shared that! I know right where I was standing. If I remember correctly, when we passed the Glory is when our cruise director was trying to get everyone shouting and getting loud to try to prove we were more fun :p

 

I've never been on the Glory. Did you enjoy it? I've also never been lucky enough to get an aft wrap balcony! Jealous! You will love the Breeze! Since you are going in July on the Southern itinerary, our paths will very nearly pass once again, as it looks like you will be leaving her as we are waiting to board. Very cool![/quote']I am really looking forward to sailing with Matt! And yes, I did find his Facebook page.:) Our cruise will be his first after vacation.

 

We've sailed on Glory five times - three times out of NYC to Canada, once out of Port Canaveral on an Eastern itinerary, and last year out of Miami on a Western itinerary. We like her a lot. Love Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana. She also has a hot tub/pool in the gym area that is really nice.

 

We talked about an aft wrap on Breeze - in fact, while you were sailing out we were scoping out cabins.:D We ended up booking one of the "bowling alley" cabins just forward of the aft wrap.

[momonthego17]

Great review and its extra-special to me because we had the same cabin on the Breeze over last Thanksgiving! Maybe the noise issues were worked out by the time we were there, because we slept great. No machine noises, just the sound of the ocean as we traveled from port to port. At first I thought I would be bugged by the life boats overhead, but seeing flying fish and watching the ocean up close made me love the cove balcony.

Next cruise, we are on Conquest in a "bowling alley" balcony with my mom and 2 DDs (13 & 15 at sail time) in the balcony cabin next door. Thanksgiving can't come soon enough!

Thanks for writing your review! Your pics are much better than mine (need a go-pro now :D) and makes me miss the beautiful Breeze!

[vfb2girls]

So excited to read your review, we are also sailing on the Breeze for the first time and reviews like yours really heighten the excitement!😄

[LetsGetCruising]

thanks for your review of the ship. it looks F.U.N! looking at taking two 14 year old daughters, a 9 year old son and my GF on the May 30th western Caribbean cruise. Your post helped me in choosing :-)

[Frank12]

More ! More! :)

[carnivaladdix120]

We need more! :p

[summercruisin']

Okay! Okay! Sorry I got distracted. The family and I headed to Florida for spring break, and Disney has distracted me from the review! :p But, I can put together a little more...

 

So, I left off at the end of a great day at sea. The next day was another day at sea, thanks to the itinerary change. We slept in a little this day and then DS and I discovered that Matt (the CD) broadcasts his morning show (along with his assistant CD, Orlando) from the theatre. So, DS and I headed up there to sit in on it a little bit, and that was a lot of fun. Matt and Orlando do a great job getting their audience involved, taking phone calls, and even getting people at the midship pool to do fun things. If you are on the Breeze with Matt, be sure to check this out one morning!

 

After a while, we went back to the cabin and got DH and DD so that we could go get some breakfast. I know I had an omelette this day, and it was really good. While in the Marketplace, I remember overhearing some people saying they were already tired of being onboard (how can that be??? :rolleyes:)! We were still really enjoying the relaxed pace!

 

After breakfast, DD and I went to the midship pool for a little while. It was really crowded, but a kind lady offered her chair right by the pool to me when she saw me standing nearby. We didn't stay long, though, because there was no room for DD to really enjoy the pool. People were literally so packed in that they just stood still shoulder-to-shoulder with a hundred of their new BFFs. :cool: We decided to try the waterpark instead, and DD managed to get picked out of the crowd and was excited to spot herself on the "big screen" as we were moving in that direction.

 

The waterpark was also crowded, but definitely more manageable. I sat on those funky looking big orange chairs....pretty comfy.....and DD had a great time spending an hour or so.

 

 

and that is when I got the brilliant idea to try out a water slide (probably not my best idea to date LOL).

 

I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do. In theory, I thought I would like the drainpipe one better. That's the one that doesn't twist and turn a bunch, but instead sends you into the bowl that you are supposed to slide around the outer edges (sorry, I'm not describing that very well!). But, there is a place in the waterpark that you can stand over the bowl and people watch. I noticed that almost everyone that went on the slide did not gracefully slip around the edges of the bowl as they are supposed to. Instead, they just kind of awkwardly dropped from the slide right into the bowl, with no momentum to get them around as intended. Hmmm....that did not look like something this old teacher lady wanted to try, especially with people watching :eek:

 

So, the twister it is! I am sorry I don't have any pictures from my experience. I did take video, but I haven't figured out how to save them on Photobucket....yeah, that's it!

[summercruisin']

So, the Twister is the yellow one that is all curvy. In all honesty, it wasn't bad and I'm glad I tried it out. I would have probably done it again another day, but I never got around to it.

 

At 1:00, it was time for the ice carving demonstration, and the midship deck got remarkably crowded...

 

 

I don't know how this guy worked with so many people packed in!

 

 

but he was serious about ice carving...

 

 

and he made pretty quick work of it, and we went down to get lunch just as they were hauling his artwork off...

 

Edited April 6, 2015 by summercruisin'

[summercruisin']

After the ice carving, Matt was teaching line dancing from the "stage" above the pool. That looked like fun.

 

 

and he joined the crowd too

 

I decided to have a shrimp burrito from the Blue Iguana Cantina, by the pool. It was yummy, and the guys prepping the food were having a lot of fun!

 

 

I don't remember what DD had, but I know it ended with ice cream :p

 

After that, we went back to the cabin to clean up and rest a little. I headed out to the balcony to enjoy the ocean. It was really rough, but that made for some mesmerizing water watching......

[summercruisin']

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ship was rocking. And, in case you were wondering, if you have a cove balcony and the waves are like this, you DO get wet while out on the balcony! It wasn't horrible, though, and I only got soaked while standing by the rail to take these pics. While sitting, there was just a very light sea spray.

[davesgirl0419]

Thanks for adding more,, looking forward to the rest of your review [emoji3]

[17andacruiseaddict]

I was on this sailing! If you have pics of the sail away party, my mom was the one with the funnel hat on that Matt made do the dance on "stage" for the beginning of the Harlem Shake dance.

[Lisichka]

We were aboard Glory on August 2 and watched you sail away. I don't see us on deck, but we were in the deck 8 aft wrap on the starboard side. Nice to see our cruise - here's one of Breeze sailing away:

 

DSCF1753 by baxted, on Flickr

 

We're sailing the 8-day Southern itinerary on Breeze in July, so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

I will be on the same sailing as you! :)

Edited April 6, 2015 by Lisichka

[Bellacruiser2712]

Well done review! You have a sweet family!

[Frank12]

Thank goodness you're back. I thought you were going to abandon ship!:)

[summercruisin']

After becoming hypnotized by the waves, it was time to get dressed. The family got ready a little early for dinner, so we went out to explore the ship a little....

 

 

First stop, the taste bar...Yum!

 

 

We sat out on the Ocean Plaza, where we could hear some live music but also enjoy the late afternoon breeze (no pun intended :rolleyes:)

 

 

Then we went to check out the live music in the atrium, but there wasn't much going on there.

 

 

We went to look for pictures, but we got bored with that pretty quickly. I am of the mindset of those who think Carnival is way behind on moving towards the Disney way of managing photos!

Edited April 6, 2015 by summercruisin'