MITSUGIRLY BREAKAWAY's 1 last time for the year-review/pictorial

[brookie848]

Thank you. :)

 

 

 

I will have to check prices and see. Thanks for the info. :)

 

 

You may have already discovered this (I'm catching up with your review), but Southwest flies into San Juan. Prices would probably be about what you would pay in FLL. Of course, if you know you are going on a cruise far in advance, if you buy your tickets when fares first open up you can get some pretty good deals.

[Pris13]

Tell your hubby to look into swimmer's earplugs. My father had the same problem and loved to swim.

[hlb76]

YAY finally all caught up. Loving this one as much as all the others. Great to meet more family members. Looks like you have a such fun together. I hope it will stay that way more me and my kids. I'd love to see some more grandbabies sail with you. I'm so looking forward to taking my oldest again with us hopefully 2017 or 2018 but I need to wait til his kids are both over 2. Right now the oldest is 2.5 and the baby 9 months. I cant wait to take them on the big boat with us to play in the ocean.

[goofygal531]

Kim, I'm so happy you made it on the Breakaway! I know how you've been wanting to sail this ship. I just wanted to let you know that I too would like to sail the Gem but NOT to Bahamas! They do change up the itinerary. I just looked on 4/23/16 (date might not be exact) it's sailing from NYC to the Caribbean. Hopefully they will change up the itinerary more often if they plan to leave this ship in NYC. I've done the FL/Bahamas loop enough that the convenience of taking a taxi to the port no longer appeals to me. I'd rather fly to FL to sail the Caribbean.

 

Love your review!

[KPfromCT]

WOW! This review is EPIC!

Wonderful that you had the ENTIRE crew with you this time.:D:D

Your pictures at all of the different beaches are AMAZING.

Your boys are adventurous! I would have been FREAKING out with them on the edges like they were. lol

 

Cannot wait for more.

 

Such a beautiful island, beautiful beaches, and beautiful family.

 

P.S. Kenny's toenails are HOT!!!;);)

[CAC104]

Your pictures are gorgeous and the color of the water is so beautiful. You are right about the fish taking off with the hurricane that went by. When the water is rough, they go to deeper water. This was the roughest I have ever seen Horseshoe Bay and I have been there a number of times.

[perfect match]

Your beach pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I hope one of the cruise lines decides to schedule some Bermuda cruises from Florida, preferably Port Canaveral. Yes, I do know we are spoiled by all the cruises that do leave from here, but I stand a better chance of getting DH to agree to a cruise where we can just hop in the car and drive to port. :D

[TraJon9]

I just love your reviews! Bermuda just makes me smile.. Or Kendra funny faces.. lol

 

We just experienced this cruise first week of June on the Breakaway. Amazing! I was not expecting it but I seem to love St George more.. The water was warmer, calm, no man o war (ants are nothing compared to those horror stories although still gross) and the snorkeling there was great. I could not believe the size of the parrotfish.

 

We did the boston whaler for a day as well.. Sommerset. I must go back to rent a whaler on St George.

 

I did want to tell you I have had ear trouble since I was born I suppose.. I spend more time sitting in kid chairs for hearing tests at the ENT, it's comical.. I go in and out over years with tubes..

 

When I have tubes I am amazed at what a plane ride is suppose to feel like compared to the knife in my ear feeling without them.

 

That is exactly what EARPLANES do, they act almost like tubes and are amazing.. You put in before you take off and about 45 minutes before landing.

I use the child size because I have little ear canals. That moment you start to feel the plane decline, in they go. The children are a yellow box, blue adults. If you ever even have a cold buy them! Around 6 bucks, good for two plane rides.. But worth so much more

 

Does your husband get those little wax ear plugs? That is what I use when showering with tubes in. Like balls of wax you mold to your ears.. It will help him a ton.. I get them usually in the swim department, sometimes in drugstore aisles.. I love water so during tube time I have all the tricks down. Hope this helps..

 

Okay I will shut it now lol

 

~Tracy

[SuiteTraveler]

Great review, Kim, as usual!

 

I'm just back from the Carnival Breeze cruise I won - very nice cruise. I liked the Thrill Theater - although I was not crazy about it squirting water at me, but other than that, I enjoyed it. I wish they would use it more extensively and show more and longer movies. Right now it seems to be mostly 15 minute to half hour shows at most.

 

WTG on foiling that luggage thief. They are really bad at Newark. I'm really proud of you for identifying what was going on and taking swift action at the right moment so that this thief could not come back on you. Good level headed thinking in an emergency.

 

Parrot fish are non migratory, btw. They are born and spend their entire lives on their reef but sometimes stray to other nearby reefs. I wonder if the missing fish in Bermuda moved because of a predator?

[CAC104]

I just love your reviews! Bermuda just makes me smile.. Or Kendra funny faces.. lol

 

We just experienced this cruise first week of June on the Breakaway. Amazing! I was not expecting it but I seem to love St George more.. The water was warmer, calm, no man o war (ants are nothing compared to those horror stories although still gross) and the snorkeling there was great. I could not believe the size of the parrotfish.

 

We did the boston whaler for a day as well.. Sommerset. I must go back to rent a whaler on St George.

 

 

~Tracy

What beach did you like the best at St. George?

 

Great review, Kim, as usual!

 

I'm just back from the Carnival Breeze cruise I won - very nice cruise. I

 

How did you manage to win a cuise?

[relic2]

Kim, your water pictures were amazing! Based on your last review, I bought the same camera. What settings did you use that so beautifully stopped the waves? I've barely used mine yet...only for random "people" shots.

Thanks for another great review!

[keeponcruising]

You are too funny. ILMAO at your description of your family dodging the wave. That picture and your description is priceless.

[mitsugirly]

Ok yes that helps, I have dropbox and I looked at some of the pics I have in there now and they are all pretty similar around 700x700, 800x600 etc. Maybe i'll do a test post and see how it works, THANKS!

 

Yep, do a test post and see if it works for you. This forum probably has a limit and reduce the size if you try to go bigger, so it may work out no matter what. :D

 

Really enjoying the review and great pictures, thanks for taking the time to write/post and taking us along!

 

Thank you and glad you are enjoying. :)

[mitsugirly]

Beautiful Bermuda beach pictures, Kim! :) I'm enjoying so far. And you had all your camera chargers this time, right? :D :p

Heather

 

Thank you Heather. YES!!! I checked and double check and triple checked this time. I wasn't about to leave home without them and have to deal with that again. I took them with me on the plane and everything. :D :p

 

Sakari is an excellent artist!

 

She's pretty talented in the art department. Her art teacher (and regular teacher) have noticed and have suggested some art studio classes for her. I think I will sign her up after winter. You never know where this might go. :)

[mitsugirly]

You may have already discovered this (I'm catching up with your review), but Southwest flies into San Juan. Prices would probably be about what you would pay in FLL. Of course, if you know you are going on a cruise far in advance, if you buy your tickets when fares first open up you can get some pretty good deals.

 

I did take a quick peak the other day and the prices were outrageous for the dates I just decided to pull up. :eek: (Like over $400 pp 1 way). I will have to narrow down a date that I might be interested in and check again. I would love to go to San Juan and stay over night and go to that lake with the fluorescent bio fish. That would be cool and I know Sakari would love that. :)

 

Tell your hubby to look into swimmer's earplugs. My father had the same problem and loved to swim.

 

He does have them and I take them every cruise. His ENT told him his ears are so bad that he needs to wear them in the shower as well to reduce the risk of getting any water in there. Does he listen? Of course not. :o

[mitsugirly]

YAY finally all caught up. Loving this one as much as all the others. Great to meet more family members. Looks like you have a such fun together. I hope it will stay that way more me and my kids. I'd love to see some more grandbabies sail with you. I'm so looking forward to taking my oldest again with us hopefully 2017 or 2018 but I need to wait til his kids are both over 2. Right now the oldest is 2.5 and the baby 9 months. I cant wait to take them on the big boat with us to play in the ocean.

 

Thank you and glad you are liking the review. We do have a lot of fun together and I was so glad we ALL got to go this time around.

 

As for the grandbabies. Kendra has been talking about taking her daughter on the next one (she'll be 2), but we'll see. I think she would do good because she's use to the water and beach and activities. She goes to the lake/beach with us every weekend in the summer to go jet skiing and she loves being pulled on the tube. :)

 

Kim, I'm so happy you made it on the Breakaway! I know how you've been wanting to sail this ship. I just wanted to let you know that I too would like to sail the Gem but NOT to Bahamas! They do change up the itinerary. I just looked on 4/23/16 (date might not be exact) it's sailing from NYC to the Caribbean. Hopefully they will change up the itinerary more often if they plan to leave this ship in NYC. I've done the FL/Bahamas loop enough that the convenience of taking a taxi to the port no longer appeals to me. I'd rather fly to FL to sail the Caribbean.

 

Love your review!

 

I will have to watch to see when the Gem changes the itinerary. Just not willing to do only the Bahamas. I'm really not a big fan of Nassau or Freeport although I love the private island Great Stirrup Cay and would LOVE to go back there...especially since our Sky cruise missed it because of the weather last November.

[mitsugirly]

WOW! This review is EPIC!

Wonderful that you had the ENTIRE crew with you this time.:D:D

Your pictures at all of the different beaches are AMAZING.

Your boys are adventurous! I would have been FREAKING out with them on the edges like they were. lol

 

Cannot wait for more.

 

Such a beautiful island, beautiful beaches, and beautiful family.

 

P.S. Kenny's toenails are HOT!!!;);)

 

Thanks so much for the compliments on the review and the pictures.

 

I just knew the boys would be doing a lot of climbing and I used the excuse that I just went up there a few months ago and didn't need to go again. Truth was, I wouldn't have been able to watch that. They scare the crap out of me all the time and think it's funny.

 

P.S. We won't tell Kenny his toenails are hot...he might do it more often. ;):p

 

Your pictures are gorgeous and the color of the water is so beautiful. You are right about the fish taking off with the hurricane that went by. When the water is rough, they go to deeper water. This was the roughest I have ever seen Horseshoe Bay and I have been there a number of times.

 

 

Thank you so much. I really was wondering if that was the case with the fish. There really weren't a lot around and I really wanted Kenny to see them and how big they were. The water was pretty rough at Warwick and Horseshoe.

[mitsugirly]

Your beach pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I hope one of the cruise lines decides to schedule some Bermuda cruises from Florida, preferably Port Canaveral. Yes, I do know we are spoiled by all the cruises that do leave from here, but I stand a better chance of getting DH to agree to a cruise where we can just hop in the car and drive to port. :D

 

Thank you. I wish they would go to Bermuda from Florida too. I would definitely like that a lot more and probably go more often if that was the case. I would just rather cruise out of Florida (sorry Boston and NY peeps). :D

 

I just love your reviews! Bermuda just makes me smile.. Or Kendra funny faces.. lol

 

We just experienced this cruise first week of June on the Breakaway. Amazing! I was not expecting it but I seem to love St George more.. The water was warmer, calm, no man o war (ants are nothing compared to those horror stories although still gross) and the snorkeling there was great. I could not believe the size of the parrotfish.

 

We did the boston whaler for a day as well.. Sommerset. I must go back to rent a whaler on St George.

 

I did want to tell you I have had ear trouble since I was born I suppose.. I spend more time sitting in kid chairs for hearing tests at the ENT, it's comical.. I go in and out over years with tubes..

 

When I have tubes I am amazed at what a plane ride is suppose to feel like compared to the knife in my ear feeling without them.

 

That is exactly what EARPLANES do, they act almost like tubes and are amazing.. You put in before you take off and about 45 minutes before landing.

I use the child size because I have little ear canals. That moment you start to feel the plane decline, in they go. The children are a yellow box, blue adults. If you ever even have a cold buy them! Around 6 bucks, good for two plane rides.. But worth so much more

 

Does your husband get those little wax ear plugs? That is what I use when showering with tubes in. Like balls of wax you mold to your ears.. It will help him a ton.. I get them usually in the swim department, sometimes in drugstore aisles.. I love water so during tube time I have all the tricks down. Hope this helps..

 

Okay I will shut it now lol

 

~Tracy

 

I have to agree with you. I love St George the most as well. From the water, beaches and atmosphere. It's just my favorite. We were actually going to do 2 days there had our plans turned out the way we wanted (was going to do the jet skis and whaler on one of the days and the beaches the next...but it didn't work out).

 

He does have the swimmers ear plugs, but they are like a spongy rubbery thingy majig. He does have problems losing them when swimming though. But we keep them in stock. He just doesn't always wear them and he's got to the point he doesn't go in the water past his waist most of the time (while on the cruise).

 

I'm definitely going to get the ear plugs for the plane next time though and see if that helps Sakari any. She just has so many problems getting her ears to pop. Amazing that the hubby doesn't have any problems on the plane. :confused:

[mitsugirly]

Great review, Kim, as usual!

 

I'm just back from the Carnival Breeze cruise I won - very nice cruise. I liked the Thrill Theater - although I was not crazy about it squirting water at me, but other than that, I enjoyed it. I wish they would use it more extensively and show more and longer movies. Right now it seems to be mostly 15 minute to half hour shows at most.

 

WTG on foiling that luggage thief. They are really bad at Newark. I'm really proud of you for identifying what was going on and taking swift action at the right moment so that this thief could not come back on you. Good level headed thinking in an emergency.

 

Parrot fish are non migratory, btw. They are born and spend their entire lives on their reef but sometimes stray to other nearby reefs. I wonder if the missing fish in Bermuda moved because of a predator?

 

The Carnival BREEZE? :eek: Lucky dog! I just love those moving theaters and can't wait to go on this ship. I have a feeling next year will be my year! I want to make it happen!

 

I think working in the ER for 4 years gave me that quick thinking response I had with the luggage. I'm not sure but I just had a feeling something was not right and I'm not sure why I was looking down to begin with. Normally I have my head up and taking pictures or seeing where I'm am when we stop. It was weird.

 

Hmmm, so I wonder about the fish now. Oh my gosh, don't say a predator was in the area. :eek: What predator go after those huge fish?

 

Kim, your water pictures were amazing! Based on your last review, I bought the same camera. What settings did you use that so beautifully stopped the waves? I've barely used mine yet...only for random "people" shots.

Thanks for another great review!

 

Aww thanks so much for the compliments.

 

I hope you enjoy your camera as much as I do mine. What model did you end up getting?

 

I have so many people ask me what settings and I hate answering this question for the simple fact that I'm constantly switching settings to make sure I get that "perfect" picture...especially if it's a beach or landscape picture. I rotate between various settings on the camera and hope for the best. I really never know what they look like or how they turn out until I get home. You guys on here get to see the pictures usually the same day I do when I'm getting them ready and putting in the folders on my computer to start my review right after that. :eek: (Which means as of now, I just did Day 5 and I haven't seen any of the pictures after that yet). :p

 

I can tell you that I use the "sports" mode when there's something moving...like the waves in the ocean. It will catch them still. Also, I use sport when I'm in a vehicle moving and taking pictures.

 

A way to get the really super colorful bold pictures, try putting it on the "miniature" setting, which is basically like a tilt shift setting that people do with DSLR cameras. It's super colorful, but the edges will be blurred around it. There's also a landscape setting which will boost the colors when doing landscaping things.

 

Sometimes I try even putting it on the Sunset setting for a different coloring.

 

Depending on the model you got, my newer model has 3 different underwater features, which is nice because it has a "sports" type of mode on it that will catch moving fish. :p

[mitsugirly]

You are too funny. ILMAO at your description of your family dodging the wave. That picture and your description is priceless.

 

 

Oh they had fun with that description as well on my social media site. The one picture of Michelle with her hand up...people were asking her if she was doing the Baywatch run. LOL :p

[mitsugirly]

Back to your regularly scheduled programming. I have the next days pictures ready to rock & roll now.

 

DAY 5:

 

 

We woke up as early as we could (which was 7:30am for me) knowing that the first ferry over to St George would be 9:30am. From the experience I had last time we were here and catching a ferry, I KNEW that we must be early in line if we wanted to succeed with our plans on making the first ferry.

 

 

I have absolutely NO pictures from this morning. Not from breakfast, not from our balcony, not of the family...nada! I must have really been in a hurry! LOL

 

 

At 7:30am in the morning...this is what it looked like (ok, I take it back, I did take this picture)

 

 

Ok, it does look cloudy, but I do see the sun peaking out over there by St George and I was hoping for the best.

 

We headed to breakfast and told the kids we would meet them after that and head off the ship. Somehow, we never met up with them. But, I knew that Kendra knew her way around Bermuda now and she definitely knows how to get to the ferry entrance so...I was hoping for the best. I had told them I wanted to be getting off the ship and in the line by 9am.

 

Then we look outside and it's a nasty dreary looking day with some off and on rain. Oh just great. I don't care what people say about the rain not making a difference because "we're on vacation and not at work". Sigh. I'm sure a lot of people feel this way, but honestly, I'm not one of those. I love my job and what I do. To be quite honest, if it's going to rain, I'd much rather be at work. Just saying... People save for months, sometimes years to go on a cruise of a lifetime. When it rains, it DOES affect how your vacation "feels". No ifs, ands or buts about it. Do you go on? Of course you do. There's nothing you can do about it. Everyone knows I make the best of every situation that's thrown at me, but it does bring you down a little and attitudes change and moods change.

 

So...with that being said.

 

We waited and waited and never found the kids so we decided to head off. I think we were with Kolin and Courtney at that point. After getting off the ship, dinging out and walking out of the building and down the pier, they were at the end of the pier. Good kids!

 

 

We hurried to the ferry line and walked and walked and walked and "Does this line ever end???" It was longer than it was the last time we were here with 2 ships in port. YIKES! Would we make it this time?

 

As we were standing in line, it started pouring. We grabbed our towels to put over our heads and most of the kids ran under the trees to wait for the line to start moving. I stayed put because I figured I was going to get wet where we're going anyhow...so why not just start now.

 

WE MADE IT!! Whew. But, as always, we would not be getting the nice comfy seat inside at the tables. We would walk down the isle as those people glared at us with their "ah ha, that's what you get for not getting in line early" eyes as we walked by. We headed up the steps to upstairs. Oh just great. It won't be sun beaming down on us, it would be rain beating down on us.

 

I managed to find a seat beside a girl and put Sakari on my lap, where my legs would fall asleep most of the way over to St George. I was just at the edge of the part that had a covering over it. What did this mean? I would get wet or stay dry...it would mean both.

 

Kenny & Michelle got to sit across from me in the "more covered" area. Sam was behind me in the uncovered area and Kendra, Kolin and their families were out in the open.

 

We headed off after the ferry was filled. Hey, at least we had a seat.

[relic2]

The Carnival BREEZE? :eek: Lucky dog! I just love those moving theaters and can't wait to go on this ship. I have a feeling next year will be my year! I want to make it happen!

 

I think working in the ER for 4 years gave me that quick thinking response I had with the luggage. I'm not sure but I just had a feeling something was not right and I'm not sure why I was looking down to begin with. Normally I have my head up and taking pictures or seeing where I'm am when we stop. It was weird.

 

Hmmm, so I wonder about the fish now. Oh my gosh, don't say a predator was in the area. :eek: What predator go after those huge fish?

 

 

 

Aww thanks so much for the compliments.

 

I hope you enjoy your camera as much as I do mine. What model did you end up getting?

 

 

QUOTE]

 

 

I got the TG 860. I will need to play around with it a bit more before Hawaii in January. I was pretty happy with the pics I took at a car show a few weeks ago. I really love your underwater pics. That was my main reason for choosing this one.

[mitsugirly]

As we were pulling away, it was getting darker and darker out...and so was the look in my children's eyes.

 

 

 

This is usually the part where you are able to take awesome pictures of your ship sitting at the dock, but it wouldn't happen today. It would only be dark and dreary pictures to be had.

 

 

On the ride over to St George, it rained, it sprinkled, we got wet and Sakari and I spent most of the time huddled under my, what use to be, dry towel which was now pretty wet...especially on my back.

 

Kolin had managed to strike up a conversation with a nice lady on the way over to St George. I guess they got to talking and somehow the lady ended up asking her if his mom's name was "Kim". After that, it was all over. My cover had been blown and I was recognized as Mitsugirly here on CC. LOL

 

Once we made it to St George, she came over to talk to me. Very nice lady with her husband and she's on the boards here. We had a nice chat and I would run in to her later in the week on the ship. I love meeting new people and making new friends...especially cruise friends. hehe I feel like we already have a lot in common to talk about and I'm always game for cruise or port talk. (grin)

 

We headed off the ferry and ready to hit St George. It had stopped raining for the most part.

 

 

A look back at where the ferry docks:

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Since we had done this walk before, and messed it up, I knew this time to head down the small road (Water St) instead of continuing up the hill to the main street (York).

 

 

 

 

Blacksmith Hill

 

 

 

This would be the little market and liquor store that we went to the last time we were here. Except last time, we were coming from the street up above (York), trying to find our way down to the correct street. These are the steps we used to get down here that time. I officially feel like I know my way around here now.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Continuing along the road toward the Town Hall.

 

 

To the left is the Post Office. I joked around with Kendra about maybe we should stop here and purchase the 15 pack of tickets for the next time we come to Bermuda and we'll be ready. Although...I actually started to think I wasn't joking and something I probably should have done. However, we were in a hurry to get to the beaches and enjoy as much time as we could here in beautiful St George.