Carnival Breeze June 5-12, 2016

[Quilcruisers]

Time does go by very fast on sea days and a ship as big as the Breeze. Thankful I get to go on her again to try some other things. I missed the hot dog cart the first trip but my DH found it and the bar near by.

 

I should have stopped at the hot dog cart while walking the track. I find that some of the best things are things that you stumble upon. I did not see a tasting bar this time either, those are so good because they will give samples of food items as you walk by. I did have a guys burger every day except the last day.

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thanks for this review, I'm really enjoying it. One feature of the hub app I found really useful was you can "like" all the activities you're interested in and it will send you a text reminding you it starts in 15 minutes. I loved that and the texting part.

 

I look forward to hearing more. Did you do Afternoon Tea by chance?

 

 

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[jst]

Quillcruiser,

Love your review, keep it coming. I have a question - can you tell me what bands were playing in the evenings, or do you have a fun times you can post showing the back of the

first page aa this will list the evening music?

Thanks:)

[Quilcruisers]

Friday, Cozumel

 

Friday, we docked in Cozumel about 10am but we had no plans of leaving the ship. We planned to spend the day relaxing, making it another sea day.

We got up and instead of eating breakfast, we decided to go to the Italian kitchen for lunch. This was the first time we encountered someone who was less than happy.

We arrived at the italian restaurant and viewed the menu. My husband and son went down one level and ordered breakfast, they do not like Italian food. We were not sure of the portion size for the lasagna, so we asked the server. We said we didnt want a large portion of lasagna, if it was very large, we would share it, but he told us, "you will have lasagna".

The way he said it didnt sit too well with us so we sort of ignored him until the head server came to ask us how things were going. We told her we were fine, but didnt appreciate the tone that the server took with us.

He came over later and attempted to make conversation with us but we were done with our meal and ready to leave. We all had pasta with chicken and shrimp and salads. This meal was free and a good size for lunch, actually the portions were huge and we were stuffed.

We joined my husband and son and made plans for the day. We wanted to go out later and sit on the lido deck and enjoy a near- empty ship. We already noticed the ship very empty and enjoyed this.

My husband and daughter had spa appointments for later that day. We noticed the Carnival Dream next to us and also noticed how small it looked next to our ship. We noticed earlier in the week the Fascinaton and the Splendor, both ships were considerably smaller.

I don't mind the older ships, but just something we noticed. We always cruise on older ships, we just chose the Breeze because it just moved to Galveston.

After lunch, we went back to the room to change and gather our things for our day outside at Lido. We sat in the comfortable cushioned chairs facing the pool, which can never be had unless someone leaves.

We were able to easily get these chairs and we even got little tables for our drinks and plates. We settled in on the lido deck and enjoyed the day, using the pool, slides and listening to music.

We stayed out there until about an hour past sailaway and then went inside to change and dress for dinner.

Dinner was really good, we had worked up an appetite, although we all had Guy's burgers around 3pm and had a huge lunch about noon. Its amazing how much food you can put away when it is so readily available.

We had leftover wine from the night before so we had that brought to our table. Some of the items we ate at dinner: meatballs, eggrolls with a good spicy sauce, grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes, dinner did not disappoint.

After dinner, we went to the game room and spent way too much money, it was fun though. We had to get up the next morning to attend our tour at 930am, we needed to meet at the Steakhouse at 915am.

Bedtime came easy for us, as we had been in the sun all day and ate way too much food.

 

Saturday, final sea day and Behind the fun tour day

 

As usual for us, the final sea day is cram packed with events and things planned that we didnt get to do all week. It is the saddest day for me, because I am never ready to go home.

We got up Saturday morning at 8am and got dressed for our tour. We got our tickets delivered to us a few days prior and were told that we must wear closed toe shoes, there would be a lot of walking on the tour.

 

Behind the fun tour:

We arrived at the Steakhouse for tour to find another group already leaving. Apparently, there are 2 tours being held, although we thought it was one. Anyway, we checked in, got our badges and were each asked if we had cell phones, cameras or knives.

Of course we followed the rules and did as we were instructed several times both when booking the tour and also when we received the tickets.

There was croissants, juices and rolls available for us while we waited. Once everyone got there and checked in, we were ready to go. Kelly facilitated the tour for us. She was an HR person for Carnival and from England.

The tour was scheduled for 3.5 hours and we were told there was a lot of walking up and down stairs, in the kitchen and other work areas of the ship.

We started the tour in the kitchen. We were able to see behind the scenes and were totally amazed at the amount of work and workers we saw running the kitchen. Actually, before we went to the kitchen, the chef of the steakhouse gave a little presentation about their service.

We were told that each person in each department would be willing to answer any questions we had and although the group started out just looking, it quickly became a very interactive tour.

The kitchen staff and everyone we encountered were just as nice behind the scenes as you see on deck. Everyone greeted the group, smiles and waves, and the people presenting the tour to us seemed to be very happy to be doing this tour.

All of the kitchen equipment was full steam ahead (literally) as this was a sea day, they were preparing many meals for the upcoming day. We saw the food prep areas, cooking areas and actually walked through where the food was being plated and going out to the dining rooms.

We went into the freezer and the holding area for the food, the bakery where all the cookies, breads and pastries were being made.

They gave us some information such as the number of plates they prepare and serve, how long it takes for food to get from being delivered to the ship to ending up on the table and talked about how everything has to be inspected and only delivered to the home port. If they run out of something, they can't just pick it up at another place.

The laundry room was next, this production was like a well-oiled machine. The sheets were being folded after being washed and werent dried, because the folder actually dries the sheets and then folds.

There were very large machines and different bins for every type of towel, sheet, cloths, uniforms, etc. The leader of the laundry room gave us a tour around and let us see how they can dry and fold 1 sheet per minute, on the slow speed.

I no longer felt bad about using multiple towels, somehow I envisioned a little old lady folding all of those towels.

The engine control room was next, we had a couple of people in our tour with above average technical knowledge of the mechanics of things, so we let them ask all the technical questions about the ship. The engineer talked at length about the controls, generators, fluid levels and all of the buttons, buzzers and alarms that they pay attention to all day.

We asked questions about experience needed, shifts worked, and everything that you want to know about how the crew operates.

Next stop, the theater - we met the theater manager and the lighting guy and got to go on stage and behind the stage in the dressing room.

We then went to the crew lounge and training room and were able to ask questions about hiring and staffing and the requirements of working on a cruise ship. We learned a lot about how crew members are hired and then promoted to different jobs and also about how they worked in different areas depending on their experience.

Our final stop was upstairs on the bridge. We were told we could not make noise or applaud because they were recording up there 24-7. We met the captain and were able to ask questions about this area of the ship.

We ended the tour with photos with the captain and were able to walk around the bridge and see floor to ceiling views of the ocean up ahead. This was very amazing.

She then took us to the very front of the ship where the bell is located. No one except crew is allowed up there. We got another group picture taken up there.

Finally, we ended the tour by walking back to the dining room where they had our gifts for us, champagne and soft drinks as they gave us our giveaways (backpack, hat and certificate). Our pictures of the tour were sent to our room later that day.

After the tour, we were famished so we went to get lunch on the lido. We did not go to the room before eating lunch. All food options were open by the time we made it to Lido. The buffet was really good with a lot of food choices. We ended up eating from the deli, the mongolian wok and the Blue Iguana had great fish tacos, they also had pork and chicken tacos with excellent salsas.

Guy's burgers was also open and we ate there too. After dinner, we went back to the room and had a nice surprise of chocolate covered strawberries, peanut brittle and a cupcake, times 3. We never figured out why we got this treat, possibly due to playing trivia at the Red Frog pub a few nights prior.

We then went back to the room fora little bit as we rescheduled my husband's spa manicure to Saturday. My in-laws went to the past guest party (they are platinum) and my husband went to his appointment. The spa was very nice, we waited with my husband until his appointment time.

I took a shower and used the sauna. Earlier that day, my daughter, son and I went to the Sky Course. My son didnt want to do it originally so he was going to take pictures and video. The Sky Course was HARD but it was fun. I wish I would have done it much earlier in the week because I would have done it again.

By the time we finished, they closed it because there were a lot of people in line waiting.

We met back in the room so we could pack and then go to dinner. Before dinner, we gave our room steward, Roy, an extra tip and also got change so we could tip our servers at dinner.

At dinner, we saw the farewell show and took pictures with our servers. We had a nice dinner and went to the game room again so that my son could cash out his points.

Sadly, made our way back to the room and went to bed.

 

Sunday morning came way too soon. We got up and my in-laws left because they had an earlier debark than we did. We left the room, went to the 4th floor and waited until our boarding number was called. They had a DJ playing music and it was very organized. We were off the ship and at our car at 1030am.

Once off the ship, we had a long wait for a shuttle to our car. We could have easily had someone to run to the car then come back to pick everyone up, but hindsight is 20/20.

 

We had a glorious time, the Breeze is a beautiful ship and I hope to go back on her very soon. There was so much to see and do. The only negative was the fact that the AC definitely went off at night. I made sure to give this comment in my feedback to Carnival, although we should have notified them during the cruise.

Our next cruise is in 5 short months on the Freedom.

Overall, the highlights of the cruise for me: Grand Cayman was beautiful, the food was excellent, mostly the sea day brunch, the Sky Course was fun, the Behind the Fun tour was well worth the money and time.

The ship was laid out well, it just took some getting used to finding the areas that we are accustomed to visiting when we cruise. I give this ship and cruise a perfect 10.

 

Thank you for sharing my review, please feel free to ask me any questions.

[Quilcruisers]

Thanks for this review, I'm really enjoying it. One feature of the hub app I found really useful was you can "like" all the activities you're interested in and it will send you a text reminding you it starts in 15 minutes. I loved that and the texting part.

 

I look forward to hearing more. Did you do Afternoon Tea by chance?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I agree, I absolutely love the HUB app and the chat feature was probably the best for me too. We didn't find out about the notifications until about day 3 but once we did, we were happy to know this.

 

We did not do the afternoon tea, although we visited the library. We discovered there were 2 parts to the library, one small side and another larger side but didn't make it back over there sadly.

 

Thanks so much for reading, I really enjoyed reliving this cruise.

[Quilcruisers]

Quillcruiser,

Love your review, keep it coming. I have a question - can you tell me what bands were playing in the evenings, or do you have a fun times you can post showing the back of the

first page aa this will list the evening music?

Thanks:)

 

Sunday:

Kevin Romans, J.R., Mothership Trio, Latin Boys, Christine

 

Monday:

Kevin Romans, J.R., Latin Boys, Allure Strings, Country Duo, Christine

 

Tuesday:

didn't have this one

 

Wednesday:

Kevin Romans, Latin Boys, Erin Michelle Duo, JR, Christine

 

Thursday:

Allure Strings, Latin Boys, Mothership Trio, Erin Michelle Duo, JR, Christine

 

Friday:

Erin Michelle Duo, Latin Boys, Mothership Trio, Allure Strings, Kevin Romans

 

Saturday:

Kevin Romans, Allure Strings, Easy breezy, Latin Boys, Erin Michelle Duo, Mothership Trio, JR., Christine

 

Thanks for sharing.

[Ready2Cruise2016]

Thank you for your review! My daughter does sign language videos, and wants to do one on our upcoming cruise on the Breeze. Can you think of a good little 'nook' she can do one, where the background is mostly ocean and scenic? On the Dream, all we found was a spot near the walking track. It wasn't ideal, but doable. our biggest problem was having to move out of the way for those that were walking... which meant a lot of starting over. I feel like we just somehow missed the perfect nooks of the ship, and don't want to do the same this time. I thought about the lanai, but the barriers on those make that area impossible.

[Quilcruisers]

That sounds beautiful. I think if you go off the side doors by the excursion desk, you can get a quiet area. I think deck 3. On port days the lanai area should be empty. The breeze is different from other ships in the wide open spaces. I still really like the ship though and need to go again to really explore more.

[Ready2Cruise2016]

That sounds beautiful. I think if you go off the side doors by the excursion desk, you can get a quiet area. I think deck 3. On port days the lanai area should be empty. The breeze is different from other ships in the wide open spaces. I still really like the ship though and need to go again to really explore more.

 

Thank you! I'll keep those areas in mind. :) Our first day will definitely be a ship exploring day to see what nooks we can find.

[TJ92813]

How expensive is the beyond the fun tour? I really enjoyed your review.

[Singer4Him]

After dinner, we went back to the room and had a nice surprise of chocolate covered strawberries, peanut brittle and a cupcake, times 3. We never figured out why we got this treat, possibly due to playing trivia at the Red Frog pub a few nights prior.

 

I'm going to say that this was compliments of your Behind the Fun tour since we received the same thing when we did the tour on the Freedom and our friends received it after their tour on the Dream last year. :)

[Singer4Him]

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this review and for telling me about it in my thread about the MDR and spa. ;)

 

I do have a question about parking. Did you park at the port or elsewhere? You mentioned the shuttles but since this will be our first time sailing out of Galveston, I'm not familiar with their port and parking. TIA for your help!!

[CruisinDivaMelinda10]

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this review and for telling me about it in my thread about the MDR and spa. ;)

 

I do have a question about parking. Did you park at the port or elsewhere? You mentioned the shuttles but since this will be our first time sailing out of Galveston, I'm not familiar with their port and parking. TIA for your help!!

 

I would suggest parking at the port. 24 hr police watch and best option I have seen while I lived in Galveston unless you want to park in a small building turned garage..or very small area with cyclone fence....I just don't trust that and it is all same prices just about.

[CruisinDivaMelinda10]

This is my 1st time cruising and your review is VERY good!!

I will be on the Breeze 9/25!!!

How big of a cooler can you bring?

I am a huge water drinker and was worried about not having enough water lol

Snacks are allowed??? I have been wondering this....I read somewhere they were not allowed.

WOW you were onboard in 2 hours or so? I was told to pick the latest time to board or we would would in line half the day....we might want to rethink that boarding time!!

[jst]

Thanks Quilcruisers for the info on the bands will look forward to Breeze:)

[Quilcruisers]

How expensive is the beyond the fun tour? I really enjoyed your review.

 

 

The behind the fun your was 95.00 per person and held on the last sea day. Very well worth the price. It was a full 4 hour tour with many surprises.

 

 

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[TJ92813]

Thank you. I'm hoping we can do this also. When did you sign up for it?

[Quilcruisers]

We signed up for the tour as soon as we dropped off our bags in the room. We didn't know at the time but they had 2 groups of 16. My family was 6 then they had another 10 in our group. I has heard they only do one tour and when it's sold out that's it.

 

 

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[LHARTWICK]

Thank you so much for your detailed review! We sail on the Breeze December 11. We've sailed on the Dream twice and once on the Magic, so we are excited to experience the Breeze. I also appreciate you focusing on the positive aspects of your cruise and not griping about every little thing. I choose to do the same! After all, we are so blessed to be able to cruise.

 

Questions:

 

Where is the free sauna location you referred to?

Can you elaborate about the AC being off at night - what time did it go off? Is this to conserve energy?

Is the food at Guys Burgers complimentary? What about the Sea Dogs?

Is the Thrill Theater an extra charge?

 

Thanks again - this makes me even more excited to experience a new ship! Sounds like we may need to sail more than once to see/do everything the Breeze has to offer - darn! :)

[Crusin Hogs]

Leaving on The Breeze in November .. 2 time on her , Best ship in the fleet ,,

[Crusin Hogs]

Thank you so much for your detailed review! We sail on the Breeze December 11. We've sailed on the Dream twice and once on the Magic, so we are excited to experience the Breeze. I also appreciate you focusing on the positive aspects of your cruise and not griping about every little thing. I choose to do the same! After all, we are so blessed to be able to cruise.

 

Questions:

 

Where is the free sauna location you referred to?

Can you elaborate about the AC being off at night - what time did it go off? Is this to conserve energy?

Is the food at Guys Burgers complimentary? What about the Sea Dogs?

 

Like your avatar Go Hogs

Is the Thrill Theater an extra charge?

 

Thanks again - this makes me even more excited to experience a new ship! Sounds like we may need to sail more than once to see/do everything the Breeze has to offer - darn! :)

 

The free sauana is in the spa area ... There are locked doors going to the pay areas of the spa '.

 

Never had the A/C go out on The Breeze last time we were on it

 

Guy's burger is free ,,, and habit forming ! Sea Dogs are free also

 

Thrill Theather is 14.95 for a weeks pass ..go when you want

Edited October 26, 2016 by Crusin Hogs

[LoveCarnivalCruise]

Looking forward to the remaining days