summercruisin'

Husbands, whatcha gonna do? Hey, you're funny as hell. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Thanks :D Glad you are here!

We got to the port before 11 and got through security really quickly. We ordered two 12 packs of water for the room in advance, and I really actually enjoyed not having to haul all that water on board this time. It was much easier, especially with the 12 pack of diet mountain dew, a 12 pack of orange soda (all in cans, of course), a 150 ml carton of wine, a bookbag holding all the important papers and last minute stuff I threw in, a small soft-sided cooler with meds, a laptop in a case, two tablets, a baby doll and her gear, a large teddy bear made from one of my dad's t-shirts, a camera bag with multiple cameras and the GoPro, for which I later learned I left the charger at home in NC, rendering it completely useless for the trip duration :(, the Kodak underwater camera (yay!), and more stuff....omg did we forget the kitchen sink????

We went to the lounge for platinum cruisers and got our cards and then were directed to wait in another area, as that lounge was already too full. We waited alongside a wedding party (awww.....) for quite a while.

Forgot to mention I had spent a few days before the cruise to make DD some special t-shirts to get Matt's atten.....I mean to show Matt some appreciation. :D

Unfortunately, this was a VERY chaotic embarkation. We were not given any instructions; it just seemed like suddenly everyone in the lounge started heading for the ship. Even some Carnival employees were confused, because one stopped us and asked if we were told to go onboard yet, but then before anyone even answered said something about "oh, there's *couldn't hear name or position*. If he is with you, you are fine." Meanwhile, it was a free-for-all. No cards were checked. No additional questions were asked. No coming aboard pictures were taken. We all just moved en masse to the ship. I did not feel the platinum love :p But, it didn't take long for me to get over it, as we went straight to our room to drop off our stuff and then quickly headed up to lido to get lunch.

We had a cove balcony room, cabin number 2254. It is near the front, port side, under the excursion desk, and close to the elevators. We found it to be a quiet and comfortable cabin. It was clean, except for the persistent old urine smell in the bathroom (yuck).

So, I'm stuck in water-logged eastern NC and wishing I was cruising, and I decided to re-live our cruise this past summer through a review. I'd like to promise I will keep it fairly short, if nothing else in hopes of actually finishing it (if you know me.....), buuuuttttttttt I have quite a few pictures and I am not typically a woman of few words when it comes to talking about one of my favorite pastimes :o and I really need a sunny pick-me-up! Here goes.....

Our trip was on the Carnival Breeze, departing on July 18th and heading to stops in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Grand Turk. We had been to all the ports except St. Kitts. We chose this ship and itinerary for a number of reasons.....we had only been to St. Maarten and San Juan once each and wanted to go back, especially after a really bad experience in San Juan the first time, involving DH leaving our most important bag - the one with passports, cruise tickets, meds, etc. - in the taxi after it dropped us off at the hotel which led to four hours of panic and desperation. I was in charge of the kid and the directions; he was in charge of the bags. He had ONE job!! But I digress.

We also like the slightly longer cruises, so an 8 day one appealed to us. Additionally, we had cruised the Breeze the summer before and LOVED her but felt like we barely got to know her. And then there is Matt. :D Oh, friends, if you have not been lucky enough to cruise with THE. BEST. CRUISE. DIRECTOR evahhhh (a tall, handsome, muscular, easy-going, happy, funny bundle of amazing-ness....and those eyes....Wait, honey, are you looking over my shoulder? Love you! Mean it! Again, I digress), you need to start looking at booking the Vista next year. :p But, don't worry. You will get to see a little of Matt in the posts to follow.....

Our trip began the day before embarkation, when the kids and I drove from our Florida vacation home to pick up DH from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. We find the Ft. Lauderdale airport to be easy to navigate for picking up arrivals, and we were on our way to the Hampton Inn Miami Airport South / Blue Lagoon. We had stayed at this same hotel last year, chosen because they have a park and cruise deal that is reasonable enough. Plus the hotel is clean and comfortable, and there are several fast food restaurants, drug stores, and a Publix within walking distance (for an easy dinner and last minute supplies). We settled in pretty early and had a great night's sleep in preparation for the big day.

The next morning, after a "free" breakfast at the hotel (where we were all too excited to eat much), we requested a taxi van to the port. The park and cruise package includes shuttle to the port for two guests, and additional guests are $10 each. The shuttle back after the cruise is not included but can easily be arranged upon check-in. We always choose to take a taxi, though, because the earliest shuttle is at 11 and it is a little crowded and chaotic for our kiddoes. Our taxi arrived around 10:30, and we were on our way to the port. Here we go....

Here's our little cruising family. There is DH (mid-40s, retail manager who works too much), Me (very slightly under mid-40s, high school teacher), DH (14, has high functioning autism and anxiety. These things come into play quite a bit on all our trips), and DD (8, a ball of energy).

my picture is a little fuzzy, but you can tell this is a pretty ideal spot for a pre-dinner cocktail!

back across the bridge we go! This time, we got caught on it while it was swinging out to let a small boat through! That was entertaining!

The Breeze all lit up

Back onboard

I don't remember what we did about dinner that night or anything else about the evening! But, we had enjoyed a great day in Curacao after all.

walking near other boats tied up along the canal

this one reminded me a little of Robin Williams' movie Popeye for some reason

caught the sunset in Curacao after all...

we stopped at a bar / restaurant near the pontoon bridge for a drink. The service was INCREDIBLY slow, but the views were nice. We chatted with two guys who worked on the ship (in entertainment).

more kinda cool buildings and stuff across the small bridge

DS started getting nervous, especially when a stray? dog came near us, so we started to head back to the more crowded areas...back across the small drawbridge, and along the "storefront" side of the market...

We walked around a bit admiring the pretty buildings

we used a very small drawbridge (for vehicles) to cross the canal and spotted a market (fresh produce was being sold from those boats)

Although I really missed having my bubbly DD around, I am so glad we got off the ship and explored a bit more! The area around the port is really nice and felt very safe. We walked through an area that included the courtyard of a hotel and then some shops (where I bought a few t-shirts for my niece and nephew).

there were the remnants of an old fort (but it has been turned into a tourist shop area)

and then we crossed the pontoon bridge

back to our "home away from home"

When we got back to the port, DD wanted to shower and then go to Camp Carnival. The rest of us wanted to go back out and check out the Queen Emma pontoon bridge and other sights we could see around the port.

Our room was already prepped for bedtime with a cute doggie on the bed

pretty view of Curacao (on the way to Camp Carnival)

With DD safely in place, we went back ashore to see what we could see...

the view from the pier

taking a break from the sun under the covered patio

After our time at the beach, we easily found our tour guide waiting as promised (thankfully!) and we headed back to the ship.

the platform.

It's not as close as it looks, especially when you are nervously swimming alongside a barely 7-year-old who is not yet the best swimmer but who insisted on going out there! :p

this picture may give it perspective...

But she made it!

She also found some rocks to climb on, despite my objections

When we got to the beach, we were given directions for what time and where to meet our ride back to the ship. We would end up with just under two hours on the beach. There was a small walk from where we were dropped off, through a little area with a few shops, to the beach.

Once there, we found a bar/restaurant with free (but spotty) wifi, a covered patio overlooking the beach (good spot for DS to relax, since he did not want to get in the water), free chairs to use, a small and kind of crowded but still pretty nice beach, and a platform out in the water.

looking one way from the beach

looking the other way

the view from the covered patio (and zoomed)

At the end of the factory tour, there was a judgment-free :D place to sample some of the flavors of liqueurs (yum!) and then a pressure-free gift shop. When we left there, we headed to a place that the tour guide promised would be great for pictures...

and now I want to live right here...

Our tour had taken us to a store, which we walked through and ended up on a small deck on the back of the store that happened to offer pretty views.

I think I'd happily take this house, if it weren't quite so crowded with its neighbors...

After pictures, we were off again to see a little more and to work our way to the beach!

We saw this guy while we were out and about...

and then a section that explained how Blue Curacao is made.

our tour guide explained a number of things in the factory and gave a lot of good information

pretty...

Our tour van had both a driver and a tour guide, and she was very informative and friendly. We headed over that tall bridge and got a good view of the port area and parts of Willemstad.

and the Breeze

We headed to the distillery pretty quickly.

They had an interesting but very small museum

When I was planning this trip, I really did not have a good idea of what to do in Curacao, but I had a few ideas. For our family, getting to a beach is a priority (especially if it is the first time visiting an island). We also wanted to see a little of the island and maybe check out the distillery (since I do love blue margaritas :D). I had checked into some of the sunset cruises, thinking that we would enjoy that experience, but DS was feeling anxious about being on a catamaran near sunset for some reason. Plus, I just couldn't find one that I felt really good about. So.....I decided to follow my typical gypsy spirit and booked absolutely nothing in advance for Curacao. :cool:

So, when we got off the ship, we walked around the port for just a little bit and then found some tour operators. Now, I am usually not a fan of the tour operations that work from piers. One reason is because they seem to overstuff their vans with people (and wait to leave until said vans are indeed overstuffed). I also don't like haggling for tour prices without really knowing what I am getting.

We found a tour operation that would take us around the island, over the big bridge, and included a stop at the distillery, some shops, and at a beach. I did talk them down on their price and got our kids on for free. And I insisted that we would not wait more than 10 minutes to leave. It all worked out pretty well. We still got put in a pretty overstuffed van :cool: but it was worth it in the end. Off we went to see some of the island....

Let's see if I can get a few more days done :)

I left off after two relaxing days at sea. On the third day of our trip, we arrived in beautiful Curacao. We had slept in and enjoyed a slow morning before spotting land around 10 AM or so.

Just after noon, we began to get closer for my first ever look at Curacao!

our welcome "party"

the bridge that is even taller than it looks

coming in...

Awesome, and if you have crowd pics, you might see me out there dancing!

 

I want to be there right now! :(

You and me both!! LOL

Time to plan another! :D

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

Awww, thanks! :o I'm really bad about starting and not finishing reviews, so that is always a possibility. BUT, this time, I went ahead and uploaded and organized all the pictures in Photobucket to make it a little easier. Hopefully, I'll do better this time!

However, I am taking a break again to head out to Disney for a while :D, but I'll be motivated to come back and talk about beautiful Curacao!

loving your review. we were on the breeze 2 consecutive years as well, enjoyed both times. thanks for taking the time to share, and allowing me to relive our trips. you have a beautiful family, looking forward to the rest.

Just making a "comment" so I can find this later to keep reading your review...Love it. I want to sail on the Breeze just for the cove balconies :-)

Thank you for following along!

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.

How fun! I remember your mom! I'll have to dig through the pics and see what I can find!

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

Well done review! You have a sweet family!

Thank you both so much!

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 :-)

Thank you! No doubt you and your family will have a great time! May 30th is right around the corner!

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!

Thank you so much.

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!

Thank you for reading and for the compliments! I don't remember being bothered by the noise as much as the week went on. Not sure if it was because we got used to it or because the seas calmed down. Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear others didn't have a problem with it, since we are only two doors down from this room on our next cruise! I hope it is a more quiet one.

The goPro is fun, but I never did figure it out as well as I had hoped. Most of these pics are taken with my "old" Fujifilm.