italianfemmy

Okay, as soon as I sank my teeth into trying to pick photos, a client called and I've been caught up ever since in making contract changes and such. It's now 2am. I will hopefully be able to do a chapter tomorrow!!

Whew... those replies took nearly a full hour! I might not be able to reply to everyone as much but I will keep trying! Let me go find some photos to edit so I can do the next chapter! Be back soon!

If you were planning on being on the Pride in January I'd jump at the opportunity to have you photograph our wedding!

Oops! Don't know how I missed your post! I was talking to Chris and Cassandra the other day and telling them I would totally shoot a wedding or portraits on a cruise ship if I didn't have to pay for my own travel. Since a stateroom only runs about $500-$1,200.... this is actually a fantastic hypothetical deal as our packages start at around $4,500 for wedding coverage locally. :)

I wouldn't want to make the cruise line mad though as I know they send a ship photographer in to take photos. As much as I'd love documenting the actual ceremony though, my true excitement is in the idea of taking the couple out to some awesome spots in the ports of call for some super artsy shots!

Awesome review!! I am so fortunate that you did the review of the Dream, then I went on the Dream. Now you are reviewing the Breeze and I am on the Breeze in March!

 

Congratulations on being published! You have such a great eye! I'm sure you will be doing more and more!

Thank you! I am sad I don't plan on cruising in 2013 so it'll be another 2 years most likely before there is another cruise review from me. I want to do an epic land vacation to Greece, Italy or Egypt in 2013!

Alicia - Great pics! I do however have one major issue with your reviews.......you do such an amazing and in-depth review, and keep us in such suspense waiting for the next installment! I've read your Dream review as well and loved it as well! Congrats on having your work published as well. Hoping that will boost your career. My step-niece got into photography about 10 years ago and is doing amazingly well now, and you have the same potential as well. Thanks for posting such great photos and reviews for all of us to enjoy. Our family is getting ready to book the Breeze for early 2014, and your review is making us very impatient! Keep up the great work!

I asked people ahead of time if they'd rather me start my review now and it be super slow or do it in a few weeks when I'd have more time. Every single person voted for me to start right away! lol. I am glad you think it's amazing and in depth though. I hope I don't bore people but I try to write them like they're mini-books!

That's awesome for your step-niece. I am and have been doing amazingly well with my company for the past 4 years as well. We've been on the higher end side since 2009 and we have tons of people referring us so we normally are booked 12-18 months in advance. I booked 4 weddings in the last 2 days if that tells you anything! I never have time to sleep or eat though so it's challenging especially since I edit everything myself but I love my job and it truly gives meaning to my life!

Holy cow... that was a lot of replies and I am still not finished! Going to do some more quotes and replies and then post at least one more chapter before I go to bed!!

Subscribing now!!!!! Love your review so far and your pics, Fabulous!!! Keep them coming girl!!! LOL

Making me very very anxious for my Breeze cruise in April, and we also booked a Cabin cloud 9 spa Room, but with Balcony, for the price it was a real good deal!!

But on with the review!!

Thank you so much for subscribing and for the kind words. I hope you have a blast on your vacation on the Breeze in April! I've never tried a balcony yet.... I wonder how much I would use it....

Of course I'm subscribing! You're reviewing a ship I'm sailing on (in 213 days, but who's counting?)! I'm so glad to hear you're receiving recognition for your talents. Very well-deserved, I might add.

Heather

Lol, Heather! At least that is less than a year away! And on the bonus side, you'll get to see my entire review before you sail!

I love the decor and the colors. And the goody basket in your bathroom is so cool (I hope they still have those same goodies on our June 22nd cruise, same with the little bottles of lotion and stuff). Great job on the review so far (makes me wish June would get here quicker ... and that's saying a lot since I am also moving then too).

I loved the basket. I don't know if they gave this same stuff to all rooms or just the spa cabin rooms. (Anyone who has been on the Breeze in a regular non suite, non balcony, non spa cabin room... feel free to chime in.) But, things in the basket came in handy during the cruise... more on this later...

Looking forward to more photos. What camera/lens do you use?

I use the Canon 1D MK IV which has been discontinued because it's been replaced with the new Canon 1D X. The 1D MK IV is a $6' date='000 camera so unless you have lots of money to spend on a hobby or want to get into professional photography, I'd recommend going with a great but less expensive option and getting a Canon 5D MK II or Canon 5D MK III... these options are around 3k. If that is too much for you, try an XSI or similar as they're more in the prosumer range. As for lenses:

Canon 16-35 2.8 L

Canon 70-200 2.8 L

Canon 50 1.4

Canon 24-105 4.0 L

Canon 15 2.8 fisheye

Canon 100 2.8 Macro

Oh My!!! That is so small - how crazy!! We just got home from the 12/2 Breeze sailing, and were a family of 4 in a 4E inside quad. We had TONS of space - 3 full closets! I don't think I could get just my own stuff in that one closet you had. Wow.

 

We aren't spa people, but I was salivating over the Thalassotherapy pool on the Breeze as we walked by the glass ceiling over it up on Serenity. I have wondered about whether it would be worth it to pay the extra for a spa room - I think in our case only if it were a balcony to make sure we didn't have smoking by us. Did you think it was worth the upcharge?

Yes, the room was incredibly small. Later in the week, we discovered the room across from us, an ocean view was also a spa cabin and also handicap accessible and the room was 2-3 times larger than ours plus they had regular storage. I have no idea why our room was so incredibly tiny.

I promise to go into detail about the spa on a later post! If you feel the need to know the answer now to make a booking decision, then email me and I'll answer it privately. I always like to keep my reviews suspenseful!

Hurray, you started! Congratulations on having some of your gorgeous photos published. Greatstart so far, I am enjoying the narative almost as much as the photos!!

Awww yay, thanks for commenting on the narrative! I get lots of great compliments on my pictures and it's nice for you to mention the writing! :-) I've written a lot more than posted photos so far!

I do have a question though...you write that you were charged $8 a day; we paid $70 for the week (after all the taxes and $5 service fee was added in), so essentially $10 a day. Is there a code or some way to get a discounted rate?

 

And your room...oh my, I can't wait to hear where you stored all your stuff for an 8 day cruise with one tiny closet. We also booked a handicapped room on our last sailing (not by choice...we somehow missed that the room was handicapped), but it was an ocean view and although we lacked the couch we still had ample closet space. I'm not sure I could cope with an interior handicapped room though. It is tiny!! It looks like you have to hop over the vanity stool to get in the one side of the bed!!

 

Looking forward to more...

I booked through their website and it just said $8 per day.

Latanya did have to jump over the bed to get in which always woke me up and I'd have to put my legs up in order for her to get in and out of the bed which she would some times have to wake me for. It was a pain if I am being honest but we dealt with it and didn't complain.

Congratulations on getting published! I would SOOOOOO book you to shoot my wedding pictures!!!

 

Thanks for posting all the spa cabin pictures. We're in a spa cabin next year on the Breeze. I upgraded to a spa cabin for $90 more than what we paid for the other inside we were in. My mom won't use the spa, but that's still less than what I would have paid for a spa pass for the week, plus all the amenities in the room. Carnival has you and your Dream review to thank for that! ;)

Hopefully your spa cabin will be much larger than mine! lol. I estimated Carnival has made over $200,000 from my Dream review based on comments like yours above. I know a lot of people booked the cruise off my review.. came back to Carnival from Royal because of it, booked Chef's Table, the Spa, etc. They need to add me to their PR team and give me perks! lol.

As for your wedding, I'd be honored! :-) Could I put a review on that here too? lol

My partner and I are in a spa interior cabin in March. Your pics appear to only have 1 closet. From what I've read hey should have 3. Can you confirm? Perhaps only 1 if its an accessible cabin.

 

Thanks for the review and pics all amazing! You and your partner look like a great couple!

There was only 1 closet that could be used. There was another one in another corner but it had the safe and life vests in it and some really tiny drawers. Storage has never been an issue for me on Carnival and I really think it was only our room!

Okay, wow... I don't think I am going to be able to keep up with everyone and respond to everyone so I am going to respond to just some for now!

I am in such a great mood right now. Latanya and I just got home from shooting our 12/12/12 wedding..... and it was the first commitment ceremony we've ever documented. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony and I am feeling all giddy and jazzed up. So, I am going to try to do a couple more chapters on my review....

Replies to CC members below:

I've been anxiously awaiting this review after getting totally sucked in to your Dream review - a ship I've never sailed lol. I've been following Chris and Cass' review and since it's coming to an end, I'm so glad you're doing this. My husband, son and I will be on the Breeze for the Dec 22 sailing and I'm beyond excited!

December 22nd is soon! I won't be able to finish this review by then, unfortunately! But if you have any questions before you go, feel free to email me and I'll answer them for you!!

WOOOHOO!!! More happy reliving!!

It was fabulous to share some adventures with you two!! I see west coast land cruises in our futures while we get to our next sail:p

Floatie!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!! ENOUGH SAID!

So glad you are doing a review. I followed your Dream review because your pictures are awesome! I even bought the book you recommended but have to admit I haven't gotten far in it. I'll just enjoy yours for now!

Are you the one that emailed me recently to tell me that you were reading the book? I think several people bought the book! You really should read it all... it's not even a big book! Lol.... I like giving people a hard time! Thanks for the kind words!

This gave me goose bumps! Seriously. I just love hearing stories about things like this....It is so wonderful to hear that the kind words of others helped to give you the push to follow your dreams and that you have been so successful is just fantastic!

 

Thank you for sharing this piece of the story.

I debated whether or not to even post about it because I didn't want it to come off as bragging but rather as a deep appreciation for the courage it gave me to put my work out there in the publication realm. It's been so wonderful and I really do owe it to the overwhelming response I got on here last time.

Thank you so much for starting this review! I am so happy that you are getting things published! You really deserve it. Your work is amazing! Who knows what the future holds for you! Can't wait to read and see more!

Thank you so much! I can't wait to share more! I wish there more hours in the day or a way to clone myself!

I read your review on the Dream a few weeks ago and absolutely loved your photos and your way of telling us about your wonderful cruise. I am so thrilled to subscribe to this thread to learn more about the Breeze and hear about your experience. Congratulations on your publications with your amazing photos!!

Awww you're so sweet! Thanks and welcome to the review!

I love your reviews!

 

How did you like the spa cabin? And the spa? I am in my first spa cabin next month on the breeze and I am super excited to hear all about the spa!

Hi! Thanks for reading my review. I encourage you to subscribe to hear my answers. I have a plan laid out for what I am going to share and in what order. I talked about the cabin earlier today. The spa will come in another post. :)

Oh boy! A Chris & Cassandra review ongoing and now one from you too! Hoooooray!!!! I really like good photo reviews and the one you did for the Dream was very good. Thanks for sharing! :)

You're welcome! Thanks for reading!

...CRACKING UP.... Seriously! I think judging by the look on his face... he's ready to drop trow... Chris thinks otherwise, and that's satisfaction on his face and he's pulling up.... I'll defer to him, he's got the manly instincts on his side LOL!

LOL!!! Yeah, I didn't even notice until I started editing the photo and then I just bursted out laughing. I am really torn on which he is doing! lol

After reading your Dream review, I booked the Dream. I'm sure after reading this review, I will need to prepare myself to book the Breeze for next year. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Also congratulations on your work getting props and the recognition your photos received. Your work is awesome!!!

I swear.. Carnival needs to give me a raise! Seriously! Wait, what is a raise on $0? Hmmm...... I am glad you decided to book the Dream! When was/is your Dream cruise?

Ok just picked up my new iPad with the super duper retina display....I was like big deal....then I saw your first photo and bam! Well worth the 750..... Now everyone sush please so she can continue

Ooooo nice!! I am glad everything looks better on it! I don't have an iPad because my website is a flash site and you can't view flash sites on iPad's.. therefore I am boycotting them for my own personal use. lol

Alicia and Latanya.. It was great meeting both of you.. Wished it was an earlier meet but heck.. I still got to meet yas...Lynne

Hi!!! It was nice meeting you as well!!! I have a fabulous photo of you and your hubby! I can't wait to show it to you! You might just wind up in my review!

I just finished your Dream review and enjoyed it (even though I won't be sailing her anytime soon). Love your photography and happy to hear about your recent well-deserved success in having your photos published. Looking forward to your Breeze review. Thanks for taking the time to do this for your fans!

Thanks for reading my Dream review even though you don't have plans to sail on her!! That means a whole lot to me! Thanks so much also for the kind words about my pictures.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU - I've never known how to subscribe, so thank you for posting the "how to".

You're certainly welcome! I know a lot of people that have been around for a while and still didn't know they could do this. lol. Glad to help out!

Alicia,

 

Cant wait to read the rest of this. I know it will be slow but so worth the wait. I am considering going on the Breeze but the reviews have been somewhat iffy and friends that went on the ship were not too happy. Looking forward to the review and pictures.

Hey there! Long time, no talk! I wish I could tell you right now what my overall thoughts are on the cruise and the Breeze in general but then there'd be no suspense! And I have to keep people reading!

Looking forward to another fantastic pictorial review from you!

It is just heartwarming to hear that all your artistic efforts were rewarded in part because of your Dream review! FANTASTIC!

I thank you so much for all the time and consideration you put into your reviews!

Thank you so much! It warms my heart to have been so well received from this community. With so many threads on here being so controversial, I am elated that my Dream review has nearly 150,000 views and not one single negative comment on it.

I will say the decorative pillows were nice and felt more home like in the state room.

I have a couple more shots from the bathroom too!

I really liked this basket.. it had more stuff in it than past cruises. It had fun things in it like Luna Chocolate bars, Listerine strips, toothpaste, lotion, emergen-c, etc!

Latanya really loved these lotions and soaps during the week!

Back into our room, we had these little bags at the foot of our beds from the spa...

And inside of them....

We also had spa robes but I didn't photograph them separately as I was starving by this point and wanted to go grab some lunch!

The spa was also in the back of my mind because the cloud 9 spa on the Dream was a major selling point for me for the Breeze since they also had a cloud 9 spa.

I saw visions of the Thalassotherapy pool dancing in my head,

and Latanya in her swimming suit, and I in my...

Oh wait.. that's a holiday poem! Back on track!!!!

We put our smaller bags away in the one tiny compartment cabinet and then decided to set out in search of food and to discover the ship!

(Next chapter will be tomorrow. I have to shower and go shoot a wedding!)

So, we set afoot looking for our stateroom to set our bags so that we could explore the ship and most importantly, get some food in our bellies!

We booked an interior spa cabin through the TA for our group. The only thing I told the TA was important was that I wanted to be as close to the spa as possible. Our interior spa room number was 11208. Getting an elevator wasn't too bad when we needed to go up to our room but it wasn't an amazing experience either.

I was trying really hard not to check the ship out too much as we went to the room because I knew I'd want to start taking photos. I could tell the decor was different though and we'll get more into that later.

Deck 11 forward we go..... we get to our stateroom and open the door and I am immediately...

CONFUSED!!!!

The room is super small with no sitting area (and I've been on a fair number of Carnival ships.) Not only that but all we have for storage is this one small cabinet and normally there's several of them side by side. My immediate reaction is "I brought too much stuff for this tiny room." Followed by, "There must be a mistake somehow."

VERY SMALL in comparison to any other stateroom I've ever stayed in.

Seeing how small this room is, we can only imagine how tiny the bathroom is going to be now. And as you know, I am not a small girl!!

I open the bathroom door and to my surprise.....

Yep! It's a handicap accessible room! Immediately, I start badgering myself over why I would have been so disrespectful as to choose a handicap room and deprive a potentially real handicapped individual from having it. Then, it sets in that I didn't choose my own room... I let the TA do it for me. I wanted to call the Purser's desk and change rooms for 2 reasons... 1.) I wanted a bigger, normal sized room. 2.) I wanted to allow someone who was actually handicapped to have the room. Latanya insisted the ship was sailing at full capacity and that they weren't going to do anything about it even if we called so I let it go.

I shrugged my shoulders and decided that having a big bathroom would be nice. We normally shower in the spa area to have more room but now we'd have more room to shower and get ready in those areas. Our luggage hadn't come yet so we'd deal with how to work that part out later on!

I don't think anyone will want to be stuck in our cabin that cruise ;). I already feel bad for our neighbors :eek:

OMG!!! LOL!!!! (I'll have the camera... and it does do video!! ) You know.. for all your PG-13 Shenanigans! Hehe

Beautiful picture.... hmmm maybe you can talk her into doing your wedding photo's :D

Awww that is so sweet of you to say! They had already booked someone else when they learned of me and it would just be too difficult to switch things over! But I am trying to convince them to drag me in their luggage on an upcoming vacation! lol. :-)

Thank you for posting another review as I too, am apart of your review fan club!

 

I'm curious... Have any thoughts about being a photographer for a potential cruise wedding? Let me know if I should email you directly....

Photographing a wedding on a cruise ship is on my to do list.. so yes, I would love to do that. But my one requirement would be that I get to choose the port of call to have the couple dress back up and do some amazing shots at one of the ports. lol. Yes, I like to give myself more work! :-D

Good morning everyone! I can't respond to everyone individually at the moment because I have a ton of things on my task list this morning. I am going to try to add another mini chapter before I leave for the wedding but it will depend on how much I can get done this morning!! Thank you all sooooo much for your kind words and I will respond individually later!!

I am anticipating your review. Your last one was great!! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this. Hope you had a great vacation!!

No problem! It's a pleasure to do reviews for a group of people that are truly interested in reading them!!

Hi Alicia!! Subscribed

 

(and thanks for the shout out hehe!)

Yay!! And you're welcome! Can't wait to talk about you! teeheehee

I remember your previous review and you had awesome shots! Congrats on your achievements! Normally, I don't follow reviews unless its for a ship and itinerary I'll be on soon but I love your photos and your writing style so I'll be tuned in!! :-)

 

Latanya looks great in her dress! Will she be popping in to do guest posts? I love when couples chime in with their own thoughts.

I am flattered that you follow mine!! So awesome! Latanya doesn't have an account but I will post some of her opinions for sure. As busy as I am, Latanya is my photography assistant/ 2nd shooter on weekends and she works full time as a scientist with her Ph.D. Monday through Friday. And on weekday evenings, she helps me design my client albums and fulfill print orders. We're pretty dedicated people to setting up a stable future financially so she just doesn't really have time. I don't either to be honest... but I am making it!!

I just sat down with a glass of wine eager to start reading, DH is in luck tonight since it wasn't too long..thanks for starting it, can't wait for the rest.

Awww well I hope you enjoy the wine anyway, even though there wasn't as much to read just yet!

I wondered why there would be an all day wedding on a Wednesday until I realized the date will be 12/12/12

Yes, it is 12/12/12. But to be honest, we book lots of week day weddings. Venues and wedding vendors often charge less for events booked on weekdays. We don't because we still have to do just as much work. But venues that would sit empty otherwise do.... so it's kind of trending...

Alicia, it was a pleasure sailing with you & Latanya.

I look forward to the next time

Anxious to read your review and enjoy the happy times all over again!

(((hugs)))

You're one of my favorite people that I have ever met on a ship! I cannot wait to talk about you later in the review, TC! It was a pleasure sailing with you as well!

Uh-oh, looks like we have some competition :p. It was so great meeting you and Latanya! I'm glad we got to do dinner together with Ron and Linda that evening and get to know you better. I can't wait to sit back and read someone else's review (these things are a lot of work).

Oh please! You already have over 30,000 views on your review plus you two are adorable and everyone wants to read about your travels (as do I.). It was a pleasure meeting you as well and you already are going to the naughty corner because you are telling spoilers in my review! lol

Going to subscribe & somehow I missed your review of the Dream - so I will keep myself busy with that! Looking forward to traveling w/you & Latanya!

The Dream review will keep you busy for hours and hours I am told!!

Yay! I have been waiting on this review, can't wait for more.:)

Thank you for waiting!! It will be a slow review but hopefully worth the wait!!

Yay! Ready. :)

Set. Go. :D

Thanks for starting your review of the breeze:). Like your writing style and love the photos:)

Thanks so much!! I hope I don't disappoint!!

That is so awesome and congrats to you! Your photography certainly does need to be recognized as greatness! Definitely subbing to this review of the Breeze.

Thanks!! It certainly feels amazing and almost surreal!!

Thanks for the review!

You're most welcome!

I can't wait to read your review and see the pictures!

We are on the Jan 5 sailing.

Your pictures are so beautiful!

Thank you so much for the kind and sweet words. I hope that you have an amazing cruise and that you'll be able to learn some things from mine before you go!

Let me go pop some popcorn before I read any more. I've been waiting for this one!

A girl has to work hard at her review to keep up with you and Chrissandra. :-)

we really enjoyed sailing with you Linda and I both read your Dream review and Loved it. I will wait for you to post more all along understanding you work for a living and this is something you will do as time allows because you do things right not rushed

It was awesome meeting you both as well! Sorry we didn't have more time to chit chat! I was all over the place taking photos any time the CC folks got together!

Alicia, so glad to see you posting your review! I know it will be worth any waiting. Very happy we got to sail with you & Latanya...it was truly a pleasure!:) Can't wait to see more of your pics...you were snapping a whole lot of photos!

Thanks so much! And yes, I took about 4,000 images. I won't be posting nearly that many but it will be hard to narrow a lot of them down!! Was a pleasure sailing with you as well! Hope we get to do it again!

Okay.. one more post! I had to pay to re-upgrade my Photobucket account so that it won't exceed bandwidth. Shout out to all CC reviewers that take money out of their own pockets to pay for bandwidth to do these reviews! If you are reading my review and you don't usually read reviews, I encourage you to read others as those of us that do this are truly dedicated!

Moving along...

So we were boarding group 43. We got to sit in comfy seats while waiting for our boarding group to be called.

And we even asked a random stranger to take a photo of the two of us. The man that looks like he's either about to pull his pants down or just pulled them up in the background makes this shot awesome! lol.

We're only a couple minutes in and Latanya is already giving me the "fake smile" Gotta love her! lol

And now, she's found clever things to do with her embarkation papers to block 1/2 her face.

Yay!! We're on the move.. our number called... and everything goes fairly smoothly from this point. We're taking an escalator upstairs and winding around to another line.... photo time.... this embarkation photo never gets bought by us because we look like we've been traveling all day. But we take it nonetheless. The ship photographers notice my camera and we quickly become friends. Now, I am taking their photos instead of them taking mine... Sweet!!

We wind the bend and walk across the catwalk on the top towards our new home for the next 8 days... The terminal is cleared out more by this point as well...

We got to the parking place at around noon. We were at the terminal by 12:30 and we were on the ship around 1:30pm.

On a mission to go straight to our cabin and drop off our bags we go..... (more to come later!)

Latanya and I shot a wedding in Orlando (5 hours from Miami give or take your driving speed) on Friday night, November 23rd. I had my laptop and external hard drive with me and we drove through the night to our friends house in Boca Raton. I stayed awake to back up the clients wedding photos onto the laptop and then onto the hard drive to leave at my friends house. I didn't want to risk having the only copies of their photos on the ship with me! Eeek!!

Saturday morning, we woke up feeling rather excited. Carnival had sent us an email a couple of days prior saying that our boarding time was between 1pm-3pm. A lot of people thought this was Carnival's scare tactic so everyone wouldn't crowd the terminal at once and they didn't heed this warning to be accurate. They would find themselves rather upset as they arrived at 10am only to be told they indeed did have to wait until 1-3pm if that was their boarding time.

Latanya and I were so tired from having driven all night from the wedding that we were happy to wait until 1pm to get there.

Before the cruise, I made reservations with Premier Parking which is about 1 1/2 miles away from the terminal. Their parking garage is only $8 per day and you get a free shuttle ride to the ship and back to the garage when the cruise is over. We've been doing this for years. I can't justify paying more than $20 per day to park when I can go a mile down the street and pay less than 1/2 the cost.

We stopped at this little super market close to the parking place to get a drink and a snack, not knowing how long the boarding process would take. They had this awesome raspberry lemonade that made me go back there when we got off the ship to get more.... but they were out... bummer!! Oops, I just skipped 8 days ahead! :p

When we pulled into the Premier parking garage, we had to show them our documents for our reservation and they had us pull over and told us to wait for the white van with blue premier letters on it to pull in and to follow that van up the parking garage until the guy told us where to park. So, we did just that. It took about 5 minutes for him to pull in. Then we got our spot, parked our car and he loaded our bags into the van. I opted to keep my camera bag in my lap so that my gear would be safe.

The only down side was that they crammed a lot of people into the van. But again, it was only a mile and a half and was still worth the discount. They dropped us super close to the terminal and we checked our big bags with the porters. We tipped them and were on our way into the terminal.

We've been to terminals where the line wraps outside. Such wasn't the case here and it had me a bit giddy because I thought we were about to stroll right on in. I was wrong. And this is when we were given a boarding group number. Ours was 43. And they were on I believe 29 or 30 when we walked in. We went through the process of checking in and getting our sail and sign cards, etc. Then we had to sit and wait for our boarding group to be called.

(I have to take a break to edit some client photos, then edit a couple shots from the terminal and then I will proceed with my review hopefully later tonight. If not, it will be Thursday because I have an all day wedding to shoot tomorrow!)

One of our fellow CC members, Floatie started a group called "Funnel Fanatics" for the U.S. Inaugural sailing on the Breeze. I had always booked directly through the cruise line and had never used a T.A. before so I was skeptical to join the group at first. Eventually, I thought there should be more pros than cons and decided to join. This was in January of 2012. So, we had more than 10 months to anticipate our trip on the Breeze.

We'd never done an inaugural sailing before so when Carnival told us that we'd be able to see the naming ceremony take place, that we'd have all kinds of additional perks for being on the very first full itinerary, US voyage, we were pretty stoked. Stoked enough to pay a very decent premium for the November 24th sailing. Our friends, Steve and Kim, who are currently aboard the December 8th sailing got a balcony for less than we paid for our interior spa cabin..... and all along I was cool with that because we were going to have tons of extra perks!!

Meanwhile, I fell by the wayside and barely came onto CC so I didn't get to forge the connections and bonds with people in the roll call like I normally would. In fact, many of them only knew me and wanted to meet me because they'd read my Dream review! I kept meaning to be more active but work got in the way. It didn't stop the roll calls from being active and friendships from forming meanwhile. Of course, I wouldn't really know much about this until we set sail.... (more on that later!).

I started checking in on the group page a couple weeks before the trip was to begin. I still hadn't booked one excursion which is totally unlike me because we (Latanya and I) love to do things at each port of call. It was around this time that I found out we weren't getting the naming ceremony and most likely wouldn't be having JH on board with us either. I grimaced, disappointed and kept my head held as high as I could, trying not to be bitter. After all, they HAD all kinds of other awesome things planned for us, right? :-)

Two days before we were to leave, I finally started feeling like I was about to go on vacation and we decided last minute to join in on a group excursion that one of our roll call members had organized for Aruba. Will tell you more about that member and that day later!!

I must PAUSE for a moment to say thank you to the CC community!! You all made me feel so good last year about my talent as a photographer and so validated as an artist that I finally started to see myself in that light. I had never submitted anything for publication last year when I did my Dream review. But so many of you kept saying my work belonged in magazines. And after my review hit 100,000 views and hundreds upon thousands of positive comments, I started to believe there was something there. Granted, I'd been shooting for more than 5 years and tons of clients had told me the same but it didn't hit me until such a large number of unbiased people reached out to me.

I had over 100 emails from members on here telling me how my review inspired them in some way and more than 40 people who wanted to get into photography hoping that I could help them in some way. And I did my best to always respond to every single person.

Meanwhile, I started putting my work out in platforms where it could be viewed by more people. As I sit here, less than 1 year later typing this review, my work has been on the cover of a magazine 6 times since June, 2012. I have received a total of 11 publications in 2012. I have over 200 photos printed inside of magazines as well. I might have gotten there one day but I believe my review on CC and the love that was shown to me encouraged me to make it happen now, rather than later. So, I want to thank all of you for that!

Okay, most avid CC members know how to subscribe to a thread. I encourage everyone to subscribe with at least daily email reminders. This way, you'll be notified when I add stuff. Some days, I won't be able to post at all due to being out shooting a large event, wedding, etc. So, subscribing is the easiest way to keep up to date with when I post.

If you do not know how to subscribe, it's uber simple! Simply go up to the top right hand corner of the first post and click on "Thread Tools".

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Enjoy!!

Hi everyone and welcome to my long anticipated (so I hope it doesn't let you down), Carnival Breeze Photo Review!! Many of you followed my Dream review last year so you already know us. And for those who didn't, shame on you! Haha, just kidding!! My Dream review is linked below in our signature by the way.

I want to start this review off by talking a little bit about myself (Alicia) and my partner, Latanya. This is us... Latanya is on the left and I am on the right.

This photo was taken last year on the Dream using our camera by our friends Steve and Kim who we met on CC before we sailed away. Latanya who never wears dresses is absolutely thrilled that I am posting photos of her online with a dress on..... but she'll be even more 'thrilled' when I post other images later... hehe.....

A few notes before we delve in!!

1.) I took every shot that will appear in this review unless I state otherwise and credit someone else for their photo.

2.) I'm starting this review earlier than I had planned to based on people being so excited to see at least some of it before their own trips. I will be 100% honest here and say that as a photographer, this is my busy season and as I am typing this, I have 19 clients whose images I have already shot waiting on their edited photos. So, I will only be able to do this review in small doses. For those that followed my Dream review, you know I will edit all of the photos that I post and in order to have time to do this, I have to space it out. So, please be patient with me!.

3.) We sailed with the awesome Chris and Cassandra.. (Chrissandra) and they are doing a much more fast paced review than I will be able to do so please do check out their review meanwhile. It's filled with all kinds of good stuff!

4.) Some of your fellow CC members will be co-starring in this review... and I have photos of them...... they should be terrified! :-D

5.) This review won't be like my review on the Dream in the sense that nothing we did was the same. On my cruise aboard the Dream, many of you know I went out and took some gritty photos showing the poverty stricken areas and took photos of the locals. I didn't get to do that on this trip even though I had planned on doing so. (Will get into this more later.)

6.) This will be a completely fair review. I will be going into story type depth over the things I/we enjoyed and didn't. In fact, I took the time on this cruise to ask others what they thought and plan to share their experiences with you as well. I also interviewed a few crew members and plan to reveal that at some point too!

7.) At the end of my review, I will be posting a nuts and bolts comparison of my Dream cruise and my Breeze cruise. I've been on many others but the Dream was/is?? my favorite so it's only natural to compare the two!!

8.) If you ask me a question about a day that I have not gotten to yet, I won't answer you unless you email me privately. I don't want to spoil anything ahead of time. If, however, I have completed a day and you have a question that I didn't cover, please ask away!

As always, doing reviews here helps me to actually take the time to edit my own vacation photos, which I would probably never get around to otherwise... so I am excited to get started!

Ditto what pizzaeater said... thanks for the photo credit! It was a blast sailing with you guys and next time, we have to hang out more and be a bigger part of the shenanigans!

Thank you! I keep telling Cass that we're just going to have to book another cruise that goes there :D

 

 

 

Hey Femmy!!! I'm working on it. Trying to type up Aruba now but there's no way I'll finish before football starts :o. Hoping to finish before your pictures put ours to shame :p

I didn't take any pictures. I don't know what you're talking about.... :confused:

Yay... it's almost time for the day we actually got to hang out!! :-)

I'm sitting here at work and read through the entire review. Your photography is absolutely beautiful...and yes, you have convinced me to book the Carnival Breeze for our next cruise.

 

Oh boy, do I wish you could have taken our wedding pictures. I don't like them AT ALL :( Our photographer was a joke and thought he did such a great job.

 

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I am convinced to try Carnival once again. Thanks so much...:D

Convinced you to book the Breeze? Or the Dream? This review is about the Dream :-)

It makes me so sad when people don't love their wedding photos. I hear this nearly every day... and while it's flattering that people wish they'd used me, it makes me uber sad to hear that their once in a lifetime memories aren't what they hoped they would be. :-(

I saw you just sailed on the Breeze which is how I found this thread. My husband, son and I will be on the Breeze for the Dec. 22 sailing. Although I have never sailed the Dream or have a sailing planned I got sucked into your review. Loved reading every word and looking at your gorgeous photos! Thank you so much for sharing with us. Hope you have a Breeze review planned *big smile*

I do have a Breeze review planned! It will probably be started in the next week or two! I am dying to start it now but have so many clients waiting on their photos that it would be irresponsible of me to delve into it now (since I have to edit the photos for the review). I am so glad you loved this review!! Stay tuned for the next one!!

Steven IS Steven! You are absolutely correct and I am most certainly OLD! I was having a "senior moment" when I wrote that! The mind is the first thing to go. :confused:

 

You are a beautiful, talented photographer. I say this not only about your post processing but also about your eye for the shot. Anyone having their photo taken by you would be lucky and I hope they all appreciate your skill.

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it when people value me as an artist and can see the difference between my work and the common snap shot. :-) I hope to cruise with you one day!