Cruzface

Sounds like he wants to squeeze more money from customers and offer nothing extra in return....

You will notice very little difference between Carnival and NCL. Enjoy your cruise!

I see myself in that picture!! :)

Lol! I have plenty of pics of Chris too!!!

Can't read all the cards. What rums were they, how much was the sampler, and how big are those shots? Because they look big.

I believe it was under $20 and yes the shots were big. I think more than 2 oz.

We had 2276 on the Breeze. I'm pretty sure it will be the same situation on the Magic. No lifeboats above! It was also a connecting room. You could hear our neighbors' crying kids from time to time, but it was no big deal. Check out my review for a ton of pictures of what your balcony will look like.

Just get to the port early and be in the first group. We do that every time and are literally minutes behind the priority and FTTF people.

Update on the bag situation: I just received a check from SAS reimbursing me for the clothes I had to purchase. While he ultimately made good on his promise, it took over a month and it was only after I threatened legal action.

You will love the Epic. Sailed her twice. Check out my reviews below.

We cruised the Epic shortly after you last year and now the same the Breeze this year.

 

So sorry about your luggage and the dishonesty you had to experience.

 

What cruise will you be on next? Which did everyone prefer?

 

We haven't even left yet for the Breeze but we are all missing O'Sheehans and really hope CCL reinstitutes the 12-6 hours for Guys. It should be open 12-12!

We have booked the NCL Breakaway to Bermuda for our Anniversary in October.

Loved the review~ and yes Best part: Blame it on the Breezers!

We watched your bag in St Thomas while we washed our feet off. No one would touch it but they were all making bets on how far you'd get before you realized you had left it.

 

 

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Lol. I got all the way back to the ship!

You forgot the best part of the cruise... all the Blame it on the Breezers! :D

 

I saw your boys in the Piano Bar the last night. Ben made thempick up all the hats everyone was wearing.... Kind of funny.

Yup. They were so pissed. Lol. Wish we were there!!!!

I would say this was my favorite review. Everything was real life no drama about lame stuff. Great pics. The 10 deal at the beach was my fav I would be the one flipping. Oh I am sailing on the March 28th on the Breeze cant wait. Been on her before and its my fav ship.

Thank you I tried to keep it a real and fun as possible.

Some final thoughts and things I left out.

Overall we had a great cruise, but we have never had a bad cruise. We found the staff to be excellent. Always helpful and smiling. I love the set up of Carnival ships. Very simple to navigate. Something needs to be done about the chair hogs, it is really out of control.

Entertainment: I know this is one of the biggest complaints about Carnival and having been on NCL recently, there is no comparison. NCL entertainment blows CCL away. That being said, there was always something going on. We certainly were never bored. The production show we went to was actually very good. The comedians at the end of the cruise were great. The lido entertainment was awesome. Lyl played a one man calypso band and he would team up with the guitar player Bobby and they would jam. They really seemed to love their jobs.

Mambo Kings I mentioned before were excellent. We danced to their music and had a great time.

Deck Parties: There were several throughout the cruise but as I mentioned they always were organized dances. Not a real party atmosphere.

Piano Bar: it was OK, we spent a little time there, but not really our thing.

Food: Pizza is very good. I am a pizza snob from NY. But this was great. Thin crust and many choices. You can order a whole pie just for yourself.

Deli: always good in a pinch. Also it is open late for snacking...

Tandoori: we loved the chicken Kabobs and the grilled veggies.

Buffet: seemed to have less choices than we remember on our previous cruises but we always found something to eat. At breakfast the regular eggs were nasty (obviously powdered) and the bacon had very little flavor. Omellete station is the best bet.

MDR: hit or miss, but mostly hit. Nobody left hungry and nobody got sick...

Guys: the best thing on the ship.

Blue Iguana Cantina: only had a breakfast burrito there. It was fantastic.

Stateroom: our first Cove and we are hooked. We loved the privacy it provided. Especially when you see the lack of privacy the upper balconies have. Loved being so close to the water. Also great view of the dock runners. Always amazes me that people are so late getting back to the ship.

Slides: I did the yellow slide and it was ridiculous. I was flying down that thing and had no idea when it would end. Keep your butt up.

Past guest party: this was the same as in previous years. The servers will get you any drink you want as many times as you want. Don't fall for the ploy to go up on stage and dance. They will take your drinks away.

Embarkation and Debarkation: smooth on both ends although we did wait an inordinate amount of time for our bags after debark.

Would I sail the Breeze again? Probably. But there are so many other choices, we like to try something new.

Can you please post anything you have on the band in Ocean plaza ? Do you have Fun Times you can post please . Thank you in advance Jen

Sorry, I don't have the Fun Times. They had different entertainment in Ocean Plaza every night. One night was an 80's theme done by the main theater entertainers. It was awesome.

This was one of the most enjoyable reviews I've ever read. I LOVE SOCK MONKEY!!!! I want one!!! Great pictures - love the one in Nassau of your son's getting out of the water. I'd get that one blown up and framed pronto. My boss is leaving on the Breeze this Sunday and I've been sharing your review with him.

Thank you and we are doing just that with the picture in Nassau.

I will be back with some final thoughts and for any questions tomorrow.

Not ready to give up on my bag, I contact lost and found at FLL and submit a claim. I had also called NCL while we were waiting to board the Breeze just on the chance that my bag went on the Pearl.

About a week after the cruise we are sitting around watching TV when a FedEx truck stops in front of the house. We assume it is for our neighbors because none of us ordered anything. Doorbell rings. I answer.

IT'S MY BAG!!!!!!:eek::D

NCL shipped to me. So apparently the driver took my bag off at the Pearl and it had a great cruise without me! I was charged $23.00 for shipping.

So I text the SAS owner and let him know it was his driver's fault and to add the $23 to the check that I will never get.

As of today, still no check. Don't use SAS Transportation.

Pretty smooth getting our bags and through customs. I call SAS to tell them we are ready to be picked up. I had taken pictures of the receipts from my surprise shopping spree and sent them to the owner so he could have a check ready for me when we got back to Miami. These were his instructions. When he answers, he tells me about the death of a close friend and that he didn't have a chance to get the check ready. Not liking where this is going. He tells me to send him my address so he can mail me a check. Right..... OK, what do I have to lose. I will do that.

We wait to be picked up and.....it's the same driver we had on the way here. He remembers me and says that the owner will take care of everything...right....just get us to the friggin airport so I can go to lost and found to see if you left my bag on the curb.

We get there. Pay him, no tip. I ask a security guard where lost and found is. He tells me, but then says it's not open on Sundays.....Oh well. Never gonna see that bag again.

Nice lunch at the Food Network Kitchen in the terminal. Uneventful flight and before you know it we are in the return limo headed home.

The water was beautiful and clear. Love this picture:

There is a real party atmosphere at this beach, so if you want a quiet, peaceful place, this is not for you. There was a calypso band with a female singer who was awesome. We tipped them because they were that good. When they took a break, a DJ would play modern dance music. This one was from the Carnival Esctacy. The boys loved it! Members of the crew were at the beach and recognized us. Nice!

After some more $10 deals, and then some more flippys off the dock, DW and I were ready to head back. It was around 3:30. The boys were having none of it. "What? This is our last day! We want to stay! The ship doesn't leave until 7:00!" Etc. So we did something we have never done. We left them at the beach and went to the straw market with explicit instructions to meet us at 4:30 at Senor Frogs.

Despite our nervousness, the boys showed up right on time. So we went into Senor Frogs.

Then the boys met some friends from the ship. "Please, let us hang out with them! We just have to walk a few blocks to the ship!" Eye rolls from us. Well the first time we trusted them worked out, do we push our luck? This is how every bad event happens. But we suppress our parental fears and relent with a warning to be back on the ship and in our stateroom by 5:30, or I come looking.

So, DW and I go back on ship, hit Guys...awesome. Unfortunately future cruisers will not be able to do that. Then we go to our cabin and busy ourselves with packing and try not to think about all the bad things that could be happening to our boys. At 5:20 there's a knock on the door.

Why so early? "We realized that Guys is only open until 5:30 so we didn't want to miss it." Thank you Guy Fieri.

For dinner we hit the buffet because we didn't want to waste our precious remaining hours in the MDR. It was eh. Did we starve, no. Was it great, no. It served it's purpose.

Enjoyed the rest of the night, dancing, shows, comedy, etc.

Since our flight wasn't until 2:40, we didn't have to rush off first thing in the morning. We had a nice leisurely breakfast and then waited in the Lido deck for our zone to be called. Well some of us waited, others slept.

Nassau, Bahamas

Our last full day on the Breeze. Fortunately, we didn't have to get up too early because the ship didn't arrive until around noon. Captain Massimo Marino always seemed to get us in earlier than the times stated in the Fun Times. We loved his announcements everyday... "Please-a hold the hand-a-rails for-a your safe-a-ty."

It never ceases to amaze me how they bring this huge ship in, spin it, and park it.

Today we decided to walk to Junkanoo Beach. Now I heard some bad reports about this beach, but we are easy to please and figured how bad could it be. Well, it was awesome. Easy walk and felt safe the whole way. When you get to the beach there are stands for food and alcohol. You can rent loungers and umbrellas if you want, but again, we are simple people and laid our towels on the sand.

Now, there was a bunch of rocks/coral on the beach that made barefoot walking a little difficult (not for us North Shore LIers who are used to walking on rocks and shells). So we just piled them to the side and laid our butts down. Other than that, the sand was a fine white powder.

The stand as we walked in sold four beers and four shots for $10. Uh oh

To the right of where we were sitting, there was a cement pier that jutted about 30 yards out into the water. The stand as we walked in sold four beers and four shots for $10. Uh oh. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in our group would do "flippys of the dock." I can neither confirm nor deny that I am the one in this picture doing a cannonball off the pier...

Sock Monkey loved it here:

We loved the freedom of anytime dining. We got hooked when we went on NCL. At first I was leery of it because trying to get everyone motivated to go to dinner might have been difficult if there wasn't a set deadline. However, it worked great on NCL. One major difference though. On NCL, if there was a wait they would give you a buzzer and a free glass of champagne. On Carnival, you just get the buzzer. Go buy your own drinks...

I am really enjoying your review. We are on the Breeze in 32 days for the 6-day itinerary. I can't wait to have a Guys Burger for lunch and Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast.

Did you ever get your bag back??

You'll have to wait and see...:cool:

You are doing an awesome job with your review -- just the right amount of details, pictures, etc. Kudos! :)

 

We will be on the Breeze in October (different itinerary). Question: on Liberty the Blue Iguana and Red Frog were actually outside on Lido -- in your pics it looks as if on the Breeze the Red Frog is inside?

 

Thanks again for a great review!

Thanks. There is a Red Frog on the Lido and then there is the bigger Red Frog on Deck 5 by the Lanai.

Last Sea Day:

This was the cruise of trying something different as much as possible. So we decided to try the Sea Day Brunch in the MDR. The free drink coupon helped us make that decision. Which leads me to Carnival's decision to cancel that coupon and provide a bottle of water instead. Really? I can get free water anywhere on the ship. More cutbacks. It's a shame really.

After 1st breakfast, we tried to find spots in the Serenity area. It was very early around 8:30 a.m. Well I guess we have a lot of early risers on the Breeze because that place was packed. Not with people though. Books, towels, flip flops etc. There were some people who clearly slept out there all night or got there extremely early and brought their comforter from their cabin. Wow.

So we went to the aft area and snagged a few loungers in the sun. I took an awesome nap and before we knew it....Brunch Time!

Our oldest was determined to try Fat Jimmy's after I raved about it. He went super early, waited on line and loaded up. He came back with the meat coma face I know all too well.

The seas were very rough today. Big swells and we really felt it in the aft MDR. We both ordered the steak and eggs and it was fantastic. Probably the best meal of the cruise. I would definitely recommend the Sea Day Brunch.

We did some onboard shopping for pictures and then lounged around until sunset. Another beauty:

Tonight was the 2d Formal night. Now, remember how the 1st one went, we were determined to make it this time in all our formal glory. Well, everything went fine once the boys realized they had the wrong tuxes on. We all looked great. Had our pictures done. DW was a happy camper. We go to the dining room and are seated right away...crammed into a side table right next to the server's station. Now I know we could have asked for another table, but there weren't many people we saw dressed in tuxedos and formal gowns. You would think they would give us a better table.

Then the food and service took a major nose-dive. First they brought the wrong appetizers, then the right ones were cold. The main course was mediocre at best and the baked Alaska for dessert was a paper thin sliver. Disappointing all around. But hey, we got our picture and will not have to do formal night like that again for awhile.

At least Sock Monkey looked like he was having a good time:

After dinner, we all changed into more comfy clothes and headed to the Liquid Nightclub for a party. The crew was having a private party as a farewell to DJ Spike who was leaving at the end of the cruise. They handed out glow sticks and the place was packed. Great time.

After a night of dancing, we went to bed realizing tomorrow was our last day...Nassau here we come!!!!

Sock Monkey wanted proof that he was in San Juan:

Back at the Red Frog for some well deserved Thirsty Red in frosty plastic pints.

Awesome sunset from the Cove:

Great dinner tonight in Sapphire, rack of lamb...DW and I also did something we have never done, we posed for casual portraits. Actually had a blast and got some great pics.

Sock Monkey is sooo happy:

There was another deck party on the lido and we had a blast. Last sea day tomorrow!!!

After a little shopping for some "essentials," we approach El Morro:

One of my favorite pics:

Great view of the entrance to the harbor, off in the distance is where they kept the leppers:

Another great view and note how high up we are. What amazed me was the people who decided to walk out to the edge of these walls. Not smart. It was quite windy that day and I could just see someone losing their footing and tumbling to their deaths. I'm afraid of heights, so maybe I am over-reacting...

The last part of the fort requires a 70 step climb to the main level with no hand-rails. I used to be in great shape....