Gopherpharm

Great start!! Thanks for taking the time to do the review!

Thanks for reading!

I can't wait to hear more!

Great to have you following along!

Ugh, being home sucks. Although my fiancé is happy to see me and is cooking steak salad, which we will eat on our porch, so I really shouldn't complain :)

My best friend and I (we? I never know) went to school together, and our classmates quickly determined a good way to distinguish between us. My best friend Lisa is under 5’ and was therefore called “Little Lisa” which was subsequently shortened to “Little”. I retained the original “Lisa”. I’ll just refer to her as Little from here on out.

So, embarkation day. We were flying to Florida from different airports and had a place to stay in Fort Lauderdale, which we took into account when making travel plans. I have previously flown in the day of and used Carnival transfers from MIA with no problem. I just finished residency training and was pretty flexible with flights, but didn’t really feel like hanging out in Florida without her. Turns out the prices on day of flights were drastically cheaper for Little, so we decided to live dangerously: fly in that morning, and use Carnival transfers. I opted for travel insurance in this situation while Little did not.

Friday night I didn’t sleep a wink! Too excited. I got a ride from a grumpy fiancé to the airport and confirmed Little was also en route. Our flights arrived at 10:45 and 11:15 am, with me arriving first. I proceeded to baggage claim, found my bag, and saw the nearby Carnival check in. When Little landed, she said her baggage claim # was 20-something…I was over at 5! She also said there was a Carnival check in near her baggage claim. Since I already had my bag, I took a detour through the parking garage and successfully made it across flamingo and dolphin parking with my luggage! It was quite warm and upon arrival at baggage claim 20-something, I was certainly glistening. See image below for exact scenario.

We waited in line at the Carnival check in for about 10 minutes, had our photos taken and received our sail & sign cards. We waited another 10 minutes for our transport to port and arrived at the cruise terminal by 12:45 pm. Another 10 minutes in line for security, then up the escalator! We noticed people waiting with “zones” in the terminal but were directed to the next escalator and right onto the ship. The “ding” of the sign and sail card is a such a lovely sound!

I think upon embarkation we were given a letter explaining that some kind of cleaning needed to take place, so we weren’t leaving Miami until 6-7 pm instead of the scheduled 4 pm. It assured us that we’d arrive to our first port, Grand Turk, on time…so this was nothing that impacted us.

Since it was about 1 pm, we decided to see if our room was ready. We headed up to deck 11 to check out our spa interior for the first time. Sadly it wasn’t quite ready…we hemmed and hawed and ended up putting a couple heavy items (Little’s CPAP) in the closet. We saw our room steward, Kadek, who greeted us on the way out. We didn’t mention we left some things in the room.

Next up…ship exploration, dinner, and getting our lay of the land.

P.S. Hopefully my photo works...

Subscribing!

Terrific! Great to have you following along!

My family and I were on this cruise with you. We had a great time and weather was perfect. I look forward to reading your opinions of the week

Awesome! We really enjoyed ourselves and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't horribly hot, with it being July and all. Being Midwesterners our heat tolerance is pretty low...that sea breeze really helps!

Looking forward to your review! DH and I are going to be on this cruise in 19 days!

Thank you! You'll have a great time!

Can't wait to read more!

Cant wait to read more

Thanks and great to have you following along!

Looking forward to this one! My family sets sail with this ship and itinerary October 24th.

You'll have an awesome time. I've never cruised in October, but it sounds like a great time for a Caribbean cruise!

Welcome back! Hope you planned another cruise to get rid of your withdrawls.

 

We sail Breeze end of January.

 

My mom, who swore to never sail Carnival is taking my dd-22 and me and I choose the ship with a little bit of nudging since the price is great for an 8 night sailing. We have a Spa Balcony. My mom is a NCL Haven and RCCL cruiser with DCL Concierge thrown in the mix. It looks like a great ship for a first-time Carnival sailer to try.

 

Ive been on the Fasicination and Dream.

 

Welcome back and I cant wait to read your review and pictures.

 

Did you have the beverage package. I think we will be getting that and making good use with it lol

Thanks! Luckily my honeymoon is a Med cruise in October, so I have that to look forward to. Also there may be a girls trip upcoming to celebrate a certain age milestone we're fast approaching...perhaps next year!

I think you will LOVE the spa balcony. That would be my pick if I went again and had the funds. It's a great ship.

We didn't do the beverage package. I plan on a full analysis of my drink spending in the next few days, but am pretty sure I ended up averaging ~4 drinks/day. My travel companion is not much of a drinker (i.e. lightweight!) and couldn't get her money's worth, so it wasn't really an option for us this time around. I would consider it in the future though!

About me:

I'm a twenty-something lady who traveled with her best friend. Coincidentally we are both named Lisa, which will become relevant at many points during this review. We are repeat Carnival cruisers and I became gold on this cruise. We have cruised together previously, although we had a group of 4 ladies the last two times we cruised. We chose this cruise because of both the itinerary (Aruba and Curaçao had been on our list for a few years) and the ship (been eying the Breeze since she was built). Our cruise style is best described as relaxed/engaged - we both can spend the bulk of a sea day happily reading, but love to try new activities and have adventures in port! Lastly, we look forward to our vacations too much to let anything small get us down. I feel fortunate to be able to vacation, and I don't expect the ship/port/etc to cater to me at this price point. Carnival is an affordable vacation option and I think my expectations reflect that.

About this review:

I will honest and sarcastic :)

Coming attractions:

Flying in "day of" success - how we managed the impossible

Sea days - in which I unwindulax

Grand Turk - did Blue Water Divers deliver on our private snorkel excursion?

La Romana - spoiler alert: we liked it!

Curaçao - if you don't like unlimited beer, get off the bus

Aruba - snorkel part 2 and squishy sand

My first spa interior cabin - would I do it again?

Breeze food parade - getting my nom on

Entertainment - trivia, comedy, Playlist Productions, and more

Hi all! Just about off the Breeze...sitting on deck 5 waiting for our zone to be called. Had a wonderful week and plan to cope with cruise withdrawal by starting my first ever review tonight!

Definitely the direct flight!!

Go and bring a friend!

Kim, I love your reviews!

Your Breeze review helped convince me to get my butt on that ship...financially we could only do interior this time, but we were able to get an interior spa cabin. It sounded like you liked yours which makes me that much more excited to leave in one week.

Awesome review so far, great outfits, tons of fun!

Who did you book it through?

Carnival - bannister island (now called starfish island?). Reasonable price a nice day overall.

Loved our private island excursion for kayaking, snorkeling and beach. Beautiful area, love the mangroves and starfish!

You can request the same waitstaff but if you're set on a specific table I don't think they'll hold it for you. I think it usually takes the same amount of time as traditional.

The Imagination was still decorated when I sailed early January (3 or 4?) a few years ago.

Sorry this happened to you and thanks for the reminder. I need to renew after my next trip!

Thanks Sue!

I think the activities for kiddos are better on Carnival, so it would depend whether you're willing to sacrifice that for potential advantages with HAL. I can't speak to HAL myself. Are there any westerdam reviews written by those traveling with small children?

What side of the ship was our cabin on and could you see any scenery through the window? We're in an OV deck 3 in October for the 11 day med itinerary.

Being a 1st time cruiser, I would probably say take Sunshine 1st, and then go to the larger Breeze for your next cruise. But really either way. Your 1st cruise will be a blast on either or any other. You are going to have the time of your life. Balconies are great. You will enjoy that. Happy cruising and welcome to the cruise world.

Agree - if you start with Breeze it may be difficult to "go back"! But whatever fits your schedule will be fine. The balcony thing really depends on whether you're going to spend time on it which can be a function of 1. Personal preference 2. Number of ports (and whether you'll enjoy the balcony view when arriving or departing from the port) 3. Number of guests in room (regular balcony cabins come with two chairs on the balcony, it's not a big enough space for more than 2-3 people to sit). The opinions on cabin types vary widely, the only way you'll know is by cruising and seeing what you enjoy.

You'll have a great time on either ship in any type of cabin.

I've had good success with the ship mate app. It's free and emails me whenever there is a price drop in my cabin category.

Belize + Roatan >>> Jamaica + Grand Cayman

For these reasons: better snorkeling, more interesting scenery, less commercial, truly feeling like you're getting a feel for another country. That being said, based on what activities you like to do, you may disagree. :cool:

FYI - never felt unsafe in any of these locations as a 20-something female travelling with a few other young women. You can "put your life in danger" in any major city in the US if you're not careful. Safety is somewhat subjective and I have a hard time with blanket statements about the safety of any location.

Still following!

Galapagos, Alaska, Nile river, New Zealand

YAY! Also onboard in October. Can't wait to hear about the ship and ports!