Gopherpharm

Thanks for sharing, doing this trip Oct 24th as well. We get Aruba at night instead of Curacao.

It seems like there's lots to do in Aruba! You will have a great trip!

Thanks to all who read along! It was great to relive my awesome trip.

In summary, there were a few things I thought could be improved:

-Definitely observed some chair hogs on Serenity. There was a guy walking around who appeared to me monitoring, but I saw several clamshells that were empty from 9am-12pm on sea days.

-Limelight Lounge is definitely not big enough for comedy shows. If moving to another space is not an option, maybe there should be a way to reserve tickets ahead of time? I don't mean prior to sailing, but maybe the day of to avoid the need to line up so early.

-The reports of the slippery floors in the Lido Marketplace are true! I haven't noticed this on other ships, I'm not sure what the etiology of the slipperiness is.

-I love the outdoor space on deck 5. However, it seems like a lot of it was a smoking area. We were able to enjoy this space without other people around, but it was just interesting that they devoted so much space as smoking space.

And some things I was impressed by:

-The ship is very clean and the crew is pretty great.

-The decor is relaxing and a nice change.

-Loved the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy's Burgers.

-This was the largest ship I have been on, but it didn't seem bigger than Freedom or Legend in terms of crowds for the most part.

-I would return to any of the ports on this itinerary! I did miss seeing more hilly landscapes a la USVI and BVI, but that's just personal preference.

In the future, would I sail on the Breeze? Definitely. :D

Would I do a spa interior cabin again? Definitely, if I was sailing with one other person. :D

Has the Breeze "ruined" all other Carnival ships for me? No. It is a great ship, but the itinerary is very important to me, so I'm flexible. If the itinerary I wanted was on the Breeze and another ship, I would have to consider the price differential.

I'm happy to answer any questions, don't be shy!:cool:

Aruba!

We booked the Ultimate Snorkeling Adventure through Carnival this day.

Upon exiting the ship, we headed to a kiosk within the terminal to sign waivers and get wristbands. We were then directed to wait inside or outside until our wristband color was called. We waited outside. Two young women waiting near us were loudly complaining that this was the worst cruise they had ever been on…we made sure we weren’t by them once we boarded our boat. In typical cruiseline excursion fashion, things took a while and we had to wait in big groups. We eventually boarded our boat which was pretty packed. It looked like everyone got a place to sit, but shade was at a premium! They handed out snorkel gear and gave us some background of Aruba.

The first snorkel stop was the shipwreck. There were lots of other boats around, similar to Stringray alley in Grand Cayman. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this stop! The waves were huge and I didn’t see anything…not fish, not a shipwreck. I was getting pretty exhausted when my snorkel mask broke! It was the one I brought from home – nothing fancy, I’ve just had since my Legend cruise and found it useful for snorkeling right off the beach. Well. With big waves and needing to hold my snorkel since the mask was no longer functional (the lens was dislodged) I couldn’t take off my flippers…so I swam awkwardly back to the boat. By the time I got back I was seriously wiped out. Little didn’t see anything at that stop either. I elected to stay on the boat at the next stop, which was much shallower and calmer, and Little saw tons of fish there. On the boat, they were handing out rum punch. I don’t care for OJ so I asked for rum and Coke, which they gave me…although the bartender, who *might* have been 21, asked if I had ID! Kids these days…

We docked at a restaurant and had lunch – BBQ chicken and some other things. It was OK. Next we were told we could walk the beach, etc. and meet at a designated area in 1-1.5 hours or so. We had made appointments for repeat massages the night before…so we swam in the ocean for a bit then walked to the Holiday Inn (very close) and grabbed a cab back to the ship. Overall, I wouldn’t do this excursion again. Perhaps I was spoiled by our private snorkel trip in Grand Turk, but in any case, I don’t think I’m going to book any more cruiseline snorkel trips. They’re just too crowded and I think you get better information from the guides and possibly better stops with a smaller group.

The beach:

Back on board we changed and headed to the spa. We checked in, Little went for her massage, and I waited. It was about 10 minutes or so after my appointment was scheduled to start that someone came and asked me who I was…turns out they didn’t check me in properly or something, so my massage therapist didn’t know I had arrived. She assured me I’d get the entire treatment since I did arrive on time, the error was on their end! I had a nice massage again and did have to be somewhat insistent that I wasn’t going to buy more products.

Back on board we got ready for dinner and grabbed a drink:

After dinner we went to the hypnotist show. It was alright…I remember laughing really hard when a hypnotist came to campus in undergrad, and I wonder if the show would have been funnier if it was adults only. It was also probably bad luck that only a few of the participants really followed directions at all. Not a total loss! We were ready for some Sea Days before saying goodbye to the Breeze.

I'll be back soon with highlights of our final days and parting thoughts on the ship, itinerary, etc.

I didn't find the food on my Breeze cruise with American Table that different from previous cruises. I liked it.

We didn’t make plans in advance for Curacao. I researched and found there were a few tours we could likely join, and some beaches we could taxi to.

The night before we talked about our options and decided to try to get spots on the East Side Tour with Irie Tours. Since we didn’t pre-purchase tickets, we opted to get off the ship close to docking time. Similar to La Romana, we encountered a bit of a wait (10 minutes) to get off the ship.

While I had directions I had looked up in advance to find Irie tours, it turned out to be exceptionally easy to find them. There was an Irie tour employee holding up a sign near the shopping kiosks. We asked if there was room on the East Side Tour and she said yes! We got stickers and headed to our open-air school bus. Once on the bus, I had little go grab us a few beers:

Within about 15 minutes our bus filled up and headed out. The tour guides introduced themselves – a driver and a “bartender” named Roofie. Basically, they asked you to raise your hand if you wanted a pop or beer and they’d bring it to you. Yes, pop…I’m originally from Illinois :)

The tour was great and I took a ton of photos. We learned about the pontoon bridge, drove through the old Jewish neighborhood, and crossed the Queen Juliana Bridge. Everything was going swimmingly up until we crossed the Queen Juliana Bridge. Two women 3ish rows ahead of us were having a heated “discussion”with Roofie. I’m wondering what their beef was. Sunny day? Good. Unlimited beer? Good. Curacao? Gooood.

The part I overheard was “this was supposed to be our beach day!” and “we were supposed to be on the beach tour” and “they told us to get on this bus”. Awkward:

I think some people let things ruin their day pretty easily, I’ll leave it at that. The bus clapped when the two women disembarked. Sadly, Roofie went with them (probably to help them get transport to wherever they wanted to go) meaning we were without a bartender!

Soon we arrived at the Blue Curacao distillery. The exhibits were fine (ok, I needed to use the facilities after 3 beers, so I didn’t really stop to appreciate). There was a short line to taste 4-5 of the flavors. After tasting I thought I’d grab a fancy cocktail or something. They had a small café, but the line moved soooo slow. After 10 minutes (with only 4 people ahead of me) I decided bus beer was gonna work! As we left, we saw the tasting line had grown quite a bit. Looked like other tours had arrived soon after us.

Back on the bus, we sat a few minutes before heading to an area with residences (ranging from public/subsidized housing to retired orthodontist vacation homes). The tour ended at Seaquarium beach. We had the option to stay about 1 hour or 2 hours – just be back at the parking lot at one of the designated times.

I had read that this beach was man made, pretty commercial, but had lots of food options. Upon arrival, we were pretty hungry. We plopped down at the first establishment we saw, and waited. And when a waitress finally came by, I asked for a drink/cocktail list and she said “we don’t have one”. I asked for a food menu which she said she’d bring back. 10 minutes later, we’re still waiting. The couple next to us stormed out after the gentleman’s fish arrived and was a not a whole fish, which we explained to anyone who would listen he had specifically asked about. The service did not impress me – at all – so we decided to find a new source of food. We headed upstairs (the whole place looks like a strip mall) and chose The Green House. Service was fine there and I had a mussel salad which was pretty good. After eating we headed back downstairs and towards the beach. I had read that the beach chairs had a fee, but we saw no evidence of this. It’s probably because it was close to 5 pm at this point. We hopped in the ocean for a second, then found chairs in the shade and read for a bit. I grabbed a Strawberry Daiquiri for Little and a beer for me.

We got back on the bus at 5:45 pm and paid for our tour. The tour ended at the circle drive near the Rif Fort and not far from the ship. We were in the perfect location to pick up a couple souvenirs near the pontoon bridge. We decided to explore a bit, and crossed the pontoon bridge. We went a few blocks before confirming that indeed, the local shops close at 6 pm. Back near the pontoon bridge we decided to grab a drink and a snack and watch the pontoon bridge before heading back to the ship. The menu had some items we weren’t familiar with, so we asked the waitress, and she explained them both as “meatballs”. What the heck, we ordered them. Bitterballen and another one – something with a K. Both were good:

Meanwhile the sun set and we saw the pontoon bridge in action, and light up:

Next we headed back towards the ship. I picked up some Curacao liquor on the way – which sadly, was more expensive than it had been at the distillery! Oh well.

Back on the ship we lamented the fact that this was the night we would have won Pub Trivia if we were meant to win due to sheer probability. It didn’t keep us from sleeping. Curacao was really neat. Not the most beautiful landscape in my opinion, but tons of personality. I would definitely return.

Who did your tour?

Carnival.

Orlando hosted Hasbro the Game Show for the first time on my July 4-12 Breeze cruise. Loved him!

Hello DR! I had read quite a bit before our cruise (shocking, I know) and knew that La Romana was not a place we should “wing it”. I also read that some people disliked the port because there wasn’t anything to do there. However, this is the kind of port I tend to enjoy, because it’s easier to really see the destination and get to know a little about its people and culture. Little was hankering for a wild adventure day, so we decided to do the ATV Adventure through Carnival in La Romana. Since it was a later day, we decided to get dressed and eat on Lido. Meanwhile, we got to watch the Breeze pull into port.

Our view of the port from the ship, with my annotations:

Getting off the ship here was not as easy as it was for Grand Turk. We were scheduled to dock at 9:00 am, but I think we docked a few minutes late. Our tour was at 9:30 am so we left the Lido deck at 9:10 am. The stairwell was pretty packed and people were somewhat irked. It probably took 15 minutes to get off the ship and another 5 to get find the tour bus for our excursion. Our tour didn’t leave for another 20 minutes or so since plenty of people will still getting off the ship.

I really liked this excursion. The bus ride was about 15 minutes to get to Crazy Wheels, the tour company running this excursion. Once there, they divided up the group into the ATV riders and the Dune Buggy riders and set us up with our respective rides and helmets. I have not driven an ATV in the past but they made it really easy. It was a semi-automatic transmission but they leave it in 4th gear, so you don’t have to shift gears at all, just use the gas and brake. After a few loops around the driveway area, we set off on our adventure. The buggies and ATVs all go together in one long procession.

We first went through a village, where kids rans beside us and held out their hands for high fives and/or money. Little tapped the ATV in front of her when it decided to stop to high five a kid…luckily it was very minor contact and everyone was fine. We made our way out of the village and into the sugarcane fields. This was the fun part because you could leave some reasonable distance between you and the person in front of you and get some real speed going. Most of the time we were going ~35 mph but I was able to go faster for short distances…wheee! The scenery here is pretty – blue skies, small mountains in the distance. They might not have been mountains, but I’m from Illiinois, so to me, a sledding hill is a small mountain. We made a pit stop in the sugarcane fields for some pop, water, and to taste (gnaw?) sugarcane if you wanted. This is where the guide gave some background on the DR, sugarcane, and Haitian workers. We got back on the ATVs and rode a while longer, then arrived at a stop with a gift shop and bathroom. We were pretty filthy by then so I was glad to rinse off a little bit! They had water and fruit at this stop. I actually thought it was the end and we were just ending at a different location than where we started…I was wrong! Back on the ATVs, through the village, and to our starting spot. At the end they sell photos ($13) and video (not sure on the price). We didn’t buy anything.

Back at port, we quickly browsed the shops near the taxis/buses (not much selection) and stopped for a cold beer – El Presidente! This was a trivia answer we got wrong the previous night. We will never again forget the origin of El Presidente. In the duty free shop, we found some good souvenirs. Being pharmacists, we like to pick up mortar & pestles from our ports...and we found some great little ones that said "Rep Dom" on them for $5 a piece. We got back on the ship and took showers which were horribly necessary. We were so much dustier than we thought…3 Q-tips later we went to get some lunch. We lazed around until dinner, then did trivia at the RedFrog Pub again. We still didn’t win:

We watched the last hour or so of The Hunger Games and turned in.

Next up…Curacao!

That's a great description. I agree. I can't find any other cruises on Breeze with my itinerary, but I am reading them all anyway.

Thanks so much! Do you have a super secret itinerary? Do share!

Hi Lisa - We were on the same sailing. Your snorkel tour in Grand Turk looks like a lot of fun. I'm enjoying your review!

Awesome! We had a great time in Grand Turk. Glad to have you reading, thanks so much!

Since you originally asked for success stories, I've flown in day of successfully departing from Miami twice. No unsuccessful attempts yet.

Sailing on the Breeze in October, and I have been reading all of the reviews I can find! Love your style of writing! I feel like we are sitting down together, enjoying a drink, looking at photos and just talking about your cruise!

You are going to have a terrific time in October! Thanks so much, what a great compliment!

Thanks for the review. Were there comedy shows every night?

Almost every night - there was not a comedian on La Romana or Curaco port days.

Grand Turk day started with room service breakfast, which came promptly at 7:00 am. We docked at Grand Turk at 7:00 am, and needed to be at Blue Water Divers at 8:30 am, so we left the cabin at 8:00 am. Luckily, since we docked on time, the crowds had already gone so getting off the ship only took about 10 minutes.

Happy to be here, and see the outside of our ship up close:

We walked off the ship and across the port area where there were people ready to help with taxis. The rates are posted so you don’t have to worry about that. We waited 5-7 minutes for a van, piled in with some other people from the ship going to other locations, and made our way out of port. The driver was great, giving us information about the areas we passed on our way to Cockburn Town. The ride to Blue Water Divers was about 10 minutes. We checked in with Vicki, got fitted for snorkel fins, and were given the option to grab coffee next door or head across the street to the beach and wait for the rest of our snorkel group.

We waited on a quiet beach while the guides readied 2 boats for scuba and 1 for snorkeling. There was a wedding ceremony set up next door:

We had a fantastic time snorkeling with Blue Water Divers! We found them on Trip Advisor. We contacted them months ahead with interest since our cruise ship was stopping in Grand Turk for the day. They put us on a wait list and we reached out to our Roll Call with no takers. They got in touch a couple weeks before our cruise to let us know another group was interested in snorkeling, so we could book our trip! We were able to cancel our snorkel excursion through Carnival and book with Blue Water Divers.

We had a small group, 7 snorkelers and had a great time. They really look their time to make sure we went to a spot with good visibility. The reef was beautiful and they pointed out a barracuda to us! We was tough to photograph but I did get him…you have to look close, so I circled him for you:

Next we went to "the wall" which was really neat as well. I saw a sea turtle there, swimming far below me, and some triggerfish which I had never seen before.

We have snorkeled before but it's been a few years, so the instruction was great. Chris and Kingdry were helpful and friendly. We would not hesitate to snorkel with Blue Water again and highly recommend them. The cost of this trip was similar the one Carnival offered, and our experience was so great - worlds different from the crowded excursion you'll get through I normally experience through the cruise line. I hope to be back and would love to try scuba with them as well!

Blue Water Divers called us a cab when we got back. It was getting close to 12:30 pm. I had wanted to try Jack’s Shack if we had time, but we had massages scheduled for 2:30 pm, so we decided to head back to port and grab something to eat at Margaritaville. Food and drinks were better than I thought at Margaritaville, service was good, and we were happy to be seated away from the main pool…it looked like underage spring break when we first walked in!

We left Margaritaville by 2:00 pm, waited 10 minutes to get back on the ship, and headed to our Swedish Massages (Little’s wedding shower gift to me)! My massage was great. I haven’t had one in two years and felt so relaxed afterward. We spent time in the trepidarium afterwards. Next we got ready for dinner (MDR again), did Pub trivia (still no win!), lounged in the hammock on the Serenity deck for a while, and went to bed to rest up for our ATV adventure in La Romana the next day.

I will have to wait until March 2016 to sail the Breeze, but look forward to your review.

 

The pics are way too big for me and it is annoying to keep going scrolling back and forth to read your review. Just being honest.

 

Sue

Yeah, that was annoying me too - the following pages shouldn't have that problem since I made them a little smaller.

Great review. Love the pictures, usually they are so small I can't see them.

 

We will be sailing on the Breeze in February and really enjoying the information.

Great to have you reading! You're going to love the Breeze!

Subscribed and looking forward to the rest of your review. We have a lido balcony over Christmas - no spa access. Are the spa areas worth the extra $149 add on in your opinion?

 

Also, have to say I won't miss the tablecloths either - and not to run the risk of objectifying anyone, but physically accosting bar waiters might be one of the highlights of some of our cruises ... soooo .... :D:p:eek:

Prior to this cruise, I hadn't spent time in the spa previously. When we went to book, the spa interior cabin was only $100 more total for the cruise compared to a lido or deck 9 interior...so we went for it. I probably wouldn't spend $149 to add the spa unless I had enough sea days to really use it.

When it comes to bar waiters you do what you have to do! :D

I am enjoying your review. I look forward to reading the next installment!

Thank you! I'm posting Grand Turk in a few minutes!

Sea Days mean reading, sun, and drinks!

I studied the ship deck plans pretty hard prior to the cruise and learned that there was a staircase and elevator from deck 11 to deck 15…essentially private Serenity Deck access. Here they are:

Breakfast of champions! Cinnamon roll and mimosa, hold the orange juice:

On Sunday we also checked out the Spa since we had access with our Spa cabin. We really enjoyed the Spa. It was never crowded and the Tepdarium was a great place to read when we had had enough sun. We had lunch at Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ which was excellent! The line wasn’t that long around 1:00 pm. The pulled pork was tender and I liked both of the BBQ sauces they had available. Later I tried out the waterslide (the non-toilet bowl one) which was fun. I had wanted to try on Saturday but the lines were very long – I waited about 10 minutes this time (there were probably 15 people ahead of me). Little was supposed to try to catch a picture of me at the end but was distracted by the Very Hairy Chest Contest. We don’t normally plan to watch these things but honestly…it was really funny. The three lady judges were assigned to judge the texture of the chest hair, the scent, and finally, the dance moves. The woman judging the texture had a voice similar to Maggie Wheeler as “Janice” on Friends. Her answers were hilarious:

Dr. E: What did it feel like?

Janice: A dog.

Dr. E: What kind of dog?

Janice: A Chihuahua.

Sometime Sunday we went to the champagne art auction. After learning the timeline for the event and knowing we weren’t actually going to bid on art, we took off. Yes, we are the people that would have come for the champagne and to look at some art, but mostly for the champagne. Just being honest.

Sunday was elegant night. We ate in the MDR and just let them seat us wherever…aaand learned that our original wait staff was awesome. It took 15 minutes for anyone to acknowledge our existence after being seated. Then, Little and I each ordered a bottle of wine, knowing the dining room would keep it for us for the next night. We like different kinds of wine, see…Little prefers hers to taste like juice (Riesling, White Zin) and I prefer to match something dry to my food (which meant Sauvignon Blanc and seafood most of the week). After some time, my wine showed up…”Lisa?” I signed for it. Appetizers were ordered and appeared…and the bar waiter was walking around another bottle of wine, looking baffled. We didn’t want to assume it was Little’s, so we didn’t accost him. Instead, Little tasted my wine, which confirmed she did not want to drink that. A while later the bar waiter returned, “Lisa?” and we confirmed we were both named Lisa, and we both ordered a bottle of wine. Not a big deal, but they were definitely confused! I had the lobster which was less rubbery than I remembered from my last new cruises.

After dinner, we tried Pub Trivia. Before trivia, Frontside Duo was playing in the RedFrog Pub, and they were excellent! It’s a singer/keyboard player and a steel drummer. They played on the Lido at other times as well and I really liked them. Trivia was fun (we did not win, even with the bartender helping us with one answer!). We would have stayed, but the next musical act…one of the Pub Guitars players…started right off using autotune. He was henceforth known as “autotune Travis”. Sorry, Travis. I’m sure you can play some great stuff without autotune, but I just can’t stomach that. First impressions are lasting, my friend.

We went to the first 18+ comedy show with Lucas Bohn. The Limelight Lounge wasn’t super crowded but we showed up about 20 minutes early. I like the layout of the Lounge. We always sat on the left side facing the stage on the long couch which had a good view. The show was funny, not enough for us to be itching to come back, but entertaining.

After comedy the Lisas retired.

Next up…Grand Turk!

I'm looking forward to your review.

Do you happen to still have the fun times for your cruise to share?

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it! I do have the fun times, but not the inserts (I tore those out). I'll get to scanning them this week for ya.

Looking forward to your review

Yay, thanks for following along!

Loving your review! Definitely subscribing :)

Thanks, great to have you reading along!

Thank you so much for doing this review! We will be on this cruise in January and it's nice to see someone else's perspective!

Congrats on finishing residency! It's got to feel wonderful!!

You're so welcome! You're going to have a great time. It does feel great to finally be done...I wouldn't be against celebrating again with another cruise though!!!

I think the pictures are fine! They are much easier to see when they are large. You didnt lose me! Looking forward to more!

Aw thanks. I'm going to make a titch smaller for now...

Loving your review...you didn't lose me...keep the review coming :)...great pics too

Thank you!

I am really enjoying your review. And boy your pictures are huge.

Thank you, and oh my goodness the pictures are huge! I probably lost 90% of the readers due to sheer annoyance...new project today, resizing.

Cant wait to read more! Hurry back and congratulations!

Thank you! I'll continue today!

Our first view of the atrium!

I immediately liked the color scheme and relaxing feel of the décor. I don’t particularly mind the Farcus-ed ships, but didn’t really miss the Vegas-ness either.

Looking down onto the lobby, you can see the area for the band to set up (deck 4) directly off the circular stairs. The bar is below (deck 3). The entrances to the Sapphire Restaurant are on deck 3 (your time dining) and deck 4 (traditional dining).

The Serenity area is right by The Waterworks. Looking past the slides, you can see deck 11 and the whale tail.

I was especially excited for lunch because I wanted to try Blue Iguana Cantina! I was starving, and the burrito line wasn’t long, but I wanted to got fish tacos. They were delicious. Next, I had my first drink, my cruise tradition - Miami Vice. However, I spiced it up (literally) with a rum floater added for $2. I liked the added rum, and have been unable to revert to the non-floater version of this cocktail. Well played, Carnival.

Per the Fun Times, the muster was to be held at 3:30 pm…3:30 pm came and went. I asked a crew member if it was pushed back because of the late departure from Miami, and he said it might be. In any case, the announcement came around 3:45 pm and the muster drill started at 4:00 pm. It was nice to have the muster drill in the Ovation Theater – I don’t miss standing on deck!

After muster, we headed back to the room to unpack a bit. We checked out our spa slippers which were almost the right size for Little ;)

Next we headed to dinner. My first impression of American Table was that I liked the bread plates.

Our wait staff was good, the food was basically the same as I remember (good!). I didn’t really miss the white tablecloths. There are always good choices and I liked nearly everything I had. At the end of the day, if food was my main reason for cruising, I would probably choose a different cruise line. One change I did notice was that the regular waitstaff takes your drink order. This was actually a big deal, because on the Imagination in particular, you pretty much had to physically accost a bar waiter to order a drink. And even then, you might not get it before your main course arrived. Now, the regular waitstaff takes the order, and bar waiter delivers it…and it showed up prior to appetizers nearly every night! Way to go, Carnival!

After dinner we wandered around for a bit, guessed the price of the painting, and declared ourselves worn out. We’d both been up since ~4 am and basically passed out around 9:30 pm. Yes, we’re actually in our 70s, we just pretend to be young…and do a pretty bad job at it! The spa room comes with a pillow spray that I’m sure is just lavender essential oil and water, but you know what? It’s a lovely scent and I’m a believer.

Up next… Lisas do Sea Days!

Looking forward to this review, doing this itinerary in October!

Thank you! You'll love the itinerary.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for following along! I hope you enjoy!

Congratulations on the end of your residency training :)

 

I am looking forward to the rest of your review since I am sailing Breeze next month!

Thank you! It's been a long road but a great one. I can't believe I finally get to have a "real" job!

You will love the Breeze! It's a terrific ship.