Knocked one off the bucket list: Cruisin' at Christmas - A Breeze review

Welcome to my Cruisin' at Christmas Breeze review! I hope you'll join me while I relive this adventure. Feel free to ask questions or if you want specific photos of anything and I will see what I have in my camera roll.

We are a family of 3 living in Texas. We have been cruising for many years now but have never gone on a cruise during the holidays. One day this past summer, we decided to just get one booked and knock it off of our bucket list. YOLO as the kids these days say, right? As this was my 12th cruise, I wasn't too picky about the itinerary since I like them all and we settled on the Breeze with an 8-day itinerary to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya.

Fast forward to December 17. We packed up the car with 4 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Wait, that isn't quite right...4 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, one tiny dog to be dropped off at the boarder on the way out of town....and away we went - screeching to a halt at a random Walmart as I realized on the way out of town that the polar vortex was moving in overnight and my mother of the year status was in jeopardy as I failed to remember to pack a jacket for my 8yo whilst not forgetting to pack something warm for my husband and myself.

$6.88 for a cheap fleece jacket later, we were back on the road to Galveston, with of course our mandatory stop at Buc-ees just before crossing the causeway. If you live in Texas, you probably understand this mandatory pit stop.

We overnighted it in Galveston at the Hilton with a park & cruise rate that I was thankfully able to get at the last minute for a decent rate, because despite having 5 months of lead time to prepare, I somehow managed to forget until one week out that we'd have to sleep somewhere that preferably was not in our car in Galveston the night before the cruise.

The Hilton was nice and clean, with friendly faces everywhere. They provided a free shuttle to and from the port, which I cannot actually report on because we did not use it, despite the best of intentions to do so. They couldn't get us on until a later shuttle and we decided to just take a cab over to the port around 10am with our check-in time being 10:30. This worked out for the best because, and I regret not taking a photo of this awesome man, our cab driver legit looked like a real life Santa Claus and he'd even lived in North Pole, AK for a time. I started truly believing he was Santa Claus because the polar vortex had moved in, temps had settled into the upper 30s with a wind chill hovering around 30, which if you are from Texas, it means you are very, very, very cold - but not this guy! He showed up dressed in shorts and a button down Hawaiian shirt. He was a delight to talk to the whole way to the port.

We "breezed" through check-in with no delays whatsoever, though they did not have my sail & sign card for some reason (they did have my husband's and daughter's), but gave me a temporary passcard to get on the ship and get one printed from guest services once on board. We were then directed to the lounge where we hung out for about an hour before we were called to board. In the lounge they provided cookies, pastries, water, and lemonade and were very good about keeping us apprised of a timeline for when we may be able to get on the ship.

Finally just before noon, they called us to board and while my crew was very anxious to just get on the ship already, I made us all stop for an embarkation photo.

By then we were the stragglers at the back of the initial boarding pack, so we just breezed right up the gangway and were on the ship in an instant. Once I boarded, security confiscated my passcard so I immediately headed to guest services to get my S&S card printed, but they said their system was not yet up and running to do so. We dropped our stuff at our room, met our steward Owen, and headed up to the Lido Deck to Guys burger joint for lunch. They were also doling out the free glasses of champagne. I've never had champagne with a burger before, but hey, I wasn't going to turn it town.

We browsed through the Fun Times while we ate, then set off to explore the ship a bit before heading back to guest services where I was finally able to get my S&S card printed. Whew, I was finally legal to be on board!

We headed back to our stateroom, which was a deluxe oceanview cabin on Deck 1 port side aft, and started unpacking our carry-ons and within a few minutes all 4 of our suitcases showed up, so we got everything unpacked. We brought a vinyl Christmas tree which my daughter was very excited to put up.

Pretty soon, we headed to the safety briefing and then we were off! Goodbye Galveston.

Due to the wind chill, all of the sailaway parties were moved indoors and the Promenade deck was so gridlocked, it was difficult to get anywhere, so we went and checked out some other areas of the ship and stumbled across this awesome gingerbread village.

Soon we got ready to go to dinner. We had Your Time Dining for the first time ever, but we still like to eat early, so we got there right when they opened at 5:45pm and despite the line wrapping around toward the glass elevators in the atrium, we were seated within 5 minutes. Dinner went at a quicker pace than we are used to when we go to the regular early seating, but we prefer the quicker pace, so that was fine by us.

After dinner, we headed to the atrium where there would be a tree lighting ceremony and we sang Christmas carols. It was wonderful! The holiday spirit was alive and festive as we were setting sail to warmer temps. As we were behind the polar vortex and cruising through it to get to the warm weather, the seas had us rocking and rolling a bit that night and I had some difficulty sleeping from being tossed around a little more than what my comfort zone can handle.

Next up: Sea day!

Wonderful start so far! I am enjoying reading about your Christmas vacation.

What a fun idea!!

Did that vinyl actually stick to those walls like it is supposed to?

Curious as we are cruising soon and was trying to think of something fun for the kids.

Sea Day 1: Not the most interesting day ever, but we needed the relaxation more than we needed to be entertained.

We woke up early to head up to the Lido Deck for breakfast. I prefer to get up a little earlier and beat the crowds, so we did just that. I brought protein bars from home to eat for breakfast most mornings, but my husband and daughter enjoyed the offerings from the buffet. We are a bit nerdy, so we brought along our Pokemon cards and started a game right there at 7:45am in the Lido Marketplace dining room overlooking the sea while we ate.

We headed to morning trivia around 9am and I was really feeling bad from the rocking and rolling so I took a Dramamine and thankfully felt better within about half an hour. We went to trivia a lot, as we always have on past cruises, but this time around trivia was packed all day every day. We've never had trouble finding a seat on any past cruise, but it looks like trivia is very popular these days with more people, which is great! Trivia was offered pretty much every day of the cruise from about 9am to 5pm, with an hour break here and there. The topics ranged from general knowledge to specifics like the very popular Friends, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter trivias.

At 10am, we headed up to drop our daughter off at the kids club and then set out to run 3 miles on the track.

...or not! Being a sea day, being about 30 degrees warmer than what we'd left the day before and everyone and their mother was on the sports deck to play basketball, mini golf, and on the exercise equipment, and being it was a bit drizzly and misty out and the deck was very slippery, we decided to walk the 3 miles instead. Good thing too because the one lone man who was brave enough to run the track, weaving in and out of the crowd, slipped and fell on the slick deck and landed hard on his hip. He was OK thankfully.

We picked our kiddo up from the kids club and grabbed lunch. I was finally going to try the Blue Iguana Cantina and I didn't regret it. I came to really like their chicken tacos piled high with guac, cheese, pico, black bean & corn salsa, lettuce & sour cream.

We returned to the room so my daughter could have some quiet down time - she's overstimulated easily - and was delighted to find this special delivery. The truffles were almost too rich, but the strawberries and macarons were perfect.

After a brief nap, it was time to get ready for the first elegant night of the cruise. We had reservations at the steakhouse at 6pm, so we got ready by about 5 and wandered the Promenade Deck for the photo ops. We also stopped for a while to listen to the Polaris string trio playing in the atrium. I can't say enough good things about this band. String trios have never interested me much, but they played popular, modern music with their string instruments. I can honestly say I've never heard a string trio play Bohemian Rhapsody, Smooth Criminal, or Final Countdown. As the week would wear on, I'd set reminders on the Fun Hub app to alert me when they were playing, so if I wasn't doing anything, I'd just go sit in the atrium and listen to them. I wasn't the only one with this idea. By the end of the cruise, the atrium would be standing room only if you were coming by just to hang out and listen to them. As soon as they'd pack up to leave, the crowd would disperse along with them.

This is the trio and the beautiful tree in the atrium, as viewed from the Promenade deck.

At 6pm sharp, we dropped our daughter off at the Lido Deck for dinner with the kids club and headed to Fahrenheit 555. We purchased a bottle of Decoy cab at the 50% off rate to enjoy with our dinner.

This was one of my favorite things to eat on the entire cruise. It's a hollowed out potato filled with melted cheese and topped with a cheese crisp.

I ordered the filet.

My husband ordered this delicious...whatever it was. Strip steak, maybe?

For dessert, I ordered this apple tart.

My husband ordered the chocolate sampler and was evidently getting tired of me taking pictures of his food!

And finally, they brought us another treat to celebrate our 11 year anniversary.

When the bill arrived, we were surprised to see just the bottle of wine on the tab. Our server, the lovely Miss Bojana, explained to us that another person paid our cover charge for us, but wanted to keep their identity a secret. Thank you kind soul, whoever you are. We truly, truly appreciate your kindness.

Overall the steakhouse was fantastic, as usual. It's never been anything but terriffic, but it had been a while since we last sailed on a ship with a steakhouse, so I wasn't sure what had changed over the years.

After dinner, we changed into something more comfortable and strolled around the ship for a while, doing some shopping, some gambling, and just generally hanging out. After a while, we signed our daughter out of the kids club and headed to our stateroom for the night. We packed our bags for our day in Cozumel and headed to bed to get a good night of sleep. Something about being on the ship makes me want to sleep a lot - maybe because I don't get a lot of sleep at home!

Stay tuned for our day in Cozumel at Nachi Cocum!

What a fun idea!!

Did that vinyl actually stick to those walls like it is supposed to?

Curious as we are cruising soon and was trying to think of something fun for the kids.

Yes it worked perfectly! The walls have a slight textured feel to to them and I think that may have helped the vinyl adhere. Not a single trace of anything on the wall either once we took all of the decorations down. One tip would be to smooth it out as you're applying it with your S&S card so it doesn't bubble up, but we didn't have issues.

That's a great idea - paying the tab of a couple with a uniform! We're heading to Cabo next month, I will be sure to do that if I see a service person in uniform. Thanks to you and your family for all your service.

Love your review so far...

Excited to see the pictures of the Breeze! Do you by chance have any of the ship from the starboard (right side) showing the bridge area? I've been trying to find pics of the area our balcony cabin will be in but no luck so far!

Enjoying your review, can't wait to hear about your day in Cozumel!

Great review! I can't wait for the rest! I love the Breeze! It's my favorite ship!

I was suppose to be on this sailing with my son, but had to cancel as he needed a shoulder operation. So I'm enjoying your review, almost makes me feel that we were there too :)

That's a great idea - paying the tab of a couple with a uniform! We're heading to Cabo next month, I will be sure to do that if I see a service person in uniform. Thanks to you and your family for all your service.

Thank YOU for thinking about doing this on your next trip! We were so grateful, I just wish we could have thanked the person, but I understand wanting to keep a low profile. With any luck, they are reading this review and they know how thankful we are.

Love your review so far...

 

Excited to see the pictures of the Breeze! Do you by chance have any of the ship from the starboard (right side) showing the bridge area? I've been trying to find pics of the area our balcony cabin will be in but no luck so far!

While I have many photos of the ship docked in port on the Port side, the only ones I have from even the slightest starboard angle are taken from nearly straight on and show very little cabin approximation detail due to the distance - if this is helpful at all, this is what I have. If you were port side, I'd probably have ya covered since that was usually the angle of the ship we had a view of while in port!

Day 3 was a port day in Cozumel, which we chose ahead of time to spend at Nachi Cocum. I had been to Nachi Cocum with my mother when I sailed with her in 2013 and it was one of the best port days of all of the cruises I'd been on. I was hoping for a repeat! In September, I put down the $27 deposit to reserve our spots and that was that.

The morning we docked in Cozumel, we woke up pretty early, but not early enough to avoid the lines at the Lido breakfast buffet. They still weren't too terrible and we finished breakfast in a reasonable amount of time. Still, we were to get to Nachi Cocum at our leisure, so we didn't need to be a part of the mad rush to get off the ship, which I was content with. As we were heading back to our room to put on swimsuits and get sunscreened up, they announced that the floodgates were open and we were free to exit the ship.

We headed down toward the forward gangway on deck 0 about 20 minutes after that and the line was backed up to about midship on Deck 1 - at least we didn't have far to walk since we were aft on Deck 1! The line crept forward and then suddenly just started flowing freely and we were off the ship in no time. We got through the port shops without really stopping for anything other than a pair of sunglasses for my husband and we were in a cab to the beach pretty quick.

$17 later, we pulled up to the beach club. With 2 other ships docking in port before we did, there were plenty of other cruise passengers already there - too bad we didn't get a front row, unobstructed view of the water like I did when I went in 2013, but who cares! The alternative was being back in Texas in the 30 degree polar vortex and no thank you! I will gladly take my 3rd row view of the water in the 80 degree sunshine day that Cozumel had waiting for us!

We got settled in and met our server, Jose. Last time I was at Nachi Cocum, the service was lightning fast and I am sorry to say that this time, it was not. It was mediocre at best, but I do think Jose was overwhelmed with too many guests he was responsible for taking care of. I feel like he was doing the best he could. I never saw him just standing around or anything like that, he was always working his tail off - I just think there were too many of us and only one of him.

I am not a big drinker, so while the open bar was more important to my husband, it wasn't important to me - what was more important was paying for access to a beach where only a limited amount of people could go to every day. I am happy to pay a premium for a less crowded beach and this place does the job. Nachi Cocum does not have any beach toys included in the price so if that's important to you if you have children, it might be a deal breaker. My kiddo is content to just play in the sand so it wasn't a big deal for us.

For hours, we played in the pool, we lazed around in the hammocks, we waded in the water, we lounged under the palalpas. We also used their internet, which only worked from my lounger if I was sitting in a specific spot. Jose did not charge me for internet access, so no complaints! When it worked, it worked just fine.

For lunch, I just snacked on chips & guac. I think my husband and kiddo got some sandwiches and maybe another appetizer of some sort. We all skipped dessert, but it was included, as well an another entree for me, which I did not order - having had that huge meal at the steakhouse the night before, I didn't feel like eating heavily.

Before long, it was time to pack up our stuff and head back to port. Goodbye Nachi Cocum. Your beach is so beautiful.

We hit a few shops just outside the port, but I can't handle the pushy sales pitch for too long, so we headed back inside the port and back to our ship.

We headed back to the room for showers and some quiet time for my daughter- I showered just enough to get the salty water off of me because I was heading up to the gym to get a workout in. On my way back I realized the sun was about to set, so I gathered my crew and steered them to the Promenade to watch it go down - I'm glad I did this because it turned out to be the only sunset we'd see the entire trip! We either forgot, were napping, or doing something else.

A couple who had gotten married on board were on the back of the Promenade deck getting wedding photos done with the sun setting on the background. How absolutely stunning do you think those pictures have turned out to be??

I honestly can't recall what we did on this night, but it probably involved some combination of early dinner, listening to the string trio, shopping, gambling....these seemed to be the things we did on a nightly basis! I don't have any pictures from this night, so it must not have been anything too enticing, but the best of the cruise was yet to come...so stay tuned! Tomorrow is Belize and it was my favorite port day even though I did not participate much in the excursion we did.

While I have many photos of the ship docked in port on the Port side, the only ones I have from even the slightest starboard angle are taken from nearly straight on and show very little cabin approximation detail due to the distance - if this is helpful at all, this is what I have. If you were port side, I'd probably have ya covered since that was usually the angle of the ship we had a view of while in port!

 

Thanks Tonya- close- better than any other photos I've seen so far, but not quite enough to see our cabin. It is a wonderful-looking ship and I can't wait!

Day 4, we dropped anchor off the coast of Belize. Ahhhh Belize. Be still my heart, as frustrating of a port as you may be to get into and out of. I hate the tendering process, but both of the port days I've spent in Belize in my lifetime have been so beautiful.

Months prior, we'd hemmed and hawed about what type of excursion we wanted to do here. Since it's a tender port, our personal policy is to do a ship sponsored excursion - it's all fun and games when it's just my husband and I and we miss the ship (and thankfully we never have, given that we so rarely take ship excursions), but missing the ship with our daughter in tow - not worth the risk, even if minimal, as I know the private tour companies do everything they can to get you back to the tender in time.

Should we go cave tubing? Well, our kiddo is easily scared sometimes and we thought that might be something that could turn into a nightmare for her. Visit the zoo? Nah. City tour? Meh. Snorkeling with a shark & stingray encounter? What, are we trying to terrify the poor child?

We thought about it for a few days and went back and forth but ultimately decided on the Shark, Rays, Barrier Reef Snorkel & Island Escape. We decided that if she were scared to try snorkeling she didn't have to and if the shark & stingray encounter was too much, the boat would be just a few feet away for retreat. We talked to her about this tour and hyped it up and by the time it was time to set sail, she was excited to try snorkeling ("I am so brave!" she proudly proclaimed) and swim with the sharks & rays.

As usual, we were up early for breakfast on the Lido and had reason to be since we had to meet for the tender at 9am in the Ovation theater. I've only ported in Belize one time and Carnival gave our excursion our own dedicated tender over to what was then known as Bannister Island, so I was surprised that wasn't how it worked this time around. There was also some confusion about whether our tour or another similarly named tour (Shark, Rays & Island Getaway) had been called to the tender to take over to the mainland. My husband went to ask to clarify the confusion and found out that they were actually boarding our tour even though no one announced it in the lounge.

As a direct result of this, we ended up sitting in the water taxi for our excursion once we reached the mainland for an additional 35 minutes while waiting for the rest of our tour to arrive - about half of us had boarded the tender ashore before they announced we could even though they told us to go ahead and board and now we had to wait for the other half to arrive - they arrived very late and I suspect there was additional confusion back on the ship as to whether this tour was ever announced to leave - we ended up departing 1 full hour after the time we were supposed to. At this point, I was very glad that it was a ship excursion as I knew we'd be arriving back later than planned.

Leaving Belize via water taxi.

We got underway, heading to Caye Caulker, which was a 50 minute ride by water taxi. Caye Caulker is a place I'd love to go back and spend more time. Tiny island, no cars, dirt roads for golf carts, the absolute friendliest people I'd ever met of any Caribbean port of call I've ever traveled to. We arrived at the island and approximately 50 of us were directed to 2 restrooms to change and use the bathroom - and they gave us 15 minutes to do this. Ha!! About 30 minutes later, most people were done with the restroom so we were delayed a bit. I snapped this photo on our way back to the water taxi - it's my favorite photo of the entire trip!

After everyone received their snorkel gear, we were off to the reef.

Confession for me - I don't snorkel - I don't like doing anything more than wading in waist deep water in the ocean - I certainly don't like being in water with a strong current. So why did I like this excursion so much? Watching my family have fun doing it, of course! My daughter bravely donned her snorkeling gear and jumped right into the water with no fear and had a blast!

Her mask didn't fit very well so she didn't get a true snorkeling experience with her face in the water, but she absolutely loved being out in the water with her dad and the water was so crystal clear she could see everything in it anyway from up above.

It was just the captain, me, and one other woman who stayed behind on the water taxi while everyone else snorkeled at the reef. I totally didn't mind hanging back because hellooooo, this view!!!

Soon everyone was back on board and we motored over to another spot with a sandbar where we'd have our shark & ray encounter. Against my better judgment I did jump into the water here - it was chest high with a current, well outside of my comfort zone and I spent a total of maybe 60 seconds in there, and had zero encounters with sharks or rays as my only concern was getting back to the boat and out of the water. Again, my husband and daughter loved this and had a blast watching the feeding and feeling them swimming around them under the surface.

Pretty soon everyone was back on board and we took the short 5 minute ride back to Caye Caulker, where lunch was waiting for us (we'd all placed our order on the ride over). The food was basic - chicken tenders and french fries for us - but my goodness. The views.

We sat on a swing with our feet in the sand while we ate.

We acquired a new friend.

There were so many stray dogs on the island and they all appeared to be well cared for and friendly.

After lunch, we only had about 20 minutes before we had to be back on board so we took a quick walk down the road, browsed some shops, took pics by the water, then headed back.

Like I said I'd absolutely love to spend more time on this island, rent a golf cart, drive around, meet more of the locals. I find the shop owners in most ports to be pushy - I always give a polite "no thank you" and move on but sometimes they can be very overbearing. Not here - not at all. The locals wanted to talk to you, get to know you, show you their beautiful island. They pat you on the back, they call you their family, and they do it in a way that is so genuine. It doesn't come across as pushy or overbearing at all. What an amazing little island.

We headed back to the boat and were waiting to leave when they called out our family name. "Yes, right here!" we shouted - to which they shouted "You didn't pay your lunch bill and we can't leave until you do!"

OMG! *Facepalm* How could we forget?? We just genuinely forgot! And we hadn't been drinking or anything!! We sheepishly paid our bill, apologized about 1000 times, and we were all preparing to head back to the tender port when they asked everyone on the boat if we wanted a treat - of course!

We motored around to the other side of the island where there were giant tarpon jumping out of the water. All we had to do was dangle a fish over the side of the boat and they'd pop right out and grab it. It was really fun to watch!

After that we settled in for the 50 minute commute back. I think I slept part of the way. So much sun and sand and salty sea breeze and warmth....lulled me right to sleep as soon as the boat started rocking gently with the waves.

We got back one hour late, at exactly the time the last tender was reported to be leaving, so we didn't take the time to shop or get souvenirs, plus we were so tired, we just wanted to get back on the Breeze and be done.

Only one other tender after ours came to drop off at the ship and we pulled up the anchor and set sail immediately.

We showered and got ready for dinner - we dropped our daughter off with the kids club for dinner on the Lido Deck and we headed into the Sapphire for YTD around 6:15. Dinner was running pretty slowly tonight and we were very tired - too tired actually - so we ended up letting them know we were leaving and finished out dinner on the Lido Deck. My husband took our kiddo back to the room for an early bedtime and I went and threw away $20 to a slot machine! On the way back, I spotted something I'd been waiting the whole cruise for - the perfect backdrop for our matching Christmas jammies picture! I asked the photographer how late she'd be there and she said until 10:30pm. I checked my phone and it was 8:55pm - perfect!! I told her I'd be back in a bit. I messaged my husband to see if my daughter had fallen asleep yet and she hadn't. So we all changed into our matching Christmas jammies and headed back to the photo op.

Except it was dark. What she'd failed to mention was that it would be closed from 9 to 9:30! So we just sat and waited for her to come back because I was determined to get this picture! And it was so worth it. I adore it.

We all were so tired after our day in the sun and we headed to bed pretty early after packing our bag for Roatan the next day. One thing I was quickly discovering was that I like to have a sea day in the middle of my port days! Mama was tired!

Nice review and pics! :cool:

We will be sailing the high seas on the Breeze very shortly! :D

Enjoying your review and nice photos.

Following

Love this, you did both the excursion that I want to do.

I am confused about the Sharks and Rays excursion. I thought they took you right from the boat. Was this a mix up or normal?

Love this, you did both the excursion that I want to do.

 

I am confused about the Sharks and Rays excursion. I thought they took you right from the boat. Was this a mix up or normal?

It seemed normal - all 3 of the excursion times for our particular tour got on a tender to the mainland with other tour groups mixed in and then once at the pier, we were to all find our respective excursion hosts holding signs with the names of our tours. Once all of the 9:30am departures were present, we departed from the mainland in a water taxi to Caye Caulker. The 9:30 departure time turned into 10:30 by the time everyone arrived, so we were an hour late leaving and an hour late getting back.

It was much more disorganized and stressful than the last Belize excursion we took, which took us straight from the ship to Bannister island without having to tender to the mainland.

Day 5, we awakened as we were porting in Roatan, Honduras. We slept in a bit and breakfast was more crowded than normal as a result - long lines and nowhere to sit unless you sniped a table as soon as you saw someone get up from it when they were finished. We headed off the ship around 10am with no line whatsoever. As we walked up the hill toward the port shops, we came across this awesome photo op.

Up the hill, we were able to easily locate the chair lift kiosk. We'd prepurchased tickets for 2 for the lift, a clamshell, and 2 water mats at Mahogany Bay beach. I'd suspected we'd all be a bit tired after our fun in Belize so I wanted to make sure we had a very laid back day in Roatan, even if that meant not venturing far from the ship.

This is what the whole area looks like from the top of the ship.

We decided my husband and daughter would ride the chair lift over and I'd walk. As the chair lift must be slow for safety reasons, I beat them by a good 10 minutes or so if not more. They loved riding the chairlift.

I was glad one of us was walking because I was able to snap this cool photo of them on the lift with the ship in the background.

We soon reconvened at the beach where we were shown to our clamshell. One thing I didn't like about the clamshell is that we were still basically in direct sunlight the entire time so it sort of defeated the purpose of having one. The lounge chairs that were free behind the clamshells were mostly in the shade and by the time I thought to move out of the clamshell into one of those, they had all long been claimed. Not a big deal, I just covered up with a towel when I wasn't in the water since I burn pretty easily, no matter how liberally I apply the sunscreen. I'm happy to report that none of us got a sunburn in the entire trip, which says a lot since we are all very fair skinned!

The water here got deep pretty quickly and since I don't like hanging out in water above my waist, I mostly floated on my mat any time I was in the water. It was so perfect - sunshine, warm water, gentle sea breeze. What a gorgeous morning to spend at the beach.

While at the beach, you have this nice view of the ship the whole time.

I want to point out that my daughter is not pointing to the ship. She specifically said she was pointing to the Lido Deck. Side story: My daughter is autistic and sometimes when something interests her, she will develop an obsessive interest in it. For this trip, it was the Lido Deck. In our cabin, she'd turn on the food channel, click on the Lido Deck, and go through the menus, reading and re-reading the restaurant descriptions to us. Then she'd excitedly recite from memory what each restaurant had and what it's name was. The Lido Deck just fascinated her! And one morning early in the cruise, she said to me "Mom...do you know what MFD is?" I confusedly said no. She exclaimed "It's My Favorite Deck! Do you know what My Favorite Deck is??" I laughed and said "Yes sweetie, everyone on the ship knows what your favorite deck is!"

We would get on elevators and she would get SO excited if someone pushed the button for the Lido Deck. Then she would tell them the Lido Deck was her favorite because it had the Lido Deck Marketplace. Most people would humor her and engage in the conversation and you could tell no one had ever seen enthusiasm for the Lido Deck quite like what she had!

Shortly after the last photo was taken of her pointing to the Lido Deck, the beach started getting really crowded and our stomachs were growling. We'd agreed that we'd spend the morning at the beach and then head back to the ship for the day. It was time to pack up and head back.

They again took the chair lift back and I walked, this time taking the "nature path" that a sign pointed to as an option to take. Curious, I headed in - it was actually a fairly decent workout, albeit a short one. Instead of taking the regular walking path, you can parallel it by taking a path through the trees between the regular path and the water next to the ship. What a delight that turned out to be, as I discovered many places like this - secret, tucked away where no one could see them, where you could just sit, enjoy the view, and watch people on the ship.

I navigated this in flip flops, which I don't really recommend! Also, there's a good bit of uphill and downhill, so if your knees are shot, stick to the regular walking trail. I met back up with my crew and we did some shopping at the port. This was the port we bought the most souvenirs at. We loved the open air market at the very far end of the port and bought all sorts of chocolates, treats, souvenirs.

Once back on board, we went to my daughter's MFD and grabbed some lunch off of the buffet, though I did sneak in a taco from the Blue Iguana Cantina. We took our daughter over to the water area to play on the slides and in the splash pad.

After this, we all took showers - can I just take a second to say how awesome the deluxe staterooms are with the double bathrooms?? We could all 3 have our showers completed in under 20 minutes time. It normally takes about 15 minutes each when we have to take turns in one shower. I loved the 2nd bathroom with a tub, with room to shave my legs and help my daughter with washing her hair without getting water sprayed all over me like in the original bathroom.

After our showers - and mine was just a quick rinse off from the salty sea water - I dropped my daughter at Camp Ocean while my husband went back ashore to the shops, then I headed up to the running track. I was determined to get my run in and suspected it'd be more empty at this time of day with everyone ashore. I was correct! I was able to easily get my 3 miles in, which is 21 laps total if anyone is wondering what the mileage works out to be. Only 2 other people were using the track, so I was able to get it done pretty quickly and I loved soaking in the views while I ran!

After I finished, I took a proper shower and signed my daughter out of the kids club. It was early sign out today because there was a Build A Bear party in the Limelight Lounge. The ships now have a partnership with Build A Bear for the real BAB experience onboard. It's just like going to the store where they have the machine with the fluff, there's a little ceremony to give your bear a nice, warm, fuzzy heart, there's a tiny shop with BAB clothes, there's a birth certificate. We attended - if you want to go, get there early as you get to shop in the order that you show up, so if you get there later, you have to wait for everyone to shop before you can shop - by the time we'd left, people had been waiting nearly one hour for their turn, so go early! They do provide refreshments. We had water, lemonade, chips, and these bear cookies.

My daughter chose the Carnival exclusive bear. It's a white bear with red and blue ears and the Carnival logo on the foot. It was $26 and she chose a santa outfit that cost $12 to dress her bear in. $38 wasn't too bad compared to BAB on land, especially considering the price of Star Wars, My Little Pony, etc. animals is pretty on par with the cost of this.

If you read my last entry about our morning, you'll understand why she named her bear what she did. Meet the newest member of her animal family: Lido.

And I really like your Christmas jammies picture, so cute. You have a very nice looking family, and I enjoy your story telling, well done. I can hardly wait to sail on the breeze next week. The pictures are very good shots of interesting things. Thanks for the review.