Carnival Breeze Med cruise - 8/26/12 - Review and Pics!

[Baby_Bear]

Thanks to everyone for your comments! Hope to post all the rest tonight. Lots more pics to come - for me the most time consuming part was uploading the pics to Photobucket. It's really slow and keeps freezing up, which means I have to keep closing and re-opening it to access the pics. Really wish CC made it easier to just post pics directly!

 

Let me know if I can answer any questions along the way!

[pcvtmom]

Thanks for taking time to do this review (and especially take time to post those beautiful pictures!!). We're doing our first Med. cruise on the Sunshine next June, with a similar itinerary. Your comments and suggestions will be so helpful!

[Baby_Bear]

Thanks for taking time to do this review (and especially take time to post those beautiful pictures!!). We're doing our first Med. cruise on the Sunshine next June, with a similar itinerary. Your comments and suggestions will be so helpful!

 

Any questions you have, just let me know. I researched and planned like crazy for this cruise!

[katsura]

what a nice photos thanks for share.

[Baby_Bear]

Sat, Sep 1st – Naples. We had visited Ephesus in Turkey with our family 2 years before, so were not too interested in seeing Pompeii. Instead we had formed our own small group tour through SASEI to visit the Amalfi Coast towns – Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello – in some depth. Even though we had the full day, the towns were so gorgeous, we felt like we still did not have enough time! Mom shopped till we both dropped while I admired the views. Here are some pics:

[Baby_Bear]

Sun, Sep 2nd – Olbia – this was the only port we felt was a bit of a filler. There was really nothing to do here. Some people had taken Carnival excursions to beaches, others to the Moon Valley but we elected not to. They had a free shuttle into town but it was a small town and being a Sunday, not much to do. We promptly came back and instead used the day as a Sea Day equivalent (rest day) as we had 2 heavy days in Rome and Florence coming up!

Mon, Sep 3rd – Citavecchia (Rome). Again, we were on a shared small group excursion. We left at 7:30 am. Its about a 90-minute drive to Rome. Roberto, our driver-guide was a doll, incredibly nice and helpful. We focused on ancient Rome (Forum, Colosseum, etc) in the morning and the Vatican in the afternoon. SASEI had purchased our Colosseum and Vatican tix in advance – yay, no lines! We had also paid extra for a private guide in the Vatican which I highly recommend. Anna was awesome and very active, despite being 5 months pregnant! She took us around by “secret” ways, i.e., no lines and by a special door into St. Peter’s Basilica (where I saw the Pieta again, most moving) and then into the Square. Having explored the Vatican in great depth on my previous Rome visit, what we saw was the “highlights” tour (had to skip Raphaels’ Rooms) but still very good. We had paid extra to extend the tour by a couple of hours so did not get back to the ship till 8 pm. Looong day! Here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Baby_Bear]

Tues, Sep 4th – Livorno (Florence). Another small group tour of Florence and another driver-guide named Roberto! Another doll! We first went to Pisa which I loved and there were no crowds first thing in the morning as all the Carnival tours had gone to Florence! On the way to Florence, Roberto suggested we make a detour to see Chianti wine country. Although it cut into our Florence time a bit, we didn’t mind as we were really keen to see the wine country. It was amazing! We then drove into Florence and stopped along the way to take some panoramic shots of the city as we approached it. Here are some pics:

[mj]

Beautiful Pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Baby_Bear]

Florence (contd):

 

We then stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. With our new found knowledge of Chianti, we ordered 2 bottles of Chianti Classico for the 8 of us. Lunch, including wine, was only 16 Euros per head! Then on to Florence. We really liked the old town, especially the Duomo and the Arno River with the bridges. SASEI had pre purchased Accademia tix for us and we went in thru the VIP line. In doing so, we instantly became Public Enemy #1 for everyone standing outside, but we were entitled to go in. I really recommend you pre-purchase tix for all your tours. Lines are very long and we experienced very hot weather. By buying tix in advance, we skipped all the lines; however, be aware that tix are timed so its important you stick to your schedule. And yes, the David statue really is worth the hype! Could not make it to the Uffizi though due to time constraints.

Back to the ship, with aching feet and full camera cards!

Wed, Sep 5th – Sea Day and much needed! Just slept in a lot and hung out in the Ocean Plaza and listened to all the bands.

Thur, Sep 6th – Monaco. For Monaco we used a private guide recommended by Rick Steves and loved her! There were again 8 of us, she picked us up in her car and whisked us away. First we explored Monaco, which was gorgeous but a bit too rich for my blood. We did take some great shots outside the Grand Casino especially the parking lot which was wall to wall Bentleys, Jags, Maybachs, Audis, custom Mercs and Beemers, you get the point!

Then onto Eze, a beautiful medieval town with stunning views:

Finally onto Nice, which was charming! We explored the fruits and flowers market, also the waterfront Promenade Des’ Anglais. I really wish we could have had more time here!

Finally, back to the ship! Last shore excursion and we were all feeling sad this great cruise was coming to an end.

[Baby_Bear]

Fri, Sep 7th – Disembarkation! This was the only flaw we experienced. For us, we had a late debarkation zone. Unfortunately, debarkation ran very late. As a result, we were supposed to disembark between 8-8:45 am but did not actually make it off the ship till 9:15 am! We had a tour waiting for us and it was so embarrassing to be so late. In future, we will only do self-assisted disembarkation as I don’t think any cruise ship can handle such large numbers.

Post-cruise – we had arranged a small group tour in Barcelona which we very much enjoyed. Then chilled out in the afternoon, and trotted along to the wonderful La Boqueria market. This market is a food lover's idea of paradise! We dropped some serious Euros there on everything from Iberico ham (yum) to whiskey and cognac filled chocs (yum yum) to candied walnuts and almonds (yum yum yum!). In the evening, we had pre booked and attended a flamenco show at Tablao Cordobes on the Ramblas. Very authentic and highly recommended. Some pics are below:

[Baby_Bear]

The next two days were spent shopping and eating our way thru Barcelona! Loved going to Cuidad Condal (luckybecky, if you are reading this, thanks for the recommendation!), Tapas 24 and several other great spots! Also did some serious retail therapy at El Corte Ingles (their flagship store was fortunately 5 mins away on foot!) and also Zara (their flagship store was round the corner from our hotel….do you see how I pick our hotels?!). We stayed at the Avenida Palace which was very well located and had a very comfy suite. Breakfast is overpriced and a rip off but next to the hotel is Café Obama (yes, there is a lifesize statue inside!) where you can get a fabulous breakfast of cappuccino, croissants and freshly squeezed OJ for 5 euros! Regardless of your political leanings, I would say go there! Some pics.

Sun, Sep 9th – Two tired, footsore and slightly hung-over women boarded the return flight to NY! And so ends a truly amazing holiday!

[Baby_Bear]

I’ll now tackle a few issues people may have questions on:

Food

MDR food has already been addressed. Other food venues - lunch in the Lido was OK. I really like the design of the Lido, very light and airy. The lunch buffets were good, but being big lovers of Indian food, we mostly had the Tandoori selection at lunch which was excellent. Did not try the Mongolian Wok this time. We did see a wide range of foods at the Lido, including shrimp quesadillas one day, fish every day, carved meats, lots of salads, etc. For breakfast, we either did the brunch on sea days or room service on port days. I really, really really wish Carnival had the option of ordering a hot breakfast in room service – we would have loved to eat hot eggs or waffles as we had long mornings of touring before lunch, but with our early starts (Messina was 7 am!) it was just too much effort to go to the MDR for a cooked breakfast. We tried Fat Jimmy’s once, the BBQ chicken was very good. Did not try the sushi or Guy’s Burgers but always saw huge lines there so it must have been good! We did go to Cucina del Capitano once for lunch and really liked it. Very good pasta. Did not go to the steakhouse, heard it was really good but we are not big meat eaters so were OK skipping it. The dinners in the MDR were really so good, I don’t feel like we missed anything.

Service

Outstanding. We had fixed late (8:15 pm) dining in the aft Blush dining room. Our servers were Stanislava (Tania), Magdalena (Magda) and Branimir. They were most attentive and really went out of their way to ensure we had a good time. Combined with our sweet bar waitress Monica, it made for great dinners! Drinks are relatively cheap at <$10. Even when I asked for Grey Goose and Sprite (best mixed drink ever!), it was about $12 and Bailey’s about $12 as well. Our room steward was good and really, all the staff we encountered were so pleasant and friendly. One thing – the Guest Services desk is way understaffed, which makes for long lines there. If you need something, be prepared to wait and wait…and wait!

Entertainment

We liked it a lot. There were 4 production shows – Motorcity, Brits, Divas and Latin Nights. They rotate the shows throughout the cruise. We skipped Motorcity but saw the rest. Brits was OK, but the music was too young for my mom and tool old for me. Divas and Latin Nights were great! Lots of hi-tech effects and great sound. We did not attend any of the comedy shows. We did enjoy listening to live music and they had 2 bands – Dima’s (2-piece) who played in the Breeze Bar Atrium nightly and Eddie C and the Cool Breeze Band (6-piece) that played in the Ocean Plaza nightly. Dima’s played songs of my mom’s era while Eddie C had more fast and contemporary stuff. Did not make it to the Piano Bar. We mostly drink wine and cocktails with dinner so are not interested in hanging out at any of the bars but Red Frog Bar was always super crowded when we passed it. There was a good live guitarist there every night. Being such a port-intensive cruise, entertainment was not a high priority for us as we had super early starts (7:30 am or so) on most port days and were out for 10-12 hours. But this may be more of an issue on Caribbean cruises where the ports are less of a focus than the ship itself.

Ports

We overnighted in Venice, then visited Dubrovnik, Messina, Naples, Olbia, Rome, Florence and Monaco and finished in Barcelona. With the exception of Olbia where there wasn’t much to do, the other ports were truly amazing. Getting on and off the ship at all the ports /(with the lamentable exception of Venice) was flawless with no waits.

On Board Activities

Not much to say here. As this was such a port intensive cruise, we used the sea days to sleep in and chill out, read, etc. I believe there were lots of activities organized, but we pretty much ignored all of them. We don’t gamble much so I can’t comment on the casino, though we always enjoyed walking through it as we usually ran into people we knew through the Meet & Greet or on our tours! One tip – we sent out laundry 3x during the cruise. At $15 per big bag, it was a good value. I heard there were not enough washer dryers on the ship so we just decided to send it out. Best part is finishing your trip with all clean clothes! It was VERY hot in Europe and we were changing clothes 2-3 times a day, so there was a lot of laundry!

On Board Shopping

Very nice shops, much bigger range than the Valor. We bought 2 bottles of liquor at very good prices. Did not buy much by way of souvenirs or trinkets as we were doing a LOT of shopping at the ports. The shopping was really terrific on this cruise!

Crew and officers

Captain Vincenzo Alcaras was in charge. We only saw him once, although he did come on the PA system a couple of times and it was always nice hearing from him. Overall, the Breeze rides well – very smooth with few bumps even in rougher waters. The Captain did send a letter to all pax explaining what had happened in Venice on the day of embarkation, which we appreciated. The only annoyance was the CD Butch Begovich – OMG, is that man in love with the sound of his own voice or what. His announcements were NEVER ENDING! I understand he has to constantly pitch things, everything from on board shopping to shore excursions, but he was so long-winded! He was very annoying – I remember our CD on the Valor was Matt Mitcham and he also had his sales pitches but was nowhere as long-winded as this guy. I really, really really longed for John Heald! He was off having surgery but rejoined our ship at Naples. We saw him in the Red Frog Pub one night and said hi. Very nice man, really charming!

Crowd Control

Big kudos to Carnival here. There were never any lines for elevators or for any other activity I can think of. The ship was at full double occupancy (3,700 people plus crew) but she NEVER felt crowded. There were always places to sit everywhere on the ship although the Ovation Theater did get very full for the Latin Nights show we attended with people standing (it was repeated on other nights). BTW, Carnival is being very diligent about the no chair hogging policy. On all sea days, we saw at least 2 staff members patrolling the pool areas with clipboards and noting which chairs were unoccupied and for how long. I saw stickers being placed on chairs as people vacated them. Consequently, there were no problems getting a deck chair anywhere, even right next to the pools, although it was so very hot (we had 100+ degree temps for most of the cruise), you’d have had to be nuts to be out in that heat!

About the crowd

Very few kids on board, although there were some teens, mostly Brits. Very international crowd, with Americans about 40%. Rest was Canadians, Brits and other Europeans, particularly Italians and Spaniards. The crowd was generally polite and well behaved although I’m sorry to say that some people from certain European countries not mentioned here can be quite rude and pushy sometimes, getting off and on elevators, etc. That stood out only because the rest of the crowd was so polite. Oh well, it takes all kinds to make a world! Did not see any excessive drinking or any objectionable behavior otherwise.

Overall, the Value for Money factor

Fabulous! The suite was priced very reasonable compared to other lines. Thanks to our large OBC, we bought drinks every day, did some shopping in the on board shops, bought a couple of photos and sent out laundry and still ended up with only a small charge on our Sign and Sail cards at the end of the cruise! We had a great cruise with premium ports. In sum, we felt like we got a luxe cruise at a non-luxe price. For us, it was our BEST cruise ever and we highly recommend the Carnival Breeze!

[cruisinskier]

Great photos!! Really enjoying your review. It brings back lots of great memories of our Med trip last year on the Inaugural sailing of the Magic, the sister ship to the Breeze. Ken was also our singing maitre'd and we did have John as CD. Thanks for taking the time to post your review and the great photos!!

[Baby_Bear]

Thanks! It was fun going thru the pics, brought back great memories!

 

I did want to say one thing - in looking thru my shots I realized I did not have nearly as many pics of the ship as I would have liked. That reflects the very port intensive nature of the cruise. The only downside of visiting all these great places is you don't get to spend nearly as much time on the ship as you would like. We spent 12 days on the Breeze and honestly, it didn't feel like enough time to get to know her. You will have LOTS to do on board! We would definitely consider doing another cruise on her, but this time a less port intensive itinerary that gives you enough time to just mooch around on board and enjoy all the ship has to offer. She's really amazing, and I envy all the fellow Breeze cruisers! :D

[belkin]

Love your review. We will be on the Legend next year and our ports are similar. I am going to check out Share a Shore Excursion. Thanks so much!

[chipq]

SOOOO JEALOUS! Great review and pictured. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[Baby_Bear]

SOOOO JEALOUS! Great review and pictured. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

 

Thank you for reading! It was fun sharing!

[SHAZA0208]

Fantastic review. Just need to check. Did you say that the ship stays for one night and a day in Venice before sailing? Thanks.

[jimbri]

Great review! Thank you.

[Baby_Bear]

Fantastic review. Just need to check. Did you say that the ship stays for one night and a day in Venice before sailing? Thanks.

 

Yes, the cruise started on Aug 26 (Sun). Check in started at 12:30 pm. Ship stayed in port all day and night and all next day, departing at 6 pm (Monday, Aug 27). Once you check in on the Sun, you are free to wander off and off the ship as much as you want, stay out for dinner, etc.

[SHAZA0208]

Thank you for your quick response. We disembarked the same day you boarded and wondered if passengers would've missed Venice.

[portlandpete]

What a great review and beautiful photos! We are not cruising her till May and you have us very excited. The ship looks really nice and I loved reading about all the ports you visited.

[hill6]

What a great review. It sounds like the trip of a lifetime.

[lifeisgoodPat]

Thank you, thank you, thank you

[sunshine&shiningstar]

Baby_bear great review i had done thru rc but i like carnival so it give me something to look forward to you are correct the port are what counts i dont remember our ship to much ... i'm curious what type of camera did you use? im looking for a new one but unsure due to im not a real photographer.:)