Live From the Carnival Breeze - US Inagural

[mississauga]

Bob, safe travels home and see you in January.

[moore4220]

Thank you for taking us along with you, if only vicariously for now. I so hope Ron Pass stays through February (& March for kjunea).

[crewsweeper]

Bob....thanks for filling me in on what I missed and didn't miss but couldn't remember. Enjoyed meeting you (even though I first confused you with Ron(pizzaeater) at the M&G--apologies for embarrassing you both:rolleyes:. It was a great cruise and a Jolly Splash of a Pirates time.

 

Crew

[cruisegirl29]

So excited to her Ron might still stay on after the bc6! I set sail jan 27th and would finally get my chance to have fun in the piano bar! Great review too!

[Kokomo_Man]

Final Thoughts

 

 

As I begin my last posting on this adventure I am winging my way back to the cold, frozen tundra. Those of you that know me know that it’s not really that cold and it’s certainly not frozen tundra. But compared to the last ten days it will be cold and frozen.

 

Post departem depression is setting in. Actually it started late last night in the piano bar as I had to start saying goodbye to all my new friends. This group more than any group on any other cruise I’ve ever been on made me feel like “family”. It was really hard to say farewell to all of them because I know that I may never see some of them again. As I write this I vow to myself to not let that happen, but I know that the reality is that we are all dispersing to the four winds. I hope that there will be at least a few I will see again.

 

While I’m thinking about the piano bar, the entire bar staff there were exceptional. I know I mentioned this before but I haven’t raved about them enough. Alex and Sylvia in particular were the best bar tenders I’ve had… on any cruise and on any cruise line. They are that good.

 

There are a couple of not so good things about the ship that stand out in my mind right now. The first is the elevators. This got more aggravating as the cruise went on. The elevators always seemed to be going the same wrong way all the time. If I was on the 11th deck… standing by the banks of ten elevators, they always seemed to all be on the 10th deck heading to deck 0. There was clearly no coordination between any of the elevators. With modern computer controls and traffic management, there is a better way to control this. On the positive side of this, it did help me work off some of the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.

 

There seemed to me to be long lines at the buffet and most of the eating places during the day. All of the inside buffet areas were slow. It seemed especially bad during breakfast but was slow at lunch too. This has nothing to do with the Carnival staff. It was just 4000 plus people working their way through the lines. An exception was Guy’s Burger Joint. They were fast, efficient and processed a ton of burgers in a short time. Pirates Pizza moved the pizzas pretty quickly too.

 

Disembarkation was a mess. The ground handling facility was completely overwhelmed by all the people and luggage getting off the ship. Of course Carnival is trying to get people off the ship as fast as they can so they can get ready for the next batch of folks, but the ground processing just can’t handle the hoards. With that said, I wasn’t in a rush to get off the ship. I didn’t go to breakfast until after 8:00 this morning. Even with all the mess getting off the ship and in the terminal, I was still through security at the airport before 11:00 A.M.

 

In the beginning I was disappointed that John Heald wasn’t our Cruise Director nor was he on board as Brand Ambassator. But in the end, it didn’t matter one bit. Somewhere along the way I said, “we don’t need no stinking John Heald”. I said that mostly to make myself feel better about it. But in the end it was absolutely true… we didn’t need no stinkin´ John Heald.

 

I hardly noticed the Cruise Director we did have… Butch. I think that’s a good thing. He wasn’t trying to sell too much and had about the right balance of information. I didn’t go to most of the stuff he hosted but a lot of people raved about him. He did host the sail-away party and that was one of the best I’ve been too.

 

While the Breeze isn’t my favorite ship ever, she is a big beautiful lady. There are loads of features that are great. I especially like all the new comfy chairs all over the ship. One of my favorite places on the new ships is the Red Frog Pub. In the late morning or early afternoons I liked to go in there to sit and write a while. It gave me some inspiration for the book I’m working on. In the afternoons they have a guitar player/singer and it’s a nice place to spend a while there.

 

I want to thank all the people that posted words of encouragement to me throughout my posts. It’s those kind words that keep me going. It’s your encouragement that convinced to start writing books.

 

This will be my last “regular” post on this thread. If you stay subscribed to this thread, I will come back here to let you know where any pics or videos are posted. I’m also going to be back at it on some cruise ship somewhere before long. I’ll let you all know when my next “live from” begins by posting a link here.

 

Since I’ve already used my traditional farewells, I will close by borrowing from Jimmy Buffett wishing… boat drinks for all of you.

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

[cruisegirl29]

Thanks bob for the amazing & enjoyable review! I will be boarding the breeze when your disembarking off from the bloggers cruise in January.... Or should I say I hope to be boarding as long as I stay alive running the Miami half marathon first!

 

Love your photos on fb as well!

 

Happy sailing!

Sue

[JaniceB]

Glad to hear you made it home safely and I look forward to your next "live" review.

[LizaMM]

Thank you so much for a well balanced and informative review and for all the fabulous photos.

 

I will keep this thread in my subscriptions and be looking forward to seeing it pop up with a new message from you one day with a link to your next adventure!

[pe4all]

TY for another great review- I actually got goosebumps reading your last passage. Your book was great also! (read it as soon as I saw it on kindle) Can't wait to get on Breeze in a few short weeks and with Butch, Ron Pass, and Ken the maitre'd to look forward to, plus a great itinerary on a new ship, life is good!:D

[trikinimaster]

Thanks for the review. Especially the comments on the Breeze. I dread the lines but see how with 4000 people they are going to get worse as the ships seem to be losing public space and crew support. Will be on the BC6 and if the lines are that long will probably be dieting alot.

 

lINES REMIND ME OF SCHOOL CAFETERIAS AND ARMY CHOW LINES

 

Don't need those memories on a cruise.

 

On disembarking. When you got in POM had 3 carnival ships and a NCL to deal with at one time.

 

My friend was getting on the GLORY yesterday and said none of the personal knew what they were doing. She is a 9 timer and they would send her one way and she said no I go over there, they would get with a supervisor and come back and say your right. She uses a mobility scooter and one wanted to open the battery pack and inspect the batteries <BG> Total mess.

 

Anyway enjoyed your review. Bought one of your books. and looking forward to meeting you

 

Captnlen

[beachbride91011]

Thank you for a great review, this review has helped me wait till we board the Breeze in May.

[Krystilia]

I would love to get a copy of your fun times, from the 8th.

 

I will definately save them and scan them for you when I get home :-)

[Krystilia]

Since this Saturday's (Dec. 8th) cruise is the Branding ceremony - do you think John Heald will be on this sailing?

[rhcpchika1]

Thanks for all of your hard work; it was wonderful!

[beachbride91011]

I will definately save them and scan them for you when I get home :-)

 

Thank you, my email is the same as my name here gmail.

[floatingaway2525]

Well Kokomo, this was another fabulous read!! THIS one is my favorite however, since being there for much of it is the best!!! Thanks for adding so much to our group adventures!!

Can't wait to do it again in January, better start getting ready again now:eek::p;)

[bigd from ct]

Well Bob as I told you on the Breeze welcome to stage two of the addiction group cruising .I enjoyed your blog and It was great cruising with you and we will again I am sure.:D

[aggiecruiser05]

Thanks for this review! We have a while until we sail on her, but it was a joy to read about your time on the ship!

[kcparrothead]

Thanks for taking us along with you, Bob. I look forward to sailing the Breeze in 2014 - hopefully, the elevators and lines will be a little better by then! ...:rolleyes: Fins Up, Dianne

[hill6]

Thanks for posting live.

[LHP]

Déjà vu all over again.

I’ve done the turn around… first off the ship and then back on and I’m ready to rock-n-roll again. Except for today I’m cut off from any booze. I really haven’t drunk that much… at least I don’t think I have. But… each morning it has been a little harder to force myself to get out of bed. It’s not that I have to get out of bed until I want to while on a cruise, but this morning I did have to get up for the “turn around” . It was not nice. So for today, I’m “on the wagon”. Well… ummmm… maybe until the piano bar tonight. Yea, that’s the ticket.

 

Since we’re in Miami… and since we are really at the beginning of another cruise, it has a lot of the feel of Day 0 (Ok folks… here’s your chance to show that you are paying attention). It really is “déjà vu all over again.” So I wasn’t sure what to call this day…. Day 0 or Day 2. In my normal scheme of counting it would be Day 2. To fix the dilemma, I’ve decided that I’m going to call it Day 0 – 2. à Day 0 – too. (Tomorrow I’ll move on to Day 3.)

 

I’m not going to “report” on anything new just yet. Being the good cub reporter that I am, it’s time for me to try Guy’s Ferengie Burger again. (It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.)

 

But before I go, I want to answer a couple of questions.

 

Mary… I did ask around about going out of the port area during the “turn-around” and several people said that, yes you can do it, but everyone of them also said that you would be much better off taking a taxi.

 

 

 

Moore4220… I’ll check on the alcohol for the B2B turn around. I didn’t buy any, but I know some that did and I’ll report back later today or tomorrow morning. Also, I won’t go into detail here about the “turn-around”. In essence you take your passport and customs form… get off the ship and wisk through customs… wait a while and get a new card… and get back on the ship. But don’t worry, they give you a clearly written, detailed set of instructions the night before. Even this morning in my present state of sleep deprivation fog I was able to follow it.

 

 

 

 

cruisegirl2005... I know for certain that Ron will be here through BC6. (I'm booked on that too.) I will confirm with him tonight on beyond that. I'll answer your other questions later tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

On a personal note… where are my kids? I fully expect you to check in with me here from time to time. You may all be barely old enough for me to go off without you, but I still expect you to check in from time to time.

 

(Hummm… this last paragraph was intended to get a little “tee-hee” from those people that know me. But… I better explain. Otherwise I get flamed for leaving kids alone. You see, “The Woman to Blame” and I had kids when we were barely more than babes in arms. They have all been on their own for a bit of time now. They quit obeying… and/or listening to me a long time ago. Of course all of them quit obeying and paying attention when they were barely into their teens, but that’s a different set of stories. I love you kids.

 

So… now it’s time to get back to the cruisin’ stuff.

 

Oh… I almost forgot. I posted another set of pics over on KokomoManToo. These are of the 6M cabin that I’m in for this sailing.

 

More later…

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

 

 

 

Yes, our "quick" turnaround was 2 hours and 15 minutes. (from the 9:30am posted meeting time in the Ovation Lounge to the time we stepped back onboard the ship)

 

We have never had this before ... not even when there were almost as many B2Bers on the Splendor out of Ft Lauderdale.

 

But that is not the norm...it is usually literally 15 minutes.....

 

As for the alcohol...you simply purchase it after 7pm on the last night and they let you take it back to your cabin.

 

On this 2 day cruise, they were letting everyone take their liquor immediately THE ENTIRE CRUISE...woo hoo....because it was only a 2 day.

[LHP]

I wonder what's causing the delay for departure. Still in port.

 

They were loading the majority of their supplies...

 

folks were asking why they did not do this on the 2 day....but then remembered...that was Thanksgiving Day....

and of course Wednesday was way to busy with inspections etc to handle that kind of onload of supplies....

[LHP]

Day 3

 

 

My intent today was to get up reasonably early. It’s nice to spend a little quiet time in the morning… sip on a little fresh coffee… and see if the chair hogs are still coming out. Carnival is attempting to minimize the chair hogs (a daunting task) and I want to report to you how that’s going. Last night when I turned off the lights to go to bed I opened the curtains wide open so that the daylight today would wake me up. Well, I think it must not have become daylight until almost 11 A.M.

 

Lots of you know that I like to eat my breakfast out by the pool. By the time I got there most of the tables were taken. All the good ones were long gone. On this ship there’s a lot of picnic tables instead of regular tables and chairs. It feels like there are fewer tables around the perimeter of the main pool than on other ships. I think they have made more room for deck chairs at the expense of the number of tables.

 

There seems to be a shortage of chairs to go with the tables. I know they start out with the seemingly appropriate number of chairs. Invariably there are tables with no chairs or maybe just one. Perhaps some extra chairs in the area would be a good thing. Oh… and there are a few rude people who will just take the table a chair away without asking. Any time I don’t need a chair, it if some one asks I’ll gladly let them take it. When they don’t ask I holler that it’s saved… even if I don’t need it.

 

When there are announcements from the bridge, all around the main pool area, the ship's PA comes out all garbled. This morning when the Cap-i-tan came on to give his spiel, I couldn’t understand a word he said. At first I thought that it was just his Italizied English. But immediately after that the cruise director, Butch, came on to make his announcements. Now Butch speaks in clear perfect English… well that is if you think Americanized English can ever be perfect. Anyway, I couldn’t understand a word Butch said either. I presume we didn’t sink.

 

At the beginning of the 2 day cruise I mentioned how good the internet was. It still is. And the price for the 8 day is $119 for the whole eight day cruise... and it is unlimited access. In almost every “Live From…” I’ve written in the past I “pissed and moaned” about the internet. This time they have it right. In my opinion, they have it more than right. This is the “head and shoulders” above any other cruise I’ve taken. My hat’s off to Carnival.

 

One of the differences on this ship compared to the other Carnival ships I’ve been on is the aft pool is more airy. It does not have one of those domes that can be covered in bad weather. If it rains or is cold the area will be a ghost town. But the designers (or beards) at Carnival seem to have used the space taken up by the moveable top to provide a larger area. I think I like this one better, but then it’s been beautiful weather since … ready for it… beautiful weather since Day 0. (Tee Hee... I got to put in another one.)

 

Another change they’ve made to the aft pool area is that it is no longer an adults only area. Today there were kids in the pool and the hot tub back there. I don’t care, but I suspect there may be some that won’t like it… but then there are some that don’t like Chocolate Melting Cake.

 

One other change in the pool areas… maybe good, maybe mad… is that they have done away with is the live entertainment by the main pool. They now have a DJ. In recent history, they’ve had one of those one or two man bands that played “island music”. I always like these… especially when they had a steel drum player. But these DJs are pretty good and bring a lot of “energy” to the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have one teeny-tiny complaint… and this is really tiny. Over the past few weeks as I was anticipating this cruise, I had worked up my own frozen concoction to help me hang on. I worked on it very carefully so I thought it would be well received by lots of people. I dreamed up a very clever name that I thought up would be good too. I planned to enter it into the “Master Mixology” contest. You know… the deal where a customers “brew” would be available at all of the bars throughout the ship for the rest of the cruise. I wanted my “brew” available, but most importantly I figure that this is my best chance to win a coveted ship on a stick.

 

Well, I looked through all of the mountains of paper they give you about the goings on throughout the ship. I checked the fun times and there was nothing. I double checked… I triple checked. But there was nothing in anything about the “Master Mixology” contest. So I figured that it was another of those changes Carnival makes from time to time. So there I was sitting out by the pool, and they set up a table and the “Master Mixology” contest started. Some how I had missed it. I suppose that I could have asked, but then… I’m just a guy.

Now that I didn’t win a ship on a stick, I’m gonna go eat worms.

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

 

 

 

I usually enter as well and I too looked high and low ....and missed it....

[LizaMM]

I usually enter as well and I too looked high and low ....and missed it....

 

I was just looking at the Fun Times posted by another cruise critic member on this cruise and apparently it is NOT called Master Mixology but it looks like they had something called Red Frog vs Blue Iguana as the title for the sign up which seemed to be the same thing but a "rename"

[Buffettfan 225]

Are you from Kokomo Indiana? Especially since you were a Design Engineer--DH spent 15+ yrs up there. Never know if it is a small world