Incredibly Long Breeze NYE cruise review Dec. 30/12-Jan. 5/13.

[pinkiesue]

Love reading your review and the pics.

[rhcpchika1]

I am loving the review! I must go work before I continue onto page 2. LOVE the smallness of the pics.

[bluenoser2]

I love your humor and writing skills. Hilarious! Will you be posting pictures of you and your family?

eegads. You don't want that! But thanks for liking the review. I have a blast getting to do it. If I could just go on more cruises.....

[KPfromCT]

I am loving the review! I must go work before I continue onto page 2. LOVE the smallness of the pics.

 

Whats wrong with the HUGE pictures?:o:o

[bluenoser2]

DH and I, gracious and generous dictators that we are, allowed everyone a sleep-in day so they could sleep and eat whenever and wherever they wanted. We enjoyed a quiet breakfast on Lido with our huge burritos, and our waiters from MDR calling to us from afar, and chatting. Hardly anyone was up and about and those that were, including the crew, looked relaxed and refreshed.

 

Once we met up with the others, DH and DD15 hit the rope course. She`s a brave soul that one – because it`s not in her nature. DD17 bravely watched from below – well, SOMEONE had to take pictures, right? And ...uh...someone ...uh...had to hold the bag...yeah, that’s it. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

 

Following all that courage, the girls headed for the safety of their room, and DH, to the adventure of Waterworks. Again, Sacrifice being my middle name, I offered to hold his things and reserve him a little spot on my little plastic bench area, armed with camera and great bunches of enthusiastic support for his endeavour.

 

(what DH does on a sea day)

 

(What I do.)

 

He tried both big water slides once, had enough, and decided to go in search of a lounger in the sun. I decided to go in search of everyone else, and once found, 4 of us (bravely, of course) accepted the challenge of a mini-golf game. Papa won handily, but he is the Patriarch – unfortunately, we didn’t have the Family Trophy to honour him with (again, Carry-on luggage, and yes, there actually is a trophy...somewhere in Canada), but we know in our hearts who sucks at golf.

 

 

For lunch we decided to try something we hadn’t experienced yet, the pasta bar up in Capucino del Capitano. Going up those steps is like finding a secret place in the ship. Now, granted, most of the people on the ship had apparently only just finished breakfast, judging by the looks of the buffet area moments before, but still – there was hardly anyone up there – and it was so beautiful – love the chandelier up there. The hostess was the same one from the MDR and when she saw DH she grinned and said, “Table 281?” We enjoyed the pasta (I think The Son checked off every possible meat/protein to put on his pasta), the Caesar Salad was great, and so was the bread. And we could justify how much we ate because after all, we walked up that little flight of stairs, right?

 

We attended the completely underwhelming Ice Carving demo and stayed for Miss Carnival Breeze Contest, not because we were interested, but I had just found one of those really comfy chairs up on the 11th deck. I really like all the different seating areas on the upper decks. They’re colourful and comfortable.

 

After the Hasbro Game Show, the girls and I galloped (wait maybe that was waddled...got my animals mixed up for a minute there) to Tea Time at the other end of the ship. This time we were shown to a table for 3 right by the aft window. Lovely, sunshiney and a perfect spot. It must be rough being the waiter with the sorry little cucumber sandwiches. No one wants his offerings – we’re all really just trying to be polite while we look past him at the cart with the cakes and sweets on it. It must be drawing the short straw really, to have to be that server. Being famished as we so often were (not) on this cruise, we had our priorities. The little pots of dark chocolate mousse – creamy deliciousness. The scones – neither creamy or delicious. And if someone knows the name of those little chocolate meringue things that kind of look like whoopie pies, please tell me – because calling them the little chocolate meringue whoopie pie things just takes too long.

 

Deciding I had enough time before having to do all those massive preparations I would be doing before going to Elegant Night, I found a purple/grey lounger on Deck 5 in the sunshine.....not as comfy as some of the other seats, but unique, yes. I thought some kid from the hot tub was shaking their hair out over me after 10 minutes, but then I opened my eyes, and realized that while it was still sunny, it was also raining. At this time the guys were up front taking a pic of a beautiful rainbow. I was just getting wet. Happily so, but wet nevertheless.

 

 

When you travel with only a little luggage, you get creative with Elegant Night. DH and The Son traded ties, and voila, new outfits were born. And of course, once again, we tormented photographers by going and doing not one, not two, but by the time the evening was over, 3 photo shoots. “Girls – hug your brother”.....”uh...they NEVER hug their brother”.....”they do NOW.”

 

(right before The Son fell over....)

 

Dinner was as enjoyable as ever. Everyone but me showed their Maritime Canadian roots and were delightedly ordering the corn chowder. I guess I’m STILL from away, even after all these years. (I put that in for my fellow Maritimers – you’ll know what I’m talking about.) Hendro brought over a brain teaser puzzle for DD17 to do and she was delighted to know the answer to it – impressing him, and us with her cognitive power.

 

We attended the comedian’s family show, but he was really not funny at all, which was too bad because the comedians are sometimes a highlight of our evening! Fortunately, we are able to make enough comedy on our own to compensate. Like going to the ice-cream station, where the kids and Papa do their self-serve ice-cream, and are happily enjoying their cones, when DD15 points at the machine and notices that there’s quite a pile of dark chocolate ice-cream ...uh...piling up there. We look at everyone, and sure enough, Papa is the only one eating dark chocolate, which he hurriedly finishes to get rid of the evidence, just as another guest walks by and completely turns off the switch, that hadn’t quite made it to “off”.

[cruisecluestoo]

This is just soooooooo much fun to read . Thanks again

[rhcpchika1]

You are OFFICIALLY cracking me up!

 

And PS-

Small pictures load easier when one is at work on CC :)

[bluenoser2]

You’ll remember me saying that we don’t get out much. So all the viewpoints expressed in this tale are from the vantage of a newbie to every port, and the ship too for that matter. When I read that many people stay on board for the Nassau port, I couldn’t understand that because I had seen such pretty pictures of it online and in my head. Don’t get me wrong – there were plenty of pretty places; they just weren’t all lined up in a row like I imagined them.

 

DH and I were up before the ship docked at 7:00 a.m. so we went up to “Secret Deck 10” for our own private view of the approach. Once docked, the birds delighted in trying to scoff scraps from the balcony gawkers, indeed snagging a few Pringles chips from the outstretched hand of one brave soul. (I had already used up my bravery quota as you recall, so didn’t feel compelled to hold my unwanted granola bars out for them. )

 

Breakfast was a somber affair – “our last breakfast in the dining room....”, “we’ll never order here again....” – you get the picture. DD15 sheepishly ordered Lucky Charms (“I can’t imagine anyone ELSE ordering this on the ship” she said quietly...) and once that was done, eaten and we were full (again ..... does ordering and eating melon counteract ordering hash browns, sausages, and sampling the scrambled eggs? - And wow, those are strange scrambled eggs indeed! “I liked them....” said DD17, “ick” replied DD15.)

 

I digress, again, as usual. We departed to our self-guided walking tour of Nassau – many thanks to the Nassau forum on CC for supplying us with this online before we left home. Keeping in mind the don’t get out much policy, you can imagine the looks on our kids’ faces as we navigated our way between, around and through the taxi drivers vying for our fares. Looking longingly back at the ship they had learned to call home, we soldiered on and saw some of Nassau. Disney Dream was already docked, and later the Norwegian Epic and Carnival Sensation would round out our happy little port.

 

I don’t think I see as many Canadian banks at home as I did that morning in Nassau. And when we walked through the Governor ‘s compound, we saw one very sorry looking Christmas tree – surprised to find that it was donated from Halifax Nova Scotia, as a long standing tradition. It wouldn’t have been sorry looking when it first came, but the idea of Christmas tree needing water OUTSIDE to survive in December/January, was an interesting thought for us.

 

 

We found the people of Nassau incredibly polite, and as we were walking towards the Queen's Staircase, they were shouting out directions, without us asking for them. Even the lady who had every right to be irritated by all 6 of us standing on the sidewalk unintentionally blocking her way, simply said, "Excuse me please......Good morning!"

 

 

 

 

What was that? Did I hear teenagers complaining about the heat? Shame. Shame. We’ll have no more of that. After dragging them around several streets not on the walking tour (accidentally), we ended our journey at the straw market which gave them quite a fright. This is not how we shop at the mall at home, this is not how the staff at the stores at home ignore us......we quickly got the girls their souvenirs and got them safely back to the ship, before DH and I returned to shop on our own. Everyone enjoyed that. Lunch in the buffet, and another puzzle from Hendro for DD17. This one stumped her, and when we met again later, she stormed into our room saying “Hendro is a MeanyPants.” (There’s nothing like a 17 year old using that kind of language to get a parent’s dander up.) Tasting revenge, she sought solace with her father, who assured her he would get Meanypants back.

 

 

 

Yes, it was time for the final installment of entertainment of our cruise. Was it the waterworks? No. Was it one of the pubs? Nay. How about a comedian or a line-dance class? Nope. You guessed it; it was time to go collect all our glossy photos from the racks. It became quite a game – who can find the picture of The Son with the lady with fruit on her head first? Actually, it was just DH and I doing this, and after we had successfully collected all the pics, disposing of many along the way, our DDs arrived, out of breath, worried looks on their face, starting to say...”we can’t find ANY of the pictures of us ANYWH............what’s that? YOU’VE got them?” Oh how we laughed. In that evil kind of way.

 

 

 

Indeed, MeanyPants met his match when DH presented him with a puzzle that had ALL the waiters at their station stumped. We called it a draw, showed the answers all around and everyone was happy. I even saw a little mistiness in the girls’ eyes as they now realized who their favourite waiters EVER are. Hard to say goodbye. (You can sing it, I know you can – get your opera voices out.) The crab cake – best app of my week, and there were chocolate melting cakes all around except for DH and me who are suckers for soufflés.

 

 

We attended Latin Nights which was pretty decent, but we still chose The Brits as our favourite. Well, then it was time to go and start packing. Sigh. Time to throw out all the art auction papers we had collected during the week, time to find something creative to do with the gratis Breathe Right Strips in the bathroom, time to guzzle the remaining pop we brought on board. Time to cram it all into the same bags we brought, and, time to sigh.

 

Stay tuned, tomorrow, the wrap up. Thanks for staying with me. I hope this review has helped with anyone who has a bout of insomnia.....it’s an indulgent piece of work on my part , thanks for all your encouraging comments!

[Mrs.C05]

Marla, I love your review and family sense of humor. I certainly hope you get to go on another cruise, just so I can read another review of yours. Haha!

[Prairie_Gal]

Great review! I loved it!

[bluenoser2]

Wait a minute......how did I get day 7 on a 6 day cruise? You work it out. I’m tired.

 

DH and I awoke around 5:30 or 6:00, while it was still dark, and he opened the curtains to the most amazing skyline floating by our window! OK, admittedly, WE were the ones floating by the Miami skyline, but it was really impressive to us! As amazing as that was, it was even more amazing that DD17 did not need to be heralded with trumpets to wake up – she was actually ready before we were. Breakfast in the buffet, and we were actually ready to depart by 7:30 a.m. though we had booked QLS shuttle service to FLL for 9:00. We had just sailed through customs and had entered reality again, when DH’s phone beeped and it was QLS confirming us. When we replied that we were just coming out of the building, they said great, we’ve got someone there; we can take you right now. So we ended up at FLL airport by 8:30! For our 1:00 flight! You don’t need to know the story of our flights home – no first class this way, but no problems either. Well, there was that one incident on that smaller plane from La Guardia to Halifax, where just after boarding, when The Son got up to trade seats with someone else, he banged his head on that low overhead bin, bit his lip in the process, and started bleeding all over his face. But, aside from DD15 saying (loudly) “hey Dad – he’s bleeding all over the place!”, it was managed well by the flight attendant, who was thanked profusely by The Son once he stopped holding napkins up to his mouth. We were a tired but happy lot after a wonderful vacation. Not as happy to see the snow, or hear the word “minus” when the temperature was announced, and definitely not as happy to see all the snow covering our vehicle in the parking lot, but it was worth it.

 

Would we do it again? Not at that time of the year. Once was enough I think, but our reasons for not doing it again only have to do with the cost of flights, and the anxiety over weather for getting to the port. Next cruise....just DH and me..... 30th anniversary in 2014 and we’re already starting to plan for that one. It would be lovely to do another in 2013, but that 6 day cruise that covered 2012 and 2013.....shucks, we've already done one in each year, that didn't work!

 

Thanks for reading to the end, those of you who slogged through the whole thing! See you next time, wherever, and whenever we meet on a thread!

[desperatehousewife]

Awesome review!

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[Merc]

Great review Marla, you have such a great sense of humor!

[bumorgan]

Thanks again for a witty and humorous review.:)

[Mizzouaholic]

Great review!

[sallyb]

Thanks so much. I loved every episode!

[terri-eddie]

We're in Springhill...Anne Murray country. Lived in Middleton at one time, and Halifax.....and....don't get me started.

 

 

We're on the South Shore....near Yarmouth. Banana Belt...no snow here, feels more like April than January!

[terri-eddie]

Dinner was as enjoyable as ever. Everyone but me showed their Maritime Canadian roots and were delightedly ordering the corn chowder. I guess I’m STILL from away, even after all these years. (I put that in for my fellow Maritimers – you’ll know what I’m talking about.)

 

 

I've lived in this community over twenty years, and I'm still "from away"!

[got2shop]

lalalaLUv'd reading about your vacation w/u&ur family Marla, what a great trip you all had! Im bummed ur trip is over cuz I was loving reading ur updates!! lol Until we meet again on a thread..... ;)

[bluenoser2]

I know I said I was done with this review, but DH just read it, and said it was fine except for one thing. (Of course.)

 

So, lest you think I am directionally challenged (I am) or just plain mean, and in case anyone was actually paying attention, when I said "go left" in Grand Turk, I meant (of course) "go right".

 

There. I feel much better getting that out there. Now I'll be able to sleep tonight. I hope no one actually took notes on that part of the thread, and is somewhere on the left side of the pier in Grand Turk cursing my name, aimlessly looking for a conch shell.

[Fullmoon59]

That was an amazing review! I think you should start writing books LOVE the humor and love the description and even your rationale for just about everything! LOVE IT! See you tomorrow!!!!! :)

p.s. what's wrong with corn chowder!!! LOL

[Talex831]

I loved this and am sad I've come to the end! Great writing!

[sallyb]

Thanks for a great read and you have helped me to pass the time, only two weeks til my turn!:)