Crystal & Darren's 1-5-13 "Breezin' Through the Southern Caribbean" Review!

[bucks724]

Mad woman is right! So after we sailed away, we went to our room to unpack and met our steward, Jose. He introduced himself a Jose but had a different name tag on. He said he lost his uniform and he would have the correct one on Sunday or he'd be in big trouble. I asked him for extra washcloths and a bucket to keep ice in. He quickly brought back a bucket and informed his assistants that they were to provide extra washcloths. That lasted all of about 10 minutes. As soon as we showered after turndown, we were calling to get more for our face washing in the morning.

 

We were in the Blush dining room for the early seating. The first night's food was pretty blah, and all other nights seemed to follow suit. The first night, I had the vegetable spring rolls

 

 

Followed by the panko crusted shrimp on noodles.

 

 

Darren had some type of tilapia and he said it was tasty

 

 

It was just okay. I wasn't really feeling it, so I nibbled at both until everyone was finished.

 

We hit the cabin pretty early on the first night. We had a long morning and we were ready to just relax and unwind (and the 3-4 Miami Vices I had didn't help matters any!).

 

We peeked in on one of the MANY (and awesome) Love Souljaz concerts on Deck 5 Mid (Ocean Plaza), and then I hit the casino to feed the hungry machines for a little while (don't worry - I budget my money per day and I am more afraid of losing it than I am excited about the prospect of winning!).

 

Love Souljaz performing:

 

 

Casino shot:

 

 

After losing about $20, I had enough and dropped by to hear Ron on the piano for a bit. He's as good as everyone says! I didn't stay for long because it was standing room only.

 

One note about the casino: It is divided between smoking and non-smoking. I was sick over the Christmas holiday. Just a bad cold/sinus type thing. I was perfectly fine when I got on the ship. No coughing, no runny nose, etc. I went into the casino on the non-smoking side and I was okay. But then I had a hard time finding quarter slot machines and ventured over to the smoking side (which, by the way, is the only place you can play table games) and IMMEDIATELY lost my voice. This lasted for a day, then I went BACK in the casino and it just kept happening. Even on the non-smoking side.

 

I thought the ventilation was a little "off" - for instance, our cabin would be at the middle marking (between red and blue) and it would be comfortable, then 10 minutes later, it would be freezing. We'd leave the room, the sun would go down, and we'd return to the room BOILING hot. It seemed to happen in the Lido Marketplace and hallways, as well. And there was one elevator that seemed to have HEAT blowing on us. With our luck, it was always the one we got!

 

Next up: Sunday (Sea Day)

[jacksmom09]

Great review! Can't wait for more!

[chelmich]

Hello everyone! My name is Darren and this is my third Carnival cruise. I had an awesome time cruising on the Carnival Breeze with my wife and daughter. The Breeze traveled to Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, Curacao, and Aruba. I can honestly say that thoroughly enjoyed every port on the cruise.

[Mrs.C05]

Hello everyone! My name is Darren and this is my third Carnival cruise. I had an awesome time cruising on the Carnival Breeze with my wife and daughter. The Breeze traveled to Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, Curacao, and Aruba. I can honestly say that thoroughly enjoyed every port on the cruise.

 

You're "Mad Woman" wife has taken over.....so is this your first, last and only post? ;):D

Glad to see another tandem review.

[bucks724]

You're "Mad Woman" wife has taken over.....so is this your first, last and only post? ;):D

Glad to see another tandem review.

 

Clearly, he's a man of few words. Or maybe his wife talks so much that he never gets a word in! LOL

 

He promises to post more, if he can stop working from home and watching ESPN. He's got a lot of catching up to do!

[bucks724]

Sunday (Sea Day)

 

I went to bed the night before wishing I had skipped the MDR and opted for a Guy's Burger. So I slept in as much as I could, then hit the Lido deck for a burger and some of those lovely fries I'd been hearing about. They are as good as described, and then some.

 

The line was long (but quick), and they would willingly make you a specialty burger on the menu, or just give you a plain burger and 5 fries to do your own toppings on. Word of advice: ask for extra fries. They literally give you 5.

 

My burgers (I won't disclose how many I had during the week!) were always topped with: caramelized onions, a little crumbled bacon, a few tortilla shreds, a tomato slice, shredded lettuce and a dab of mayo.

 

Here's one of my "creations"

 

 

Since it was a Sea Day, Jimmy's C-Side BBQ was open, and Darren loves all that kind of food, so he went to the Lanai and stood in the mile long line to get his fix.

 

 

And clearly started eating before I got a picture!

 

We relaxed a bit before Cruise Elegant night, but then realized that the Redskins/Seahawks game was being broadcast on the Lido big screen. As I stated before, my family is all "DMV", so guess what happened? We skipped elegant night (no lobster for us that night) and had a cheering section up on Deck 11.

 

We did have an interloper. LW (my friend Danica's husband) is a DIE HARD Dallas Cowboys fan (for shame!) and decided that he had to represent his team, so he came out in his pajamas to show his team spirit!

 

 

Earlier that day, we met a couple named Doug and Kelly from Rochester and hung out with them quite a bit. Doug is also a die hard Skins fan, so they skipped dinner and joined us as well. Doug (who has never lived anywhere but in NY) put our cheering section to shame. He's what you call a CRAZY fan!

 

As you know, the Skins lost, so Doug went off pouting to his cabin, and we all followed suit so we could wake up early for Grand Turk.

 

Which will be the next post!

[bucks724]

Monday - Grand Turk

 

After reading on CC about all the cruises on the Breeze that missed Grand Turk, I was a bit nervous. I like to do an excursion every other day just to have a little history or adventure, but also build in a few beach/relaxation days. Grand Turk was going to be a relaxation day for us since we couldn't get a golf cart from Nathan.

 

We arrived in Grand Turk before the sun was fully awake, and I watched us pull in from the balcony.

 

 

We went so slow that I was worried for a while, but then all of a sudden, without hearing any announcement, I saw people disembarking. So we hit the elevators and did the same.

 

We got a little welcome to the island

 

 

 

Chaya decided to be silly with some Patron even though she had no idea what it was

 

 

Then Darren held his dream bottle of Grey Goose

 

 

And finally, we walked through Margaritaville to get a spot on the beach to do some relaxing in the shade and let the girls in the water to swim

 

[bucks724]

We sat for a bit, swam a little, took in the scenery, and when it was around 11, headed down the beach for a local beer from this little place

 

 

 

and then got some jerk chicken at Jack's Shack

 

 

and what trip to Jack's is complete without a little Sandy V*****? It actually came highly recommended by our server, who couldn't even bring herself to say the name of the drink!

 

 

Jack's menu:

 

[bucks724]

My parents don't eat ANYTHING with flavor. No onions, no garlic, no spices. It was a huge surprise when they joined us at Jack's, tried our food, and then ordered some of their own!

 

 

Of course, their granddaughter is EVER the gourmet:

 

 

But we love her

 

 

So we took in the view from Jack's for a little bit longer

 

 

And made our way back to Margaritaville, collected our stuff from the family that was watching it, and surprisingly, there were still chairs available in the shade. We got in the water for a bit, did some shopping, and then headed back to the ship.

 

We skipped the MDR that night and opted for some pizza from Pizza Pirate (HUGE improvement!).

 

We hit the family friendly comedy show that night in the Limelight Lounge and then headed out to the Lido to watch the National Championship. Chaya is a HUGE ND fan, so she was mad, stunned, crushed and just generally pissed that Notre Dame lost. But she got over it quickly. She's still sad that Manti Te'o didn't win his last college game. :(

[Delta Dear]

I'm glad I had dinner before looking at the food porn. I can't wait to have a Guy's Burger.

Sorry to hijack this thread slightly, but I have to ask.

Is your screen name, Bucks724 for the OSU Buckeyes ? Since you flew out of Columbus, I would assume so ! Go Bucks !!

I graduated from OSU in 1964 so you know I am a Buckeye fan. I'll be in your town in a few weeks. Looking forward to seeing old friends from those good old days.

Loving your review.

[Jayfo]

Keep it coming! I'm loving the review & pics!!

[bucks724]

I'm glad I had dinner before looking at the food porn. I can't wait to have a Guy's Burger.

Sorry to hijack this thread slightly, but I have to ask.

Is your screen name, Bucks724 for the OSU Buckeyes ? Since you flew out of Columbus, I would assume so ! Go Bucks !!

I graduated from OSU in 1964 so you know I am a Buckeye fan. I'll be in your town in a few weeks. Looking forward to seeing old friends from those good old days.

Loving your review.

 

I may be smart, funny, and even witty at times, but creative, I'm not. Bucks724 is absolutely for the OSU Buckeyes. My alma mater. And 724 is, you guessed it, my birthday! I'm a 2004 grad (should have been a 1995 grad, but that's another story for another time - long story short, I like to do things backwards sometimes!

[bucks724]

Tuesday - La Romana, Dominican Republic

 

I will preface this post by saying there will be MINIMAL pictures for this port. Sorry! But there's a good reason and I might be able to make it right later.

 

I heard on CC and elsewhere that DR was the port you stayed on the ship for, it was unsafe, unclean, etc.

 

Well, like I said before, I like an excursion every other day. Grand Turk didn't have much, nor did Curacao. So I chose to do things in DR and Aruba. DR is one port that I would definitely suggest a guided tour of some sort if you choose the leave the ship.

 

There were a couple of things that caught my eye, but Danica is deathly afraid of walking and swimming in the ocean, so we were limited in our choices somewhat. I saw an excursion through Carnival for $99 per person that took you to Isla Saona - it looked like heaven. I read the reviews and it sounded like heaven. But then one review caught my eye. It mentioned "another excursion" that went to the same island, but also had food included. Hmmm. We would be there at lunch time, right?

 

So upon further reading on CC and Trip Advisor, I found Seavis Tours. For $80 ($15 for a round trip taxi ride to Bayahibe and $65 for the boat ride to Isla Saona and the buffet), you had the time of your life!

 

I went online and reserved Seavis. Luckily, you pay when you arrive, so I had time to back out. See, my BIGGEST fear is getting left by the ship. So I usually don't do excursions that aren't through Carnival. Unless it's a taxi to a beach and back. Then I have control over when I leave.

 

So this was hard for me. 45 minutes by BOAT to another ISLAND meant I couldn't just hail a taxi and get back. But I had 8 others with me, plus a credit card and our passports. So off we went.

 

I am SO glad I did it! We took a 45 minute (or so) speedboat ride (thrilling) to the island, seeing some sites and getting some island history on the way. We arrived at Isla Saona, and were told lunch would be ready soon. We were served unlimited water, Coke, Sprite and Rum & soda. When lunch was ready, there was chicken, pork chops, pasta, Dominican rice, potatoes, fruit and bread.

 

There were vendors giving massages on the beach, free chairs and sunbathing mats, and several little crafty vendors that you could visit.

 

Shortly after we ate, it was time to go. We took a short ride to the Piscina, a natural swimming pool in the middle of the ocean. There is a large population of starfish there, and you can pick them up! We stayed there for a bit, learned about starfish, and then were served MORE rum (mixed with OJ this time) and some sort of cake. Then it was time to go.

 

Funny story: when I booked, I was told we'd arrive back in Bayahibe at 3:15, I said "no, I need to be at the SHIP by 3:00. They may have thought I was an idiot. They were talking local time, not ship time. So we arrived back in Bayahibe at 3:15, and got to La Romana at 3:45, but it was still 45 minutes early!

 

We went to the Dufry shop and bought some of the Dominican rum they served us at the Piscina, and then went back to the ship.

 

Now for the sad part: Someone did actually miss the ship. The story varies from 2 people to 3 people to 5 people. I am not sure which it is. But Chaya came running into our room and told us to look outside, and when we did, we saw several people huddled around. Apparently a man missed the ship and was going to jump in behind it to try to stop it or something. And apparently, there was a female behind him and some said she was carrying a baby. I thought about them the remainder of the week since that's my biggest fear on a cruise and I hope they made it home (or to another port) safely.

[bucks724]

La Romana - continued

 

I got a bit of a sunburn on Isla Saona and the speedboat (shame on me for not wearing sunscreen!) on my arms only, but they were stinging and starting to itch. So I decided to take it easy that night.

 

We decided to try out the MDR again.

 

Not a good idea - again.

 

I had the Smoked Chicken Quesadilla. It was good. But I think GAPearl said it best when she said it was lacking in the chicken department. I remember saying "this is a pretty darn good black bean quesadilla". And it was. No biggie. I like black beans.

 

 

Food is SO difficult to photograph, by the way!

 

Anywho, Darren's tilapia came with a small side of macaroni and cheese, which he gave to me because I wasn't fond of my shrimp on the first night. So I decided nothing looked appealing on the menu, so I asked our server, Osman, if I could order macaroni and cheese as an entree.

 

I got it. And it was HORRIBLE.

 

 

Chaya had the pasta - it was some red sauce with some kind of seafood in it. She ordered it plain (just noodles and sauce). Here's her meal:

 

 

Either of us ate much. Not impressed. But we stayed for the show.

 

Ken has a great voice, and Osman and Edi (his assistant) have some moves!

 

 

And of course, I had to try to Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. I don't really like chocolate, but since I clearly had calories to burn on this meal alone (haha), I decided to try it. I will preface this by saying that I sell for a direct sales company and we have a product similar to this, so I also tried it to see if it was as good as my product.

 

I give it a 7 out of 10. It was slightly overcooked. Not quite as good as mine, but this one was prepared FOR me, so that made it better automatically (at least for that day!)

 

 

Darren, the cheesecake fanatic, had the cheesecake, and then off we went.

 

 

Grease was playing on the big screen that night, so we went to watch and then decided to try Bonsai around 10:30. Holy YUM!

 

$4 for a California roll. It comes with 8 pieces and is definitely enough for a single person's meal or for 2 to share as a snack. And the service is really good there. They also offer complimentary green tea and steamed edamame!

[lbfluffy]

Awesome review. Love the food pictures. We went on Splendor this past December and I ordered the chocolate melting cake because it has always been my favorite. For some reason it just didn't taste right either. I felt it was too rich. Guess I wasn't into it.

[h0mbr3]

I traveled and roomed with my husband (39) and daughter (15). We had a triple balcony cabin on Lido - 10256. In our group were: my friend Danica (39), her husband, LW (47) and their daughter, Kassidy (13) in 10258; Leonard (67) and Brenda (70), my parents, in 10262; Bobby (72) and Connie (50-something), my uncle and his girlfriend, in 10264; and Doris (70 - my mom's high school BFF) and her husband, Jerry (70), in 10266.

 

Loving this review! I have a question though. Did your friend Danica or your parents have any noise issues with their cabin locations? The reason why I ask is because my family and I will be in room 10260 in May! Thanks!

[Larielaren]

Last post and then I really need to get some work done, but a little bit of info for background sake:

I traveled and roomed with my husband (39) and daughter (15). We had a triple balcony cabin on Lido - 10256. In our group were: my friend Danica (39), her husband, LW (47) and their daughter, Kassidy (13) in 10258; Leonard (67) and Brenda (70), my parents, in 10262; Bobby (72) and Connie (50-something), my uncle and his girlfriend, in 10264; and Doris (70 - my mom's high school BFF) and her husband, Jerry (70), in 10266.

We also had a large group of family with us staying in all other areas of the ship, including several aunts, cousins, my sister and her husband, my brother-in-law's sister, etc. A total of at least 70.

We do this trip every other January in the odd years, typically in the same week. The next trip is being selected now, just to give you an idea of how it works.

Danica's family and my family are all from Ohio. Bobbie and Connie live in Colorado Springs, CO, and the rest of our group is from the DC/MD/VA area (which is home to everyone but Danica's family).

 

Would live to see pics of the room! My husband and I are in 10276 in the 3/2/13 sailing! (44 days and counting!)

[Breezy72]

Great review and pix!:)

We're huge sushi fans and glad to hear Bonsai is good. Not too many reports on it.....

BTW: still chuckling a little over your burger toppings at Guy's since that's exactly what I foresee my son eating all week long!:p

[bucks724]

Awesome review. Love the food pictures. We went on Splendor this past December and I ordered the chocolate melting cake because it has always been my favorite. For some reason it just didn't taste right either. I felt it was too rich. Guess I wasn't into it.

 

Chocolate typically makes me sick to my stomach, and I really only like dark and white, but occasionally, I'll try something because I've heard great things about it. I wondered if the "formula" had changed this time when I tried it, because it wasn't what I thought it would be after reading the reviews on here. I had it another time when I decided to skip dinner and stay for the company, and I will say - it measured up to my expectations more (although I still only ate about 5 bites and there was more ice cream than cake on the spoon!).

[bucks724]

I traveled and roomed with my husband (39) and daughter (15). We had a triple balcony cabin on Lido - 10256. In our group were: my friend Danica (39), her husband, LW (47) and their daughter, Kassidy (13) in 10258; Leonard (67) and Brenda (70), my parents, in 10262; Bobby (72) and Connie (50-something), my uncle and his girlfriend, in 10264; and Doris (70 - my mom's high school BFF) and her husband, Jerry (70), in 10266.

 

Loving this review! I have a question though. Did your friend Danica or your parents have any noise issues with their cabin locations? The reason why I ask is because my family and I will be in room 10260 in May! Thanks!

 

10260 was my original cabin, but once Danica got 10258 and the TA saw that it was a $600 price difference between 10260 and 10256, she asked if I wanted to move (can I get a big fat HECK YEAH?!?!?!). That said, I was happy I moved, but only at ONE time. 10260 and 10262 are adjacent to the laundry facility. On the second sea day, it seemed like 1/3 of the ship congregated outside of my mom's door to wash their clothes. Not only was it slightly noisy, but it was also congested (I got a few looks when I walked to my mom's room with my laundry bag to ask her a question because I decided against washing when I saw the line). However, this was around 11 am, so it would probably not disturb you much.

The only other noise we noticed was on the last sea day - several kids and a couple of teenagers from 2 of the inside cabins decided that it would be a good idea to yell up and down the hall and play a game of hide and seek - slamming doors and all. I not so politely told them to keep it down. Other than that, NO noise that is really noticeable from the LOUD Lido deck - which still amazes me) or the lobby. But 10256 is directly across from the crew's access hallway, which was never a problem until the last night with luggage pick-up. They REALLY need to put some different hinges on those doors - it slammed ALL NIGHT LONG!

[bucks724]

Would live to see pics of the room! My husband and I are in 10276 in the 3/2/13 sailing! (44 days and counting!)

 

Believe it or not, that's probably the only thing I*didn't* photograph. I will say - the picture of the room online is completely accurate. The only thing I will say is that it seemed smaller than our last balcony on the Valor. It seemed like the couch, side table, bed and other side table were crammed in tightly, and the last side table before the window wasn't even flush with the wall. I remember there being a little space between each before, and the family does as well. And we also felt it was slightly narrower. But we maybe just didn't put as much stuff at the foot of the bed as last time! I'll see if any of the others have pictures of their cabins since we all stayed on Lido and if they do, I'll post them for you! Sorry about that.

[bucks724]

Great review and pix!:)

We're huge sushi fans and glad to hear Bonsai is good. Not too many reports on it.....

BTW: still chuckling a little over your burger toppings at Guy's since that's exactly what I foresee my son eating all week long!:p

 

Too funny! You know, that was just about all I ate on this cruise. Or so it seemed. I wasn't really impressed with the MDR selections and the Lido Marketplace was just weird and crowded. I am not usually a buffet fan, so I try to avoid them anyway because I get overwhelmed with choices and end up getting something silly.

I didn't hear a lot about Bonsai either, but it's definitely worth a try if you like rolls. I didn't try any of the other items - just the free edamame, the California Roll and the Tempura Roll. Let's just say that once I got the Tempura Roll, the California Roll was history. I never ordered it again! No picture of either roll either, sorry. I thought Darren had me covered on that, but he let me down! :)

[Purplehaze21]

I am enjoying reading your review! Its great and the pictures are

awesome!

 

We decided when we go to Grand Turk, we were going

to hang out at Margaritaville but after your pictures of

Jack's Shack, think we are changing our plans! The Jerk

Chicken looks amazing and I read the menu to my husband

and he wants to try the fish or Conch. :D

[rhcpchika1]

Are the food and drink prices in US prices? (For Jack's)

[bucks724]

I am enjoying reading your review! Its great and the pictures are

awesome!

 

We decided when we go to Grand Turk, we were going

to hang out at Margaritaville but after your pictures of

Jack's Shack, think we are changing our plans! The Jerk

Chicken looks amazing and I read the menu to my husband

and he wants to try the fish or Conch. :D

 

Jack's is quite the island place. Laid back. They didn't have the chicken ready when we got there - not even on the grill. We were told 30 minutes. Worth every second of the wait. They did not, however, have any conch that day. And at first we were told they didn't have fish, but then AFTER we ordered, they said their fresh fish of the day was Tilapia.

The first spot you come to before Jack's (Local Village, I think is the name), had both, and also gets good reviews.

 

Are the food and drink prices in US prices? (For Jack's)

 

US prices. But as you can see from the plates, it's plenty food for 2 people. They give you 2 pieces of chicken and quite a bit of fries. If you skip breakfast, you may be able to finish it (or if you just can't stop eating because it's so good like Darren!).

The price was decent for the food, but I thought a little much for the drink, until I tasted it. It was almost PURE alcohol. I definitely didn't need more than one! So $9 for that wasn't so bad since it wasn't watered down.

As a matter of fact, the only time we ever encountered a place charging other than US prices was Curacao, our next stop, and they just converted the price to US dollars and had change available in both currencies. We asked for our change in their currency because it was a little "souvenir" of sorts!