8 Days on the BREEZE: FlyingCruiserNJ's Southern Caribbean Vacation Review

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Enjoying your review ! We ate at the Steakhouse too, and I found my Rib Eye to be tough, DH had the Filet Mignon and said it was very good.. I had a steak on another night in the MDR (NY Strip) for the $ 20 up charge and it was much better...

 

As for the amenity basket, ours was empty too - I read here on CC that there's not always stuff in them, just when they have freebies to hand out..

 

I got the flat iron steak once and the NY strip once in the MDR, just off the regular menu and they were great both times. I think they actually offered the strip on the last sea day and it wasn't considered a steakhouse item but it was good. No upcharge that night but I know you can order steakhouse items in the MDR for $20 now. The meat quality wasn't quite as good nor was the seasoning but they weren't $35 worse if you know what I mean. The steakhouse was fine for what we paid in comparison to what it would cost on land but I would probably try a different cut of meat if I went there again in the future.

 

They have been gradually cutting back on the stuff they put in the amenity baskets but it just looks bad to see an empty one in the cabin when you first go into the room. I remember when they used to include a really nice men's and women's razor that we could use all throughout the cruise. Not a deal breaker but noticeable as was the mix-up with the chocolate delight we never got. If there's nothing to give out, they should just take the baskets out of the bathrooms for that cruise so people don't see an empty one in their cabin.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading and I will be coming back with my Curacao installment and pics shortly.

Edited October 20, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thanks for the review, am really enjoying reading about the Breeze. It is my favorite ship and hope to sail on her again soon.

 

Thanks for reading my review. I read a number of really lively Breeze reviews in the last year and a few of them pushed me to booking this cruise and this itinerary over a few other options I was considering previously. I don't know when I will get on the Breeze again as there are other ships I plan to sail and other itineraries but it sure is a lovely ship with lots and lots to do onboard.

[fofita01]

Just wanted to say that I'm anxiously awaiting for the next installment. :)

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Well, I'm finally back with yet another installment of my Carnival Breeze review from the September 27th 8-day southern sailing. Thank you all very much for your comments and for reading through my very lengthy and hopefully entertaining and informative review. This day will cover my experiences in the Dutch island of Curacao. So here goes.

DAY 6: CURACAO

I must say that Curacao was probably the best and nicest place we got to see on this vacation. Lots to do here and a lot of fun. I have tons of photos from this day and I will have to include them in multiple posts as I know there is a limit of how many pics I can put into one post so stay tuned for that. I won't put any pics in this post but I will do a few separate installations with just pictures. We were not scheduled for arrival until 1300 local time, so this was another day to just hang out in the morning.

I got up in plenty of time to get ready to watch our arrival to the island and snapped a cool photo of us on arrival to Curacao from my balcony as we were probably still about five miles out. We went upstairs to get a smorgasbord of lunch from the lido buffet and I believe I got some mongolian wok and a beef taco from the Cantina, which I must say wasn't very good at all. The mongolian wok was decent and I believe they had salmon as a meat option this day. I also got a few chicken fingers from the comfort food line to top everything off and a soda from the tides bar, aft. I have to say that now that this ship requires bartenders to swipe your s/s card every time you get a soda even with the bottomless bubbles program, the service has become way slower. Now you have to sign a printed receipt and if the bar is crowded, it takes extra time for the bartender to do all this and still get you your drink. Carnival should stop doing that. It's pointless and dumb and just a waste of paper.

Anyway, I do have another few comments that I forgot to make about my experiences in the first half of this vacation that I will talk about now. People have commented that the lido marketplace floors are slippery and oh yeah, they are. It's not because they are wet either. They aren't and if they do get wet, somebody cleans it up right away. It's just the material they use for the finishing I guess. I had brand new New Balance sneakers for this cruise and wore them most of the time to the marketplace. I didn't fall but I was sliding around quite a bit on that floor. I don't get it and I have never had this problem on a ship either. Odd. But yea, it really exists. Also, pax have to put a card into a slot near the door in their cabins now to get the lights to go on. I guess it is for CCL to save on electric costs but it is annoying. I put a Texas Roadhouse gift card in the slot in my room and just left it in there all cruise long so we didn't have a problem with the lights. If you take the card out of the slot, the lights shut off within like 2 minutes of you doing so. I do suggest putting an expired card or a low value gift card or something in the slot instead of your s/s card though, just remember to take it with you at the end of the cruise, lol.

Our cabin was right near the gangway and supposedly, right under the galley but I can only remember one time that I even noticed noise above us from the galley and it wasn't all that problematic. Now, I am not a light sleeper and can sleep through anything but people who say this cabin location is not good for noise reasons, I feel overstate the issues. Other people may have a different experience but I had no problem at all here. Once a while we would hear activity below us on the gangway and on deck 0 from the crew doing stuff but that wasn't really that bad either. I liked being close to that stuff as I like watching the operational activities from my balcony. I would say if there is a deal for a cabin in that area, go for it. Also, the balcony was plenty large enough for two chairs and a little table and for two or more people to chill out there without getting in each other's way.

Now, I cannot remember if I mentioned it yet or not, but we never got a chocolate delight in the cabin. We got everything else, like the cool toiletry bags that are the platinum gifts now, but that was a noticeable omission. People after the fact told me I should have said something about it and we would have been taken care of but you shouldn't have to do that. They should just make sure you are taken care of without you having to chase them down for stuff you are entitled to. We had a problem with the platinum laundry later on and I will address that a little later when I chronicle the sea days.

Now, with that out of the way, we are in CURACAO, so let's have some fun.

We had arranged to take a tour with Irie Tours, after reading many online reviews and deciding they would be a better option than booking something through Carnival. We made a reservation by going through their website and emailing a request to get a spot on a tour a few weeks before the cruise. They responded within a few days and we were set for a 1400 tour. They charge $25 per person and you don't have to pay until after taking the tour. Very reasonable and fair value.

We exited the ship a few minutes before scheduled tour time and met with the Irie representative just outside the dock area. They gathered everyone up, we all got stickers to wear that identified us as Irie pax and we boarded our bus shortly after. We got to ride on the Curabus today. I forgot our driver's name but he was a Curacao native and a very funny and entertaining guy. We left and were on our way through Willemstad, Curacao.

Curacao is a Dutch island, settled over 400 years ago, and is located in the southern Caribbean sea, less than a hundred miles from South America. It has a very warm climate and is located just outside the hurricane belt, meaning it is not at as high a risk for hurricanes as other Caribbean islands. A few years ago, Curacao became slightly more independent from the Netherlands but it is still considered a Dutch territory. It is complicated and I don't totally understand it but it is now like a territory that is bankrolled and controlled by the Netherlands but has its own local government now. Its currency is the guilder, and the current exchange rate is 1.79 guilders to 1 US dollar. Of course this being a tourist area, everybody accepts US money however. It has four main languages, Dutch, English, Spanish and Papiamento, which is a local language. All official business communications are done in Dutch although Papiamento is the primary language of most of the island's residents. Most residents are multilingual however. Ethnically, the island is made up of people from many backgrounds, from all over the world.

So, we headed out through the main city center of Willemstad, and saw some of their government buildings. Here we also saw the famous pontoon, floating bridge that crosses the downtown canal from one side of downtown to the other. It is a good 15 minute walk from the port and they do light it up at night, supposedly a really cool thing to see. We rode through the main shopping district in Curacao and saw some really high-end shops and restaurants on the way out to sightsee.

I am sure many of you have seen the east-west cross-island bridge in pictures but we got to ride over this thing in our travels. I took a pic of this from the ship at a distance and also got pics of our ship from the bridge. Will show them a little later. Really cool. This bridge is a couple hundred feet high and is the highest bridge in the Caribbean. Honestly, it's one of the highest bridges I have ever crossed and I cross bridges like the Walt Whitman and Delaware Memorial all the time and have crossed the Sunshine Skyway bridge in Florida. None of those bridges are low. Anyway....the roads leading up to it zig and zag through the elevation to reach the bridge level and our driver had to go SLOW around some of the turns.

Curacao pays about what we pay for gas, if not just a little more. They have oil refining capacity, and we saw it, but it is all run by the Venezuelans so Curacao does not own it and therefore does not get a discount on refined product. They do quite a bit of refining here though.

Now, the buildings are antique here and many date back to hundreds of years ago. There are strict guidelines for rehabilitation of structures, to ensure the original structure remains and the original is not disturbed. The buildings are also painted, and some buildings are really colorful. It is said that a prime minister centuries ago said the sun reflecting off white buildings would give him headaches from his high up perch so he mandated that people paint their structures. It turned out later that he was a part owner of the local paint company, so there was a little conflict of interest there. Don't know how true that is but even if true, it just adds character to the place.

Curacao is divided into neighborhoods, same as many islands. There isn't too much poverty and while the average working person is not rich, most people get a living wage there. Many wealthy people from the Netherlands are moving there and they can spend upwards of a half a million US dollars equivalent for a property. Depending on where you go, you can go from a middle-class neighborhood to a wealthy one, to a working-class one within a few minutes. The island is not that huge, only 171 square miles and about 150,000 people live there.

Catholicism is the biggest religion on the island, and there are quite a few large churches all around. Our driver told us that many people are born, raised, raise families and live out their days in the same neighborhood here, as there is not a lot of mobility outside of the island for a lot of people. We did see a cemetery, and people are buried, cremated or put into mauseleums here. Families are buried in the same plot, and once the plot is full, the oldest deceased family member is removed to make room for the most recent. Religion is very important to a lot of people here. Also, Curacao was home to a large Jewish population many years ago, however the population has declined greatly over time and is very small now but many buildings and cultural centers inhabited by Jewish people remain and Judiasm is still a large part of the history and culture of the island.

I am sure many people have heard of Blue Curacao liqeur. We stopped by the liquor factory for a quick visit during the tour. We got to see a little museum with the history of the product and saw a little area where they manufacture some of it. Also, they make a bug repellent out of some byproduct of blue curacao and a gentleman let everyone sample it by spraying a little bit onto everyone's legs and arms as we passed through a courtyard with many mosquitos present. It was strong, it kind of cools you off and it burns a little but it did work. I think my mom bought some of it in the gift shop. They also let you sample each flavor of curacao liqeur before entering the gift shop. I tried blue, orange, coffee, and chocolate. I did buy a medium bottle of blue curacao for about $17. A little pricey but a good souvenir.

After the tour was over, we headed for the bus and continued our travels through Curacao. Included in the price of the tour was unlimited beer, water and soda. I got four Polar beers over the course of the three-hour tour we took. Polar is Venezuelan beer. It is OK, but the bottles are small. Only about 9 ounces or so. Never seen beer bottles that small. Whatever. Curacao is very dependent on Venezuela for agricultural and consumer products, as well as with the USA. The driver's daughter was our bartender for this trip, which was funny. She rocked. Made sure everyone was taken care of all tour long.

We got to go to a really nice beach on this tour also. There is a beach that is sort of like a municipal park, and normally you have to pay $3 for a tag for beach access, but our tour operator paid our entry fee today. I am used to paying for beach tags, being from NJ. haha Nothing new to me. The entry fee here is worth it though. There is a nice white sand beach and a protected swimming area. There is a huge rock formation that breaks the waves into the area so it is a calm pool for swimming. They also have a little beach bar and grill there, along with gazebos and beach chairs for use. There is a little platform about a hundred feet out that people can climb up onto and dive into the water, and lots of people did this. I swam out a few hundred feet more, where there was a flat rock area that you could climb up to and walk around on. It was very slippery with algae everywhere and I fell down a couple times while walking around. I think everybody else did also. It was funny. Nobody really got hurt though. No lifeguards on duty here, so swimming is at your own risk. Just use common sense and you will be fine though. After about an hour there, it was back to the port.

I got back on the bus and got a couple more Polars for the ride back across the bridge and to the ship area. Our tour driver took us through a scenic area of the island back to the port, and pointed out that there was a huge ferry boat that was seized by the government and why. It turns out that this ferry had once brought hundred of thousands of gallons of oil into the port and was trying to sell it at below market prices on the black market while there and of course they got busted for it. That is highly illegal in Curacao and the boat will be held there indefinitely. Crime doesn't pay, huh?

Across from that is Curacao's only prison. He said the prison population is very small, and crime on the island is around 2 percent. He said it was Curacao's only free hotel resort. That was cute.

We crossed the bridge back into the old historic area and stopped in the shopping area with the pontoon bridge for anyone who wanted to get off there and make their own way back to the ship. We stayed on until we got back to the port area at about 1700, got dropped off, tipped the driver well, thanked him for a nice tour and were on our way. The owner of the company was there to greet everyone as well and ask how the tour went. Very cool. I highly recommend Irie Tours.

There is a huge resort located right in the immediate port area and you have to walk through it to get back to the ship. I think it might be Marriott but it is a compound with everything you can think of there to do. We stopped in a few gift shops but everything was pretty expensive so I didn't get anything. They had a few bars and nice restaurants and we stopped at a bar with outdoor patio seating and a 2 for $7 special on Presidente beer and mojitos. We sat out on the patio and peoplewatched with our drinks for a while and headed back towards the ship sometime after 1800. The views of the ship and sunset behind it at this point on the walkway leading back to the dock were breathtaking. Lots of people stopped here to get pictures and I did get a few myself. We stopped at the duty free gift shop areas in the port just before you get to the dock and I got a few keychains and shot glasses. They were offering decent deals on these collector's items today.

I stopped on the dock to get a picture of the ship all lit up before re-boarding around 1900 and headed back up to the cabin to drop by stuff off and go right back up to the hot tub before dinner. The lido hot tubs were pretty busy tonight but it was relaxing and fun.

I went back to the cabin at about 2000 and got ready for dinner, and we headed to dinner with some wine from our carry-on bottle allowance. If you bring a bottle of wine not purchased onboard into the MDR, they are supposed to charge you a corkage fee which negates the cost advantage of bringing your own wine on. Just request wine glasses from your cabin steward and bring glasses filled up in your cabin to dinner and no corkage fee. I didn't get any pics of dinner tonight and I honestly cannot even remember what I got for my apps or entrees but I know I did get wcmc for dessert. lol Everybody was back on well before the 2200 scheduled departure time tonight and we actually powered away from the dock at about 2140, a full 20 minutes early. We watched sailaway from the dining room, which was cool. You can really feel the vibrations from the thrusters and the engine in general at the very back of the ship here.

After dinner, there was again absolutely nothing to do here in terms of evening activities so I headed up to the sports deck to play some mini golf. The wind is not really bad here as it is on some other ships when it is moving, so I played a few rounds. The course is pretty challenging. I either shot a round under par or shot like 20 over, no middle ground. Funny. Holes 7,8,9 are located on the upper deck, next to where the ropes course entrance is. Hole 9 is multi-level as in you have to go back downstairs to finish after teeing off on the upper deck. Cool. Just get a putter and a ball from the little bucket they have there and play. No more signing the stuff out at the towel hut like you used to have to do. I also played a few games of pool here but that was nearly impossible because the balls rolled all around the table due to the ship rocking back and forth. Best to play this when the ship is parked somewhere.

They did have a fiesta dance party on the lido deck at 2300 but there was no food there and it was pretty lame. I didn't stay long. They also did the stupid love and marriage game and the battle of the genders tonight but I didn't go to either one. If I wasn't singlle maybe those would be fun but unfortunately I am single and thus that stuff doesn't really appeal to me. Maybe one day I will meet a nice girl that likes to go on cruises as much as I do. They had a karaoke in the limelight lounge also but I suck at karaoke and it was far too crowded in there so I didn't go to that either.

I then went down to the photo gallery to look at our pictures and again, I didn't like anything so I didn't buy anything. My mom also stopped in the internet cafe for a few minutes to check emails and write back to a few people back home. The internet is 75 cents a minute if you do pay as you go, and it isn't really all that fast. Oh well.

In walking around the ship, I noticed that the anytime dining room, midship, is in a weird place. I mean, there is a main promenade corridor that passes by this place and there are huge plate glass windows that you can see through, into the dining room itself. There are tables right beside the windows, and I find it kind of odd that there is really no privacy for the people with these seats. I wouldn't want to have people walking right past me all evening and looking at me as I sit down to dinner. Good thing we didn't have a seating in this place. Just a random observation.

I headed back to the cabin before midnight, as there was no comedy show tonight and tomorrow was an early arrival into Aruba. So, that wraps up Day 6, my pics from day 6 are coming shortly and hopefully I get to Day 7 in the not too distant future. Thanks for reading!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Aaaannnnddd, here are the pics I got in Curacao.

 

This was us as we approached Curacao, taken from my balcony:

 

 

Once docked in Curacao, here are a few shots of the dock area and of the huge bridge I referenced in my tour recap. The port area features the resort I mentioned, taxi and tour pickup area, and a cricket stadium that I would think the locals use often. Many pro baseball players have come from Curacao over the years. Most notable was probably Andruw Jones, but Kenley Janssens from the Dodgers is a pretty good one also.

 

 

 

 

City center, right near the pontoon bridge. Neat little setup here.

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

The Bridge. This is the Curoil refining facility that I talked about.

 

 

View of some middle class housing neighborhood and of our ship as we climbed the bridge:

 

 

 

Another monument in city area - I forget his name but he was an early settler of Aruba I believe.

 

 

An example of a very colorfully painted Curacao historic structure. These are all over the place on the island.

 

 

Curacao cemetery.

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Blue Curacao factory. I got a bottle here but security caught it as I got back on the ship and I had to check it in for return on the last evening of the cruise. hehe

 

Another view of the island from the bridge, taken from inside the Curabus. Open-air bus. No windows. Fun.

 

Polar: Venezuelan beer. Unlimited on the Irie tour.

 

The park in front of the Curacao beach and beach pics:

 

 

A good pic of the coastline from the bus on the way back to the ship:

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Another view of our ship from the bridge on the way back:

 

Our bus - there are a few other Irie tour buses also - good fun:

 

Some pics of the resort restaurant and shopping area and my Presidente beer:

 

 

Sunset from the walkway back to the ship and pic of the ship all lit up from the dock. These are some of my favorite shots of the whole cruise:

 

Edited October 23, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Just wanted to say that I'm anxiously awaiting for the next installment. :)

 

Ask and you shall receive. :) Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy. Hopefully I will get to Aruba day tomorrow.

[lifeisgoodPat]

Great review of Curacao! Very informative! I really want to go there.

[Nik]

We too are on this tour in a few weeks. Sounds like you enjoyed it and we are looking forward to it. Is there a place to change out of your swimsuit at the beach stop?

[cruiseclues]

Thanks...really enjoyed your photo review. :):):):)

[wrigley80]

How do you like the Platinum gift??? Those toiletry bags look nice....hopefully they will still be the gift when we cruise on the Dream in early December

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Great review of Curacao! Very informative! I really want to go there.

 

Thanks for following along. Curacao was very nice. As was Aruba, which I am about to summarize in words and pictures. Only thing is that the cost of consumer goods is very expensive in both places. At least when you cruise, it's see the things to see and move on back to the ship but on land, everything is very expensive. I prefer cruising. :D

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

We too are on this tour in a few weeks. Sounds like you enjoyed it and we are looking forward to it. Is there a place to change out of your swimsuit at the beach stop?

 

The tour was very good. I believe there is a bathroom and a changing area at the beach we went to but I didn't use it. I just kept my bathing suit on for the ride back to the ship and put the Carnival beach towel I took with me and sat on that once back on the bus. I cannot remember but I know they charge to use public washrooms in Aruba - can't remember about Curacao.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thanks...really enjoyed your photo review. :):):):)

 

Glad you are enjoying. I have more to come with the next few installments. Lots of pics from Aruba and the sea days on the way back to MIA.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

How do you like the Platinum gift??? Those toiletry bags look nice....hopefully they will still be the gift when we cruise on the Dream in early December

 

I haven't used mine for anything yet because I really haven't been anywhere but they are good to organize standard toiletry items for a quick road trip I would guess. I probably like the beach bags they had late last year and the baseball caps from a few years ago more but they will be useful for sure. I have too many of those little pins though. I still haven't finished the little chocolates they put on the bed after evening turndown and I have been back for almost three weeks now. LOL.

Edited October 25, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Ok, here is day 6 of the cruise, day 7 of the overall vacation. Today we got to see the island of Aruba, another Dutch territory, located not far from Curacao and only about 18 miles from Venezuela in South America. I have a lot of pictures from this day, so as I did in the Curacao review, I will just recap the day here and will post the pics separately. So, here goes.

 

DAY 7: ARUBA

 

We had a scheduled 0800 arrival here in Aruba, as we had left late last night from Curacao and it is not a long trip to get to Aruba. We had a scheduled 0900 excursion, and I don't like to wake up early so we got breakfast from the room service menu so I didn't have to go up to lido to get fed. I personally don't like the room service breakfast as they don't have a lot of the same items that the lido buffet has but I wasn't complaining today. I got some fruit, some juice and cereal and got ready to get off the ship. We packed everything in the Carnival beach bag that I got as a platinum gift last year and were off. Since our tour was scheduled through the ship, we had to meet at 0845 in the theater.

 

About the tour. We really wanted to book the Kukuu Kunuku tour, and it was offered as a Carnival-sponsored excursion but I waited to see if I could find anything private that would be cheaper. Of course I didn't and when we went to book this tour, it was sold out. Only the second time I have ever had a cruise excursion sell out. The other time was a brewery tour in Freeport, that sold out before we got a chance to book it once onboard. A tip: Book ahead of time if there is something you want because it might sell out and they will take payment for the excursion when you book it, it won't be added to your s/s account. Of course you can't use obc to pay for it using this method either but it guarantees that you will get on the tour you want. So we went with another excursion, a bus tour of the island and beach visit. It cost us about $65 a person but was worth it IMO. It was the only excursion we booked through Carnival.

 

At about 0900, we got on the bus at the port area, and our tour was run by DePalm Tours. We met our driver and guide and were on our way. Like with many islands, the immediate city port area is comprised of a lot of shops and restaurants but we were soon out along the coast. Oranjestad is the capital of Aruba, which translated to English, means Orange City.

 

Aruba was settled by the same Spaniard folks who found the West Indies and North America about 500 years ago, and has been under control of the Dutch for about 400 years. It is a culturally and ethnically diverse area, although not as much as Curacao. A lot of people from Venezuela, the Arawaks, settled there hundreds of years ago, and many descendants remain to this day. Papiamento is the primary language spoken here, although Dutch and English are taught to all schoolchildren once they reach a certain age so most people here are multilingual.

 

The education system goes through high school, although there is a limited opportunity to go to college here. Students learn vocational skills here and if they choose to further their education, they can go abroad and study although their families generally have to pay for them to do this. There is not a lot of poverty, and the average wage for workers is about $35,000 US. Aruba uses the florin, which is worth about 1.75 to one US dollar. Housing ranges from modest to very expensive, but most everybody has a home. Many wealthy people from around the world are coming to Aruba to build vacation homes in exclusive neighborhoods and these homes can cost over a half a million US. On the other end, people can get modest homes from the government and in turn pay what they can to the government to live in them. Some rents I heard were below a hundred dollars equivalent and there is a program that if certain requirements are met over time, people can own these houses eventually.

 

That's a little background of the island. So, we headed out along the coast and passed Queen Beatrix airport (AUA/TNCA), which is located only about a mile from the cruise terminal and features flights from many international airlines. Much more on this later.... After that we headed to the east side of the island, we saw that the landscape is pretty barren and almost desert-like. I commented that it looked kind of like we were in Arizona. The main vegetation is cactus. It was somehow introduced to the island and the seeds are spread through pollination and wind and before long, the place is being taken over by cacti. The island is very far south, below the hurricane belt and only 18 miles from Venezuela, and there is not a whole lot of rainfall here. It only rains about three months out of the year here, although it did rain for a little while later in the day. This place is always affected by persistent trade winds as well. There is little agriculture and they are heavily dependent on Venezuela for food, as well as with the USA for consumer goods. That may be why it is so expensive to live here.

 

Anyway, our first stop was the east side of the island, which is government protected land and at 20 percent of total land mass, Aruba is only 6 miles by 20 miles and has a population of about a hundred thousand people. It is a very barren area and it rains very rarely on this side of the island due to the trade winds. Nobody would really want to build here anyway. We rode along the coastline, and saw the ocean from the rocky coastline. Aruba has a volcanic history and thus a lot of volcanic rocks are piled up here. I got some nice pics of these. Our driver joked that although many believe Aruba broke off from South America eons ago, he thought South America broke off from Aruba. The Aruban people are a very proud people. We saw the now-collapsed natural bridge tourist spot, and there were some great photo ops here. Some of this area is very uneven terrain and thus if you are not mobile, you might not be able to get the entire experience here. I made sure I got some good pics for my mom though as she couldn't make it out to a lot of the rock formations. I have to say that they charge for bathroom usage in Aruba. Come on, I know it's only 50 cents to a dollar and they need to pay for maintaining these parks, but find a better way to do it than charging people to go to the bathroom.

 

After seeing the state park, we headed to another rock formation and scenic overlook toward the middle of the island. Again, if you are not physically fit, you cannot make it very far here but I was able to make it to the top of the overlook and took some good panoramic shots of the island from a few hundred feet up in elevation. There was a restaurant and bar across the street from here, so if you get hungry or thirsty, you can get some decent grub here. It is expensive though. Incidentally, the bathrooms here are free. Go figure. Once we got back on the bus after a half hour or so, our driver showed us how to get liquid aloe out of an aloe plant. Just cut it in the right place and it drips right out. Aloe is a main crop that is cultivated here. He also told us that just a few drops of aloe in a beverage will act like a very effective natural laxative. He said aloe is a major ingredient in ex-lax. I do not know if this is actually true or not but it sure is interesting. So, we headed on to our next scenic stop.

 

We got to see the famous lighthouse on top of the hill on the corner of the island, although the lighthouse is no longer in use today it still is a nice thing to see. Of course I got a few pictures of this and went into the restaurant that has a neat patio behind it with breathtaking views of the ocean and coast for miles around. Pay bathrooms here again I think. We stayed here for about a half hour and were on our way to the public beach.

 

On the way to the beach we passed an exclusive neighborhood with a lot of new construction and a resort with Aruba's only 18-hole championship golf course across the street. I didn't ask how much it would cost to get on here and it doesn't really matter because I am pretty sure I will never get the opportunity to play here. Our driver also mentioned that the island is divided into districts and you can tell by the color of the street signs which division you are in. Here he also explained the story behind the trees that grow on the island. The island does not have many trees but the ones that do grow here all grow in one direction due to the prevailing trade winds. He said that if you ever get lost, just follow the trees to find your way again. I don't know if I would want to test this theory though. lol

 

We got to the public beach and got to stay here for about an hour and a half. It is a white sand beach, located about two miles from the cruise port and is located in an area with lots of restaurants and a couple luxury resorts across the road. Although not as nice as the beach in Curacao, it was still nice. Like in Curacao and Grand Turk, the sea floor drops off quickly here so be prepared for that. However the waves are not large here so it's like a warm salt water pool you're swimming in. Refreshing. Jetskis are popular here and the jetskiiers come within 300 or so feet of the coast at high speeds so be careful if you go too far out you might get run over by one. I came out of the water and dried off after about an hour and got some beach pics. My mom even went in the water here, haha.

 

Now, here I got to meet cruise critic member Single_dreamer. She was on the same tour as us and had gone off to do some photography of her own but eventually asked me if I would take a few pictures of her on the beach with the ocean in the background. I did of course, and here we found out that we were both cc members. What are the chances? I explained to her why I missed the roll call from the first sea day, which I still regret and we just got to talking for a while. Very cool person. If you're reading this, I am glad we got to meet. I did tell you I had an epic review coming and here it is. Perhaps we will meet again someday on another cruise or something.

 

Anyway, about 1300 we made our way back to the cruise terminal. We passed some more strip malls and shops and got dropped off just outside the port area. There is an open-air straw market type setup across the main road, and some other shops and restaurants right before you get into the port entrance. It was getting very cloudy and windy now, so instead of hanging around there any more, I made my way back to the ship. Of course you have to go through another area with local merchants with things for sale at reasonable prices before going back to the ship. I got an Aruba magnet here and paid in US dollars but asked for my change back in florins, again worth 1.75 to a dollar. The 1 florin is a coin, not a paper bill and I also got a few quarters back. Neat. I always like to get local currency back as change whenever possible in a foreign port or country.

 

Well, between the time I went into the shops and when I went to walk back to the ship, the skies opened up and it poured raining. It only rained for a few minutes but everyone walking back to the ship got wet. It only rained for a few minutes though. The sun was out by the time I made my way up to the lido deck for lunch at about 1400. Our tour was a good four hours long. I got lunch, today got another Guy's pig patty with no lettuce or tomato and some chicken and rice from the Tandoor Indian food place. It is never crowded there, and it's a shame because it is pretty good. I also got a beef and cilantro lime rice burrito with a wheat tortilla and a few cokes for lunch.

 

After the rain was over, I went up to the serenity deck to check out the arrival and departure activity at AUA. The serenity deck is located at the front of the ship on the very top deck and has great views. It also has a hot tub and its own bars, along with many comfy chairs and couches to hang out without having to deal with kids under 18 or loud music. I watched a US Airways 757 and a Suriname Airways 737-300 come in to land on a still very-wet runway from serenity and got a few pics. I watched a United 767-400, Delta 737-800, American 737-800, Southwest 737-700 take off along with a few little private planes. I believe JetBlue comes in here too although I did not see them. The planes at takeoff power could be clearly heard even this far from the airport and the spray being kicked up got comments from quite a few people who were watching. More in a minute......

 

Keep in mind our scheduled departure time was 1600. As always, some people think that does not apply to them and we saw a few dozen pier runners darting for the ship at about 1558. Talk about cutting it close. It looks like these people had no shame either. They should be embarrassed as they caused us to have a delayed departure from Aruba. So, about 1615 we left. We sailed right up the coast, past the airport on the way out.

 

Now, the runway threshold is right out to the edge of the water so ocean vessels passing by could be an issue. Just at the time we passed the threshold, a KLM A330 turned for final approach. Our ship is a couple hundred feet high and there was no way the plane would have cleared us without having overshot the runway so he actually broke off the approach, circled two times about 3 or 4 miles out, and then came back in to make an uneventful landing once we were out of the way. It was funny that some of us were running all around the place to watch this and other people sitting right in the same spot were completely oblivious to what was going on. It was some definite excitement though.

 

Once we were well away from land, I headed up to the serenity deck again to go in the hot tub. Carnival hot tubs usually aren't too hot but combined with the hot sun and being on an open deck, this tub was very hot. Here I met a nice couple from NYC, some folks from San Diego, a family from Texas and a few people from Florida. We talked about all kinds of stuff. Real nice folks. I saw a few of these people again a few times later in the cruise all throughout the ship.

 

Now, my mom had made reservations for Cucina del Capitano for 1900 tonight but of course I lost track of time up on serenity and didn't get back in time. My mom kind of freaked out about it but we were able to reschedule for a seating at 2030 instead. The restaurant was not crowded tonight. The service and atmosphere in the restaurant was nice. I brought a glass of white wine and got a soda which was incorrectly charged to my account but taken off later in the evening after we noted it on the receipt that we had to sign and left it for the staff. For $15 a person, you get an app, entree, and a dessert. I got some spaghetti for my app which was ok, some shrimp and chicken plate (I really don't remember exactly) and apple puff pastry for dessert. Not bad. I would probably go again. Liked it more than the steakhouse actually.

 

After dinner, we tried to make the 2200 comedy show but of course, people had begun lining up probably an hour before and the line snaked literally halfway around the ship and we didn't stand a chance of getting a seat so we didn't bother. There would be another show at 2315. We looked at more photo gallery stuff (I think they are open until like midnight most nights, except when the ship is docked as with all onboard shops) and I lost a few more dollars in the casino. I was trying to keep track of the MLB playoffs here also. Was happy to see the Washington Nationals lose again. For all the regular season superiority they claimed, they played less than a week longer and won one more game than the horrible Phillies. Take that. Anyway.....

 

We made sure to get into the lounge as soon as the 2200 show let out, and got seats by 2245. The comedian tonight was Jaylyn Bishop. She was really, really funny and entertaining. Worth the wait. She has a pre-show routine of going through the crowd to try to get everybody into a laughing mood. A good half hour show, everybody laughed, was entertained, and then it was over just before midnight. Of course, after this I got a late night hotdog and some pizza from Pizza Pirate. I noted that the line for the pizza place gets long when comedy shows let out, and they do try to keep things moving but you can only do so much when a hundred or more people hit your place all at once. I got my hot chocolate for the walk back down to the room and retired sometime before 0100. I wasn't too tired so I actually got a glass of wine and sat out on the balcony for an hour or so. No set schedule for tomorrow's sea day after all. Saw a nice 3/4 full moon and very calm seas, along with a number of ships going the other direction, toward South America about 5 miles away from us. Probably 20 or more miles behind us was a violent thunderstorm with a lot of lightning but no affect on us at all. After finishing my wine I went to sleep around 0230.

 

That is it for day 7. Hope you enjoyed and learned something. Questions and comments welcome, photos are upcoming shortly and day 8 will be up hopefully sometime this weekend.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Ground level view of AUA and the famous trees I talked about. This was the beginning of our tour:

 

 

Trees and possibly the highest point on Aruba, taken from main roadway around island:

 

 

Desert brush and cactus with an Aruban neighborhood in the distance:

 

 

Landscape from roadway in national park, east side:

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

This is what it looked like from the bottom of the canyon in the state park, near the natural bridge:

 

 

Some of the volcanic rock formations in the park I talked about:

 

 

Top view of the canyon I was just in....

 

Nice view of the coast from the volcanic rock formations in the park:

 

 

This was the top of the hill with nice views that we visited next:

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

More views from the little mountaintop and climbing the mountain:

 

 

Another cemetery, Aruba style. Our driver said that people have a weird fascination with cemeteries so he showed us one.

 

The championship golf course and resort I talked about:

 

Another view of the national park from a higher perspective:

 

The lighthouse I mentioned earlier:

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

The restaurant with the patio out back, right near the lighthouse:

 

 

The beach:

 

 

 

 

Strip mall on way back to ship. Arkefly is a European low cost carrier that flies 787s! Too bad I didn't see one in AUA.

 

 

The port area where we got dropped off after the tour:

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

The terminal from my balcony:

 

 

People running for the ship at nearly departure time. Lucky they didnt get left behind.

 

 

AUA activity from serenity deck:

 

 

See what I mean about being right in the flight path? This KLM had to wait for us to move to land:

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Cucina del Capitano: It is said that some of these recipes were the favorite of the original Carnival Breeze captain. Also some of his mother's recipes are replicated here:

 

 

 

 

After dinner turndown and towel animal:

 

That's it for now! Hope you are enjoying.

[JinxyB]

Thanks for the review- sailing on the same itinerary on the Breeze today! Did the eastern Caribbean last year on the Breeze and loved the ship so I am back again!