Diamond Cruise 4/5/15 aboard the Breeze

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

quite a toy out back of the house.....

 

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

The ferry

 

[jimbo5544]

and another

 

[jimbo5544]

Great start! Looking forward to the rest :). Congratulations on reaching Diamond!

 

Thanks on both counts.

[kelkel2]

I am so looking forward to the rest of your review! Congrats on reaching Platinum!!

[jimbo5544]

I am so looking forward to the rest of your review! Congrats on reaching Platinum!!

 

It was diamond, but thanks!;) More coming soon.

[jimbo5544]

Embarkation night dinner and American table.

 

Our last couple of cruises, we have gone to the Steakhouse two times. The first night and another time (not either of the formal nights). We really enjoy the MDR and assigned seating. The first night in the MDR is usually a bit of hit or miss, due to people wandering in late (a BIG pet peeve of mine) and a general confusion that appears to be with people trying to figure out what is going on etc. We always go to the Steakhouse and when they started offering a free bottle of wine for the table, we started doing two.

 

This cruise we altered that and went to the dining room for the first night. There were a couple of reasons for that. We had a lot of first time cruisers with us and we thought we could lead the flock (so to speak) and give them a heads up on the process to ease their newbie fears (way to strong a word but....). Secondly, I want to get as much experience as I could in regards American Table.

Edited April 15, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

So here are a couple of first impressions I had that first evening of American Table. The first is I sensed the wait staff (and even the management) were a little apprehensive in regards to it. It was only about the third (not quite sure of this) sailing they have done with American Table. The second was, and I am not sure that this has anything to do with AT (I will abbreviate the American Table words from here on), but over the next couple of nights, I was uncertain as to who the head waiter was and who were the assistants. This was the first time we have encountered this. It was not a service issue, but in the past we thought we knew (from actions as opposed to title) who was the head waiter.

[jimbo5544]

I rarely bring cameras to the MDR and this trip was not an exception....guess I cannot multitask when it comes to food. Sooooo, sorry but I don't have pics from the MDR.

 

Having the water is flask on the table was certainly different, in fact, the only time I have ever experienced this before was when we sailed MSC and had to ask for water and whallaaa a flask was on our table every night from that point on. That being said, I never had to fill a glass it was done promptly by the team throughout the week.

 

Bread on the table was another small adjustment. They still came around and offered it to us at the start of the meal, but after that we pretty much fended for ourselves (they did replenish it during the meal). Certainly no issue with us on this one either.

[jimbo5544]

In addition to the new menu items, there are new menus, a tri-fold presented to you with the app 1/3 open. The third 1/3 (if you get my drift) was folded over the middle 1/3. A nice touch. Ordering the side separate was a little different as well.

[jimbo5544]

I am going to finish my thoughts regarding AT here as opposed to a day by day account. I have been fairly vocal on the main page about supporting change for change sake in regards to the new menu. While we might be somewhat unique in terms of the frequency of our cruising (this was third cruise in four months and another in August), I think the menus have gotten tired. We had reached a point where we did not really need to open the menu to see what was for dinner that evening. Is that a reason to change? absolutely not. The experiment with comfort food menu items (god forbid we get into a meatloaf discussion here:eek:;)) showed that the public was screaming for something new and different.

 

My dear wife's idea of what is good and what mine might be are fairly far apart. That being said, there was a long way from those two points and the original menu. I really feel the new menu (forgetting the whole tablecloth thing) is a much needed breath of fresh air. Did I like the entire thing? no way. I did find a couple really unique things to try and ended up liking a lot.

[jimbo5544]

I am sorry I did not capture the menu's in pictures to show here. I am a pie lover and tried two different pies as dessert. They were OK, not great. Overall, I would give the new menu's a B+.

 

I do have to say that the management team was floating around significantly more that we had experienced in the past. Asking if everything was OK and how were the food options. The lower level Maitre'd came over one evening as d asked if we had tried the rabbit app. We had just finished talking about that at our table and in unison said no. She said it was excellent and I said OK and tried it. I have to say it was pretty good. Would I order it again......maybe;)

[PurdueChefAmber]

Congrats on reaching Diamond! I have 20 years left :) Great review, can't wait to read more!

[jimbo5544]

Congrats on reaching Diamond! I have 20 years left :) Great review, can't wait to read more!

 

Thanks for the kind words on both. We started cruising at a fairly slow rate. Heck, it took me 8 years to get my dear wife to go on the first one.:eek: Admittedly, we are in catch up mode now a days........ but enjoying the heck out of it.:)

[PurdueChefAmber]

My goal is to take my diamond cruise on my 50th b day :)

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

My goal is to take my diamond cruise on my 50th b day :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I love a plan! Then you have beaten my by almost a decade! ;)

[PurdueChefAmber]

I love a plan! Then you have beaten my by almost a decade! ;)

 

I was lucky to have a cruising family! I was platinum by my first out of college cruise!

[Cruise life]

Congratulations on your Diamond status! Our kids just made Platinum last week on Valor and we go over 100 days next month on the Legend. We're trying to catch up with you!! Enjoy!

[jimbo5544]

Congratulations on your Diamond status! Our kids just made Platinum last week on Valor and we go over 100 days next month on the Legend. We're trying to catch up with you!! Enjoy!

Thanks for the congrats! It is a really nice way to compete.;)

[jimbo5544]

First night entertainment

 

We have become real fans of the Piano bar. That being said, it really depends on the talent and his interaction with the crowd as to how much fun it really is. Gary Gentry on the Brreeze is really good. He has a good following and his way of entertaining makes for a fun evening.

Edited April 16, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

There was also anew bad bland in Oceans Plaze (at least from our last cruise on the Breeze in December). They were call Deja Vu and I thoguht they were really good. We enjoyed them every evening he heard them.

[jimbo5544]

Next up first sea day.

[jimbo5544]

Ahhhh sea days! We do love them. We tend not to spend time at the main pool. Way to much going on for our liking. Serenity is usually where we hang out, however on this cruise, we were spending time with some that had kids, so we decided to use the aft pool.

 

We are early risers and when sailing on Dream class ships, we walk on the walkway on floor 5 in the morning (the one that some people with balconies hate;)). After doing our normal brisk 45 minute walk, we headed up to Lido and caught some of our large group having breakfast and ended up eating with them.