Carnival Breeze- 6 Day- Review

[greeneyedancr89139]

Background

 

DH (30) and I (27) decided to take a cruise to the Caribbean. We originally were going to bring our 18 month old daughter. After some research, we found out that she was to young to go to the kids club and not allowed to use the pools, so she got the boot and stayed at home with family.

 

This is my 3rd cruise and DH's 4th cruise. We are from Las Vegas and have never been to Caribbean. I enjoyed reading many reviews prior to our cruise so I hope you all enjoy.

 

Embarkation Day

 

We caught a red eye flight into Fort Lauderdale and landed on Sunday, September 6th at 6 am. I had booked transportation through SAS $15 per person. A few days prior, I had received a text message asking if I wanted to picked up after I had our baggage. (We originally thought we would of had to stay at the airport till 9 am.) We agreed to get picked up right away. We arrived at port around 7 am. The Breeze was the only ship in that morning. Once off the shuttle we went to take a seat by the front doors. We of course were the first ones there. I had a fun time people watching as everyone got off the boat.

 

 

 

Around 8 am the porters took our bags and at about 9 am we were able to go inside. At this time there was probably about 10 people in line with us. Since we were the first ones in line, checking in went very fast. :) We then grabbed some seats and waited. People slowly started trickling in. We watched as police brought a dog around and sniffed all the people getting off the boat. We saw one person get caught and they put him in handcuffs right away.

 

They were still disembarking people until 11:00. Finally at around 11:55 they started to let people on board. We were Zone 1 but they had to board Special Events, Platinum Members, FTTF, and Handicap first. By 12:15 we were on the boat.

 

Our first stop was to the shore excursion desk. We wanted to do the Behind the Fun tour. He couldn't charge our cards yet so he put our names down on the list. We then went upstairs to get some food. I had originally planned to eat Blue Iguana first but the DH wanted a burger, so we went to Guy's instead. I ordered the Ringer and DH ordered plain. (Very picky eater) We went up a deck and grabbed a table.

 

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

Next we went to see if our room was ready. We were booked in room 11214. It was a Spa Balcony room. Our room wasn't ready yet so we took the back entrance to the spa. (Slowest elevator ever) We knew we wanted to get a massage when we were in Jamaica, so went to get pricing. We did a self guided tour of the spa and gym. We walked around Serenity and checked out Waterworks.

 

 

 

We swung by our room one more time and saw that our luggage had already arrived. At 1:05 our room was ready. It was a nice size. We had plenty of storage for everything. The bathroom had enough shelves for all our stuff. I heard the spa rooms received different shampoos and lotions but I am not sure if that is true. We had a nice view of port. We also received a little surprise, one of my husbands vendors sent us $200 carnival cash.

 

 

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

We unpacked all our stuff and set about to explore the ship. ( I did not take pictures of around the ship. There are already so many online.)

 

View from our balcony.

 

 

 

We tried buying a selfie stick at the airport in the Best Buy Kiosk but it kept getting stuck. Luckily the photo area on the ship, Pixils had one for sale. We picked it up and went back to our room to practice.

 

 

We also decided to purchase the Unlimited Soda Package. It came out to be $41 per person. We then went back up to the spa to book our appointment for Tuesday. Since we were in the spa rooms we got free access to the spa and saunas. They put a yellow sticker on our Sail and Sign cards and we were given wrist bands. When we wanted to use the facilities we had to give them our Sail cards and they gave us VIP cards to use when up there. It was finally time for the muster drill in Ovation theater and then hurried up to our room for sail away.

 

 

 

We were suppose to set sail at 4 pm but did not leave until 4:50 pm. I was very anxious because we had steakhouse reservations at 6 pm.

 

 

Sail away was fun. The boat did a turn around and then went out. I was waving at people like a crazy person. Some drivers on the road would honk and wave. It was a very fun experience sailing away. We reached the open ocean just in time for us to leave for the steakhouse.

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

 

 

[JennN]

Spa does indeed get different shampoo (the bottles you posted a pic of do not get placed in non-spa rooms). Looking forward to the review! Yay selfie-stick :)

[greeneyedancr89139]

We were sat by a window and given a presentation about the meats.

 

 

 

 

We both chose the filet mignons. I was feeling adventurous and ordered the calamari as an appetizer and DH ordered crab cake.

 

 

 

They came around with bread and we both enjoyed the rosemary rolls. They then came around with samples of tomato soup and a little slider. The slider was so good!!

 

 

 

 

If you book the steakhouse on the first night you get a free bottle of wine or 50% off there wine list. DH and I are not drinkers but I figured we would get the free wine and try it later. (FYI: still not a fan of wine) All the food was very good at the steakhouse. We opted out of dessert and went to watch the sunset on Deck 5.

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

 

The atrium at night is so pretty all lit up.

 

 

 

We changed into our swimsuits and went to use the spa facilities. We went into the Thalassothearpy Pool. We really didn't find this too comfortable to sit in. We then went into the sauna and relaxed for a bit before it felt like our faces were going to fall off. The Jacuzzi in the adult only area was empty so we jumped in there for awhile. Afterwards we went back to our room and ordered chocolate cake and cookies with milk for dessert.

 

 

 

This chocolate cake was so yummy!! The cookies were very hard. We ate it on our balcony and called it a night. We were exhausted from the red eye flight.

[greeneyedancr89139]

September 7th: Labor Day (Full Day at Sea)

 

We slept with the curtains open so we could see the sun come up which was around 7 am. I slept so good. Those pillows are wonderful on the beds. DH didn't sleep so well.

 

Good Morning!

 

We had ordered room service for the morning. Just simple things. Bagel, fruit, and cereal. After this little snack we went to the gym. We were surprised at how packed it was. This ended up being our only day at the gym which was fine by me. DH stayed a little longer then me. I went to Blue Iguana and got a breakfast burrito. I brought it back to the room and ate on the balcony.

 

 

I wasn't to impressed with my burrito, I think it might have been the hash browns. Once the DH came back and showered we went out to the Lido deck. We loved sitting in the shade on deck 11. We could people watch so well from up here. At 9:30 am there were still plenty of seats available but it did fill up in an hour.

 

I need to practice my selfie stick techniques.

 

 

We watched the morning show with Matt on the big screen and then moved on to other things. They put an American flag up in the atrium for Labor Day. It was very pretty at night time with all the lights.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

At noon there was the blackjack tournament in the casino. We both signed up, a $25 buy in. We were in the first round and I had the highest amount, so my name went on the board. We had until 3:00 pm for the tournament. The top 7 players would play and the winner would win $500. DH tried again but didn't make it. I also tried the slot tournament and didn't make it. At 3 pm I was tied for 7th place with three ladies so we played a quick 3 hand game to determine who would go to the finals. It wasn't me.

 

For lunch DH got pizza and I got tacos. Yummy! Then ice cream for dessert. Went to the scavenger hunt but didn't participate since it was digital and weren't feeling like running around like crazy. We watched the line dances at the lido deck. Everyone looked like they were having a fun time. We gambled some more and won some money. Which we would put on our account. DH had to iron his clothes so we ventured down a few floors to find the iron closet.

 

 

Man overboard

 

It was our first formal night so we got dressed up and went to take some pictures. Some of the poses that these photographers make you do are so awkward.

 

We ate in the dining room (Blush) and met some of our table mates. Our table was located right next to the aft window. We only met one of the couples this night. Jon and Diana from CT. We got along really well. Carnival did a great job at sitting us with people are own age. I felt bad for the table next to us. They were slightly younger then us and no one talked to each other. They would eat and run.

 

I ordered Italian Wedding Cake soup, Prime Rib, and Chocolate Melting Cake. DH had Prime Rib and Melting Cake.

 

Right before our main meal was served, a table behind us jumped up and started yelling "man overboard!" A bunch of people rushed to the windows and waiters were trying to look out. About a minute later, a lady came on the intercom and sounded man overboard. The boat immediately started to slow down. Matt, then came online and announced that they believed a man to be overboard and that they were turning around. It took a little bit to turn around.

 

Matt then came back on multiple times keeping us informed of the process. It was chilling at how quite everyone would get so they could hear. I thought that he was dead. I kept running through articles I have read where people have fallen off and not lived. Finally, Matt came back on and announced that they believe to have found him and were in the process of releasing the life boat. He came on again to tell people to stop leaning over the sides by the hot tub to get a better look.

 

In the meantime dinner went on. Our waitress, Diane, was visually upset. She told us a story about her boyfriend trying to stop a jumper on a ship they were on. At one time the captain came online and we all thought that he was about to announce that he was dead. He actually just recapped everything that happened. (Kind of hard to understand with thick accents) Matt then came back online and recapped what the captain said. They had found the man and he was safe. Everyone in the dining room cheered.

 

The rest of dinner was talking about how could someone fall over? It had to be alcohol related. There was a guy at the pool earlier that day. He had long hair and was drunk at 9:30 am. We saw him around the pool the rest of the dancing, climbing on chairs, and falling down. Our table mates had seen him too and we all speculated if that was him who fell off. We never verified if it was but we didn't see him, his wife, or son any more.

 

We heard rumors flying around the ship the rest of the week of what happened. The story we heard is that a man got cut off from the bar and decided to jump off. He did have a life jacket on (Captain verified). We heard that he was kicked off the ship in Jamaica and has a hefty fee of $25,000 and has to pay for the gas used to turn around. We didn't get all this verified.

 

Once we got back to our room. We looked at the map at where we were located and you could see where the boat was stopped. I am just glad he was found alive.

 

 

 

We changed out of formal clothes and went to watch the comedy show. It was the PG show with Kevin. It was pretty funny. We then gambled and won some in blackjack. We cashed out and put it on our SS card.

 

We went to Lido deck and people were watching A Fault in the Stars. We went to play mini golf which is a fun course.

 

We scoped out the buffet for desserts and were none. We high fived each other for staying up till 11 pm and then called it a night.

[greeneyedancr89139]

Spa does indeed get different shampoo (the bottles you posted a pic of do not get placed in non-spa rooms). Looking forward to the review! Yay selfie-stick :)

 

 

Unfortunately selfie stick doesn't last long. More to come. :(

[deetrayn]

I'm enjoying your review, thanks for sharing. I'll be on the Breeze in a few days, and this certainly adds to my excitement!! :D:D:D

[greeneyedancr89139]

September 8: Jamaica

 

We had room service ordered for what we thought was 7 to 7:30 am. The DH actually did 6:30 to 7 am. So we were woken up to knocking. I looked at my ipad which was on airplane mode and saw that it was 3:27 am. I was still groggy and not realizing that was pacific time and not eastern. So for a few minutes I was so confused as to why room service was coming at 3:30 in the morning. haha Once we woke up a bit, we ate our breakfast.

Sunrise from the balcony.

 

We had a wake up call from the Spa reminding us of our massage at 8 am. We were scheduled to arrive in Montego Bay at 9 am. We went up to the spa and checked in. We had to fill out some information about our stress and injuries. The ladies came in and brought us to the couples room. DH got the bamboo massage and I got the hot stone massage. We did 75 minutes and it was lovely. (My last massage was 8 years ago on our honeymoon.) We were done in exactly 75 minutes too. Once we were up and getting dressed. You could see that we arrived in Jamaica. The ladies returned and then tried to sell us on lofus for $45 and scalp oil for $53. We declined and went back to our room.

 

DH showered while I snapped some pictures of the scenery.

 

View from the balcony.

 

We then went to the buffet to grab some breakfast. While we were eating some announcements were made but I had a hard time understanding and hearing them. Finally I caught wind of one where it announced a fire in the garbage room. (What I missed in the prior announcements was that this was a drill.)

 

Port: Inside are shops and where you purchase Hop On Bus tickets.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

We had no real plans in Jamaica but got off the boat to check out the shops. Once we were getting off a Carnival employee was handing out information about the hop on hop off bus. We decided to do this. It was $19 a person. It took you to Rose Hall Shopping, Doctor Cave's, and Margaritaville, and the Craft Area.

 

We waited for about 20 minutes in line to get on the little shuttle bus. We were looking at the ship and saw people running around with life jackets on. I pointed it out to DH and that is when someone in front of us let us know it was a drill.

 

Once we got on the shuttle there was only a few seats. I had to sit in the front with the driver.

 

 

 

They drive on opposite sides of the road then what I am used too. THAT WAS THE MOST SCARIEST DRIVING EXPERIENCE EVER! People just honk when they are getting over. There were people just walking in the middle of the road with the traffic. Drivers just roll up fast to stopped cars and stomp on the brakes. I saw a sign that said the past three years worth of road fatalities. In 2014, I believe it was 314.

 

Carnival Breeze off in the distance.

 

 

The driver did give us a nice tour of the area and talked to us. He also had a sign that said "Tipping is Customary." Our first stop was the craft area. The shuttle stopped and locals started walking up to get people to come to there shop. We stayed on till we got to Rose Hall. It is a very nice shopping area. We walked around and bought a few things.

 

 

We then decided we had seen enough Jamaica and went to catch the next shuttle. I was stuck in the front again!! DH said he wanted to check out Doctor Caves. We got off and had to cross the street. Once we looked around we wanted to hop on the shuttle again. We had to wait for a little bit. One guy told me he would take me back to the ship for $7 but I told him "No, I already paid $19." He got a little rude saying it was only $7. Finally a hop on shuttle arrived and we got back to go to the boat.

 

Security is a little tight at the port. You had to show your SS card even before they let the shuttle inside the gate, once to get into the building, once for security to get by the ship, and then finally to get on the ship. We ended up buying a little dreadlock Mickey Mouse for $15 for the little one at home. (FYI: She would much rather play with a bra and surge protector. Which is exactly what she did once I gave her the Mickey.)

[greeneyedancr89139]

Once back on the boat we went and grabbed some lunch. I got to eat tacos from Blue Iguanas. So goood!!! DH got a burger. We had changed into our swimsuits to try the waterslides in the Waterworks area. This was the best time to do it. The ship was not crowded at all. We did both slides and the yellow one is the best. TIP: If you go up the steps inside the waterpark it will take you right to the stairs by the slide. We would go the long way and burn our feet. We then had a blast taking slow motion videos of each other under the dunk bucket.

 

 

 

 

We then had a 2nd lunch. I had Mongolian Grill, was a little spicy. The line is usually very long but I only waited 10 minutes. I also grabbed some tiramisu cheesecake which was so yummy.

 

We went back to our room to shower and hung out for a bit. At 4 pm we decided to check out the Thrill Theater. It was fun but wouldn't do it again. The one we saw was the Log Flume and Speed Racer.

 

Next we wanted to check out our pictures from the night before. Each photographer handed us a card with the name of the background we took pictures on. I snapped a picture of all the cards so I didn't have to carry them around. We ended up buying two shots. I can't remember the exact price per picture but I think it was around $22. They give you a punch card and if you buy some many pictures you end up getting some free things. Before getting ready for dinner we stopped by Lido for a soda.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

We went to the Blush MDR again tonight.

 

Our whole table was there tonight, we met Casey and Craig from MA and they were on there honeymoon. I have no idea what I ate for dinner this night. I just know that I had Melting Cake for dessert. We had wonderful conversations as we sailed out of Jamaica.

 

That night we went and watched the juggler Dana. He was funny and entertaining. Prior to the show Matt came out on stage. He started saying "I know everyone here is for the free cruise that I am giving away." He then called a guy out on stage who won the free cruise. He asked the guy who he was going to bring and his boyfriend came on stage. Matt then told him he had to ask him to the cruise. This is when he proposed. They have been together for 17 years. It was a pretty awesome moment to witness. Also there was no free cruise. :)

 

We then headed to the casino and played some blackjack. DH lost his money but I made it back up plus a little profit. While we were playing they announced that someone had just won $20,000! It was a good night for a lot of people. On our way back to our room we watched a party on Lido deck and then called it a night.

 

September 9th- Cayman Islands

 

I was already awake when room service arrived. I ate on the balcony as we got closer to Cayman. I wanted to get a shot of the sunrise so I went to the front of our deck. It sure was gorgeous.

 

 

We wanted to get off right away so we hurried and got ready. We also went to the ATM to get some money. We still needed to get smaller bills though for tipping. There was no announcement made that we could get off but we went down to deck 0 and were able to get right on the first tender. Ship time was an hour ahead of Cayman time so we had an hour to waste before our excursion.

 

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

We walked around town. Most shops were still closed but we did find one that we bought a water from to get some small bills.

 

 

Do you see it?

 

 

 

 

Around 8:15 we went over to the Hard Rock to wait for our tour. We booked a Jet Ski to Sting Ray City through Ebanks. There was a couple already waiting and a few minutes later the van drove up. We had a 10 minute ride to the jet skis. We also only had 4 people in our group (plus to guides). We grabbed our sunblock and phone to bring with us. I bought a case off of amazon that your phone goes into. You can still take pictures too. It was around $14. The rest of our stuff was put into a bin and locked in a trailer.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

I have never been to big a fan of jet skiing but this time it was fun. After a 15 minute drive we made it out to Stingray City. There were 2 boats out there already and it made me very happy that we were not in a big group. The guides then went looking for certain sting rays that they liked. They found a nice big girl one.

 

 

 

 

We each got to hold her and giver her kisses. Kissing a sting ray is suppose to give you 7 years good luck or so they say. It was crazy to have that many swimming all over the place. The water is so clear and beautiful. We were also able to feed her some squid. She sucks it up like a vacuum.

 

 

 

[re-re]

Great review, looking forward to the rest. :)

[greeneyedancr89139]

 

It is blurry and dark on the one side from my phone case. I wish I would of bought a waterproof camera instead.

 

Glad we had a small group.

 

We then got back on our jet skis and road about 3 minutes away to some reefs. We were able to snorkel for about 20 minutes. The water was about 12 feet deep and you were able to see lots of fish. The other lady in our group had a hard time getting back on the jet ski. It is hard when you can't touch the bottom.

 

 

We then road back to the harbor. We loved this excursion and recommend it.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

They will drop you off on Seven Mile Beach on your way back. We had a cabana rented at Royal Palms. After jet skiing we really didn't want to go to the beach but we had invited our dinner table mates to come. We were not sure if they were going to go but figured we might as well check it out. The cabana was nice. It had a table and chairs and in front four loungers. We ordered some sodas and a pizza. The pizza was very yummy.

 

 

 

 

We could barely see our ship but there were two others in port as well. Carnival Magic and Navigator of the Seas. I went in the water to cool off. It was nice but dropped off fast. There were many activities that you could do here. They had jet skis to rent, banana boat rides, and snorkeling. DH and I took some pictures and then decided to head back. We wanted to do some shopping.

 

 

We put our table guest names on the list, just in case they showed up. (They didn't) Our tab came out to $128. That includes the cabana, pizza, and drinks. The resort was nice but if we ever come back with our daughter we will probably find something a little different. In the front of the resort there were shuttles that would take you back to the boat for $4 a person. The lady that drove us wouldn't leave until she had 2 more people even though there was 1 more seat. When she collected money she never gave someone there full change back. I think she might have been collecting tip money before hand. Finally she gave up trying to find someone and drove us back.

 

We went in a few shops and bought a couple souvenirs. Then we hopped on the boat for the ride back. They can fit quite a few people on the tenders so we sat and had a conversation with a few people next to us from North Carolina. We ate Guys Burgers on our balcony. DH loved Guys Burgers. I thought they were good but not the best ever. The fries were very yummy though. The rest of the afternoon we hung out in our room.

 

View from our room.

 

[greeneyedancr89139]

We left Cayman at 4 pm but had to stop to let some last minute people on board.

 

 

Tonight was another formal night so we got dressed up again and went down to the MDR. Casey and Craig were the only ones that night at our table. Diane showed up late but had lost her boyfriend Jon, so she left to try and find him. Tonight we ate filet and spare ribs. I had an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms and for dessert Melting Cake and Key Lime Dessert. The main course was so good.

 

 

After dinner we went and gambled. We lost very fast. I guess kissing the sting ray didn't bring us luck. We went upstairs to play mini golf and Foosball. We then went downstairs to the Limelight Louge to watch the adult comedy show with Derick. We got there 30 minutes early and there was still a line with about 50 people. We got good seats and saved some for Jon and Diana. He was a funny comedian.

 

Afterwards we went and grabbed some pizza. They say the pizza area is open 24 hours but half the time there is no one there. The pizza was very good though. We then called it a night.

[greeneyedancr89139]

I probably should attempt to do some work so I will post more tomorrow.

 

Thanks for reading.

[pusywillow]

I'm enjoying your review. You're such a cute couple.

 

Sue

[Jenny in TX]

Enjoying your review! We did a jet ski tour in the Caymans a few years ago. It is still one of my favorite excursions.

[busynurse2015]

I'm really enjoying your review. We're doing this same itinerary in March.