IPlayWithString was feeling The BREEZE!!!

[IPlayWithString]

I'm kinda feeling anxious and super overwhelmed right now (yay for Chronic Anxiety!:rolleyes:) but I want to get this out of the way so maybe I'll feel a little less overwhelmed.

 

Day 1/Embark

NOT the most smooth embark we've ever had. They were having an issue with the gangway/jet bridge thing so the debark/embark was quite the process. They were debarking/embarking everybody via deck 1 which took a lot longer than it normally would have and resulted in some really PO'd people waiting to embark. Including my son (who is autistic and can have issues with waiting for long periods of time quietly/patiently). Then, when it came time for the muster drill (which was, hooray! Inside!!!), nobody seemed to know where/when the special needs muster drill was taking place. Fortunately for us, our assigned muster station was in the Blush dining room and they were able to kind of shove us off to one side in the back where it was quieter and less stressful for my son who doesn't always handle large crowds well. At dinner (we always do My Time) in the Sapphire, we met our waitstaff including the head waiter Bojan who was nothing short of amazeballs. Seriously. He's from Bosnia/Herznegovinia and super, super knowlegeable about not just the menu but about pretty much everything going on around the ship. Also, for the ladies...Bojan is VERY easy on the eyes--tall, silver hair, blue eyes, slightly tan and that accent. Oh. My. Lanta. Husbands lock up your wives and daughters. LOL

 

Day 2-3 Sea Days

Not much went on..spent a bit of time sunning on deck, playing lots of trivia and ate way, WAY too much BBQ at the Pig and Anchor which I loved. Normally, I'm rather partial to a Pig Patty or a Ringer at Guy's Burgers but the bbq at The Pig and Anchor was spectacular. Even my son (who is mostly vegetarian) loved the pulled pork with brown sugar sauce. And the potato salad was to die for...some of the best potato salad I've ever had. I noticed on the brunch menu at breakfast they'd taken off my beloved Froot Loop crusted French Toast.:loudcry: Boo.

 

About The CD

This cruise we had Steven Schwartz (aka Schwartz) as our cruise director and he was EVERYWHERE. I seriously don't think that man sleeps and he lives on Red Bull and coffee.:D He was such a sweetheart though that he almost (ALMOST) knocked Jen Baxter from her spot as my favorite cruise director. I would definitely sail with him again if I have the chance.

 

Day 3--Jamaica

Ok..so we chose..poorly. We chose to do a ziplining + river tubing excursion in Jamaica which was fine except for one thing. We didn't bring bug spray and both DS and I got severely eaten up by the bugs. Also, there were way, WAY too many people on this excursion--close to 300 I think--which turned it from a fun ziplining excursion into a lot of hurry up to wait which my son didn't handle very well. We did our best to keep him calm, but he did have a few meltdowns throughout the course of the day because he was tired of standing in line staring at the butt of the woman in front of him, he was bored staring at the not that interesting to look at Jamaican jungle, he was hungry, he was tired, he was just not having ANY of it. It took a lot longer than we'd expected and he was kind of peeved at the end when we didn't have time to shop. Our excursion was about 15 min late and another excursion (I forget what it was right now) was over an hour late because their bus got stuck in the mud. I can't swear to it, but I heard that the people on that bus (cruise guests) had to get out of the bus and help push it out of the mud. The river tubing part was actually better than I expected. I expected to be plunked into a round tube where I'd struggle the entire time to find a comfortable position and I'd be miserable. Nope! These were long, boat-like inflatable raft things that were VERY comfortable. So two very enthusiastic thumbs and a foot way way up for the excursion company which was called Chukka.

 

Day 4--Grand Cayman

Getting ONTO the tender boat to get onto the island was the easy part. We went to the turtle farm (which is always awesome) and then hopped on a boat out to the stingray sandbar to go play with the stingrays which my son loved. He loved the weird, sorta sandpapery feel of them and how they would swim AT him and then suddenly at the last moment veer around him. He loves the ocean, so getting to play in the water for a bit after spending a couple hours being hot and sweaty at the turtle farm was really nice. Getting back ONTO the ship was a nightmare. We stood in line for nearly an hour waiting to get onto the tender which, again, being hot, exhausted and having to deal with a large crowd of people smooshed in against him meant my son didn't handle things well although we did the best we could to deal with his multiple meltdowns. Some things you just CANNOT avoid but we did our best.

 

Day 5--Cozumel

Cozumel was, as always, pretty danged awesome. We went out to La Isla Passion via Twister Boat and it was a blast. We didn't get to spend as much time on the island as I would've liked (only about 3 1/2 hrs when we've spent 4-5 in the past when we had Cozumel Plus days which this was not) but it was nice anyway. Food was decent, drinks were a bit on the weak side but otherwise really tasty, staff was really nice. We did some shopping (because who can pass up 8 shirts for $20? NOT ME!!!:D) and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening relaxing on the boat.

 

Day 6--Sea Day

Move along, move along. Not much to see here. Just spending time sunning on deck ad doing trivia and of course, EATING eveyrthing in sight. :)

 

Day 7--Disembark

Thankfully they got the jetbridge/gangway working again so disembark went really, really smoothly.

 

A Note On Playlist Productions and Other Shows

All the shows on this ship were playlist productions with the exception of Hasbro: The Game Show and Lip Sync Battle. We only saw three out of the four shows--Motor City, 88 Keys and Flick (the other being Country Roads, which we're not big fans of country music so we skipped it in favor of comedy that night). And I know there are haters out there who despise the Playlist Production shows but honestly? They're not that bad. And I've NEVER seen a show like Flick. It was nothing short of freaking amazing. I also really liked Lip Sync Battle (though I was prepared to hate it because that kind of thing is not usually my bag), surprisingly enough.

 

The Breeze has probably become my favorite ship next to the Triumph, mostly because of the decor. It felt very bright and airy and open and very VERY tropical. It's also the second biggest ship we've ever been on, I think. It didn't seem like it was that big though. It only SEEMED really long when we were walking back to our balcony cabin (7439) because our cabin was SO far forward (or back? IDK. I can't remember. I always get forward and aft mixed up. LOL).

[kbklcamp]

What a great review you right! Thank you. Very informative

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[bury me at sea]

Thanks for your fun review of your time on the Breeze. Only 41 more days til we board her!

[Pom Lover]

Thanks for the review! The Breeze is our favorite ship and we sail again next month. We love the decor on this ship more than any other. We sailed the Splendor in February and that decor is hideous.

[willdra]

Thanks for this wonderful review! [emoji7]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[IPlayWithString]

Y'all are very welcome. :) I'm so happy I got to sail on the Breeze because I've heard that it's going to leave Galveston in the near future to make room for the Vista which I can't wait to sail on.

[cruzkitty]

Enjoyed your review-thanks for posting! I am glad you both enjoyed your Cruise. We are cruising on the Breeze this October-can't wait!

[Tracyjj0]

Great review :) I'm cruising on Breeze next month with my 19yr old son who has Aspergers. He's quite good at travelling and has got better at queuing as he's grown, but I'm still a little nervous. Mostly his table manners leave little to be desired :( and man, he suffers from a no filter honesty that has me wishing the ground would open up sometimes!

[Drrandall]

Thank you. We are on the Breeze in 5 days

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

Great review...glad debarkation went well.

 

I know what you mean in Grand Cayman getting back onto the ship. If you stay off the ship for the whole day, you have to wait forever in line for the tender. I always make sure we have LOTS of water or other beverages because there is almost no shade and the sun is still very hot.

[watermelonqueen99]

It only SEEMED really long when we were walking back to our balcony cabin (7439) because our cabin was SO far forward (or back? IDK. I can't remember. I always get forward and aft mixed up. LOL).

 

The cabin numbers get bigger the further aft (back) you go. The way I remember this is "She has a BIG ol' aft." LOL