{"id":3040,"date":"2015-04-02T19:43:48","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T23:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/?p=3040"},"modified":"2018-12-02T14:18:18","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T19:18:18","slug":"carnival-breeze-days-1-2-and-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/02\/carnival-breeze-days-1-2-and-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Carnival Breeze – Days 1, 2 and 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Breeze<\/em> in Aruba<\/p><\/div>\n

Jett and I are midway through a 9-day (8 night) Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Breeze<\/em>, one of Carnival Cruise Line’s biggest and best ships. Our itinerary includes stops in Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos Islands), La Romana (Dominican Republic), Curacao and Aruba. After the winter we have had, we felt the need to get some Caribbean sun.<\/p>\n

But, if the first two days are any indication, we will be disappointed. It has been cloudy and cool, with a few rain showers sprinkled in, so to speak.<\/p>\n

\"FLL,<\/a>

FLL, waiting for the bus to the ship<\/p><\/div>\n

We started the trip by getting up Friday morning at 3:30am and driving to Providence for a 7:30 flight. Why Providence? Because we could get a Southwest flight to Ft Lauderdale from there. Now, mind you, the Breeze<\/em> docks in Miami.\u00a0 But – travel tip alert – it is often much cheaper to fly to Ft Lauderdale which is just 35 miles from Miami.\u00a0 There is even a train that connects the airports.\u00a0 My original plan was to fly into Ft Lauderdale and take that train to Miami and then get a taxi to the cruise terminal.\u00a0 But Carnival made it easy on us by offering a bus from Ft Lauderdale. So we flew into Ft Lauderdale Friday, stayed overnight at the airport Ramada Inn, then took the Carnival bus to the ship Saturday morning. Easy peasy.\u00a0 And we saved over $600 in airfare by doing it that way.\u00a0 Yes, we had the cost of the hotel, but that was because we always fly in a day early – we got stuck once with a 16-inch snowfall and missed some of our vacation, so we vowed then that we would always get to our destination a day early.\u00a0 We figured that if there was ever a year where an early spring snowfall could delay us, it would be 2015.<\/p>\n

It also turned out that Miami was having a huge music festival last weekend and hotel rooms for under $500 were non-existent.\u00a0 Just another reason to pick Ft Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The pool area at the Ramada Inn, Saturday morning<\/p><\/div>\n

It was sunny and warm when we arrived at the Ramada and we had drinks and lunch at the poolside bar.\u00a0 We were starting to unwind, getting our heads into vacation mode (which was somewhat difficult because were were anxiously awaiting word on an anticipated offer to purchase our house – but that’s another story).\u00a0 Then it clouded up, the rains came and the temperature dropped 15 degrees.\u00a0 It seems that the jetstream, which had been dipping south along the US east coast all winter, bringing all that snow to Massachusetts, had followed us down to Florida.\u00a0 Everyone commented on how unusual it was to be that cold in March.\u00a0 Well, we have heard THAT before.\u00a0 It wasn’t the weather we wanted, but at least it wasn’t snowing.<\/p>\n

It was cool – 70ish – when we boarded the ship.\u00a0 There were occasional sunny breaks, but mostly it was cloudy, cool and breezy.\u00a0 We wore our hoodies as we got familiar with the ship.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The colorful atrium<\/p><\/div>\n

The Breeze <\/em>is the largest cruise ship we have ever been on – about 1,000 feet long with a capacity for about 3,700 passengers, served by a crew of 1,400.\u00a0 That is over 5,000 people living on this floating city.<\/p>\n

It was built is 2012 and still has a fresh feel.\u00a0 It is colorful and very tastefully decorated.\u00a0 It has a 9-story atrium with glass elevators.\u00a0 Lots of restaurants, bars, several pools. a spa, a mini-golf course, basketball courts, a jogging track, kids activity areas, two dining rooms, a shopping arcade, a mega-video screen above the main pool and, of course, a casino.\u00a0 It also has a wonderful water slide and a ropes course.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our cabin<\/p><\/div>\n

We have a balcony cabin on Deck 11 – one level above the Lido deck (with the pools and the buffet).\u00a0 It is a good location as we can get anywhere pretty quickly.\u00a0 And we are just steps from the main smoking area – a critical space for Jett. It was one of the smaller balcony cabins we have had, but it meets out needs. Everything works.<\/p>\n

Speaking of smoking, Marlboros on the ship have a price tag of $28 per carton.\u00a0 Read that and weep, Massachusetts smokers.<\/p>\n

Day 1 was basically a day to get familiar with the ship and our dinner companions.\u00a0 We dine at 8:15 with four other couples: a career army couple now stationed in Virginia, a couple from northern Mississippi, a couple from Alabama and a couple from Texas.\u00a0 Yes, we are the only Yankees in the bunch.\u00a0 I don’t know if the South will rise again, but it will certainly go cruising.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our balcony<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our vanity area<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our hallway<\/p><\/div>\n

Day 2 was a day at sea and it was very cool and cloudy.\u00a0 Jett and I aren’t big pool people, but it probably would have been warmer in the pool than on the breezy deck.\u00a0 The high was around 70.<\/p>\n

Day 3 was our day on Grand Turk. Or was supposed to be.\u00a0 It was so windy that morning that the captain declared that it was too dangerous to dock, so we just waved at the island and moved on.\u00a0 That was disappointing as we had a snorkel excursion scheduled and were looking forward to seeing what is, by all reports, a beautiful (but small) island.\u00a0 But snorkeling on a windy day is never fun, so it is probably best that we didn’t do it.\u00a0 We have another snorkeling trip planned for Aruba.<\/p>\n

\"Martin\"<\/a>

Martin<\/p><\/div>\n

We were pretty certain, when we boarded the ship, that there would be a coffee bar on board.\u00a0 Jett needs her coffee in the morning and I need Jett to have her coffee in the morning.\u00a0 Jett without coffee is not pretty.\u00a0 The coffee in the dining rooms, though adequate, was not the high-quality brew that she loves.\u00a0 And no cappuccino in the dining rooms.\u00a0 But by the end of Day 2 we had not found it and I was getting seriously worried.\u00a0 Fortunately, on Day 3 we discovered its location.\u00a0 In retrospect, it should not have been such a mystery as it is in exactly the same place on the Breeze<\/em> as it was on the Valor<\/em>. This one was manned by “Martin,” a very cute barrista from the Philippines. By the end of the cruise he and Jett will be BFFs.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Martin is very skilled at foam art – drawing pictures in the foam topping a cappuccino.<\/p>\n

Days 4, 5 and 6 are all days in port: La Romana (D.R.), Curacao and Aruba. If it isn’t too windy.<\/p>\n

\""Piggy"\"<\/a>

“Piggy”<\/p><\/div>\n

\""Hello<\/a>

“Hello Kitty”<\/p><\/div>\n

\""rita"\"<\/a>

“rita”<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Outdoor<\/a>

Outdoor smoking lounge<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Wine<\/a>

Wine dispenser, library bar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Dining<\/a>

Dining room<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Theater<\/a>

Theater stage<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Theater<\/a>

Theater seating<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jett and I are midway through a 9-day (8 night) Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Breeze, one of Carnival Cruise Line’s biggest and best ships. Our itinerary includes stops in Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos Islands), La Romana (Dominican Republic), Curacao and Aruba. After the winter we have had, we felt the need to get … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,50,41,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-caribbean","category-fl","category-places"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VniU-N2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3040"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7156,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3040\/revisions\/7156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}