Carnival Breeze Pre-Cruise Week
The week of the cruise was insanely busy for me, I had like 3 finals and I did not want to loose any of my A’s by performing poorly during those examinations. So to say that expressed that week was a real understatement. But everything went as planned and my hard work and determination payed off quite well.
Once Friday came and all my class were finished I was exhausted, and pretty much spend that entire day in bed relaxing and working at night. The big problem with that is that up to that day I had done ZERO packing, usually I am very lucky that my mom packs for me in advance but since she was out of town well… The funny thing is the she actually flew in from Colombia that day, but still that just left me with saturday to pack and finalize everything. That is not usually the way I like to go, but given the circumstances it actually played out pretty well 
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Thanks Mom 
Day 1
Well the day was finally here, and I was 100% pumped and ready to board the wonderful Carnival Breeze! I don’t think I have mentioned this so far, but our roll call for this cruise was absolutely fantastic. There was an incredible level on energy and excitement that just kept building up each day. I really did feel like I knew a lot of people going on the cruise already. I think this is by far the most active and energetic roll call out of all of my cruises and that including Breakaway which was brand new at the time, so that alone says quite a bit.
So anyway, my anxiety level was already sky rocket high, keep in mind this was after all my first solo cruise and while I was already set with the idea, I still had high anxiety that day. Usually I tend to get sick prior my cruises, I believe is my anxiety fault, but this cruise I had no time to get nervous, I was simply too busy to even think about it.
So back to the story, I got ready packed everything and went over my list one last time to make sure I had everything in place. We had to leave early because my mom was going to drop me off at the port of Miami and then she was going to hit the road on a short road trip. Funny that I got a letter from Carnival saying to get to port at 1:00pm, I was like “Yeah that’s not going to happen”. Just to be safe I contacted Carnival and told then that there was no way that could happen, they said it was ok, I could arrive early and wait. I could be wrong here, but in my opinion the letter is simply a number game to thin out the masses, they must send it to quite a few cruisers, and if 50% obey the letter then it makes things much easier for them. Again I could be wrong here, but that is just my personal thought.
But honestly this is the first time this happens to me on a cruise, well, not true. With Disney they assigned me a time, which I completely ignored and got there 2 hours before the assigned time. They never said a word about it. The way I see it is that I am paying good money to go on this vacation and I will make sure that I get the most out of my $$$. If I want to get early to port then so be it, that is exactly what I will do. I will take a gamble and wait in the terminal area if I have, but at least I know that I will be one of the first ones to board the Carnival Breeze once the process begins. Ironically this time, I was getting there earlier because mom had to drop me off early.
The drive to port was uneventful, I tend to avoid Miami as much as I can. To be honest I am not crazy about it, just too much traffic for my personal taste. But it was pretty quick, with little to none traffic.
You know you are in Miami Port when you see this!
I admit I love port everglades, however the Miami line up is like no other. Specially on Sundays when the variety of ships is so great. That Saturday we only had 3 ships on port.*
Mom dropped me off early, I forgot what time it was. But my guess is around 10am, security check and check-in were incredibly fast and painless. A very efficient check-in, I can only compare it to my Disney Dream experience, I was very impressed. So with time to burn I sat down and pulled my computer, and finished some work before I lost internet for the rest of the week.
The terminal is simple but nice, it also flows well and allows for lines to be formed without affecting the other areas. No complains here, I thought it was very comfortable while I waited to board.
I love these type of pictures, you will see many in this review. It is almost as if they are partially telling a story, and just want more of it. They leave so much open for your imagination to play with. They are done by a Illustration mode on new sony cameras.
Here is a short video of the terminal for those interested in it. Click either on the small picture or the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5S3y64My5Y
I was given “Zone 5” I thought that was going to be a long wait from Zone 1, but what else could I do…
By the way just a side note, I saw a lot of weed sniffing dogs in this cruise. I saw several that day in the terminal and I also saw some in Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Definitely a lot more than I am used to seeing on my other cruises, not sure why.
Around 11:20am they started boarding the Platinum members, according to another CC member there were over 1,000 of them in this cruise. And I think that sounds about right, because it took quite some time for them to get on board.
At about 11:45am Faster To the Fun FTTF started boarding. Several CC members of our role call had purchased it, I had not. I think this is a good time to talk about FTTF, I 100% DO NOT ENDORSE this program on the Carnival Breeze. While it may seem very tempting and like you’re getting a good deal, let me tell you something. It is not a good deal at all. FTTF boarded at 11:45am, Zone 1 boarded at 11:50 and Zone 5 boarded at 11:55am. I kid you not, I took notes of the times and it just does make any sense to me why anyone would purchase this option.
Also not to spoil the review, but I also got my bag in the room very fast. I think faster than any other cruise I’ve been on. And getting off Carnival Breeze in Grand Cayman (Tender) was so fast that I did not even have time to process how quick it all happened. Great props go to Carnival for having such great systems deployed in this aspect of the cruise. They really have their act together. So unless you want to have your room ready immediately after you board, there is really no reason to buy it. Oh wait a minute, all rooms were available at 12:30, so basically I only waited 25 minutes to get in my room. So you’re paying $50 to drop off your bags 30 minutes earlier? Anyway, just my opinion and nothing more, good thing I hesitated about buying it on the first place.
Anyway back to the review, Like I said I boarded the Carnival Breeze at 11:55am.
When you board the Carnival Breeze you arrive to the atrium. My first impression was a positive one, the colors were mild and pleasant to the eyes. While not the most impressive entrance I have seen, it was none the less a very nice first impression. This is also the first time that I saw a bar immediately as you walk in, well the Allure has one but it is to the side. On the Carnival Breeze the Atrium bar is dead on waiting for you.
Carnival Breeze Atrium Main entrance.
Carnival Breeze Atrium Staircase.
I was pretty hungry since I had not eaten breakfast so I decided to head up stairs and look for food. I took the elevators up to the lido deck and started walking towards guy’s burger.
Carnival Breeze Beach Pool.
Personally I wish instead of this cabanas they had a couple of jacuzzis there. But that’s just me, I am sure many enjoy them. That is the “Beach Pool”, here is were all the main activities happen. Like hairy chest contest, late parties, Movies at night, etc. I will admit that I did not spend much time here, I will get into why later on. But overall it is a nice area and one that I am sure you will frequent a lot during your cruise.
