Sunday 29 July 2012

Carnival Breeze : Day 8 - At Sea

Today was the second of our 4 sea days. It's certainly nice to have more time to spend on the boat rather than racing around doing excursions every day - of course excursions are optional but you feel like you have to make the effort to see some of the places you're visiting. Out last cruise had just 1 sea day (it was a shorter cruise only 7 days and it felt a lot more rushed).

Of course being a sea day means everyone is on board and it gets very busy outside. The eateries are fine, never too busy but trying to find a deckchair in the sun past 8am is almost impossible as the crazy longer hogs have already been round throwing their towels around and reserving most the ship! Lucky our large balcony offers enough space for 2 loungers, in fact you could comfortably fit 4 but we just have 2 - only the girls are obsessed with cooking themselves out in the baking sun for hours on end ;)

All the shops are open all day since we're at sea, as well as the casino and there's more activities to do during the day so there's plenty to keep you occupied.

The water park was busy but not bad, you perhaps had to wait about 10 min for a ride - nothing compared with the crazy queues you can get at some land based water parks.

We had a lazy morning, watched John (Heald) and Calvyn's morning show at 930am which is broadcast on room tv's as well as the large pool side movie screen. They are very entertaining!

Back for some water park action and watched an ice carving demonstration by the beach pool - amazing.

Lunch of course was courtesy of fat Jimmys - love the food there, especially the pulled pork. We ate in the ocean Plaza with our dinner buddies.

Carnival Breeze : Day 7 - Dubrovnik

Today we arrived in Dubrovnik at 7am. Our excursion was a little later today, only had to meet at 830am which is a lot better than the 645am starts!

Today's excursion involved a private boat ride from the port, round the mainland and past the old town to a beach a small way down the coast. We had about 3 hours at the beach, including a lunch that was included before getting back on the boat and being dropped off in the old town. The tour provided us with vouchers to use on the shuttle from the old town back to the ship. Without a voucher, the shuttle cost 4 euros each, or you could get a cab for about 10 euros. The drive back to the ship took about 10 min.

The old town was amazing, absolutely the most amazing city I have ever seen. Completely enclosed in a huge wall, all the buildings look the same dazzling creamy marble colour with terracotta roof tiles. The city was immaculate and the main street was like you were walking on marble. We got a ticket to walk around the city walls (price was 70 kuna, or 10 pounds). It was very hot and walking around the top of the walls you felt like you were baking so we stopped after about 2/3 rds of the way round (its a one way system and there's only a few places to get off!).

We queued up for the shuttle and got back to the ship about 4pm.

After spending the afternoon boiling we quickly ascended on the water park and spent the rest of the afternoon there (with a break for cocktails of course :).

The water park is amazing with 2 long slides : the twister which is 300ft long and goes through a number of twists and turns before you exit. The other slide is the drainpipe which you end up going very fast and getting flung into a large, open sink like structure where you spin round and round before stopping near the middle (just like water going down a plughole!)

We ate back at the restaurant last night then went to see a "Magic/Comedy" show at the Ovation theatre. To be honest the show was a little dire with not enough magic or comedy going on! There were a few impressive tricks but it took him so long to get there that you tended to lose interest along the way. Oh well, win some lose some.

Called it a night after the show, tomorrow another sea day so a sleep in, lazy day and of course fat Jimmys c-side BBQ :)

Carnival Breeze : Day 6 - At sea

Last night we had pizza for dinner (impressed with how good the pizza is!) and some salad and desserts from the marketplace. Didn't bother with the movies but went down to the Ocean Plaza to watch the karaoke. I had, foolishly perhaps, expected some reasonable level of talent of the people keen to get behind the mike. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth, the talent ranged from merely ok to downright terrible with more of the latter than the former! So we moved outside the plaza to dim the noise, played cards and had some drinks before retiring for an early night.

Today is the first day at sea or "fun day" as carnival like to call it :) We had a sleep in until 9am then wandered up to the marketplace for some breakfast and to check the outside seating situation. It seemed that everyone else had been up far earlier, reserved their seats with a towel, book or bottle of something and then either chuffed off back to bed or breakfast. Ridiculous and should be banned! By the time we had finished breakfast the boat had started to turn around the bottom of Italy and head north east to Croatia which meant that the sun was already on our balcony so there was no need to start throwing towels overboard in a fit of rage :)

For lunch we headed down to Fat Jimmys C-side BBQ. Wow, the food was great, especially the pulled pork which was incredible :) They also had bbq chicken breast, salads, griddled vegetables, corn bread, sausages, baked beans and creamed corn. Delicious!

Once we had finished with lunch we headed out to the Beach pool area to watch the "Hairy chest competition" which was hilarious and the winner was from Scotland :)

In the Ovation theatre at 230pm was the Marriage show hosted by John Heald - anything this man does is funny and this was not exception. 4 couples on their honeymoon were asked up on stage and relived their proposal moment with John making the whole thing very entertaining.

After that we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on our balcony before heading up to the tides pool and having a refreshing dip. We bumped into our dinner buddies : Joe, Ann and their kids Andrew and Ellie and chatted for a while before heading back for showers and sprucing before the first of two "Elegant" (ie formal)nights.

Tonight's the first formal night which will be nice to see everyone in their finest. After dinner there's the "Latin nights" show on in the theatre or "The blind side" on at the large pool side movie screen. Latin nights is another singing/dancing show featuring songs from Latin artists. Should be good.

Tomorrow is Croatia - a relatively late excursion start of 815am where we need to the beach for a few hours have lunch and then come back via the city to explore Dubrovnik.

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Carnival Breeze : Day 5 - Naples

Day 5 update comes from the Red Frog bar at the side of the Beach pool, knocking back frozen cocktails.

To complete yesterday,  we had cocktails by the Beach pool (hmm, pattern developing) and then went to the main dining room. Dinner was a little disappointing, for my main I had a prime rib of beef that must have been boiled, what a shame to ruin a lovely piece of meat - if only it had been bbq'd over a hot grill!

We raced over to the Ovation theatre after dinner for the Hasbro game show, basically consisting of people selected from the audience who had to correctly answer trivial pursuit style questions. These people then played life sized versions of connect four (huge frame that you had to throw balls into) and the Simon dx game that involves playing back the four colours in the correct order. This time each person had a light box strapped to their chest (4 people in a team) and the team had to stand in the correct order of colours that was flashed up on the screen. The two winning teams then had to chose cards with monopoly style pieces on them and insert them into a machine which revealed their hidden point value. Person with the most number of points won. Show was fun and entertaining, certainly the host, John Heald (senior cruise director) was and is very funny.

After the show we decided to abandon plans for the Carribean party as we had a 615am breakfast date and a long day off the boat.

Today we left the boat about 730am and drive to Amalfi (about 1 hour) stopping off at a cameo factory on the way.

The drive from Naples to Amalfi involved driving up and over very high hills and a very narrow and winding road down to the bay. Very impressive driving from the coach driver, scary enough in places driving a car on these roads!

Amalfi was beautiful, we had about an hour to explore before getting on a private launch to take us to the island of Capri. The weather was perfect, mid to high 20's and lovely blue skies. The trip to Capri took a bit over an hour, best way to take in the Amalfi coast for sure.

Once on Capri we took the funicular up to the town of Capri where we had a lovely lunch before having about 1.5 hours to explore the town. Beautiful town with incredible views. It was very busy with a few cruise ships in at naples and each having excursions to Capri. Lots of expensive looking hotels and shops for all the wealthy!

Leaving Capri we took a large public launch back to the port of Naples (about 50 min) before getting back on the boat, and getting off to the poolside bar for cocktails :)

The Amalfi coast is somewhere we've been keen to go to for ages and it didn't disappoint. Stunning towns and coast line -  highly recommend it, and of course Capri is also a must see.

I think we'll skip the main dining room tonight, either pizza pirate, Tandoor or the marketplace. Talledega nights is on the large dive-in movie screen so may watch that.

Tomorrow is first "fun sea day" while we cruise all the way around the bottom of Italy and up the other side to Dubrovnik, Croatia. It's the only port on the cruise we haven't been to and am really looking forward to it, another one off the bucket list :) Be interesting to see how busy it is tomorrow with all 3,600 passengers on board all day!

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Carnival Breeze : Day 4 - Civitavecchia

Today's stop is the gateway to Rome. As we've seen all the sites in Rome before we decided to stay on board and experience more time on the ship. Of course the weather is not being kind and the forecast suggests it will be raining most of the day so a lot of time will be spent indoors, or at least under cover :)

Thought I would take the time to list the food options since that will probably consume most of my day! There's certainly no need to ever go hungry :)

As well as below, there is 24x7 complimentary room service (limited menu)
Breakfast:
(All no charge)
- Sit down waiter service at the main restaurant
- Marketplace : continental, meats, cheeses, cereals, toast, bagels, every hot option conceivable including omelette's made to order
- Blue Iguana (tacos and burritos)
- Punchliner comedy brunch (sea days only)
Lunch:
- Sit down waiter service at main restaurant
- Guys burger joint
- Blue Iguana (tacos and burritos)
- Marketplace - a number of different styles of buffet food including salads, fruits, desserts, Italian and comfort kitchen
- Deli
- Cucina del Capitano pasta bar
- Tandoor Indian buffet
Dinner:
(No charge for below)
- Main dining room
- Guys burger joint - amazing but only open until 6pm
- Marketplace - as above -(6 till 9pm and 11pm till 1am)
- Deli
- Mongolian wok
- Tandoor (Indian)
- Pizza pirate (fantastic pizzas, open 24hrs)
- Room service (limited menu)
- Fat Jimmys c-side BBQ (sea days only)
(Options that incur a charge)
- Bonsai Sushi - $1-$3 per dish
- Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse - $35 per person
- Cucina del Capitano - a family style Italian restaurant, costs $12 per adult and $5 per child
- Redfrog pub - $3.33 per item

There is also the plaza cafe (small charge) open between 6 to10.30am and 3.30pm to 12.30am

Had a late breakfast and burger for lunch. Spent the afternoon taking some photos around the inside of the ship while it's quiet (most people on shore excursions). Weather not brilliant but not the thunderstorms that was forecast :)

Plan for this evening is back to main restaurant and then off to Ovation lounge for Hasbro game show. After that there's a Carribean beach party around the beach pool

Carnival Breeze : Day 3 - Livorno

Last night we watched James Bond on the big dive-in movie screen. We managed to secure comfy couches right in front of the screen on the second level so had a perfect view. The picture and the especially the sound from the dive-in movie is very impressive.

After the movie finished (unless otherwise activities are planned for that area they run 2 movies a night one starting around 8pm and one starting around 10.30pm) we raced along to the Ovation theatre to get a seat for the "Divas" dancing/singing show. The cast were excellent but our seats were not great with a hand rail in front that always seemed to be in the way as well as a constant procession of people walking past us trying to find seats, even after the show had started :( Next time, seats higher up, away from the thoroughfares!

Today's stop is Livorno, gateway to Tuscany, probably one of my favourite places of anywhere. I love the countryside, the small medieval cities and the food :) Unlike Monaco where the view from our balcony was amazing, this port, and the next are predominantly commercial ports so nothing to see or do straight off the boat.

We had already been to Florence and Pisa during earlier holidays to Tuscany so avoided those excursions. Instead, we went to Cinque Terre, a group of very picturesque villages tucked away on the coast. The villages were lovely but it was a long day, with about 4 hours spent on a coach (in total) and very disappointingly the boats that were supposed to shuttle us from village to village were cancelled due to high winds and rough seas so we had to use public trains :( The trains were slow and very crowded with tour groups but as all the villages are built tucked away around small harbours we lost the best views of them from the water. The tour guides were excellent though and the pace of the trip good with 2.5 hours free time in the last village (Monterosso).

After meeting in the lounge at 645am and leaving the boat about 720am, we didn't get back on board until nearly 6pm.

We chilled out and went back to the main dining room for dinner - food was delicious :)

After dinner we went to the Red Frog pub with some cards and had a drink listening to a guy playing live music - who was very good and sang songs the whole pub sung along to:)

Sunday 22 July 2012

Carnival Breeze : Day 2 - Monaco

Last night's dinner was okay, the service was very good, choice of food good (there's about 5 options from the "every day" section and then another 5 from the day-specific section). The quality of the food was good, not excellent.

Our sitting was 815pm, we arrived about 820 but as the service was quite slow didn't finish our desserts until after 10pm, at which point missed the late show.

Tonight's show is on a bit later at 1015pm but to ensure we get a good seat we're going for something to eat the Blue Iguana cafe (tacos and burritos) while watching James Bind movie on the Dive-in movie screen at 745pm.

Today's stop was Monaco - what an amazing city to come in via boat! The ship berths right in the harbour alongside ridiculous sized private yachts. 5 min after stepping off the boat and you're in the centre of town.

We had a fantastic view of Monaco from our (starboard side) balcony (see pictures). It's the latest arrival of the cruise at 9am so afforded us a wee sleep in :)

Breakfast ended at 830am in the morning so our only option was the marketplace. Of course the range and quantity of food on offer was staggering. Basically anything you could imagine eating for breakfast (including meats and cheeses for the European cruisers) was on offer.

After breakfast we hopped off the boat and wandered around the city, basically following the F1 route from the last corner along the harbour front, along the main straight, up the hill past the casino and down the other side, through the tunnel, returning back to the harbour front and the ship. We spent a while at the Cafe De Paris outside the Casino watching the incredible procession of exotic cars and people driving by! Prices at the cafe were a little eye-watering - 6.50 euro for a bottle of coke and 14.50 for a milkshake, but you can't beat the location :) Best car, parked outside the Hotel De Paris was a Gemballa MIG-U1 Ferrari Enzo - estimated cost $1.5 million!

Back on the boat we had lunch at the Marketplace and then chilled out by the Beach pool and listened to the DJ pumping out 80's hits

Carnival Breeze : Day 1 - Pre-dinner

First impressions of the ship are incredible. It's obvious everything is brand new. Not having been on a Carnival cruise before I can't say how much of the design and layout of the ship is due to the boat being the latest flagship of the Carnival fleet and how much is the same on all their boats.

When it came time for lunch, it was staggering the choice of food available and how good it all looked :) We opted for some soft shell tacos at the Blue Iguana and they were delicious. A choice of meats on a taco, then a huge array of toppings/salsa's and sauces which you add yourself.

The burgers from Guy's burger joint that everyone kept walking past with looked so good that we had to wash our taco down with a burger :) Like the taco, you get the basic burger and then tops and sauces are up to you.

In the marketplace there were countless other options for food : Pasta, salads, sweets, roast meets, Indian and Mongolian wok and more.

Free ice cream (soft serve) went down a real treat :) Free drinks at lunch are limited to tea and coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade and iced tea.

After a talk from the Cruise Director (John Heald) and the mandatory safety drill we headed back up to the Red Frog pub for some cocktails while we sailed away from Barcelona and watched the farewell party around the beach pool:)

Looking forward to dinner tonight (we have the late sitting at 815pm and then the welcome aboard show at 10pm.

I will keep and scan each of the daily funtimes schedules. They are available to view on a smart phone over the ship's wifi for free. Pity any other internet access on the ship costs an arm and a leg.

Saturday 21 July 2012

Carnival Breeze : Day 1 - Barcelona

We packed up from the apartment, bundled into a taxi and headed over to the port. There were 4 cruise ships at the port, two smaller ones, Royal Carribean's Legend of the Seas and the awesome Carnival Breeze :)

It was so exciting pulling up in the taxi next to the shop, wow! We arrived about 1145am, boarding started at 1130 and queues were short. Within 30 min we had our room keys and were board :)

After a brief wander round the lobby we raced down to see our rooms. Both of the cabins are on the 6th deck, the kids have an inside cabin while we have one of the aft corner balcony cabins :) there's just two of these on each deck 6, 7 and 8. The balcony is huge wrapping all the way round the corner of the boat!

Attached is a picture of the cabin and the deck.



Carnival Breeze : Day 0 Barcelona

It's the day before we set sail on the newest Carnival cruise ship, the Breeze! We arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday and have spent the past couple of days exploring this fantastic city.

My wife and I left on a similar cruise from Barcelona 5 years ago, on Royal Carribean's Voyager of the Seas. It will be interesting to see how Carnival compares with Royal Carribean. The ships are about the same size but of course the Carnival Breeze is brand new! This is her 5th voyage.

Can't wait to set eyes on the boat for the first time :)