Carnival Breeze : Day 12 - At Sea

Last full day of the cruise! There are still a few things which we haven't tried so today is the day to cross them off the list!

First up, breakfast at the Blue Iguana cantina where they serve up breakfast burritos or soft shell chicken tacos with fried eggs on top :) we had the latter while watching John and Calvyn host the good morning show on the pool side big screen.

After that, ropes assault course which was fun but a little tame (clearly mainly aimed at younger kids)  but fun to be doing on a cruise ship!

Lunch today will be an Indian feast from Tandoor as we've not yet eaten there. Dinner tonight is with our New York dinner buddies at Cucina del Capitano. This is a dining options that costs $12 per adult and $5 per child. 

At 230pm today, Calvyn is hosting a "gender wars" show which should be entertaining, then it will be time to start to get our main luggage packed (any large suitcases need to be outside the cabin door by 11pm tonight)

The cruise has been amazing, the ship incredible and comparing it with Royal Carribean, I would definitely choose to cruise Carnival again. The only thing that I think didn't live up to the standard of Royal Carribean was the evening shows. In fairness we didn't go to them all but they were mainly just singing and dancing to different era's or styles of music each show. They also had a special guest pianist and vocalist (both of which we didn't go to) and the magician (who was a bit dire). Still,  the shows are one of the last reasons I would come on a cruise. Everything else has been amazing from the layout and facilities of the ship to the food and the crew. Every time you pass any crew member they all greet you like you're their best friend - ok, it's part of their job and I'm sure it's drilled in to them constantly - but it never seems forced or fake. The design of the ship from the marketplace to the lounges, pool areas, outside bars and eating areas and of course the awesome water park were all brilliant.

The 5D theatre was out of action for most of the cruise (they had to wait on a broken part to be flown out) but it opened up the other night so we went along. Cost was $7.95 each - a little steep really for a 20min show - but it was different and fun :) you wore 3D glasses and in addition the seats rocked back and forward, you got squirted with water and ticked with tubes down by your feet as well as having air blasted at you from large fans. Worth trying once :)

Obviously additional costs are where they make most of their money, the cost of the cruise itself is very reasonable (depending on cabin choice of course), but still a couple of things I feel are way overpriced. Firstly - photos. They take every possible opportunity to take photos of you and they take some great snaps but the costs are excessive. The cheapest is $9.99 each for one of their smallest prints, $11.99 each for medium sized ones (taken at dinner times) up to an eye watering $21.99 for the larger photos taken at the specially set up photo areas (about 8 of them on board with various backdrops). We initially selected 3 of these that we had taken, until I found out it would cost us $65 for 3 photos! We ended up taking one (plus we got a few of the smaller ones from previous nights). It must cost them pennies to print these photos (ok, so hundreds go to waste that are not purchased) but the prices they charge are ridiculous.

The other thing that is very expensive is excursions. The guides are very good, transport excellent but the prices are very steep. Of course you're not forced to take them, you could try and organise something yourself, but it's not so easy to do so, you can't be bothered cause you're on a holiday where you don't need to think and lastly, if anything goes wrong on something you've organised yourself and you end up late - the boat won't wait! The dearest excursion we took was at Naples. This involved an hour on the bus from Naples to the Amalfi coast, a private charted boat from Amalfi to Capri, lunch at Capri,  a public ferry from Capri back to the port and a brief shuttle back to the ship. Cost for 4 people = USD $1200! Lunch would surely have cost no more than $200 for the 4 of us with wine, the price for the ferry back from Capri was 5 euro each, not sure how much a public bus would cost from naples to Amalfi? Also no idea how expensive the tours are in the first place and how much Carnival is creaming off the top. Certainly all the tours were very good, nothing to complain about the content/quality/organisation - be nice to see some cheaper options though!

I remember the excursions being expensive with Royal Carribean as well but I'm pretty sure that Carnival was considerably dearer. Certainly definitely something to factor in when choosing who to cruise with/where to go.

Carnival Breeze : Day 11 - Messina

Today we're on the island of Sicily, in the port of Messina. The excursion we have booked for today takes us to Taormina (about 50 min) where we wander round the beautiful but small town, check out the roman/greek amphitheatre and the fantastic views of the coastline. After Taormina we head to another village for lunch before heading up Mt Etna. They take you up to the visitors centre - basically as high as you can go by bus - you can go higher by cable car and 4WD. I had expected to get closer to live craters but the excursion was limited to walking around old ones and viewing the extensive lava flows from 2001 and 2002. The have to rebuild the roads, visitors centre and cable cars every 10 years or so when they get wiped out by lava. Purchased some of their local spirit speciality which they call "firewater"- 70% alcohol!

On leaving Mt Etna it was just straight back to the ship as departure was earlier today,  at 4pm.

As we had an early lunch today (and used to eating tons constantly ;) we had some pizza burgers with our customary late afternoon cocktails (I will miss those!) and then chilled out playing cards then rested back in the cabin. We popped back up to the marketplace about 9pm for dinner then went to the guest talent show at 10.30pm. The main reason for attending this show (for me anyway) was because John Heald was hosting the show and you know you're in for a great time if John has anything to do with it. I would go as far to say that he would be one of the reasons I would cruise with carnival again rather a different cruise line (of course he's not on every cruise they release a timetable every few months of which cruise director's are going to be on which cruise). John is the senior cruise director not just on board the ship but for the whole company.

Anyway, first up 3 guests singing, they were pretty good, clearly not the first time they had done such a thing before. The second part of the show was the real treat though. John got the whole audience involved in telling a bedtime story with certain parts of the story triggering a required response from the audience. In addition, 3 people were chosen from the audience to act out the main characters in the story. Quite simply the funniest thing I've ever seen live!

We received our debarkation luggage tags today which quickly brought home the nasty realisation that the cruise was nearly over - no more warm sunny days, no more water slides and afternoon cocktails in the sun by the pool, no more being waited on hand and foot with a constant supply of fantastic food prepared for you :(

The ship arrives in Barcelona at 5am (day after next) and we are scheduled to leave the ship between 630 and 715am - a horrible early start just to add insult to injury. I went to guest services to see about changing the time zone we have to be off by (latest is 800 to 845am) but was told there was no room in that zone but that we could leave our luggage to be taken off in the earlier time slot but leave a little later ourselves. Our flight is not until 14.20 so we don't need/want to rush to the airport.

Tomorrow sea day - last full day on board :(

Carnival Breeze : Day 10 - At sea

Another sea day today - been so nice to have a number of these :) another lie-in and late breakfast this morning.

John and Calvyn do a morning show each sea day that can be viewed in cabinet and on screen at pool, it's very entertaining! I've just found out today that you can order a dvd or their 4 morning shows for $24.95. You can also order a cruise dvd which shows highlights of the cruise on board - various outdoor parties and such ($29.95) as well as an excursion dvd for each of the ports of call ($24.95). What's nice about the videos is that they are specific for this cruise (the royal Carribean one was just a generic dvd rather than for the actual cruise you were on).

This afternoon's entertainment included beach pool games, miss carnival Breeze and the third and final episode of Hasbro game show.

Lunch will be a late one today - perhaps some pizza. Tonight's is the second formal night.

As a side, I must mention the declious soft serve ice cream and frozen yoghurt self service that are available 24x7. I'm not sure I've ever consumed so much ice cream in a week, I can't help but grab one every time I go past, seem to manage at least 3 or 4 every day :)

The crowds on sea days have been fine, in fact for the whole cruise it has never seemed overly busy. There are usually no queues at all for any meals/snacks. The only problem is trying to find an outside deck chair! The big problem is people reserving towels are hardly ever using them.  They did make an effort at policing this morning. People were advised that chairs could only be held for a maximum of 40min after which staff would remove their stuff for collection later. I'm not sure how long they did this and why they stopped (perhaps too many irate passengers?!) but it wasn't in operation by lunchtime and still a lot of the seats were unused just covered in towels and other stuff. At least we have a big balcony which gets sun for quite a lot of the day (depending on ship direction).

There are two laundries on the ship with a number of large washers and dryers in each (in addition there are also ironing stations on each floor). You can purchase washing powder for the machines and the machines cost $3 (All paid with swipe card). We did a load early on the cruise and it was quiet, checking the laundry today, there were very large queues! So if you want use the laundry, don't bother on the last few days. There is also an option to have laundry done for you. You fill a reasonable bag up (enough for a few tshirts, vests, underwear etc....) and the cabin steward collects and returns washed and pressed either same day (if before 10am) or next day. Cost is $15 per bag or 5 bags for $50.

Carnival Breeze : Day 9 - Venice

This morning we arrived in Venice, what an amazing city to sail into. The ship cruises right past St Marks square. To get a good view while coming into port you need to be on deck or balcony at least 45min before arrival time. You want to be on the right hand side of the boat as it sails in and the left side as it leaves. Our balcony being on the right side was perfect for the arrival, for the departure we were up on deck 11 with the masses crowded on the railings.

It's hard to know when booking a cabin to work out which side of the boat its best to be on. Of course it's less important for the aft balconies and the corner ones like ours wrap around a little but still one side is definitely better than the other. For media cruises I would definitely recommend the right (starboard) side of the ship. Perfect location for Monaco, for Livorno and Rome it doesn't matter cause you're only looking at an industrial port, it was the best side for naples (although there are a number of possible places where the ship can dock), for Croatia either sides provided a good view (not of old town as cruise shops dock at main port on other side of old town). For Venice starboard is best cause you can then stumble out of bed in your robe and watch the city from your balcony. Not sure about sicily as that's tomorrow port.

While I'm on cabin recommendations, I believe that our cabin (6501) is the best on the ship. The corner aft balconies are only on decks 6,7 and 8. Our balcony extends along the back the most and wraps around slightly. On deck 7, the balcony does not go as far along the back but wraps further around the side. For deck 8 its like ours but smaller. So best balconies imho are 6501 (starboard) or the equivalent on the port side - but starboard best for port views.

Our excursion was at 845am so we had to meet in the lounge at 815am. I have been really impressed with the organisation of the excursions. You enter one side of the theatre and get handed a red numbered sticker depending on what excursion you're on. The number of the sticker indicates the group that will you will leave the theatre with and stay together for the excursion. The timings of the departures are all staggered and once buses are ready on dock, each group is called out, you then file out the other side of the theatre and off the boat. This way the queues to get off never seem big or take very long.

Our excursion today was Murano (famous for glass blowing), St. George's island (directly opposite St. Mark's Square and a gondola ride. The gondola rides are very expensive if booked separately, private prices quoted (negoiated by Carnival supposedly with discount) was 100 euro for a 30min ride for 2 people.

We hopped on a private boat from the ship and 50 min later arrived at Murano. Murano was interesting, they gave us a demo of blowing a glass and decorating it with colour and beads. The prices for large pieces are extortionate! Everything is handmade and looks very impressive (and prices include guaranteed safe delivery anywhere in the world). Some tumblers were tempting (360 euros for a set of 6) but I'd be too scared to ever use them! We bought a couple of smaller items from other shops on the island. I would recommend definitely shopping around as the place we did the tour with was the most expensive.

After Murano, we got back on the boat,  30 min later were on St. George's island with great views across the lagoon. After a small stop there we crossed the lagin and went for a 30min gondola ride. At the end of the excursion you had the option of staying in Venice and then catching a water taxi back to the ship later. We'd been to St. Mark's Square before so just headed back to the boat. Had tacos for lunch at the Blue Iguana canteen and then enjoyed a quiter water park while most people were still off the boat.

The boat left at 7pm and gave us an amazing view of the city on the way out (while sipping back our cocktails :)

For dinner we went to the Red Frog pub and had some Carribean "tapas". Each dish costs $3.33 and two each is more than enough. The guy that comes on later for live music is very good and we chilled our listening to the music and playing cards.

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.

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!

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:)

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.

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 :)