This Journey Was a Breeze!

We were granted services in exchange for our honest option. All views are our own.

This is our first installment about our week recently spent on Carnival’s Breeze. If you are considering a cruise, we hope our experience will help you join the millions who find cruising to be one of the best ways to vacation.

Our experience on a seven day cruise on Carnival’s Breeze was just that, a BREEZE.  We departed from our favorite cruise port, Port Canaveral.  It is a comfortable day’s drive from our home in South Carolina and offers many cruise options.  There are several cruise lines that sail from Port Canaveral with a wide variety of destinations.

We arrived a couple of days early as we were also writing an article on the Kennedy Space Center. Spending a day at KSC during the 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 Journey was fun and will be in an upcoming post.

We found a new (for us) watering hole in Cocoa Beach, Slow & Low BBQ. A fun place with great staff and a 2 for 1 happy hour that we felt obligated to try. Our waiter recommended having the smoked corn with our meal. It was smoked in the husk and dipped in melted butter. A great compliment to a delicious meal.

For first time cruisers the boarding process may seem hectic, but it’s really quite simple and well managed.  There are plenty of people to help guide you through the process.  You will want to have all your documents handy to present.  You will go through a security area similar to those at airports. There are a couple of options for your official documentation, but a passport is the easiest and well worth the price. Passports are good for 10 years.  Your boarding pass is available online once you have made final payment and should be printed out before you leave home.  The boarding pass will be shown to enter the building, Keep it available to be shown a couple of more times before you prepare to board the ship.

Whatever official documentation you’re using, check again and again that you have it before you depart from your home. And don’t put it in any checked luggage. I have heard many stories of people having a last minute panic over wrong or missing documents, even being denied boarding. On this cruise one person left their wallet along with their passport on the plane. Fortunately it was found after several hours and recovered in time for their boarding.

Port Canaveral just started a pilot program of facial identification for those using a passport. Once you’re in the system your processing goes quickly. And at the end of your trip, you spend a moment in front of the camera then you’re on your way home.

Passports and documents in hand, we boarded and found a place to sit and grab lunch until our stateroom was ready.  The Lido deck will have lots of food choices.  We highly recommend Guy’s Burgers, but many options are available to suit any taste.  As more guest board, the sitting areas do get crowded since everyone is ready to eat, but there are other places to enjoy your first meal that are less crowded.  Going toward the rear (aft) of ship you will see a sign for Cucina de Capitano.  Take the stairs up one flight and you will find a beautiful sitting area that is less crowded.  

In our years of cruising, we have had a variety of staterooms.  Inside, porthole, window, various balcony locations, mid ship, forward, aft, low, mid level and upper floors.  As stated in a previous article, I advise people NOT to book a balcony room, because from that point on you will want nothing less.  Well now I’ve notched that up a bit by booking a rear wrap around corner balcony. There are only two of these per deck and as the name indicates, they wrap around the rear corner of the ship.  These rooms have the largest balcony available.  I’d always wanted to try one of these and since we booked this cruise almost two years ago, we had plenty of time to pay for this premium stateroom.  

Due to the location, the room has a different shape and configuration from most balcony cabins, but we found it to be excellent for our needs.  You have lots of window space.  For those who enjoy being awaken at first light, leave the drapes open since the bed faces outside for a panoramic view.  Of course the huge deck is the main benefit.  If you are traveling with a group you could easily get a dozen or more people out there.  Our room was on deck 8 which allowed for cabins above and below us which offers a bit of insulation from deck noise of the public areas.  Here is a short video showing the deck and cabin https://youtu.be/WZPO5o1GyqQ

The rooms are available at 1:30 and we made our way to our cabin, finding our luggage was already outside.  It often may take several hours for it to arrive so be sure you have any essentials in your carry on.  IMPORTANT: While rare, luggage can get misplaced or lost.  On day two of our cruise, word was sent out that one guest was missing their CPAP machine which they had checked in as luggage at the dock.  Anything you can’t do without needs to be carried on.  After getting settled in we walked around the ship to get acquainted with the layout.  Even though we have sailed on the sister ship Magic and knew the basic layout, there are always subtle differences between the ships.  Upon boarding I was pleased to see a definite “beach” theme in the decor.

With our cabin location you could detect a subtle but steady hum of the engine, which I find relaxing, like white noise, especially in the evening.  The sound of the water going past as the ship takes you to your next destination was especially soothing.  You do feel a little more motion than cabins located mid ship, but this is something I like.  The warm breeze, soothing sounds and gentle rocking take away stress and made me want to never leave.  Of course I NEVER want to leave at the end of a cruise! For travelers concerned about motion sickness on the ship, there are always medication you can take along, including prescriptions such as patches you can get from your doctor.  We have sailed for 37 years and today’s ships are much more stable that what we encountered in our early sailing days.  But you can never predict what weather conditions may occur to produce stronger motion.  

We got an introductory beverage and waited for the Muster Drill.  Attendance is REQUIRED for all and will go quickly if everyone promptly makes their way to their assigned station.  This information is posted in your cabin as well as your Sail & Sign card which is also your room key.  Announcements are also made over the loud speakers. Crew members will be visible to help you find your way.  The drill will not start until all passengers have been checked in.  So don’t think you can skip this.

Then it’s back to the fun.  Plenty of public areas to enjoy more food, drink, music or just lounging as we prepare to set sail.  Since we had this huge balcony, we choose to watch our departure from the comfort of our spacious private area. And since Port Canaveral had typical late afternoon showers, it gave us a protected area with great views.

Leaving Port Canaveral we passed by one of the recovery barges used by SpaceX for their Falcon rocket. Then on out to sea for 7 days of fun.

 Carnival has a free app called Carnival HUB you should download before departure.  This provides a daily detail of events, ship deck layouts, available shore excursions and much more.  For $5 per person, you can add a text option that allows you to stay in touch with your travel partners and others who have this feature while onboard.

I will be making additional installments about our Journey on the Breeze in the coming days. Next we will talk about everyone’s favorite…FOOD.