Carnival Breeze 2022 Recap – End of cruise, travel home, final thoughts

Getting off the ship is always a sad time. Yesterday, we decided that we would not do the self-assist and instead would leave our luggage outside our door. That definitely freed up a lot of space in our room.

We went to the Lido deck in search of food. I had there ever so yummy (not really) scrambled eggs, pork sausage links, hash browns, croissant, butter, grape jelly, strawberry compote, and coffee. Jim had his usual Blue Iguana breakfast burrito consisting of eggs, sausage, ham, hash browns, onion, cheese, guacamole, creme fraiche, salsa rojo, and coffee/hot chocolate combo. His coffee was actually yummy!!!! I wish we would have tried that sooner. We decided to eat our breakfast in our stateroom so we could do any last minute packing and double check several times to make sure we didn’t forget anything.

After we finished eating, I stepped out onto our cold balcony to see the Carnival Vista at terminal one. We knew we would be at terminal two. No big deal.

While we waited in our stateroom until we had to leave, I straightened up the bed and left some goodies and an envelope for our room stewards. They did an excellent job of making sure we had everything we needed which was basically only ice.

Once we were finally off the ship, the cruise really was over. That means the post cruise depression is right around the corner.

Our drive home included a stop of Buc-ee’s to stretch our legs and relieve ourselves. Once again we did not purchase any drinks. We also stopped at a Taco Bell in College Station to grab something to eat. This was not my choice.

Another stop at the Little Czech Bakery in West, Texas for some Kolache’s. Then a stop in Waco for gas. Then we were home. Our critters were so happy we were home. And we were happy to be out of the car.

My final thoughts on the cruise. Cookie is the BEST cruise director and definitely my favorite. Jim and I hope we sail with him again some day. He really puts himself into every activity he hosts and makes everything so very entertaining. He is also very personable. Just the best.

Overall, the cruise was great. There were a couple of things that were not really what we expected things to be. For instance, we had reservations at the steakhouse for the first night on board. When we got there, the hostess was not very friendly. She asked if we wanted to sit at the bar, which is situated just off the walkway to the area the tables are in. We told her we would prefer a table so she sat us quickly after that. The steakhouse was crowded which I expected since it was on Valentine’s day. It also seems much smaller than the steakhouse on the Carnival Dream. The meal itself was excellent and our waitstaff was good. But the entire meal felt like we were being rushed. I do not like be rushed when I am having a wonderful dinner for my birthday. With my birthday being on Valentine’s day, it is very rare that I go out to eat as everywhere is packed. I learned on this cruise that it would also be packed on my birthday.

The only other thing we noticed was the seating in the Ovation Theater. We went there to see the Love and Marriage show. We decided to sit on deck 5 so we could get a good view of everything. We had GREAT seats, but the seats had a very straight, hard, upright back. It was very hard to get comfortable. After that, if we went to something in the Ovation Lounge/Theater, we sat on deck 3. Lesson learned.

Those were the only 2 things that were just off for us but definitely did not impact our cruise negatively in any way, shape, or form. We would love to sail on Carnival Breeze again and we definitely want to be on a ship with Cookie again.

Carnival Breeze 2022 Recap – embarkation

It’s cruise day!!!! And it is also my birthday!!!!! I’m going on a Valentine’s Birthday Cruise!!!!!

This morning, Jim brought me breakfast in bed. He’s so kind!!!! In all honesty, I was too excited to eat but I did try them.

We had a 10:30 – 11:00 am arrival appointment time so we had plenty of time to make a quick WalMart run before checking out of the hotel and making our way to the pier.

We checked out around 10:00 and drove to the pier to drop off our checked luggage then made our way directly across the street to the parking garage. Even though the parking garage is directly across the street from terminal 1, we still had to make our way through the maze to get to the parking garage. No big deal. We are getting on a ship!!!! As luck would have it, our favorite Kenny Chesney song we must listen to came on Sirius XM just as we drove into the parking garage. Who doesn’t like No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem? It is the absolute perfect song for any tropical vacation!!!! Listening to this song may have delayed our actually getting out of the car a little, but not much.

We walked out of the garage at 10:30 and made our way across the street. We made our way through all the check points and security and were on the ship before 11:00!!! That is definitely a record for us. There was no waiting at all!!!! Of course, we did have to stop for an embarkation photo!!!! It’s for scrapbook purposes.

Usually when we board a ship, we head straight for the Lido deck to enjoy our first Funship Special and a Guy’s Burger. That changed on our last cruise since muster is done differently now. On this cruise, our first stop was at the Breeze Bar to order our first Funship special. Always so refreshing. Then we made our way to our muster station then to the Lido deck for our first Guys Burger of the cruise.

After we finished our lunch, we decided to go to deck 5 and check out the Red Frog Pub. On the way there, we heard a rumor that some of the staterooms were open. So, we went back to deck 10 to see if we could at least drop off our carry on bags and immediately leave. The nice person at the door said we could!!!! Our luggage was already at our door so we took it in to unpack later and drop off our carry-on stuff and was about to leave the room when our room steward came to let us know he was finished with our room and it was ok for us to stay if we wanted to! This cruise is going to be GREAT!!!! I also decorated the door on this cruise.

So, we took some time to unpack before exploring the ship. And by exploring the ship, I mean going to the Red Frog Pub. While on deck 5, we found out that Guy’s Pig and Anchor was open on we decided to try some bar-b-que. It was good as always! While we were in the area and in need of something to drink, I went to the coffee shop and got a Dr Pepper and a Starbucks Carnival breeze mug! My first souvenir of the cruise!

We decided to watch sail away from our balcony which is something we usually do. The weather was great and this is definitely a much needed vacay! I even took a picture of the progress being made on the new terminal for Royal Caribbean.

When I booked this cruise I decided that it would be a great opportunity for us to actually be able to eat at a steakhouse without all the crowds that Valentine’s day usually has. So, on Halloween, I made reservations to have dinner on embarkation day. As the time grew near our reservation time, we changed clothes. Sometimes a change of clothes is really all about the shoes and this outfit was no exception. As we made our way to Fahrenheit 555, we made one quick stop for photos because it’s my birthday and it is what I wanted to do.

The food at Fahrenheit 555 was amazing. I ordered a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc to go with my meal. I was nice and shared some of it with my husband! We were brought a slider to try compliments of the chef. It was pretty good. For my meal, I had sea salt bread, a Ceasar salad, broiled Filet Mignon, and a baked potato. Jim had the bone marrow and hand cut beef tartare, New York strip, and onion rings, We both ordered the chocolate sphere for dessert. After finishing our meal, we were stuffed!!!!

After dinner, we walked around a bit and did a little more shopping. And by shopping, I mean I bought my first Pandora bracelet and a couple of charms. I know it may not be much, but I love it!

We ended our first night on board at the Red Frog Pub where I had a couple of Pain Killers and Jim had Woodford Reserve on the rocks. The best part of the night was getting a picture of our AWESOME cruise director. I hope to be on a ship with him again.

And so ends day one of our cruise on the Carnival Breeze.

More blogs about this cruise are coming up real soon!!!!