Better late than not, right? It's been hectic. I came back with a cold and it took a bit to recover. Then Stu headed down to Orlando for his annual firefighter reunion as well as another DiveQuest at Epcot. Me? I've been reading - a LOT. Oh, and nursing a wrenched/tweaked knee thanks to Cooper knocking my legs out from under me the first day Stu was gone.
That was Saturday and I've been plopped on the sofa, knee elevated and iced the first three days, along with taking Aleve. On Sunday I managed to get out to Rite-Aid and picked up a splint wrap. Today is the first day I can put weight on it without pain. Hoping that means the recovery is over!
Back to the cruise....we left on January 9th for seven days on the largest Carnival ship we've been on, the Breeze, out of Port Canaveral. We dropped the #2doods off at our new local boarding spot, Wild Rose Pet Care, the afternoon before. We got an early start and arrived in plenty of time for parking and shuttle service. Well, we thought we did. Turns out they not only had three ships boarding that day but a Norwegian Cruise Line ship came in early due to an extreme norovirus outbreak. Comments galore were flying on Facebook in the cruise groups and we quickly realized many of the passengers on that ship were using the same shuttle service. Not only did that mean a much longer wait for a shuttle bus but GERMS! We sanitized/washed our hands at every opportunity and also sanitized the handles on all our luggage as soon as it hit our room. Eeek!!
From there on, the cruise was a breeze...literally. The layout was very similar to the Magic and we fell in love with the decor. So NOT gaudy, so tropical. It was refreshing. In addition, although it holds a lot more passengers, we never felt crowded. I think the cabin was a bit smaller as well as the balcony, but the extra space gained was in the public areas.
Lido Buffet Area...
Atrium...
Library - quietest rooms on the ship (two rooms - one will pay to buy win service!)
That was the good. The food was okay and the public areas were FREEZING. We wore long-sleeves and often sweatshirts every night. The music was okay but LOUD. Maybe we're just getting old, not sure. Also, the talent wasn't what we had come to expect except for a trio of violinists and one guitar soloist. We didn't attend any of the shows, they were the same ones we saw last year in January. A disappointment, for sure.
The first night we ate in the steakhouse - it was EXCELLENT, the best we've had in the last several cruises. Stu got a smoked oyster type appetizer. What fun!
I ordered the shrimp cocktail (for him...LOL)
We went to the main dining room the second night. What a disaster! Slow, SLOW service, including a head waiter who took care of a table who arrived after us, then proceeded to go to another table in the middle of taking our order. We didn't ask for him again. Next night was the buffet, nothing we wanted on the menu. The third night we found the perfect wait staff and planned to come back. Well, until I got hit with a nasty cold. I ate buffet or room service and the last two days, I barely left the room. Sigh...
For the most part, we enjoyed it. Stu got to dive three out of the four ports - Belize was cancelled due to lack of signups. I only got off in Roatan where I bought a few long-sleeved items at Piraña Joe's. We've done this route a LOT and the first time around we did several excursions, now I just stay on board and write or read (it was reading this time).
We also hid a dozen or so ducks as well as pencils with little duck toppers. The bonus was Stu finding a little giraffe duck for me!
Here are some photos, you can see our entire album at
SmugMug.
Inclosing, our favorite drinks. Iced cappuccino from the coffee bar (using our coffee cozies from Etsy).
Ciao for now!
Stu and Donna