Travel is in my blood and I dearly love to see new places in this beautiful world of ours. The Carnival cruise on the Breeze was so much fun! Really, a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad I got to partake in such a lovely trip. I took one of my girlfriends with me, Beth, from Orlando. We have traveled together before and always have a good time.
Both of us flew to Miami the morning of the cruise to meet up and get on board. Flight delays because of weather caused Beth to arrive later in the day, but she finally made it and we caught the bus from the airport to the port to board the ship and be ready to sail at 4 pm that day.
In this post, I’m going to share packing tips and what it’s like to check into a cruise ship and board, as well as pictures of the ship and some of the amenities on board. An overall view of what to expect on a cruise ship. I’ve got lots to share and will break this cruise down in parts. It’s packed full of fun!
Note that I took these pictures with my smart phone , as I didn’t want the hassle of taking my big camera. It worked well for the most part.
When I buy a new big rolling suitcase, it will be one like this. I borrowed my roommate’s big red suitcase and it was a good one for a trip like this. I managed to pack everything into this suitcase, all of my clothes and shoes. This suitcase has 2 compartments, a smaller one on top and that’s where I packed my shoes, with the larger one holding all my clothes. I managed to squeak by with just under 50 lbs.
Packing Tips:
Here’s what I took:
5 dresses: (2 for formal nights) We wore dresses most nights to dinner and 2 nights a little more dressy for “formal” night. Formal night has lessened over the years and most folks are more casual, but some dressed up more.
3 pants: I took 3 pairs of jeans, white, blue, and black. These can be mixed around with different tops for more dressed up or casual.
3 shorts: With going on excursions for most stops, you’ll want to be casual and comfortable for walking and the sun. It was in the mid-80’s where we were and very good weather the entire trip. It was nice to enjoy the sunshine, since Atlanta had some nasty weather while I was gone.
Workout clothes: I took tennis shoes and clothes for working out. We did work out one day in the gym.
Tops to mix and match: I took several different tops and didn’t wear them all. I wanted a variety of tops, some casual and some more dressy to mix up. With the shorts, I took very casual summer tops and then some that could be worn for lunch on the ship. I’d say I took at total of 10 tops, some sleeveless and some longer or 3/4 length sleeves.
Jackets: It does get chilly on the ship, especially in the air conditioned dining rooms and theaters, so you’ll want to take jackets with you. It’s also chilly on the deck at night and we tended not to go out on the deck after we were dressed for dinner. I took a white jacket and 2 long sleeve lightweight sweaters to mix up with all my outfits, one black and one aqua.
Swimsuits: I took 2 swimsuits and 2 cover ups for pool sitting and lounging. I had the best time sitting in lounge chairs and reading books and napping.
Shoes: With the suitcase I took, I had a great opportunity to take plenty of shoes, so I did that. I took 3 pairs of heels, 3 flip-flops, flats for walking, one pair of sandals and my tennis shoes. I think I wore every single pair, but one.
Jewelry: I tried to pare down on the jewelry and only took turquoise jewelry, which goes with a lot of my clothing and also gold pieces, so those could be worn multiple times.
I didn’t overpack on this trip and felt that I took just the right amount and type of clothing. You’ll want to think things through on where you’ll be during the day and what all you might need to wear, but don’t over analyze. You’ll be in bathing suits pretty often too, along with coverups.
On check in to the ship, you’ll get a photo taken for Bon Voyage! It was chilly in Atlanta when I left, so I wore skinny jeans, a short sleeved white sweater and a cardigan for a little warmth. And it was actually milder in Miami when we left so it wasn’t too hot.
When you check in, you’ll get a card to use on the ship. This account holds money, so that all you need the entire time, is to show this card and they will put everything on your room account. It’s nice to only keep up with one card. You can also order excursion packages on your room TV and those tickets will be delivered to your room and taken out of your account as well. Makes it easy to keep up with everything and you can see the balance every day to see where your account stands.
Every day, the room stewards leave a brochure for the day, with all the activities and information from the ship on here. It’s got all the show times and any particulars you’ll need for that day and we went over this daily to see what we wanted to do and participate in. The shows were particularly fun and we did them every night!
It’s so exciting walking up to the ship for the first time and seeing the magnitude and size of these things. It’s been since 2003 since I took my last cruise and the thrill and excitement never ends. I’m definitely a cruise lover!
We got onboard about an hour from sailing time, and enjoyed the views of Miami and the docks. Lots of ships board from here and it’s a busy place, back and forth from the airport.
Once inside, we began checking out the ship and it is one beautiful ship, I have to say. It’s fun to see the changes in ships over the years and they have gotten more and more glamorous every decade. A ship is a big floating island of fun and beauty. This is the view looking up from the atrium area where elevators go up and down, it’s like a beautiful soaring sky inside the ship.
Outside on the Lido decks, there are 3 floors that go up and up to so many activities. The kids area has a huge water park with slides and it was a busy place for kids. We thought about going down one of the slides, but never did actually do it. Since we were in ports for 4 days straight, we just didn’t take the time the other days to actually try out the slide. I think the appeal of reading in the cabana lounges took over and won out over my childlike enthusiasm about actually trying the slide.
The kids area got lots of use and there are plenty of kids on board with activities to keep them occupied and happy. Those slides looked like a kid’s paradise.
The Li