Return to Cruise: Carnival Breeze – Day Three Recap

After a fifteen month hiatus, Carnival Breeze will sail her first cruise on July 15th from Galveston. Premier Custom Travel’s Chris Grum will be onboard and will chronicle the experience in our special blog series RETURN TO CRUISE: CARNIVAL BREEZE.

Today was our only port day – a visit to Cozumel, Mexico. This port is a feature of almost all of the cruises from Galveston and very popular with cruisers.

COZUMEL

We arrived a bit early this morning and as usual, it took a few minutes to get the ship cleared for passengers to disembark. Once the floodgates opened, most people chose to go ashore. Melissa and I waited for the initial rush to die down and enjoyed a late breakfast after her spa facial. We wandered off the ship around 10 and spent about an hour browsing the shops at the port.

While most, if not all of the shops were open, it was sad to see how empty they were vs. the bars and restaurants, which had decent crowds. These merchants have been without guests for over 15 months and we were the only ship in port today, giving them much smaller crowds than a typical port day in Cozumel. Normally there would be at least a few ships here, maybe as many as eight or more. We are only the second ship to visit them and the third set of passengers (Vista has been here twice). Hopefully soon we’ll have more ships visiting them again.

One thing that concerns me is the overall lack of passengers wearing masks ashore, despite repeated requests from Carnival and the onboard staff to do so. I get it – masks aren’t fun, especially in the heat. But we have just now managed to get cruise ships back again and the last thing we need is to screw this up. Mexican security was reminding people to put masks on, but many were removing them later or just not wearing them at all. Very disappointing and frustrating. You knew the rules when you signed up and had an option to change or cancel your cruise if you didn’t like the protocols. PLEASE FOLLOW THEM for the sake of your fellow passengers, the countries we visit, and the travel industry in general. We do not want to be shut down again or have to skip ports because passengers can’t follow the industry or local regulations.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

We watched as large number of folks, including some in our party, headed off on excursions. The signs above are just a few of the options that were available to guests onboard Carnival Breeze. Vaccinated guests (the majority of those onboard) could also explore on their own if they preferred. Carnival did also offer a handful of “bubble” tours which were available to both vaccinated and unvaccinated guests but on those excursions, guests were required to stay with the tour at all times. Those who did not follow that requirement could be disembarked from the ship and forced to fly home on their own. It’s worth noting that we only have a small percentage of guests that are unvaccinated (most of them children).

THE CAPTAIN’S KITCHEN

Tonight our group of 7 enjoyed dinner in Cucina del Capitano, one of the Carnival Breeze’s specialty restaurants. While there’s no shortage of food on a cruise ship, many vessels now have optional specialty dining options like steakhouses, Italian food, and much more.

This space has two uses. At night, it’s Cucina del Capitano and for $15, you can enjoy anything on the menu. For what a main course item would cost on land, you get an appetizer, salad, main course, side dishes, and dessert. Can’t decide? You can order multiple items. Then at lunch each day, the restaurant re-themes to “Pasta Bella Pasta Bar” and offers a complimentary lunch option. For this meal, there are no menus. Instead, you fill out a one-page sheet where you will check off your preferred pasta type, sauce selection, protein, and any mix-ins like veggies and cheeses. Your personally created dish is delivered to your table a few minutes later.

I highly recommend trying both of these great dining options if they’re available on your cruise.

THE COUNT

I’ve been trying to get a straight answer for a couple of days now, and although they won’t divulge the exact number of guests onboard, I’ve been able to confirm that it is just under 3,000. For comparison purposes, Carnival Breeze carries 3,690 guests at double-occupancy (meaning two guests in every available stateroom). If you add in guests in rooms that can accommodate three, four, or five, the ship can hold a total of 4891. When you add in the 1386 crew members on a fully-staffed ship, it’s typically a small city of just over 6100 and we are carrying between 700-1800 less than that. Makes for some nice elbow room, although (and I can’t believe I’m saying this from a passenger perspective) we need these ships full again.

SETTING SAIL FOR TEXAS

Around 5pm this afternoon we set sail for Galveston, Texas. Tomorrow we will enjoy another fun day at sea before arriving back in Texas early on Monday morning. Until then, I leave you with our towel animal of the day.

Have questions you want answered or topics you’d like to see me cover? Send me an email and I’d be happy to include them in future posts.

Tomorrow we will enjoy our last full day onboard Carnival Breeze and our second of two “fun days” at sea. Tomorrow’s blog will be my recap of that day’s activities and final impressions and thoughts from this first cruise back for this beautiful ship. I’ll also share some Breeze “fun facts” and trivia.