A Lovely Day At Sea, Just For Me

Posted onAuthorChris Owen

Sailing out of Miami for 6 nights on 3690-passenger Carnival Breeze, a good number of those along for the ride are here for Carnival LIVE, a wildly-popular concert series now renewed for a second year in 2015. But many more than will fit in the ship’s showroom are here too. Some are first-timers, some are taking advantage of low Fall Caribbean cruise rates and some just like the burgers.

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It took a full day at sea that began with a beautiful sunrise to cover the distance between Miami and Jamaica and our first stop in Ocho Rios. On the way, top deck attractions were packed with fun-loving passengers, making the best of a day in the sun.

 

 

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Still, there were lower deck areas with plenty of space, inside and out, for those guests of Carnival Cruise Lines to have a quiet, relaxing day too.

 

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In a morning press conference, we reviewed where Carnival is right now and where the world’s most popular cruise line is headed. By the numbers

  • Carnival Cruise lines has 24 ships right now with new Carnival Vista on the way for 2016. That’s not to be confused with Carnival Corporation, parent of a variety of cruise lines with over 100 ships.
  • Carnival branded ships sail 1,500 voyages per year and carry 4.5 million passengers
  • Carnival also sails with more families than any other cruise line
  • Sailing from a number of North American homeports, some are seasonal while 12 are year-round departure points

Impressive, as is Carnival Breeze, the newest of the Carnival ships, reflective of the line’s Caribbean roots of fun and sun.   Featured on Carnival Breeze are 23 branded experience, many of which are also part of Carnival’s Funship 2.0 initiative which redefined what Carnival does fleet-wide.

  • New Stateroom designs introduced on Carnival Breeze
  • Twister and DrainPipe waterslides
  • Sports Square
  • Serenity adults-only area of the ship
  • Dive-in Movies
  • Ocean Plaza, a multi-purpose entertainment venue
  • Library Bar- automatic wine dispensers to try different labels inexpensively
  • Liquid Nightclub- South Beach style nightclub experience
  • Piano Bar 88
  • Red Frog Pub features Thirsty Frog Red
  • Red Frog Rum Bar and Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Multiple dining options include the Lido marketplace, Bonsai Sushi, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, Cucina del Capitano Italian dining venue, Fat Jimmy’s C-Side BBQ, Blue Iguana Cantina and Taste Bar which features bite size samples of menu items featured in other dining venues.

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As much as all of the above would like to claim credit for the success of Carnival Breeze, one of the line’s most popular ships, it’s Guy’s Burger Joint that continues to drive answers for “What is the first thing you want to do when you get on board?”. The answer? Get a Guy Burger.

 

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Each voyage, Carnival serves 17,000 of them on ships equipped with the Food Network star’s branded on-deck dining venue. This day at sea probably added a considerable number with a line at the place throughout the day. Winner.

 

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Also on Carnival Sunshine, a bit different take on entertainment, moving to a more interactive format with 30-minute high-energy shows from Playlist productions. The idea, to get everyone out of their seat and having a good time, seems to be playing well, as does a new look at music on board.

Miami celebrity DJ Erie was brought in to standardize and energize onboard music we hear and feel on Carnival ships. Each DJ goes through the line’s ‘Spiniversity” program that teaches them how to do it.   Recently, Carnival announced a teen youth program option that lets passengers learn the same skills, on board.

We saw that focus on what DJ’s do today as carefully selected tunes were played ship-wide, from on deck fun in the sun areas, to quiet spaces that were also readily available. One place we did not hear DJ Erie’s handiwork, on balcony cabins where many other passengers spent the day, looking at this (or something similar).

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Twitterverse followers, check in on #CarnivalLive, @STYXTheBand, @CarnivalCruise and me (@OrlandoChris ) throughout the event for the very latest information.

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Questions
Send questions for the band, Carnival Breeze or any of our stops along the way toQuestions@ChrisCruises.com