On Day 6, we docked in Kingstown, St. Vincent. We did not have an excursion booked, but Aaron and I had read that we could take a water taxi to Villa Beach.

St. Vincent is another port that we visited for the first time on this cruise. Since we've done so many Caribbean cruises over the years, it's rare that we visit a new port of call, which is why this Southern Caribbean itinerary was interesting to us - three new ports of call!

The interesting thing about Embarkation in San Juan is that it was very late. I believe the earliest possible check-in time was 12:30 PM. Aaron and I, as well as Stove and Judy had a 1:30 PM port arrival time. Rachel and Landon waited until like two weeks before the cruise, so they had a 3:30 PM check-in time. Rachel and I briefly looked into getting The Key, but it didn't seem like that great of a value, and we couldn't book it for six guest by the time we looked into it, anyway.

We had a 2PM checkout time at Aloft, so we weren't in a hurry to get up and get ready. Except for Landon who was stir crazy and I guess hungry... so he and Rachel set out on a mile walk to get a bagel, while Aaron and I stayed in the room and watched a totally unhinged adaptation of A Christmas Carol on BET (you know I had to look it up.... it's Christmas Deja Vu).

Also, our bag finally arrived! That morning, I got the notification on the Delta app that our suitcase had arrived. I checked the AirTag which confirmed. It took a few hours after that for our bag to make it to the hotel. Stove was out and about, so he volunteered to hunt it down. It wasn't at the front desk, but he's persistent... he walked around and found a room marked "Luggage Room," went inside and took the bag. Then an hour later, we got a call to the room from the front desk saying that they had my bag.... 

Ahoy! I'm here with another cruise review!

If you're a longtime follower of the blog, you probably know that it is Shinglebell family tradition to cruise over Christmas. In 2020, my sister Rachel and I started alternating Christmases with our boyfriends' families, and we went on our first cruise as the Shinglebells + Boys on the NCL Encore in 2021. Last year, I spent Christmas with Aaron and his parents at sea on the Celebrity Summit. Which means....

It's a Shinglebells Christmas cruising year!

In case you're new to my trip reports or just need a little refresher, meet the Shinglebells:

I really enjoy every cruise that I take and consider them an excellent vacation from "the real world."  However, people often ask me to compare different cruise lines and ships, and I often find myself at a bit of a loss because I have wonderful memories from all of them.  Therefore, I have decided to begin evaluating and 'ranking' the cruises that I take based on ten components of a cruise vacation which are important to me - itinerary, ship novelties, pools, activities, entertainment, dining, bars+lounges, service, design+aesthetics, and cabin.  I have ranked the Carnival Breeze 8-Day Southern Caribbean cruise taken on March 15, 2014 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest possible ranking) in all ten categories to come to an overall percentage or cruise rating.

Please note that these rankings are completely based on my own opinions, experience, and personal bias.  I am in no way affiliated with any cruise line.  I also understand that every person on each ship sailing has a completely different experience, as well as values for what makes a good cruise vacation.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - Aruba

Max requested to eat breakfast in the dining room - that's something I haven't done in several cruises! It turns out that Max paid a great deal of attention every evening when Subrata would tell us what was in store for dining the next day because he always knew where the special food was.

We wanted a table for two and had to wait a bit for it, but the view was well worth it...



Service felt rushed and impersonal. When we were ordering, I asked for an omelette with scrambled eggs. "Do you want an omelette or scrambled eggs?" I couldn't have both? I was caught off-guard and told him just the eggs.... big mistake!!!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - La Romana, Dominican Republic

It was another early morning for us as we had booked the Dune Buggy excursion for 9:30 AM. There was a morning and an afternoon session of this tour, and we decided to do the morning so that we would be able to shop in port or perhaps go to the beach after.

The buffet was ridiculously crowded that morning. I regretted not pre-ordering breakfast to the room.

Getting of the ship for a 9:30 AM excursion was a nightmare, considering that we arrived in port at 9:00 AM and almost all excursions were scheduled for 9:30. I complained to Max after we finally made it to dry land that I have been on much larger ships, but crowds have never been that bad. Or perhaps I've just never been trying to leave the ship at peak time before...

Finding the Dune Buggy excursion was a bit of a struggle. The signs directed us to a parking lot full of buses, but unlike in Grand Turk, there was no Carnival Rep pointing us where to go. Perhaps she just wasn't set up yet. We split up, and Max went to look around the parking lot to see if he could find our bus, and I went to wait in line at an information desk to see if they could help. The information desk line was at a stand-still, and I heard Max's whistle before I ever moved forward.

It was about a ten-minute ride from the port to the Dune Buggies. It turns out that the Dune Buggy tour and ATV tour are actually run by the same company, but the Dune Buggies have much higher ratings on Carnival's website.

As soon as we arrived, they brought out bandannas and sunglasses for sale. The bandannas were $5 each, and sunglasses ranging in price from $6-8. I had a cheap pair of sunglasses with me, but Max did not. I am SO GLAD that we decided to purchase the bandannas and sunglasses for Max. It would have been absolutely miserable had we not. I don't think Max would have even been able to drive without sunglasses because of all of the debris that flew on us throughout the excursion. Now, unfortunately, their sales pitch and overpriced bandannas caused Max and I to spend all of our small bills which resulted in no cash to tip them with at the end, but I guess that's the breaks.

After securing our bandannas, sunglasses, and safety helmets, we got into the tiny dune buggy. Max was driving because I had absolutely no desire to. However, the steering wheel and pedals were so close that he could hardly fit his legs in. Max is almost 6'1" which I suppose in on the tall side, but nothing near abnormal. I am guessing that the steering wheel and pedals are so close so that short people like myself are able to reach.

I made sure that this time my selfie included Max....

Welcome to my 2014 Spring Break Cruise trip report!

I feel the need to start every cruise review with a little ‘disclaimer.’ This review will be told in a journalistic style with lots of photos. With the exception of this first post, I don't expect there to be too many posts with only paragraphs and paragraphs of text – I rely greatly on photos to tell the story. I also don’t take myself too seriously, and you shouldn't either. There will be a lot of fun-poking and maybe a little sarcasm, and you’re all invited to join in on the fun! I encourage you to post comments to share your thoughts and experiences, or just tell me who you are!

My Traveling Party

Well, I guess this time it's just a travel companion...

My boyfriend, Max, is a civil engineering major at Clemson University, and you might recognize him from my Norwegian Epic Western Mediterranean review on Cruise Critic. This was his second cruise and his first Caribbean cruise. Max finds joy in the simplest things in life and is eager to share his enthusiasm with others. That being said, he's very fun to travel with because has an opinion about the smallest of details and is really good at pinpointing exactly what he likes and what he wishes was different. I think his observations will add a lot of value to this cruise review!

If you're wondering about my sister, Rachel, don't worry! She went on a cruise of her own with her friend and my mother on the Norwegian Dawn and had a fabulous time. You'll see more of her (and Max) on our Disney Fantasy cruise in May!

Choosing the Cruise

I had many different ideas of what I wanted to do for my final spring break. My first thought was Vegas because Max has really expressed an interest in going and accommodations are so affordable. However, after a bit of research and calculations (not to mention experience from previous trips), I realized that a week in Vegas was going to cost us much more in entertainment, and we weren't going to Vegas to sit by the pool all day. By the time I added in airfare and cabs, it was really starting to push our budget.

I started looking into cruises because it was freezing in South Carolina (We had two different weeks during which we had snow in Clemson!) and I wanted a tropical escape. Norwegian had great prices - the Epic was starting at just under $400pp for an inside stateroom, but I was a little in love with the Getaway which was around $600-700pp for an inside stateroom. Both had great onboard credit offers. Then I noticed an extremely good price on the Allure of the Seas (around $600pp inside), and Max fell in love with the ship. We were watching the price and preparing to book....

And then I went home one afternoon because I needed the box to return a camera lens I had rented. I was standing in the kitchen talking to my mother and mindlessly flipping through the mail when I noticed an envelope addressed to me from Carnival Cruise Line.