We went on the Breeze April 2013, then Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas April 2014, and then back to the Breeze for the April 5, 2015, 6 day Western Caribbean sailing. We had 2 adjoining cabins on deck 8 midship, 8285 and 8281. Our family is pretty active, and consist of my 52 y.o. husband, me 49, 16 y.o son, and 9 y.o. daughter. We have all cruised numerous times, but this time, brought along a 16 year friend who had never cruised before. This was our first 6 day cruise, and it seemed a bit short to us, as we really prefer 8 day cruises.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale on Southwest and stayed at Sheraton Suites in Plantation. We had a one way car rental from FLL to MIA. My husband always drops all of us off at the port with all of the luggage, and then he returns the car to MIA. There is a free shuttle from MIA to the port if you have rented a car from Alamo or National. This is a much cheaper option than getting a cab or transfer from Carnival, if you are flying in the day before. That way we have the car to go out to dinner and go to the grocery store to get our water and wine to bring on the ship. We did use SAS transportation for our transfer back to FLL from the port on our return because of our immediate flight out in the morning. I had read several reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor about SAS, and would definitely use them again. We were able to get to FLL by 10 AM for our 11:50 AM flight.

The embarkation process was very long this time. We got through security quickly, and got our sail and sign cards, but then waited in the boarding area for almost 2 hours. The entire area was jammed packed with people. This is the first time in my 8 previous Carnival cruises that this happened. We were given no explanation as to why we had to wait so long, and never did figure it out. No one was boarding the ship during that waiting time. The disembarkation process went fairly smoothly, as we did self assist and carried our own luggage off. Read more