Carnival Breeze 2023 Review Costa Maya Part 1

Carnival Breeze 2023 5-Day Caribbean Cruise Review
Day 3 Part 1   May 15, 2023 Costa Maya, Mexico
Scheduled Arrival: 1:00pm
Scheduled Departure: 8:00pm
Click Any Photo To Make It Larger!

Morning Walk Around The Carnival Breeze:
By 6:20am I left my stateroom to begin my morning walk. I had slept good and felt refreshed for the day. Since breakfast was starting a little earlier on this morning my walk was shorter than the prior day's walk. I started outside on Deck 12 and was able to catch the sunrise. The sky was very cloudy and it looked like it was raining in the distance.

Sunrise - Sky Was A Bit Cloudy

Sunrise

Looking Towards The Back Of The Ship From Deck 14

The mini golf course is located on Deck 12 of the Carnival Breeze, but there is a stairwell right by the mini golf course that takes guests to a small section of Deck 14. This area is home to the upper level of the mini golf course & entrance to the ropes course. A large chessboard with game pieces is located right by the entrance to the ropes course.

Looking At The Ropes Course

View From Deck 14

Chessboard & Pieces on Deck 14

Carnival Breeze Ropes Course & Mini Golf Course

Ropes Course & Mini Golf Course Below

Entrance To The Ropes Course

Mini Golf Course

The Carnival Breeze's SportsSquare area has a large ping pong table. I did not see the pieces stored outside so I'm not sure where guests can find the paddles or ping-pong balls.

Ping Pong Table By The Mini Golf Course

Sunrise

Seaside Theater & Jogging Track

While on Deck 12 I went towards the front and walked by the Carnival Breeze's WaterWorks. The WaterWorks was not yet open for the day and since we had some thunderstorms later in the morning I do not know if the WaterWorks was delayed opening.

Looking Down From Deck 12 At the Lido Main Pool

WaterWorks - Not Yet Open

WaterWorks

View From Deck 15

WaterWorks Slide Stairs Entrance

After walking around outside I walked down to Deck 5. Since it was getting close to breakfast I did not spend much time walking around the ship's interior areas. Below are some pictures from Deck 5:

Atrium - View From Deck 5

Plaza Cafe - Next to the Ocean Plaza

Alchemy Bar

Foosball Table in The Red Frog Pub

Red Frog Pub

Bonsai Sushi

Walking along the Promenade

Before ending my walk around Deck 5 I stopped in the Ovation Theater on the Deck 5 level. The theater always feels much larger seeing it empty compared to when it is full of guests. At this time of the morning, the curtain was illuminated by the spotlights.

Breakfast in the Lido Marketplace:
Since today was a port of call day the Lido Marketplace's scheduled breakfast time was earlier despite us not docking until 1pm. Today french toast was available on the buffet line, but bacon was not. The bacon was served twice during the cruise in total.
The continental breakfast buffet line was open from 6:00am until 10:30am. The main Lido breakfast buffet lines were open from 7:00am until 10:30am and the Blue Iguana Cantina was open for breakfast from 7:00am - 10:00am. The late risers buffet line was open from 10:30am until 11:30am. For guests that did not want to eat in the buffet, the Blush Dining Room was open for Breakfast Open Seating from 8:00am until 10:00am. Even though the first half of the day was a sea-day, the Blush Dining Room treated breakfast as a port of call day and no sea-day brunch was served.

Here are some pictures of the Lido Marketplace main buffet line:

Lido Marketplace Main Breakfast Buffet Line

French Toast, Hash Browns, & Sausage

Below are some pictures from the continental breakfast buffet line:

Continental Breakfast Buffet Line

As I ate breakfast I saw we were sailing towards some dark clouds. It looked like there were thunderstorms in the distance and there was a lot of lightening in the distance. After breakfast I stepped outside onto Deck 11 to see if it was raining. It was cool outside and felt like it was about to rain. I decided to head down to deck 5 to walk around outside.

Looking Down At Deck 10 From Deck 11

Thunderstorm In The Distance

Dark Clouds

Raining Outside - View From The Ocean Plaza

A Rainy Morning:
By the time I got to Deck 5 it was sprinkling and within 5 minutes of being outside it started pouring. A crew member started working frantically to remove the cushions from the outside Lanai chairs. The cushions ended up getting stacked under the covered part of the Lanai. This rainy morning was disappointing, but luckily the Morning Show and some other indoor events were coming up.
The casino and gift shops were open in the morning and would stay open until we docked in Costa Maya. Both would re-open after the Carnival Breeze sailed away from Costa Maya. Since I had won a little bit on the first sea day I decided to stay away from the casino today because I felt I would lose my winnings (this was as a result of the Platinum/Diamond Free Play gift).

Before the morning show started the rain stopped. I walked outside to the front of Deck 9 to look out. I was able to see the area behind the ship had some dark clouds from the thunderstorms we had sailed through.

View From The Front Of Deck 9

View From The Front Of Deck 9 - Looking At The Thunderstorm Behind Us

View From Deck 9

The Wave Morning Show set in Ovation Theater

The Wave Morning Show:
The Wave Morning Show was held at 9:30am in the Ovation Theater on this morning of the cruise. Our cruise director, Shy, hosted the morning show again and did a great job. Shy was entertaining and gave a lot of good information about everything happening on the ship during the day and some tips for the port day. Besides the show being offered live, guests were able to watch on one of the onboard TV channels.

Identity Crisis Game:
After the morning show had ended another game called "Identity Crisis" was held in the Ovation Theater. In this game the contestants would have a person, place, or thing held above there head and they would have to ask the audience yes/no questions that would help them figure out what was written on the paper they could not see. The time limit was 60 seconds or otherwise they were out. It was a hilarious game and a lot of fun to watch. I personally would not have done well on this game.

After the morning show and Identity Crisis game I went outside for a little bit and then to my stateroom. Our stateroom steward had come by to clean the room and he left a towel animal stingray.

View From The Back Of Deck 5

Towel Animal Stringray

Twin Beds & Towel Animal Stingray

Lido Marketplace Lunch:
The Carnival Breeze's docking in Costa Maya was scheduled for 1:00pm which meant that lunch started before we docked. The buffet opened for lunch around 12pm, but I think the buffet was open a littler earlier. The buffet was crowded, but the lines moved fairly quickly. I think people were trying to eat before going ashore to Costa Maya.

According to the daily FunTimes activity newsletter, these were our lunch options aboard the Carnival Breeze for the day:

Seafood Shack - The Seafood Shack is located at the back of the lido buffet by the aft pool. This venue costs extra and was open from 3:00pm until 5:00pm for lunch and was also open for dinner from 5:00pm until 10:00pm.
Blue Iguana Cantina - 12:00pm - 3:30pm
Pasta Bar - The pasta bar offers guests the ability to create a customized bowl of pasta. Essentially, guests fill out a paper form that gives options of what can be put in a pasta bowl. The form is turned into a hostess and a crew member makes the bowl of pasta. Caesar salads and garlic bread are also available. This venue was open from 12:00pm until 2:30pm. I'll discuss this is more detail in Day 5's review.
Guy's Burger Joint - 12:00pm - 6:00pm
The deli was open for lunch, but was also available for dinner (it closed at 11pm).
Guy's Pig & Anchor BBQ was open from 11am until 1:30pm. Normally the BBQ is not open on port days, but since today was a half sea day the Carnival Breeze's crew opened the BBQ line. The line even opened early!

Note: Bonsai Sushi was closed for lunch, but opened at 5:00pm for dinner.

Here are some pictures of the food on the Lido Marketplace buffet line & salad bar:

Comfort Kitchen Buffet Line - Salad Bar

Comfort Kitchen Buffet Line

Below are some pictures of the dessert station. The dessert selection consisted of cookies, jello, and few different cakes. I had some of the red velvet cake and it was very good!

Dessert Station

Please Follow On Social Media!
I will occasionally post cruise review updates as well as other cruise related content.
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/rygscruiseguide
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/rygscruiseguide/

Continue To: Day 3 Part 2's Review!
Day 3 Part 2 contains my review of Costa Maya and dinner. Please stay tuned for the next part of this cruise review.
Click Here For Day 3 Part 2's Review!
Click Here To Return To The Review's Mainpage

Connect With Us!