MistyRo76

Same! I was hoping the kiddo would want to spend more time at kids camp during the day, so mama could enjoy some Serenity. But it was not to be this trip! Next time! Lol

1:30 finally rolled around and we could get into our cabin. So we headed there to see if our luggage had been delivered yet...and it had! I never truly feel like I'm on vacation until I can get unpacked and really settled in. So the kiddo watched for dolphins while I got us unpacked. We booked a standard balcony cabin. We had the two twin bed made into a king bed for Drew and I and the couch was set up as a bed for Sawyer. Storage was adequate for the three of us (and I very much overpacked!). It did seem like the drawers were wider than I remember them being on other ships. And the extra cabinet at the end of the vanity was nice additional storage. The location of our cabin was nice though traveling with the kiddo in the future, I may opt for an aft cabin. Most of the stuff she wanted to do, outside of the arcade, seemed to be aft. But I didn't mind the extra steps! Our stateroom attendant was Annabeth. She was super sweet and took care of our cabin well, though we didn't have many special requests! And here are a few shots of and from our balcony looking out and to the left and the right. We are just behind and below the bridge.

I’m going to take a little break from our ship tour to talk about what may have been our most favorite thing about sailing out of Charleston - THE DOLPHINS! I have cruised from just about every port in Florida (except Jacksonville), New Orleans and Long Beach and this was by far the most dolphins we had ever seen! They were everywhere around the cruise ship! I took several video of the dolphins swimming alongside the ship from the port side of Deck 3 as well as our balcony on Deck 7 and I wanted to share those now. I probably could have stood there watching these beautiful creatures all afternoon! ENJOY! IMG_9456.MOV IMG_9457.MOV IMG_9458.MOV IMG_9479.MOV IMG_9480.MOV IMG_9481.MOV

We ended up loving Cabana #10. It was a great spot. And that was my first time having the Funfetti cheesecake, but I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for it on my next cruise! Thanks for reading along!

Thank you so much! That's awesome that you'll get to sail the Sunshine again before she leaves Charleston. I would look to book another on her if there was a different itinerary to choose from! I'll have to see if she's doing any special sailings!

Our friends had made it on the ship and were getting food. We still had over an hour to kill until our cabins were ready, so we met up with them and went back to exploring together. We headed back up to Deck 10 Port side and took in the views, then headed back to check out the teen areas for my friend's daughter. Checking out Circle and playing some foosball. We then headed out to the Sports Square area. Here there is a basketball court (which was usually very busy with all the teen boys), pool tables, oversized chess/checkers/tic-tac-toe, shuffleboard and more. This is also where the stairs are to go up to the ropes course. The jogging track also goes around the outside of the Sports Square area. Next we headed to the spa/fitness center area. The indoor fitness center was very large on this ship and looked to be very nice. I honestly can't say that I've ever worked out on a ship before in the gym. Usually, I'll just walk or run on the jogging track. But for those inclined to workout, this looked like a good spot to do it! We also explored the spa. The girls enjoyed laying on the heated relaxation loungers. And honestly, you can't beat those views either! Since I had Sawyer with me, I just took a quick peak at the Serenity deck. This would be my only Serenity time this cruise - which is a shame since it's the largest Serenity area in the entire fleet! By now, it was just about time for our cabins to be ready, so we walked back to Deck 7 forward.

I felt the same way - Charleston was just as fun for us as the cruise itself!

We walked back down to Deck 9 aft and started checking out our food options. The Havana Bar is all the way aft on Deck 9. This is a little hidden gem. In the mornings, there is an omelet station back here. During the afternoons, they serve Cuban-inspired small bites (empanadas, Cuban sandwiches, etc.). You can also get Cuban coffees and beverages here as well. Sawyer was all about the buffet. While I was helping her get food, Drew went to the pasta bar and placed an order. During the night, this area is turned into Cucina Del Capitano and serves family style Italian food for an extra fee. But during the day, it is a free pasta bar. Drew found a table by the windows just to the side of where the pasta bar is and Sawyer and I quickly found him after filling her plate. He got a linguine with their clam sauce and it looked really good. So i opted for the pasta bar as well. I went with the linguine with the alfredo sauce and chicken along with a Caesar salad and bread. To order the pasta you fill out a little card with your choices and then are given a number tent. On this day, we were told to take a seat and put our number on our table and they would deliver our food. Later in the week when we had it again, they had you go stand in a line with your number and wait there for your food. All of the food was delicious! And soon we were off to do some more exploring. But as we were going by the Sweet Spot, the Funfetti cheesecake caught my eye! So we had to stop and get a piece to share while we walked. It was YUMMY! Sawyer was dying to find the arcade. I knew it was either on Deck 4 or Deck 5, but wasn't sure exactly where it was located. We strolled Deck 4 (Mezzanine) first - this is where Limelight Lounge, Bonsai Sushi, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, Piano Bar and Library Bar are all located in between the aft dining room and atrium. But there was no arcade, so we headed up one level to Deck 5 (Promenade). On Deck 5, you will find the Fun Shops, Sports Bar, Casino, JavaBlue Cafe, Shake Spot, Ocean Plaza, Red Frog Pub and Alchemy Bar - as well as Cherry on Top and the Warehouse Arcade (conveniently located right next to each other!). Here are a few photos I took as we explored the ship. Bonsai Sushi - Deck 4 Limelight Lounge - Deck 4 Casino (or as Sawyer calls it, the "grown-up arcade" - Deck 5 Warehouse Arcade - Deck 5. We would be spending ALOT of time here this week! 🙂 Cherry On Top - Deck 5 A couple of views of the Atrium. Of course since it's October, Patch is out and about!

Here was our view of the atrium right as we boarded the ship! The kiddo was in awe of this ship from the moment we stepped onboard! Once we were on the ship, we headed straight over to Carnival Adventures (FKA - the Shore Excursions desk). I figured that the alert had something to do with the cabana we had booked for our stop in Half Moon Cay. I knew we needed to select our cabana once we boarded so regardless, I wanted to do that anyway. But I also thought that the alert could have been about the refund that we were due for 10% of the cost of the cabana due to the announcement that they were removing the A/C units from them. As of the day we left for the cruise, I still had not received our refund. I had used Carnival gift cards purchased thru AARP to pay for the cabana excursion. So I thought I would be getting the refund via another gift card or possibly on-board credit. But as of today, I still haven't received any money back even though I did get the email telling me I would be getting this refund. I will be following up with my PVP about that this week. Anyway, the Carnival Adventures desk had a sign on it indicating that they would be opening at 11:00 AM and the crewmember working the desk was already there getting set up. I was first in line! Once she was open, I gave her my name and she quickly got my tickets for both the cabana excursion and the stingray excursion we also had booked at Half Moon Cay. She then showed me a map of the Half Moon Cay and asked me to select which cabana we wanted. I had never booked a cabana here before, so I did a lot of research before the cruise and solicited feedback on here on the best cabana locations. Based on the feedback I got, I initially selected cabana 9 but was told that had already been selected. I'm not sure how someone else was able to choose it first since I was first in line??? Only thing I could think of was maybe it was a back-to-back guest. Do they get to select their cabanas before the second cruise even boards? Just curious how that works! 🙂 Since nine was already taken, I choose cabana number 10. Next we headed to the Liquid Lounge which was our muster station (E4). This is only my second post-COVID cruise, but I love the changes to the muster drill since cruising has resumed. My last cruise we literally showed up and were asked if we had done this before and when we said yes, they signed us off and sent us on our way! When we arrived at Liquid Lounge, we were checked-in, Sawyer was given her wrist bracelet which showed her muster station on it and we were asked to take a seat. There were already 4-5 other people seated there. The staff waited for another 5-7 minutes to see if anyone showed up and then proceeded with a very short demonstration. It was definitely more structured than my previous cruise, but still much shorter and less painful than pre-COVID sailing. Here are a few pics of Liquid Lounge while it was virtually empty! Our next stop was our cabin to drop off our carry on bags. We booked cabin 7120 which is a balcony cabin on Deck 7 forward on the port (left if facing forward) side of the ship. Our cabin wasn't quite ready so I didn't snap any pics yet. And our Sail & Sign cards were not there yet either. Sawyer stepped out onto the balcony and immediately saw dolphins playing just below. This would be the first of many, many dolphins we saw on this day! Sawyer was too excited to eat just yet, so we did a little exploring first. We walked up two flights of stairs and checked out the Lido Deck Beach Pool. We were immediately greeted by a life-sized Carnival Towel Animal! We then headed aft to check out the Waterworks area. Sawyer was itching to try out the waterslides! And finally, we stopped by Camp Ocean to get Sawyer registered. I had pre-registered her online and they completed the registration for her there. When we arrived, there was hardly anyone else in the kids areas. Camp Ocean, Club O2 and Circle C are located in the same area toward the aft of the ship on Deck 10. There is a door to this area from the deck just down from the smoking area. Or you can reach the area via stairs or elevator. Sawyer would be in the Sharks group (ages 9-11). They verified any allergies she has and if she was able to sign herself in and out of camp. We did give her the ability to sign in/out as that would allow her to participate in any camp activities they do outside of the Camp Ocean area such as Scavenger Hunts, etc. But we told her those were the only things she could check herself out for. She wasn't allowed to just leave and wander the ship alone. Sawyer was a little iffy on the kids camp. She's a pretty outgoing kid, but is definitely at that age where she just wants to do her own thing as opposed to doing forced group activities. But she agreed to keep an open mind and try it out! The other place Sawyer was dying to check out was the arcade. But we were able to convince her that we should grab a bite to eat since we were near all the food and she agreed to finish exploring later! We set off to the Lido Marketplace area to check out our options.

Interesting about Poogan's being haunted! And the culinary tour is definitely high on my list for our next visit!

October 9, 2023 - Carnival Sunshine Embarkation Day Today was THE day! The long awaited day we boarded the Carnival Sunshine. Since I do have Platinum status on Carnival, I was able to do the on-line check-in two days early and select the 10:00 - 10:30 AM arrival window. We enjoy getting on the ship early and making the most of the first day of our cruise. I set an early morning alarm so I could get up and get myself ready before waking the hubby and kiddo. Hubby went for his usual morning coffee and pipe and I got Sawyer a muffin from the lobby market. I then set about getting our bags repacked for the cruise, putting the Carnival bag tags on our checked bags, and checking and re-checking our cruise documents and identification. Soon, we were all set! If you recall from one of my first posts, our hotel offered free parking for the duration of the cruise and even included a $25 gift card to use toward your UBER fares back and forth. I had even called the hotel to verify that they did indeed offer the UBER gift cards. When we checked into the hotel on Friday, I mentioned to the front desk clerk that we would be leaving our car there during our cruise and inquired again about the gift cards. It was then I was told that, yes, we could leave our car there but you had to be booked under a certain rate code to get the gift card. There was no mention of a specific booking code when I read about the gift card online or called the hotel to confirm. It wasn't a huge deal, but after talking about it, we decided based on the price of ubers back and forth to the hotel, plus the extra time that would entail, that there just wasn't enough savings at that point for us not parking at the port. I do think there is also some additional safety with parking at the port too. Those lots are monitored 24/7 as opposed to the hotel parking lot. Since we were driving to the port, we decided we should be leaving our rooms by no later than 9:20 AM. That gave us enough time to check-out and load up the car and be on the road by 9:30 AM. We were pulling to the port area by 9:45 AM. Since this was my first time driving to a port, I really have nothing to compare it to. I know Charleston is set up differently than most other ports. But we found it very easy to navigate. As soon as we enter the parking lot, we follow the traffic to the bag drop area. Here we dropped off all of the bags that we were having delivered to our cabin. I believe we also paid for parking in this area as well. We paid right at $100 for the five nights of parking. Once we had dropped our bags, we were directed to our parking spot. From there, it was just a short walk to the check-in building. We got our first good glimpse of the Carnival Sunshine at 9:48 AM. The check-in process in Charleston was a smooth and painless as it could have been! We were able to go through the priority check-in line and really didn't have to wait at all. It took just a couple of minutes to get all three of us checked-in and then we were directed to the priority seating area to wait for boarding to begin. We were seated by 10:00 AM. Soon after we arrived, they announced that the ship had been cleared and boarding would be begin shortly with those needing assistance , Diamonds, Suite Guests and then Platinum guests. In Charleston, you have to take a shuttle bus from this holding area to the building you board the ship from. We were loaded up in the shuttle bus at 10:28AM. Once we arrived at the boarding terminal, we had to go through security. Again, there were really no lines at this point and we pretty much went straight thru. The hubby did have to get extra screening though due to the two new knees that he got in 2022! After clearing security, we were directed to a large holding room where a line had formed at the bottom of a staircase that would led us up to the boarding ramp. We were in this line for about 5-8 minutes and then they started allowing people on the ship. That cute little pup Sawyer is holding is her new favorite stuffy, Dash! She got him at the city market the day before in Charleston! When the Carnival boarding agent scanned my boarding pass, it wouldn't show me as boarded due to an alert on my account asking me to check in at the Carnival Adventures desk when we boarded. I had to move over to another boarding agent who was able to override the alert and then we were heading up the ramp to the ship. it was 10:49 AM when we boarding the Sunshine! So it was almost exactly one hour from the time we pulled into the parking lot and the time we got on the ship. And about 20 minutes of that was just waiting in various holding areas. Pretty efficient check-in, if you ask me! Our first pic onboard the Carnival Sunshine!

Our final meal in Charleston was at Poogan's Porch. Poogan's Porch is Charleston's oldest independent culinary establishment set in a restored Victorian house. The house was erected in 1891 and by 1976, the character of the neighborhood had changed to allow for the conversion of the house into a restaurant. The last residential owners sold the home and moved away, leaving behind the neighborhood dog that they had cared for over the years. The dog, Poogan, was a neighborhood fixture accepting table scraps and back scratches from anywhere he could get them. Poogan became the guardian of the new restaurant and greeted the first guests upon opening and became an institution of the area. He died a natural death in 1979 and the restaurant remains a monument to him. I started again with the She-Crab soup and the kiddo got her cup this time as well! I had the BBQ Mahi Mahi w/ Pimento Cheese Grits, Smoked Pork and Collards. Drew got the Daily Fresh Catch, which I believe was Cod. The fish was prepared in a lemon and garlic butter sauce and came with asparagus and a crispy sage grit cake. For dessert, we shared the Banana Pudding - which I failed to snap a pic of! While everything that we had at Poogan's was really very good, this was probably my least favorite meal of our time in Charleston. Poogan's has a much more limited menu and the service here was very slow. We enjoyed a leisurely meal, but it did drag out a bit longer than we would have liked. The She-Crab soup was excellent, though still not as good as what I had at ACME. But the Banana Pudding was outstanding! Which is probably why I didn't get a pic - we all just dove right in the moment it was set down on the table. Overall, the food in Charleston did not disappoint! I would rank our dinners out in the following order: 1. ACME Lowcountry Kitchen 2. Page's Okra Grill 3. Poogan's Porch. There are still many restaurants in the area that I would love to try - The Wreck, Hank's Seafood, Fleet's Landing to name a few. And coming from a landlocked state, it was so nice to get fresh local seafood. The shrimp and fish we had here were all extremely tasty! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before we board the Carnival Sunshine the next day! Final thoughts on our time in Charleston - I'm so glad that we decided to drive down three days before our cruise. Even with 2 1/2 days to explore and sightsee, there was still a lot we didn't get to do! I would love to come back and do a culinary tasting tour, a haunted ghost tour, tour the Yorktown or Fort Sumter, go to the aquarium, spend some time in the Shem Creek area, do a kayaking tour, and spend more time at the beach! Sounds like I have my next vacation already planned! LOL It was really easy to get around Charleston. Mt. Pleasant is an ideal location - close to everything and easy to get in/out of. I didn't find parking downtown to be overly expensive or difficult to find. And the downtown area is so walkable that you just park once and can venture out for the day and see a lot. One of my favorite things to see in Charleston was the wildlife. There were always sea birds in/around the water. And we saw so many dolphins! I'll post much more about the dolphins when I get into the cruise portion of this trip report. But it was so fun to just watch them frolicking around in the water mere yards away! if anyone has questions about Charleston, feel free to ask away and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thank you! I appreciate you following along! Charleston is a great city and I can't wait to go back!

After our tour, we spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening just exploring downtown on foot. We stopped back by Savannah Candy Co. and picked up a few sweet treats and some ice cream. Our friends wanted to get a small bite to eat. But even mid-day places already had waits for tables. So they opted for a couple slices of take out pizza. Once their bellies were full, we began our self-guided walking tour. We first headed to Joe Riley Waterfront Park - you remember Joe Riley from my earlier post. He was the long serving mayor of Charleston. This park is home to the famous Pineapple Fountain as well as a pier and and other picturesque areas along the water. On our way there, we passed the beautiful St. Philip's Church. The church itself was established between 1680-1681. There were several other structures that were either damaged by hurricanes or fires. The current church was built in 1836 with the spire completed in 1850. Once we got to the waterfront, Drew found a shady place to relax while the rest of us explored. We checked out the Pineapple Fountain, walked along the sea wall and out onto the pier. It was beautiful afternoon! Here are a few shots of the Pineapple Fountain. Always lots of wildlife to see in Charleston. I got a pic of this guy just as he was taking off. She was kind of over it at this point! LOL Trying to pretend they don't know I'm snapping a pic. 🙂 After our time at the park, we continued walking with no real agenda. We soon passed the US Custom House again. The kids did the "Rocky" run up to the top of the stairs followed by some victory dancing! One of the perks of cruising in October is seeing how different cities celebrate Halloween. Last October we cruised from New Orleans, which goes ALL out for Halloween. Charleston seems to love this holiday as well as there were decorations out all around! Here are a few of my faves! We walked back toward Rainbow Row. I just loved the door on this house. It's spectacular! Many homes had these little courtyards. After a long afternoon of sightseeing, the kiddos were getting a bit restless. We spotted Hazel Parker Playground and decided to pop in there and let the kids burn off some energy. Both the big and little kids loved this round spinning thing. Not sure what it's called, but they all spent a lot of time running around this thing and playing on it! Even caught mine in mid-jump! it's Dad vs. Dad! We spent probably close to an hour at the park and then continued our walking tour toward the waterfront where we walked along the sea wall. We ended up near White Point Garden where there are many relics and memorials with a largely military theme. There is a statue of William Moultrie, who was a general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and has one of the Forts near Charleston named for him. The sun was beginning to set which was beautiful to watch over the water. We saw more dolphins but they were too far out to get a good picture of. We walked to the end of the sea wall and then decided to head back toward the market. We had a 7:00 PM dinner reservation at Poogan's Porch which was just a few blocks from the city market. Of course, I snapped some photos of the sunset and more houses on our walk back. I have to say our two kiddos really were troopers. Other than our 1 hour carriage ride, we were pretty much on our feet walking and sightseeing the rest of the day. I know everyone was looking forward to sitting down and enjoying a nice dinner together!

Thank you! It's definitely a city we plan to visit again!

As I mentioned previously, my friend Kae Lee booked both of our families on the 1:30 PM carriage tour with Old South Carriage Company. The cost for the 1 hour daytime carriage tour is $50 per adult and $40 per child (4-11). If you ever visit Charleston, do a carriage tour! This is a great way to see and learn about the historic downtown area. And from what several people have told me, you can do multiple carriage tours and learn something different each time as no tour is exactly like another. So even if you've done it before, do it again! 🙂 After exploring the market and surrounding areas after our biscuit brunch, we made our way over to Anson street to meet our friends for the carriage tour. We checked-in at the Old South Carriage Tour office and were told that they would call us by name when our carriage is boarding. Right on time, our carriage began loading up and we were off! Now, I have to confess that I took an obscene number of photos during the carriage tour and as we explored on foot the rest of the day. There are just so many beautiful buildings and sights to see around downtown Charleston - everything felt photo-worthy! So I'm going to try to just pick some of the best photos to share but there will be a lot that don't get posted. Also, it wasn't the easiest to take photos from the carriage as it was hard to get the right angles on buildings or I was trying to take photos through the other people on the tour. We did a lot of exploring on foot the rest of the afternoon and I'll share those photos as well. So here we go..... This is the Old South Carriage Company office where you check-in and board your carriage. When we walked up, they had a horse lined up waiting for his guests. He was a sweetie! This just made me laugh! Soon we were loaded up and ready to go. Here's us and my friend Kae Lee. Her hubby and daughter were seated in the row in front of us. I believe the carriage holds 16 or 20 people (4 or 5 rows of 4 people). When you purchase your tour, you have the option of buying the whole row so no one else is seated with you. You can even book the entire carriage for a private tour for your group. They also do haunted nighttime tours - which I would love to do if we ever go back to Charleston! And now we're off! This is our tour guide. His name was also John (like our plantation guide from the day before). John is definitely "the man" in Charleston. He really seemed to know everyone there is to know in Charleston personally. And he was full of interesting tidbits about the city and buildings. He also had a very dry sense of humor which I appreciate! 🙂 Our tour guide checked in with the guy who coordinates the overall tour schedule to find out what our planned route would be. Even if you've never been to Charleston, I'm sure you've seen photos of the large and colorful homes and buildings that line the streets of the city. They are really something to behold in person! You'll notice that some buildings have doors that are on the front and some have doors that are on the side. Back in the day, a door on the front of the building signaled that it was a merchant's establishment as opposed to a residential building with a door on the side. Joseph P. Riley was one of the longest serving mayors in the US that is still living, having served 10 terms from 1975 to 2016. In 2000, he organized a five-day protest walk from Charleston to Columbia to promote the removal of the Confederate battle flag that was being flown above the South Carolina statehouse. The flag was finally removed in 2015. This is part of Charleston's famous Rainbow Row - so named because of the bright colors of all of the houses along this street. The tour took us down along the waterfront. Here are a few more pics from the tour of some of the interesting houses or buildings along the way. I loved the green shutters on this house. And that amazing two story porch! It was interesting to see that the porches on these homes do not face the street. Porches were built facing either South or West to take catch the breezes. I also loved the circular two story porch on this home. Stunning! Our tour guide told us that often when movies come to film in Charleston, they will want to make streets like this one look like it's back in older times. They will bring in dirt to cover the paved streets and use items such as barrels and such to disguise modern items like fire hydrants. Just a few changes like that and suddenly you're transported back to the late 1800's. I thought the crescent moon details on the shutters were interesting. Our tour concluded just after 2:30 back at the Anson St. office location. I would absolutely do this tour again. Old South Carriage Company is great and they go to great lengths to ensure their horses are taken care of. They do not overwork their horses - they can only do a limited number of tours per day and per week. And they have a large horse farm where the horses stay when they aren't working. For many of their horses, this is their "retirement job".

Get something booked soon as after 2024, Charleston is closing to cruise ships. I had never really considered sailing from there until recently either. But glad we did it!

Thank you! One of these days, I'll get a big-girl camera as I do love to take pictures. The old iPhone isn't the greatest! But it does help having a cute subject like my little one! 🙂

Page's was very good! But honestly, the best meal of our stay in Charleston and maybe even entire vacation was our first night at ACME Lowcountry Kitchen! If you've never been, give it a try! And you'll enjoy the Sunshine. For an older ship, she has a lot of add-ons and upgrades for dining, entertainment, etc.

Well, this was a welcome surprise! I was just thinking it had been too long since I’d read a Jeff & Patti trip report! And here it is! This will be a perfect escape when I need a break from writing my own Sunshine review! So excited to learn all about this new ship!

I remember traveling as a kid and I always loved our stops at rest stops! It was nice to sit outside and stretch our legs a bit rather than being so rushed to just eat and go!

I am dying to try the Mardi Gras or one of her sister ships! But I may do another short voyage with the kiddo next fall break and we're looking at Alaska cruises for Summer of 2025. So it may be a while before I get on one!

Sunday, October 8, 2023 - Charleston Day 3 We woke up to another partly cloudy day! Honestly, our weather in Charleston couldn't have been any better. Most of the time, the skies had some cloud cover - mornings tended to be a little more cloudy and it would clear throughout the day. Temps were perfect for sightseeing and we really didn't get any rain that I can recall. Today was going to be our day exploring downtown. My friend Kae Lee had pre-booked a 1:30 PM carriage tour through Old South Carriage Company. But we planned to head down early for lunch and to explore the City Market before the tour. We knew we wanted to try Callie's Hot Little Biscuits for lunch. So we headed downtown around 11:15 and were parked in the Cumberland Street parking garage by 11:30. This was a perfect parking location as it was very centrally located to everything we wanted to do and see downtown. We made our way a couple blocks over to the City Market in search of our hot little biscuits! The Charleston City Market was established in the 1790's and stretches for four city blocks. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Market Hall and Shed and was further designated a National Historic Landmark. It is located between North and South Market Streets. The current structures were built in the early 19th century but have been renovated and rebuilt numerous times due to damage from earthquakes, fires and hurricanes. We found Callie's near the center of the market and joined the long line to place our orders. The kiddo wasn't feeling Callie's, so she had a true breakfast of champions from the little market across the hall - a blueberry muffin and Pringles! Drew and I split an order of the Handmade Hot Little Biscuits. You can get an order of 3 for $6 or a Baker's Dozen for $24.95. You can choose from a variety of savory or sweet flavors - we opted for Shortcake, cinnamon and blackberry. Guess we were feeling more sweet that morning! We also each got a larger Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwich. Drew went with the BLT and I got the Jalapeno Pimento Cheese. We spent the rest of the time until our carriage tour exploring the market and surrounding areas. inside the market you will find an array of handcrafted goods from local artisans and other souvenirs and goodies - toys, hats, shoes, candy, artwork, skin care items, and much more! The Pineapple is a symbol of welcoming people into your home here in South Carolina. Before the times of telephones/smart phones, when people came home from their travels they would put a pineapple on their front porch when they were ready to accept visitors. You can find several vendors selling Sweetwater baskets. Just outside of the market is the United State Custom House. And on the corner across the street from the market is Savannah's Candy Kitchen. We would come back here later for ice cream and some other sweet treats. Before we knew it, it was almost time for our horse tour. We headed over to Anson Street to meet our friends and wait for our tour to begin.

Wow...what a small world! So glad you had a wonderful retirement cruise! Wish we could have said hello and helped celebrate you onboard!

Originally on this night, we were going to meet our other friends downtown for dinner at a restaurant called California Dreaming. They wanted to eat somewhere close to their hotel after spending the day driving down from back home. But in all of my researching, the general consensus was that Page' Okra Grill was a must try restaurant. So we bailed on our friends (who understood as we had plans for a tour and dinner with them the following day) and decided to try Page's instead. Page's does not accept reservations, so we headed there right after our tour at Boone Hall Plantation hoping our early arrival time of 5:30 would beat some of the normal dinner crowd. After expecting having to wait for a table, we were pleasantly surprised to be seated right away. Page's is a larger restaurant with plenty of indoor seating and a large outdoor dining patio that goes more than 1/2 way around the restaurant. We opted for a table outside to enjoy the perfect weather that evening and our waitress was quickly taking our orders. We started with Page's Sampler Platter appetizer which includes: Redneck Rolls (smoked BBQ pork & pimento cheese in a spring roll served with mustard BBQ sauce), Fried Green Tomatoes (served with a roasted red pepper jam & peach jam), & shrimp & bacon chipotle cheese dip w/ pita bread. It was all really good - but the Redneck Rolls and cheese dip were my faves. I've had fried green tomatoes before and they aren't my favorites, but the mustard BBQ sauced paired perfectly with them. I had the Seafood Platter for my entrée. This included a pan seared lump & sweet blue crab cake, fried jumbo shrimp and a fried flounder fillet. I also got the She-Crab soup, mashed potatoes and cornbread muffin for my sides. Hubby had the Grilled Seafood Platter which included grilled sea bass, jumbo shrimp, cake cake and pan seared scallops. For his sides, he elected for the pimento cheese grits, fried okra and a hush puppy. Kiddo had the grilled shrimp and the largest fruit bowl I've ever seen! She was in heaven! And again we all saved room for the Key Lime Pie, though today's pie paled in comparison to the one we had the night before at ACME. After dinner, we went back to the hotel so the kiddo could get in some night swimming while dad sat nearby and enjoyed his pipe and I got in a workout. Tomorrow is gonna be another busy day in Charleston! And yes - I just figured out how to insert pics right into the posts! 🙂 It took me a while, but I got it now!