JennN

Loving this! We booked the sunshine for October and I'm apprehensive reading all the negative.. But so far your review has me excited!

 

 

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You really have to take these things with a grain of salt. For some reason we expect perfection with anything and everything these days. As long as I am enjoying myself, I let it roll off my back. if I can't, I say something in the moment to give people the opportunity to fix it. On a cruise, I tend not to worry much!

This is too cool. I haven't been on the boards for a couple of months since we've been back from our Sunshine cruise but thought to look today. Started browsing through yours and realized - whoa! - they are in our room! We got off the day you got on and we were in 11021! Loved that room!

 

I spilled some chocolate cake on the carpet and it kind of stained, I hope they were able to get it out. It was the worst. I was drunk and called room service for cake at like 1am, when they're super busy, so it took until 2am to get my cake. Then I immediately dropped it on the floor and my foot while jumping up and down exclaiming, "CAKE CAKE CAKE YAY CAKE!" and I started to weep. I am thirty-two years old sheesh. Lol.

You know, we noticed the carpet was a bit dark in a spot, lol. Must have been you!!! That's really neat to have been in the same room. How did you like it?

Another great review from you Jenn! I would say hurry back with more but instead I'll just say I hope your arm gets better soon. :)

It's YOUR reviews that are amazing. So glad (and honored) that you are reading mine!!! ;):D:p

I'm a little late to the party, but I'm in! You're off to a great start I am really enjoying your review

 

 

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As I've said since it's taken me 2 months to write this - better late than never ;)

Enjoying your review very much. We are on the Sunshine in about 60 days and are in Spa interior room 11006. Do you have any pictures of your MIL's room???

I don't, sadly. I try not to go into her room at all when we've got the balcony. Her room had 2 beds and the overhead bulk bed too.

You will have a blast!

JennN, you made my day...Looking forward to hearing more from you. I really enjoying reading your posts.

Sorry to hear about the health issues. It is surprising how much we use our thumbs for so much.

you don't know what you got til it's gone! :D

We took pics and waited...

now for one of the chair hut:

Still waiting and then FINALLY!

Yay! Sunset. OK, let's go!

We walked back to the ship, got changed then ventured back out into town for a walk where we found a mall, a Starbucks (see post above about the importance of keeping me caffeinated) and DW tried to buy some local rum but couldn't find anything until we were back in the port area (at which time I chugged a local beer - I like to have one as my own souvenir!).

We ate dinner late that night (yay YTD!) - around 8pm. I can't remember what I got I just know my taste budgs did not care for it and the whole wait staff was trying to get me to order something else - I relented and had a baked potato. LOL. It wasn't like I didn't have a salad and app! Plus there was pizza up above or a deli sandwich!

By the time we met for our nightly constitutional by the pool, it was after 11pm and despite our best attempts to go do something fun on the ship, we were all zonked and decided to head to bed. We'd be in Curacao early and wanted to try to get off sooner rather than later to plan an excursion of sorts - MIL and I wanted the beach but in the end, the DW held her ground and, well....

To be continued...

At about 3pm we docked at Aruba. Being from Ny, all my life I've heard my parents friends RAVE about Aruba and it being *THE* vacation destination. I was excited to go - mostly because our original excursion would have given us beach time as well as sunset time - we had never been in a port past 8 or 9pm before.

We decided to ask the information desk woman where she's recommend - she said there were two main beaches. Eagle beach was more lively and Palm Beach was further up the coast and more quiet. My MIL and wife opted for Pal Beach.

We took a cab, they dropped us off at some alley in front of a hotel and we were there:

I think the cab ride was $20. He gave us a tip to walk towards the hotel on the way back if there were no cabs in the lot by the alley dropping others off.

I am not sure if I was just bummed that our excursion was cancelled and that the care-freeness was taken from me but these guys kept trying to sell us chairs, and the Hilton resort owned some so while we had towels and such for the sand, it didn't feel right. That sounds booji or something but you know what I mean? to go from not having a care in the world to wondering which chairs we could sit on or if we were in people's way. Plus, the security of our stuff.

Eventually I said "EFF IT" (literally) and took a selfie

before heading into the water. There was a bar of sorts on the pier but party boats kept coming in with people so we didn't venture there.

The waster was sort of cold and the sand not the perfect white, softness I'd envisioned but \/\/hatever! I am on a beach!

And it's the little things, right? For instance (and this became the running joke throughout the cruise), an older couple decided to park their stuff next to ours (which is the only reason why we looked up at them), They had snorkel gear and swam around or a while. The woman yelled at the man that she was done and went up to sit on her towel...then moved to an unoccupied chair (rebel). The man trotted around snorkeling then got out, sat on his towel for a while and eventually started yelling his wife's name. She was right behind him and replied, "Where did you think I went? Geesh if I can snorkel, I won't drown. Use your eyes!" so of course, "use your eyes" was our quote and we laughed about how he'd plot to kill her someday.

Maybe it was funny to just us?

Anyway, we got out of the water after about an hour and dried off waiting for sunset....

Night 2's moon was amazing!

Day 3 was another sea day and at night, turned into a sad one at that!

But the morning was great - another day spent on the Serenity deck, with pool and relaxing time! DW and MIL went to the Havana Bar and brought me back some breakfast snacks and an ice coffee - they know a well caffeinated Jenn is a good Jenn all around!

We literally sat out there all cruise and became regulars...lol

Instead of sitting for 9 hours as I am known to do, we ventured up and about because of a funnel cloud/water spout! Yup! At sea!!! The funnel was remarkable and a neat thing to see...from afar that is.

No funnel in this one but one for the "oohhhhs" and "ahhhhs"

We walked out to desk 3 (I think) and took some more shots before heading in to prep for dinner and our trek to Alchemy (man did they make some moolah off of us!)

The food was awesome as were our wait staff and after, we had one (or four, but it's vacation so who's couting?) drinks at Alchemy before we went back up to our deck to sit out and discuss our day

There was an at sea airlift off the ship. It was so conflicting because while it was neat to see a helicopter, it was obviously a sad occasion that someone was that sick. There were super high winds and it took the helicopter many attempts but after 2-3 hours, we were back to cruising speed. Out of respect for the family, I didn't record it or take pictures of the rescue.

Because of the rescue though, we were told that we'd be getting into Aruba late - instead of 1pm, we wouldn't be there until 3pm at the earliest so our excursion was cancelled. Not sure exactly why but I assume the vendors didn't want to take people out so late to snorkel...

next up, what we did instead!

You all are too kind for sticking with me!!! I am updating as I type this reply too! Thumb is better though till in the brace...

I hope all understand that this isn't a Carnival cutback - it's the companies that used to give samples away cutting back. They no longer feel like it's profitable.

Check out my review in my signature blow - loved Sunshine AND Dream!

I wonder if the OP is gonna come back and finish this review. This is one reason why I hesitate to start a comprehensive review after my trips. They are time consuming. I give props to folks that do them to the end. Alot of work.

I am back!!! and will!!! Promise. I heard so much negative about the Sunshine I want to make sure the positive gets out there too. With the holidays and then broken wrist? thumb? it is hard!

Love the door decorations. Where did you find these?

Dollar Store! Cute right?

Great review. Question about the hotel you stayed at- The Hilton CB... Was the breakfast included? Did you have to pay for the shuttle to the port?

Thanks in advance. We cannot wait to go on the Sunshine in June/July

No to both - and breakfast was pricey! Shuttle was $5 a person.

Can you answer this for me- on the sunshine? Which deck do you get on and off the ship? Also, when embarking the ship - will I be able to take the stairs once on? Even though the rooms won't be ready? I do not prefer elavators.

Hi - you embark on 3, disembark on 3 and get to port on 0. And yes, stairs are open! We took them most times too but not by choice.

Did I think I finished this review??? OMG I never did...and now I have a broken dominant arm. Maybe another post tonight but typing with one hand is hard. So glad so many of you are reading/read!!!

Can't wait to hear more! My Dad always cruises with us and we have the best time. Is your MIL single? We can hook them up so they can avoid that pesky single rate! ;)

Did y'all not have the Cheers package? I wonder if the drinks at Shake Spot or Alchemy would be included in that?

-Kelly

She is single in fact and I am her wing woman!! lol

We didn't have cheers as normally we dont drink this much but Alchemy...lol. I dont think either were included but am not sure.

sounds great so far!!

Odd - we had the small ice bucket in out room on the Sunshine in December. Right under the safe area. Was it because we were in a spa balcony? The room steward brought us one of the bigger plastic ones once he saw the champagne though! And iced it every night until i drank it!

We had FTTF last spring and were on board by 11am.

No chance of me ever doing this cruise but I read it just for you! You make me want to though :D

the only time we've needed bug spray was in Belize when touring the ruins. I am a literal bug magnet and Belize was the only place I've been bitten.

They also have the bug spray personal fans as well as bracelets so you are not putting anything on your skin.

After a beautiful day at sea, it was time for dinner. And, as the maitre d' says, it was elegant night because, by the end of the cruise you won't fit into your elegant clothing any more, haha.

(for the record, I lost 7 pounds on this one!)

This was, by the way, also when we finally got to go to Alchemy - great for us but unlucky for our S&S cards as each of their fabulous drinks are $10 a pop. We stopped by before AND after dinner. There are so many pictures to choose from, mostly of the bar staff, Maja and Miroslav who were fantastic. I had read so much about Alchemy here on CC and knew I wanted to try the martini flight but my wife and I couldn't narrow it down to 4 so Maja suggested we buy 2, try all 7 and the one we liked the best would be our 8th. WRONG move as as loved them all. She also made it a game and told us we had to guess which were which and poured them out and handed us a menu and wished us luck!

[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/M5hwYwqZJLs[/YOUTUBE] The link keeps breaking but here is Maja's pour - http://youtu.be/M5hwYwqZJLs

Isn't that amazing??? Anyway, having never had one of the martinis (I mean, we had been on the ship 24 hours already and STILL hadn't tried one), we taste tested them all and got them all right! She gave us a wine charm as a reward, lol.

My favorite was the Spicy Chipotle Pineapple, my wife's was 40 is the new 20 and my MIL loved The Remedy - they light the orange rind and place the essence all around the glass!

Here is the menu, which lights up when opened:

Now, I'd love to tell you what was for dinner and how much we enjoyed it but, truth be told, I don't remember much of that night! I had one (or 4) too many martinis! I do know we closed out the bar and had a blast. Oh, and I also know that we loved out wait staff - Sudita, Untung and I Made (we only used the bartender once, Robert, and he was swell too). Sudita was the head waiter and was quite the entertainer. They were all from Indonesia and Sudita and Untung were GREAT about giving us recommendations. It was really helpful in trying new things as well as narrowing down our selections!

Thanks for waiting for me. We had guests I totally forgot about and timing wise, just couldn't post. But I am here now. Thank you all for the nice comments. I never know if the reviews come across how I want them to since I write like I talk.

So, day 2 - sea day!

I love waking up to this

After a quick shower, it is off to the Sea Day brunch to use our VIFP coupon for a free drink! Mimosa for me and my MIL and a Bloody Mary for the wife. Cheers!

Much to the chagrin of pretty much anyone over the age of eight, I always get the cereal encrusted French toast. I love it and think it's yummy...my breakfast companions get "normal" stuff.

And they LOVE it when I say, " no wait, wait, wait! I have to get a picture!!!"

It was sort of "late" (read: 10:30am) or so when we went back to change and we didn't think we'd find three seats together on our Serenity deck. So we headed down to the lido deck, which too was packed (don't bother asking me what the two ladies to the right of this picture were doing - I will let you use your own imagination) but we were able to find three seats.

We lasted about 10 minutes down by the main pool before my MIL was screaming from Serenity saying she found three spots by the Serenity pool so we ran upstairs.

I spent pretty much three hours in the pool. Yes, it was cold. Like, ice water cold. But hey, I am in the Caribbean so why not? Plus, once in, it hurt less than getting in and outn so why not stay in? The pool is indeed, small, but it was a-ok. With no one in it I was able to swim "laps" and hang out under the ever so strong waterfall. After my swim session, I lounged in the sun and got my second drink of the day, a Long Island!

Hi Jenn,

 

Great review. We will be sailing on the Sunshine on Jan 10 so just under two weeks too go!!! I wanted to confirm that the hotel you stayed at was the Doubletree Cocoa beach? We have booked a hotel in Orlando but was looking at the the Doubletree as an option. Can't wait to read more of your review.

 

Mione

Nope, it was the Hilton Coco Beach Oceanfront....this one!

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/hilton-cocoa-beach-oceanfront-CCBCHHF/index.html

Ok, officially the best review ever. You had me laughing, crying and even singing (I was singing it even before you said it was a song). Great job!!!! By you both!