Lizstar319

Sunday, 8/17 -Day 2 - Sea Day

We woke up around 10am, puttered around the suite drinking our coffee and tea (I have trouble eating in the mornings until I have a few cups of tea, so this is more for me than mom/sis). I also looooove sitting out on the balcony in my pj's with my tea and just watching the ocean go by. Nothing better, in my book. We went to brunch around 11:30, of course bringing our free drink coupons. I enjoyed the different options offered, but could do without the cheesy menu descriptions....they're just not funny. I ordered an omelette with cheddar, onions, & bacon, with a side of hash browns and....more bacon. This was to be the bacon cruise (don't worry, I have banned myself from eating bacon for the next month...oof). I also ordered a bloody mary, and we decided to split the mac and cheese with fried chicken and........bacon lol. Omelette was good, bloody mary was ok, mac and cheese was not very good (needed seasoning). The fried chicken was a chicken tender, which is not the same thing.

After brunch, we decided to go explore the ship a bit, looked into the shops (seemed like a small area, not very interesting), and then of course, go take a nap. Because afternoon naps are a requirement when cruising, aren't they? Just me? Hmm.

After we woke up, we decided it would be a good night to go eat in the Cucina (I sailed on the Magic a few years ago, and I swear....the spaghetti carbonara is the best I've ever eaten....and I grew up eating amazing Italian food. Mangia!) I didn't realize that on Day 1 OR Day 2, you get a free half carafe of the Cucina house wine, which was nice. I'm not a fan of Chianti, so we went with the Pinot Grigio. It's been a long time since I drank Pinot Grigio, so it was a bit of adjustment, but we somehow muddled through :)

After dinner, we wandered around the top deck a little bit more, mom wanted to see the whale tail up close, I wanted to try to catch the sunset...we stopped by the casino for a little while (well, the dark cloud of bad luck didn't, just mom and I), then headed back to the cabin for some reading and bed. First port day tomorrow!

Day 1 continued...

After dropping off our bags, we decided to make our way to Lido to get some lunch. Namely, Guy's Burgers. I have to admit, I am a bit of a Food Network junkie, but he is not a fave of mine....still, I was intrigued. The burger was quite good, and while the names of the different options were very Guy-esque (aka cheesy and annoying), I still managed to eat there a few more times on the cruise haha. I do like the toppings bar, very easy to customize a burger to however you like it!

While we were eating, it started to pour (ah, Florida in August), which was kind of hilarious to watch, since we were safely seated under the overhang. We spent some time people watching, then decided to go see if any of our luggage had shown up yet so we could start getting settled. I decided to stop by the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar on our way and get myself a cocktail to start this cruise off right, and got a margarita...twas delicious.

We went back to our cabin, and a few suitcases had been delivered, so we started unpacking, settling in, etc. Soon it was time for the muster drill, and what a delight that was. No one had included in their announcements that drinks weren't allowed, and so I of course brought my margarita with me. I was told that I would need to finish it, since I couldn't have anything in my hands....so I chugged about half of a margarita....and then no one ever took my glass. So I was a lil light headed, holding this glass, pressed into a small space with lots of strangers. Yay. Thankfully, it probably wasn't as long as it felt in reality, and we got out of there. We went back to the cabin to unpack some more, and rest up before dinner.

We ate in the MDR (we had ATD), and found check in to be fairly painless. On other ships where I've had ATD, you check in at the dining room, but I guess because of the way the Sunshine is configured, there's not a whole lot of room so they have you check in at Ocean Plaza, and wait until your buzzer goes off to go downstairs. We went about 7pm, got our buzzer, and had about a 20 minute wait. Not bad. Our waiter team this evening was good (but not great). No complaints, but nothing making us want to come back to his section specifically. Food was good and solid (how I find the MDR to be, usually...rarely have I ever had something just awful.)

After dinner, we wandered through the casino a bit (Mom loves to play the slots), sister and I played a bit as well, but she is like a black cloud of bad luck to whomever she sits near, so that didn't last very long. We decided to walk over to the Alchemy Bar for a cocktail before calling it a night. There were some very interesting looking drinks on the menu, but the bartender seemed determined to make us something custom. unfortunately, he asked us what we liked to drink, and then went in the complete opposite direction from that. He seems very talented, but perhaps should focus a little more on what people say they like, and making them something in that vein. Once he went off shift, sister and switched drinks, and then went to pick Mom up in the casino. Settled in for a very restful night of sleep, after putting out our room service request for coffee/tea for the next morning.

Thanks, everyone who is reading so far!

KPfromCT - I for some reason couldn't find the original booking email, but when we agreed to the ship change, apparently in the fine print was a note that they would do their best to keep our accommodations the same. I called several times, asking why the cabin had not been assigned yet, afraid for this very thing happening. Each time I called, I was assured by the rep that I would definitely be in a spa suite, since that's what was listed on my booking, and that it would be assigned at check-in.

I was also livid, and still am, a bit. I decided to not let it ruin my vacation, but I will be following up with Carnival - we booked the spa suite for the spa access - and when they wouldn't even give us that, or a credit equivalent to that, it left a bad taste in my mouth. If anyone has had success getting a previous cruise screwup rectified, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Just a quick note - this will be a (mostly) photo free review - I haven't gotten around to uploading most of my photos yet...when I have them, I will try to go back and add relevant ones...I decided to skip most of the typical ship and food photos, we've all seen those a ton! I believe my mom did save all of the Fun Times, so I will also try to scan those if I get a chance.

Saturday, 8/16 - Embarkation Day, Port Canaveral - Day 1

We were once again woken up bright and early by housekeeping - this time they actually came into the room, even with the sign on the door. :mad: NOT happy.

A little backstory before I go on - we had booked this cruise about a year ago, in a spa suite. Then a few months later, I received an email that they were switching our ship from the Dream to the Sunshine. I assumed that we would maintain the same category as we booked in, confirmed this with Carnival several times, but didn't see a cabin assignment up until the day we left for FL. We managed to log in on Saturday morning, despite the very week WiFi in the hotel, and saw that we had been assign to.....7198.....NOT a spa suite. I made an immediate call to Carnival, hoping this could be straightened out (we very specifically wanted a spa cabin). After being put on hold for quite a bit, I was informed that we had been upgraded to a Grand Suite, and since it's considered a higher category than a SS, we would receive no compensation for the loss of the spa passes, since they felt that the "upgrade" was enough. I disagree...I didn't WANT a Grand Suite, I WANTED a Spa Suite. That's why I booked one a year ago.

Anyway, so after a quick stop to check out (and let them know their housekeeping staff really needs some tweaking - got $50 off the room which was an unexpected bonus), and re-print boarding passes/luggage tags, we were off to return the rental and take the shuttle to the port.

We got off the shuttle at around noon, and found a porter to take our bags. I asked him to put a priority tag on them, he told me we didn;t have priority - I had printed the luggage tags in b&w, so had to pull out the boarding pass to prove it to him. Tipped him $10 for 4 suitcases, and off we went to check-in. We waited less than 10 minutes, got everything squared away, and were boarding the ship no later than 12:30. We immediately got on line at Guest Services, since we had all purchased e-Gift cards through the Verizon Smart Rewards program, and unfortunately the only way to credit them to your account is at GS. That took another 45 minutes or so...then we went to the cabin to drop off our carry-ons. The room was very nice, and in a good location...we were just bummed that it wasn't what we had planned on for so long, but we decided to just enjoy where we were and address it after we returned.

More from Day 1 to come....

Hi all,

Just off the Sunshine this past Saturday with Mama and Sister....since I find all of your reviews so helpful, thought I'd write up a quick one of my own!!!

Thursday, 8/14

We flew from NYC to FLL on Thursday evening. When we were booking our flights, I miscalculated the distance from FLL to PC, and ended up booking into here instead of MCO or PBI....this wasn't a worry on the way down, since we had lots of time....a little worrisome on the way back, but we'll get to that. We landed around 10:45PM, waited on a very long line for the shuttle to the rental car center, and then another long line to get the car. Finally got on the road at about 12:15AM, and made it to our hotel at around 3:30AM. Yowza.

We booked the Best Western Oceanfront Ocean Beach Hotel & Suites, and were not fans of the room we got at all. Immediately upon opening the door, we were smacked in the face with the strong scent of mildew. Oh joy. but, since it was 3:30AM, we fell into bed and decided we didn't care.

Friday, 8/15

Originally, we considered going to the Space Center, but ultimately decided to use the day to run errands, pick up last minute items for the cruise, and relax a bit. We thought the Space Center would be a bit tiring, especially considering our long day before, and it was a little pricier than we were looking for since we couldn't get free tix from our local representative.

We were woken up around 10AM, after a not very restful night of sleep. Although we had the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, the housekeeping staff decided to have a yelling conversation in front of our door. Sister and I went to Dunkin Donuts just down the street to caffeinate while Mom got dressed, then once we were all ready, we decided to start tackling our long list of errands. First on the list was breakfast! We decided to go somewhere local, and ate at Gina's Cafe & Deli, on Merritt Island (where most of our errands were). Food was delish! Highly recommend, everything is homemade and very good. After that, we made stops at CVS, the bank, and Target. Of course, Mom looked up a yarn store, so we had to make a stop there as well. We got back to the room (still smelly), walked down to the beach for a few minutes, relaxed for a bit, re-arranged bags for easier boarding, then went and grabbed some dinner. None of the local restaurants that I had found online has non-seafood options that were very thrilling, so we went to the Outback (always consistent!!!). Off to bed early!

To be continued...

Leaving on Saturday for a W. Caribbean itinerary. We're booked for the Zip n Dip with Victor Bodden in Roatan - how much have you tipped on this in the past? I am guessing since there are a few components, maybe different people to tip?

We're trying to make sure we have enough cash with us....any advice or experience is appreciated!

Thanks :D

We're all leaving this weekend to cruise on the Sunshine as her official birthday cruise with the rest of the family (most of us anyway).

Not to threadjack...but hey, me too!!! :D

Looking forward to the rest of your review - we sail on Sunshine on Saturday!

Just purchased $700 worth for our cruise that leaves Saturday! I did it in 3 separate transactions (one for me, Mom and sister), was holding my breath each time I clicked submit :D

Thanks, all!

Until I can afford a Baltic cruise (my dream destination), have nowhere else in particular I want to go...thought this would be fun. Looks like it'll be fun imagining all of the possibilities, as well!!! :p

Best way is to search 10+ day cruises.

Ah, great idea! Thanks!!!

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, but I was looking on Carnival.com, and couldn't figure out how to search for these. I'm not planning for a specific timeframe or embarkation/debarkation port....just idly like the idea of being out to sea for a few days haha.

How does one find out about these? Is there a special way to search?

No, you do not need to put down a credit card/cash for deposit. I have used only the gift cards for the past three cruises with no problems at all.

Even better to know. Looks like I'm back to ordering 3 $100 cards for $270! :D

Just cash out any leftovers the last night of the cruise, via the slots in the casino.

Oh, I forgot about that method!

I have the same question - not quite as fancy, but we're booked in a Spa Suite, sailing next Saturday and haven't been assigned yet. I printed our luggage tags and they all say TBA on them. When I called a few weeks ago to inquire when we would get our room assignment, I was told it would be assigned when we checked in....but that's....after....we drop our bags?

Would also love to hear input on this.

We were just trying to figure this out for our sailing next week!

We have ATD, so are not as concerned about meeting wait staff, etc, since there are no guarantees that we'll be with the same team every night.

The free bottle of wine on embarkation night is a fun idea, but not if it's crappy wine :p

I would chose based on what you plan to do in specific ports - how tired are you going to be on a particular day? Will you have enough energy to enjoy the steakhouse? Look over your itinerary and see if you can make a guess based on that.

As for us, we will most likely go on the first night, or on a sea night.

Just got off the phone with Carnival. Poor thing didn't really know what she was talking about, but I think we may have come to an understanding...:rolleyes:

If you fully fund your account with the Gift Cards, and have a balance left over at the end of the sailing, you will receive a refund to the Gift Card, NOT via cash/check. ie, Fund your account with $600 worth of Gift Cards, spend $475, get $125 back on Gift Card.

She also seemed to have some confusion over whether or not you needed to put down a credit card/cash for deposit when using GC - I don't think you do if you're funding an amount that meets Carnival's reocmmendation for your sailing length, but there may be some question on that.

So since I was planning on funding my account with $300, but not planning on spending that much, I think I'll go ahead and only buy 2 $100 GCs. That way I'm not left with money left over on a GC at the end - I want cold hard cash on anything left over :p

This is great news, and oh so timely. Leaving next Saturday!

We're on a Verizon family plan (in Mom's name, but I do all of the administration) so I logged in, signed us up, and we have 38k points.

I think when I get paid on Friday, I'll be ordering a few of these babies to use instead of the cash I was going to bring onboard with me! It'll only be an extra $30 bucks or so (was planning on putting $300 into my S&S acct), but hey, $30 is $30. I'll recommend to Mom and sister that they do it as well!

I'm looking now, but someone asked "if there are funds leftover at the end of the cruise when using Gift Cards to fund your S&S, do you get it back as a refund"....I have that question as well! I'll keep looking and post back if I find the answer.

Thanks so much for this! GREAT info.

I worked in a NYC comedy club for 15 years. Very much hoping that the comedians on board my sailing in a few weeks are friends. My sister worked in the same club for as long, so it'll be fun for her as well, and there are some I'd like my mom to see.

Out of the comic mentioned here, Steve White and Macio are good friends and are HILARIOUS.

As for Mr. Sanchos, I only recall about 1 family with kids each time I was there. I haven't taken my kids to Cozumel yet, but I assume when I do, there will be at least my family with kids. :)

;) We booked Nachi, but guess we'll just have to go back to Coz and check out Mr Sanchos. Aw shucks!

We had a great day at Maya Chan Beach Resort in Costa Maya. It is all-inclusive with great drinks and food and fantastic service. It's rustic but it was a very relaxing day.

 

http://www.costamayabeachresort.com/

Thanks, will run by that by the others and get their thoughts. I'd rather not spend $60 for just a few hours, but if everything else we're interested in ends up being as much, then it's probably worth it.

Cozumel - my vote is Nachi.

 

Belize - Altun Ha ruins are really good; if your ship has an excursion that does the ruins and a river boat ride, it is well worth it. The scenery and wild life along the river are wonderful. Also, in the shop area at the port there is a chocolate factory where you can personalize your own chocolate bars - just something a little different

Thank you! We reserved Nachi for Cozumel. I am leaning towards the Altun Ha/River Wallace tour thru Carnival for Belize - waiting to see what my sister thinks of it (she's the anthropology major, so it's up to her).

We were at Nachi 2 yrs ago, June 2012 and there were no children. Very quiet and relaxing day. The drinks and food were awesome.

Thanks! I ended up booking Nachi and think it'll be a nice day!

I'm a bit curious about this as well, how the whole thing works. Lately, we've been booking suites so I'm not sure how likely it is that there would even be price drops, but if we ever go back to regular cabins, it would be nice ot have a way to either get lower fare or OBC.

Is there some tutorial somewhere on all of this?? I likes saving me some monies!!!

Oh gosh, an entire week to read (I'm hiding in shame because I know I'm very "winded" sometimes :D) But seriously, I'm so glad it helped you out some.

 

We had a good time doing the zip lining (with a few little "mishaps" along the way-you can read it in one of my reviews below), but I would recommend it. It was a lot of fun. Just know the "dip" portion takes you to the beach (West Bay), which is where a lot of people go to do some awesome snorkeling right from the beach. ;)

 

We really enjoyed cave tubing with .bz. they were wonderful both times. I highly recommend them and if you read both of my reviews and see the pictures, you'll know why. :D It's a very highly educational tour along the way (both in the van and during the walking to the river) and we enjoyed it (went twice since we had to take my oldest daughter with us the 2nd time since they had never been before). To me, it's one of those things that you do, you enjoy it, it's a once in a lifetime experience, then you don't do it again. We did it twice and that's enough. We have moved on to the beaches...but I would recommend it if it's your first time to Belize.

 

As far as it being crowded, it depends when you go (off season or busy season). The first time there was hardly anyone there. The second time it was busy, but didn't really effect us (until we got to the end of the trail to get in the water...then one of the tour guides stood in line for us while we sat in the shade and waited). So even though you're in a "group" with a guide, you're not really "with" everyone else. People walk at their own pace, stop to see things and "try" things along the way, so it feels like just your group.

 

I honestly don't know what direction to point you in since I always try to seek out a beach and snorkeling. LOL Hopefully someone else can chime in on some things to do not beach related. All of the places I have been to are listed in my signature line if you want to review any. :)

 

Thanks for the comment on Sakari. She's my little angel.

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Enjoy. :)

Thank you! So far, it looks like we're going to do Nachi Cocom in Coz, a ruin in Belize (although we may still decide on cave tubing), Victor Bodden in Roatan, and maybe a catamaran and beginner snorkeling ship excursion in Costa Maya (unless we do cave tubing in Belize, in which case, we'll do a ruin here).