Back from Sunshine, 4J lobby cabins, quick review

We just got off the Sunshine this morning. It was our first time cruising with the kids. (ages 5 and 6) We had a great time.

Embarkation was really quick. I am platinum and we were dropped off at the port around noon and on the ship by 12:15.

We had 2 connecting 4J cabins on the lobby deck. These are quads and we were all booked in 1 room at first, and then about 6-7 weeks ago I changed us to 2 rooms. Since they are quads at first they did not show up when I did mock bookings choosing 2 rooms, but when they did I called Carnival and added another room for not much more.

We ended up really liking these rooms. They are pretty much set up like an ocean view and had a sofa (which can be converted into a bed but we didn't need it). They also had mini fridges which were not stocked. I used them for our water bottles. The view in these rooms was still pretty good and the location near the lobby was very convenient. We did not hear any noise from the lobby or liquid lounge from the rooms. I could also see how these would be a good alternative for smokers as the whole port side of 3 is a designated smoking area. We were in rooms 3139 and 3135. I'm still trying to figure out how to add pics.

After much deliberation we ended up purchasing the Cheers program. We never hit the limit but came close a once or twice. We ended up getting our money's worth and tried different drinks and had the $9.50 glasses of wine instead of the $6.00 glasses. We more than broke even except for maybe the Cozumel day since we had done the AI at Playa Mia.

We signed the kids up for Camp Carnival and went to the orientation, although there was not a dance party the first night as I had heard described by others. We took the first sea day just after 10. We were concerned about our 5 year old boy being in the 2-5 year old group. We peeked in after a few minutes and he was just standing around by himself and there were a lot of really young kids. We talked to the counselors and they agreed to let him go with the 6-8 year olds on a trial basis. Over all, the kids liked the camp OK, but most of the time they preferred to hang out with us. My daughter asked to go a few times, but my son didn't really care for it.

The kids had a great time playing mini golf and swimming in the pool , and the first 3 days of the cruise were perfect for outdoor activities-the last 3 not so much. Yesterday was cold and windy so we sent them to camp for a few hours just since the other indoor activities for kids are pretty much limited to the arcade (which adds up quickly) and the library.

The only time I found the ship to seem really crowded was in the lido for breakfast in the mornings. We ate in the MDR most mornings. The earlier we go there the less of a wait we had for a table. We found the meals to be good and didn't do any specialty dining other then the Dr. Seuss breakfast yesterday morning. It was fun and the food was good. Since we have annual passes to Universal Orlando the kids are used to seeing those characters. It was nice not to have to wait to be seated.

We did YTD and only had to wait for a table twice. We usually went between 6 and 7. We have always done late dining before but thought it would be too late for the kids. The check in for YTD was at the taste bar, and they usually had appetizers there.

Those were the main things regarding the ship itself. I'll try to touch on the ports and some of the entertainment later.

I'm sailing on her in March, I look forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to do one!

OK, some pics of our room, the view, and of the kids looking into their room.

Enjoying your review and photo's, looking forward to more of it.

Thanks for the review and for the pics. There's not many pics of these cabins. They look decent. Did you notice about of people outside of your window? Also, did you have any issue with sewage smells in that area of the ship?

We didn't notice any sewage smell and only rarely did someone walk by. Sometimes there were maintenance worker working out there. We made sure to close the curtain when we were getting dressed and at night but otherwise usually had it open or partially open. I have to work today so I'll try to post more tonight.

On the first Sea Day our platinum gifts were delivered. to our room. There was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and the toiletries bag.

I had ordered gifts for the kids from Bon Voyage. They loved them and at $28 not bad.

Cozumel- went to Playa Mia and had a great day. There were 4 ships in port and it was not too crowded. I purchased the AI for my husband and me and just the day pass for the kids. They had a couple of bites off my plate. The food from the buffet is just okay and the drinks weren't very strong but they were plentiful and there was never a wait for a drink. They were also very generous with the bottled water. If not with the kids we would have picked a different AI but this was perfect for us and our best day. They did the slides over and over and the lines were short.

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We also swam out to the water toys. That was a work out.