Any recent Sunshine 8 day Southern Itinerary cruisers? I have questions!

Good morning!

We are going on our first 8 day and first Southern itinerary in February. Our ports are

Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk. We've been to Grand Turk but have no idea about

Aruba and Curacao.

First off - do any of you have any recent menus, fun times or anything for the 8 day

cruise?

Also, we will be staying in our first aft view balcony on deck 5 and I'm so excited! I'm

really hoping I will be able to enjoy the balcony quite a bit but I'm wondering about the

sun and heat. Is there a time during the day or maybe traveling south or traveling back

toward the US that would be a more optimum time to plan on spending out on our

balcony? I don't want to pass out from the heat and I'm sure even in February down

that far south it's going to be warm!

We don't arrive in Aruba until 1:00 pm which has me a little worried as I love to visit

the beach and sun for a while. During that time of year, I'm assuming the sun will be

going down about 6 or so. So, with that in mind - what did you all do for the rest of

the evening since the ship doesn't sail until 11:00 p.m?

I would also love to see some of Aruba since we've never been there before. Can any

of you offer any suggestions as to maybe a tour we can do or if we could do something of

our own? We normally don't do Carnival excursions because I've always been able to

find cheaper and highly recommended tours outside of Carnival. Any help would be

appreciated!

Our Curacao day is from 8 am to 4 pm so that's a pretty standard time for a port day.

However, I'm still open to suggestions on that port as well.

As you offer suggestions, I ask you to keep in mind that even though I'm a sun lover,

my husband isn't so much. Now he loves the ocean but does have some mobility issues

therefore we will be limited to how much walking and so forth that we are able to do.

Thanks again - ya'll always come thru for me!

Good morning!

 

We are going on our first 8 day and first Southern itinerary in February. Our ports are

Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk. We've been to Grand Turk but have no idea about

Aruba and Curacao.

 

First off - do any of you have any recent menus, fun times or anything for the 8 day

cruise?

 

Also, we will be staying in our first aft view balcony on deck 5 and I'm so excited! I'm

really hoping I will be able to enjoy the balcony quite a bit but I'm wondering about the

sun and heat. Is there a time during the day or maybe traveling south or traveling back

toward the US that would be a more optimum time to plan on spending out on our

balcony? I don't want to pass out from the heat and I'm sure even in February down

that far south it's going to be warm!

 

We don't arrive in Aruba until 1:00 pm which has me a little worried as I love to visit

the beach and sun for a while. During that time of year, I'm assuming the sun will be

going down about 6 or so. So, with that in mind - what did you all do for the rest of

the evening since the ship doesn't sail until 11:00 p.m?

 

I would also love to see some of Aruba since we've never been there before. Can any

of you offer any suggestions as to maybe a tour we can do or if we could do something of

our own? We normally don't do Carnival excursions because I've always been able to

find cheaper and highly recommended tours outside of Carnival. Any help would be

appreciated!

 

Our Curacao day is from 8 am to 4 pm so that's a pretty standard time for a port day.

However, I'm still open to suggestions on that port as well.

 

As you offer suggestions, I ask you to keep in mind that even though I'm a sun lover,

my husband isn't so much. Now he loves the ocean but does have some mobility issues

therefore we will be limited to how much walking and so forth that we are able to do.

 

Thanks again - ya'll always come thru for me!

~We went on the Sunshine in January to Aruba, Bonaire, and Amber Cover (supposed to be Grand Turk but switched due to medical emergency). The sun is HOT that far south. We tried to stay in the shade on the ship cause around 12-2 PM we were frying. Mornings and Evenings were perfect though! For Aruba we made it a beach day and went to Moomba Beach Bar and Restaurant. It was nice. The guy told us that they don't charge to rent chairs as long as you spend a little at the bar/restaurant (we only bought 1 drink each while there). We stayed to watch the sunset and then took a cap back to the boat so it was about 8-9 when we arrived. Can't tell ya too much about Curacao or Grand Turk as I haven't been there yet. It's on my list though!

~We went on the Sunshine in January to Aruba, Bonaire, and Amber Cover (supposed to be Grand Turk but switched due to medical emergency). The sun is HOT that far south. We tried to stay in the shade on the ship cause around 12-2 PM we were frying. Mornings and Evenings were perfect though! For Aruba we made it a beach day and went to Moomba Beach Bar and Restaurant. It was nice. The guy told us that they don't charge to rent chairs as long as you spend a little at the bar/restaurant (we only bought 1 drink each while there). We stayed to watch the sunset and then took a cap back to the boat so it was about 8-9 when we arrived. Can't tell ya too much about Curacao or Grand Turk as I haven't been there yet. It's on my list though!

Thanks so much!

If you go to YouTube and search for "Josh Hocum" he is currently doing a vlog series on the Sunshine with this itinerary.

Look to your right. See the list of Ships. Click on SUNSHINE. Reviews. Menus....all there.

Oh my gosh there is a ton of things to do in Aruba! I been going there every year for two weeks every July. I just got back, tell me what exactly you enjoy to do and I can give you suggestions. Eagle Beach is the best beach to us and the Marriott is a wonderful place to go (beaches are public).

Just tried to watch a couple.....WOW. Josh Holcomb needs to learn a couple new exclaimitory words.... Info is good though if you can get past that...

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I forgot to mention, I personally do not like those aft cabins only because it does get very hot and no wind there. Aruba in February will be around 87.

I say take a tour of Aruba, hire a private guide to pick you up at the pier and show you the island. Most of the things you do in Aruba are very much sun related....another note, if you stay around the port area your truly not seeing the island, you need to get out of that area so I really think a private tour be best for you and you can stop somewhere for lunch or have a wonderful dinner (there are so many wonderful restaurants there and I can recommend places if you like).

Curacao, not much to do there if you don't want to be in sun and you have to cross this bridge that lets say shakes....but people with wheelchairs/scooters do it. I like to go to a local place for lunch there, its a bunch of locals who cook wonderful local food....its called Plasa Bieu.

Sunset in Aruba is around 6:45 that time of year.

I have to give him this though, for someone who has turned platinum already, I love that he is so enthusiastic. He genuinely seems impressed/ thrilled by everything he sees. That is so refreshing.

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Aruba-- take lots of sunscreen., my honey fried. It was that bad. and we were only on the beach from 4-7

Look into a sunset cruise. We love black pearl and do this every time. But book early as it only holds 20 people.

three snorkle stops. Grilled cheese and watermelon, Rum punch etc

an Aruban Sunset beat every other sunset we ever saw. Its just that impressive.

maybe an early afternoon tour of the island-- go back and cleaned up and head out for your sunset cruise

the day was very amazing

Have been told that the ABC islands - Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are the best for snorkeling and diving.

Ok, so I just watched a few more, and am now a Josh Holcomb convert. I love that he keeps the language clean, and from what I’ve watched so far is just a nice guy. First impressions aren’t always correct... I can handle a few too many “wows “.

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You can go online and see what time the sunsets at specific places and specific dates. I was recently in Boston for the first time in years and was blown away by how early the sunset was there. I consider North Carolina "east" but Boston is much further east and thus an earlier sunrise. When I was in Phoenix I was surprised at how late the sun set.

Enjoy!

In Aruba a group of us are going on a Sunset Cruise on the Jolly Roger. Has great ratings and looks like fun.

Just got off yesterday from the same destinations. Aruba we spent all day at eagle beach and watched the sunset, then went to the shops. Curacao I highly recommend renting a car from advance car rental. This was my first time renting a car but it was so worth it. He will provide a gps and map with a lot of places already programmed in, I recommend playa grandi and playa lagun. Grand turk we went to pillory beach also well worth it. Wife loves the beach mini me and myself are water babies.

You can go online and see what time the sunsets at specific places and specific dates. I was recently in Boston for the first time in years and was blown away by how early the sunset was there. I consider North Carolina "east" but Boston is much further east and thus an earlier sunrise. When I was in Phoenix I was surprised at how late the sun set.

Enjoy!

usually around 7pm give or take 5 minutes in either direction

Just got off yesterday from the same destinations. Aruba we spent all day at eagle beach and watched the sunset, then went to the shops. Curacao I highly recommend renting a car from advance car rental. This was my first time renting a car but it was so worth it. He will provide a gps and map with a lot of places already programmed in, I recommend playa grandi and playa lagun. Grand turk we went to pillory beach also well worth it. Wife loves the beach mini me and myself are water babies.

Did you arrive late in Aruba like we are doing? It just seems like 1:00 is really late and I actually think it will be 2:00 ship time because of the time change here in the states.

Did you just taxi to Eagle Beach? How expensive was the car rental in Curacao?

Did you arrive late in Aruba like we are doing? It just seems like 1:00 is really late and I actually think it will be 2:00 ship time because of the time change here in the states.

 

Did you just taxi to Eagle Beach? How expensive was the car rental in Curacao?

Yes we got off the ship around 1:30 and just caught a taxi both ways. The rental was $75 for the car taxes insurance and the gps. We wanted to go to the West end of Curacao and a cab ride out there was more than that by far and there's not really any cabs out there to bring you back.